The Supreme Court, Rebel Flag and Evangelicals, There Is a Common Thread

The past week has been a bit interesting. As the world around us continues to convulse in violence our attention has been focused on some Supreme Court decisions, and the Rebel Flag. It has brought out interesting comments from a variety of sources. Evangelicals have had their say and have been highlighted as "those intolerant extremists" once again. In reality there is a common thread that connects all three of these topics. They share the same problem that has taken us to where we are today. Drifting rapidly from where God has designed us to be. It is not just the Court or the Rebel Flag detractors but also Evangelicals who have fallen prey to the attack on truth. 

If you are not familiar with me you should know that I am a bit driven to try to see the historic and cultural context of things I study. This is true in my study of the Scriptures as well as other things that interest me. I believe it is  absolutely essential to try to understand what was the intent of the author and the reader at the time events were recorded. When we ignore the original context of who wrote things and to whom they were written, we may well end up in error. That is the case for the Supreme Court decisions, the concern over the Rebel Flag and how evangelicals understand the Word of God. The first two are disturbing and even irritating. However, the last, understanding Scripture, has led us to confusion and outright error. A place no follower of God or Messiah wants to be.

I would like to view these one at a time. In the decisions made by the Supreme Court, the Court has simply disregarded the history that is the foundation of the U.S. Constitution. They have usurped the rights of the states and denied the intent of the authors of the document. Whether it is demanding the support of a national health care program or redefining marriage, history and the intent of the writers has had no bearing. There is nothing in the document to grant the power they have exercised. There is nothing in the Constitution that even mentions marriage. To tie life, liberty, and equal protection from the 14th amendment is fanciful at best. It assumes that if marrying several women or men at the same time brings you a feeling of liberty and happiness, you are guaranteed equal protection to make that happen. Concern has been voiced by those who see this as a moral issue or from the basis of religious conviction. The thought is that their right to practice their faith will be in question. There may be cause for concern, as one of the commentators following the decision on same sex marriage made the statement that "The Supreme Court has finally recognized that religious freedom must end where oppression begins." It is not hard to imagine that a religious stand concerning abortion, sexual purity before marriage, homosexuality or even sin in general will be viewed as oppressive. Such conviction spoken would not be allowed. 

The only way to arrive at the decisions we are seeing is to remove the foundation that the Constitution was built upon. No matter what you want to believe, the United States of America was founded on the belief that there is a God who created us and made Himself known to us. Religious freedom was at the very core of many of the colonies. Our laws were gleaned from or in principal drawn from the pages of Scripture. We have simply chosen to ignore the historic truth beneath our nation's founding and the Constitution that was meant to protect our freedoms from a potentially oppressive government. 

As to the Rebel Flag, the supposed flag of slavery, there are several flaws in the current argument. Questions were asked of people on the street during a segment of "The O'Reily Factor". One question was, "What was the reason for the Civil War?" The answer, of course, was "slavery". Just a few points of reality. 1) It was not a "Civil" war. No one in the South wanted to overthrow the government; they were revolting to form their own government just as the 13 colonies had about 100 years before. 2) Southern states seceded over what they saw as an oppressive federal government laying unreasonable taxation on the southern states. 3) The Northern states also had slaves. In fact, next to Charleston, the greatest ports for the importation and sale of slaves were Philadelphia, New York and Boston. 4) The Emancipation Proclamation only applied to southern states. Northern states could maintain their possession of  their house servants and stable hands. 5) Slavery became the issue two years into the war as northern support was waning, and a moral issue was needed to continue to pursue the war. 

Whatever you think of the Rebel Flag, the history behind it wasn't about slavery, but about the south rebelling against an oppressive federal government. If you compare memorials in Gettysburg and Fredericksburg, you will find that the Union fought the Rebels at Gettysburg while the Confederates fought the Federalist at Fredericksburg. Perspective. However, history has no bearing on current society so take down the flags and don't sell them on e-bay or at K-Mart. By the way, the slaves were purchased from the English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Dutch colonies in Africa. I guess we can't sell those flags either. The point is slavery was a national travesty, not just a southern one. Slaves were owned in all of the states. The northern states simply did not have to endure the heavy taxation placed upon the southern states by the federal government. Unfair taxation led the southern states to rebel with a desire to form a new Confederation of states with a limited centralized governing authority. Imagine a flag that represents being upset with an oppressive federal government that taxes unreasonably, tramples on states rights and personal freedoms. But, again it must be said, history doesn't matter.

As to Evangelical Christians, at least those who write commentaries and Bible studies, we find the same disturbing truth. Studies and materials produced are written as if the Apostle Paul wrote to Americans. His letters do apply to us. However,they were written to existing assemblies in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. As a Jewish Rabbi writing to a mix of Jews and Gentiles, the culture and instruction was decidedly Hebraic. But, we have determined that the Jewish foundation of our faith is pretty much to be ignored. If you look at Scripture (see Acts 24:5,24:14 & 28:22), the believing groups at that time were viewed simply as sects of Judaism. Yet you will be hard pressed to find Evangelical assemblies that honor any Jewish traditions. We are told we are under grace and not under the Law. Ephesians 2 explains that we Gentiles who were far off and not citizens of Israel and had no claim to the covenants of promised are brought near. By the blood of the Jewish Messiah we too can become citizens. We too can share in the covenants.  Paul is clear in Romans 11 that it is the Gentiles who were grafted into Israel http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=11&t=NKJV#s=1057017. Yet, if we are honest, Evangelical Christians let Jews know they have to be grafted into the church to be in God's kingdom. Who cares what the culture and historic context of Scripture tells us; what the Scripture means to me today is what matters. 

If we saw ourselves as a sect of Judaism, as the believing assemblies did in Acts, we would have to rewrite much of what we do today. What of the evangelical rejection of resting on the seventh day. What of the ignoring of God's ordained holidays in His Word? Should we honor those in addition to the ones we just made up? And O my! What about bacon! But don't worry. We are under grace. God can't really be concerned with what He inspired the writers of Scripture to write. After all He gave us His Spirit Who can lead us to pick and choose what we like and ignore the stuff we don't. Hey, we can even add some new stuff to help us justify what we don't like. We add words and take them away to make our point. (See Wednesday, June 24, 2015 The Book Of James Should Not Be In the Bible) 

We can be pretty outraged at what the Supreme Court does when they ignore the history and original meaning and intent of our Constitution. As well we should be. We may draw wrong conclusions about what a flag stands for when we fail to consider the history behind it. Yet, might it be more important to consider what is the foundation, the history, the culture, that lies beneath the Word of God, of His revelation to us? Do we just ignore it and hope we are right about a gracious God not caring what we do with His Word? Does it matter that we have drifted so far from the practice of the Early "church". You know, that sect of Judaism that was growing back in the first century. 

Well, there is a lot to think about. Feeling oppressed yet?           
  

The Book Of James Should Not Be In the Bible

In case you were not aware of it, there are a number of writings from the time of Messiah's ministry that were not included in our Bibles today. Some of us have heard of Maccabees or perhaps the Gospel of Thomas. Some of the tales have made it to the silver screen or are hung in the better art museums around the world. I remember the story of Bel and the Dragon. A tale of one of Daniel's adventures. The distressing tale of Suzanna and the Elders is captured for us in paintings by Rembrandt, Ruben and several other artists. By 363 A.D. the twenty seven books of the New Testament were accepted, as well as the books we hold as the Old Testament. These, along with some of the Apocryphal writings, were now to be read when the Assembly of believers came together. Yet, it is a curious thing that when we arrive at today's translations we find that the books of Jacob and those of Jonas are not in the table of contents in most Bibles. Why is that so and what happened to them? 

The books in question are actually there. They have been disguised so we don't even see them any more. However, if you dabble in a little Greek, they suddenly reappear. We are introduced to the authors of the books of Jacob and Jonas in the Gospel accounts. In Matthew 4:21 we are introduced to one and receive a clue for the other. In Greek the text reads, "Going on from there, He [Yeshua] saw two brothers, Yaakob Ben Zebdai and Yoannan (Yoannas in other passages). There is no "J" sound in Greek or Hebrew. The "Y" sound turn into a "J" sound around the time of the reformation. Thus we have two brothers Jaakob and Joannan or Joannas. One of Yeshua's brother's names was also Yaakob in Matthew 13:55 http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=17&v=1&t=KJV#s=946001 He is the writer of the book that follows Hebrews. The James of Acts 15.  
The truth is that in every reference in the New Testament you will find Yaakob or Jacob translated James. The same is true for John, which is always some derivation of Jonas or Jonah. The one exception is in Matthew 16:17. http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=barjona&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1 Simon, well actually Simeon, is BarJona or the son of Jona. As the New Testament was carefully translated by the best scholars King James could find, an interesting thing happened along the way. The Jewish names in the New Testament took on an English sound. And as King James was paying for the work it was helpful to find his name among the pages. So Jacob becomes James, Jonas and Jonah become John. We can toss in Simon for Simeon, Jude for Judah, Mary for Miriam, just to name a few. So there really is no book called James in the New Testament. That book is Jacob. We just want to honor the king, as it were, so accuracy is less important. 

As we read our translations of the Scriptures it is wise to recognize that those who translate have a point of view. They have a personal bias that simply cannot be overcome. We are naive to think otherwise. So English translators purge Jewish names and others make judgement calls as to which texts are more reliable. Thus when reading the New International Version or the English Standard Version you will find Acts 8:37 missing. The translators have determined that the verse does not belong. Consider the differences between the King James and the NIV when translating Mark 7:19. KJV "Because it entereth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?" Now the NIV "For is doesn't go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.' (in saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean)". The NIV adds "In saying this Jesus declared". None of this is in the Greek text. It has been added by the translators because they believe all Jewish dietary laws have been done away with. But the words are not there and the addition violates the meaning of the passage as well as the cultural setting.

My point here is not to make you question your translation, but rather to encourage all of us to take a little more time in our Bible study. Read the same passage in several translations. You can do so by buying a multiple translation Bible or see how many translations you already own. You can pick up some different translations at some of the Dollar Stores or Walmart at minimal expense. Perhaps You can add a Greek/ English interlinear New Testament. Or take a minute to check out Blue Letter Bible.org. http://www.blueletterbible.org/  Just select your passage and click on the many translations to see if there are any differences. It will take a bit more time, but then trying to understand God's revelation to you seems like it should be worth it. I also suggest you pick up the Complete Jewish Bible by David Stern. It has its short comings, as it is just one man's point of view, but it will give you a little more Jewish flavor to our very Jewish Bible.

Don't sell yourself short. You can learn a lot just from investigating a variety of translations. Who knows, if you act like a Berean and really study God's Word you may just find the Book of Jacob there right after Hebrews.

Free Cell Damnation

Have you ever felt condemned by Free Cell? You play a few games and slowly the game tries to take over. It won't be long before you find a game difficult to win and you finally give up and move on to another game. It all seems innocent enough until you click on the stats page and see you have won 9 out of 10 games or 90%.  In most schools that is, like a B-. Even in the more generous schools where "A" goes all the way down to 90% it is an A-. The lowest "A" possible. And you will now never ever get to 100%. Win 100 more games and you are at 99%. Pretty good but not 100%. If you are like me, you will find the "undo" button. so you can get a do-over. The program on my laptop lets you undo one move at a time all the way back to the beginning to start over. And as far as I can tell you can "do-over" something like forever and the computer will never know. So you can "win" even after you know you failed. However, if you didn't know about the "undo" key and lost even one game, your stats will be forever tainted with failure. And if you are honest with yourself, the "do-overs" began with that little window telling you there are "no more legal moves" so in essence you cheated. You know. God knows.

And that is how it is in real life. If you have violated any one of God's commandments anywhere at any time you can never get 100%. You always come up short. James 2:10 tells us, "For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all". Guilty. Condemned. And hopeless to ever fix it. No matter what I do it will never be enough. Following my decision to accept the truth about God's love through His Son, Yeshua, I was given the real story of who I was, imperfect, a blemish in God's creation. I was not just depraved but totally depraved. There was no good thing in me. Romans 3:10 - 18 told me the truth of what God really thought of me. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=3&t=NKJV#s=1049010

My new found freedom painted a still bleak picture of my relationship with God. I will always come up short. God knew of my attempted "do overs" and they were exposed as failures. 

Enter grace. Here I was told that, in spite of my life of absolute failure, God would be gracious if I asked Jesus to be my Savior. Just pray this prayer. Buuuut I already had understood what Jesus did. I had asked for forgiveness. I believed He was God's Son and that He died for me. But I didn't pray that "salvation" prayer. Had I missed the formula? Some magic word combination to remove the stain of who I had been and who, in some ways, I still was? I felt bad for stuff before I started to follow Christ; now theology helped me see just how totally awful I was. Not so helpful. Theology also told me God is love and that He loved me and wanted me to be with Him. But I was also reminded not to forget just how awful I really am. The more dark and ugly you see your life, the more God's grace is magnified. Now I am confused. Am I supposed to feel like deeply loved pond scum? Sin corrupts every cell of my being and, because of me, all of creation groans and convulses due to my disobedience. How comforting.

Now, this stuff may be true. But maybe we get things a bit distorted. God does love me, as I am a part of His created cosmos. "For God so loved the cosmos, that He gave His only Son" (John 3:16). My relationship with Him is not just this surreal love thing. God chooses to love me. It gives Him delight. My salvation brings Him pleasure. He made me for purpose on purpose. To be a part of His eternal purpose. I am made in His image because He wanted to make me. I have value before Him. His Grace cannot be magnified for it is all encompassing, pervading every breath of life. My sin, my failures need not be magnified to see His grace. God delights in me. I am His joy. As damaged as I was, and still am, God enjoys my presence. He gets pleasure from adopting me as His child. Therefore, I am a child of the light. So I find joy in walking in the light. I delight in Him and find pleasure in knowing I am His. I find true joy in obedience, for that just brings me closer to His presence. I am His.

Our drive to label and categorize everything in life will bring us to categorize our sin and failure. We can develop theological files of our darkness and depravity. We will misplace the Jack and there will be no more legal moves. Game over. In the process we may miss the reality of His pleasure in us. His delight in delivering us. His passion spent to make us His. Our sin lists can blind us to the real joy of obedience. Not to earn anything or to secure anything but to draw closer. That is what God's commandments are for. To draw us near, not to condemn us.

Do not let Free Cell damnation rule your life. Fear of the misplaced card. Lying about the "do-overs", categorizing your sin and failures in nice theological boxes. You would be better off to look to His grace, His delight in saving you, His pleasure in adopting you. His loving directions He gave to you so that you might know how to best live and know the joy of obedience. The Joy of His presence. Maybe its time to shuffle the deck of condemnation and find that God dealt us grace before we ever knew Him.