Unlocking Scripture

"Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law" (Psalm 119:18, NKJV).

"So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified" (Acts 20:32, NKJV).

"'For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life..." (Deut. 32:47, NKJV).

"Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart..." (Jeremiah 15:16, NKJV).  

Readers of the Bible that fail to glean anything substantial, inspiring, or convicting have missed the point of not knowing the Author first; the Bible is meant to be a closed book to anyone nonspiritual, for it is spiritually discerned (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).  There are foundational principles for decoding the Word just like for any book, only more so.  If one is unaware of the main message of salvation and the main diagnosis of sin and the main enemy of Satan, one will not comprehend anything intelligible or meaningful and inspiring.  We don't just read it to get inspired like one would read Shakespeare, but to be transformed and changed--it wasn't written to increase our knowledge (so don't read it for merely academic pursuits!), but to change our lives, for the Word is powerful, and living, and has the Spirit giving it convicting influence.  Sometimes readers get out of focus and experience "Bible fatigue" whereby it's lost some pizzazz or original flavor due to overly familiarization with the text; a new translation or version may be in order to refresh yourself and get back on track in the Word.

Many people claim to read the Word but have only given it passing attention and perusal.  What they ought to try is to let the Bible read them and go through them as they go through it and read it (to use figures of speech).  The Bible has a way of feeding you and making you hungry for more--it quenches your thirst and makes you thirsty--nothing else will satisfy once experienced!  Our goal is not so much to know the Word as the Author (it's a means to an end), and in our efforts to be people of the Book, to obey it and know God through it, as Jesus said in John 17:17, NKJV, "Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your Word is truth."  Our goal in learning the Word is not to just become familiar with it, but with the Author, and subsequently in a living relationship in which He speaks to us through it.

Many Christians have difficulty understanding the Word for lack of reading skill and of basic hermeneutics.  One must always put them into context (social, historical, paragraph, book, and the whole analogy of Scripture itself).  Another key is to see it all as a revelation of Christ and who He is, as revealed developmentally and gradually throughout the Bible; each book shows Christ in a new light and we can know Him in this way.  The Bible is written in many genres: historical narrative; poetry; didactive or teaching letters; prophecy; sermons; wisdom or proverbs; songs and psalms;  and parables or figures of speech, beating around the bush or plainspoken.  One reason students don't read adequately is the biblical terminology or vocabulary and they don't avail themselves of dictionaries and Bible study aids.  A simple solution may be another version or study Bible!  The primary reason not to get anything out of the Word is not reading with a purpose or not depending on the Spirit's illumination and guidance.  If we don't put anything into it or any effort, we can expect little reward (as Psalm 119:162, NKJV, says, "I rejoice at Your word As one who finds great treasure").

Furthermore, ask questions when studying about: lessons to learn; principles to know; promises to claim; errors to avoid; duties to perform; commands to obey; prayers to echo; warnings to heed; truth to realize; and examples to follow.  We so often neglect the main message and don't see the forest for the trees; keep the main thing the main thing! Whether you understand it or get anything out of it is not God's fault, but a mirror on the condition of your soul and openness to His will and Spirit. A guideline to follow is to bring an open mind, needy and thirsty heart, and obedient spirit to the Word!  In other words, expect God to speak to your heart.  Once you've had an "Aha!" moment in the Owner's Manual of life or an existential encounter with the Word, you'll be hooked and always eager to find the Bread of Life in the Word, which is the only message that can satisfy.

Some commonsensical principles of interpretation are to view the Old Testament in light of the New Testament, and vice versa; to interpret the implicit in light of the explicit, the obscure in light of the clear, (NB:  the New Testament trumps the Old Testament in prioritizing interpreting) and the narrative in light of the didactive or teaching passages; letting Scripture be its own Supreme Court and its own interpreter by letting cross-reference verses shed light on a passage; not to fabricate some far-out, far-fetched understanding comes from an isolated passage; and remembering that no Scripture is of any private interpretation (cf. 2 Pet. 1:20) and we have the responsibility to interpret it correctly and not become subjective; we have a right to our own applications and opinions, but not our own interpretations!  We have no right to fabricate our own truths or go off on a tangent all alone, avoiding taking some far-fetched idea from an obscure passage.  Taking the Bible literally doesn't mean we don't read certain passages as plays on words or figures of speech, but we do take it at face value when it's called for!  It should go without saying that all rules of inference and logic must be followed.

To be purpose-oriented, one must simply seek the purpose of the text as the author intended (what occasioned it?), before applying it to yourself--that entails reading with a purpose and not aimlessly.  Interpretation comes before application.  A mistake by the beginner is to read into the Word, rather than what's in it or reading out of it.  Finally, you can't just read any verse at random and expect it to be a divine message from the Almighty! The whole idea of reading with a purpose is to arrive at some take-away to meditate on as spiritual food for the day. The idea is to unlock the Word one verse at a time, but not to lose focus on the main message of salvation in Christ.  This is called bibliomancy and is not recommended.  (To get a clear view, one must see the big picture and know the gradual unfolding of the redemption story, or be able to walk through it.)   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Futility Of Debunking Christianity...

  "There are more marks of authenticity in the Bible than any profane history."--Sir Isaac Newton

Learned scholars, such as David Hume, Bertrand Russell, and John Stuart Mill, have tried to debunk the Christian faith in vain, proving themselves ignoramuses in the process.  Debunking our faith entails much more than raising an objection, such as the question about the existence of evil in the world, or the denial of miracles in one's worldviews, nor of objecting to Chrisitan conduct or church history.  No one is going to come up with some challenges after twenty centuries that will bring Christianity crumbling to its knees without an answer--volumes have been published to answer critics, including the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, by Archer Gleason and Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, by John W. Haley. The faith has always out-thought the attacks! 

There are no new questions being raised, but just the repetition of the old ones.  People don't believe because they don't want to believe; they say believers have a psychological need to believe, but they have a psychological need not to believe--it interferes with their mores; it costs something and they don't want to make the sacrifice, not thinking their souls are worth the risk, when not believing costs more.

Many skeptics and this is the prevailing secular, intellectual mindset today, posit that you cannot believe in modern science and miracles at the same time:  science has largely undermined the faith of believers just like superstition.  But the question of miracles is not a scientific issue or in its province, but a matter of philosophy and theology--it's not subject to scientific scrutiny!  Any event that cannot be repeated, observed, or measured is not subject to scientific analysis, and history is nonrepeatable.  There must be laboratory conditions, a test tube, or some means of controlling and measuring variables and constants.  The best we can do is verify the veracity and credibility of the witnesses and those writing historical accounts and their trustworthiness and reliability.

Basically, though,  it's not the miracle of the resurrection per se, the one that is the "Gibraltar" of the faith, and absolutely necessary for its credibility, but the very concept of miracles altogether that raises an objection to scientists.  It is sheer scientism or using science to make postulations about issues out of its domain and thinking that science is the only reliable means of knowledge, that says miracles are impossible.  The resurrection was a one-time event, not subject to science, since it cannot be put into laboratory conditions, with variables and constants, and verified by repetition, observed, or measured.  If you weren't there, how do you know, except by faith?  If there is a God, then the issue is resolved, case closed.  Scientists have faith too:  in scientific empiricism and that it is the answer to all questions and problems plaguing man.

It is easier to doubt, and one came to Jesus asking Him to "help [his] unbelief."  Thomas was told not to "be unbelieving, but believing."  It is a choice to believe: a sort of sixth sense--the vast majority of our knowledge came about by faith, and very little is by direct experience, hands-on, or first-hand knowledge.  The default position was once to accept God and no one dared go against the grain, rock the boat, or upset the applecart in doubting this as a "given."

Debunking Christianity has a lot more to do with the denial of miracles: it's God's answer to our sin problem and dilemma and need for purpose, meaning, and dignity in life--man has always wanted to live forever and God has set eternity in our hearts--it is ontological and anthropological proof that every tribe and nation has some rudimentary or advanced system of faith in God known as a religion or tradition.  You can't search the remotest rain forest in the Amazon and not find a tribe without a developed religious tradition.  Is it not possible that man believes in God by virtue of evidence and this comes from God as proof of His existence (cf. Rom. 1:20)?

Christianity is a faith relying on historical, verifiable records and takes the leap of leaving many books that can be checked for historical accuracy--indeed, some scholars have tried in vain to disprove the historical reliability of Scripture and have even become believers in the process.  No other faith dares to take such a chance on the historical record that could be verified or disproven by archaeologists or historians.  God has made the faith welcome to anyone's scrutiny!  Why is it that if a secular historian disagrees with the Bible that he is considered the unbiased one and the one to lend credence to? 

How is the scholar to deny the experience of the individual whose life was dramatically changed and transformed by the living Christ?  It isn't like a group of people claiming that putting a poached egg on their heads makes them feel good because there is historical evidence to back up and verify the claim as objective testimony of God.  Personal experience may not be everything, but it is something and cannot be denied, but must be reckoned with and accounted for, or explained away.

Christians don't just believe for no reason or because they are credulous or gullible, but because there are sound reasons to believe.  Not knowing why one believes or doesn't believe defines "blind faith."  Christians don't believe for no reason, and God asks no one to kiss their brains goodbye or to commit intellectual suicide--as John Stott said, "We cannot pander to a man's intellectual arrogance, but we must cater to his intellectual integrity" [i.e., playing mind games or on a power trip, not willing to believe even if all their questions were answered].  It is not an intellectual problem, but a moral one, and the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart.  No one can believe something he is not intellectually convinced of for long, and the experience of the faith must prove true and valid or one will fall away and abandon the faith.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating!   We can experience Christ personally: "Taste and see that the LORD is good" (cf. Ps. 34:8; 1 Pet. 2:3).

Jesus was clear to say that they "would not believe," (cf. John 12:37), not that they could not believe--it's a matter of the will; if one wants to know and is willing to obey God, he will know whether it's of God and God will authenticate Himself  (cf. John 7:17, Matt. 7:7).  God is no man's debtor and promises to let Himself be found by all sincere seekers, but He tolerates no triflers and the insincerity-faith is what pleases God, not curiosity or intellectual arrogance.

Disproving the resurrection is not the same as denying people rise from the dead as a rule--this was a one-time event and one must prove Christ didn't rise from the dead (many theories have been postulated, but it's never been debunked).  One must sincerely consider the overwhelming and compelling circumstantial, historical evidence and make one's choice to believe--faith is a choice!  Skepticism is based on irrational bias, thinking secular scholars alone can be trusted.  For those unwilling there will never be enough evidence; for the willing, there is ample evidence!  One must discredit the experience of Christ as well as the resurrection.

In today's postmodern movement, God is seen as "dead" or irrelevant to the final equation, and unnecessary to our dilemma.  Man's problem is sin and denying this puts him in opposition to the truth.  There is such a thing as knowable, objective, universal, absolute truth, whether philosophers accept this or not.  Jesus claimed to be the personification of truth: I am the truth (cf. John 14:6) and declared that we can know it ('You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," cf. John 8:32).

People who deny God don't admit Him into the pool of live options or answers, but rule Him out from the get-go.  They use circular reasoning in believing there's no God, and then conclude there can be no God.  People who are debunking Christianity are against God and not just Christ, and find that Him claiming to be the only way to God as offensive, and so they are biased and not open-minded themselves.  All religions can be wrong logically, but not all can be right; it is probable that one can be right and all the others wrong. The statement by George Lucas that he had come to the belief that tall religions were right in nonsensical in light of contradictions   In sum,  No one can disbelieve due to a lack of evidence!   Soli Deo Gloria!

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The Value Of Stewardship

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's"  (1 Cor. 6:19-20, NKJV).

"My times are in your hands..." (Psalm 31:15, TNIV).

"[M]aking]the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil" (Eph. 5:16, TNIV). 

As Psalms 50:10 says, God "[owns] the cattle on a thousand hills," and that is not hyperbole but saying that He owns it all; we're mere stewards working for God's glory to be rewarded accordingly (cf. 1 Cor. 3:8ff).  He has loaned us everything we have and we will give account to God for our stewardship (cf. Rom. 14:12).  We are to do everything to the glory of God per Col. 3:23 and 1 Cor.10:31 and that means our deeds are to be done in good stewardship.  Being unaccountable and irresponsible is sin and an act of rebellion to the authority that we must answer to at the Judgment Seat of Christ--being Christians means God owns us and we own nothing, but are mere managers in His interest, doing God's business.

When saying that we are stewards of everything, it includes the whole gamut of blessings: influence; power and authority; fame and reputation;  talents and acquired or natural skills; spiritual gifts;  resources; money; portfolios; material belongings, paraphernalia, and possessions; real estate or hearth and home, including inheritance; opportunities; energy; ambitions and drives; relationships; business contacts, connections and acquaintances; time; physical abilities, skills, and talents; vacations, vocations, and free time or even downtime; work or employment or any on-the-job opportunities; minds (wasting them is a horrible tragedy); bodies (beauty, looks, attractiveness, endowment, voice, etc.); personalities and temperaments; insights and discernment (spiritual and intellectual); education, expertise, knowledge, wisdom, and schooling; responsibilities, social life; and even friends and family assigned or entrusted to our care.

Some people are blessed in many ways, perhaps all, but all are blessed in some ways and no one can claim he is not blessed by a good God who cares for him. In short, how we spend our time and money reveals a lot about us, and we have no excuse not to do everything in the name of the Lord to His glory for however we are gifted, acknowledging that we gift others in return.  A word to the wise:  we're all giftees whether we would call ourselves gifted or not.

God meant for us to have an abundant life in Christ, or life to the max glorifying and serving Him, and we are stewards of all the opportunities and chances we get to fulfill the Great Commission. We are, as Scripture says, stewards of the mysteries of God (cf. 1 Cor. 4:1)!  Stewardship involves much more than whether we tithe because it means complete surrender to God's will and being willing to do what we are called to do and be content to follow Him in doing it.  God will indeed give us all we require to do His will when we are obedient.   Indeed, even our bodies don't belong to us but have been purchased by Christ--we are not our own (cf. 1 Cor. 6:19).

When it says to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength (per Matt. 22:37), it means with everything we've got ("BLESS the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!" per Psalm 103:1, NKJV), and God has blessed us with as stewards--to whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luke 12:48).  It doesn't matter what you do, or how many gifts you have, or even what they are, but what counts is the spirit you exercise them in and how much love you give--for we all have different gifts, but the same Spirit!   "... The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love," according to Gal. 5:6, TNIV.

Many are under the delusion that their time is for them to do as they please and it belongs to them and God only owns our time at church or even just on the Lord's day; however, God owns our time and has allotted us each so much to use for His glory--when our time is up we are taken home to glory.  As David said in Psalm 31:15 that his times were in God's hands or that his future was in His control, so we must surrender our time to God and not see providential events as interruptions, but as opportunities!  Jesus was never too busy for the Lord's work and serving others!  We all must learn to prioritize our opportunities and obligations, using time wisely, as if it's of the essence and cannot be taken back or relived.

We must all take spiritual inventory and even make regular spiritual checkups to see how we're doing with our stewardship, for we will be held to account.  (Romans 14:12, TNIV, says, "So then, we will all give an account of ourselves to God.")  We also must learn that even the lessons we learn along the way to the Celestial City are so that we can pass them on to others in ministry to them as good stewards of the mysteries of God.  When we are faithful in what we know, He teaches us more and gives us more illumination or enlightenment.  Some of us are blessed with more time, as it were, in that we are not as busy with chores or duties, and can manage our time better to the glory of God.  We can learn to do everything to the glory of God and to redeem the time for the days are evil (cf. Eph. 5:16). We must be vigilant not to waste time in worry (anticipating the future); regret (being sorry about the past) or angst (misinterpreting the present), because these factors will bring depression and mood swings, and we must be careful to live in the present, but to the glory of God in light of eternity and the Word of God--the past is over and the future doesn't belong to us.

Don't ever say that you don't have the time to serve God or do His will, for we are all given equal time and opportunity to redeem it for Gods glory--it's isn't as much what you are doing, but the spirit it is done in that matters most in stewardship.  Some people seem to have a lot of money, and God has blessed them financially or materially, but they are accountable for it and are perhaps more responsible in that sphere of stewardship; while the next person may seem to have time on his hands to do God's bidding, but maybe he has demonstrated more responsibility in that sphere and will be accountable for how he redeems it for God in like manner--we're all gifted in different areas of responsibility, but are all accountable and will answer to Christ at the bema or final audit of our life one day.

In the final analysis, this life is but a mere staging area, test, or try-out for eternity and we are just being suited for our final reward according to our accountability and responsibility in being stewards or managers of God's grace.  Soli Deo Gloria!