Wednesday, November 18, 2020

I'm not sure if you've read the Prophet Hosea recently, but I've enjoyed COVID-19 confinement time to study these "Minor Pros" again. 

Sin in Israel brings God's curse on the land in dryness and failed crops & dying animals: Hos 4.1-3 "The Lord brings a charge against Israel ... There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. ... So, the people cry. And everything that lives is slowly dying. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, are dying." Or in EEV: "Therefore the land will mourn, and all who live there will languish, along with the wild animals of the field and the birds of the air. Even the fish in the sea will disappear." 5.1-7 has a similar sin judgement on land and crops patterns, v7 "They have times when they enjoy themselves at the beginning of every month. But at the beginning of the month [New Moon] I will destroy their fields and they themselves will die." (EEV); see also - Hos 2:8-9, 12, 4:10, 9:2, 10:12-13, 13:15, etc. But also, see blessings on the land in his steadfast love (hesed love) cf 2:15, 21-22, 6:11 & 14:5 🙂 ... .

As an application, should we not ask & see the years of droughts and fires in California, Oregon, and Chile as God's warning and judgment on sinful places? Many say it's either La Nino (little girl) weather patterns or Climate Change only, man's fault, but not the sin as the Bible portrays it, more sin against each other. from greed of stuff and willful ignorance of the effects of polluting. Can we not also see a judgment because of moral sins, injustice, and corruption which all these places practice and progressively promote? What will it take for today's man to see God is acting and beginning to warn the world of coming judgment and end times? Many will disagree with me here, denying the spiritual aspects in these things, I'm simply trying to apply the Bible to real life with the wisdom I've been given from the Lord. 
Of course, Hosea, the prophet whose name means salvation, who acted out great love, predicted that God's great covenantal hesed love would restore his marriage AND sinful Israel, see 2.18 "At that time, I will promise to do things for Israel’s people. I will cause the animals in the fields and the birds in the sky to be their friends. I will cause the animals that move along the ground to be their friends too. I also will break the things that Israel’s people used in war ... They will be safe. 🤗 And in 3.5, "At a future time, Israel’s people will return. Then they will look for the *Lord their God and they will look for David, their king. They will come to the Lord and they will receive his blessing." 😇 And 6.3 " We should try to know the *Lord. We can be sure that he will come. It will be like the sun when it rises at the beginning of the day. He will come to us like the rain. It will be like spring rain. It will bring water to the ground." And, even better: Hos 13.14 "will redeem these people. People will not have to bury them. I will redeem them from death. Death, your illnesses have gone. Death, you cannot kill any longer. I will not be sorry for this people any longer." 
Jesus is that redeemer!" 🤔 

A worldwide virus has shaken us all this year. never before in our memories was the world so quickly shut down, locked down, by fear of devastating sickness and plague. Not even the 1918-21 flu virus hit so quickly and so widespread (tho it caused far more deaths, so far). was God speaking in a new way? at least new to modern ears? A 'second wave' in November & December worse than the first in March & April is now hitting us (1.4 million more people will be sick in America (and complacent Europe) this week, by New Year's in January a doubling of current numbers to 8 to 12 million (depending on accelerating factors) more will be sick!) (and, sadly, if mortality is 2% that means a doubling of over 250,00 more deaths in such a short time!) and should shake us even more! 
Can our leaders, who don't ask us to repent nor even depend on God, in any way solve this crises? Will it just blow itself out? Will vaccinations come in time to save us?  I also predict terrible fires on the US West coast and Chile again next summer, worse than 2020 which was already worse than terrible 2019 which wiped out "Paradise!" Can we not see God's warning and call to repent while there's still time before major judgment? 

 Heaven help us!

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Love to Tell the Story

Guest blog entry by Christopher C Alsruhe,
He teaches about Bible stories like I'd write it and how I teach it.  Used by permission.
He's my bro-in-law in Baltimore. :-)

Maybe the greatest joy a Christian should experience, daily, is the knowing of God (Phil. 3:1 - 16)--being reminded of what we know of Him, and learning more of Him, and becoming like Him.  In our western methods of thought, we like lists; we like things told straightforwardly; we want the short version, not the story--we're too busy, maybe, to enjoy the story (the Bible, certainly Gen. through Acts and Revelation, is written primarily with an eastern method).  Everyone loves stories; but many in the West don't have time for them.  It's a shame.

Using the Bible, how do we learn about God primarily?  More anciently and to the point of this lesson, how did the ancient writers discover the Name (the character), many titles, and many attributes of God?  Was it by declaration?  Or was it by observation?  My conclusion, though I will not write a book to prove it, is that it was by observation.  The direct declarations of God about Himself occur less than the writers' declarations about God, and the latter are primarily gleaned from discoveries through observation of God's works.  Most of the statements giving titles and attributes are subsequent to the stories that reveal them.  The writers had to meditate on the stories, discover, and state the attributes of God.  Stories typically don't give away the answers directly.  We have to think.

Yes, the straightforward statements by God prophetically, and those through the emotion and discovery of writers, are equally important to the stories; but for three reasons, stories might need to be emphasized:  1) God is revealed more by stories than by direct statements of who He is; 
2) The declarations about God by writers come out of stories they knew about God; 
3) The Bible tells us to study and meditate on the stories of God's works.  It is from God's works, stories about God's works, that the historical persons in the stories, and the writers of those stories, discovered God so that they could then produce simple declarations of who God is.

From the Psalms:
77:11, 12--I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old.  I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds.
(Notice that Asaph does not say he's going to give a textbook declaration and listing of who God is.  No, he's going to tell stories of God's works, and leave it to the listener to meditate on it and discover God for him-/herself.  Read the rest of the psalm, then produce your own list of titles and attributes; discover the fullness of God's Name; that's what the writer is telling us to do for ourselves.  Go on a personal search for intimacy with God.)

The "5's":
105:5--Remember His marvelous works which He has done--His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.
(One has to know the stories to know this.)

143:5--I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.
(Get out your Bibles.  Hey, NT Christians, read your OT.)

145:5 - 7--I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.  Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness.  They shall utter the memory of your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness. 
(It's okay to sing about facts of God; but songs that tell stories are more dynamic, are easier to remember, and they more easily affect people [ask any country music singer prior to lousy "new country" what makes country music the most popular music of the 20th century.  They will tell you it's because they most easily and effectively touch people because they tell stories.)

96:2b, 3--Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.  Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
(Salvation is a story told through the entire length of the Bible [The Story of God], not a textbook of fact-memorization.  Salvation is also a story that has continued beyond the first century to our life.  Are we telling God's story in our life?  Do we have a story to tell?)

In other words, learn the stories--theirs and yours . . . and tell them.

Luke 8:39--Jesus said, 'Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.'  And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

What's your story?  Is God in it?  More to the point--Is God Himself your story?  Tell it.

On the cover of one edition of the NIV Bible, the publisher has placed a title (not "The Bible").  It's "The Story of God."  There it is.  That is the true title and whole point of the Bible.  Any other point the Bible makes is rooted in, and springs out of, God's story of Himself.  The whole Bible is stories within the Story, His-Story (history), fulfilling Ex. 33:19, "I will cause all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name [character] of Yahweh [I AM] before you. . . ."  This is fulfilled by an experience of observation and declaration in Ex. 34:5 - 7.  But the entire Bible is first and foremost these verses being expanded, explained, and fulfilled in a Person and His story, Immanuel--With Us is Mighty God.  All else is subservient to this, and nothing else has meaning and purpose unless it is founded on this  . . . His Story pre-incarnate and incarnate.

The hymn says "I love to tell the story of unseen things of old.  Of Jesus and His Glory.  Of Jesus and His love."


Tell the old, old story.  And tell yours.  It's the same.  It is God.  It is Jesus.

Jim often asks his students: how many stories in the Bible?  ONE!

Monday, August 17, 2015

Diffusing Arguments for a Better Witness to Muslims



This post was recently published in Esperence, a Theological Review by African Christians in MALI, May 2015.  The rest of the article will be in the next post.

 

What Manner of Witness to Muslims is Possible?

When telling Bible stories or when doing short witnesses people oft pose hard questions, i.e. Jesus Christ as Son of God, the Bible, good works, the doctrine of the Trinity, Christian marriage, prayer practices, Jesus' death, drink and meat, destiny, demons, etc.  How do we respond?  How should we respond?

As I chat with my Muslim friends in Mali I often hear similar objections to the gospel narrative that we represent.  Islamic theology is indeed opposed to Christian theology even though there are similar themes and historical links.  God’s eternal plan that in grace God chose to love sinful man through the cross of the Savior is quite different from obedience to Allah and emulation of the prophet of Islam.  My friends will ask many questions based on the differences they observe, usually in a form of wanting to know our answers, not in the form of livid objection.  It is possible to answer all these questions and objections from the Bible and also to turn the conversation into a witness showing the grace of our loving and wise Lord. 
The South African Islamics student, John Gilchrist, writing in Facing the Muslim Challenge, testifies that: “
After speaking with thousands of Muslims “I can, with genuine conviction, say that I have never heard a Muslim argument that cannot be legitimately and adequately answered.”  (Gilchrist, p2)
Gilchrist requires our answers to be biblical:
Often nothing needs to be proved – the Bible only needs to be quoted properly and it will make its own impact on the objector.    You cannot reason people into the kingdom of God – they need to respond to a message of God‛s grace and forgiveness from their hearts and that requires not just an assent to the truth but a repentance and conviction deep within. And the Bible is the best tool for achieving this end. Do what you can to get Muslims to read it!  (Gilchrist, p10)
He suggests that we can turn the objection, debate, and argument into something positive:
What started as a Muslim offensive against the Gospel ended as a more purposeful witness than I could possibly have given had he never raised his arguments. Use Muslim arguments to strengthen your witness. Take the Muslim away from objections and disputes as far as you can and bring the discussion back to where it should be – evangelistic witness.  (Gilchrist, p12)

 

The balance image read by Muslims and Christians

What is the Islamic view?

The Islamic view of judgment is set out in the image of the balance weighing the good and bad deeds of a person during their life.  A heavy scale equals success, but a light scale means they lose their souls.  Many of my Muslim friends in Mali will tell me that even an angel is perched on my right shoulder recording in a notebook all my good deeds, thoughts, and words.  But also a second angle is perched on my left shoulder recording all my bad deeds, thoughts, and words.  On judgment day these notebooks will be opened before God in heaven and the deeds will then be adjudged.  This image has roots in the Mt 24 judgment day parables and Revelation ___ images of heaven.  It was sadly also used in some medieval artwork in Europe and is part of some wrong Christian theology, too.  Islam has seized on the wrong theology and made it a major tenant of their system of thinking.

     A few of the many ayas of the Qur'an teaching this follow.  Islamic references are found in Wickwire, 100 Questions about the Bible & Qur’an, question #73, referring to balances, sin, and judgment.
Araf (Heights) 7:7-9         “We will surely call those to an account, unto whom a prophet hath been sent; and we will also call those to account who have been sent unto them.  And we will declare their actions unto them with knowledge; for we are not absent from them.  The weighing of men's actions on that day shall be just; and they whose balances laden with their good works shall be heavy, are those who shall be happy; but they whose balances shall be light, are those who have lost their souls, because they injured our signs.”

Isra (Night Journey) 17: 35-36 promises that Allah will use a just balance and solid evidence to make it easy and clear:      “And give full measure, when you measure aught; and weigh with a just balance.  This will be better, and more easy for determining every man's due.  And follow not that whereof thou hast no knowledge; for the hearing, and the sight, and the heart, every of these shall be examined at the last day.”

Al-Anbiya (The Prophets) 21:47   “We will appoint just balances for the day of resurrection; neither shall any soul be injured at all: although the merit or guilt of an action be of the weight of a grain of mustard-seed only, we will produce it publicly; and there will be sufficient accountants with us.”

Al-Mu'minun (The Believers) 23:102-103 “They whose balances shall be heavy shall be blest.  But they whose balances shall be light, they shall lose their soul, abiding in hell forever.”
cf 29:6-9, 18:105-106, 101:6-9.

Apologist Josh McDowell says, ”Islam teaches a salvation by works.  Thus if the scales tip in favor of good works, the Moslem will reach paradise.”  (McDowell, p 117).  To hear a Muslim writer saying the same thing I quote from a Qur'an published by Project Gutenberg: pg 7440,
To show the exact justice which will be observed on this great day of trial, the next thing they describe is the balance, wherein all things shall be weighted.  They say it will be held by Gabriel, and that it is of so vast a size, that its two scales, one of which hangs over paradise, and the other over hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth.  Though some are willing to understand what is said in the Koran concerning this balance, allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of GOD'S equity, yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is that it is to be taken literally; and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being themselves weighed, they say that the books wherein they are written will be thrown into the scales, and according as those wherein the good or the evil actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given; those whose balance laden with their good works shall be heavy, will be saved, but those whose balances are light will be condemned.  Nor will anyone have cause to complain that God suffers any good action to pass unrewarded, because the wicked for the good they do have their reward in this life, and therefore can expect no favour in the next.
(Qur'an, translator: George Sale, p99-100)

What is the Christian view of the balance image?

What in fact is being judged?  The balance referred to in the Bible is similar to those found in the markets of Mali where one plate has the standard weights and the other plate has the object to be sold or bought.  There were no balances with springs in biblical days.  What is placed on each plate according to the Bible?  Many verses use terms of measuring and weighing, balances and measures, testing and proving, and this study looks at several:

*Job 6:2-3  "If only my grief could be weighed; or my calamity piled together on a balance scale!  It would weigh more than the sand on the seashore!”  Job’s troubles weigh on him.

*Job 31:6  “Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!” (ESV)  This possibly could be construed as a weighing of good vs. bad, but that is not clear and doesn’t gee with rest of Bible doctrine.

*Ps 17:3  “When you probe my heart, and examine me at night; when you refine me, you will find nothing wrong, for I have determined that I will not transgress with my mouth.”  When & if God probes, tests, and weighs us, he’ll know that I’m innocent. 

*Ps 38:4  Sins are too much for us; “My sins are over me, like a heavy burden, they’re too heavy for me.”  Cf Isa 24:20.

*Ps 62:9  Vanity & no weight:  Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.”  Men are of no value compared to God.  We are weighed in comparison w/ God; there is no comparison of good or bad works in the Bible.
tools for leveling foundation of the new Kayes school
*Ps 139:23-24  Weigh me, know me intimately, and test me in my thoughts, O Lord, see if I’m on your right path.”  I’ve declared I’m yours, prove it to me and correct me where I need it.  He gives large openness to God; He accepts God’s testing knowing that it is done anyway as God knows our inner thots always.  We need this, daily, so God can help us to match our thots and our words. 
*Pro 16:2  The one weighing the spirits & hearts is God, cf Pro 15:11, 17:3, 21:2, Lc 16.15; men don’t know the hearts of others.  No angels are involved, either.

Pro 16:11  Equity is very important to God:  ESV: “A just balance and scales are the LORD's; all the weights in the bag are his work.”  Cf Pro 11:1, 20:23, & Mic 6:11

*Pro 24.12       Man might not see sins, but doesn’t the one weighing hearts (God) not see?  (ESV)  Won’t He judge correctly?

*Is 40:12-15   Starting in v12 five (5) questions are posed using weighing and measuring terms to bring out the comparison of God and the nations.  The nations are nothing to God:  “the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales.”  (ISV)  Even if a nation is compared to God, it is nothing.  Man is nothing; family and riches are nothing; nations are nothing.

*Is 64:6        Our sins cause us to be light weight, wilted, dried up, and nothing when compared to God’s weighty righteousness; “we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”  (ASV)

*Dan 5:27    “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” – tekel = weighed - “you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting,” (ESV) and thus judged.  The king and the kingdom were evaluated by a just God and then judged.  

the NT has few verses usung this image:

Rev 6:5   (ISV) “When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Go!" I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a scale in his hand.”   Here a balance is the symbol of scarcity of provisions, the bread being doled out by weight.


Summarizing, there are several ways of using and understanding the balance in the Bible:

Other than the simple demand for just scales and marketing i.e. Pro 16:11, Hos 12:8, there’s also:
a/  Man’s sinfulness against God’s righteousness.  This way God’s side is much heavier.  Ps 38:4, Ps 62.9, Pro 16.2, Isa 24:20, Isa 64:6, Dan 5:27, Heb 12:1 - “lay aside the weight of sin,” etc.
b/ Man’s guilt against his innocence, Ps 17:3; David was willing that God test him, and he knew he would prove innocent, cf Job 31:6, maybe Dan 5:27, etc.
c/ The nations & world are compared to God: they are nothing but dust; God is almighty!  Isa 40:15, cf Job 28.24-25, etc.
d/ Calamities against peace, cf Job 6:2-3, his troubles weigh him down, cf Ps 58.2 (violence by man), Rev 6:5.


We can be sure the Muslim thot is not Christian idea concerning scales and weighing.  Help our friends see this graciously.

jpb