Religious joke of the day

Hey, I just heard Rick Warren is headed to India.
In a spirit of unity he wants to start a Sikher Sensitive church there.

Here’s a followup link to my earlier post. Todd Friel points out that this does not answer the argument about the diety of Jesus or other theological questions, but only specifically with the question of the canon of Scripture. Watch “How did the New Testament canon develop?” on YouTube

Proving the Holy Bible is God’s Word

I wonder if Paul ever had to dig down deep to that special place to find the courage to keep telling people about Jesus?

Patience, as previously discussed, is not an easy quality. It often gives way to frustration, anger, sorrow or other emotions that are less easy to control.

My frustration level starts to rise when I hear self-professing Christians give an inaccurate view of the Bible. I mean, my blood really starts to boil. Here we are supposed to be the ones able to provide an accurate account of what God has to say, and most of us can’t even get that right.

Maybe it’s the historian in me, but repeating false history is galling (Gauling? Okay, sorry, bad pun). Christians are supposed to be defenders of history (His story).

It most irks me when people claim that the Bible was put together in the early centuries by a bunch of bishops and clerics or monks who simply wanted to compile religious teachings. It belies the ignorance we have of our own history of belief.

From the earliest days of Christianity, the authenticity of the Bible as God’s word is affirmed. The New Testament writers often quoted Old Testament passages, using them as authoratively the word of God (Jesus cited them when tempted by Satan, for example, or Jesus teaching the disciples on the road to Emmaus). The Old Testament books were in order and attested to by Jewish leaders around 100 BC, give or take 20 years.

Contrary to the idea that Scripture was written by men, Scripture itself affirms that it is from God, not simply a collection of man’s thoughts and wisdom. Instead, the Bible is the standard by which we judge man’s wisdom (and it usually falls short).

Consider some real facts about the Bible that Christians often ignore (or have forgotten).

2Timothy 3:16-4:2 discusses the fact that all Scripture comes from God, and how we should be ready to defend that idea. C’mon folks, this is the basics.

Consider that what men passed down through history (oral and written) was often conveyed directly from God at His insistence. Consider God speaking to Moses in Exodus 3-4. He tells Moses exactly what to say. In Exodus 4:16, God tells Moses that he will be God to Aaron – in other words, what Moses speaks is considered by God to be authoritative.

This concept is repeated in Numbers 12:6-8 where God says He may speak to prophets through dreams, but He speaks directly to Moses, and He expects Moses to be honored. After Moses (in Deuteronomy 18:14-22) God says He will continue to raise up prophets to speak with His authority.

In the New Testament this idea of authority of Scripture continues. There are dozens of verses that attest to this, not the least of which is 1 Corinthians 14:37, where Paul says that if anyone is truly a prophet of God, they will attest that what he has written is a command of God (guess this rules out a lot of Biblical critcs as being prophets of God).

Paul quoted Luke as Scripture in 1 Timothy 5:18

As for how these books “got put together” as Christians often say, it didn’t happen in the third or fourth centuries.

Christians as early as 100 AD were circulating the Gospel and letters of the apostles, and historians referenced them frequently.

Without going into a side trail about each sect or church or historical tenent of belief, check out this chart showing which apostolic works men like Marcion, Irenius, Origen, and Athanasius used in their respective decades.

Finally, greater men than I have defended this position better. Consider the words of Frederick F. Bruce, who wrote “The New Testament books did not become authoritative for the Church because they were formally included in a canonical list; on the contrary, the Church included them in her canon because she already regarded them as divinely inspired, recognizing their innate worth and generally apostolic authority, direct or indirect. The first ecclesiastical councils to classify the canonical books were both held in North Africa-at Hippo Regius in 393 and at Carthage in 397-but what these councils did was not to impose something new upon the Christian communities but to codify what was already the general practice of these communities” (F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1960, p. 27).

In other words, the “councils” that everyone loves to throw out as the “editors” of the Bible, did not have to create the list of Scripture, they were already considered Scripture. Instead, they gathered together to consider heretical teaching (such as Jesus and the Spirit are not equal to God) and defend the Scripture already in place against that teaching. As part of that defense, they affirmed what was already being taught as authoritative – because it was the authority, not the other letters and circulars being spread by heretics.

Christians, please don’t get your egg before the chicken. The books of the Bible are there not because man made them authoritative. They are there because they were authoritative, period.

Questions about Mormonism?

If you have had questions about the Mormon church, and how Mitt Romney fits into the picture, here is a free Kindle resource (limited time) that paints a pretty accurate picture of the Mormon faith.

Christians will be challenged far more this political season to defend their beliefs. Learn what you need to know about the differences between Mormons and Christians, and why the two aren’t the same.

I do wish the book had more about Romney specifically, but the author does a great job of explaining why it’s not possible.

I skimmed it to check the accuracy of what I know compared to two years of living in Utah, and conversing with Mormons online when I hosted chats on Christianity online.

Now I’m looking forward to going back to read in depth to see if there is more there that I don’t know.

This goes beyond Donnie and Marie, folks. It’s worth learning what you can now, so you can be prepared later.

Originals vs. Copies

I was saddened to hear that Thomas Kinkade passed away.

Of course, the greedy side of me said, “Ahhh, all this artwork in your home might be worth something now.”

After I beat that emotion down like Daffy Duck, my logical side stirred to remind me that mine were just prints or lithographs, and not the actual artwork. Now I see that the famous painting “The Scream” has sold for a record $119.9 million – there’s another painting I’ll never own.

All these thoughts about original and copied artwork come at a time our Small Group Class is studying Christianity vs. alternative and false religions.

Original and copies.

The Jesus Christ of the Bible is the authentic, 100 percent original. Jesus claimed it, God certified it, and today we can show the world that we have the original Jesus.

Sadly, though, many in the world don’t want the original.

They turn to copies that claim to be Jesus. They don’t want to face the original Jesus who demands an honest look more at ourselves than Him. He wants repentance before we can be accepted by Him.

That’s painful to consider, so they create their own Jesus.

Sometimes it is easy to tell when they are selling a false Jesus, other times; we have to look carefully at the content or the brush strokes. You can’t copy God’s technique, but the forgeries can be convincing – just look at the millions of people that fall for them.

In some cases, Jesus may be the central focus of the artwork, but you can tell by the background that something’s not quite right. It may even be artwork that looks like Jesus, but in reality it is someone else.

Jesus wasn’t just a good man. He wasn’t just a great teacher. He wasn’t tapped into some mystical super power.

Some religions don’t even have Jesus in their picture. They see His creation, and think that is the same as Him. Or, they claim to present a representation of Christ, when in reality, nothing can represent Him.

Of course, the church is not immune to these copies. We may think we’re looking the original Jesus, but what we are seeing is a lithograph or print of the original.

It’s not good enough.

Original artwork is valued because there is only one. It is unique in the world. There will never be another Christ. People try to copy Him all the time, but it is not the same. It is a distortion of the original, and it is never as valuable. Prints are a fraction of the value of the original.

Some so-called Christians look at the original, but find their taste runs more to a variation copied in a different medium.

They may want a velvet copy. They may not like the hard lines in some of God’s brush strokes. They would rather have a softer Jesus.

Others choose an abstract of Christ. They don’t like his “thou shalts and shalt nots,” so they take the concept of Christ and fill in the details with what they want to see.

Some would rather see Jesus painted in different colors. They like the light, pastel colors, not the dark or earthy colors.

There are those who see Jesus in cartoon art, or fragile stained glass, or as a computerized screen saver that can be turned off when we get tired of Him.

For us to have the original, authentic Jesus, we have to accept Him as presented in the Bible. Jesus is God. He came to Earth to suffer and die, in our place, so we could have an eternal relationship with Him. He took the punishment for our sin. He expects obedience, and He expects us to put Him first.

If you have the original Jesus, what do you do with Him?

Most art collectors get their dream piece and immediately tuck it out of the public eye. They insure it, and provide some form of 24-hour security to make sure no one takes it. Some might occasionally loan it to a museum, but for the most part, this artwork is out of public circulation.

Jesus demands the opposite.

He tells us that once we have Him, no one can take Him away. The greatest thief ever known, death, can’t even steal us away from Christ.

Christ expects us to display Him to the world. If we are honest about our faith, we should be doing soooo much more. We should have public showings. We should invite our friends to see. We should plan media events, and broadcast it across the Internet for the world to see.

Come one, come all. We have Jesus. Come and see the beauty, splendor, glory, majesty and more.

Come see the 100 percent authentic true Jesus – on display, now and forever. Free admission daily.

Watch “Jeff Vanderstelt – Stop Trying To Be Jesus” on YouTube

YouTubeWow, Jeff hits this sentiment right out of the park. This has always bugged me. I love how he not only offers criticism, but a remedy as well. This is a great theory for why today’s church is so ineffective.

Every Life Has a Story

I heard Todd Friel over at Wretched Radio talking about this video from Chick-fil-A, so I headed over to YouTube to find it. I got a little bit misty watching it. This is something that every Christian needs to remember – especially me.