Bible Tidbits

Gen 50:20-21
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
NIV

Joseph is an inspiration for the abused. At his early age he was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. Then he was accused of a rape he didn't commit and put into prison. His only hope was a cup bearer's testimony to the king. The cup bearer promised to clear Joseph's name, but he forgot for two years and Joseph was all but hopeless. Then he became 2nd in command for Pharaoh and helped him get through a mighty famine in Egypt. His brothers came back to him looking for food due to the famine. Joseph had a chance to burn them for their mistreatment. While, he did deceive them of his kingly identity and tried to convince them they were guilty of robbing Pharaoh, his reasons were merely to be closer to Benjamin, his youngest brother. At the very end of Genesis, the brothers plead at Joseph's feet for mercy, knowing that Joseph could punish them severely. Instead, Joseph kindly explains that God was in charge of Joseph's fate the whole time and it was truly for a greater purpose. This begs the question: can anyone really do significant damage to us? Sure, people hurt us all the time with their mouths and actions, but will their actions ever be a permanent scar in our lives? If you ask Joseph he would say, "world throw your worst at me, God can take anything and use it for a better me." Truly, putting God at your side changes your attitude on life.

Ex 2:16-20
16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, "Why have you returned so early today?"

19 They answered, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock."

20 "And where is he?" he asked his daughters. "Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat."
NIV

Moses has a shaky beginning in his ministry, but one thing he does really well is stick up for smaller people. Maybe it was that small attitude that left God to choose him for the freeing of Israel's people. If Moses hadn't bothered to look out for those shepherd girls he would have never gotten the favor of Reuel. When he stayed at Reuel's house he got a wife and a mission from God. I learned that the good deeds we do have potential to open doors for us. I'm not saying we should do good to get good, but I am saying that a life where you show care and compassion on others is beneficial. Moses continued his compassion on people and God had made him a great leader, a great revolutionary and the only man to see the back of God's head. Our choices have consequences.

Moses is also an example of being in a long list of godly servants that were not right in the head when they started their mission. When God asked Moses to confront Pharaoh about Israel's slavery, Moses said this:

Ex 4:10
Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
NIV

Ex 4:13

13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
NIV

Moses was afraid of this mission and you can't blame him. He had to face off against the leader of the Egyptians. It wasn't until God introduced himself as I AM, told Moses about every step of the plan, gave Moses some miraculous tools, reassured Moses and let Moses take his brother along that Moses finally agreed. We often assume that God and people think very little of those that have fear. God has a history of guiding them every step of the way and reassuring them that everything is fine. God is very faithful in this work.

Point/Counter-Point: The Only Way To Evangelize

Pro: I have studied the scriptures about evangelism and have decided that the only way to do it is through a method I like to call "Audio Pamphlet" (AP). This way involves sitting all your unsaved friends down and giving them the importance of knowing Jesus Christ as soon as you get the moment. Most of the time we like to waste time through waiting for opportunities, using tidbits of conversational information, inviting others to church functions and focusing on peer-to-peer relationship building. This wastes time (something we don't know if we have) and just beats around the bush. Jesus was not afraid of knocking Nicodemus, the woman at the well and the travelers on the road to Emasus off guard to present how important he is. He didn't worry about the "right time" or the "right place" or even the "developmental stages" of his followers. He shoots first and asks questions later. Once Jesus' followers knew what was important than Jesus had all the time in the world to work on discipleship. We should not be worrying about social etiquette or the price of being offensive, but instead plan to help our neighbors know what relationship they should have. That kind of sacrifice is true love. Can we really waste time beating around the bush?*

Col 4:6
6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Con:... Counter-Point:
I agree, in a way, in your decision to not waste time with evangelizing to "unsaved friends". I agree that people you know should be aware that you are a Christian.

But there is a deeper meaning to evangelism than a lot of people may think. It's a heavy burden, evangelizing, but it's also a gift.

It is obvious that evangelism is a necessary component if you want to call yourself Christian. I mean, if you know Christ, he told us to "Follow me and I will make you fisher's of men" (Matthew 4:19).

So, 1st of all, it seems to me that evangelism is a very opinion-based topic (thus the point/counter-point relevance). 2nd, it's a hinging point in a lot of people's lives when they are introduced to the truth of God and what it is to be a Christian. This hinging point can cause disaster, or enlightenment -- disastrous examples: you reject the fact that you preferably need to get to know the person in order to earn a spiritual respect of that person (if they do not "know" you, the majority of the time that person will think you are a cultist or a nut -- they may not say it out loud!), you slam your beliefs on the table b/c you are "on fire for Jesus" and that person is scared to death (they may not say it out loud!), you annoy the person to the point of no return and that person will shut you out. Throwing your "soul-saving" information at them usually results in a destruction of the relationship (in my opinion). The argument is that Life Ninja says we shouldn't worry about the destruction of that relationship. He believes that we should leave it up to God.

But, where do we draw the line where we "assume divine intervention" in relationships VS. "God helps those who help themselves"?

Why would I ignore the characteristics of Jesus? What is the other option? I will tell you...

The Bible is a contextual book, that is NOT supposed to be looked at as a novel written by God to you. This book has been translated numerous times, through many spiritual ages, and has been passed down to us. The original text was written to the people in the Middle East at that time. To ignore these facts would be idiotic. BUT, the Bible was written as a piece of evangelism. Simply put...we were not there in the time of Jesus. In order to trust scripture, you literally have to have faith in it. You can say all the things possible to prove that the Bible is all true, but that would be defeating the point in having faith in God. People will still doubt the existence of God and the history of Christianity! You already have that against you.

Lifeninja says:

"Jesus was not afraid of knocking Nicodemus, the woman at the well and the travelers on the road to Emasus off guard to present how important he is. He didn't worry about the "right time" or the "right place" or even the "developmental stages" of his followers."

Jesus was at a maturity that we all strive to become. Is anyone on this earth at the spiritual maturity level of Christ? I highly doubt it. Is it possible? Of course (read my post titled "Philippians 1-4" -- skip to the part about Jesus becoming nothing). I'm not saying that we have to be at the maturity level of Christ to evangelize, but I am saying that we aren't God -- God knows exactly what to say -- and not everyone will need to hear the same thing by the same person. There are ways to getting through to people that don't make you look like a con artist. So, I'm not necessarily ignoring Jesus' characteristics, but I am saying that we are not God.

I believe that there is a reason for knowing the human psyche. We are reasoning creatures that are complex and yet simple. We know that some people are stubborn, some people were raped when they were young, some people are surrounded by atheists, some people are happy with condemning Christians, ect. These are not habits that we should ignore. These are problems that, if taken lightly, can lead to a destruction of the relationship. The ultimate reason for evangelism is expressing a Christ-like love to others. If we chose ignorance to achieve that goal, are we really doing the right thing? I don't believe in "the end justifies the means". It's hypocritical to sacrifice wisdom to gain enlightenment (Jesus was strong, but also gentle).

Conclusion
This is such a broad topic with so much controversy surrounding it. So if we aren't sitting people down in a group and evangelizing, what are we doing? We are beacons of God's word, a reflection of Jesus, in a period of time where psychology is apart of our awareness and people are even more messed up. We defend the truth, we gain the respect of others, we love others, we set the example. We become "nothing", a servant to God and others. We love people by creating a relationship and becoming their "brother/sister".

You can see the simplicity of Life Ninja's post and the complexity of mine -- showing you an obvious difference between the two forms of evangelism with the same agenda. This is my opinion in which I have found success. But God calls us all to behave in different ways, because we all bring something to the table. That is the beauty of diversity and equilibrium of God's creation. Pray to God for the right answer and He will lead you. But, one thing Life Ninja and I both believe: to do nothing at all, would not be love. God wants us to take action.

* I am taking this extreme stance because I have learned that being your own devil's advocate helps with the struggle for truth. If anything, I have been a user of the counter-point method.

The Shack Review

I had to read this book after the media water cooler was all abuzz on it. I am always rejoicing when Christian entertainment gets the attention of the world (or at least Wegmans). When I first learned that the three main characters were God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I immediately exclaimed, "this guy has got courage."

Seriously, C.S. Lewis turned down an idea to write about angels because he said they were so pure and righteous that he would just screw it up, but William P. Young goes right ahead with fictionizing the God head 3-in-1, putting them in his story.

After reading it I came up with these insights about the book. Not all of them are theological because this book is not supposed to be a sermon or a commentary on scripture.

0. The book is coated in a lovey-dovey atmosphere from the trinity. God is portrayed as an African American woman named Papa (purposely for the sake of shock appeal to the main character). The Holy Spirit is an Asian girl, while Jesus is just a fun loving Jewish man. Throughout the book the trinity is bubbling over with hugs, kisses, encouragements and high fives toward the main character. They can't get enough of him. This was Young's way of portraying God as someone who seeks people and wants to spend time with them.

1. Young writes about Jesus in a similar style that many devotionalists write about--Jesus as mystery. It seems like Young tries to nail the point that Jesus is so counter to what the church thinks that we would never even recognize him. This goes along the same lines of books like, The Jesus I Never Knew, The Radical Jesus, The Jesus Revolution. How many times can we write: Jesus is so out there, but guess what, I found out who he was and wrote about it." It seems like the Jesus in Young's story expected everyone to join a forest community and live off of righteous communism. I prefer the Max Lucado way of revealing the Lord, "Jesus is revolutionary, but here's how he fits into your everyday life."

2. The book is about the suffering of a guy named Mackenzie, who lost his daughter to a murderer. The author confronts his pain with a visit to the trinity in a beautiful paradise. Mac gets to go to Heaven, gets enchanted visions and speaks to God face to face, while they answer every one of his questions. If only it were that quick to heal. Young doesn't disgrace people who suffer, rather he wanted to show his children what he thought God was like.

Overall: I liked the boldness of this book and the statements that were made had a refreshing look. Young's Heaven and trinity is a side of spirituality that we all wish for, but always settle for less in our spiritual lives. We forget that God lavishes us in constant love. This book can sound like a long sermon, but it never gets dry or boring. While its not supposed to be based on any non-fiction, Young makes a great (and therapeutic) book for those who are hurting or just bored.

Thoughts on Ephesians

I've noticed a few themes with Ephesians

God's excited love for our salvation. God is not a disinterested savior and he's not just some plain old lover, but he is an excited lover.

5he^[a] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will (Eph 1:5)

The word I want to dwell on is pleasure. Even though this book is filled with tons of exciting words, pleasure seems to be a unique one. I liked that God enjoyed making me for salvation. It wasn't something he HAD to do, it wasn't something he did because it was logical, but it was a mission of contentment.

Probably one of the most ill conceived messages of God is that he is a person who HAS to save you and does it with gritted teeth. He gives you a Clint Eastwood look and says, "Do it before I change my mind." Nope, God is more like that excited fifth grader who knows there is a present waiting when he gets home from school. He couldn't even wait to choose us until the world was created; he had to do it before. (Eph 1:4).

GIFTS

Another great theme in Ephesians is LAVISH. Paul can't get enough of speaking about the glorious riches of being in God. He speaks in great detail about getting endless amounts of wisdom, grace, holiness, love, peace and other riches. Paul is clearly contrasting the riches of the triune God with his greatest competitor Artemis. But Paul's argument seems to go on about how a life with Jesus is a constant blessing and a lavishing of gifts. Imagine taking a dry chicken McNugget and drenching it in ketchup; that is lavish.

God is Far Out
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Another great theme is the scope of which God and Jesus have control. His ability to take care of us goes past our very minds. It is impossible to conceive what God can do. I've always hounded on God for making Heaven look like a boring bunch of clouds and pearls, but I think there is tons more than I can fathom. He is the God that blows your mind.

22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

This is one of my most favorite verses in Ephesians because it speaks of a God who has authority over everything. God owns your brain, God owns your enemies and God owns your problems. Not only does he own them, but they are actually under his feet. Accessing God in your life is like using a fire hose to kill a fly. It might be overkill, but it works.