Tag Archives: sin

You’re Right, I Must be an Idiot

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Don’t you love it when non-Christians, atheists, gay-rights activists, etc. reference the Bible and tell you that you’re reading it wrong? “Most of the Old Testament was negated and set straight by Jesus” and “You go out and stone a bunch of people, I’ll be living to please Jesus in the meantime” are on the list of things I’ve been told. I was told “the Old Testament pretty much doesn’t matter anymore” and the evidence for this claim was Jesus responding to the question about the greatest commandment. Kudos for knowing Jesus’ answer to that question; Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. A second is just like it, love your neighbor as yourself. This was an example of Jesus setting things straight.

The problem is that Jesus responded by quoting the Old Testament. Continue reading →

Yes I Am Southern Baptist

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sbcIn lieu of yesterday’s post I wish to clarify a couple of issues (before anyone asks).

1. I am Southern Baptist. While I did not grow up in the SBC I have been a member of SBC churches since 2000. I was ordained as a deacon in 2002 and as a minister in 2004. My wife and I served full time on the mission field (stateside) for nine years, 2003 to 2012. I graduated from a Baptist college, attended BSU as a student, taught in a private Baptist school, and led BCM for seven years. The Master’s Table is listed in SBC Voices, a directory of Southern Baptist blogs. This very week my wife and I are teaching 5th and 6th graders during Colossal Coaster World and I’m driving the church bus to VBS. While I may not always agree with everything the organization does as a whole, I am certainly still a part of it. The reason I can say so much about the SBC’s response to the Boy Scouts issue is that’s the denomination I know the most about. Continue reading →

The Illusion

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I grew up in the 80’s.  Before David Blaine and Chris Angel there was David Copperfield.  Over the course of several prime time specials he made the Statue of Liberty disappear, walked through the Great Wall of China and escaped from Alcatraz.  Part of his appeal came from his sense of humor and showmanship on stage, but people tuned in to see the “magic.”  The magic of course was really illusion; he wasn’t really sawed in half on stage.  But you know what they say – Seeing is believing.

It is so easy to believe what we see.  Illusion, special effects and camouflage all depend on it.  That very fact can also get us into trouble at times.  We had to see bacteria with a microscope before germ theory really caught on, and there’s an ever-present warning in your side mirror not to believe exactly what you see (objects are closer than they appear).  We all know there is more going on than can be seen. Wind, gravity, magnetism, microbes, radiation, DNA and so on cannot be seen, but we either perceive their effects through other senses or else detect them with scientific devices.  The earth appears flat, and the sun seems to move across the sky from east to west.  Our understanding is no longer limited to what we can see with our eyes; but the tendency to do so will always be there. Continue reading →

Was the Serpent in the Garden of Eden Satan?

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Most people believe that Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden as a serpent and tempted Eve to commit sin.  Some point out, however, that the Genesis account does not directly identify the serpent as Satan, and others will actually argue against the serpent being Satan.  So am I knowing and willfully opening this potential Pandora’s box?  Oh yeah.

I suggest beginning with a read of Genesis 3.  In verse 15, God speaks of enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.  This makes little sense if God is speaking to a mere serpent.  But if the seed of woman is a veiled reference to the Son of Man, i.e. Jesus who is the Christ, then this is the first prophesy of the Messiah.   Continue reading →

Is It a Sin to Get a Tattoo?

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I was leaving a comment on another blog and it got out of control.  I decided to post instead and link to it.

For a person getting a tattoo to disobey God, there would have to be verse of scripture that says “Do not get a tattoo.” Some would be surprised to find there is no such verse in the Bible.

I know, Leviticus 19:28 says not to get a tattoo. Shame on any Bible translation (and most of them do, sadly including the ESV) that renders any Hebrew word as “tattoo.” That commandment is about cutting, specifically involving a practice of worshiping the dead. You have to consider the context of the command; who God was talking to, the time period, and where they were. The Hebrews were meant to live (act, dress, eat, worship) differently than the many pagan, polytheistic cultures surrounding them. Continue reading →

God is in the Manger

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UPDATE: This is part 1.  Part 2 here.

The nature of all sin is that we are so easily willing to settle.  We could have the very best of all that God has in store for us, but all too often we take the easy way, the short cut, the path of least resistance or instant gratification.  Instant gratification may the biggest temptation our culture offers today.  A functional relationship with an actual human being takes time and effort, whereas “hooking up” for a one-night stand requires no long-term commitment.  I contend that the long-term benefits make the commitment a worthwhile endeavor.  A thief – or simply someone who is lazy – is thinking hard work pays off eventually, stealing pays off right now.  But there are also consequences for cheating to get ahead.  Sin is almost always an attempt to skip to the good part.  Satan tempted Jesus three times with shortcuts; turn this bread to stone, prove yourself by jumping from a high place, bow down and worship me. (1) Any of those would have brought more immediate although less rewarding gratification than by taking the slow, painful path to the cross.  Sometimes God’s will is the slow, tough path.  The problem is that we are willing to settle for less.

The same is true with Christmas. Continue reading →

I Preached on Baby Diapers

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Father's Day, June 2010

I know what you’re thinking: the stress of working in full time ministry with a 14 month old at home has finally caused me to crack.  I reached a breaking point if my sermon is on changing diapers.  It’s not as bad as all that.  Let me explain.

Last week I preached this sermon on Galatians 4.  It’s about God adopting us into his family.  I had three well-defined points, as a good Baptist preacher should.  Today I preached that same sermon for our students in their Sunday a.m. chapel service.  I can’t take for granted that 6-12 graders know their Bible stories that way my church congregation does.  I cut some of the scripture citations and needed a more colorful analogy or two.  The first point in the sermon is that we are naturally the enemies of God.  He says “Do this” and instead we do that.  Adam and Eve are the first example, and not much has changed since.  I talked about how cute Johannah is; all our students know this to be true.  But when we’re changing a diaper, sometimes she quits being so cute.  If she sits up, rolls over, or otherwise tries to escape then everything takes longer.  We have to do things twice; or three times.  The students all smiled, nodded and laughed.  Then I pointed out that in my history class some of them are the same way.  I have to repeat myself and/or do things twice.  Sometimes three times.  That’s our nature.

It gets worse.  God sent his Son.  Like the father of the prodigal, God waits and watches down the road for us to come home.  The prodigal son (Luke 15) spent a fortune on good food, good wine and loose women.  Eventually he hit rock bottom, and desired the same slop that he fed pigs.  He had to learn that lesson the hard way.  You couldn’t have told him any different, and if the father had come looking for him any sooner, he would have ran as fast as he could in the other direction.  We were all wallowing (or are still wallowing) in our own filth.  We are slaves to sin, whatever sin you want to fill in the blank with.  If my daughter Johannah has filled her diaper, then she is basically sitting there in her own mess.  She stinks.  Yet when I reach for her she runs away.  She ducks and dodges.  Her natural impulse is to escape the diaper change.  Are we any different?  We wallow in our filthy sin, in our own mess, and push God away even as he wants to clean us.

God loved us when we were unlovable.  That’s the Gospel.  And if you have kids, had kids, or know parents with new kids, fell free to preach the Gospel according to dirty diapers.

Can a Homosexual be a Christian?

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I’ve written before on Christians fighting the culture war. It is certainly going on, but to what degree are we expected to change this culture we live in versus walk circumspectly of it?  Paul was certainly aware of what went on in the public bath houses as he planted churches across Greece, but we don’t find him standing outside those bath houses carrying signs in the first century.  He went on planting churches and training pastors, and as far was we know never once made a sandwich board about God hating fags.  (Google Fred Phelps if that doesn’t make sense).

Many Christians, evangelicals in particular, have done a questionable job dealing with cultural issues like homosexuality.  Can a homosexual also be a Christian?  Please don’t answer that question, at least not here.  Check out the conversation going on over at Life in Mordor. The Fellowship has grown to three, and as far as I know the door has not been closed.  Joe Derbes wasted no time, and jumped right in with both feet on this issue.

The Wilderness of Sin

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In Exodus 16  the Hebrews wandered into the Wilderness of Sin.  My Bible teacher and preacher friends shouldn’t even need me to make this analogy.  There it is.  They literally entered the wilderness in the region of Sin. 

It could have been the Mountain of Sin, the Valley of Sin, the Municipality of Sin, but no.  The place was known to people in the region as the Wilderness of Sin.  How often do we willingly wander through the Wilderness of Sin knowing full where we are and how to avoid it?  What an illustration, and the Bible has already made it for us.