tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99262072024-03-07T10:33:02.968-08:00KeithGiles.comMy name is Keith Giles. I love to write so that people can know Jesus and experience His life in their own.
So, I started this blog to help people understand who Jesus is, and how He reveals what the Father is really like.
This is a safe place to talk about all those questions you've had about the Bible, and Christianity. It's also a place to learn how to put the words of Jesus into practice.
Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.comBlogger1761125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-17392283145084214112018-01-20T15:05:00.000-08:002018-01-25T08:42:18.147-08:00ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PROMOTION FOR JESUS UNTANGLEDOne year ago, on January 19, 2017, my book <i>"Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb"</i> was published. It quickly became the #1 best-selling book on Amazon in its category and remained in the Top 10 for months afterwards.<br />
<br />
The book was endorsed by dozens of authors, and media outlets including:<br />
*John Fugelsang<br />
*Greg Boyd<br />
*Brad Jersak<br />
*Brian Zahnd<br />
*Benjamin L. Corey<br />
*Neil Cole<br />
*Jon Zens<br />
and many others.<br />
<br />
<b>Let's celebrate the release of "Jesus Untangled"!</b><br />
<b><br /></b> Here's how:<br />
For the next month, the Kindle ebook is only .99 cents!<br />
<br />
<b>Free Give-Away!</b><br />
* 5 Free Audiobooks!<br />
* 10 Free copies of the unpublished "Unravelled" e-book featuring 85 pages of exclusive new content!<br />
<br />
<b>Here's how to win one of these prizes:</b><br />
<br />
<b>Step 1:</b> Download one of these memes (see below) and share it on your personal Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account. <i>Be sure to tag me!</i> Follow me on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/keithagiles">Facebook here</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/keithgiles">Twitter here</a> and on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/keithagiles/">Instagram here</a><br />
<br />
<b>Step 2:</b> Subscribe to my NEW BLOG on Patheos here: <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/keithgiles/</a><br />
<br />
<b>Step 3:</b> Email me at: <b>elysiansky @ hotmail.com</b> to let me know you've completed these steps and I will enter your name into a drawing to win.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Winners will be announced on FB and Twitter every 3 days, starting Jan. 21 until all items are given away.</span> </b><br />
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<b>DOWNLOAD AND SHARE THESE MEMES</b><br />
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Thank you for helping "Jesus Untangled" to reach so many people! I really couldn't do it without all of you!<br />
<br />
<b><u>BE SURE TO CATCH ME AT ONE OF THESE EVENTS NEAR YOU IN 2018</u></b><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Los Angeles, CA</b>: SOMA University - "Living Out the Kingdom Life", Feb. 19-20, 2018</span><br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<b>Waldorf, MD</b>.: Jesus Untangled and Unbound, Christ's Church, April 13-15, 2018</div>
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<b>Seattle, WA</b>: "The Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Bible", co-hosted with Jon Zens, May 19-20, 2018</div>
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<b>Cleveland, OH</b>: Grace Community Church, June 26, 2018</div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-4452786307233619912017-11-18T22:51:00.001-08:002017-11-18T22:51:36.808-08:00MY NEW BLOG IS UP NOW!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKlexJzFuc6KIET8grPLL5_s3w6ZMC4owpPSmPHZpTeNrXlb1OyDcHtxChmuh5eAxnG_BtnEYp8f4OTaKVQBW1iZx-zf44zcvx76W9om5WweqZczO2aqCr2C3mChzYwDhfbCtc/s1600/BIGJUMPKG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKlexJzFuc6KIET8grPLL5_s3w6ZMC4owpPSmPHZpTeNrXlb1OyDcHtxChmuh5eAxnG_BtnEYp8f4OTaKVQBW1iZx-zf44zcvx76W9om5WweqZczO2aqCr2C3mChzYwDhfbCtc/s320/BIGJUMPKG.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /><br />Hey everyone, the day is finally here!<br />
<br />
My new blog at Patheos - where I will be blogging from now on - is now live!<br />
<br />
PLEASE: Go to the blog now and subscribe!<br />
<br />
This is the only way to keep up with my latest blog articles, news and info.<br />
<br />
Go to the blog here and subscribe: <a href="http://www.keithgiles.com/">www.KeithGiles.com</a><br />
<br />
I already have a few new posts up now with more on the way.<br />
<br />
I'll see you there!Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-60275812448736313282017-11-16T13:37:00.001-08:002017-11-16T13:37:58.934-08:00GOD’S BRILLIANT TRAP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>“As for you, you were dead in our transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of ire, but because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions…” [Eph. 2:1-5]</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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As I was reading this passage the other day, I observed something I had not noticed in quite the same way before. Here, Paul describes how cleverly God designed a trap that perfectly captured us and catapulted us from death into life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s how it works: First, God knew that we were dead in our sins. He saw clearly how we thought and how our actions were motivated by our lusts and desires. Like tossing red meat into a school of sharks, God sent His Anointed One into this cesspool of humanity. What else could happen next? As with the prophets that came before Jesus, we turned on Him and put Him to death. Just exactly as He knew we would.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But, notice what happened next: “Because of His great love for us, God…made us alive with Christ…”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Paul skips over the crucifixion part, but it’s clearly in play. We are dead people who are ruled by our lusts. Jesus the Holy One walks among us and we, driven by our sinful natures and evil thoughts, take Him and crucify Him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Suddenly, God’s brilliant trap is sprung. When we kill the Author of Life, He descends into the bowels of death and ignites the resurrection power within to “make us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Boom.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Don’t you love that? I can’t help but read it all again and smile. <o:p></o:p></div>
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God set a trap for us who were dead and Jesus became the catalyst that we killed so that resurrection could be released and everyone could be made alive with Christ.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>That’s genius.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Paul concludes this by saying: </div>
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<i>“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might demonstrate to everyone the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” [v.6-7]</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you see how much He loves you? Can you believe how far He is willing to go to make you His own?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Isn’t it incredible how God pulled it off?<o:p></o:p></div>
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He has taken our wrath and transformed it into love.<o:p></o:p></div>
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He has taken our death and remade it into life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We are healed. We are alive. We are loved.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Halleluiah!<o:p></o:p></div>
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-kg<o:p></o:p></div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-7227782073640190092017-11-14T19:27:00.000-08:002017-11-14T19:27:10.722-08:00The God Who Worships Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Bwu7CqauhWYclMmcNpf6bUN0AeszMx7iiOU2nwkg_VHu6ATJsugoMwfN8paU3-B90REXkPhUt9_Wh3DQDFryISiOuJAcVjn3IEcDuFd5FbXNYVdVqHqrNIRtoXUOSRd5qsDq/s1600/hannah+dulaney+tree+yellow+sunlight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Bwu7CqauhWYclMmcNpf6bUN0AeszMx7iiOU2nwkg_VHu6ATJsugoMwfN8paU3-B90REXkPhUt9_Wh3DQDFryISiOuJAcVjn3IEcDuFd5FbXNYVdVqHqrNIRtoXUOSRd5qsDq/s320/hannah+dulaney+tree+yellow+sunlight.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The Greek word for “worship” is <i>proskyneō</i> and it is translated as “to kiss, to lower oneself in humility or reverence, to adore, to surrender completely to another”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, when Jesus let go of His equality with God [see Phil. 2] and humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant, and became nothing, He was doing exactly what anyone does when they worship something. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<ul>
<li>Jesus “lowered himself in humility”</li>
<li>Jesus became a servant to mankind.</li>
<li>Jesus adored us and gave himself up for us.</li>
<li>Jesus looked upon us and loved us.</li>
<li>Jesus completely surrendered his life to us.</li>
<li>Jesus placed his life, and safety in the hands of his earthly parents.</li>
<li>Jesus gave us power over himself, even to the point of abusing him and putting him to death.</li>
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Jesus, in essence, went from being the One who was worshiped night and day by the cherubim of heaven to become a servant who washed the feet of his own disciples.</div>
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In his own words, Jesus declares that He did not come to be served – as a God should expect to be – but that He came to serve us. [See Mark 10:45]<o:p></o:p></div>
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This was an act of worship.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, it is quite normal for us to think of God as someone that we should worship. We understand that God is God and that we are not. So, we naturally apply the term “worship” whenever we think of how we interact with God.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, worship is a multi-million-dollar industry. Record labels, artists, songwriters, conferences and even workshops are all devoted to worship. Usually, this worship is in the form of music, but scripturally-speaking, worship is really more about the way we live our lives in relationship to God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In Romans 12, for example, Paul tells us that we should offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice and that this is holy and pleasing to God; calling it “our true and proper act of worship.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Nothing about singing songs there; Simply laying our lives down at His feet in adoration and complete surrender. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In other words, when we give up our lives for Christ, this is what worship looks like.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Just the same way that Jesus gave Himself up for us, as Paul reminds us in Ephesians 5:25, we should also give up our lives for Him, and for one another.<o:p></o:p></div>
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See, Jesus showed us what worship really looks like. When He stepped down from the throne and humbled Himself and became a servant to us, He was demonstrating to the entire Universe what worship really is.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, on that basis, and by following His astounding example, we should also worship Him by giving up our lives as living sacrifices. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This is what honors God. This is what gives Him joy. When we understand that His love for us compelled Him to kneel down and serve us, and yes, to worship us with an absolute adoration that drove Him to the cross and exploded from the grave in victory, how else can we respond?<o:p></o:p></div>
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How can you not love a God who gave Himself up for you?<o:p></o:p></div>
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How can you not serve a God who first served you?<o:p></o:p></div>
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How can you not worship a God who would lay everything down and worship you until it killed Him?<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is no one like our God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Let us worship.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Note: Special Thanks to Jordan Hathcock for inspiring this blog post.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-11496549429984735332017-11-06T10:50:00.000-08:002017-11-06T11:16:41.665-08:00Help: America Is Caught In A Feedback Loop<div class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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Another day, another mass shooting in America.</div>
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Once more, a white man with an assault rifle opens fire on innocent people.</div>
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Most people say there’s <a href="https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1819576527">nothing we can do</a>. Others insist that only our thoughts and prayers matter now.</div>
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Many Christians believe that the Second Amendment overrules the Sermon on the Mount. So, the next time a killer with a semi-automatic rifle enters a church he’ll be <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/watch-trump-loving-pastor-boasts-his-heavily-armed-congregants-would-gun-down-attempted-church-shooters/">blown to smithereens by all the Jesus-loving Christians </a>who keep a sidearm cocked and loaded in the shoulder holster under their Sunday best.</div>
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<i>Halleluiah!</i></div>
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Just think, if the earliest Christians in the first century had only adopted this brilliant preemptive strategy, killers like Saul of Tarsus would have been slaughtered where they stood.<br />
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Not only would that have prevented the death our dear brother Stephen, it would also have prevented us from having to carry around such a thick New Testament text, since half of it would never have been written.</div>
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But, maybe there’s another way?</div>
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I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out for a minute.</div>
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There are about 175 million Christians here in the United States. So, if even half of us decided to love our neighbors and bless those who curse us and do good to those who hate us, maybe we could use this preemptive strategy to love people?</div>
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I know, it sounds kinda crazy to follow that Jesus guy. He was SO “first century”, ya know?</div>
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But, I once heard someone say that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.</div>
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Since almost no one has tried putting these Jesus ideas into practice lately, what do we have to lose?</div>
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-kg</div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-57075124595010494432017-10-30T16:23:00.002-07:002017-10-30T16:23:57.584-07:00BIG BLOG NEWS: WE'RE MOVING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After more than 10 years blogging here on subversive1 and the Blogger platform, I've decided to move my blog over to Patheos.<br />
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Here's what that means:<br />
First, this blog will continue to remain online. If you're subscribed here then this is still the place to come for my personal posts about my life, family, and house church-related news.<br />
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Second, I will keep all of my old blog articles and posts here on this blog. So, don't worry that any of this will one day disappear. It won't.<br />
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Third, all of my newer blog articles will appear on Patheos in a few weeks. I will post a link to that new blog as soon as it's live.<br />
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NOTE: You must subscribe to the Patheos feed if you want to receive my new blog posts once everything moves over there. Don't worry: I will post a link to help you do that as soon as it's all ready to go. But if you don't subscribe [and it's free] then you will not receive my new blog articles and posts.<br />
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Here's the scoop: I was invited to join the Patheos blog platform about 2 weeks ago by Benjamin Corey, and Chuck McKnight.<br />
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Typically, the people at Patheos prefer to move the entire blog over to their platform. However, since I have 10 years worth of posts and since Blogger and Patheos don't sync so well together from a technological standpoint, we arrived at a compromise solution.<br />
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Which is?<br />
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I will move about 50 hand-picked articles from this blog and agree to post all new content on the Patheos blog moving forward.<br />
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So, in short, this is a "soft" transition.<br />
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What the heck is Patheos?<br />
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Glad you asked! It's a very large blogging platform for a variety of writers to share their ideas and thoughts. There are various channels on the platform. Some are Christian, some are not. Some are religious, some are not.<br />
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Why move to Patheos?<br />
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Another great question! The move to Patheos allows me to reach more people [because they have a much larger subscription base and they drive much more traffic than I ever could all by my lonesome].<br />
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Do they pay you to blog?<br />
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Yes, they do. But that's not why I'm moving over. Honestly. I would make this move even if they didn't pay anything at all.<br />
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Should I follow you here and at Patheos?<br />
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Yes! Here's why: The quality and frequency of my posts at Patheos will increase significantly. I'm contractually-bound to post a minimum number of articles to Patheos every single week. Plus, this shift to a new potential audience has helped me to reevaluate my approach. But, that is a very good thing, trust me.<br />
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See, Patheos is closer to Slate or Huffington Post. So, every article I write will have to measure up to a higher journalistic standard than anything I held myself to here on my own blog.<br />
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Does that make sense?<br />
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Plus, if you continue to follow this blog [I mean the one you're reading right now], you'll get more personal, introspective and intimate posts that wouldn't be appropriate for Patheos.<br />
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In other words, you'll be getting the best of both worlds if you subscribe to this blog here and also to the Patheos blog which should launch in a few days.<br />
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Any other questions? I'll be happy to answer them if I can. Please just post them below.<br />
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Also: I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has been faithfully reading, following and sharing my posts here on subversive1 all this time. You're still the reason I do this. I still need your support, your feedback and your encouragement.<br />
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This is just the next logical step for me as a writer and I hope you'll come with me.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
Keith<br />
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NOTE: My next book "Jesus Unbound" is nearly finished! Stay tuned for more info on that.<br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-24491549951823301062017-10-23T22:12:00.001-07:002017-10-23T22:27:55.339-07:00God Does Not Have A Penis<br />
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Several years ago I was writing a column for Relevant Magazine called "Subversive" which featured interviews from various voices in the Emerging Church Movement.<br />
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One of those voices was Spencer Burke. He not only helped to launch an emerging church here in Orange County, but he also started an online magazine called theOoze.com and also wrote a great book called "Making Sense of Church".<br />
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That's why one afternoon about twelve years ago I was sitting across the table from him in Newport Beach, California interviewing him for Relevant.<br />
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But that's when he said something that made me second guess the entire interview. He said, "Just imagine, if the Jewish culture had been Matriarchal instead of Patriarchal, God would have been 'Mother' and Jesus could have been a woman."<br />
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Honestly, I didn't know what to say to any of that. I was just so far outside my comfort zone at the time. Spencer is seriously one of the few people I have ever met that I would sincerely call a genius. He has an astounding gift to predict where the culture is headed and he has an insight about human nature that is uncanny.<br />
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Still, I wasn't sure what to do with that statement. On the one hand, I didn't want to edit out that quote because I knew Spencer would notice that I had left it off the article. But I also didn't want to publish it and have it hurt Spencer's reputation.<br />
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So, I never published the interview at all.<br />
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That was over a decade ago. Since then my theology has radically shifted. I owe Spencer an apology for not having the courage to publish his statement which, today, seems so obvious and true.<br />
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Here's the deal: God is not male.God is not female. God does not have a gender.<br />
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We use the pronoun "He" for several reasons. One, because we don't want to call God an "It". God is a person and therefore has a personality. Two, because a patriarchal society tends to fashion their Deity in the male image. In other words, God made us in His image and then we returned the favor by making God into an image that reflects ourselves.<br />
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Unfortunately, the common use of the term "He" to refer to God creates the illusion that God is male. But that is not the case.<br />
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God is Spirit. God is not male. God is not female. When the Genesis account tells us that mankind was made in the image of God that means that men and women were both made in His image. The man was created first, yes, but hidden within that man was the female. Therefore, both man and woman were the "image of God" that was created. One was hidden inside the other, but both were created to reflect the image of God.<br />
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Yes, the male aspect of God gets more screen time than the female one, but there are several images of God as female that - unsurprisingly - have been overlooked throughout Church history.<br />
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But they are there.<br />
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For example, when Jesus stands up on the last day of the Feast and invites everyone to "come to me and drink" the picture is of a mother nursing her young. [See John 7:37] This image is repeated when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and says that he longs "to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing." [See Luke 13:34]<br />
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There are many other verses in the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures that speak of God as "giving birth" to Israel and uses metaphors where God nurses them and cares for them like a Mother cares for her children. The New Testament scriptures often speak of us as being "born of God" and "children of God" who are nurtured on milk as newborn babes in Christ.<br />
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So, while we may be accustomed to calling God "He" it is not blasphemous or inappropriate to call God "She" or to alternate between the two because, as I've said before: God does not have a penis, or a vagina.<br />
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God is a Spirit and those who worship God do so in Spirit and in Truth.<br />
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-kg<br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-45373004385518293292017-10-18T16:55:00.001-07:002017-10-18T20:32:25.121-07:00INTERVIEW: John Fugelsang Talks To Keith Giles<iframe data-link="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/bd9qc-4ef650?from=yiiadmin" data-name="pb-iframe-player" frameborder="0" height="100" scrolling="no" src="https://www.podbean.com/media/player/bd9qc-4ef650?from=yiiadmin" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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LISTEN: Sirius XM Radio Host John Fugelsang interviews Keith Giles about his new book "Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb".<br />
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Recorded live on Tuesday, Oct. 10th, 2017 on "Tell Me Everything".<br />
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Used by permission.<br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-86569845945461538012017-10-17T18:32:00.000-07:002017-10-17T18:33:39.085-07:00My Personal Mission Statement<div class="x_MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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As part of my new job, we’re encouraged to read through the book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and reflect on each of the habits together in scheduled weekly meetings.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Honestly, it’s not something I would ever want to do on my own as I am allergic to all the usual leadership and success-minded literature that permeates our culture. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the principles are derived from the teachings of Jesus.</span></div>
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For example, the first habit involves realizing that we often allow others to control us. The goal is to move from being reactionary – where we are always being manipulated by the desires of others – to being proactive – where we are driven more by our own set of internal values. In other words, our attitudes should not be shaped by circumstances or people, but by an inward decision to be who we already are, regardless of our circumstance.</div>
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So, my joy is not dependent upon outward conditions: how much money I have, or how many people like me, or what sort of status I may have in society. Instead, my joy radiates from within and flows out of who I am inside. Because I know I am loved by God, created in His image, called by His name and adopted into His family as His child and co-heir with Christ, my happiness is fixed on this.</div>
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I can be in prison, or sitting under a tree in the park and I am content. I can be rich or poor, young or old, healthy or sick and still remain at peace within myself based on who I am inside.</div>
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This is what Paul referred to when he said that he had: <i><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif , serif , "emojifont";">“</span></i><i><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif , serif , "emojifont"; font-size: 10pt;">…<b>learned to be content whatever the circumstances</b>. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. <b>I have learned the secret of being content</b> in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11-13)</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif , serif , "emojifont"; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>The second habit is to start with the end in mind. Literally, this means to begin by imagining your own funeral. Who is there? What do they say about you? What do you want them to say? In other words, if you want people to stand and say that you were a great friend, that means you’ll need to start being a great friend. If you hope that people will talk about what a loving and kind person you are, then you should start working now on being more loving and kind to people.</div>
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Again, this concept is very grounded in the idea of sowing and reaping. If you want good fruit, then you must first make the tree good, as Jesus said. Anyone who plants an apple tree should not expect grapefruit, or vice versa. The way we behave today plants seeds for what our character will be like tomorrow.</div>
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Part of working through the book involves writing your own personal mission statement. This isn’t something I would normally ever do, but again I found the process of sitting down to think about it very inspiring.</div>
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Here’s what I came up with for my mission statement:</div>
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<i>“I want to always remind people that they are more beautiful than they imagine and dearly loved by God. I want to use every gift and talent I have been given to reflect the love of God and point people to Jesus who is the best picture we could have of who God really is, and who we are called to be like.”</i><br /><br /><div class="x_MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
Have you ever thought about what your mission statement would be? What would you include? I’d love to hear yours if you take time to write it out and share it in the comments below.</div>
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Also, what would you want people to say about you at your funeral? What are you doing now to make sure that what they say about you lines up with the impression you hope to make on the people around you?</div>
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Share those in the comments if you can.</div>
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Finally, if you haven’t done so yet, please subscribe to the blog and share this post with your friends on social media.</div>
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Thanks,</div>
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Keith</div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-26905068388271432422017-10-11T19:07:00.000-07:002017-10-11T19:07:01.935-07:00JESUS RETURNS TODAY<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTGbivprsrkPu4qhZvPpM8kev8TCfZ-J2NR6rWN0O8EQ8ygkiBA_FwdxHJpHE6Tfjg3XmCRD3NKBXA4l49HXJKdWTe-ODRcW7Uuf_FsuoUNr2MFKPDa66FGg6CO-X5Acy8kNq/s1600/modern+jesus+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="976" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJTGbivprsrkPu4qhZvPpM8kev8TCfZ-J2NR6rWN0O8EQ8ygkiBA_FwdxHJpHE6Tfjg3XmCRD3NKBXA4l49HXJKdWTe-ODRcW7Uuf_FsuoUNr2MFKPDa66FGg6CO-X5Acy8kNq/s320/modern+jesus+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Not only am I really tired of all the so-called end times
prophets picking dates for the End of the World based on some obscure Bible
passage, a few wonky mathematical equations, the alignment of the moon and the
stars and a little bit of old-fashioned B.S. thrown in for good measure,
I’m downright angry about it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I mean, I can’t decide what’s worse: The fact that these
sorts of predictions continually get promoted or that so many Christians
endlessly fall for them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What it does for our faith is to solidly prove to everyone
who has never read the Bible that it must assuredly be too confusing to
understand, or just flat-out filled with failed prophecies.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Either way, these end times prophecies about the end of the
world based loosely on the Bible do nothing but make Christians look stupid and
the Bible look untrustworthy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why would anyone listen to anything a Christian says about
anything? If they can’t even understand their own Holy Book, what makes us
think they can understand my life, or help me with my problems, or lead me to
something one might consider to be “The Truth”?<o:p></o:p></div>
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With all that being said, I have something to say to all of
you:<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus returns today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m totally serious.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, Jesus will reveal Himself as the Lord and show His
true power to the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Every knee will bow when they see Him. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Every tongue will confess when they hear His voice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Every heart will melt like wax when they realize that they
are in the Presence of the Holy One.<o:p></o:p></div>
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His Kingdom will descend from Heaven.<o:p></o:p></div>
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His rule and reign will have no end.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus returns today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s how: You and I are carriers of His Presence. <o:p></o:p></div>
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His Spirit lives and breathes within every one of us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There are millions of us all over the world right now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Those of us who are in Christ will not only do the things that
Jesus did – feed the hungry, care for the </div>
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sick, stand for the oppressed – but
we will do even greater things than this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like, love our enemies and pray for those who hate us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like, forgive those who have spitefully used us and release
them – and ourselves – from prisons of pain and regret.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Like, serving our neighbors and demonstrating the
transformative love of Jesus in every way we possibly can.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When people who have not known Jesus see this kind of love,
they will see Him and they will be conquered by His affection.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When people who have never experienced forgiveness are set
free from blame and guilt, they will experience His presence and be overcome
with joy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When people who have been told they do not deserve love and
compassion are suddenly and unexpectedly immersed and saturated by the love of
Christ that is higher, and wider, and longer, and deeper than any mind can
comprehend, they will know that Jesus has returned to rescue them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus is returning today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you’re lucky, you just might catch a glimpse of Him when
He does.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If not, that's ok. He'll be returning tomorrow, too.</div>
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But, whatever you do, don’t get left behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
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-kg<o:p></o:p></div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-13048085086510450592017-09-29T11:24:00.000-07:002017-09-29T11:24:33.267-07:00WHO'S THE REAL HERETIC?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0R98U2mKApFy5HFQkt1KosenjleTqI6FRVMcHidGqhrsI0zeh1npP8vElBs_6b5HclcYFa2Xd57ZIU_lKSCJavrUYCQJaqS8birGhcZKE59kN6JZ-CBNL3b9mMQtng_lRbrqx/s1600/heresy+heretic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="600" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0R98U2mKApFy5HFQkt1KosenjleTqI6FRVMcHidGqhrsI0zeh1npP8vElBs_6b5HclcYFa2Xd57ZIU_lKSCJavrUYCQJaqS8birGhcZKE59kN6JZ-CBNL3b9mMQtng_lRbrqx/s320/heresy+heretic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
This week I launched a brand new podcast with some friends called "Heretic Happy Hour" and so far it's performing better than we expected.<br />
<br />
In our very first episode we talked about the word "Heresy" and where it comes from.<br />
<br />
The actual word means "causing division" and the emphasis is on the sin of dividing the Church, not about false teaching.<br />
<br />
Unity is a big deal for Jesus. He prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one. He said that our unity would be a sign to the world that Jesus was actually the Messiah sent from God.<br />
<br />
This is also why Jesus commanded us to love one another as He has loved us - which is to say - extravagantly and unconditionally.<br />
<br />
Paul also stressed unity in his epistles to the early Christian assembly. He rebuked the Corinthians for dividing over which Apostle they like best. He reminded the Galatians that we are no longer divided by race, or status, or gender, but that we are all one in Christ. He rebuked the Romans for dividing over whether or not eating meat sacrificed to idols was right or wrong and told them to each be convinced in their own mind, but to remain in unity as brothers and sisters in Christ.<br />
<br />
He even suggested that it was ok to just allow oneself to be wronged as long as unity in the Body of Christ was maintained.<br />
<br />
Unity was - and is - crucial. People will know that we are the followers of Christ if we have love for one another. So, it's a very big deal.<br />
<br />
It's why Paul warned us in Titus to warn a divisive person twice and then have nothing more to do with them if they refused to stop dividing the Church.<br />
<br />
So, the idea of dividing that Body was heresy. It went against everything that Jesus and His Apostles stood for.<br />
<br />
Heresy, is about division. This means one could be guilty of heresy while teaching the truth.<br />
<br />
How? By using the truth to divide the Body of Christ.<br />
<br />
One could also be a heretic for simply saying this: "I cannot fellowship with anyone who disagrees with my theology."<br />
<br />
Only a heretic divides the Body of Christ over differences in theology.<br />
<br />
The irony, of course, is that people do this all the time. Hardly a day goes by on Facebook where someone doesn't say exactly this - "I cannot fellowship with anyone who disagrees with my theology" - and usually in the process that same person will accuse those who disagree with them of being heretics.<br />
<br />
But the only heretic is the one who divides the Body of Christ - even if they are technically correct in their theology.<br />
<br />
So, please don't be a heretic. Don't divide the Body of Christ over your own views of scripture. Don't insist that everyone must agree with you on ever single point before you'll accept them into your fellowship.<br />
<br />
Our unity is in Christ.<br />
<br />
-kg<br />
<br />
LISTEN: Episode 01 of The Heretic Happy Hour: "Heresy Is In The Eye of the Beholder"<br />
<br />
O<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/001-heresy-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/id1289432463?i=1000392728025&mt=2">n iTunes Here></a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://heretichappyhour.podbean.com/e/001-heresy-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/">OR, listen on Podbean here></a><br />
<br />
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-58959076235691107212017-09-25T10:43:00.001-07:002017-09-25T10:43:27.857-07:00NEW PODCAST: HERETIC HAPPY HOUR<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin79lkeYSsv58JLFbtj-3hf7nl4O1clnQSor2WWiE3hoVH-YLO4ZzrMonIaexm4RZft0dMWsKJdAOt2VMactd-JpPRzaCenOYtj31i6KYVATaJX7Ua2Y9BFyxW6fHAaK3h4bOg/s1600/heretic+happy+hour+podcast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin79lkeYSsv58JLFbtj-3hf7nl4O1clnQSor2WWiE3hoVH-YLO4ZzrMonIaexm4RZft0dMWsKJdAOt2VMactd-JpPRzaCenOYtj31i6KYVATaJX7Ua2Y9BFyxW6fHAaK3h4bOg/s320/heretic+happy+hour+podcast.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
"Burning questions, not people."<br />
<br />
Starting tomorrow, Tuesday September 25, the brand-new podcast I've been working on with Matthew Distefano and Jamal Jivanjee will launch on iTunes.<br />
<br />
The first 3 episodes will post all at once, so please do me a huge favor:<br />
*Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes<br />
*Download the episodes [at least one]<br />
*Leave a review or comment<br />
*Rate the podcast<br />
<br />
If you can do that for us, it would really mean a lot.<br />
<br />
Also: Head over to Facebook and join the brand-new Heretic Happy Hour group we've started. It's already attracted over 450 people but there's room for a few more.<br />
<br />
This podcast is something I'm very excited about. I do hope you'll take some time to listen and to interact as well.<br />
<br />
We've even set up a Heretic Hotline where you can call us and leave a voice mail message (which we might play on an upcoming podcast episode] or text us a message or question.<br />
<br />
The Heretic Hotline number is: <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">(240) 3-HERESY or </span><a class="contentLink" href="tel:240-343-7379" rel="noreferrer" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #888888; cursor: pointer; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">(240) 343-7379</a><br />
<br />
Our first 3 episodes are:<br />
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1) Heresy Is In The Eye of the Beholder<br />
2) Is Total Agreement Necessary for Unity?<br />
3) What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?<br />
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Future episodes are:<br />
<br />
4) How Other Religions Compare To Christianity<br />
5) Discovering Christ in Non-Christian Places<br />
6) Can We Know God Without the Bible?<br />
<br />
and more to come!<br />
<br />
Thanks for your support!<br />
<br />
-kg<br />
<br />
<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-70805398935216794252017-09-22T11:28:00.001-07:002017-09-22T11:28:10.680-07:00Knowing Jesus Without Your Bible<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQVRGWnD03V-9uLBPBKLDG3CFCK1OyirUgGeI1CNtwdpVMTVhe3j3Yt7ObK-8AcF27l432qyDTWdXv8LarLeVfNhrwYiRKXUhjZ17MZPcxaUPoxr8yJpLKHjvsx1oPed3k6f4/s1600/jesus+children.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="750" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQVRGWnD03V-9uLBPBKLDG3CFCK1OyirUgGeI1CNtwdpVMTVhe3j3Yt7ObK-8AcF27l432qyDTWdXv8LarLeVfNhrwYiRKXUhjZ17MZPcxaUPoxr8yJpLKHjvsx1oPed3k6f4/s320/jesus+children.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
In my previous post I asked the question: "<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/09/if-no-one-had-bible.html">What if no one had a Bible?"</a><br />
<br />
The point of asking that question was to get us to consider what our faith would be like without depending upon what others wrote 2,000 years ago about their experiences of Jesus.<br />
<br />
Instead, I hoped to inspire us to consider that our faith is based on our own experiences of Jesus - today.<br />
<br />
Some people misunderstood that. Maybe it was my fault? If so, I apologize.<br />
<br />
<b>But let me make it crystal clear: The Bible leads us to Jesus. But what we do with Jesus after that is the most important thing of all.</b><br />
<br />
People often tell me that we couldn't know anything about Jesus or God without the Bible.<br />
<br />
But <a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-scriptures-are-clear-bible-is-not.html">the Bible contradicts that.</a> <a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/08/reading-scripture-through-lens-of-christ.html">Over </a>and <a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/08/10-reasons-why-jesus-surpasses-law-and.html">over again.</a><br />
<br />
What the Bible tells us is that we can know Jesus, and the Father, directly, personally and immediately at this very moment. [So, if you really believe the Bible, then do what the Bible says; connect with God yourself. Don't just read about Him - know Him and listen to Him and follow Him and learn to love Him more every day].<br />
<br />
I've <a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/08/from-secondhand-to-firsthand-faith.html">already written</a> about this fact <a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-problem-with-saying-bible-is-word.html">several times</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>So, if someone took your Bibles away, you would still have Jesus. </b><br />
<br />
If every Bible on earth was suddenly destroyed, you and I would still hear His voice.<br />
<br />
If no one ever read the Bible again, God would still be alive and moving and speaking and revealing Himself through His Spirit, and through His people, and through nature, and art, and music, and circumstances.<br />
<br />
However, if your faith would be hopelessly empty without the Bible, then you just might have a much bigger problem. Maybe you don't actually have a relationship with God? Maybe you've only focused on reading a book and learning information about God, but you've not exactly come to know that God in any real way yet?<br />
<br />
If so, then I most certainly recommend setting your Bible aside. Get to know Jesus. Spend time alone with Him. Talk to Him. Listen to His voice. Practice an awareness of His presence. Reading more Bible verses will not help you encounter Him. In fact, it just might postpone any deeper experiences with Jesus you might have.<br />
<br />
You've read about God. You know information about Jesus. That's great. But now it's time to meet Him and to know Him in a deeper way.<br />
<br />
God is not the Bible. The Bible is not God.<br />
<br />
Yes, the Bible is a wonderful blessing to us all. We should be very grateful for it. But Jesus transcends and eclipses the Bible in every possible way. He is not bound by a book. He is not constricted into syllables and sentences. He is not captured on a page.<br />
<br />
By asking the question: "What if no one had a Bible?" I am inviting you to consider moving on to phase 2 of your life in Christ.<br />
<br />
Look up from the page long enough to listen for His still small voice.<br />
<br />
Close the book long enough to walk with Him today.<br />
<br />
Put the Bible back on the shelf long enough to put what you've read about into practice.<br />
<br />
You can always come back to it later. But sometimes you need to take off the training wheels and learn to balance yourself if you really hope to enter the race.<br />
<br />
I'll meet you at the top of the hill.<br />
<br />
-kg<br />
<br />
**<br />
FOR FURTHER READING:<br />
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-problem-with-saying-bible-is-word.html"><br /></a>
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-problem-with-saying-bible-is-word.html">The Problem With Saying The Bible Is The Word of God</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/06/why-i-love-word-of-god.html">Why I Love the Word of God</a><br />
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-word-of-god-and-bible.html"><br /></a>
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-word-of-god-and-bible.html">The Word of God and the Bible</a><br />
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/07/5-times-jesus-contradicted-old-testament.html"><br /></a>
<a href="http://subversive1.blogspot.com/2017/07/5-times-jesus-contradicted-old-testament.html">Five Times Jesus Contradicted The Old Testament</a><br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-24574618222242670562017-09-21T13:52:00.002-07:002017-09-21T13:52:37.541-07:00If No One Had A Bible<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzelqf_srDzrmCNuU_akTKybPW9IT4VaTnCGaQ_JjN5HQQm-6vle1dL0-dSoj85Xgvg_6EJf1dqX0tG0_RT3f4EbrGfny6VvTvOXEOGcqOzIp-bd96PLRczBmujUzwynJ_JC9_/s1600/no+bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="963" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzelqf_srDzrmCNuU_akTKybPW9IT4VaTnCGaQ_JjN5HQQm-6vle1dL0-dSoj85Xgvg_6EJf1dqX0tG0_RT3f4EbrGfny6VvTvOXEOGcqOzIp-bd96PLRczBmujUzwynJ_JC9_/s320/no+bible.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Try to imagine it: No Bibles anywhere. No King James. No NIV. Not even a paperback copy of "The Message".<br />
<br />
What would that be like?<br />
<br />
Regardless of how such a thing might happen, try to imagine what it would be like to never have access to the Bible - ever again.<br />
<br />
<b>In some ways, I think our world might actually be a better place if no one had a Bible anymore. </b><br />
<br />
Maybe if we didn't depend on a book for everything we'd start to discover an inner desperation and a hunger for a deeper experience of Jesus.<br />
<br />
Not only that, if there were no Bibles, we just might start to value listening to one another share testimonies of Jesus. Especially if there was no more need to hear from the resident Bible expert or scholar talk for an hour every weekend.<br />
<br />
Imagine sitting around your living room with friends and listening to people share what Jesus was saying or doing in their lives that week. Imagine someone closing their eyes and quoting verses about how nothing can separate us from the love of God, or about how Jesus died for us while we were still enemies of God?<br />
<br />
Don't you think this might help us to connect with one another - and with Jesus - more directly?<br />
<br />
Maybe I'm the only one, but the more I think about this the more convinced I am that we might just be better off without our Bibles.<br />
<br />
Now, I get it. I'm talking about what it would be like to first learn what the Bible says and study it and memorize it before experiencing those words in a deeper and more intimate way.<br />
<br />
But, what if we only had our memories of scripture to sustain us? What if we could only pass on to our children the verses that really spoke deeply to us? What verses would we choose?<br />
<br />
Probably verses where Jesus says, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do" and "Love one another as I have loved you" would dominate your memory.<br />
<br />
Perhaps you'd want your children to remember certain Parables that Jesus shared, like the Prodigal Son, or the Treasure in the Field or the Sower of Seeds.<br />
<br />
Chances are you probably wouldn't find it all that crucial to memorize verses where God commanded His people to slaughter every man, woman and child and warned them not to show any compassion while doing so. You might leave behind the verses about how blessed those people are who dash infants against the rocks.<br />
<br />
That, to me, would be a very good thing.<br />
<br />
If all we had left was Jesus and our memories of scriptures that really touched us and profoundly changed us, that wouldn't be so bad.<br />
<br />
What do you think?<br />
<br />
-kg<br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-47653364423083578782017-09-12T11:27:00.001-07:002017-09-12T11:27:48.939-07:00All I Really Know<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbJwVM955JgWoMbizSUIk5GQvncQlMCPmcCmiSb4fqkOG26FURE6uihJ_ZvDgSfKgSzS767ijSasSQjIfsjpANGqPPI2IsasRvSrYiwmCLPw26PZJep-AvgPzLV1Vlq-chVvO/s1600/GOD+IS+GOOD+AND+LOVES+YOU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="136" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbJwVM955JgWoMbizSUIk5GQvncQlMCPmcCmiSb4fqkOG26FURE6uihJ_ZvDgSfKgSzS767ijSasSQjIfsjpANGqPPI2IsasRvSrYiwmCLPw26PZJep-AvgPzLV1Vlq-chVvO/s1600/GOD+IS+GOOD+AND+LOVES+YOU.jpg" /></a></div>
<div>
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Learning to discern the voice of God is challenging, and we don't always get it right. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sometimes we get it very, very wrong, in fact. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In those moments it can be difficult to maintain our trust in Him because we can assume that He misled us, especially when we had our hopes in whatever we felt like He promised us.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The most challenging time for our family was when Wendy had a dream that she was pregnant with twins. She was standing in our back yard working with her flowers and she felt like she was having a miscarriage. Her first thought was, "Oh no. I'm losing this baby" but immediately she heard the Lord say to her in her dream: "Don't say this baby will die if I say it will live."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A few weeks later she realized she was actually pregnant. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A few weeks after that she started to lose the baby.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
People came over to our house and prayed over her. They affirmed what she had heard in her dream; that this child would not die but live. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, we held on tight to those promises, and especially to this dream which God had given to her long before she even realized she was pregnant.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But then we lost the baby.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's hard to describe the sense of loss and betrayal we felt.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
How could God do this? Why would He give us such a specific dream and promise of life and then take it away from us? Was God being cruel? Was He playing with us? Didn't He know how we would have interpreted that dream and that promise that the child would not die but live?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There were no answers then, only questions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We grieved. We cried. We wrestled with our doubts. We struggled to hang on to our faith in God's goodness.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Over time we began to look at all of this through another lens. Wendy had another dream later on that suggested that our daughter was indeed alive and in the presence of Jesus. She took comfort knowing that we would see her - and the other 5 children we had miscarried - one day soon.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But that experience led us to reassess the way we interpreted God's voice. Not everything was easy to discern. Not every word was to be taken at face value.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In other words, we weren't so sure about what we knew anymore. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I recently shared this story with someone and they asked me what to do when you know that God has told you something but you're still struggling with doubts?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After thinking about how to respond I had to say this: "The list of things I 'know' is pretty short these days. I can only say that God is good and He loves me. Beyond that, I can't honestly say I "know" anything."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This is where we are. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our confidence in anything other than God's goodness and love for us is up for grabs. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But because we know that we are loved by a God who is good, we can handle anything else that comes our way.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Like the man who said to Jesus, "I believe. Help my unbelief!" or Peter who said, "Lord, where can we go? You have the words of life", we can only hold tight to Him, even if we don't always understand what He is doing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, hold fast to these simple truths: God is good. He loves you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anything else is subject to change.</div>
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<div>
-kg</div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-83515581303387637512017-09-02T02:15:00.000-07:002017-09-02T02:15:03.227-07:00BIBLE-BELIEVING CHRISTIANS? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dSkePX1GyrAksuwp-o_CBULgjfrmrwOx670T1uKv5WXj0jioVOyVonD4FHGgU_cRx_nC5r2YvDkGeDVcY0vVrm178kL_5HXtd6DDFeLe4j5TSRgfIBfXYCRYQA0SR3ITWRP3/s1600/holy+bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_dSkePX1GyrAksuwp-o_CBULgjfrmrwOx670T1uKv5WXj0jioVOyVonD4FHGgU_cRx_nC5r2YvDkGeDVcY0vVrm178kL_5HXtd6DDFeLe4j5TSRgfIBfXYCRYQA0SR3ITWRP3/s320/holy+bible.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The more I talk to Christians the more I start to notice how
often certain phrases reveal a belief system that’s just under the surface.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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For example, the other day I shared something on Facebook
about an infamously anti-Christian celebrity who had posted a video on their
wall which suggested they might possibly have turned to Christ. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Some people were genuinely excited that this man may have
found faith in Christ. </div>
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Most, however, were angry that I had shared the video at
all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Still others doubted the legitimacy of the man’s conversion because
he was not a "Bible-believing Christian” and that got me thinking about another
famous person who wasn’t “Bible-believing” but most certainly was a
Jesus-follower.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gandhi, who would never have called himself a “Christian”
and most certainly not a “Bible-believer,” was a Jesus-follower. By that I
mean, for the last several years of his life he read the Sermon on the Mount
every day and tried to put it into practice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What would you call someone who did that? Possibly not a “Bible-believing
Christian” but at the very least, a “Jesus-follower” would be an accurate description.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p>Now, I'm not saying that Gandhi was a Christian, or even that he placed any faith in Jesus beyond the the teachings he read in the Sermon on the Mount. </o:p></div>
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But, the funny thing is, I hardly know any “Bible-believing
Christians” who read the Sermon on the Mount every day and then try to live it
out in their daily lives.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Do you?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b>I think we should be more alarmed at the fact that there are
apparently many more “Bible-believing Christians” in the world who don’t read the
words of Jesus daily or try to put His teachings into practice.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Isn’t this exactly what Jesus was talking about when he
rebuked the Pharisees saying:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span class="woj"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“You search the Scriptures because you think that
in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,</span></span><span class="woj"></span><b><sup style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span id="en-ESV-26239" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"> </span></span></span></sup></b><span class="woj"><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">yet you
refuse to come to me that you may have life.</span></span></i><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>“</i> [John 5:39-40]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It’s not in the Bible that we find life. We only find life in
Christ. He is the One we need to go to and follow if we want eternal life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Maybe we need to move beyond the idea of "Bible-believing Christianity" towards a "Jesus-following Christianity"?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Because believing in something is worthless if you're not actually putting it into practice in your daily life. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><i>"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." </i>[James 1:22]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p>We need more Jesus-followers and less Bible-believers.</o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p>Who's with me?</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">-kg</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-22960487362836700572017-09-01T02:20:00.000-07:002017-09-01T02:20:17.567-07:00The Authority of Scripture?<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3GThVYAgNapbvHaPId3MTTA4V39inowGegfdgX_3autpZGC-r5uhzsC2O1LNIEy1V8S5GjQktUJnMJIM3T6OegZsRou-bmz1JSwv3O7fR8K1oMcV0_ij_Q2UmVCcMOfHfpDJ/s1600/AUTHORITY+BLOG.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1381" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3GThVYAgNapbvHaPId3MTTA4V39inowGegfdgX_3autpZGC-r5uhzsC2O1LNIEy1V8S5GjQktUJnMJIM3T6OegZsRou-bmz1JSwv3O7fR8K1oMcV0_ij_Q2UmVCcMOfHfpDJ/s320/AUTHORITY+BLOG.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>“When [LGBTQ-affirming Christians] tell me that I am wrong for
saying that [homosexuality] is a sin, in the simplicity of my faith in the Holy
Scriptures, I point him to this sacred record [the Bible], and tell him, in all
candor, as my text does, that his teaching blasphemes the name of God and His
doctrine.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 4.5pt 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"“The tree of [affirming homosexuality and transgenderism]
is evil and only evil…[it] is nourished by an utter rejection of the
Scriptures.</i>”</span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> – Rev. Henry Van Dyke<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 4.5pt 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin: 4.5pt 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Many </span><span class="textexposedshow"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Christians
today would agree whole-heartedly with Pastor Van Dyke's statements here. But
keep in mind that what he was actually defending here was slavery and his
opponents were Abolitionists. Still, his position in favor of slave-holding was
very strongly supported by the Holy Scriptures. One cannot deny that he was
right about the fact that the Bible did not condemn slaveholding outright.</span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">But we cannot miss the fact that it is more than
possible for someone to be Biblically-correct about something and still be
very, very wrong at the same time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">The struggle for many of us is
that we have been told for so long that we need to be
"Biblically-minded" that we have forgotten that this same Bible
teaches us to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd and affirms that we have
the mind of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Furthermore, the same Bible also
teaches us to love extravagantly - as Christ has loved us - which was
unconditionally and before we did anything to change our minds about Him, or
how we live.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Here are Van Dykes actual
comments about Abolitionists made in 1860:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;"><i>“The tree of Abolition is evil
and only evil…[it] is nourished by an utter rejection of the Scriptures....When
the Abolitionist tells me that slaveholding is sin, in the simplicity of my
faith in the Holy Scriptures, I point him to this sacred record, and tell him,
in all candor, as my text does, that his teaching blasphemes the name of God
and His doctrine.”</i>-– Rev. Henry Van Dyke (1860), “The Character and Influence
of Abolitionism” (sermon), p.11.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Now, l</span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">isten to what pro-slavery
Christians said in the 1800’s about Abolitionists and substitute the topic of
homosexuality and you’ll see that the arguments used today are exactly the
same:</span></div>
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<i>“[Opponents of slavery] decide a priori [in advance] what
the Bible ought to speak, and then turn it over in order to see how they can
make it speak what they wish…When Moses speaks the words of the God of the Hebrews,
it is for us to listen, not to call into question.”</i> – Bernard Whitman (1831),
Two Letters to the Rev. Moses Stuart: On the Subject of Religious Liberty”, p.
30-42.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“If the present course of the abolitionists is right, then
the course of Christ and the apostles were wrong.”</i> – Charles Hodge (1860), “Bible
Argument on Slavery” in E.N. Elliott’s “Cotton Is King”, p. 849.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“The tree of Abolition is evil and only evil…[it] is
nourished by an utter rejection of the Scriptures.”</i> – Rev. Henry Van Dyke (1860),
“The Character and Influence of Abolitionism” (sermon), p.11.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“Those who oppose slavery are engaged in willful or
conscious opposition to the truth…Who are we, that in our modern wisdom presume
to set aside the Word of God, and…invent for ourselves a ‘higher law’ that
those holy Scriptures which are given to us as ‘a light to our feet and a lamp
to our paths’ must answer?”</i>- Episcopal Bishop
John Henry Hopkins (1864), “Scriptural, Ecclesiastical, and Historical View of
Slavery.”, p.16<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Those who opposed slavery [the Abolitionists] had very little
scriptural support for their position, but they were on the side of Christ all
the same. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why is it so hard for us today to see that there are times when
we need to listen to the mind of Christ and the voice of the Good Shepherd in
order to fulfill the law of love?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">As Henry Brinton said recently: </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;"><i>“An answer based only on
Biblical quotations may put us on the side of Southern theologians who
supported slavery and lost their way.” </i>[Quoted from CNN, Oct. 15, 2014] [John
Blake, “How the Bible Was Used To Justify Slavery, Abolitionism.”]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sometimes, to obey Jesus we might have to admit that the Bible falls
short. In those cases, we must cling tightly to the Good Shepherd and remember
His command:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;"><i>“Love one another as I have loved you.” – <b>Jesus</b></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Today, almost no Christian would argue in favor of slavery, in
spite of the fact that it is quite “Biblical.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">So, the question of “authority” immediately comes to mind. Some
argue for the inerrant and infallible authority of Scripture as the rule for a
Christian’s life. But others, like me, suggest instead that our authority is
Christ and that it is still the Holy Spirit who cries out to the Body of Christ
today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sadly, many of us will not, or cannot, listen because we are
convinced that our Bibles – and only our Bibles – have authority over us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Are we willing to submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit? Are we
courageous enough to allow Jesus to be our guide?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">Keep in mind that the Bible never holds itself up as our final
authority. Instead, the Bible points us to Jesus and reminds us that He is the
Head of the Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">In the words of our Abba Father who thundered from heaven, <i>“This
is my Son. Listen to Him!”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.5pt;">-kg<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-46811938802044522062017-08-31T02:10:00.000-07:002017-08-31T02:10:08.326-07:00The Schizophrenic God of Inerrancy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnFJZ99Yz2Tb1uXq2djNmJISEEGMYUMvSrcojLgR_qW0f5FeRj2qsIWEZC6idRm52t9r6fWyyjAD4eqAFx5r6UA-fao6qoBnO8NIGySofmJ3lOz_o2AT8Ihc71YFgWnr3HTgp/s1600/weird+strange+face+shizo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJnFJZ99Yz2Tb1uXq2djNmJISEEGMYUMvSrcojLgR_qW0f5FeRj2qsIWEZC6idRm52t9r6fWyyjAD4eqAFx5r6UA-fao6qoBnO8NIGySofmJ3lOz_o2AT8Ihc71YFgWnr3HTgp/s320/weird+strange+face+shizo+1.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>
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For those who embrace – even insist – on the inerrancy and
infallibility of the Bible, there emerges a very odd version of a God who
simply cannot make up His mind about things.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As an example, the infallible Scriptures are 100 percent
clear about the fact that God causes evil and creates disasters:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>“When disaster [literally “evil”] comes to a city, has not
the Lord caused it?” [Amos 3:6]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity
and create disaster [“evil”]; I the Lord, do all these things.” [Isaiah 45:7]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“The LORD said to him, "Who gave human beings their
mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind?
Is it not I, the LORD?” [Exodus 4:11]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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These verses, and several others like them, affirm without
any doubt that God is the one who brings disaster, creates evil and makes
people deaf and blind. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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This is an inerrant and infallible statement of fact
supported by an equally infallible and inerrant Holy Bible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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However, there are other scriptures that contradict these
ideas and instead say:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>"God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at
all" [1 John 1:5]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“His works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A
faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” [Deut. 32:4]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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Jesus also affirmed that it was Satan who came to “steal,
kill and destroy,” not God. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>So, taking all of these infallible and inerrant verses
together, we know without a doubt that God does no wrong, and doesn’t destroy
or kill, but that He most certainly brings evil, creates darkness and hands out
birth defects.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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We also know that God was the one who commanded David to
take a census and then punished 70,000 people by killing them with a plague
when David obeyed. [See 2 Sam.24:1]<o:p></o:p></div>
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At the same time, we clearly see that it was Satan who incited
David to take a census, not God. [See 1 Chronicles 21:1]<o:p></o:p></div>
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We also know that God never tempts anyone to do evil [See
James 1:13].</div>
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<b>So clearly these inerrant and infallible verses tell us that God,
and Satan, both commanded David to take a census and then God punished David
and his people for giving in to the temptation which God never tempted him
with.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Does that make sense to you?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Try this one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and
increase in number, so it will please Him to ruin and destroy you.” [Deut.
28:63]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no
pleasure in the death of the wicked!” [Ezekiel 33:11]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b>So, God is pleased to destroy His people, but He takes no
pleasure in their death.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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One more.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>“I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children
for the sins of the fathers.” [Exodus 20:5; Deut. 5:9]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will
no longer quote this proverb in Israel…he will not die for his father’s sin; he
will surely live, but his father will die for his own sin…the son will not share
the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.”
[Ezekiel 18:3;17-19]<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<b>Clearly, according to these inerrant and infallible verses
of scripture, God punishes children for the sins of their fathers, but a son
will not die for his father’s sins, nor share the guilt of his father, nor will
the father share the guilt of his son.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Got it?<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you do, please explain it to the rest of us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All I can see is that there are competing voices in the
scriptures. Some prophets see God one way – <i>causing evil, creating birth
defects and punishing sons for the sins of their fathers</i> – and other prophets
see God a different way – <i>not causing evil or tempting people, or punishing
sons for their father’s sins and taking no pleasure in the death of anyone.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Those who insist on an inerrant scripture ignore these
discrepancies, or turn somersaults to make each contradictory statement true while
ignoring the very obvious fact: <i>The voices we hear in scripture are not
infallible, nor inerrant. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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So, what can we do about these verses? How can we discern which
ones speak truthfully about God’s character and which verses miss the mark?<o:p></o:p></div>
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According to Paul, <i>“The person with the Spirit makes
judgments about all things”</i> [1 Cor. 2:15] and while quoting Isaiah’s rhetorical question
<i>“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him!?”</i> [Isa. 4:13]
responds shockingly: <i>“But we have the mind of Christ!”</i> [v. 17]<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, who dares to challenge and question the scriptures? <o:p></o:p></div>
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We do!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why? </div>
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Because we have the mind of Christ. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Paul even reminds us that we will judge angels [1 Cor. 6:3];
and who are “angels” but “messengers from God”? [The word "angel" in scripture is literally translated as "messenger of God"]<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do we have an obligation to read the Scriptures through the
lens of Jesus and with the mind of Christ? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Absolutely!</div>
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Otherwise we are left with a schizophrenic God who is both
good and evil, who is both tempting and never-tempting, who both creates birth defects
and heals them, who delights in destruction and takes no pleasure in it, etc.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is God the author of confusion? </div>
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No.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is God the one who is confused about who He is and what He
does, or could it be that those who wrote about Him prior to Christ couldn’t
see Him as clearly as we do now?<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. There is
no clearer picture of Him than this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The only way to know God any better is to know Jesus. The more you come to know Him, the more you can clearly see through the mind of Christ what God is like.<o:p></o:p></div>
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-kg<o:p></o:p></div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-13224142587283309642017-08-30T02:07:00.000-07:002017-08-30T02:07:18.334-07:00LITERAL HERETICS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92HIxdT20IDQEHEfrcYLvYlZeM9QYyclABcQ6DadHfBiDcDAI7v1jyLVFRkNTSrJowOISH_Xj2Ynsx5denbOCblQPwCk_Zg2ZPdN9qBUVHH33cNm5icTK5lRheDnWjJuDj4du/s1600/BIBLE_MISSION.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="604" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92HIxdT20IDQEHEfrcYLvYlZeM9QYyclABcQ6DadHfBiDcDAI7v1jyLVFRkNTSrJowOISH_Xj2Ynsx5denbOCblQPwCk_Zg2ZPdN9qBUVHH33cNm5icTK5lRheDnWjJuDj4du/s320/BIBLE_MISSION.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
The first real "heretic" of Christianity was a man named "Marcion" who saw the radical difference between the God of the Old Testament scriptures and the God revealed by Jesus.<br />
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But this was not his heresy. In fact, many -if not all- early Christians also saw this same radical difference between the two testimonies of God's nature.<br />
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What's more, all of those early Christians also rejected the violence of God in the Old Testament scriptures and fully embraced the radical enemy-love taught by Jesus.<br />
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There are no dissenting voices in the early Christian church when it comes to non-violence and enemy love whatsoever.<br />
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So, what was Marcion's heresy? It was his solution for responding to the differing perspectives of God between those two Testaments that got him labeled a heretic.<br />
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Marcion's solution was to literally throw out the entire Old Covenant and to claim that the God revealed in those Hebrew scriptures was actually a demon.<br />
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[Now, that's a heresy!]<br />
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When another early Church Father wrote to rebuke Marcion's extreme response, it was not to dismiss the idea that there were obvious differences between the way God was viewed in the two Covenants.<br />
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In fact, Origen agreed with Marcion that there were differences between God as Moses and the other Prophets spoke of Him and the "Abba" Father God as revealed through Jesus.<br />
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The most surprising thing about Origen's rebuke of Marcion was that he realized that the heresy was rooted in one thing: Reading the Bible literally.<br />
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The reason that is so surprising - even ironic - is that there are Christians today who insist on reading the Bible literally and yet still consider Marcion a heretic.<br />
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In other words, today's Bible Literalists see Marcionism as a heresy even though the sin of Marcionism is specifically defined by Origen as reading the Bible too literally.<br />
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What they miss is that no one considered Marcionism a heresy for claiming that Jesus was right about who God was and what God looked like.<br />
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Every early Christian embraced that idea. All of them.<br />
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The idea that Jesus was - and is - the clearest picture anyone could ever have of God was universally accepted by the early Christian Church.<br />
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This was not heresy. It was Christianity.<br />
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Origen agreed with Marcion that a literal view of God as seen in the Old Testament scriptures "would not be entertained regarding the most unjust and cruel of men" and went on to say:<br /><br />
"Holy Scripture is not understood by [Marcion] according to its spiritual, but according to its literal meaning" [<i>De Principiis</i>, Origen, 4.8-9]<br />
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In other words, Marcion went off the rails because he read the Bible too literally. By reading the Bible literally, Marcion could not reconcile the God of Moses - who commanded genocide and delighted in the dashing of infants against the rocks - and the God of Jesus - who showed love and mercy to the just and the unjust and forgave sinners freely.<br />
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Therefore, Marcion could only do one thing: He jettisoned the entire Hebrew Bible and rejected the God he read about there as a demonic aberration of Jesus' "Abba" Father God.<br />
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But, as Origen and the other Church Fathers demonstrated, there is a better way than this.<br />
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Instead of taking everything we read in the Old Testament about God as a literal fact - as if those words are dictated by God and transcribed by dispassionate observers with no bias of their own - we should read those scriptures through the lens of Jesus.<br />
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Jesus is our best and most accurate testament of who God really is.<br />
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Rejecting Marcionism needs to include a rejection of a literal reading of the Old Testament scriptures.<br />
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-kg<br />
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NOTE: Special thanks to Derek Flood's book "Disarming Scripture" for a comparison of Origen and Marcion.<br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-53245773675641244532017-08-29T02:28:00.000-07:002017-08-29T02:28:11.896-07:00HERETICS LIKE PAUL<br />
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If you and I read the Old Testament scriptures the way Paul the Apostle did, we'd be called heretics.<br />
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For example, if you read Psalm 18:40-49, the passage is all about how God will destroy the Gentiles and pour out His vengeance on them:<br />
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<i>"I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the Lord, but he did not answer.<br /></i><div>
<i>"I beat them as fine as windblown dust; I trampled them like mud in the streets.<br />You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations.<br />People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me;<br /> as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. They all lose heart;<br /> they come trembling from their strongholds.</i><div>
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<i>"The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!<br />He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies.<br />You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me.<br /></i></div>
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<i>"Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;<br /> I will sing the praises of your name."</i><br /><br /><br />It's pretty gruesome stuff, to be honest. </div>
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But notice how Paul the Apostle quotes - or rather heavily<i> misquotes </i>- this text in Romans 15:9:</div>
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"<i>For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:</i></div>
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<i><strike>"I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them— to the Lord, but he did not answer.<br /></strike></i></div>
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<i><strike> "I beat them as fine as windblown dust; I trampled them like mud in the streets.<br />You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations.<br />People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me;<br />as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. They all lose heart;<br />they come trembling from their strongholds.</strike></i><div>
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<i><strike>"The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!<br />He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies.<br />You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me.</strike><br /></i></div>
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<i>"Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;<br />I will sing the praises of your name."</i></div>
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Wait. Seriously? </div>
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This is what you call "taking scripture out of context" my friends.</div>
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Paul completely takes a passage about how God will take vengeance on the Gentiles and destroy them and (mis)quotes it as a way to prove that God is actually glorified for showing <i>mercy</i> to the Gentiles.</div>
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Trust me: No Christian pastor or Bible teacher would ever get away with anything so irresponsible as this today.</div>
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And this is not the only example. Oh, no.</div>
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Paul does it again in the very next verse of Romans 15:10 when he radically misquotes Deuteronomy 32:43 like this:</div>
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"Again it says, 'Rejoice O Gentiles, with His people, <strike>for He will avenge the blood of His servants, He will take vengeance on His enemies, and make atonement for His land and people."</strike> </div>
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Uh....yeah. Ok, then.</div>
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What's going on here? How can Paul do such a thing? <br /><br />Is he trying to pull a fast one? Hardly. </div>
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Instead, Paul is reading the Old Testament scriptures through the lens of Christ. He starts by knowing who God is - who He really is - by looking at Jesus.</div>
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In Christ, Paul can clearly see that the Father is NOT a God of vengeance and wrath. He understands that Jesus has subverted that Old Covenant idea of God and revealed to us a God who shows mercy, loves everyone and redeems even His enemies.</div>
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See, there was a time when Paul went by the name "Saul of Tarsus" and he went around doing what any good Pharisee did - he persecuted anyone who dared to question the authority of Scripture.</div>
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In fact, it was in the act of persecuting the Christian church that Jesus showed up, knocked him off his ass [literally] and opened Paul's eyes to the truth: God wasn't pleased with violence. </div>
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Paul experienced mercy and forgiveness from the very people he was trying to murder. He heard the Gospel of Peace for the first time and very soon he came to realize that God was not who he thought He was. </div>
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After this, Paul counted all of that scriptural "expertise" as manure and devoted himself to one thing: "to know Christ and the power of His resurrection" [Phil. 3:10]</div>
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Why would Paul do that? Why is it so important to "know Christ"?</div>
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Because without Christ, you and I cannot see God. There is a veil that covers our eyes if we try to understand the Scriptures without reading them through the lens of Jesus. [See 2 Cor. 3:15]</div>
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This is why Paul could now read violent passages in the Hebrew Scriptures and dismiss them as the flawed perspectives of men who had yet to know Christ as he had now come to know Him.</div>
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By knowing Christ, Paul could now clearly see who the "Abba" Father God really was: A God who looked and acted like Jesus.</div>
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As long as we continue to follow the letter of the Law, we will reap death. [Romans 7:10]</div>
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Paul and the other Apostles invite us to see God through brand new eyes: The eyes of Jesus.</div>
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Through Him, we can clearly see a God who refuses to beat His children. </div>
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We, instead, see an Abba who longs to draw everyone to Himself and transform each of us into people who look and act like Jesus.</div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">"For the law was given through Moses; </span><b style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">grace</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">and</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><b style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">truth </b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"></span><b style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">came</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <b>through Jesus Christ."</b> [John 1:17]</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>NOTE: Special thanks to Derek Flood for pointing out Paul's Christ-like hermeneutic in his book "Disarming Scripture".</i></span></span></div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-20829670022707133192017-08-28T09:25:00.001-07:002017-08-28T09:25:24.951-07:00BEING CHURCH IN TENT CITY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our house church family met yesterday at Tent City - a homeless encampment of around 300 people that has grown up in the shadow of Angel Stadium, only a few blocks from my house.<br />
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We brought hot coffee, muffins, danishes and cold water bottles to share with our new friends who call this makeshift town their home.<br />
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The first new friend we met was "Fernie." He had matted hair that covered his face in dreadlocks so that only his eyes were visible if you looked through all the hair. He was wearing a pair of shorts, with no shoes or shirt, standing on the sidewalk as we made our way to the Tent City.<br />
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We said "hello" and offered him coffee and a some breakfast. He politely replied and graciously accepted all we had to share with him. He was soft-spoken, clear-headed, and grateful.<br />
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Next, we met "Gilbert" who allowed us to pray for him and his wife and kids.<br />
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The next tent we visited was home for "Angie" and "Ariana" who also received prayer along with their coffee and muffins. Several people in our house church had very specific words of encouragement for Angie regarding her son who was not with her. She wiped away tears as we prayed for her and her son and both thanked us for our prayers and our reminder that God loved them both so much.<br />
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We met "Sharon" who asked for prayer for her foot which was in great pain. After we prayed for her, "Paul," her neighbor, asked us for help finding the bus routes that she could take to go to a hospital that he had scouted out for her earlier. He was very concerned for her and talked at length with us about his ideas and vision to start a homeless non-profit.<br />
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One of our sisters took ice from the cooler, dropped it into a ziplock bag and placed it on Sharon's ankle which also helped take away the pain.<br />
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We met and prayed for a half dozen others and heard their stories: Like "Raya" who simply radiated the joy and the presence of Jesus and shared with us about what the Lord was doing in her life and how He was leading her and giving her great ideas for starting a new business so she could move out of tent city. We also heard her share about her four kids who were all very successful and blessed in everything they were pursuing - and her joy was evident as she told us about each of them.<br />
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After about half an hour of sharing coffee, water and muffins - and praying for our new friends at Tent City, we headed under the overpass to worship in the shade.<br />
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We had invited everyone to join us, but only one person - "Gilbert" - came out of his tent and came and sat beside us as we sang "Reckless Love" and "There Is No Striving" at the top of our lungs in the shade of that overpass.<br />
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One young man who was visiting with us for the very first time was sitting next to Gilbert and he started to talk to him during worship. Soon they were praying together and eventually we saw Gilbert and our visitor hugging and crying and rejoicing together as we sang.<br />
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Afterward, we all drove over to a local Indian restaurant and shared lunch together - and talked about all the amazing people we met, and how they had blessed us so much.<br />
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Wendy and I glanced at one another several times during that morning and smiled to each other. We were both so blessed to see and experience Jesus in our house church in this way.<br />
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There is now such a deep and sincere love for Jesus in our house church family now. That love has spilled out of us and is now bursting forth in expressions of love for the outcast, the homeless, the forgotten and the broken.<br />
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It is so beautiful. My heart can barely contain all the joy and wonder. Jesus is so alive in us and so real to all of us. We are truly experiencing the heart of Jesus together. He is abiding in us and moving through us to touch people - and transform us - in so many awesome ways.<br />
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We are overwhelmed in His presence.<br />
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Yesterday, sitting under that overpass, worshipping Jesus with my church family, I was overcome with emotion. It was such an honor and a privilege to be the Church in that place and to represent Him to so many beautiful people who are so dearly loved of God.<br />
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This really is the best thing I have ever done with the word "Church" attached to it.<br />
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Halleiuah!<br />
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-kg<br />
<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-27265171578436609452017-08-25T16:17:00.000-07:002017-08-25T16:17:55.656-07:00OLD BEATITUDES VS NEW BEATITUDES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jesus is famous for his list of blessings found in the Sermon on the Mount. You know, "Blessed are the poor for they will inherit the earth" and "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."<br />
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But the Old Testament also contains a few "blessed are" statements which don't always sound quite as beautiful.<br />
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For example, can you imagine Jesus saying something like this: <br />
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<i>"Blessed is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them on the rocks." [Ps 137:8-9]</i><br />
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That's not the sort of thing we would ever expect Jesus to say, is it?<br />
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This is partly why we need to learn how to read the Old Testament scriptures through the lens of Jesus.<br />
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See, before we can understand a text, we first need to understand God - and that means recognizing Him for who He really is.<br />
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The best way to understand God is to look at Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is the one who reveals the Father to us. If we have seen Jesus, then we have truly seen God because no one has ever seen God at any time except for Jesus.<br />
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So, when we read a verse of scripture in the Hebrew Bible that has God saying something like:<br />
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<i>"<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Samaria will be held</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-22283AN" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-22283AN" title="See cross-reference AN">AN</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">guilty, f</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">or she has</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-22283AO" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-22283AO" title="See cross-reference AO">AO</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">rebelled against her God. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">They will fall by the</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-22283AQ" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-22283AQ" title="See cross-reference AQ">AQ</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">sword, t</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">heir little ones will be</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-22283AR" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-22283AR" title="See cross-reference AR">AR</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">dashed in pieces, a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">nd their pregnant</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-22283AS" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-22283AS" title="See cross-reference AS">AS</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">women will be ripped open." [Hosea 13:16]</span></i><br />
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We need to ask ourselves a few questions first, like:<br />
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"Is this what God said?"<br />
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Or, "Is this what the author thought God was saying?"<br />
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Actually, our first question should be: "Does this sound like something Jesus would ever say?"<br />
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If not, we know that the verse we're reading isn't what God said but what the author thought God was saying.<br />
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Because ultimately we have to decide if our faith is in a Book, or if our faith is in Jesus.<br />
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In this specific case, we can see that Jesus showed great love and compassion for people from Samaria. He told parables where the Samaritans were the heroes. He went out of his way to share the Gospel with a Samaritan woman. He refused to look down on Samaritans or to treat them any differently than other people.<br />
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Jesus loved Samaritans. So, we can be 100 percent sure of one thing: Jesus would not encourage anyone to "dash in pieces" their "little ones" or to "rip open" their "pregnant women."<br />
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Not even a little bit.<br />
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There are over 100 verses in the Bible where God reportedly told people to go and kill other people.<br />
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In many of those verses God seems to command people to slaughter women, children and even toddlers and pregnant mothers.<br />
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If you think Jesus would ever do this you might want to refresh your memory a little. He is the same one who told us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, forgive those who hate us, pray for those who misuse us and overcome evil with good.<br />
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In fact, Jesus tells us to do all of these things so that we can be like someone else: His Father in Heaven.<br />
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Yes, our compassion, forgiveness and radical love is patterned after the same love that God has for everyone - both the righteous and the unrighteous.<br />
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<i>"<span class="text Matt-5-44" id="en-NASB-23279" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">But I say to you, <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-23279A" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-23279A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Matt-5-45" id="en-NASB-23280" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><span class="woj" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;">so that you may <span class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NASB-23280a" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NASB-23280a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>be <span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NASB-23280B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NASB-23280B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.625em; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span>sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">the</span> evil and <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">the</span> good, and sends rain on <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">the </span>righteous and <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">the</span> unrighteous." [Matt. 5:44-45]</span></span></i><br />
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If God wasn't kind and merciful to everyone, then Jesus would have no basis for asking us to be like Him by showing love and mercy for our enemies.<br />
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In conclusion: Jesus reveals a God who would rather die for His enemies than kill them. Jesus shows us a God who loves all the people we hate and He wants us to love them, too.<br />
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So, the next time you read a verse in the Bible that depicts God as a bloodthirsty warrior who delights at the slaughter of women, children and pregnant mothers, just remember: That's not Jesus.<br />
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And if it doesn't look like Jesus, it's not the Father.<br />
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-kg<br />
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<br />Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-11634270061259379842017-08-23T02:15:00.000-07:002018-05-16T11:47:11.456-07:00The Problem With Saying The Bible Is The Word Of God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQuU5qKiemnyzogbCaXIa-cmcaST8Nf6qbyxeFRvSJUC3jfggGGf1A1uGdz-UFnmfinm19Z2M80aco_zEaI9OhHdGNf0kr55TMIT0Sn5coFqIw7QlJUped7d5vEwJIyX-sZ7y/s1600/DALLAS+BIBLE+MEME.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQuU5qKiemnyzogbCaXIa-cmcaST8Nf6qbyxeFRvSJUC3jfggGGf1A1uGdz-UFnmfinm19Z2M80aco_zEaI9OhHdGNf0kr55TMIT0Sn5coFqIw7QlJUped7d5vEwJIyX-sZ7y/s320/DALLAS+BIBLE+MEME.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Inevitably, whenever I engage with someone over the issue of
whether or not the Word of God is Jesus or a Book about Jesus, the argument is
always raised that “All scripture is God-breathed” [quoting from 2 Timothy 3:16] and
therefore no one has any authority to question the Bible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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There are more than a few problems with this.<o:p></o:p></div>
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First of all, when Paul wrote those words in 2 Timothy, he
was not thinking of the “Bible” in the same way that you and I might think of
it today. </div>
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To Paul, and to most First Century believers, the “Scriptures” were the Law
and the Prophets and the Books of Wisdom, which would include the Psalms. It
probably also included works that most Protestants today do not consider to be
scripture like the Book of Enoch [which gets quoted in the New Testament book
of Jude] and the Wisdom of Solomon and other Hebrew writings like Sirach and
Tobit, that many considered to be Holy writings.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One thing for certain is that Paul was not thinking of his own epistles when he said this. It must be stressed that Paul did not think that he
was writing Scripture when he wrote to the churches in Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, etc. He thought – correctly – that he was writing letters to
various Christian communities who needed encouragement and wisdom about certain
challenges that threatened their faith.<br />
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He also was most certainly not thinking about any of the four Gospels which were not even written when he said this.</div>
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Yes, we are very blessed to have copies of
some of those epistles, and other Apostolic writings, but none of those people
had any inkling that they were writing something that one day might be added to
a book alongside Genesis, Isaiah or Malachi and considered scripture.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Secondly, the book that eventually became known as the Bible
went through several wildly different forms before finally being Canonized in
the Fourth Century. Before this the church referred to a fluid collection of Hebrew scriptures
and First Century Apostolic writings and the various Gospel accounts for insight. </div>
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In other
words, their idea of scripture looked radically different from ours and, depending on who you were talking
to and what time in Church history, you might be surprised what was considered scripture and what was not.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For example, several New Testament books that every
Protestant today considers an essential part of the Bible were, at various times and
by various Church Fathers, eliminated from the accepted Canon of Scripture.
Books like Esther, Hebrews, Jude, Revelation, 2 Peter, 2 and 3 John and James
were left out of several lists of accepted books of scripture by many church leaders. </div>
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Consequently, many other books
that most Protestants have never even heard of were accepted by some as Canon like the
Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Book of Baruch, Jubilees and the Letter of
Jeremiah, for example.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Sometime around 363 AD several attempts were made to
establish an official and accepted list of which books or epistles were
scripture and which should be eliminated. There was no firm consensus on the
contents of that list for several decades, but eventually a group of Christian
leaders – whose names the average christian does not even know – decided for the rest of us
forevermore which books were to be accepted and which were to be rejected as
scripture.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Today there is still no universal consensus on what is and
what is not the “Bible” or Holy Scripture. </div>
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Like the early church, depending on who you ask, and where
you live, and what Christian tradition you belong to, the book you carry around
and refer to as the Holy Bible might look very different from another book from
another Christian community that might be called the “Bible.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve started to wonder, “How do we know those people who
decided what was and what wasn’t Scripture got it right?” Furthermore, I’ve
started to wonder who gave those men the authority to decide that God was no
longer speaking to His people and inspiring them to write down what the Holy
Spirit was revealing to them about the nature and character of God?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Why do we so blindly accept the authority of these nameless
and faceless men who made these decisions for the rest of us? What if they didn’t
really have the authority to make this decision? What if they left writings
out, or included writings, in error? How are we so sure that they were inerrant
and infallible in their process?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ultimately, for those who insist on inerrancy and
infallibility of scripture, what they are actually trusting in is the perfection of those decisions made by a group of people centuries ago about what was and wasn't worthy to be included in the Bible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Frankly, the canon of Scripture most of us hold to today was
originally compiled and assembled by people that most consider to be heretics
today – namely Marcion and Origen – who were the original compilers of a canon
and the basis for the bulk of what we accept as scripture, respectively. </div>
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If we
reject many of the theological assumptions of Marcion and Origen, why do we
unquestionably accept their judgement regarding what is and what isn’t to be
included in the Holy Bible?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Honestly, I am playing devil’s advocate here in many
respects because I don’t outright reject everything that those two Church
Fathers taught simply because I disagree with some of their theological
conclusions. But for those who <i>do</i> reject those Church Fathers as heretics, I
have to wonder why they have no trouble accepting their respective lists of what is and
what isn’t their Bible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ultimately, it boils down to this: Our Scriptures are a
loose collection of writings by various people throughout history who were
inspired by God to write down what they believed and what they experienced of
God. </div>
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Some of what we may currently accept as Scripture might not actually be
inspired by the Holy Spirit. Some of what we reject, or are simply unaware of
due to obscurity, might actually be worth considering as a legitimate source of
wisdom about God. </div>
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But everything - and I do mean everything - needs to be
filtered through the lens of Christ. If it lines up with our revelation of Him,
we should take it to heart. If it disagrees with the Word of God who became
flesh and came to dwell within us, we should dismiss it as being the flawed
testimony of men.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jesus is our hermeneutic. Jesus is our ultimate authority.
Everything else is subject to Him and His authority.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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<o:p>So, before you claim that the Bible is the Word of God because Paul claimed that "all scripture is God-breathed" be sure to remember that what he considered scripture and what you're currently referring to as scripture are not the same. </o:p></div>
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<o:p>Also, remember that just because something is "God-breathed" doesn't mean it is infallible and inerrant. Humans are also "God-breathed" and we are neither infallible or inerrant. </o:p></div>
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<o:p>Yes, scripture [whatever that might be], "is </o:p>inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness..." but determining how and in what ways scripture is profitable for us is something that must be discerned by the Holy Spirit of God that lives within each and every one of us.</div>
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This should cause each of us to cling more to Jesus and to dive deeper into Christ for wisdom and insight. </div>
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After all, if we abide in Him then we experience Christ abiding in us, and this is the only way any of us can bear fruit.</div>
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Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-81683415447870163352017-08-22T09:49:00.000-07:002017-08-22T09:49:54.405-07:00From New Covenant Theology to Jesus Theology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29oZqDNFgMDmN-bj-FtKl8okBLubr_XcZHSWVQeEr0tEOSUT_epPncM7MztoFm4FEQISL-Hilmpw2Qf5-i1p2K6WIbemBZdX5q62AfLTZi7fr_PzYMwDDGYxQG43CaYGKKJ-B/s1600/jesus+teach+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="226" data-original-width="400" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi29oZqDNFgMDmN-bj-FtKl8okBLubr_XcZHSWVQeEr0tEOSUT_epPncM7MztoFm4FEQISL-Hilmpw2Qf5-i1p2K6WIbemBZdX5q62AfLTZi7fr_PzYMwDDGYxQG43CaYGKKJ-B/s320/jesus+teach+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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New Covenant Theology was the "new thing" a few decades ago and many were called heretics for defending and promoting it.<br />
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Previously, the two main theologies were Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism.<br />
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According to Wikipedia:<br />
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<i>"New Covenant Theology (teaches) that the person and work of Jesus Christ is the central focus of the Bible. One distinctive result of this is that Old Testament Laws have been abrogated or cancelled with Jesus' crucifixion, and replaced with the Law of Christ found in the New Covenant."</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This view also says that: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"The New Testament interpret(s) the Old Testament...when the NT interprets an OT promise </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">differently</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> than the plain reading, then New Covenant Theology concludes that </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">that</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is how God interprets His promise." </span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"As an example, Amos 9:11-12 i</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">s quoted by James in Acts 15 and</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is interpreted by him to associate the rebuilding of "David's fallen tent" with the Gentiles' salvation. This would be a highly surprising interpretation to the Jewish believers, since there is no precedent for it to be interpreted as anything other than a promise to the nation of Israel. (Instead), New Covenant Theology says that God has given us His interpretation of that passage, through James."</span></i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As for me, New Covenant Theology has been my own personal perspective on scripture for a while now. Most of what I have written here on my blog, and in my various books, has been from this perspective. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But lately, my theology has started to progress a bit further than this. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I embraced New Covenant Theology because it affirmed that the Flat Bible perspective is flawed and reorients scripture with Christ as our ultimate authority. But unfortunately it stops short of allowing Jesus to fully reform our ideas about God. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So, while New Covenant Theology (NCT) affirms Christ as the center of scripture, it fails to completely embrace Jesus as our one and only image of who the Father is and what He is really like.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Where NCT falters is in fully admitting that the revelation of the Father found in Jesus is often at odds with what the Old Covenant prophets have to say about Him.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Furthermore, the NCT position also fails to admit that the prophets themselves are often at odds with one another about what God said and what God's character is like. [See, for example the differing statements made in the OT scriptures about whether God did, or did not, command the Israelites to offer animal sacrifices].</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">To help explain this, let me borrow an analogy. There are various answers to the question "Where do babies come from?" and someone might say "the stork brings them" and another might say "when mommy and daddy love each other very much the baby starts to grow in her tummy" and still another might say "the male contributes the sperm which he secretes during sexual intercourse to fertilize the egg which the woman provides and in 9 months the embryo matures into a fetus and a child is born."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Two of those answers might be considered "true", one of them is obviously a story designed to symbolize the reality without actually addressing any of the mechanics, and yet all of them are still an attempt to answer the question about where babies come from.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This is similar to what we have in the Hebrew Bible when it comes to question of what God is like. Some voices give us the "stork" version of the story, with great symbolism and hyperbole. Some voices give us an approximation of the answer. Other voices may give us more detailed and specific answers that more closely align with reality.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">For us, Jesus is the reality. He is "the exact representation" of the Father. He is the one in whom "the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." He is "the Word made flesh who dwelt among us."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So, the best picture of the Father is found in Christ. If we have "seen Him," we have truly and accurately "seen the Father" in the most complete and full way possible.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Because "no one has ever seen God" except Jesus and the reason He came was to reveal the Father to us like no one else before ever could, or did.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In our analogy, David the Psalmist might be one who provides the more poetic "stork version" of the Father's character. Isaiah and Jeremiah might be the "mommy loves daddy" version of the story. But only Christ gives us the version of the story that includes every specific detail we need to fully understand who the Father is and what the Father is like.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As long as we insist upon holding tightly to the rigid inerrancy of the Old Testament scriptures, we will forever be kept from fully embracing the clearest and most accurate portrayal of who God really is. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Until we relax our grip on the idea that the Old Testament prophets were truly seeing God clearly and recognize that the Abba Father we see revealed in Christ overrides those limited and flawed perspectives of God, we will remain confused about who God really is. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">As long as we allow the tarnished testimony of Moses to describe God as one who commands His people to slaughter infants and toddlers without showing compassion, we will forever stand in opposition to the testimony of Jesus who showed us an Abba Father God who loves children, cares for His enemies, shows compassion to the broken and commands us to do the same - specifically because this is who He is and what He is like. [See Matt. 5:44-45]</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">So, even as those who stood up and defended the New Covenant Theology view a few decades ago were considered heretics and false teachers by the Dispensationalists and Covenant Theology teachers of their day, we should not be surprised when the same charge is leveled at us who affirm a Jesus-centric perspective of God today.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Ultimately I believe it simply boils down to this: Who is our authority? Is it the Bible? Or is it Christ? Do we center our theology on a book, or on a person who is indeed God Himself incarnate?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Book, as wonderful as it may be, is imperfect. It contains the testimony of men who sometimes saw clearly and sometimes did not. The Book contains the voices of men who don't always agree with one another about who God is and what God is like.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Our choice is simple: We either agree with Jesus about who God is, because He is God made flesh, or we side with those Old Testament prophets who were not perfect, not flawless and not Immanuel [God with us].</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I choose Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9926207.post-8303124618381955132017-08-17T02:58:00.000-07:002017-08-19T18:44:33.571-07:008 WAYS TO SPOT A MODERN DAY PHARISEE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkFIzV9UmD8FqAYkw-ejTbY3TW7zsZGxUwjus1Xjuot81bGbketBp2837Xl0S7CSn8X-tqfU9Tg30UZgp6KJSzvJVgijQtA1j-O6-0VT-4WiKQQyUFV6fztJ0F0AAhDFzAf4O/s1600/whisper_842x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="842" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkFIzV9UmD8FqAYkw-ejTbY3TW7zsZGxUwjus1Xjuot81bGbketBp2837Xl0S7CSn8X-tqfU9Tg30UZgp6KJSzvJVgijQtA1j-O6-0VT-4WiKQQyUFV6fztJ0F0AAhDFzAf4O/s320/whisper_842x500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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1) You magnify the sins of others and minimize your own<br />
2) You spend more time talking about what you are against rather than what you’re for<br />
3) You don’t feel like you have any real “serious” sins to repent of<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />4) You’re quick to judge others but not to listen to them first<br />5) You read the Bible to justify your beliefs not to be transformed into the image of Christ<br />6) You’re pretty sure being “Christian” is primarily evidenced by how much people act like you do<br />7) All your friends are Christian and believe the same things you do<br />8) You read this entire list with someone else in mind rather than applying these to yourself</span></div>
Keith Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328300571647154699noreply@blogger.com0