Christian Questions Bible Podcast

A few weeks ago we began a conversation about the Bible and its inherent challenges of understanding and interpretation.  As we discussed the book in all of its complexity, we suggested a very straightforward and simple conclusion:  the Bible is difficult to understand because it was purposely written to be difficult to understand.  Such a conclusion really disturbs most common Christian thinking about converting the world here and now.  As we continue to lay out what we believe to be the reasons for such an avoidance of world appeal by the Scriptures, we now turn the focus on the really big question of results.  Why would God, why did God set up a plan where everyone does NOT get a fair chance to come to an understanding of the Bible in our present environment?  What good could possibly come from such a strategy?

In the immensity and complexity of the book we call the Bible, there are some verses that have become somewhat famous…like the Christmas text “Good tidings of great joy…”  The football stadium text “For God so loved the world…  the character of God text “God is love…”.  Another text that is well known and deeply meaningful is spoken by Jesus to one of the thieves dying on the cross next to him, Jesus said “today shalt thou be with me in Paradise…”  This text shows us the power of God’s love as expressed through the compassion of Jesus and his sacrifice and it is truly inspirational in the hope that it portrays.  Now, here is a simple and very legitimate question - what was Jesus saying to this thief?  What was he promising and why was he promising it?  As we find out by examining so many verses of Scripture, what seems to be said is not always what is really meant.  So, did Jesus really say what most think he said?  

Pick up a book or an article and start reading...if that book or article is well-written, it will bring you to some kind of conclusion, some kind of understanding or realization that you didn’t have before.  Now, these realizations can be across a wide scope of subjects and learning, but the bottom line is you picked up that well-written book or article and now you have some greater knowledge or insight.  Now pick up the Bible and start reading…it starts out all good and wonderful and then just six chapters later it seems like God gets mad and pretty much scraps His whole creation thing.  Why?  Read further and the confusion grows!  So, what's up with this, anyway?  The Almighty God, creator of all things, surely could have had the Bible written in such a way that it would be universally understood!  Well the fact is, He didn’t!  Why not?  There is actually a really cool answer to this!

You hear the word "temptation.” What do you think of? For some of us it might be best to NOT answer this question out loud. For others it might be dark chocolate or getting even or pushing the envelope or wanting to take what is not ours. In every case, temptation is directly built upon our human desires, and our human desires left unfettered will continually fabricate webs of attraction, entitlement and deceit. These webs are binding, sticky and tenacious, and once we allow ourselves to touch them we may find ourselves too close to walk away, too weak to resist and too willing to try it out – you know, "just this once!" Temptation has shattered many relationships, disrupted many positive pathways and broken the contentment of many lives. Temptation is unfortunately not only alive and well, it is being fed, fostered and flaunted by our present society! What do we do! How do we get that temptation genie back in its bottle?

In many ways we are daily in a fight for our lives.  There are so many choices that present themselves to us each and every day, many of which can distract and derail us from what is most important.  The biggest factor that determines whether we stay on track with life or go down some rabbit hole of distraction and disruption is simply...me.  Yup, I am the decision maker - the gatekeeper of my own mind and body - and I alone have final say as to what kind of victory or what kind of defeat I will experience.  Now, wait a minute!  As a Christian shouldn’t I be subject to the will of God through Christ?  Absolutely!  Then why am I saying that I am in control?  It’s simple!  I decide how much influence the will of God will exercise in my life at any given moment and that makes ME my worst enemy!  Great!  Now what do we do?  What do we do?  We learn how to identify, fight and win the battle!

It was just a few weeks ago the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, sparked a firestorm of vitriol and reaction throughout our country.  What happened, what didn’t happen, who reacted and how - all of these things became the fuel for more protests and more protests against the protests and reaction of a very negative kind everywhere you looked.  Let us be abundantly clear on one point – those who would paint themselves as any form of supremacist, white or otherwise, are servants of a deep and destructive darkness.  Period.  Those who take the law into their own hands and use violence and threats as their primary tools to eradicate all whom they consider supremacists are also choosing to borough down that dark hole as well.  NONE of this is good!  All of this provokes hatred, and rightfully so.  Shouldn’t we as Christians hate such evil?  Yes we should.  The bigger question here, however, is HOW do we engage our hatred for evil in a Christlike manner?

Special Guest: Todd Alexander
We all would like to think that we are special in some way before God. We want to be sure of His love for us and His guiding hand in our lives. For most of us, being special translates into a feeling – an emotional response that produces a sense of security. But is that all there is to being special? For the Christian at least there is much more to it. We know that everyone is not called to follow Jesus and we also know that according to the Bible, God does specifically call some to follow. How does this work? How does God get your attention and touch your heart and mind? What makes us want to respond to God and what might make us shy away from responding to Him? Is it easy to recognize when God is seeking us out and trying to touch our hearts?

...Unless one is “born again.”  This phrase carries great meaning no matter what Christian denomination you come from.  The meaning of the phrase certainly changes depending upon your particular belief system, but the power of the phase remains intact. To be “born again” in all cases implies one of the most significant spiritual changes any person can ever experience.  So when does being “born again” happen and what does it really mean?  Does this spiritual change happen when one is baptized as an infant or when one commits their life to God through Jesus or when one is baptized as an adult or when one dies?  Is this spiritual change a prepaid one way ticket to heaven or an opportunity for power and control in your present life, or is it a sober and humbling opportunity to sacrifice all that you have and all that you are?

Christians like most other people are creatures of habit.  Although society has engineered dramatic changes in how we handle our lives, for many Christians the act of going to church remains a staple in their lives.  We go to church to do what?  Traditionally we have gone to learn about God, to have fellowship with those of like mind, to get away from the rat race of our lives and to remind ourselves about how to live in a Christlike fashion.  Traditionally we have gone to church to reaffirm our faith – to strengthen ourselves to better stand for our core beliefs.  As I said, times have changed…now it seems as though many of us go to church for different reasons.  In many instances church has become a place of neighborly activity, social acceptance, goodness, activities entertainment and fun.  Church is now a nice place to go to feel good about myself.  So, are these changes unhealthy or bad?  What’s wrong with feeling good about myself?  What makes a church a really good church?
To get to the bottom of such a basic question we really have to decide whose answer we want to focus on.  We could go with a broad-based opinion poll and find out what random Christians think makes one church better than another.  At first glance this might sound like a good way of doing things, as we would be considering the thoughts and impressions of many who name the name of Christ.  This approach would certainly provide an answer, but that answer would be fundamentally flawed as it would have its basis in what random Christians FEEL.  While feelings are important to recognize and acknowledge, they should NOT be central in our understanding of what makes a church “good.”
If we don’t base our thinking on what Christians think and feel, what do we base it on?  The Bible, specifically the New Testament.  Think about it, the New Testament is the place where we find what the Apostles did to set up “church” meetings and fellowship and how they did it.  We can see where they met, how they were organized, what was important, who was in charge and how they got to be in charge.  Now we might think that what the Apostles did and how they did it is over 2,000 years old and certainly needs an overhaul to catch up with our digital age.  Their way is surely outdated and no longer relevant – right?
Um, not so much…the Apostles taught us the fundamentals of what God requires of each and every Christian and built the “church” structure around those fundamentals.  Surely we don’t believe that just because we live here and now in a world of technology and advanced knowledge that God would require something different of us, do we?  Check out our July 31, 2017 podcast, “What Makes a Church a Good Church?” and see just how relevant the teachings of the Apostles are to our present day.  The biblical answers to what makes a church “good” will probably surprise you.   At the very least, I promise they will make you think about what you can personally do to make your own “church” experience far more valuable!

Last week we began our conversation by saying that pride can be a tricky thing and prejudice can be an awful thing.  We focused our attention on the pride side of the matter and its insidious way of taking over our lives.  Now it’s time to talk about prejudice, and this is a hard conversation to have. For most of us, we can observe what we think is prejudice in others.  We see a skewed view on some group or approach and we think about how unfortunate it is and wonder why they cannot see a bigger picture.  Well, the bigger picture begins with these questions: How prejudiced am I in my view of the world and of others approach?  Am I willing and able to recognize prejudice in my own thinking, and when I see it am I willing to attack it with the same passion that I feel about the prejudice of others?  Prejudice needs attention and eradication, no matter where it’s found.  How do we do that?
To even think about eradicating prejudice is monumental.  Prejudice exists and comes to be in so many different ways that it is hard to know where to start.  Think about it – we are all born into less than perfect circumstances with less than perfect parents who have had less than perfect experiences in their lives, sometimes due to their own less than perfect parents.  The point is that imperfection breeds misunderstanding in our lives about what happens to us.  This misunderstanding often breeds a mislabeling of what our experiences or other people actually mean and stand for and this leads us to a confused conclusion about it all.  The end result is personal prejudice and this prejudice not only lives in us it ends up being a conclusion that we fight to protect.  Kinda scary and kinda confusing, isn’t it?
Ok, now what?  Well, I think the best way to understand and combat prejudice is to do two things.  First we have to be willing to look inside of ourselves and honestly assess our own thinking, conclusions and positions against true and clear biblical principles of love, mercy, compassion and justice.  By making ourselves the focal point of our prejudice investigation we are automatically removing some of our fallen natural propensities to judge – to potentially misjudge others.  The second way to combat prejudice is to listen to someone who has fought this battle successfully.  This is an enormous step to take because if you find the right example it will bring shivers of inspiration to you.  We found such an example.
Our July 24, 2017 podcast, “Can Our Pride Make Us Prejudiced? Part 2” features the detailed story of a young woman who was born into, grew up and embraced the harsh and hateful belief system of the Westboro Baptist Church.  In a TED Talk, she detailed her journey from being a five-year-old on a picket line holding a hateful sign that she couldn’t even read to her decision 20 years later to completely walk away.  Her story epitomizes the power of true human compassion, and coupled with scriptural principle, it shows us how to stand up and fight against prejudice.  You need to hear this.  Everyone needs to hear this.  Please take the time and then please pass it on!