Motivication

Some of you may know that I've recently undergone a lot of theological research. This includes a chronological reading plan and several sermon downloads off the Mars Hill website. I've heard of Mark Driscoll before but I only recently started listening to his preaching. Good stuff.

The funny thing about all this is that I get more of this done when I'm at work than at home. I listen to my iPod when I'm at my computer, usually listening to sermons. I read the Bible during my breaks. I've also started getting Christian audiobooks like The Case for Christ. I want to get Don Miller's newest book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. But that's probably also because I'm a fan of Don Miller.

I also joined a band at my Church known as the Citadel.

I've been doing all this stuff, so many Christian things, like those crazy people who do nothing BUT Christian-related events like Christian schools, Christian books, Christian art contests. Not that there's anything wrong with those.

But yesterday I heard a sermon. It wasn't one I downloaded off the internet. It was at my church. It was about motives. The gist of it was that anything right done for the wrong reasons is still evil.

I know this isn't an overly profound or wordy blog. But it's basically caused me to take a look at what I'm doing. Am I doing this stuff because I want to be smart? Am I doing it out of genuinely wanting wisdom and growth and understanding of Scripture and God? Do I really read and listen to this stuff because I want to be a good leader for my future family? Or, God (literally) forbid, do I think on some level that doing stuff like this makes me right with God? I don't think it's the last one. In fact, I'm almost sure of it. But I do know that immersing myself in stuff like that is, at least, a help. I've also been blessed to have so many friends willing to help me along and offer their own wisdom. I've never been at a church where I felt like I could rant about this stuff and ask questions and people would actually read it and offer advice. So, thank you all.

Adam out. *warps away*

One Gigantic Network

Ever wish that God would just come out of the sky and say "This is the right teaching and this is wrong"?

I know what you're thinking. "That's what the Bible is for!" I know that. I'm not discrediting the Bible at all. In fact, I love it. The only problem is that, too often, humans find multiple meanings for a single teaching. This wouldn't be a problem if they didn't contradict one another.

I recently began some research/Bible study/an obsession about theology, wanting to learn what's wrong and what's right. I got The Case for Christ and The Shack. I've been looking up different books about Christianity, like C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. I have other books too, such as Blue Like Jazz and The Cross and the Switchblade that I read a while back. I've had other books recommended to me like Systematic Theology. And I even have The Chronological Study Bible. But do all of these things coordinate together?

For example, upon Sarrah's recommendation, I read The Shack. By read, I mean I got the audiobook and listened to it at work. I can honestly say I grew a little by listening to that book. It was quite incredible.

Now, Mark Driscoll, the leader of the Acts 29 Network, apparently hated it, saying it used "graven imagery" to portray Sabellianism, which is the belief of the Trinity as being three aspects of God rather than three distinct persons in One God. Or something like that. We really need to use layman's terms once in a while. Along with this, the church I attend is part of this network, Neo-Calvinist (not technically, but yeah) and my pastor, incredibly knowledgeable, is the one who recommended Systematic Theology to me.

Blue Like Jazz is a memoir by Donald Miller. Miller discusses various spiritual truths he learned. Having read this book, I can say I've found no objection to it. This book was recommended by several Armenian friends of mine, some of whom are incredibly knowledgeable themselves.

Over my relatively short lifetime I've heard different views on predestination, eternal security, and the like. Good sermons, bad sermons. Prosperity gospel. The Message Bible. OSAS. Religion. Non-religion. Not even Christian, but "followers of Christ." I've been to Baptist churches, Assemblies of God churches, and Presbyterian churches. I've heard the plague of frogs preached as a "get rid of that bad stuff" sermon. All sorts of...stuff. How do you tell what's right?

Again, layman's terms. Calvinism, Armenianism, OSAS. Words no one who doesn't research things will understand.

Here's my thought. Jesus was, and is, neither a Calvinist nor an Armenian. Jesus is God Himself, Who came to earth to save everyone and unite them as one body, His bride. He never preached anything contradictory with Himself. And if anything He said contradicted anything anyone else said, the other person was dead wrong.

This is one big ramble. Maybe what we need to do is unite all the churches into one big church, just like the Bible says we are. I don't even like the term "Acts 29 Network." I think it's a great thing, but there are so many churches that aren't part of this network. Shouldn't we all just be one giant "Jesus Network"?

That was my rant for the day. I hope it actually made some sense.

A Word, A Torch, and Dead Animals

Genesis 15 (New King James Version)

Six days ago I started reading The Chronological Study Bible, a Bible that Sarrah got for me. So far it's been really fascinating and quite the learning experience. Along with the verses themselves, the book has extra footnotes and short studies that talk about the cultural context. There were some that detailed different beliefs about Creation and the Flood, beliefs that just show how much greater our God is than the god of any other religion out there.

So I came to Genesis 15. This Bible is a New King James Version and titles it "God's Covenant with Abram." It details a ritual covenant where God promises to Abram that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars. "Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be'" (New King James Version, Gen. 15.5).

According to this study Bible, the ritual that took place was very similar to other ancient Near Eastern covenants. The suzerain, or stronger party, and the vassal, or the weaker party, would agree on terms and duties. Usually the suzerain would offer protection to the vassal and the vassal would support the suzerain with taxes or wartime loyalty. This ritual involved the vassal cutting various animals in half and walking between the pieces. This served as a sobering reminder of what would happen to the vassal should he fail to uphold his duties (Nelson 23).

Now, compare this to the Genesis 15 covenant. There are stark differences. One of the differences is the fact that the chapter details the duties of God, clearly the suzerain. He offers Abram His protection (Gen 15.1) and promises that Abram's descendants will be numerous (Gen 15.5).

Also, notice in Genesis 15:17 that Abram, the vassal, was not the one who walked between the dead animals. Rather, a burning torch did. This burning torch is a representation of God, saying "that He would die before He would allow His covenant with Abram to fail" (Nelson 23).

Isn't that awesome? Isn't it incredible how differently from us God works? In our culture, the stronger impose rules on the weaker and punish them for not upholding their side of the deal. God, however, has taken this duty on Himself.

But God, about two millennia later, put His money where His mouth was and did die. In fact, this was the Son that Abram was making the covenant with. If we look at Genesis 15:1, it clearly says "...the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision." Curious, I looked up several versions of this verse. Many of them use the exact same wording. Other versions, such as the New Living Translation, say "The Lord spoke to Abram in a vision," but the wording reflects the same meaning. Rather than simply say "The Lord said," which would still mean the same thing, the author is trying to get a very specific point across here.

That point can be found in John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (New International Version). John, the author, is talking about Jesus. This means that Abram was making this covenant with the Son Himself!

Doesn't that blow your mind? Abram is standing here making a covenant with Jesus, a far more powerful person than Abram or anyone in history. And yet Jesus takes it on Himself to fulfill the law and swears to die rather than break it. And He did. We have all been saved because of it.

Works Cited

Nelson, Thomas. "Passing Between the Halves." The Chronological Study Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008. Print.

New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984. Print.

New Living Translation. BibleGateway.com. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale Charitable Trust, 1996. Web. 16 May 2010.