The Relationship between Truth and Unity pt. 4

In my last post on the relationship between Truth and Unity, we discussed divine inspiration and how the world sees us if they do not perceive that we are trying our best to follow the Scriptures.

            In this post, let’s tie the power of our influence together with divine inspiration. Let’s take a brief look at what the divine inspiration of the Scriptures means for us as professing Christians. If we believe that an almighty, all-powerful deity created the Bible (which we do), and we claim that it is absolute truth (which we do), and we claim to follow it (which we do)…

Follow it. We must follow it as close to “perfectly” as we can. Christ will intercede for us with the Father when we mess up but the pressure is on, brothers and sisters! We must follow Christianity as it is written in the Bible or all of the claims we make regarding the truth and benefit of Christianity are worthless.

To illustrate my point: nobody’s going to listen to you if you say “do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Holy Spirit” as you stumble by, slurring your speech, with a beer can in your hand. Nobody’s going to listen to me if I say “in marriage the bed is undefiled, but adulterers and fornicators God will judge,” and then go stay the night with my girlfriend.

That’s just not how it works.

We can sum this whole thing up by saying that if God says something is good, whether directly (“And Jesus said…”) or through divinely inspired writers (i.e. letters from Paul), we definitely need to do it. If He says something is bad, we definitely don’t need to do it. Whenever I have difficulty with something in my life, especially with sin, I always come back to this:

If God says it is:
Good = yes I should do it
Bad = no I should not

Maybe that will help you out as much as it’s helped me out over the years.

Another thought: if God doesn’t mention it, we are never to put words in His mouth. In order to give some validity to our claims about Christianity, we must try our absolute best to follow Him in the way that He wants us to (as best as we can determine) and live our lives based on the principles and commands we see in the Bible. Basically, I’m just stating the obvious: we must back up every claim we make. We must be united in truth and in spirit. Practice what you preach. Be genuine. However you want to word it – we must step it up. The world and even the current state of "Christianity" is a wreck. For example, there are thousands of different and contradicting teachings about the Bible practiced by thousands of denominations. We have a lot of work to do.

It is at this point in a discussion on truth that some people may ask “speaking of the world, why is the world such a wreck?” What they are asking, presumably, is why the world is so full of bad things: sin, starvation, disease, death, discrimination and hate, etc. I’ve heard people word it like this: “How could a loving God allow so many bad things to happen if He truly loves us?”

It’s our fault.

In the Garden of Eden, everything was perfect. Read the beginning of Genesis and see what kind of a place God had originally created for humans: there was unlimited free food (sounds great to a college student like me), freedom from sin, and freedom to choose whether or not we wanted that perfect life. The only responsibility humans had was to take care of the garden. I’m not sure what all that entails, but considering that God’s curse for the ground after Adam and Eve’s banishment from the garden included the creation of weeds, it seems to me like weeds didn’t even exist before then. Personally, I think (just an opinion) that the Garden of Eden didn’t require maintenance as we think of gardens needing maintenance.

It seems to me like God’s command basically just meant “don’t exploit the garden or destroy it – it will provide everything you need without any maintenance. Preserve it.” Imagine if that were our only purpose in life – be with the people we love, live forever, and preserve the place in which we lived. That sounds amazing.

Seriously, stop and imagine how your life would be.

The best thing is, we can return to a place of perfection after we die. As we know, Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and brought the capacity for evil into the human psyche. Before eating of that tree, we could not sin. After eating it, we could.

Before Adam and Eve ate from that tree, the world was perfect. Every problem you see now in the world is a result of their choice to eat from it. The loving God allows so many bad things to happen because he has always given us a choice: choose His path – the path to peace, happiness, and righteousness – or choose the other path – the path to evil. Bad things happen in the world because people choose to make them happen. Natural disasters happen because we no longer live in the Garden – we no longer live in a place of perfection, free from death. That’s our fault.

Thank God that we have the solution to this problem.

God, the loving Father who created us in a perfect world and who created a perfect world for us to go to after we die also gave us a way to make this world better. He gave us the Bible.

We can make this world a better place too. That’s the beautiful part. We never have to wait to find peace, happiness, joy, and all of the other beautiful things that we are promised in heaven. God has provided, in all stages of our existence, ways for us to be happy and at peace within ourselves. There are differences: in heaven, for example, there won’t be any sickness, sadness, etc. Those things are unavoidable in this life. However, by spreading the love of God and by living our lives based on his love, we can reform the world and bring Christianity into the majority. Imagine if 80% of the people in the world were loving, caring, and compassionate Christians.

What a beautiful world that would be.

Everybody has the potential to be saved and be a part of God’s beautiful kingdom, both in this life and in the next – all we have to do is spread the word. It’s up to us to make that happen.

Next week, we’ll talk about some of the ways that we could cause others to sin, how we usually react to this topic vs. how we should react, and how that will affect our push for unity.

Thanks for reading!
With Christian love,
- Ethan

The Relationship between Truth and Unity pt. 3

Over the past few Saturdays, we have covered some answers to questions like
"is the church today what it's supposed to be?"
"how can we be united as a body of believers?" 
"why do I believe (or not believe) in the Bible?" 
"what do I believe about different Biblical concepts?" 
and
"what does the Bible actually say?"

Following the previous posts in this series, we will continue our study based on the assumption that each of us
1. Has studied the Bible and other works which could shed light on the validity of its astounding claims
2. Has come to the conclusion that the Bible is absolute truth
3. Is studying different Biblical concepts in order to ascertain the truth
4. Wants every believer in Christ to be united

In our last discussion on the relationship between truth and unity in the church, we discussed the errors that we can run across when we place a specific interpretation of a Biblical concept before the actual scriptures as they are written. In this post, we will continue our study by delving into the implications that our belief in the divine inspiration of scripture has for our lives.

What exactly does divine inspiration mean?

Put plainly, divine inspiration means that the things in the Bible are the things which the all-encompassing deity whom we call God (consisting of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), wants us to know, and that He brought the concepts in the Bible to us through various people. He inspired the writers of the letters, books, etc. of the Bible by bringing His ideas into their minds (in ways which we do not fully understand) so that there are no contradictions. 

In short, He caused willing, God-serving people to write His own thoughts down and then He caused various people to preserve them so that they will last through the ages.

We do not know the exact methods which He used – the subject is actually still debated among some people in the world today. If you ask different believers “how did the Holy Spirit inspire people to write the Bible?” you’ll get many different answers, but the conclusion that we all agree upon is the same: it happened, and that’s what matters.


            Now that we have laid that groundwork, let’s get into, well, why it matters. It’s easy to claim that God wrote the Bible, and then claim to follow it, but the gravity of such a claim is sometimes lost in repetition. When I claim that God wrote the Bible, I’m claiming that this little book sitting on my desk, open in front of me, is the only truth which exists, to the exclusion of every other theory or religion about how/why we’re here.


That’s a pretty big deal. I’m claiming that this book was written by the same force which created the entire universe.


When I said that the gravity is lost in repetition, I mean that we are so used to hearing or saying “God wrote the Bible” that we sometimes don’t realize how absurd that sounds to people who don’t agree with us. Imagine taking this little, leather-bound book into a convention of Muslims or evolutionary biologists and making that claim with gusto! Some of the people in either convention might agree, but the majority would just laugh.

Claiming that the Bible is absolutely right automatically implies, even though most people who make that claim don’t intend for it to, that anyone who disagrees with that statement is absolutely wrong. This matters. A lot.

When we make such a grand, sweeping claim by claiming that billions of people all over the world are incorrect in the beliefs around which they base their lives, it’s easy to see why so many people who aren’t Christians despise Christianity.

It’s easy to see, especially when the same people who make these all-encompassing claims don’t follow it.


Yes, you heard that right.

Everyone who believes in Jesus and professes that the Bible is absolute truth doesn’t follow it perfectly. Everyone. At least, that’s what the world sees.
 
You see, what the world sees and remembers was that person who laughed and scoffed at a homeless person when they walked past.
That person who goes to church right down the street and wears a cross around his neck.
They saw on the news where someone threatened to kill all of the homosexuals in the world.
Someone who was quoting Bible verses as if she had the power to decide who lives and dies.

Do you see my point yet? The rest of the world holds us, as Christians, to an incredibly high standard. We claim that
God is love,
that we love everyone in the world as He did,
that we, exclusively, know and follow the absolute truth, and
that Christ died so that we can all be saved and go to a place of happiness.
We also claim to be the salt that seasons and preserves the morality of the Earth.

That’s a lot of weight to carry.

With great power comes great responsibility. We’re expected to be so much as a group, and we succeed so often – there are so many wonderful Christians in the world – but all it takes is one bad sheep to make all of us look like pompous hypocrites.

And, sadly, there are a lot of bad sheep.


            This post was a downer, I know, and I appreciate you taking the time to read and consider the things I’ve presented you with. Next week, we’ll talk about why this matters to us since we are seeking Christian unity and how we can fix it. And, just to offset the down-ness (is that a word?) of this series of posts, we’ll also discuss how beautiful the world is and how much more beautiful it will be when we band together.

Thanks for reading!

- Ethan

"For among them are those...burdened with sins and led astray by various passions"

Today, I want to talk briefly about a certain type of person. Turn in your Bible to 2 Timothy 3. At the beginning of this chapter, Paul talks about the difficult times that will be coming in the last days. There have been countless sermons and devotionals given on the difficulties we face in the last days, so we’re not going to discuss that in much depth right now. Instead, I want to talk to you about the people Paul describes in verses 6 and 7. He describes these people as “those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (ESV)

                Now, don’t think that this passage is describing women as being weak, because it’s not. The point being made here is that there is a type of person who feels an insatiable desire to fill the lusts of the flesh –these people are burdened by sins and led by their passions – and, because of their lack of self-control and their unwillingness to accept Christ’s forgiveness, can never truly feel the truth as it is.

Think of the world we live in. Millions of people, every day, are led by their lusts and desires to wherever they can get their next “high.” Usually, the lust, desire, or passion stems from a root need – the need for stimulation. These people need to feel stimulated at all times – they need the newest this, the most exciting that, a different type of those. For these people, life is not so much about helping others and obtaining a clear conscience as it is experiencing new and stimulating things. 

Unfortunately, this desire leaves these people empty and broken, and it is because of this brokenness that they are described as “those who creep into households and capture weak women.” We live in a generation where many people do not care who or what gets in their way, as long as they get the pleasure and stimulation that they desire.

We usually refer to this type of person simply as selfish. 

                This passage has always made me sad because I know people like this. Their lives aren’t about being selfless, serving others, and showing goodness and generosity to others as Christ did. They spend almost all of their short and unpredictable lives chasing a feeling of stimulating newness (for lack of a better descriptor) that they never can quite reach. Because of their unique mindset regarding the world, they learn more and more about life, especially through experience, but they never find the truth. Being selfless and serving others doesn’t appeal to them, so they live their whole lives empty and unfulfilled.

I mentioned this passage to you today because I see so many people in the world like this. These people may even wear the name of Christ, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (vs. 5, ESV). In our modern, materialistic world, I’m sure we all have felt the pull of this mindset at some point in our lives. I know I feel it just about every time I turn on the television. All I have to do is start watching TV and immediately I start thinking “man that’s a nice car..I’d love to have that. Or, check out that beach! I’d love to go on another vacation. And man, that’s a cool phone. I need to start buying more cool things so I can live life as it’s meant to be lived! The American dream, right?”

We should always be on guard against this modern mindset – working more hours to get the newest, biggest, best _______ (when the one that I have works just fine) is a huge hamper to the selfless, generous mindset that Christ requires of us. How will I be able to give more to others when I spend so much time working so I can get more for myself?

                There are two types of people in the world – givers and takers – and we need to constantly build each other up and work as a united, Christian, spiritual nation to fight back against this mindset and show the world what it truly means to be selfless. If you know someone that is fighting these same problems, encourage them, exhort them, lift them up – show them what it really means to live. 

Show them what it means to live for others.

Show them what it means to live for Christ.

Thanks for reading!
- Ethan

The Relationship between Truth and Unity pt. 2

Last Saturday, we talked about searching for truth in order to test our claims about the validity of the Bible. When we make claims as grand as the divine inspiration of scriptures and Christ’s resurrection, we should be able to back up those claims. In order to see this type of thinking in action, we looked specifically at Christ’s example – when the apostles demanded proof, he gave them proof – and then we looked at the difference between skepticism and cynicism. To see this study, click here. Today, we will cover one of the biggest influences on what each of us believe: our opinions/interpretations.

            We believe that the Bible is the truth. We discussed how we must search for the truth in our last study, so we will assume that we have studied and have all drawn the same conclusion – the Bible is infallible and is undeniably true. Following our claim that the Bible is absolute truth, logic dictates that we must also, therefore, believe that we have absolutely no other choice than to follow it as it is written. We see this type of attitude in Mt. 4, when Jesus is fighting temptation. He responds to every attempt by Satan to draw him away with “it is written.” 

What does this mean for us? 

            Usually, when I’m studying the Bible, I feel a conclusion about a group of scriptures or about a specific topic forming in my head. Sometimes, it seems to fit perfectly with the preexisting point of view I have regarding the subject. Other times, I’ll come to a conclusion that’s totally different from what I believed prior to arriving at that conclusion. The progression usually works like this: I Google the topic or consult some other study resource, I find 3 or 4 verses that all seem to line up with the conclusion I’ve drawn, and then it all becomes clear to me: I’m right! I finally figured this out. 

Sometimes, that’s great, but sometimes, I’m completely wrong. 

Often, if I draw a conclusion that seems wild, new, unexpected, and “the answer to all of my problems,” there are still 1 or 2 things in the Bible that don’t quite line up with the conclusion I’ve drawn. Maybe it’s as little as one verse that doesn’t line up with my conclusion. For example: at one point in my life, I drew the conclusion that baptism wasn’t necessary for salvation; it was necessary but it was just a sign of salvation. 

That made me so happy inside – all of the people in the world who aren’t baptized, yet believe in God are saved. That's awesome!

The thing is, when I read 1 Pet. 3:21 and the surrounding verses I found that Peter explicitly states, after discussing Noah and the flood, that “…baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (emphasis added), not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” Talk about confusing! Immediately, to clarify things for myself, I read Mark 16:16, which I thought made it pretty clear that baptism wasn’t necessary for salvation. However, after reading 1 Pet. 3:21, I saw that “He that believes and is baptized will be saved” means exactly that. In order to be saved, one must be baptized. If someone doesn’t believe, they won’t be baptized.

But wait, what about Rom. 10:10, 1 John 1:9, and Mt. 10:32? They all clearly state that confession is needed for salvation. I thought I had found a contradiction – if one part of the Bible says confession is all you need, and another part says baptism is all you need, I had no idea which one I needed to do to be saved. 

Then, I realized…

            I had been putting my own opinions and interpretations into both sections of scripture. Nowhere does the Bible say “Baptism is all you need” nor does it say “all you need to do is confess.” Both of them are written as being necessary for salvation; therefore, they are both necessary for salvation. The Bible was clear about answering my inquiry, but my own opinions  confused me. 

It is written that confession leads to salvation, and that baptism leads to salvation. 

It is written that they are both essential in order to be saved.

Obviously there is more to being saved than just confessing and being baptized; as we can see by reading the New Testament, we are not saved by works alone or by faith alone, as we can see in James 2 and in Eph. 2. It takes much more than just confession and baptism, but the point I'm trying to make still stands.

All of the reading “between the lines” that I did was wrong in that situation. It’s not that reading “between the lines” is necessarily a bad thing, but reading “between the lines” can get us in trouble pretty quickly if our reading “between the lines” contradicts the “it is written” of the Scriptures. When Jesus was tempted, he responded with “it is written.” When we are tempted to interpret the Scriptures in a certain way, we need to first and foremost respond to our inner voice, if you want to call it that, with “it is written.” 

If the Bible is clear on a certain subject, we do not have the liberty to change what is written, disobey what is written, or alter what is written. What is written in the Bible is written that way for a reason; if the topic is a matter of interpretation, we will know because we won’t be able to find an all-inclusive answer in the scriptures.

            If we believe (which we do) that the Bible is the absolute truth, then we must follow it absolutely. No opinions or interpretations are intended to be the primary basis for what we believe if the Bible is clear on a particular subject. Next week, we’ll talk a little bit about the divine inspiration of the scriptures, and what it means for us as we study and attempt to emulate Christ as brothers and sisters within Christ's church. 

Thank you for reading! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

- Ethan