Same-Sex Marriage Legalization

Earlier this week, the United States supreme court ordered that all states within the union now legalize same-sex marriages.  This week, I want to address this issue.

I’ll talk about how the Bible is explicitly against same-sex marriages later, but for now I want to spend some time talking about why I think this shouldn’t be a big deal for the contemporary Christian.

First, we have to realize that there is a difference between legal and ethical laws.  There is a commonwealth in the United States that makes it illegal to buy a bicycle on Sundays, but tricycles are fine.  In certain countries, non-consensual sex between married persons isn’t rape.  In the first case, buying a bicycle or tricycle on a Sunday is not really an ethical question (but obeying a law of government is), and in the latter, I’d (hopefully) think that you’d consider rape in any circumstance as wrong.

So legal and ethical laws don’t always align, but in an American’s pleasantly homogenous and relatively safe experience, we often assume that laws made and enforced by a governing authority are the same.  And that’s not entirely incorrect.

In America, we believe that murder is an objectionable offense; same as theft, rape, sexual assault, and child molestation.  We also believe that people should have the right to speak their mind, to participate in the country’s political arena, and to make a decent living.  How we go about enforcing and monitoring these processes I’ll leave to more informed minds than mine, but the point is that the majority of the laws (I feel) pretty much align with the rights that should be recognized and protected in every individual.  So what about same-sex marriage?

Well, the Bible doesn’t 1) Outline the conduct and behavior of people in a same-sex union, and 2) is directly opposed to same-sex romantic relationships.  So if anyone uses the Bible as their standard of morality, then they can safely assume that same-sex marriages are ethically wrong.  But that doesn’t mean they are legally wrong.

Christians live in a dual existence—we live in the world but we are not of the world.  While the laws in America may have changed to accommodate those who do not wish to follow the Bible, the laws of the Bible itself has not changed.  Same-sex unions are legally permissible but morally illegal.

This brings me to the next point: just because people call themselves Christians doesn’t mean that someone IS a Christian.  I can buy a gun and a set of handcuffs, and then run around telling everyone that I’m a cop, but that doesn’t make me a police officer.  Same thing with being a Christian, and I feel that we can all agree on this: just because you own a Bible, go to church on Sunday, and call yourself a Christian, doesn’t mean that you are a Christian.  Sorry ‘bout that. 

Despite personal statements to one’s religious affiliation, saying that you are a Christian doesn’t make you one, and I think willfully going against what the Bible directly says would certainly be a blatant black mark against any statement you could make to the contrary.  But this doesn’t help the majority of the Christian population: What can the contemporary Christian do with people who have a union recognized by the state as a marriage?  1 Corinthians 5:12 says:

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?  Are you not to judge those inside?”

If you’re not a Christian, then I can’t hold you to the same standards as one.  That’s like trying to give a red card from soccer to someone who’s playing golf: those rules just don’t apply.

What’s more is that the verse after 1 Corinthians 5:13 gives us detail on how to react to people doing things contrary to God’s laws, and who is responsible for enforcing them.

“God will judge those outside.  Expel the wicked person from among you.”

Someone’s doing something contrary to God’s directives?  Let God handle it.  Someone calling themselves a Christian but doing decidedly un-Christ-like things? Expel them.  Of course, there is a difference between a wicked person and someone deeply mistaken, and there is a method and a process that needs to be done before disfellowshipping someone, but my main point remains true: people who don’t belong to Christ can’t be held accountable to God’s laws, and people making direct efforts to go against God’s laws shouldn’t continue communing with God’s Church.

Tomorrow I’ll go back to talking about how awesome Ruth is, but in an effort to stay relevant I had to address this issue.

See you tomorrow.

The Loyalty of Ruth

In last week’s post I described how Ruth trumped Esther in pretty much every category that mattered when it came to who was a better role model.  This week I want to explain why I admire her so much.

To set the scene:

Naomi was married to a dude named Elimelek.  They had two sons (Mahlon and Kilion), who married the Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah.  Through circumstances that aren’t described in the book, all the husbands die, and Ruth and Orpah (not Oprah, though that would’ve been awesome) accompany Naomi to the border of the Moabite lands.

Ruth and Orpah are Naomi’s daughters-in-law, but not even that because they aren’t married to anyone who is related to Naomi.  Despite this, when Naomi encourages her ex-daughters-in-law to leave her, everyone bursts into tears (Ruth 1:9-10, 14).  We don’t know how much time they spent together before their respective husbands died, but we do know that they had a deep relationship and were deeply grieved to be separated.

Orpah leaves Naomi, and returns to her people and gods.  Ruth wants to stay.  Naomi pleads with Ruth, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods.  Go back with her.”  Then we hear Ruth’s response, and one of the most beautiful declarations of loyalty in the scriptures:

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.  Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.  May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”

Wow.  Just, wow.

Ruth is willing to leave behind everything she knows, either because she is convinced that Naomi’s god is the true God, or that by Naomi’s example she’s become convinced that she must help this wonderful woman.  Both Ruth and Naomi are widows now, and they both know that their lives will be very hard from here on out, yet Ruth’s response isn’t a “let’s pool our resources”, it’s a “I’m sticking with you, whatever the cost, life or death, I’m with you.” 

I think that having someone to constantly back you up isn’t a necessity of life, but it sure helps to know you’ve got someone in your corner, not because they need to be there, but because they want to be.  That’s awesome.

Do you have someone in your life like that?  Someone who says “life or death, I’m with you”?

Are you that type of person to someone else?

We’ll continue talking about Ruth next week.  See you there.

Christians in the Military, Pt 2

Last week we talked about the strong historical evidence of Christians in the military, the reasons why modern-day Christians believe that Christians should be in the military, and that the earliest recorded Christians were unanimously against Christians being the military or committing any violent acts.  This week we’ll look at scriptures that talk about how Christians should conduct themselves in times of war. Let’s begin.

We all know that Christ had two Advents (when he would appear to the world and save it).  The first, obivously, was when God came in human form and died on the cross.  The second will bring an everlasting peace, and when that everlasting peace will come, is more debateable.

All Christians believe that there will be an “End Times”, and that during this period people will live in harmony with each other.

He will judge between the nations
And will settle disputes for many peoples
They will beat their swords into plowshares
Nation will not take up sword against nation
Nor will they train for war anymore.
Isaiah 2:4

The wolf will ive with the lamb,the leopard will lie down with the goat,
The calf and the lion and the yearling together
And a little child will lead them.
Isaiah 11:6

And we also know that after Jesus left for the first time, that there would still be conflict.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Matthew 24:6-7

So for right now there will be war, but later on there will be peace.  What should a Christian do during times of war?

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  But I tell you the truth, do not resist an evil person.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also.
Matthew 5:38-39

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
Matthew 26:52

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my servant would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here.
John 18:36

Most perplexing though, is that before Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, he asked his disciples to sell their cloak (a most precious possession if you tend to live outside most of your life) to buy a sword (Luke 22:36-38).

Whether this was to allow Jesus to later heal a man who was harmed by Peter so he could say “those who live by the sword will die by the sword”, or that Jesus gave permission for his follows to arm themselves, is not clear to me.  Personally, I’d rather not have to give an accounting to why I killed someone, especially if God holds all life to be sacred.

Next week I’m going to talk about Ruth.  See you there.

Baltimore Riots and Christian Civic Duties

A friend of mine suggested that I talk about the Baltimore Riots that occurred earlier last month, but before I talk about that, I have to talk about a Christian’s civic responsibilities.

Politics, like religion, is a very touchy subject that will eventually offend someone, somehow.  My personal belief when it comes to Christianity and politics is that a Christian should act according to what their conscience and convictions dictates.  What my conscience and conviction says about civic duties within the Christian worldview, however, is that it is best to abstain from the political process as much as reasonably possible.  Here’s why I believe these two things:

First, I think Paul made it very clear that people can have different convictions about things, and that’s okay.  In Romans 14:1-9, and in verse 5 in particular, Paul tells the Christians in Rome that it doesn’t matter if one person believes certain days, rituals, and prohibitions are holy or sacred; the main point is that they should do as their conscience dictates and that we shouldn’t judge people for keeping or disregarding certain beliefs, but to do all things for God.

So some contemporary Christians feel that they should run for political offices, and others believe that we should focus on building up God’s spiritual kingdom.  Some people believe that Christians can or should join the military to act as God’s sword on earth, and others believe that we should not repay violence for violence, and let God manage the world’s militaries without our participation (CS Lewis believed the former).  Some think that we should prevent non-heterosexual unions, and others that a piece of paper does not make a spiritual union by God, so it doesn’t matter because God will judge in the end.

Second, while I have a stance on each of these issues, because these are not (in my opinion) salvation issues (things that will prevent someone from being or persisting as a Christian), I think you can believe what you want and you’re still okay.  As I said before, religion and politics rile people up, and Paul thought that living in harmony with each other in the Christian community and in the world’s community was more important than arguing over the trivial political minutae of the day.

That being said, I think the arguments stating that Christians should stay out of politics and focus on building God’s kingdom is much more convincing than acting in God’s stead as stewards to the world. 

That’s not to say that I don’t think the opposing arguments aren’t strong; they make some good points.  I think the best is that God initially wanted Adam and Eve to rule and subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28), that the early tribe of Israel was to purge anyone who sacrificed children to fertility gods (Leviticus 20:1-5), and that Peter was told to sell his cloak and buy a sword (Luke 22:36).  There are other examples I can bring up, but I hope you see my point.

Despite all of this, we are under a new covenent, and many of things that happened in the OT were symbolic echoes to help establish the new promises God has given us (Hebrews 8, and 10:1).  All the times Israel set out to destroy a wicked nation?  Echo of our spiritual battle to destroy the evil within us.  Adam and Eve given authority of the earth?  Jesus now has “all authority in heaven and on earth”, and now we are commanded to make “disiciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20).  Peter told to sell his cloak and buy a sword?  This one is bit tricky, because we know that later on Peter maimed someone about to arrest Jesus, then Jesus turned around and healed the person Peter harmed.  I’m not sure if Jesus wanted Peter to attack the dude so he could heal him later on, or if he wanted Peter to be armed or if Jesus…

… Nevermind, I’m getting off topic.  Let’s just say that I don’t think we get a clear “yes” or “no” answer from that isolated instance.

I will say that many of the early christian writers felt that we should keep out of politics, live our lives in peace with others, and “to give back what is Ceasar’s to Ceasar, and to God what is God’s.” (Matthew 22:18-21).

So in light of the Baltimore Riots, what is a Christian supposed to do?

Pray.  Just pray.  Be thankful that it is over, but ask God to make the racial tensions and discriminations in America (yes they still exist, and there are statistics that confirm it) ease.

Keeping with the topic of Christianity and politics, next week I’ll be talking about Christians in the military.  See you there.

Prophets and Prophecy: 101B

Continuing on the subject of prophecy, I want to talk about the nature and complexities of prophecies, and the difficulties in interpreting them.

An important aspect of prophecy is understanding the symbology of the Bible.  In John 3:14, Jesus says “As Moses lifted up a snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man shall be lifted up”.  This was in reference to an event in Numbers 21:7-9.  It went something like this:

Israelites: Moses! We’re getting bit by snakes and dying, can you talk to God about that?

Moses: Fine, I’ll see what I can do. [To God] So God, what should we do?

God: Make a bronze snake, put it on a stick, and then when people get bit, lift the snake up.  When they look on it they will be healed.

A snake is commonly seen as a symbol of sin in the Bible, and bronze is known by biblical scholars as the “metal of judgment”.  So, people become poisoned by a snake (sin), and then they look at “the judgment of sin” on “a piece of wood”, to be healed.  Sound familiar?

Many people are familiar with the symbolic representation of numbers in prophecy.  Ten, for example, is known poetically as “many”.  Ten tens (100), would be seen as a great many, and ten ten tens (1,000), would be a great-great many.  There are also twelve tribes that contained the whole of Israel, and Jesus had twelve apostles sent out to save the world.  Twelve, then, could be seen as representative of the whole of a nation.

Now let’s look at the number of people saved from each tribe of Israel in Revelation 7:5-8.  It wasn’t just 12 (thus symbolizing the whole of an nation), and it wasn’t 1,000 (a great-great-great many).  It was 12,000—everyone, a great-great-great-many.  Combined with the fact that John makes sure to name every tribe in this passage, we can say that the totality of the people saved is then doubled.  Everyone-everyone gets saved, a great-great-great many.  Cool huh?

We can play these numbers and symbols games ad infinitum, but the trouble we face with interpreting prophecies in the Bible is the same problems we face when interpreting poetry in any other form of writing: a symbol can mean more than one thing.

The Bible isn’t just a set of laws or a recorded history of one ethnic group’s relationship to the supernatural, its also a book of poetry.  Because of this, some of the meaning can get muddled not only through translation, but through personal prejuidices and experiences.  Fire, for example, is seen as a symbol of purifying, but it is also a symbol of passion.  Does this mean that when John said Jesus will come and baptized people with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16), that people will be immersed in purification, or passion?  It would probably be fair to say both.  But what about the fallen angels in the lake of fire?  The people who entered Hell?  Are they being purified, or impassioned?  I think it would be fair to say neither; they will never be purified, they will always be condemned.

Prophecy, then, is tricky business.  I personally think that we should stick to some of the prophecies that have already come to pass (the ones about Jesus), moreso than what will happen in the end times.  Logically speaking, even if I knew everything that would happen from studying Jesus’s prophecies in the gospels and the visions contained in Revelations, could I stop any of it?  Not really.  Would knowing the exact order of events, down to the second, help me prepare?  Not really, all I need to know to prepare for Christ’s coming is explained (more clearly) in every other book besides Revelations.

So, I couldn’t change anything even if I knew, and my best preparation isn’t in studying prophecies—it’s in the rest of the Bible.

Don’t get me wrong, I think many prophecies can help show the different aspects of God’s character and His plans for our lives, but I think we need to be serious and sober-minded when it comes to the predictions of doomsday that we hear, and that we have to have an attitude of respect and humility when it comes to trying to understand prophecy, and the entirety of the Bible.

Next week I’ll (hopefully) talk about the Baltimore Riots. See you there.

Prophets and Prophecy 101

This week I want to talk about prophecy.

My final comment on last week's post said that I would examine a prophecy of Daniel, but the more I thought about it (and after listening to some feedback from facebook) I decided that I need to talk about prophecy and what it means for Christians today.

The first thing I want to point out is that prophecy doesn't necessarily mean "a prediction from the future".  In John 4:16-19, Jesus asks a woman to get her husband, and the woman replies that she has no husband.  Jesus then points out that she’s telling the truth—she has no husbands, but she has been married five times, and the dude she’s currently with isn’t her husband.  When Jesus reveals this knowledge about her, she says: “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.”

The woman declares Jesus’s prophet-hood not because he told the future, but because he knew something about her past.  In other portions of scriptures, Pharisees say that if Jesus was truly a prophet, he would know that he was in the company of sinners (Luke 7:39), again demonstrating that a prophet should be aware of a person’s past as well as making predictions of the future.

This idea that a prophet’s knowledge is not limited to the past is exascerbated by the fact that when Jesus was being struck on the face after being tried by the Pharisees, they mock him, saying: “Prophecy! Who hit you?”  My assumption is that they wouldn’t ask this question unless information of the present would also be available to a prophet.

Past, present, future.  The power of prophecy doesn’t seem to be limited to just the future, and the power doesn’t seem to be limited for good, either.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 states that a prophet shows their authority from God by performing a sign or wonder, but they can still announce that the Israelites should follow other gods.  Obviously, God didn’t want the Israelites to follow other gods, and this scripture is followed by an ordinance saying that if this happens then God is testing them to see if they will follow other gods (and other people), or if they will continue to follow the one true god.

While he have exemplary models for dedication to God from various prophets (Isaiah had to be naked for three years (Isaiah 20:3), and Ezekiel was initially told to eat bread baked from human execrement (Ezekiel 4:12), but God relented (Ezekiel 4:13-15)), we also have the not so great example of Jonah, who decided to go against God’s will and not preach to Ninevah as he was told (Jonah 1:1-3).  From this I think it is fair to assume that just because you have the gift of prophecy doesn’t mean you’ll use the power for good; just that the information revealed to you is true.

What does this mean for the modern Christian?  Just that we need to be sober-minded when it comes to someone’s claim to prophet-hood in our era.  If someone says that they have the gift of prophecy, but they only make claims to the future, be alert.  Same thing if they start saying stuff that isn’t aligned with God’s will (remember Deuteronomy 13:1-4?) Or if they can’t accomplish other “signs and wonders” (Elijah and Elisha were able to part water in 2 Kings 2:8 and 2:14, similar to Moses parting the Red Sea). So, while most of the prophets did amazing things (especially Jesus), that doesn’t mean that ALL prophets are good.

A final note:  I personally don’t believe that people have the power of prophecy today.  I believe that prayer produces miracles and that sometimes God may reveal to people certain goals or missions for their lives, but I highly doubt that people have the power to know information that should remain hidden to most.

I’m going to continue talking about prophecy next week.  The week after I think I might tackle some political issues that Christians are facing today.

How Far Will You Walk?

If you have ever read Matthew 15:21-29, or Mark 7:24-31, you'll find a curious story.  Jesus goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon, after leaving Gennesaret (Matthew 14:34 & Mark 6:53), where he meets a Canaanite woman.  She comes up to Jesus and their interaction goes something like this:

"Jesus, Son of David, heal my daughter!"

Jesus ignores her.

"Jesus, Son of David, heal my daughter!"

She says again, but Jesus ignores her.

"Jesus, Son of David, heal my daughter!"

Jesus still ignores her, and by this time the disciples must be a little annoyed by her, so they come up to Jesus like, "Hey, uhhh, Jesus, can you send her away or something?  She's like bothering you and everyone else."

"It is not fit to take the children's food and feed it to their dogs."  Replies Jesus.

"That's true, but even their dogs eat the crumbs that fall off the table."  Says the woman.

"I like your answer," Jesus says, "Go.  Your daughter is healed."

She goes home to find her daughter healed, and Jesus and his disciples leave the region of Tyre and Sidon to go to the Sea of Galilee.

This story is so odd: Jesus seems to be calling this woman a dog, and her reply doesn't seem sufficient enough to warrant her daughter's healing, yet Jesus approves of how she responded to him, and Jesus is always wanting to heal and teach, but this time he seems to purposefully withhold his healing.  There are three points I want to make about this story.

The first point I want to address is the fact that Jesus called her a "dog".  The greek word he uses here is "κυναρίοις", or "kynariois", which means "little dog". So Jesus wasn't calling her a "dog", as much as he was calling her "precious, little puppy".  At the time, the Jews called Canaanites "dogs", and Jesus's decision to call her "little puppy" was more a play on the words and references between their two cultures than an insult.

When Jesus said he was there for the "children of Israel", not for their "dogs", her response was that she knew she wasn't a child of Israel, that she was a dog and had no right to the blessings God would give them, but all she wanted was a breadcrumb.  Her sense of humility and gratitude was what moved Jesus to heal her daughter; she knew she didn't deserve what he could give, but she was grateful for what little God would bless her with.  We too, do not deserve the blessings God has given us, and yet how often do we take what God gives us for granted?

The second point is the distance Jesus and his disciples traveled, going from Gennesaret to Tyre and Sidon.  Some people estimate that the distance Jesus traveled on this leg of his journey was around 50 miles.  It is reasonably assumed that Jesus didn't travel via donkey or camel, much less a car, so that means Jesus and his disicples probably hoofed it via foot during the entire journey.  Assuming a natural pace of 5/mph, Jesus spent about ten hours to travel that distance, not including stops for resting and eating a snack before moving on.  This means that Jesus traveled an entire day to get there, and when he arrived, he did no teaching or miracles, aside from meeting this woman, testing her faith, and healing her daughter, before he left that area.  Jesus walked 50 miles for one person.

Think about that for a second: Jesus walked 50 miles for one person.  Just one person.  How far will you walk for one person?

I want to encourage us all to follow Jesus's example: how far will you walk?  Will you walk 50 miles for a friend, much less a stranger?  In America (and especially Orange County, where I live), we are so busy trying to pay our bills and living our lifestyle that I think we forget to commit to people more.  Sitting down to eat or walking around a mall and shopping with a friend doesn't quite fill the needs we have as social creatures. 

When was the last time you stayed up all night with a friend because they were in grief?  When was the last time someone did that for you?  When have you given someone $100 because they were in need, and you told them to not bother paying you back?  When was the last time you had a fight with a friend, and you stuck with them, despite your differences?

We are social creatures, and we need our relationships to help us function and live our daily lives.  I think Americans pride themselves on their independence, resilience, and self-sufficiency, so we are not ready to admit our weaknesses or our need to have help from time to time.  Perhaps if we are better friends with the people already in our lives, maybe, just maybe, we'll have people who are better friends to us.

My final point is that there are many facets and lessons we can learn from this one account.  How often do we read our Bibles (if some of us read it at all), find a curious passage like this, and just keep skimming through it?  In one short account, we find the heart we need to please God, Jesus's cleverness and sense of humor (and his humanity), and the depth of level of commitment Jesus had for one person to measure against our own sense of commitment to other people.

The Bible is an ancient document that records a culture's relationship between God and man.  The purpose I want to establish about this blog is not only the literary and historical context of the Bible, but keeping God's heart and desire to have a relationship with us, while writing in a style that's more accessible to everyone, because I think that most people feel a little intimidated about the countless dry, academic papers that examines God's word.

I'll be tackling many topics, and I'm open to discuss pretty much anything; so don't feel shy about asking me a question.  Hopefully, I'll be making a new post every Tuesday, and I'll try to preface my posts with remarks on what I believe are doctrinal (like issues on what makes us saved, what is and isn't a sin), and things that I believe are my opinion (should Christians be in the military? Run for political office?  Vote?). 

Next week I'll be talking about the Daniel prophecy of Jesus. 

Let's get started.