If denominational leaders don’t follow the Bible’s directives against homosexuality, what is the next sin its devotees want legalized, protected and accepted? Take your pick of the lists in Mark 7:20-23, Romans 1:29-32, I Corinthians 5:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Colossians 3:5-10 and Titus 3:3, 9-11—and they don’t exhaust the behaviors God will not tolerate in his people.
However, everyone committed to them without repentance don’t want to hear them proscribed. So where will the three denominations listed draw a line not to be crossed by their members on the threat of punishment from God? Rest assured, friends, God condemns all sin whenever practiced without repentance. As he forgives all sin admitted by his people when repented. But to sin and call it virtue simply because we insist it IS, piles one sin on another in our lives. Church leaders must take their choice: either lose their soul as well as their service by letting people, not God, determine what’s acceptable behavior; OR, please God by remaining faithful to Bible teaching, however much their members object! One fact is certain: the Church, and its Christians, alone exist in society as the organism authorized and deputized to both KNOW and FAITHFULLY preach Christ’s everlasting Gospel. And…unless we remain faithful to that purpose, we have abandoned our reason to exist. For as merely a social group, we have nothing to offer society that other organizations don’t already, and do a better job of it. The stark reality facing church leaders: either be faithful to God’s WORD, or lack the reason for our existence, leaving humanity without a Standard of truth and behavior, with each person his own deity. Be assured, that’s the condition God drowned in water Genesis 6-7. Do we want him next to incinerate us? II Peter 3:10. Fini
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A San Diego Union-Tribune 2/6/23 news story noted that leaders of 3—count ‘em—three denominations want to remove anti-gay beliefs from their churches: Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian. The pope has repeatedly tried to weaken Christian opposition to homosexuality by saying it’s “not a crime.” Who said it was? It’s a SIN, which is against God, not a crime, which is against human law.
Understand, readers, this isn’t merely logomachy—a dispute about words—the sin Paul condemned in II Timothy 2:14. Homosexuality is a SIN, and unless churchmen willingly stand with God’s WORD calling it a sin they are nothing but philosophers quoting each other, and unworthy of preaching any Bible truth to their people. FOR… essential point in the discussion…since wherever one reads the Bible about homosexuality, it’s called a SIN, Genesis 19:1-26, Judges 19:20-20:48, Mark 7:20-23, Romans 1:1-32, I Corinthians 6:9-11, to name a few references. Note: using sexual immorality in Mark 7:2, Jesus meant all sexual immorality, including homosexuality. Note again: though he didn’t mention bestiality in particular, would anyone consider sex with an animal acceptable? And note an egregious inconsistency: the very people who willingly quote the apostle Paul as Christ’s authority in any point of doctrine consider he’s NOT an authority on the subject of homosexuality. What a convenient theology! Accepting texts that agree with us but rejecting any that don’t. That spirit in us removes us from God’s will. For obedience to God only begins when he says something that we don’t like, but we accept and live by it anyway, because HE is Our Authority. Until then, what we falsely call obedience is merely accommodation. End Part I Next blog: If homosexuality isn’t a sin, what is? Soaking one’s mind in the Holy Spirit’s creative writing results in benefits that merely reading Scripture lacks. That means pondering the passage read: thinking about it, praying over it, balancing, comparing and interpreting it with other passages. That’s when insights surface and delight fills one’s mind.
David started with anger when Uzzah died, a not un-natural response. For why kill a Levite who only intended to stabilize the endangered ARK? With further thought and objective thinking, however, he moved from anger at God to FEAR of God. Long story shortened for this blog, two events led the King to re-evaluate both anger and fear. First, hearing the blessing Obed-Edom received by hosting the Ark in his house. Second, reading passages that gave instructions on how to convey the Ark safely and securely. I will gladly send gratis a fuller account of this blog—to be the start of a 2-part message beginning September 4, 2022. Remember: God’s word always has specific meaning in its original context AND supporting practical lessons for daily life. Finale Genesis 34:1-31 illustrates that genius. The story revolves around Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and Shechem, son of Hamor, the Hivite. Shechem violated Dinah in a fit of lust, but fell in love with her as he did. In contrast, see Amnon’s response to Tamar, II Samuel 13:15.
True to the culture of the day, negotiations with her family involved her brothers Simeon and Levi, Genesis 24:28-31, 50-51, 55. They deceived the male Hivites in order to weaken them. Then, when vulnerable, all of Dinah’s brothers plundered the city. The essential verses, 8-9, 13-23, summarize the account. II Samuel 6:1-15 illustrates that genius. It records King David’s initial and ultimate effort to bring the Ark into Jerusalem. (I Chronicles 13 and 15 give extended post-exilic accounts.) Many wonderful details festooned the entire pilgrimage:
Until they all reached Nacon’s threshing floor where:
The essential verses, 6-11, summarize the account. End Part II. Part III reveals very helpful homiletic points we can learn. Any Bible account can contain multiple verses; but each has the genius of being encapsulated in a few essential verses. The rest relate details that:
The result is:
That’s HOW modern and relevant GOD’S WORD is! End Part I We can learn something about God from psychology, philosophy, history, archaeology and economics. But if we want to know about God all we NOW CAN…we must read his word, pray over his word, meditate on his word, assimilate his word until we embody his word.
Why then would we first seek answers about God in disciplines that teach only partial truths about him when:
Three stories from WWII offer such illustrations. In Asia, Allied women in internment camps, AKA concentration camps, decided to be decent with each other for the sake of their children. In Asia Allied military personnel along the River Kwai found wholesale CHANGE in attitudes and behavior by studying the Gospels. In Germany’s death camps women under the tutelage of God’s word taught by Betsy and Corrie ten Boom produced blooming spiritual life in bodies wracked with disease and starvation. Why did the women at Kuching learn to simply “get along” with each other, while those in Germany saw spiritual life bloom in unmistakably depraved conditions? And the men in the Kwai camp experience the same spiritual revival affecting daily life? One reason. The men in Asia, and the women in Germany began a study of the New Testament, which led to personal change. While at Kuching, Catholic sisters lived with the internees and offered comfort. That was, that is, that is always going to be the difference between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Christianity. Protestants read, study and apply God’s word to life, and CHANGE occurs. While mere religious leaders simply make the best of bad situations. Which has historically been the response of Catholic leaders to their people: suffer patiently in grace. While preachers who persistently proclaim God’s word see the Holy Spirit challenging people to change from what they ARE to what Christ leads them to BECOME: living epistles read by others. A disturbing question: what kind of preaching do we see in Christendom today? Straight from God in your-face truth that challenges us to CHANGE ourselves and, therefore, change life, or pleasant homilies that make people feel comfortable with religion? A professor in a Tennessee University chanced $50 to see if his 70 students carefully read the syllabus of his music seminar. On page 2 of the 3 page syllabus he included the combination of a school locker holding the funds. At the end of the semester, NOT ONE STUDENT accessed the prize! San Diego U-T, 12/26/21
Christians are urged to carefully read God's Word: from beginning to end, cover to cover, Genesis to Revelation—though not necessarily in that order. This writer has divided regular Bible study into four parts: 1) Genesis – II Chronicle; 2) Ezra – Malachi; 3) Matthew – Acts; 4) Romans – Revelation. This schedule, reading 2 chapters a day from each section, allows him to read the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice. However, if studied, he usually reads one chapter from each. However we read God's Word, we need a specific program. And we need to carefully read and study. Reading fewer chapters carefully excels more hastily done. What magnificent spiritual treasures lurk in all Biblical texts. Awaiting only the careful student-reader. Relaying to him GOD'S MIND in written form. Casting light on everyday events and the course of human history. Assuring the reader of God's sovereignty over life and the reader's freedom from anxiety in life because he knows GOD CARES, RULES and ENLIGHTENS. Try it if you haven't. Return to it if you have, but have been misdirected from it. Nothing...that means NOTHING...will ever be so rewarding as the wise-knowledge gained. Romans 12:10 be devoted to..in sincere love. Sincere being the operative word since Christ's love for God inspires us. Jesus and God share a mutual love that allows God to make demands on Jesus and Jesus to consider any demand made an honor to obey.
That sincere love creates and empowers unity in Christ's body that:
May God increase the love among us that he and Christ share, with the results accruing in our inter-personal relationships. In Icelandic Sagas, no single author or saga stands as an Everest compared with other works. Indeed, as the editor of Icelandic Sagas wrote, the literature offers an inseparable cohesiveness—much as the Pledge of Allegiance exalts the indivisibility of the American Union.
Njal’s Saga or Egil’s Saga can be appreciated only in the context of all lesser sagas written by lesser poets and biographers. “Medieval Icelandic literature” differs from other world literature: its authors seem to vanish and only “the voice of an entire way of life” speaks distinctly. Preface Icelandic Sagas, xii The principle applies to both Hebraic and Christian scripture. While the writers, all great men, wrote, their message eclipsed any one author, a truth in both Testaments. In the Old, it’s all about Almighty God revealing himself to Hebrews in visions, prose, poetry, promises, denunciations, but always in absolutes—and all the while promising the coming of an even greater than Moses, than the prophets, than the singers, than the poets. Which the Gospels reveal as Jesus Christ of Nazareth: the God-Man! In a sense, then, Icelandic Sagas and Holy Writ agree: each one’s author fades into his message. The differences between the Bible and all other writings are vast, not limited; comprehensive, not narrow; from eternity to eternity, not to a limited period of time. And, as it seems but one author speaks to and for the entire Icelandic cultures, ONE AUTHOR of the Bible definitely, deliberately and decisively speaks to all ages, in all cultures as the great Creator who became our Savior, and all God’s Fullness dwells in him Colossians 2:3, 9, Hebrews 1:3. There is ONE NAME in every Bible Book mentioned repeatedly: JEHOVAH, whatever other name known by: El Shaddai, God Almighty, JESUS CHRIST. The Master taught that God's Word, whether written in stone, or Perfectly Embodied in himself, flawlessly determined the spiritual content in people as an assayer analyzes the gold content in dust or ore Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. As Simeon predicted, God sent Jesus as the Absolute Truth by whose standard God judges all claims to truth. His Truth also determines the degree of spiritual life in every person.
Thus, Eve's first-born Cain's life had wayside-soil spiritual content. Her second born Abel had good-soil content Hannah's first born Samuel proved good soil content while his sons Joel and Abijah proved wayside soil I Samuel 8:1-2. Let the sociologist explain the differences however he will, the Bible's explanation is right: the good-soil person welcomes God's Word and produces differing levels of spiritual harvest; the wayside-soil person remains impervious to God's Word. Let those who believe "there's good in the worst of us and bad in the best of us" spout their mantra. If we reject Jesus we're bad-soil; if we accept him and persevere in righteousness, we're good-soil. And any difference between good and bad is imperfect soil subject to judgment. There is ONLY GOOD SOIL-people in Heaven. |
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