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PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH
  
SOMETHING TO CHEW OVER FROM THE WORD

I invite all bloggers to read and make a comment on my blog posts. This includes those who agree with me, those who disagree with me and those who are indifferent. The only thing I ask - no, INSIST UPON - is that responses are courteous and respectful. Failure to observe this will result in post deletion and repeated failure will result in your being banned from my blog altogether. In return I will be courteous and respectful back to you even if I disagree very strongly with what you have said.

I prefer you to make short-ish comments and using your own words to express your own opinions. You will of course wish to quote scripture to back up your opinion, but a post consisting of a long list of scriptures, or one which is "cut and pasted" from elsewhere, is almost certain to be deleted.

Peter
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HOLY SPIRIT POWER: Part 1 Jun 23, 2008 4:23 pm
Mood: thoughtful, 283 Views
Have you heard the joke about Jack the lumberjack? Jack wasn't very bright, but he was very strong, and he was very good at cutting down trees. One day he was looking for a job and found himself speaking to Norman the foreman.

"We've got a job for you if you want it, Jack", said Norman, "but this company has an unusual salary structure. If you cut down 50 trees or more in a day, you will get paid in full, but if you don't manage the full 50 trees, you'll get paid nothing. Do you understand?" "That's fine Norman", said Jack, "I'm sure I'll be able to cut down at least 50 trees a day. When can I start?" "You can start right now Jack", said Norman, and he handed Jack the chainsaw and off Jack went to cut down trees.

At the end of the day Jack came back looking hot, sweaty and exhausted. "You look like you've had a hard day, Jack", said Norman, "how many trees did you cut down?" "Only 47, I'm afraid", said Jack. "Then I'm sorry", said Norman, "but I can't pay you anything. Come back tomorrow and try again". So Jack came back the next day and this time he did a little better, managing to cut down 48 trees. Unfortunately he had to go away without being paid again, but came back the following day for yet another try.

At the end of the third day Jack came back looking even hotter, sweatier and more exhausted than before. "Did you manage the 50 trees today, Jack?" asked Norman. "Not quite", replied Jack, "49 today, but I'm getting nearer". Norman couldn't understand why Jack couldn't manage the 50 trees. After all, he was keen and seemed like a really strong man, and he had obviously been working very hard all three days. He found himself wondering if there was something wrong with the chain saw. "Let me have a look at the saw, Jack", he said, and Jack handed the saw to Norman so he could examine it.

Norman took the saw, and switched it on. The chain saw roared into life. Jack jumped back, startled, and said "What's that noise?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the reasons for people being reluctant to join the church is that many of its activities seem utterly pointless and irrelevant to 'real life'. They see Christians working faithfully in the hope of making it to heaven but somehow they seem to be doing it more out of duty than pleasure, and with little expectation of making progress in a society that has largely rejected God. It is little wonder that few people are attracted to the church. The impression given is that becoming a Christian means taking on a burden rather than getting rid of one, and becoming a loser rather than a winner.

I hope you got the punchline of the joke about Jack the Lumberjack. Just in case you didn't, let me spell it out for you: he was given a source of power with which to operate his chainsaw, but failed to realise that and used his own strength to make the saw cut down trees. Needless to say he also failed to reach the standard set by the boss and never got paid! We may think that he must have been very stupid, but as Christians many of us (and I was one for a long time) do exactly the same thing! We have also been given a source of power with which to live our Christian lives, but far too often we insist on trying to do it all in our own strength. Guess what? We fail too! The power source God has provided is the Holy Spirit, and with the Holy Spirit comes the necessary power to be and do everything God wants us to be and do.

The Holy Spirit has been described as 'a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance' (Ephesians 1 v 14). To understand what this means, imagine you have a very rich uncle who has died and left you a lot of money but you lost touch with him years ago. You get a letter from the solicitors dealing with his estate. The letter informs you of your uncle's death and that he has left you a lot of money (say £10,000,000) in his will. It is likely that it will take some time to finalise an estate of that size, so they are enclosing a cheque for, say, £250,000 as a 'deposit' or 'first instalment' pending completion of formalities. You will have to wait a while to receive the full inheritance, but for most people a quarter of a million pounds is a big enough 'chunk' to cause an immediate transformation of lifestyle!

In the same way tapping in to the power of the Holy Spirit will enable our walk with God to be revolutionised. I have identified 5 ways in which the power of the Holy Spirit can enrich our lives, and will describe these in the next few blogs.

Peter
4 Comments
CONFLICTING STORIES? NO WAY! Jun 16, 2008 1:26 pm
Mood: excited, 272 Views
Before I became a Maths teacher I spent 12 years working in various office jobs for insurance firms. One of my tasks was to process car accident reports, and quite often there would be several statements from drivers, passengers or eye witnesses which would seem at first glance to give conflicting versions of what happened. On closer inspection it was almost always possible to piece together a full picture of the incident from the various individual reports. Thus having more than one version which told the story from various people's point of view was a STRENGTH as it gave you even more confidence that you had a full, accurate account of the accident.

The same principle applies to the accounts of Jesus' resurrection contained in the four gospels. At first glance the four description appear to differ in details:

How many women visited the tomb? (1, 2, 3 or more)
How many angels were present at the tomb? (1 or 2)
Were they sitting or standing, inside or outside?
The words spoken by the angels appear to disagree.
Did Jesus appear to Mary Magdalene first, or to Peter?
When the two disciples arrived from Emmaus, did the Eleven already know about the risen Jesus or not?

These tiny differences have in the past given the sceptics a field day as they can apparently tear the evidence apart as in a court of law and show it to be a complete fabrication. However, on closer inspection it turns out that the 4 versions CAN be reconciled just as the various reports of a motor accident, and a coherent sequence of events can be deduced. What follows is the result of my own careful research into this matter and I offer it to you to use as you see fit:

A number of women, including Mary Magdalene, Salome, Joanna and Mary the mother of James, go to the tomb. Although for example Matthew only mentions the two Mary's, nothing he says necessarily excludes others being there as well. Their visit to the tomb is very early. The descriptions of the time vary, but the short time after the sun begins to rise, when it is still partially dark, fits them all.

The women find that the stone has been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb by an angel. As they enter, the angel (who is sitting on the stone to the right) speaks to them, telling them

(a) not to be alarmed or afraid
(b) he knows they are looking for the crucified Jesus
(c) 'He is not here, he has risen'
(d) they should see for themselves
(e) to go and tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee.

They find the tomb is empty. While they are 'wondering' what has happened, a second angel appears. The angels say to them:

(a) 'Why are you looking for the living among the dead?'
(b) {REPEAT} 'He is not here, he has risen'
(c) 'remember he told you...about being raised on the third day' {see Luke 24 v 4-8}

The women leave the tomb but are initially afraid to say anything. Eventually they regain their composure and go to the disciples who do not believe them. Mary Magdalene makes a point of telling Peter and John, and then she (and probably the other Mary) accompanies the two of them back to the tomb, where they find it empty.

Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb after Peter and John leave. The two angels were by then sitting inside the tomb and they ask her why she is crying. She then turns round and meets the risen Jesus. Probably the other Mary is still around and she sees him too. He then reinforces what the angels said and tells them himself to get the disciples to meet him in Galilee. When they go to the disciples they still don't believe her.

During the course of the day Jesus appears to 2 disciples who are out walking in the country to a village called Emmaus. These 2 go to tell the disciples who don't believe them either! A little later Peter (who wasn't with the others at first) arrives and tells them that he has seen the risen Lord. Finally they are starting to believe it - the two from Emmaus can now tell their story in full.

Jesus finally appears to them all, rebukes them for their lack of faith, shows them his hands and feet to prove it's really him, and eats some fish to prove that his resurrection is physical and he isn't just a ghost! (His apparent arrival through locked doors had made them wonder).

It does not matter if my 'version' of events turns out to be wrong, or someone figures out a better way to put the four gospel accounts together. The fact is that there is at least one way in which the evidence can be harmonised to make sense. This strongly makes the case for believing that the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is an event that actually happened at a real time and place in history.

Peter
3 Comments
WHO IS TO BLAME? Jun 6, 2008 2:16 pm
Mood: thoughtful, 296 Views
When God created Adam he gave him almost unlimited freedom to eat from almost any tree in the garden. I say "almost" because, of course, he told him specifically NOT to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He also warned him that if he DID eat of it, then he would die. I am not an expert on Hebrew, but I have read from a source that I trust totally, that the actual Hebrew really means "dying, you will die". Thus it is correct to interpret this warning to mean BOTH spiritual death {i.e. separation from God} AND physical death.

When the serpent is trying to tempt Eve, she responds with {my paraphrase} "We must not eat OR EVEN TOUCH the fruit from the tree, or we will die". So first of all EITHER Adam has been careless in passing on God's instructions OR Eve has been careless in listening to or remembering them. This should be an object lesson to us not to go beyond what God has said, or maybe we will, like Eve, open the door to temptation. But I digress as this is not the main point I wish to make here.

What were the consequences of Adam and Eve's disobedience? We only have to read Genesis 3 to find out that they included:

1. A broken relationship with God {they hid, tried to cover up, and then refused to accept responsibility}

2. A damaged marriage relationship {see Genesis 3 v 16}

3. Extra pain and suffering in childbirth for Eve {and all women}

4. Extra exertion and weariness in his work for Adam

5. A curse placed on all of creation which would result in thorns and thistles: this is also described in the New Testament in these terms: "The creation was subjected to frustration... {into} bondage and decay... {and} has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" {Romans 8 v 20-22}

6. Adam {on behalf of all his descendants i.e. us} received the death penalty "dust to dust" which clearly refers to physical death and must also include all forms of illness, disability and disease.

Over 1000 years later we read that "The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created from the face of earth' " {Genesis 6 v 5-7}. As we have all read, he did precisely that with a global flood which was also a geological upheaval or global earthquake as a careful reading of Genesis 7 v 11 will confirm. The long term consequences of this catastrophe, despite God's mercy in rescuing Noah and his family and representatives of every kind of animal, can be shown to include the following {I am starting with number 7 to continue from above for reasons which will become clear soon}:

7. The loss of a perfect climate {and perhaps a protective vapour canopy} which may have been the cause of the vast reduction in lifespan which the genealogies of Genesis confirm.

8. The loss of a perfect climate may also have resulted in a scarcity of vegetation and thus sparked off a struggle for survival which ultimately resulted in a number of species becoming extinct {perhaps including the dinosaurs}

9. The breaking up of the earth's crust which is probably the cause of earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis even to this day as the continents settle.

Another couple of hundred years after the Flood we find another major event in human history. Despite God repeating to Noah his initial command to Adam and Eve to reproduce and fill the earth, the immediate descendants of Noah decide to stick together on the Plain of Shinar and build a city and tower {Babel} to protect them against being scattered. As a judgement on their disobedience God confused their languages and forced them to spread out in accordance with his original instructions. A major result of this incident was:

10. The coming into being of nations and mistrust and lack of understanding between peoples.

So we have 3 major occasions on which God righteously judged human sin, and those 3 judgements carried with them the 10 major consequences I have outlined above. I would venture to suggest that all of the suffering and evil in the world can be traced back to those 3 instances when human sin was judged. So here is my question in full:

"WHO IS TO BLAME FOR ALL THE SUFFERING AND EVIL IN THE WORLD?"

I submit, brothers and sisters, that it is US i.e. the human race. God created a perfect world without death, suffering or any of the things I have described above. We, the human race, messed it all up for him. There is a scripture that sums all of this up perfectly:

"Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" Romans 5 v 12

Do you agree?
Peter
2 Comments
THE LAST WORD ON SIN...MAYBE!! May 31, 2008 2:24 pm
Mood: curious, 300 Views
This is a repost because the original seemed to mysteriously disappear from view!!

You may have read my post a couple of days ago on LAW & SIN: The Final Word...Possibly! which only dealt with Law and didn't get onto discussing sin. Well, this is the "SIN" bit! Here we go with some basic points:

The human race has been a race of sinners since Adam (Romans 5v12)

Everyone is a sinner from conception (Psalm 51v5)

Sin was in the world before the Law was given (Romans 5v13, Genesis 4v7)

The Law serves the purpose of making us aware of our sin (Romans 3v20)

Our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59v2). This is "spiritual death".

The consequences of sin also include physical death (Romans 6v23)

We were slaves to sin and powerless to help ourselves (Romans 6v17, 5v6)

Nevertheless out of love God sent his Son, Christ Jesus, to die for us (Romans 5v8, John 3v16)

Jesus came both to save sinners (1 Timothy 1v15) and remove sin from the world (John 1v29)

When Jesus died on the cross the barrier between God and man was removed, as symbolised by the tearing of the Temple curtain (Matthew 27v51, Colossians 1v20)

At the same time the written law was cancelled and sins forgiven (Colossians 2v14)

Jesus' death on the cross was also a victorious triumph against Satan and all spiritual powers (Colossians 2v15)

Jesus' resurrection is the proof that death has also been defeated (John 11v25, 1 Corinthians 15 v 26, 54-57)

Now the confusion, and the main source of disagreement on these blogs, is the fairly obvious fact that WE still sin and that sin itself is STILL in the world. That is because the process of removing sin is not an immediate once for all event (unlike the sacrifice of Jesus which IS "once-for-all") but a process which continues through our lives and is not complete until EITHER we go to heaven OR Jesus returns to Earth.

When we give our lives to the Lord one of the things that happens is that we are made new inside (2 Corinthians 5v17). We can now "count ourselves dead to sin" (Romans 6v11) although the reality is that the 'old man' is still there and there is now a battle going on inside us. This is a battle in which Jesus has given us the victory (Romans 7v25) but it is up to us to appropriate that victory for ourselves. A story I heard years ago explains this brilliantly and I keep coming back to it in MY understanding of this topic. I now share it with you:

A man owned 2 fighting dogs and accepted bets from the public on who would win the fight. A second man observing the dogfights realised that whichever dog the man predicted would win, always did win. So he asked him how he knew. The dog owner replied: "That's easy. It's always the dog I feed the most that wins".

The Christian interpretation of this is that we can feed the OLD nature with 'worldly' thoughts and actions, or we can feed the NEW nature with good things from God. Whichever nature we feed most wins! {In modern day parlance we often hear the phrase "garbage in garbage out". This is the spiritual equivalent}

The old nature never quite goes away so there is always the possibility that we will sin. Anyone who disputes this is simply not living in the real world - 1 John 1v8. However, if/when we DO sin, there is always a way back through confession - 1 John 1v9, which brings forgiveness AND cleansing. We are also reminded by John that Jesus is speaking to the Father on our behalf in Heaven and has been ever since his return there (1 John 2v1).

Ultimately the heavens and the earth will be renewed entirely and there will be nothing bad there! No tears, no pain, no death, no sin, but GOD WILL BE THERE! (Revelation 21v1-7)

There is much more I could say on this but I think I should stop there.

Blessings.
Peter
5 Comments
SIN May 31, 2008 11:06 am
Mood: pedagogical, 312 Views
You may have read my post a couple of days ago on LAW & SIN: The Final Word...Possibly! which only dealt with Law and didn't get onto discussing sin. Well, this is the "SIN" bit! Here we go with some basic points:

The human race has been a race of sinners since Adam (Romans 5v12)

Everyone is a sinner from conception (Psalm 51v5)

Sin was in the world before the Law was given (Romans 5v13, Genesis 4v7)

The Law serves the purpose of making us aware of our sin (Romans 3v20)

Our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59v2). This is "spiritual death".

The consequences of sin also include physical death (Romans 6v23)

We were slaves to sin and powerless to help ourselves (Romans 6v17, 5v6)

Nevertheless out of love God sent his Son, Christ Jesus, to die for us (Romans 5v8, John 3v16)

Jesus came both to save sinners (1 Timothy 1v15) and remove sin from the world (John 1v29)

When Jesus died on the cross the barrier between God and man was removed, as symbolised by the tearing of the Temple curtain (Matthew 27v51, Colossians 1v20)

At the same time the written law was cancelled and sins forgiven (Colossians 2v14)

Jesus' death on the cross was also a victorious triumph against Satan and all spiritual powers (Colossians 2v15)

Jesus' resurrection is the proof that death has also been defeated (John 11v25, 1 Corinthians 15 v 26, 54-57)

Now the confusion, and the main source of disagreement on these blogs, is the fairly obvious fact that WE still sin and that sin itself is STILL in the world. That is because the process of removing sin is not an immediate once for all event (unlike the sacrifice of Jesus which IS "once-for-all") but a process which continues through our lives and is not complete until EITHER we go to heaven OR Jesus returns to Earth.

When we give our lives to the Lord one of the things that happens is that we are made new inside (2 Corinthians 5v17). We can now "count ourselves dead to sin" (Romans 6v11) although the reality is that the 'old man' is still there and there is now a battle going on inside us. This is a battle in which Jesus has given us the victory (Romans 7v25) but it is up to us to appropriate that victory for ourselves. A story I heard years ago explains this brilliantly and I keep coming back to it in MY understanding of this topic. I now share it with you:

A man owned 2 fighting dogs and accepted bets from the public on who would win the fight. A second man observing the dogfights realised that whichever dog the man predicted would win, always did win. So he asked him how he knew. The dog owner replied: "That's easy. It's always the dog I feed the most that wins".

The Christian interpretation of this is that we can feed the OLD nature with 'worldly' thoughts and actions, or we can feed the NEW nature with good things from God. Whichever nature we feed most wins! {In modern day parlance we often hear the phrase "garbage in garbage out". This is the spiritual equivalent}

The old nature never quite goes away so there is always the possibility that we will sin. Anyone who disputes this is simply not living in the real world - 1 John 1v8. However, if/when we DO sin, there is always a way back through confession - 1 John 1v9, which brings forgiveness AND cleansing. We are also reminded by John that Jesus is speaking to the Father on our behalf in Heaven and has been ever since his return there (1 John 2v1).

Ultimately the heaven and earth will be renewed entirely and there will be nothing bad there! No tears, no pain, no death, no sine, but GOD WILL BE THERE! (Revelation 21v1-7)

There is much more I could say on this but I think I should stop there.

Blessings.
Peter
5 Comments
LOAVES AND FISHES THE BEST WAY! May 29, 2008 5:38 am
Mood: thoughtful, 346 Views
I have just come back from a long walk down to North Shields fish quay, and along the riverside to Tynemouth. The smell of fish as I walked down the bank was very strong, but unlike most people I always find it very comforting.

My grandfather used to own a fish and chip shop (British fast food!) and when I first started school he often used to come and pick up me and my sister and take us home for lunch. Invariably he had just been to North Shields to buy in some stock, so the van would smell of fish! The smell of the fish quay to this day reminds me of those carefree days of my youth when I would get a ride home in Granda's van.

Granda actually used to own a fresh fish shop as well as a fish and chip shop. While walking I started thinking about the difference between battered fish and fresh fish prepared at home. The fresh fish is better for you for a start, as batter is not the first item you would think of if you were planning on a healthy diet! Also, you know what is in the fish - any processed food or food that someone else prepares for you does not come with this guarantee. Also, part of the preparation is to fillet the fish so can satisfy yourself that all the bones have been removed. And when you eat the fresh fish meal you know it is still edible. Many is the time I have been served fish from a "chippie" which has been sitting for goodness knows how long keeping hot.

The same principle works with bread. Everyone knows that the smell and the taste of home baked bread are so vastly superior to the mass produced stuff you buy in the supermarkets. Health regulations mean it isn't harmful of course, but there is still nothing like a loaf "like momma used to make".

Why am I waffling on about bread and fish? Am I planning to feed 5000 people? Well probably not - I haven't had a blog post with that many viewers yet! But after the posting I did yesterday there is something I would like to pass on to you. In response to my post Claudia posted a chapter from the letter of James onto my blog and asked me to read it and work out what it was saying. She then posted a second item giving her own summary and interpretation of it. Later on yesterday I decided that having both posts was unnecessary so deleted the first one from my blog (sorry Claudia - no offence meant!) But today, with the bread and fishes story still in my head while I was walking, I realised that I had deleted the wrong one!

Claudia was quite right to point me to the Bible itself for the correct answer. Leaving aside whether what I said yesterday was right or wrong, this is ALWAYS the thing to do! Just like the Bereans (Acts 17 v 11) we should always check anything that anybody tells us (on these blogs or elsewhere) against the only true plumbline that is God's Word. Any one of us could just be peddling our own opinions, which may be right or may be wrong, but the Bible is always right!

I would like to take this a step further and make a suggestion that some might think is radical, but I think is simply stating the obvious. We live in an age when books, CDs and DVDs are easily obtained and this is true of the Christian variety as well as the secular. It is my impression that most people spend more time reading and hearing other people's opinions of the Bible instead of getting into it ourselves. This is like eating battered fish or mass produced bread. We don't know what extra ingredients have been 'slipped in' when we weren't looking and we certainly can't be sure that what we are "eating" is always good for us. Let's get to the Bible and trust the Holy Spirit to explain to each of us DIRECTLY. As a rule I only ever listen to music that is performed by the person or band who actually wrote the song. This is because the person who wrote the song is best placed to interpret it correctly. And so with the Bible the Holy Spirit, who inspired it from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, is surely the person we should listen to the most to find out what it all means!

Peter
5 Comments
LAW & SIN: The Final Word...Possibly! May 28, 2008 3:59 am
Mood: Combative, 407 Views
The discussions on these blogs concerning (a) whether we are bound to the Law or not (b) whether we are free to sin or not, are frankly starting to concern me. People seem to look at a blog entry that I or someone else has posted, and immediately draw conclusions about what I believe that are simply not true and not at all detectable in what has been written. So, to make it clear where I stand, here is MY final word (possibly!) on both issues:

LAW
The Law is a simple statement of what is right and what is wrong. "You shall not steal", for example, makes the point that stealing is a sin. So it was wrong to steal in Old Testament times and it is wrong to steal now. I don't think anybody would argue that point. The point at issue seems to be: Do we have to observe the law in order to be saved? The answer to this question is emphatically: NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO!!!!!!!!! Consider the following:

1. Breaking just ONE part of the law means we have broken ALL of it (James 2 v 10)

2. Entertaining thoughts of breaking the law is as bad as actually breaking it (Matthew 5 v 22, 28. )

3. There is nobody (apart from Jesus - see Hebrews 4 v 15) who has fully observed the law and is therefore without sin (Romans 3 v 23)

4. Even if we could fully observe the law it wouldn't make us right with God (Romans 3 v 20, Galatians 3 v 11, Hebrews 10 v 1)

5. The purpose of the law was to make us aware of our sin and thus lead us to Christ (Romans 3 v 20, 7 v 7, Galatians 3 v 24)

Now here are some scriptures that emphatically make the point that we are NO LONGER UNDER THE LAW:

Romans 6 v 14: "You are not under law, but under grace"
Galatians 3 v 25: "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law"
Ephesians 2 v 15: "[Christ abolished] in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations"
Galatians 5 v 18: "If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law"

Now let's look at what is REALLY going on here in these discussions. Acts 15 v 1 tells us: "Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved'. This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them". (Sound familiar?) Paul's response to the Galatians who were obviously taking notice of these people was simply to say this: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5 v 1).

Those who try to tell us that we need to be circumcised in order to be saved, or observe the Sabbath, or tithe, or whatever, are trying to burden us with a yoke of slavery that Christ has delivered us from. Like Paul, therefore, we should be determined to stand firm and not let that yoke fall upon us. Jesus said "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11 v 29)

They are also trying to bring fear upon us in the sense that we should fear being thrown into the fires of hell should we fail to observe whatever it is we are being told to observe. Well "Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4 v 18. )

To those who would accuse me of deluding myself, or say that I am guilty of "easyism", I would respond that of course we need to balance the above message with, for example:

Galatians 5 v 13: "Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature"
Romans 6 v 1: "Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase? BY NO MEANS!"

And Jesus told the woman caught in adultery "Neither do I condemn you" but he also said "Go now and leave your life of sin".

OK, I've said enough for now. A second post on "SIN" will follow shortly!
10 Comments
WHY CREATION MATTERS May 26, 2008 4:19 pm
280 Views
Genesis chapters 1 and 2 tell us:

1. An eternal God commanded the universe into existence, creating it from nothing

2. He completed his work of creation in 6 days of the usual length (24 hours)

3. Creature reproduce their own kind and do not evolve "molecules to man"

4. The first man and the first woman were specially created by God's own hand

5. The creation was "very good" at the end of the 6 days

As I hopefully made clear in my previous post, what we believe about our origins determines what we believe about everything else. The "Young Earth" view I have described above is not only the natural reading of the first 2 chapters of Genesis but also essential if we are to logically defend:

GOD'S QUALITIES & CHARACTER
God's omnipotence is demonstrated by the fact that the moment he commands something, the Bible states "And it was so". If you tell your kids to do something and they respond with "in a minute" you know that your authority is not being recognised! But when God says "JUMP" the universe not only jumps, it asks "How high sir?" If the 'days' are longer time periods e.g. millions of years, then the idea of God being omnipotent and authoritative is seriously undermined. If we believe God created through evolution then we are saying that he was incapable of getting it right first time!

Furthermore, not only God's omnipotence is challenged by the 'day-age' approach, but also his loving nature. If God had planned to create man via millions of years of death, disease, struggle and death on the part of countless numbers of creatures, then this makes him a sadistic malicious brute and not the God who became human to save his precious creation (mankind). All the atheists and sceptics who blame God for the bad things in the world would be right!

THE CHRISTIAN GOSPEL
Death (spiritual AND physical) was the penalty that God warned Adam about if he disobeyed. It is difficult to imagine God describing the completed creation after 6 days as "very good" if the ground was full of bones representing death, disease, struggle and suffering. There was no death in the world before the Fall. It is here because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. If this is not so then why did Jesus die? The gospel is fatally undermined if we believe in long ages and evolution.

CHRISTIAN ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR
If Genesis 1 and 2 are not true as written then we have no basis for (i) sanctity of human life which bears the 'image of God' (ii) sanctity of marriage as a lifelong union between 1 man and 1 woman. In Western society it is noticeable that these are the two key areas of ethics that are going rapidly down the drain since the rejection of the authority of God's Word e.g. abortion, euthanasia, homosexual behaviour.

The book of Genesis is the foundation for the rest of scripture. The best way to fatally undermine a building is to attack its foundations, and this is exactly what the secular world has been doing to our Bible since the early 19th century when the long age view became popular and paved the way for Darwinian evolution. The tragic compromises by successive generations of Christians have led us to where we are now. Preaching the gospel and attacking social evils will only have a limited effect unless we are working to restore the foundations i.e. the belief in the book of Genesis to mean EXACTLY what it says.

Of course it is true that: "No-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 3v11)

But who is Jesus Christ? Read John 1 v 1-3 and Colossian 1 v 15-17 and Hebrews 1 v 3 for a couple of clues.
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CREATION & CHESS - What May 26, 2008 1:59 pm
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If you are familiar with the game of Chess you will know that there are essentially two kinds of player. Firstly there are the instinctive players, who play the game 'one move at a time' and don't think too far ahead. Secondly there are the serious players, who study the structure and tactics and strategies of the game, and who know that you need to think several moves ahead in order to defeat your opponent. I was always an instinctive player and, although this was good enough to get me out of trouble a lot of the time, in the long run it was never going to wash against players of any decent standard.

The most important part of the game is the 'opening', and if you make an early mistake then you are likely to lose the game very quickly. This happened to me quite often! The first few moves also determine what sort of game it is going to be, and experienced Chess players can often look at a 'middle game' situation and see at a glance why every piece is where it is, and what opening strategies have been used. I could never do that. If I had been watching the game from the start, following every move, then I was able to analyse the position, but otherwise it was like starting to watch a film halfway through and trying to figure out the plot.

The way I lived out my Christianity used to be similar to the way I played my Chess. I thought of Creation (God's opening moves, if you like) as an interesting diversion, but I didn't see it as being an essential component of living the Christian life. I was quite happy to take each day as it came, responding instinctively to whatever situation I was faced with, and a lot of the time that worked well. But something was missing, although for many years I couldn't figure out what it was. Eventually I realised that what you think of the first few chapters of the Bible determines what sort of Christianity you 'play'. I could see that if I was going to develop a fully consistent Christian worldview, I was going to have to know a lot more about the Bible's version of our origins. It was in 2001 that 'the scales fell from my eyes' on this issue, and the conclusions I came to will follow on my next post.
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WHY THERE IS STILL SIN IN OUR LIVES May 17, 2008 2:59 pm
Mood: Philosophical, 296 Views
Many of us continue to struggle with sin many years after dedicating our lives to Jesus Christ (a decision which included - or should have included - a turning away from sin known as repentance) and often the same sin seems to rear its ugly head again and again.

In one sense this is not entirely unexpected. After all, we are all a 'work in progress' and will not attain perfection until we reach heaven or Jesus returns. Personally I am always thankful for the knowledge that I can confess my sin to God and receive forgiveness thanks to Jesus' death on the cross (see 1 John). However does this ready availability of forgiveness make us complacent with our sin? I have to confess (to you my fellow bloggers this time) that in my life it sometimes does just that. So what is the alternative to the never ending cycle of sin-guilt-confession-forgiveness-sin? There are two Scriptures that speak directly to this issue:

(a) Galatians 5 v 16: "Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature". A week or two ago I posted an item relating to this Lakeland Blog 1: Living by the Spirit.

(b) Romans 8 v 13: "If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live". It is this verse from Romans that I want to leave a few comments about now:

I remember reading somewhere that the Greek phrase translated here as 'put to death' has a judicial connotation i.e. is used to refer to the execution of a criminal following conviction for a certain type of crime. However execution is only the last step in a procedure that involves several stages. By considering what happens to the criminal in that situation I think we can learn about the steps we must go through to put our sin to death:

Identification
A detective must examine all the evidence and determine who it was who committed the crime.
We must face up to our responsibility: the person responsible for my sin is me, and the person responsible for your sin is you. We cannot pass the buck, and it is no good saying 'the devil made me do it' or 'I couldn't help it'. Until we face up to the truth and stop making excuses form ourselves we will never get any further forward.

Arrest
A Police Officer must apprehend the criminal and deprive him/her of their liberty.
We must name the particular sin we have committed and resolve not to give it any further freedom to wreak havoc in our lives. This will involve avoiding situations in which we may be tempted (1 Thessalonians 5v22), and will certainly involve relying on the Lord's promise that he will provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10v13).

Prosecution
A public prosecutor must bring the charge against the accused.
At this point I must make an important distinction between two things that can appear very similar. Put very simply, Satan accuses but the Holy Spirit convicts. Satan accuses us and seeks to make us feel guilty, condemned and worthless. We are to disregard his accusations entirely. Romans 8v33: "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?" My strategy with Satan when he reminds me of my sin is to agree with him! "You're right", I say, "I am a sinner, BUT I'm a forgiven sinner!" However when the Holy Spirit puts his finger on a particular sin that he wants us to deal with we dare not resist. We must simply plead "guilty as charged". We must co-operate with his work in our lives to root out deeply embedded sin and make us more like Jesus.

Judgement
A judge must find the defendant guilty and pass sentence.
In the context of the Lord's Supper we are exhorted to examine ourselves so as to avoid eating and drinking judgement on ourselves. 1 Corinthians 11v31-32: "If we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgement. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world". So we must agree with the Holy Spirit that the sin he has pointed out to us in our lives has to go. We must pass the death sentence on our own sin to avoid having the death sentence passed on ourselves.

Execution
An official must carry out the sentence and put the guilty person to death.
In Britain where I live there is no longer any death penalty (except possibility for assassinating the Queen), but in the United States many of the states have it for murder. Of course anyone who has been sentenced to death has right of appeal (rightly so), and it is common for prisoners to be on 'Death Row' for many years before sentence is actually carried out. I believe that many of us treat our sins in this way. We hold them in a 'safe area' in case we decide later that we want to reprieve them or bring them back in some way! And then we are surprised when our sins often 'escape' and spoil our relationship with the Lord. No, the sentence must be carried out!

The verse from Romans that I quoted above makes it clear that we are to enlist the services of the Spirit as the executioner of our sin. On the previous blog with the Galatians verse about 'living in the Spirit' I used a water illustration and talked about taking a shower. This time I am going to use a 'fire' illustration ("He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" Matthew 3v11):

1. Fire heats: we boil water in the kettle before making a cup of tea or coffee - this is to destroy all the impurities in it and make it safe to drink

2. Fire destroys: anyone who has seen Australian bushfires on TV knows how destructive fire can be in a very short period of time (anyone who has got in the way of a bushfire knows this even more dramatically).

3. Fire energises: we all make use of this every time we start our cars - the fuel burns to give us power to make progress along the road.

So the fire of the Holy Spirit can purify us, purge us of sin, and empower us to follow Jesus successfully. So let us all ask God for a greater measure of his Spirit, that amongst other things we can put to death the misdeeds of the body, that we may LIVE"
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