Please don’t ask me…How can you trust the Bible when it is so full of myths and contradictions? Part 2

Please don’t ask me…How can you trust the Bible when it is so full of myths and contradictions? Part 2

 

Last week we talked about some of the seemingly contradictory statements in the scripture and this week we want to focus on the things people consider “myths” regarding the Bible

 

Gone are the days when people naturally trust people at their word, especially those in authority. The government, Business, and churches are all scandalized with that come to a natural distrust of all authority including the Bible.

 

Today I want to look at some objections to the Bible that may come up from your friends and how to respond to them.

 

– The Bible is very old and was written by gullible, illiterate people; therefore, we can’t trust it

 

The truth is there are both gullible and discerning people in any age, in every system from business to politics to science to the church…we always have both

 

The people from the era and region of the Bible had people who memorized large passages of scripture and then passed it on verbatim to disciples, the figured accurately the circumference of the earth, and managed to sail ship and travel through deserts using only the stars and the sun as their guide and we lose our phones and keys regularly and can’t remember how to get anywhere without our GPS.

 

The fact the Bible was written in ancient times has no bearing on the literacy or the naivety of the people who put it together.

 

Let’s look at several verses here, and you tell me how gullible the author was. 2 Peter 1:16-18

 

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice, which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

 

Do you think Peter was gullible believing folk tales or made up stories? Let’s look at another example from John

 

1 John 1: 1-4

 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

 

Do you think this was something John made up or was it something he was accurately describing an experience?

 

When the early church was founded being a Christian in some cases was punishable by death. Confessing Jesus as Lord was being a traitor to Rome and many died for their faith. Yes, some die today for a lie but not something they have experienced, it would be futile to die for something you know was a lie.

 

– The Bible was written too far after the events actually happened to be considered reliable

 

The early creed that Paul proclaimed in 1 Corinthians 15 was written by the Apostle Paul in AD 56, a little over two decades after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It was a creed handed down to him, something that was developed not long after Jesus ascension. According to non-biblical sources, Paul was beheaded by Nero in 64AD, so all of his letters were written before then

 

1 Corinthians 15:3-9

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that, He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that, He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all, He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

 

Notice he states that many are still alive (verse 6) who could verify exactly what He is saying here.

 

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John were written by contemporaries of Jesus. Matthew and John were disciples and Mark a scribe to Peter. Luke was a scholarly investigative reporter and well educated as he was a physician and right hand to Paul. All four Gospel were written well within the contemporary life of those who saw Jesus.

 

There are also non-biblical references to Jesus which If you go to the website or look at the attached notes on the app you will find some of the references. Gary Habermas who wrote, “The Historical Jesus,” lists thirty-nine ancient sources outside of the Bible that provide over one hundred facts about Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection.

 

The archeological evidence too is outstanding from Ossuaries with prayers to Jesus from around 50AD to even graffiti on walls making fun of Christians to the discovery of Peter’s home. Science continues to support the truth of the Bible especially the life and times of Jesus.

 

– Even if it were accurate at first, the Bible has been translated and copied so many times it can’t be accurate now

 

Often when you ask people specifically what they are talking about here they either don’t know, or they think Greek to Latin-German- to modern English with changes all along the way, like the kids game of telephone if that were true it would be scary and they would have every right to question its accuracy.

 

All translations begin with the Greek Text for the New Testament and Hebrew text for the old. We still have these text to refer to, and every translation is done directly from them, and there are now more texts that have been discovered for the Bible than any other book hundreds of times more to compare the accuracy of each one to each one.

 

We can easily compare the earliest text of both to later text copied and see that there is no significant difference even from the earliest writings

 

– The New Testament consists of carefully chosen books, banning others that shed light on the real Jesus of history

As I have mentioned before movies and books like the DaVinci Code have postulated to modern audiences that Jesus is not who the Gospels say he is

 

In the 20th century a series of books was discovered called the Nag Hammadi, they are Gnostic “gospels” all written 100 – 400 years after the original gospels and none of them written by disciples, apostles, or anyone who had experienced the risen Christ.

 

Gnosticism is much more complicated than this but allow me to try to give a basic understanding

 

Christianity and Gnosticism are mutually exclusive; however, it is easy for a Gnostic mindset to seep into our thinking if we’re not careful.

– The Gnostic is pursuing goodness, but, instead of seeking to be regenerated by Christ, he grabs hold of a man-centered purpose for living.

– The Gnostic thought makes man “wise in [his] own eyes” (Isaiah 5:21), something Proverbs 3:7 pointedly advises against: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.”

–  The Gnostic Jesus brings a message of self-redemption. Man only needs to examine his inner “spark” to find the knowledge needed to free himself from his material body and reach God.

– there is a Great God that is good and perfect, but impersonal and unknowable.

 

These are the books that are quoted as the Gospels of Thomas, Barnabas, Philip, Mary, Judas, Peter and others. Supposedly attributed to apostles or those close to Christ but each of these written at least 100 years too late. With thousands of contradictions to Jesus own words.

 

If you look at a table of contents of your Bible, you will see they were written by either a prophet or apostle or by someone with a direct relationship to one.

 

The books chosen for our new testament had been used and verified as the truth by the church since the first century. Truth does not contradict itself.

 

Initial acceptance by people to whom the work was addressed was crucial. What was the original audience’s sense? Did they accept the book as an authoritative word from God? Here are some examples

– Daniel, who lived within a few years of Jeremiah, called Jeremiah’s book “Scripture” in Daniel 9:2.

 

– Paul called the Gospel of Luke “Scripture” in 1 Timothy 5:18.

 

– Peter affirmed that Paul’s letters were “Scripture” in 2 Peter 3:16.

 

I hope this helps

 

Our last supposed myth is

 

– How can one religious book be right and all the others wrong? Isn’t it more likely all contain some truth, and all contain some error?

 

The Buddha said “‘Do not do unto others what you would not have done to you.’

(the negative version) Jesus said Luke 6:31 “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”

 

There are some versions of truth in most religions because truth is truth

 

The clear differences of the Bible is

 

  • the way of salvation – every other religious book stresses salvation through works, Jesus stresses salvation through what He did on the cross and through Him, by grace alone through faith alone
  • We are all sinners in need of a Savior we can only be saved through God’s redemptive plan, Jesus Christ John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
  • Predictive prophecies about Jesus

– Isaiah 53 is an example predicting the suffering and death of the Messiah 700 years before his birth

– Zechariah 12:10 “They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.”

 

It’s easy to look at the crucifixion of Jesus from our side of history and see clearly how his brutal death fulfilled these prophetic words. But what really shows the divine insight in the words of these prophets is that these words were written not only hundreds of years before the life and death of Christ but also centuries before the Roman practice of crucifixion, with its horrific piercing of the hands and feet with nails that were pounded into the wood of the cross, had even been invented.
There are a number of other predictive prophecies regarding Jesus’ life I have included them in the additional notes on the app and web site

 

I hope if your friends ask you about the Bible and its contradictions or myths about it that you now have enough to at least begin a discussion. If we can see the Bible to be real, then we can wrestle with some of the stories that may challenge us. The key is to not read into them things that are not there such as exact dates and times for some things, exactly how God did it.

 

Some of these things science will eventually prove but for now, if God’s word can be proven to be correct and viable in so many different ways, then it is easy to trust the stories to be accurate and true

 

 

 

 

Additional Information about the notes

Information that verifies the Bible was spoken of and recorded in the writings of non-Christian writers of the era

 

  1. Flavius Josephus (AD 37?-101?, a Jewish historian) mentions John the Baptist and Herod – Antiquities, Book 18, ch. 5, par. 2
    1. “Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness.”
  2. Flavius Josephus (AD 37?-101?) mentions Jesus – Antiquities, Book 18, ch. 3, par. 3.
    1. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles.  He was [the] Christ.  And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, (9) those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; (10) as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.  And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.
  3. Flavius Josephus (AD 37?-101?) mentions James, the brother of Jesus – Antiquities, Book 20, ch. 9.
  4. Flavius Josephus (AD 37?-101?) mentions Ananias the High Priest who was mentioned in Acts 23:2
  5. Tacitus (A.D. c.55-A.D. c.117, Roman historian) mentions “Christus” who is Jesus – Annals 15.44
    1. “Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.”
      1. from http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.mb.txt
    2. Thallus (Circa AD 52, eclipse of the sun) Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time.  His writings are only found as citations by others.  Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221, mentioned Thallus’ account of an eclipse of the sun that had taken place at Jesus crucifixion.
      1. “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down.  This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.”
        1. Is this a reference to the eclipse at the crucifixion? Luke 23:44-45, “And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.”
      2. The oddity is that Jesus’ crucifixion occurred at the Passover which was a full moon.  It is not possible for a solar eclipse to occur at a full moon.  Note that Julius Africanus draws the conclusion that Thallus’ mentioning of the eclipse was describing the one at Jesus’ crucifixion.
      3. Pliny the Younger mentioned Christ. Pliny was governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor.  Pliny wrote ten books.  The tenth around AD 112.
        1. “They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”
      4. The Talmud
        1. “On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged.  For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, “He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy.  Any one who can say anything in his favor, let him come forward and plead on his behalf.”  But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover!”
          1. 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
          2. Luke 22:1-2, “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.  2And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.”
  • This quotation was taken from the reading in The Babylonian Talmud, transl. by I. Epstein (London: Soncino, 1935), vol. III, Sanhedrin 43a, p. 281 as cited in Habermas, Gary R., The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, (Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company) 1996.

 

 

Some of the Predictive Prophesies about Jesus

 

– The place of the Messiah’s birth being in Bethlehem (see Mic. 5:2);

– His being of the lineage of King David (see 2 Sam. 7:12-16);

– His being born of a virgin (see Isa. 7:14);

– His claim of deity (see Isa. 9:6);

– His rejection by his own people (see Isa. 53:3);

– His betrayal for thirty pieces of silver (see Zech. 11:12);

– His extreme
suffering and disfigurement (see Isa. 52:14);

– His death on our behalf (see Isa. 53:5-6);

– His burial in a rich man’s tomb (see Isa. 53:9);

– His subsequent resurrection (see Psalm 16:10)
 

Please don’t ask me…How can you trust the Bible when it is so full of myths and contradictions? Part 1

I want to start today with a story

 

PT: Some time ago the mother of a dear friend of ours was killed. We first learned of her death through a trusted mutual friend, who reported…

 

Person 1: “Our friend’s mother had been standing on a street corner waiting for a bus, had been hit by another bus passing by, was fatally injured, and died a few minutes later.

 

PT: Just a few minutes later the grandson of the woman who had died gave this report

 

Person 2: My grandmother was involved in a collision, was thrown from the car in which she was riding, and was killed instantly.

 

PT: The boy was quite certain of his facts, relayed them clearly, and stated that he had secured his information directly from his mother—the daughter of the woman who had been killed.

 

Who was telling the truth? Which story should we believe?

 

Many people who have problems with the Bible are only saying so because of what they think they know, the information they have in hand…a great way to help them is to ask them, “Specifically what problems do you have? What passages in particular bother you?

 

Most people have only heard the Bible can’t be trusted or only heard there are lots of contradiction to it but don’t have anything in particular they can point to

 

When they do have particular issues, many times it stems from issues that seem to be contradictory like the report of the woman’s death. Did she die on the street corner or in a car? By the way, this is a true story…more about this later

 

When people begin to read the Bible they look at the Gospels and wonder, “why four books about the same things?” Then as they begin to read they see seeming contradictions that my raise doubts in their hearts, supposed contradictions like these

 

Case #1: What was really written on the cross above Jesus’ head? Every Gospel says something different.

  • Matthew 27:37 says, “And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
  • Mark 15:26 says, “And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”
  • Luke 23:38 says, “There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
  • John 19:19 says, “Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

 

Case #2: How many angels were at Jesus’ tomb after the Resurrection?

 

  • Matthew 28:2 mentions one angel. “And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.”
  • Mark 16:5 says there was “a young man” in the tomb. “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.”
  • Luke 24:4 mentions two men clothed in dazzling robes. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.

 

Case #3: How many blind men greeted Jesus outside Jericho?

 

  • Matthew 20:30 says two, and neither is named. “And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
  • Mark 10:46 mentions one, named Bartimaeus. And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.  

 

Case #4: How many demon-possessed men did Jesus meet in the region of the Gadarenes?

 

  • Matthew 8:28 says Jesus met two. And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.
  • Mark 5:2 mentions one. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.  

 

Case #5: How many donkeys did Jesus ride on as he entered Jerusalem?

 

  • Matthew 21:7 mentions two, a donkey and a colt. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.
  • Mark 11:7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.

   Luke 19:35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it only mention one, a colt.

  • This raises another issue: is the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 wrong because it mentions both a donkey and a colt, and therefore supports Matthew but seems to contradict Mark and Luke

 

Case #6: Did the centurion outside Capernaum ask Jesus to heal his servant, or was it someone else who came to Jesus?

 

  • Matthew 8:5 says it was the centurion. When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him,
  • Luke 7:3-6 says the centurion sent two Jewish elders, then some friends, to speak to Jesus on his behalf. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” 6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 

 

Case #7: How did Judas die?

 

  • Matthew 27:5 says he went out and hanged himself. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
  • Acts 1:18 tells us he fell, and “his body split open, spilling out all his intestines.” Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

How do we answer people when they bring up these or similar seemingly contradictions?

 

We recognize that we are only getting part of the story, the eyewitness are only reporting what they thought were important or the details that they paid attention to rather than everything that was going on at the time. Often when we get a fuller version of the story seemingly contradictory details make sense in light of the broader understanding of the story

 

Let’s go back to our story…was someone lying? Was someone making things up? Both eyewitnesses were people of integrity. The best posture in light of this information is to think, “Somehow I’m not getting the full story so let’s wait and see what more information develops.

 

Here is what actually happened

 

We learned that the grandmother had been waiting for a bus, was hit by another bus, and was critically injured. She was then picked up by a passing car to rush her to the hospital—but in the haste, the car in which she was being transported to the hospital collided with another vehicle. She was thrown from the car and died instantly.

 

As with this story the Bible is full of accurate, trustworthy accounts, at least this is the basis of our belief as Christians so as we look further into the contradiction we know there is truth that will clarify any contradiction

 

Let’s look at the contradictions I mentioned earlier

 

Case #1: What was really written on the cross above Jesus’ head? Every Gospel says something different.

 

We see a consistency with all of the accounts being “King of the Jews”

 

The sign most likely said “This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews which means each of the accounts were accurate just not complete. Secondly we are told in John 19:20 that the sign was written in three different languages which could also account for the differences in recording “Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.”

 

Cases 2-5 the numbers of angels, demonized people, blind men, or animals let me present a thought.

 

If I walked out of the sanctuary this morning and said there is a chair in the sanctuary I would be correct. If someone else walked out of the sanctuary and said there are 270 chairs in there, they too would be correct, they are just giving more detail then I did. I didn’t say there was only one chair in the sanctuary. Using the angels as a example

 

In the story of the Resurrection, where two angels appear, there is obviously also one angel present; the text doesn’t say “one and only one angel.” Matthew and Mark, who mention one angel speaking, are giving partial details; Luke adds a bit more by also mentioning another angel. And when Mark says “a young man,” he’s describing one angel’s appearance (Luke does this as well when he mentions “two men . . . clothed in dazzling robes”). two blind men, two demonized men, a donkey and its colt all mean that there was one there and there was an additional person but to some of the authors only the detail of the one was important to them

 

Case #6: Did the centurion outside Capernaum ask Jesus to heal his servant, or was it someone else who came to Jesus?

 

In cases of authority a delegate can be sent to speak with the authority of another person. We see that today when the President is quoted as saying something when in reality it was an aide or press secretary or someone else given the authority to speak on the president behalf. The centurion’s quote gives credence to these differences when he says Matthew 8:8,9

 

“Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

 

It is very easy to see that an emissary(s) of the centurion very well could be speaking in his authority and that a Roman soldier would send emissaries of Jewish leadership to speak on his behalf to a powerful Rabbi/prophet. It would be more politically correct in this day.

 

Case #7: How did Judas die? Hanging or falling

 

It is totally possible that both accounts are extremely accurate. Keep in mind our story of the grandmother. Let me share with you a very plausible explanation to unite the two accounts

 

Realizing that he had betrayed the very Son of God and refusing to come to God for grace and forgiveness, Judas decided to do the unthinkable. He went out to a field and found a tree at the top of a rocky cliff, hastily threw a rope over a branch, secured one end of the rope to the tree, and tied the other end around his neck. As his final destructive act, he swung himself out over the precipice. [This squares with the account in Matthew 27:5.] But then, whether before or after dying of strangulation, either the rope or the branch broke, and his body went tumbling down onto the rocks below, disemboweling him in the process and ensuring his demise if he hadn’t passed away already [thus explaining the record in Acts 1:18].

 

I hope that this sampling of some of the so-called contradictions gives you an idea that if an honest reading of the scripture can occur every contradiction can be reconciled.

 

Something to think about as scribes copied the letters and Gospels that could have easily tried to reconcile these seeming contradictions but instead chose to leave them in just as they were. That’s a strong argument for how carefully the biblical text was transmitted throughout the centuries and is another reason why we can trust its accuracy.

 

Don’t worry if your friends have found other things they believe to be mistakes or contradictions in the Bible. There are some great tools for you to use to help bring clarity two I would recommend are

 

1) Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe’s The Big Book of Bible Difficulties

2) Gleason Archer’s New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties

 

with what I have shared today and the use of either of these books you can easily help your friends resolve and conflict they might perceive.

 

As I mentioned earlier

 

Many people who have problems with the Bible are only saying so because of what they think they know, the information they have in hand…a great way to help them is to ask them, “Specifically what problems do you have? What passages, in particular, bother you?

 

Most people have only heard the Bible can’t be trusted or only heard there are lots of contradiction to it but don’t have anything, in particular, they can point to

 

When they do have particular issues, many times it stems from issues that seem to be contradictory. I have given you some tools today to help you clarify some things regarding the supposed contradictions. Some times people hope the Bible is not true because if not, then they don’t need to be accountable for anything that is in it but if it is true then they are accountable for everything that is in it!

 

If you remember this quote from Mark Twain

 

Mark Twain:  “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand”

 

Depending on how close you are with your friend, You might want to ask them…”Is there something in your life you are afraid you will have to change or give up if the Bible is proven to actually be the Word of God?”

 

If they begin to answer this question, listen completely and intensely, don’t interrupt. With compassion, love, and wisdom

 

As always we have to work from a point of love…they don’t know what they don’t know…so love them to the truth.

 

Next week we will answer

 

Please don’t ask me…How can you trust the Bible when it is so full of myths and contradictions? Part 2 and deal with some myths about the Bible like

 

– How can one religious book be right and all the others wrong? Isn’t it more likely all contain some truth, and all contain some error?

– The New Testament consists of carefully chosen books, banning others that shed light on the real Jesus of history

– Even if it was accurate at first, the Bible was copied and translated so many times that it surely has been corrupted

– The Bible was written too far after the events actually happened to be considered reliable

– The Bible is very old and was written by gullible, illiterate people; therefore, we can’t trust it

 

 

 

 

Please don’t ask me…Isn’t evolution a fact, so why are you relying on religion when science has the answers?

Please don’t ask me…Isn’t evolution a fact, so why are you relying on religion when science has the answers?

Today I am going to deal with the topic of science, creation, and God.

I would normally present arguments against Darwin’s Origin of species (today’s evolution illustration), but many times when we are preparing for a discussion about evolution (macroevolution) as outlined by Darwin, we need to begin in the beginning. Darwin begins with the idea of one cell, and as he states in his book, it is from this original cell that the “tree” of life that began macroevolution began.

 

A few things before we get into this…

First, evolution, on one hand, is fact, that is microevolution (microevolution) – defined as changes within a species – for example, there are different breeds of dogs or horses, but despite their difference in size, shape, or color they are all still dogs and horses

 

Macroevolution (Charles Darwin tree of life)– as defined, is all species have their origins in an original cell. There has to be any proof, no fossil record or anything else that would suggest this to be a fact it is a theory and simply that.

 

For the sake of argument we are not going to spend much time on that the challenge before all those who believe in evolution, “where did the original cell come from?”

 

There are three “missing elements” that have to be in place for Darwin’s theory to even be a theoretical possibility:

 

– the origin of the universe (and all matter),

– the origin of the first living organism

– the encoding of information in DNA.

 

Our goal when addressing this question for our friends is to lead them to an understanding that before we even get to the possibility of evolution, we have to discuss how that first cell, Darwin describes as the root of all living things, came into being.

 

The Bible is clear for us on two points today regarding this argument

 

  • Matthew 28 tells us to “go into all the world and make disciples” when arguing these point as with two weeks ago the topic of homosexuality it is important that we make disciples first and then teach them to observe all things. We could lose someone coming to Christ if we immediate engage in an evolutionary debate rather than posing the question anyone who believes in evolution must answer apart from God

 

  • I can not go into as much detail as I would like because of time but this is a skimming the surface type of thing, and there are some books I could recommend if you want to go deeper but we begin with the book, the Bible

 

Genesis 1:20,21

 

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 

Genesis 1:24-28

 

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

 

This is the creation story I believe, regarding the origin of man but to get there for those who believe evolution we must help them to think through and reconcile the three missing elements I mentioned earlier…this is hard and very cerebral, but I am hoping this morning to give you an understanding that you can share with others

 

  • The origin of the universe and all matter

 

Carl Sagan, (Carl Sagan) the agnostic, scientist and astronomer said: “In order to make an apple pie you must first invent the universe.”

 

In other words, to place it in an evolutionary mindset, for evolution to get off of the ground, you have to begin with the stuff…where did the stuff come from to create the universe we talked about some of this when we discussed proof for the existence of God

 

Remember matter, matters where did the first cell come from where have the chemicals originated to create the first cell?

 

To eliminate God from the equations, you must believe that all of the stuff was just here randomly bumping into one another until finally, something came together into something that eventually developed into the building blocks of life. Without cause or purpose, these things eventually became us.

 

We can come to an agreement that the Big Bang happened all of this mass of energy and matter, but there is no answer as to where that energy and matter originated that is a question apart from God that can not be answered.

 

Most scientists will state that all matter, energy, and time began at the Big Bang but apart from God that cannot answer how that happened. However, they do try to argue it away by using philosophical naturalism or the elimination of anything supernatural possibly occurring.

 

The good news is many scientists are walking away from that point of view over 1000 from leading universities around the world including all the Ivy League and for those of us here in Pittsburgh CMU, Pitt and of course there are more truly thinking scientist and professors from Penn State. They have all signed a document called the Dissent from Darwinism found at this website   www.dissentfromdarwin.org.

 

The statement says this… “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

 

I don’t think I need to stress this point further as I explained the weekend of May 5th you can hear it here

 

http://christiancenter.us/please-dont-ask-mehow-do-you-know-god-exist-especially-since-we-cant-see-hear-or-touch-him/

 

or on our app under weekend messages

 

Just as a quick reminder we said this

 

  1. Whatever begins to exist must have a cause for its existence. 2. The universe began to exist.
  2. Therefore, the universe must have a cause for its existence.
  3. The attributes of the cause of the universe (being timeless, existing outside of space, and so on) are the attributes of God.
  4. Therefore, the cause of the universe must be God. And this squares perfectly with the book of Genesis
  • The encoding of information in DNA

 

It takes vast amounts of information to form one single cell

 

(William Dembski)“The key feature of life is information—specified complexity. Even the most simple bacterial cells teem with vast amounts of information. A single primitive cell would require hundreds of thousands of bits of information precisely sequenced in its DNA. . . . In the entire history of the universe, chance can only produce 400 bits of prespecified information, equivalent to Shakespeare’s famous lines “To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer.” The first primitive cell is therefore far beyond the reach of chance-based mechanisms. Because there is not evidence of simpler life forms from which bacteria could have evolved . . . Evolutionary biologists are left with a mystery.

 

Dembski and McDowell “Understanding intelligent design” William Dembski is considered the “dean” of intelligent design

 

If one primitive cell takes that much information to sequence what about human beings Francis Collins who headed the Human Genome Project described the information contained in human DNA this way (Francis Collins)

 

“This newly revealed text was 3 billion letters long and written in a strange and cryptographic four-letter code. Such is the amazing complexity of the information carried within each cell of the human body, that a live reading of that code at a rate of three letters per second would take thirty-one years, even if reading continued day and night. Printing these letters out in regular font size on normal bond paper and binding them all together would result in a tower the height of the Washington Monument. For the first time on that summer morning this amazing script, carrying within it all of the instructions for building a human being, was available to the world.”

 

When President Bill Clinton stood next to Francis Collins (Clinton Collins photo) to declare the completion of the Genome project, he said, “We are learning the language in which God created life.”

 

Why use such theological terms?

 

Because the scientific breakthrough revealed the vast enormity and impossibility of all of this the idea is that only the finger of God could cause this to happen.

 

Dean Kenyon (Dean Kenyon), biophysicist, from San Francisco State University co-authored a book attempting to prove the origin of life without supernatural involvement only to find himself after more research repudiating his findings, “I had come to the point where he was critical of all naturalistic theories of origins. Due to the immense molecular complexity of the cell and the information-bearing properties of DNA, Kenyon now believed that the best evidence pointed toward a designer of life.”

  • The origin of the first living organism

 

The last point I want to make today is that while Darwinian evolution starts with a cell at the base of the tree of Life where did that original cell come from?

 

Many other scientists over the decades have proposed a variety of theories about the original inception of life—from sheer chance, to the (later disproved) inherent attraction between the building blocks of living matter, to life “riding in on the backs of crystals,” to a theory known as panspermia, which says that life was planted here by beings from outer space.

 

Many scientists simply accept that life is here, acknowledge that they don’t know how it got here.

 

The first life did not come through gradual, successive steps, as the theory of Darwinian evolution demands. Mathematician William Dembski,

 

The first life form emerges suddenly. According to standard dating, this first emergence of life was around 4 billion years ago. For the first 500 million years, the earth was too hot and turbulent for any life form to exist. And then, shortly after the earth was cool enough, certain types of bacteria appear suddenly and abundantly.

What this means is, contrary to what we’d expect according to the principles of Darwinian evolution in which the earliest life-forms should have been traceable back to smaller and simpler component parts, the fossil record shows early life just showing up—bam!—unannounced and fully formed.

 

So not only did Darwin not have an explanation for first life but the way, according to the fossil record, that life formed flies in the face of his theory.

 

Just to build a simple protein you need to get the just right amino acids together. Add to that they must be all left-handed amino acids and they all must fall into a very specific sequence. The possibility of all this happening is one chance in a hundred thousand trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion. That’s a ten with 125 zeroes after it! And that would only be one protein.

 

There is no scientific record nor statistical chance that life could have formed without some kind of intelligence or power

 

As Christians, I believe we have the best answer to the beginning of life

 

You may have noticed that I’ve said very little in the way of direct criticism of Darwin’s actual theory of evolution. Instead, I’ve shown that his theory can’t even get off the ground without three preconditions that neither Darwin nor broader science has been able to explain:

 

  1. How did the universe and matter, in general, get here? (Yes, I accept some version of the Big Bang, but naming it doesn’t explain it; the entire universe exploding out of one infinitesimally small point . . . sounds to me, not like a scientific explanation, but like a miracle of God.)
  2. Who wrote the informational instructions—the DNA “recipes”—that are required for life to form or replicate?

 

  1. How did life originate in the first place? (Science offers no real answers.)

 

I believe all three of these points powerfully demonstrate, from a scientific perspective, the need for an intelligent designer.

 

Please remember when discussing these points our goal is to make disciples first, we are not making converts to creationism that will come as they study God’s word but disciples knowing that Jesus can and will meet them where they are today

 

 

Special Service June 30, 2017

This is the audio portion of the special service from June 30. Due to issues of security for the speaker, I can not mentione their name in print. If you have chosen to listen to this you know who it is and you will hear their name in the audio portion. Enjoy, be encouraged and be blessed

Fearless

Fearless

 

Luke 21: 10 – 28

Then he added, “Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers. 13 But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. 14 So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you, 15 for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you! 16 Even those closest to you—your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends—will betray you. They will even kill some of you. 17 And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish! 19 By standing firm, you will win your souls. 20 “And when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that the time of its destruction has arrived. 21 Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city. 22 For those will be days of God’s vengeance, and the prophetic words of the Scriptures will be fulfilled. 23 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. For there will be disaster in the land and great anger against this people. 24 They will be killed by the sword or sent away as captives to all the nations of the world. And Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles until the period of the Gentiles comes to an end. 25 “And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth, the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. 26 People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. 28 So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”

 

 

North Korea, road rage, vehicles slamming into people, 1700 murdered in Chicago, cyber attacks everywhere banks, hospitals, every institution coming under attack. Opiod epidemic, a potentially nuclear equipped Iran global warming, cooling or Climate change fearful huh!!!

 

But if you realize the threat we have to our nation because of the division we do have some things to be concerned about

 

What happened to…

 

A few years ago it was anthrax, MRSA, AIDS, menacing hurricanes.

 

Before that the world was coming to a screeching halt in Y2K thank you Jim Quinn and all of the pundit conservative talk show host and crazy Christian commentators. I am not belittling the threats to our world and nation now just need us to realize there will always be something

 

How can we be fearless with all of this looming over our heads?

 

Where is your hope and what are your fears today? This room is filled with people battling all kinds of fears….future, sickness, financial ruin, what will happen to our children, others suffer from rejection of a marriage that has failed, job that has been lost, all of these fears are rooted in one thing…Intimacy

 

Bare with me as I explain how fearing the end of the world, economic collapse, war and my kids on drugs is rooted in intimacy.

 

Intimacy – is the deep desire to know someone and be known by them especially God and it alludes most of us because of our fear of rejection.

 

Henri Nouwen (famous catholic writer) – I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten and rejected…self rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us His beloved that being the beloved transformed the core truth of our existence.

 

If you see yourself as the beloved everything else about you becomes transformed.

 

Luke 7: 36 – 50

 

36Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” 40And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

 

Pharisees believed their adherence to the law would justify them to God.

 

Sinful woman (prostitute) Mary, Martha, and Lazarus’ sister

 

Recognizing our many sins

 

Accept forgiveness for our sins 47

 

  • focusing only on sins creates a sense of legalism and failure
  • Forgiveness frees us from legalism
  • She was forgiven for what she did
  • She was weeping tears of joy somewhere along the line she had had an encounter with Jesus “therefore” verse 47 suggest this

–     Be thankful for your forgiveness and relationship with Him

  • when you recognize that you are truly forgiven you have no weight of sin or burden of guilt

 

She recognized her great forgiveness don’t forget what He has done for you.

 

Beware of the Simon the Pharisee (the leper in Matthew and Mark) kind of attitude.

 

  • It is easy to forget where we came from and all that the Lord has done for us (Simon had to have been healed of his leprosy to be able to host such a dinner)
  • I am not asking you to rehash every sin, you are forgiven, I am asking you to remember how very much you are loved, the price that was paid and continue to have an attitude of gratitude
  • There is a place of security when we remember that we are loved so much that a price was paid for us.
  • There is nothing more contagious than being loved and nothing more deadly than a judgmental attitude this attitude by its nature causes rejection.

 

The woman went there knowing that she could be rejected or could have been stoned or could have been solicited for prostitution but she went anyway because she knows what it is to be loved much.

 

When we are secure in our love nothing can shake us. Isaiah’s fires and the flood came come our way, we can face death like Daniel in the lion’s den, or Shadrack, Meshach and Abed-nego and the furnace. We can face giants like David, Joshua, and Caleb and not be afraid. We can face all the trauma from Luke 21

 

Remember Luke 21:18,19 not a hair will be lost… by your standing firm possess your souls.

 

In other words be cool you know God is in control don’t freak worry or doubt He will take care of you as He has promised.

 

LET’S READ THE REST

 

Luke 7:48-50

48Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

 

 

Coming back to the woman verse 48 Jesus makes this statement “Your sins are forgiven”, she already knew her sins were forgiven, that is why she was weeping at his feet with joy but He made it known to all of those in that room that this woman was his family and one that he loved

 

She had accepted that love at some point and that gave her the security to face all that she would face in that room that day and for the rest of her life so she came she became fearless because now as Jesus wrapped up this conversation he says to her “your faith has saved you”

 

What about you today?

 

Where do your fears or insecurities lie is it a tangible fear about the economy, war, a divorce, kids on drugs, potential job loss or something else

 

Or is it intangible like basic insecurity, lack of self-confidence or worth, allowing rejection to control your life?

 

Or are you possibly like those who have forgotten that they too have been forgiven much and rather than loving much they sit in judgment because like Simon they have simply forgotten. When people lift their hands in worship or dance or show any sign of emotion they sit in judgment. When someone is broken and weeps they sit in judgment. They have forgotten to love much.

 

There is no security in judgment. There is no fearlessness in insecurity or low self worth or worry. Remember that you are loved much He holds your life and the world in his hands.

 

Simon became more in bondage and the woman left freer. What will you do today?

 

Do you realize how loved you are today?

Do you realize how much and how often you have been forgiven?

Do you realize when God looks at you He doesn’t see your sin, failures, warts, rejections but instead his beautiful child?

 

If you really do then you can be secure…you can become fearless!

 

Here is what Paul said to 1 Timothy 1:12 – 19

 

12I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. 13The only credentials I brought to it were invective and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! 14Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus. 15Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One— 16of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever. 17Deep honor and bright glory to the King of All Time—One God, Immortal, Invisible, ever and always. Oh, yes!

18I’m passing this work on to you, my son Timothy. The prophetic word that was directed to you prepared us for this. All those prayers are coming together now so you will do this well, fearless in your struggle, 19keeping a firm grip on your faith and on yourself. After all, this is a fight we’re in.

 

Paul recognized his own sin and the great love Christ has for him and passed it on to his disciple Timothy so that he might be fearless.

 

This is the perfect love that John talks about ridding us of all fear. All means all

 

What about you, will you become fearless today?

 

Please don’t ask me…“Why do you condemn homosexuality when God obviously made gays and lesbians and that He loves all people the same?” Part 2

Rania Sayegh – HOPE house of prayer and exploits June 30 arab Christian living in Israel prophetic insight into what the Lord is doing in the Middle East

 

Last week

 

We began and I asked a series of questions

 

Does God love everyone? Is there anyone God does not love? Did Jesus die on the cross for everyone?

 

Then I asked why He did this

 

Jesus bottom line was

Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

What compelled him to do this?

John 3:16,17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

Last week we mainly dealt with our hearts

 

  • We must always affirm God’s love – Jesus was always touching the lepers, tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, those in need of love and forgiveness

 

His love was always radical and extreme and he places this challenge on us

 

John 20:21

“As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Jesus sends us to do and be exactly like Him in all things. We must love just as radically and extreme…First

 

We also learned that we must extend grace especially when people don’t understand

 

-People need hope and they need love regardless of the nature of their sin

 

– we can’t look for people to be changed from the outside in but instead from the inside out

 

– we need to remember God’s great grace on our own lives

 

Romans 5:6

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

 

We all came to Christ with our own bag of messes and Christ reached each of us when we too were helpless to do so

 

  • Jesus affirms God’s plan for human sexuality

 

Jesus knew the woman at the well was in sin but he started out loving her then explained to her that God’s plan for human sexuality is for one man and one woman

 

Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

 

That is the highlights from last week and this is where we begin today

 

Jesus approached a Samaritan woman and enemy of the Jews, asked for a drink, told her about the life she could have believing in the Messiah, that God had a plan for her life

 

Please don’t ask me…“Why do you condemn homosexuality when God obviously made gays and lesbians and that He loves all people the same?” Part 2

 

 

4) Telling the truth about God’s will

 

You may have noticed that I have not gone into the Biblical condemnation of gay life…there are two reasons for that first I wanted to establish that God’s idea of sexual relationships is established by Jesus that it is between one man and one woman any other form is wrong…I think it is important that we make the case for Biblical sexuality rather than simply against homosexual sex

 

Second, those who see this issue differently often try to explain away the texts that do seem to prohibit sex between members of the same gender. Therefore we risk getting embroiled in the particulars of interpreting those texts instead of putting the issue back into the broader context of God’s stated purpose for sex.

 

However, in the interest of completeness, we do need to look at some of these scriptures not in order to condemn homosexuality but to be faithful to God and His Word

 

While Jesus did not openly condemn homosexuality you can not make the argument because he did not condemn it that He thought it was OK otherwise the old testament standards against bestiality, pedophilia, polygamy, slavery, child trafficking, or even the new testament oppression of the Roman government you would need to presume he thought were OK.

 

Jesus held a strong standard for sexuality

 

The apostle Paul set the standard high speaking specifically about same-sex acts Romans 1:24-27

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

 

Paul also lovingly and clearly warns about same-sex relationships in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

 

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

 

The apostle Paul makes it clear that some in the church had practiced these things not just sexual sin but drunkards, slanders and so on but where all able to stop.

 

One of the arguments for homosexuality is as we see in the question that some are born this way…I don’t want to get into the argument but let’s suppose that they are right just for a moment…I am not saying I agree with it but I will for the sake of argument

 

If someone has a desire toward homosexual behavior it doesn’t mean that they need to follow up on it. Many people have desires for things for food if it is not curbed they can become a glutton and obese and it kills them. For recreation and they can become a hedonist and put all focus on pleasure over productive activity and they either become obsessed or lazy or both. Desires can be from God but they must be disciplined to function to be God honoring

 

Secondly, if someone says they were born this way

 

Then it should also be true that someone that is a pedophile or drunk, or who has uncontrollable anger, or a liar too are born this way. Someone may have a tendency to act this way but that does not mean they have to fulfill those tendencies.

 

This logic played out then justifies the homophobe as well because they could say they too were born that way and there should be no disgust with a person who hates homosexuals.

 

We all have tendencies to sin in one direction or another. We all have areas of weakness in out lives but God wants to strengthen us in those areas to cause us to overcome

 

We see in this last scripture even if we totally fail in these areas that Paul shows us we don’t need to stay that way we can choose to walk away.

 

When you recognize that anything in your life is a sin. It is hindering your relationship with the Lord and you must overcome it.

 

Last, temptation in itself is not sin

 

Some people may be more inclined to be tempted in the area of homosexuality but just because someone feels the temptation does not mean they need to surrender to it.

 

The Lord will give us the strength to overcome because he understands temptation Hebrews 4:15,16

 

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

 

Whatever we need to overcome any temptation he will give it to us if we cry out to him.

 

5) Grace is available to anyone who is willing to come to him

 

Jesus ends his discussion with the woman, with this… John 4:23-26

 

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

 

One of the absolutely most broken women in the Bible is one of the very few who Jesus reveals himself to why?

 

Because sometimes those who we would regard as not worthy, or those we would dislike the most are the ones most hurting and most willing to impact the world…he who is forgiven much loves much

 

If you hate homosexuals or lesbians you are violating Jesus’ heart but to allow them to continue in their sin is also to hate them because you are allowing them to go to hell.

 

If we are not intentional about loving all people despite their sin preferences then how will they see Jesus in us!

 

 

 

 

 

Please don’t ask me…“Why do you condemn homosexuality when God obviously made gays and lesbians and that He loves all people the same Part 1

 

Did Jesus die on the cross for every sinner?

 

Is there anyone Jesus did not die on the cross for?

 

Jesus told us to go into what or where and preach the Gospel? Wait for the answer

 

Does God love everyone?

 

Are we obligated by Christ to love everyone?

 

2 Peter 3:9 says

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

 

If all of this is clear to you let’s look at the title to today’s teaching

 

Please don’t ask me…“Why do you condemn homosexuality when God obviously made gays and lesbians and that He loves all people the same?” Part 1

 

Last week we verified that Jesus is God and that was very clear and as Christians, it is our call to be obedient to Him and do what He calls us to do

 

Let’s look at a particular encounter Jesus had and go from there.

 

John 4:3-6

He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

 

Jesus bottom line was

 

Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

 

What compelled him to do this?

 

John 3:16,17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

 

John 4:7-9

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

 

I believe Jesus would fully affirm the last part of that question…God loves all people the same

 

1) We must affirm God’s love

 

As Christians we can’t afford to allow hate in our vocabulary we must love people through their prejudice, despite their sin, lifestyle, or whatever classification we want to place on them.

 

1 Timothy 2:3,4

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

.John 20:21 “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

 

Nothing cleanses us of prejudice faster than building a friendship with a type of person with whom we have prejudice

 

John 4:10, 13-15

Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14 But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” 15 “Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”

 

 

2) We must extend grace to people especially when they do not understand

 

People need hope, they need love, regardless of the nature of their sin.

 

Jesus is explaining to her that there is love, hope, and a way out before he even brings up the idea of her sin.

 

What would be your approach when you see or meet a homosexual or lesbian?

 

Romans 5:6

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

Romans 4:5 ….God who justifies the ungodly,…

We all came to Christ with our own bag of messes and Christ reached each of us when we too were helpless to do so

Now Jesus moves from grace to truth

 

3) Jesus affirms God’s plan for human sexuality

 

John 4: 16-19

He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.

 

Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Paul also reaffirms this in 1 Corinthians 6: 15-20

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

 

It is easy to conclude that sex that doesn’t express this “one fleshness” between one man and one woman in marriage is wrong.

 

Please don’t ask me…“Everyone knows that Jesus was a good man and a wise teacher—but why try to make him into the Son of God?

 

  • Many people believe this is what happened: Jesus was given a “divine promotion” by his later followers. In other words, today Christians have an exalted view of Jesus that he never claimed for himself.

 

This is kind of summed up in the movie, based on Dan Brown’s book the Davinci Code (DaVinci Code book)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzZm1fuw0M DaVinci Code attack on Jesus deity

 

Thomas Jefferson, (Thomas Jefferson) one of our founding Father’s believed this he even created his own Bible where he cut out most of the miracles and kept what he thought was really the truth about this great moralist Jesus

 

See if Jesus was only a good teacher, or great moralist than what he had to say was good food for thought but not divine mandate, wisdom and purpose so it is all negotiable but if Jesus is God then what He says is truth and needs to be adhered to

But history argues with that theory

 

  • History shows, contrary to that belief, that there was an early devotion to Jesus as the divine Son of God—an explosion that points back to him and his teachings as its source.

 

All the New Testament books were written between 50 and 100 AD roughly 17 – 67 years after the death of Christ. The council of Nicea was 300 years after the death of Christ and all they did at that council was merely recognize what was already acknowledged by the church.

 

In fact this is what Paul wrote to us that was already in creed form when he wrote it

 

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

 

Paul repeated a creed that had been know from Jesus resurrection that Jesus died for our sins (only God can do that) he rose again and he is writing this letter know that there are at least 500 witness that will verify what he is saying.

 

Every New Testament writer refers to Jesus as the “Christ,” or Messiah (e.g., see Matt. 1:1; Mark 1:1; Luke 9:20; John 4:25-26; Rom. 1:4; Heb. 6:1; James 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1; Jude 1:1).

 

As you probably know, “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. The word Messiah derives from the Hebrew title meaning “Anointed One”; Christ derives from the Greek translation of that title. The title appears over five hundred times and in all but one book of the New Testament (3 John, the shortest book).

 

The New Testament writers, in proclaiming that Jesus was the Christ, were saying that he was the preeminent Priest-King whom God had sent to fulfill his promises

 

The earliest and the latest New Testament authors alike use the most exalted titles for Jesus—ones that clearly indicate in their contexts that Jesus is divine. Both Paul (generally considered the earliest author) and John (usually regarded as the latest) speak of Jesus as:

 

– the Son of God (Gal. 4:4-6; John 20:30-31)

– the Savior (see Phil. 3:20; John 4:42)

– the Lord (see Rom. 10:9-13; John 9:38), and even

– God (see Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13; John 1:1; 20:28).

 

The writings of Luke and Peter also use all these titles for Jesus (see Luke 2:11; 9:20; 10:1-2; 22:70; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:1; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:1, 17; 3:18). All the New Testament authors use the title Lord in ways that, given the context, equate Jesus with deity (see Matt. 7:21-22; Mark 5:19;

 

  • Jesus affirmed this understanding by repeatedly referring to himself as the Son of Man, which was a clear allusion to the divine figure in the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 7.

 

Jesus’ habit in the Gospels of referring to himself as “the Son of Man.” This title occurs eighty-two times in the sayings of Jesus throughout the four Gospels, making it by far the most-often used title for him in the Gospels (even more than “Christ”).

 

What did Jesus mean by calling himself the Son of Man?

 

Many modern readers assume that the title simply indicates his humanity. But that’s because they didn’t live in the first century and understand that he was referring to a visionary prophecy in the Old Testament book of Daniel, in which

 

“I saw someone like the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

 

Daniel 7:13-14,

 

That’s what Jesus thought of himself! This figure in Daniel has sovereign power and is worshiped by “all the peoples, nations and men of every language”—and only God can legitimately be worshiped.

 

Before His crucifixion, Jesus was on trial before the Jewish council and he referred to this scripture

 

Mark 14: 61-64

Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” 62 Jesus said, “I AM. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses? 64 You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?”

 

The “I Am” claim was bad enough (God’s name Yahweh means I Am) we will talk more about this later. But he referred to himself as the coming Messiah/Priest/King prophesied in Daniel 7

 

  • Jesus taught with authority like no other human, expected loyalty and devotion to himself (along with the Father), and predicted that he would ultimately judge every person based on what they did with his teachings.

 

The standard way of teaching was that one Rabbi would quote another Rabbi then the third Rabbi would give his opinion on those two…Jesus went beyond that..

 

Matthew 5:21,22

“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!

 

Many times throughout the Gospels Jesus would say “but I say” setting the point that it was his opinion but was irrefutable truth

 

Jesus places himself at the head of the judgment of all mankind wrapping part of it up this way in Matthew 7:23

“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

 

He is telling everyone there is coming a judgment and I am the judge of all mankind

 

What would we do to someone today who made such a claim?

 

He is so much more than a man and knew He was the Son of God and no man gave him that title.

 

  • Jesus made multiple claims to equality with the Father, and he never sought to change the perceptions of his listeners to that end, even when they were hostile and threatening to kill him.

 

Because of time allow me to give you three passage of scripture that prove this.

 

John 5:16-18

 

For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”

18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

 

John 8:56-59

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” 57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

 

Why would they want to stone him except that his “I am” claim was making him God?

 

John 10:30-33

I and My Father are one.”31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because of You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

 

These are Jesus’ on words. I think no one needed to make Him God, He knew He was.

 

 

  • Jesus predicted that all his claims would be proven true by his impending death and resurrection—and then both of these events actually happened

 

One of the best ways to answer the question about Jesus is to ask another…what made Jesus followers believe he was the son of God, the Messiah, anointed one?

 

Ironically it is his death

 

John Dominic Crossan, (John Dominic Crossan) cofounder of the notorious Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars who promote highly skeptical views about Jesus, agrees: “Jesus’ death by execution under Pontius Pilate is as sure as anything historical can be.”

 

Jesus horrible death on a cross should have been significant to His first followers that he was not the Messiah because scripture is very clear about crucifixion

 

Deuteronomy 21:23 “he who is hanged is accursed of God.”

 

They would have seen this death as not victory but a sign that he was not the Son of God. Most of what they believed about Jesus prior to his death was that he was going to set them free from their Roman oppressors.

 

What changed their point of view? The resurrection! Within a few days some of his closest friends and relatives said they saw him alive.

 

Unlike other faiths, Christianity did not begin by a group of followers trying to remember Jesus teachings after he had died. The knew a vindicated risen savior.

 

To believe that Jesus was only a good teacher would be a mistake; a story about Jesus being the son of God would have never developed the disciples would not have been able to sustain a lie

 

Jesus placed his divinity at stake with the idea of the resurrection.

 

John 2:19-22

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

 

Matthew 12:39,40

But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

 

In both cases Jesus was referring to his death and resurrection…but how do we know the resurrection took place?

 

Historic facts from even non-Christian authors bear the fact that Jesus was crucified…despite wild theories that it was not Jesus on the cross or that he did not really die Josephus a Jewish historian, Thallus, and Tacitus Roman historians give the account of Jesus crucifixion. Pliny the younger a Roman governor and the Jewish Talmud all give reports that Jesus was indeed crucified to death…so we know for sure that He died.

 

  • all four Gospels report Jesus body was placed in a tomb by a member of the group that had him crucified…not a fact that would make sense if it were not true.
  • All four Gospels report that women were the first to encounter the risen Christ. This is a male dominated culture where the testimony of a woman was worth less than ½ that of a man. This would not have been the way to promote His resurrection
  • If the tomb were not empty it would have been easy to show the body or to find the dead body of Christ and reveal the whole resurrection thing as a hoax.

 

Paul’s conversion experience is especially troubling to those who believe that Jesus was only a good man…a persecutor who had a dramatic experience and became a believer

 

If your friends are asking you… “Everyone knows that Jesus was a good man and a wise teacher—but why try to make him into the Son of God?

 

I hope that today you see that it wasn’t something that was developed by Christians centuries after his death it was a plain understanding that the first-century disciples believed and Jesus himself made clear.

 

He is, was and always will be God and as the writer of Hebrews states

 

Hebrews 13:8

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Thanksgiving in July

What I want to talk about is a complaining heart or an ungrateful attitude.

dictionary.com
Complain,
to express dissatisfaction, pain, uneasiness, censure, resentment, or grief; find fault:

is It ever okay to complain?

We certainly need to sometimes express concerns.

We have to be real
Life Happens

But if we are always focused on the negative aspects of life, we are more likely to see them, which creates a vicious cycle of more and more complaining.

Let’s look at the last part of that definition.
Finding fault..

focusing on the bad rather than the good

What is the fruit of a complaining heart?

it poisons those around us
it’s emotionally draining to us and those around us
it fuels the sin of gossip and rumors
it can divide families
it can divide churches

I can allow myself to be agitated with the simplest things sometimes.

I can’t let things like this steal my joy or control my emotions and thoughts.

This is what happens when I allow my eyes and heart to be fixed on me.

What does the Bible say about complaining?
Philippians 2:12-15 (NLT)
12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

How does God view complaining?

Let’s look at The Story of a man named Job

Job 1:1-3 (NLT) 1 There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.

2 points
#1    He was blameless—a man of complete integrity
#2    He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.
Job 1:13-19 (NLT) 13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
17 While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
18 While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. 19 Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

In a moment of time, Everything was Gone!

Job 1:20-22 (NLT) 20 Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. 21 He said,
“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be naked when I leave.
The Lord gave me what I had,
and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”
22 In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

The Man knew who he was
and he knew who his God was

Job 2:4-8 (NLT) 4 Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. 5 But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”
6 “All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.” 7 So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.
8 Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.

Now the emotional pain turned to physical pain

Job 2:9-10 (NLT) 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”
10 But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

28 chapters later, after Job has been influenced by his three friends his outlook has changed.

Job 30:15-23 (NLT) 15 I live in terror now.
My honor has blown away in the wind,
and my prosperity has vanished like a cloud.
16 “And now my life seeps away.
Depression haunts my days.
17 At night my bones are filled with pain,
which gnaws at me relentlessly.
18 With a strong hand, God grabs my shirt.
He grips me by the collar of my coat.
19 He has thrown me into the mud.
I’m nothing more than dust and ashes.
20 “I cry to you, O God, but you don’t answer.
I stand before you, but you don’t even look.
21 You have become cruel toward me.
You use your power to persecute me.
22 You throw me into the whirlwind
and destroy me in the storm.
23 And I know you are sending me to my death—
the destination of all who live.

Chapter 31 is all about Job protesting his innocence and him bragging about all the good he has done.

Job 38:1-13 (NLT) The Lord Challenges Job
1 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
3 Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
5 Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
6 What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
7 as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from the womb,
9 and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its shores.
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud waves must stop!’
12 “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
13 Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
to bring an end to the night’s wickedness?

This Conversation between God and Job goes on through chapter 41.

At The end of the book of Job, Job fully repents and God restores his life to him.
Now, lets take a look at the Israelites in the desert

Numbers 11:1-2 (NLT) 1 Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said.

What does God think about complaining?

Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp.

Why does a complaining  heart so anger God?

Complaining is a symptom of;
Selfishness
Faithlessness
Pride
And it says to God, you’re not good enough.

2 Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped.

Moses was able to calm God’s wrath because he had God’s heart.   Moses only wanted what God wanted!

Numbers 11:4-6 (NLT) 4 Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. 5 “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. 6 But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”
The people forgot how bad it was when they were slaves in Egypt
They forgot how God was good to them and rescued them.
They took their eyes off the Lord and onto their circumstances.
Just like them, we are a forgetful people.

Who are we to express our concerns and opinions?

Chain of command, Gripes go up.

Now, it is Moses’s turn to gripe.

Numbers 11:11-15 (NLT) 11 And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people?

Look at who he is talking to. He is talking directly to the Lord in prayer.

12 Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors?

13 Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! 15 If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”
What is the difference here between Moses’s complaining and people complaining?
#1  God measures attitude of the heart.
The people want more things.     Moses wants his people to trust the Lord.

#2  Moses is griping to the one who can make a difference, not to people around     him

Psalms 142:1-3 (NLT)
1 I cry out to the Lord;
I plead for the Lord’s mercy.
2 I pour out my complaints before him
and tell him all my troubles.
3 When I am overwhelmed,
you alone know the way I should turn.

Give it all to the Lord. He cannot only handle it, but he can do something about it.

So, practically, how do we do this?

Romans 12:2
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Paul says that we must be transformed by changing the way we think.”

The mind is the key to our Christian life.

The gospel is a call for each one of us to repent of our sin and embrace Christ by faith.

Our thinking must be changed (transformed) from old, ungodly ways of thinking into new, godly ways of thinking.

What we know in our minds to be true
forms a conviction in our hearts of that truth,
and that conviction in our hearts translates into action.

So, we must first renew our minds.

The only way to replace the error of the world’s way of thinking
is to replace it with God’s truth,
and the only infallible source of God’s truth is His revealed Word, the Bible.

Transformation through renewed minds
comes as we expose ourselves to God’s Word
through the church,
personal, and group Bible study.

We need to get into our Bibles.

Church alone is not enough

We must fill our minds with God’s Word.

In John 17:17 Jesus prayed to the Father,
17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

Romans 10:17 (NLT)
17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

When we are reading it, we are hearing it.

What do we have to be thankful for?

#1 Salvation

Ephesians 2:8-10
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Please don’t ask me…Why are so many Christians, hypocrites?

Please don’t ask me…why are so many Christians, hypocrites?

We see it all around us from the Catholic priests who abused all those children. To the rip off artist who seem to be all about money rather than Christ to the scam artist hocking their wares in the name of Christ. Those are the blatant ones

To some of our friends who are trying to find a faith to follow, these types of things can derail them from faith in Christ.

This is a serious subject that hits close to home for many of us and knowing how to answer it is a scary thing.

Every one of us if we will honestly look at our lives can see our own hypocrisy. You have heard me say time and time again we are a church full of hypocrites, sinners, and broken people. Every time I do not act like Christ I am being a hypocrite.

However, there is a difference between someone who is falling short of God’s glory as they are growing in Christ and a blatant hypocrite.

Sometimes our hypocrisy is a sign of immaturity.

The Father who tells his children not to use drugs but doesn’t see a problem with having a beer every night. Or the one who tells his daughter to dress appropriately or is over protective but then in secret goes on to porn sites

The Mother who challenges her children to act like Christ but is always gossiping and backbiting others.

The church-going boss who preaches truth and grace, but cheats on his taxes and sales figures.

The employee who spends time on their break reading their Bible and quoting scriptures but steals from their boss

The Bible-quoting neighbor who talks as if every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before but they live in fear, anger, jealousy and/or resentment

Hypocrisy is “claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform; pretense.”

The label comes from an ancient Greek word that was a technical term for a stage actor. Hypocrites are mask wearers, acting without ever acknowledging that is what they’re doing.

The problem is not their sin or failure it is that they pretend that they don’t. They are inauthentic and refuse to admit it. They are frauds and imposters.

You can try a little experiment…ask your non-Christian friends if they have ever encountered a hypocritical Christian. I am sure they can give you a few examples granted some of them may be unfair but they will know what you mean.

David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, authors of unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity, (UnChristian) have done research that shows there isn’t much measurable difference between people who claim to be born-again Christians and the rest of the world.

“Born-agains were distinct on some religious variables, most notably owning more Bibles, going to church more often, and donating money to religious nonprofits (especially a church). However, when it came to non-religious factors—the substance of people’s daily choices, actions, and attitudes—there were few meaningful gaps between born-again Christians and non-born agains. . . . In virtually every study we conduct, representing thousands of interviews every year, born-again Christians fail to display much attitudinal or behavioral evidence of transformed lives.”

 

Gandhi  once said “I like your Christ I just don’t like your Christians”

 

Mark Twain said,  “If Christ were here I am sure of one thing he would not be, a Christian”

 

Sad commentaries

 

So how do we halt hypocrisy? Many of our friends will at times simply through up their hands and say, “Why are so many Christians, hypocrites?”

 

Our friends are not alone in their harsh judgment of hypocrisy. Jesus had no room for it either…

 

Matthew 23:1-5, 13-16, 25-28,33

“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 “Everything they do is for show….“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either 15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! 16 “Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! Teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First, wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?

This gives you a taste of how Jesus felt about hypocrisy!

He hated it enough—but also loved the people it affected enough—to hit them hard with the unvarnished truth about themselves, their attitudes and actions, and the detrimental impact they were having on others.

 

This leads us to our first point!

 

1) When our friends talk about hating hypocrisy, Jesus did too!

 

Many people will use hypocrisy to blame God or to stay away from the church but at least in a broad sense Jesus agrees with them.

 

When you look at the scripture we just read and/or have your friends read it they can easily see how Jesus hated hypocrisy. You will find that their problem isn’t really with God as much as it is with some of his people and their sin and their unwillingness to own up to it.

 

If you are able to share this scripture and others like it with your friend that will be able to see that they and Jesus agree on the same thing and that they both hate hypocrisy. They will begin to see that hypocritical behavior is unacceptable as a Christian.

 

2) Jesus is the only perfect example and the only one who will not disappoint us with their sin.

 

This is not an excuse for inauthentic Christians to keep acting this way but it is the truth.

 

The Bible says moral perfection is only for one human being..Jesus

 

Hebrews 4:15

This High Priest of ours (Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

 

At Jesus boldly asked his accusers to come up with an accusation John 8:46

“Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?”

 

Can you try this one at home or in the office or at school…you might get an ear-full about your sin.

Jesus could give this challenge because he was free of sin.

When on trial Jesus’ detractors had to get liars and unscrupulous people to testify against him because there was no evidence of sin in his life.

As people of faith or seeking faith that is another reason to

Hebrews 12:2

“looking unto Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith,”

 

So let’s look at the question again. Why are so many Christians, hypocrites?

When talking to a young college student from India, Pashi, Ruth Bell Graham (Ruth Bell Graham) the late wife of Dr. Billy Graham relates this story

“We of India would like to believe in Christ. But we have never seen a Christian who was like Christ.” Ruth Graham said that when she consulted Dr. Akbar Abdul-Haqq about what might be the best response to Pashi’s challenge, he answered decisively: “That is quite simple. I would tell Pashi, I am not offering you Christians. I am offering you, Christ”

WE need to talk to our friends and encourage them to ultimately put their faith in Christ not the frailty of Christians

We are to strive to grow and mature, by grace become more like Jesus every day and not settle for a life of falling short

 

3) Many hypocrites are only pretending to be God’s people.

 

Remember the people we just read about that Jesus called hypocrites, snakes, and vipers.

 

Some people are only playing a religious game but are not real people of faith. It is all for show and there is no substance

 

Titus 1:16

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

 

When we understand that some who claim the name of Christ are not real Christians at all it helps us and can help our friends understand the difference between a real Christian and one who is not. It helps others stop blaming the faith for what faithless people do.

 

No one would every blame the medical community for something a witch doctor might claim even though they both have the name doctor neither should Christianity be blamed for people claiming the name but are not truly Christians

 

It is hard to tell sometimes who is pretending versus those who are merely falling short.

 

Jesus said Matthew 24: 24,25

“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.”

 

And Matthew 7:15-18

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

 

The greatest intentions of an individual can fail but if you look at a life long term and you see good fruit you know they are merely a Christian who has fallen short rather than a pretender

 

4) Hypocrisy comes in degrees and we may struggle with it even as authentic Christians

 

we live in a fallen world…just watch the news for a few minutes and that will be verified and Romans 3:23 tells that all have fallen short of God’s glory

WE are not to use that as an excuse or hypocrisy but we recognize our failures and rely on God’s grace and forgiveness.

Transparency in our own lives will often help our friends who see only the hypocrisy of faith.

Recognizing we do fail but that is not who we are and that we strive walk out our calling as God would have us to

Colossians 3:12,13

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.

 

It is a mistake to assume because a person is a Christian that they are perfect and not in the process of maturity. When we fail, admit it and choose to live open and honest and do not accept your immaturity as something you can’t grow beyond.

 

So why are so many Christians, hypocrites?

 

  • Jesus hates hypocrisy – so your friend is in good company to hate it as well
  • Jesus is the only one who is and whoever will be perfect but is our example to grow to become
  • Many hypocrites are not really Christians but only pretenders
  • Hypocrisy comes in degrees watch a person’s life long term not a moment of failure to see if they growing and living a transparent life daily maturing through their failures