Female Impurity at Childbirth

from Google Images

Some like to take issue with the fact that a woman who bears a child is seen as impure in the eyes of God (through the Mosaic Law).[1] Such feelings arise from a misunderstanding of both the text and ancient ANE traditions. Ancient Babylonian, Egyptian and Persian laws concerned themselves with female cleansing after childbirth. Probably, if ancient Israel did not address the issue of impurity at childbirth, she would have been out of sync with the ANE culture of her day. Even Hippocrates discusses purgation ceremonies in ancient Greece, which were performed after childbirth. Yet, why would God choose to continue the tradition by reproducing it in the culture he was creating in the new nation of Israel?

 

Predatory and Right Behavior

from Google Images

Although the lists aren’t exhaustive, listings of clean and unclean animals can be found in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, and observant Jews even today will avoid food that isn’t kosher (from the Hebrew kashrut – meaning ‘fit’, ‘proper’, or ‘correct’). So, if an animal is said to be clean it is ‘fit’ or ‘proper’ to eat. On the other hand if an animal is unclean something about it is ‘incorrect’, and it shouldn’t be eaten. Over the years some biblical scholars suggested the reason why some foods were clean or unclean concerned health or hygiene. Others suggested some foods were avoided because of their association with worldly religions. However there are problems with both of these suggestions.[1]

 

Did God Bully Abraham or Isaac?

from Google Images

The new atheists of today often point to the binding of Isaac as an immoral act and one of God acting as a bully to get Abraham to willingly sacrifice his son, Isaac.[1] Moreover, they make it seem that Isaac, a mere child (which I show not to be the case in a previous blogpost), was bullied directly by Abraham who seemed intent on carrying out God’s command, and indirectly by God who is responsible for the entire event. Notice how Dr. Richard Dawkins puts it:

 

Figuring Out God’s Will

from Google Images

In a previous blog-post I suggested that God, through Abraham, showed he did not desire human sacrifice—i.e. men should not seek his favor by taking the life of the innocent. Human sacrifice was part of the cultural point of view in Abraham’s day. It was practiced for the “good” of the many. If the idea didn’t come from God, as God implies in his command to Abraham, “Don’t harm the lad!” (Genesis 22:12), then the idea that God’s favor could be gained by sacrificing the innocent must have come from man’s own imagination. This has been man’s attitude ever since Eden. We’ve always tried to decide on our own what was right and what was wrong. Morality has always been what we understood it to be, not what God says it is (cf. Genesis 3:22).

 

Was Jesus a Meek Lion?

from Google Images

Isn’t that a contradiction—a meek lion?[1] Yes, I believe it is, but somehow the meekness of the Jesus who received and blessed the little children— saying that such were the inhabitants of the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:14-16), morphed into the lion who was the Jesus who cast out those who commercialized or showed no respect for the House of God (Mark 11:15-17). We are often told of the meek Jesus, but, strangely, seldom hear about the Lion of the house of Judah. Today’s ‘political correctness’ loves the meek Jesus but cannot tolerate Jesus, the Lion.

 

Christ—the Anointed One

from Google Images

Many years ago when I was a child, my parents would return home from a mission service at church really pumped up to lead a better life.[1] I was raised Roman Catholic, so our vocabulary was different from mainstream Protestantism. A mission service for us was like a revival service for Protestants. “Oh, he put the fear of God in us,” they would say, which meant he raised his voice more often than the pastor did on a regular Sunday service. He may have pounded the pulpit and raised his hands or spoke about sin in the people’s lives. He was considered a saint sent by God, according to us—or anointed if it were a Protestant service. Isn’t it odd how we use words to represent what we see, hear or feel?

 

How Human Was Jesus?

from Google Images

I remember years ago when a presidential candidate wanted to show how common he was and went shopping in a supermarket.[1] He completely blew it in the checkout line, when the cashier used the barcode scanner to put the price of the items he intended to buy into the register. He marveled at this new technology (it was in use for two decades), so much for wanting to appear like common folk! I watched that on TV and laughed, telling my wife that he has never had the problem of balancing his own checkbook.

 

Love’s Winning Way

from Google Images

I was struck once as a member of a prayer group, praying for dozens of teams of two, leaving our church to canvas neighborhoods in nearby communities.[1] Their intent was to tell people of a certain evangelistic event coming to our church, hoping folks would agree to come and witness the affair. I recall that some training of the teams was given, but the thing that really stands out in my mind was the statement in the training exercise that, if we speak to ‘x’ number of people, a specific percentage of ‘x’ will come to the event. I wondered, “…where is the Holy Spirit in this labor?” After all, if the law of chance is able to predict the outcome of a given exercise, do we really need God to bring about what we know will occur? How would my praying affect the expected outcome? If I fall from a precipice, the law of gravity will bring me to the ground; I can pray that God will save me from the fall, but I don’t need to pray that God will do what gravity is expected to do.

 

No Room in the Inn!

from Google Images

As I think about the scripture, Luke 2:7, I have to wonder about the inn’s metaphorical possibilities for today.[1] Some have told us that the inn concerns the heart of man. If there is no room in one’s heart for Jesus, that one has decided to live for himself, or at least live his life without consideration of God. Probably the heart, as a metaphor, is accurate, possibly the most accurate of all possibilities. However, I would like to consider a more objective or visible metaphor in which there is no room for Jesus. What would such a thing look like?

 

Is God Against Excellence?

from Google Images

I would hardly think an Olympic champion began his race wanting to be last, yet the Lord tells us in Mark 9:35 that, if we wish to be first (or the greatest), we need to become last![1] What kind of contradictory economy is this? Is God against excellence? Does he reject becoming proficient in one’s ministry in his name or being the best we can be at what we do? I don’t think so, but it is true that a Kingdom worldview is decidedly different from what one could expect from this world.

 

Through the Eyes of the Prodigal

from Google Images

Growing up in a family of eight can be likened to the trickle down economy of Reaganomics in 1980s America.[1] While it didn’t mean my younger brothers didn’t receive anything new, hand-me-downs stocked the closets and the dressers. Probably what was worst of all for my younger brothers and sisters was that I made the reputation for them at school, and for good or for bad, they were judged by what I had done. It is difficult to make one’s way out of the shadows of those who have gone before us. Blazing new trails and being judged on one’s own merits can be a long and hard journey.

 

Submission According to Paul

from Google Images

Paul speaks of submission in Ephesians 5:21-33, and in my opinion this scripture has been both misunderstood and abused for quite some time by many in the Body of Christ.[1] The family, especially the marriage relationship itself, is considered an allegory of a close relationship between those Paul refers to as husbands and wives. But, notice two things before we consider what else Paul writes. First, in Ephesians 5:21 Paul tells us to submit ourselves to one another. In other words, whoever the husband is, and whoever the wife is, they are mutually submissive. This mutual submission cannot take place if one is lording it over the other—such a thing Jesus, himself, forbade (Luke 22:25:26). Secondly, in Ephesians 5:32-33 Paul specifically tells us that his analogy is not about what we understand to be the normal marriage relationship, but, rather, he is speaking of a relationship within the Church—generally Christ and the Church is the example, but the relationships of church leaders and local churches in particular are under consideration.

 

Follow Me as I Follow Christ

from Google Images

Who’s in charge in the Church? Is it Christ or is it men?[1] In 2011 a man predicted that the world as we know it would end on May 21^st. It didn’t happen, of course, but some people got hurt over that presumption. I even heard of a man who sold his home to advertise the end and the need for folks to submit to Jesus. One TV evangelists ran for president years ago and many Christians thought it un-Christian to belong to the opposing party. Is Christ a Democrat or a Republican? Does the power of this world (politics is the power of this world) describe Christ who died for us? The world didn’t know their Creator when he became man, and even his own people wouldn’t receive him. Men seem willing to follow other men, but not their God.

 

The Pyramid and the Kingdom of God

from Google Images

One of the most astonishing commands Jesus made to his disciples is: “whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister!” (Matthew 20:26).[1] No matter where one goes in the world one will meet with the power of authority from the top downward. It is often referred to as the power pyramid. Those who serve do so toward the top. The most powerful of all is the supreme authority, and he serves no one but his own interests. Everyone else serves his immediate authority, and on it goes to the very bottom, and they serve everyone else. Yet, Jesus says that this shall not be among his people. The greatest among his people should be found seeking to equip others for their own ministry, spending their energy to effect Christian unity in both faith and doctrine (Ephesians 4:11-16).

 

Richard Dawkins and Marsupial Migration

Marsupials
(Image from Google Images)

It seems odd, don’t you think, that brilliant men, such as Richard Dawkins, could make glaring errors in thinking. I would expect that an uneducated person, such as myself, would overlook data that would answer my questions, but surely brilliant men who are among the ‘movers and shakers’ of our world wouldn’t overlook these things purposely. Would they? Perhaps that’s the answer. Perhaps, if all the facts were clear, it would look more like a deliberate error was made, but why? Could it be a worldview matter—you know—the “I’m expressing my worldview, and I am not about to lend any logical reason for yours while I’m doing so” sort of thing. Surely, this must be the reason for such glaring errors in Richard Dawkins video on YouTube.