X: Forgetting Origins

11 September 2005 Common Era

Have ye not known? have yet not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isaiah 40:21 ASV

A very common matter in Christianity is the forgetting of origins of practices and concepts, both those that the Scriptures authorize and also those that have no authorization in Scripture. Many a practice and belief has its origin later than the time of the Apostles, and is either legitimate by Biblical liberty or given an air of legitimacy over time. One man's innovation, after all, is a later generation's tradition.

We could spend many a blog post speaking about the way this played out in Catholicism, with the Christmas and Easter observances, the veneration of Mary and the saints, and all the various rituals that find themselves more at home in a Roman or northern European pagan festival than in an assembly of Christians.

Instrumental music, also, along with the building of fellowship halls and gymnasiums and all other similar things found their origins far later than the original preaching of the Gospel. These innovations, clung to in the name of tradition and liberty, are not only foreign to but also unauthorized in the Scriptures.

While many an unScriptural innovation has been perpetuated over time, it is also problematic when legitimate exercision of Biblical liberty is perverted on account of people forgetting the origin of the authority. The greatest example of this would be the church building.

We read the following in Hebrews 10:24-25:

and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.

We are thus commanded to assemble, and in the pages of the Scriptures, we see Christians assembling in the Temple (Acts 2:48), Solomon's Portico (Acts 4:12), and homes (Philemon 1:2). Since we have multiple, inconsistent examples, we can conclude that Christians have been authorized to meet in whatever way they deem profitable, and it is upon this foundation that the church is authorized to have a building. It expedites the command given to us above.

As time has gone on, many a person has neglected to remember that such is the origin of the authority of the church building. Human logic and standards are introduced: "using the building only 4 hours a week is not good stewardship"; "the church is people, not a building, therefore, we can use the building for whatever purpose we find profitable"; and so on and so forth.

I fail to see why anyone truly interested in doing all things according to the name of the Lord (Colossians 3:17) would want to try to pile on usages of the building with its already shaky authority. Christians have been commanded to assemble-- they have not been commanded to have weddings, nor to have funerals, nor to allow the Boy Scouts in, nor to have a potluck together, or any such thing**. If we are going to expedite examples, or inferences, or whatever we feel like expediting, I would like to see some Biblical authority-- and the demonstration of necessity-- for engaging in such matters.

It is argued by many that having the building only to assemble on Sunday and Wednesday is an attempt to sacramentalize the building, as is seen in many denominations. It is not because the building is "holy" or for "sanctified use" that the examples above are problematic-- the problem is that the building is based on the liberty of where we may choose to assemble. If anything, the use of a building for weddings and funerals lead to the temptation to associate the building with sanctified spirituality!

Let us continue to apply Biblical authority properly, remembering where the authority for practices, beliefs, and especially liberties, originates.

ELDV

**-- it can be argued that in situations where brethren are poor, the church can offer the use of its building as benevolence to saints for a funeral service, and possibly a wedding. Otherwise, I see no Biblical rationalization for such things.

IX: Preaching the Gospel

07 September 2005 Common Era

It never ceases to amaze me what passes as "evangelism" and "preaching the Gospel" anymore. Apparently, the time-tested means of the New Testament have not proven satisfactory to many, and so all kinds of other appeals are made than simply "Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Apparently, in our modern society, it's not good enough to have "merely" a spiritual message. If you don't have the "stuff" that people are looking for, you won't get "converts". Let us survey the denominational world-- and, increasingly, in "churches of Christ": potlucks, gymnasiums, concerts, and all other kind of social and entertainment events, all done in the name of evangelism! Does any of this conform to what we see in the New Testament?

"But these things are popular, and how can they be wrong?", many will argue. "After all, Jesus fed people." Well, yes, He did. Let's look at what occurred.

Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they would. And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples,
"Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost."
So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten.
When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, "This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world."
John 6:11-14 ASV

Wow! Jesus fed the people and they recognized Him as a prophet! Yet wait...

Jesus departs, lest the people make Him into a King. When the people track Him down the next day, and they ask why He departed, He responds,

Jesus answered them and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled. Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed."
John 6:26-27 ASV

Jesus then exhorts them to not labor for the bread that perishes, but the bread of eternal life-- Himself. He then teaches them "difficult things," the need to eat His body and drink His blood...the Lord's Supper, and yet also the suffering and sacrifice He would endure. The result of the preaching?

Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, "Would ye also go away?"
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
John 6:66-68 ASV

Out of how many thousands of people....the original twelve. Not one person-- no, not one-- of those who had not formerly been with Jesus but were present to eat the food remained when the spiritual subjects came forth. The people were more than willing to accept Jesus as the prophet when He gave them physical bread...but when it came time to hear the message of truth, one that causes unease on account of the need for sacrifice and suffering, they fled.

It is a truth, then, that when you preach with food, you get converts to food. This applies to any physical enticement; after all, as it is written,

while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 ASV

It is exceedingly difficult to convert people to eternal life when you offer them but temporal things. When evangelism is reduced to food drives, hospital care, childcare, and other "social services", people equate "churches" or "Christians" with such things, and not the matters of the Spirit.

We have been commanded, individually, to assist others. The judgment scene in Matthew 25:31-46 is presented in terms of whether one has assisted those in need or not. On the other hand, helping those in need is a way by which you reflect Christ's light in you (Matthew 5:13-16), leading people to the spiritual message. It is not the spiritual message. It is not the object of our goal. When social services are substitutes for the Gospel, people may be physically helped, but are not saved...and therefore, we have failed.

How, then, should the Gospel be preached? Look at how the message was delivered in the first century! Yes, the Apostles did work signs and wonders, but that was not preaching the Gospel-- that was demonstrating the fact that God had given them authority. People were brought to the Gospel because of the message. They heard the message and desired to respond. The message-- that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Son of God, who died on the cross so that we may have remission of sin-- was enough to get people excited and to revel in their removal from sin and death. The Apostles did not need to stage a potluck. They did not have to set up a concert to get people to come. They simply went out and presented the message to whomever would hear.

And you know, we might just be surprised at the results if we tried to do that ourselves. Let us cease trying to pass the buck of preaching the Gospel onto social systems, or onto collective, collaborative projects, or on the evangelist, but take up our burden and tell people how to get out of sin and death. People are no less in sin today than they were 2,000 years ago. The antidote to sin is also still the same.

ELDV

VIII: The Aftermath of the Hurricane

02 September 2005 Common Era

My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

I've been following the storm, as my schedule has allowed, since late last week. The weather fascinates me. Maps, also, fascinate me. As a child, for some odd reason, I would sit and watch The Weather Channel for hours...something about all the maps and locations and such things. I know my US geography fairly well because of those experiences. I also managed to thoroughly freak out my parents and grandparents in the process.

But I digress.

Hurricanes really show the power of God. When seeing the radar and satellite images of Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico, before it hit land, it was hard to not be struck by the beauty of the storm itself...the perfectly formed eye, the harmonious spinning of the storm..something too perfect for mere chance. Yes, the storm also looks terrible and frightening, but, as it is written, the creation does show the handiwork of God.

The results of the storm ought to also teach us many things-- notably, how fragile our civilization truly is. Yes, we've come a long way technologically from the lifestyles of our ancestors, but even with all of our modern communication equipment, the Gulf Coast is in utter chaos. Without electricity and without viable roads, a land full of heat, humidity, and natural danger is not too pleasant. We as humans ought to be humbled, seeing that despite all that we strive to do to impose order on our world, chaos is only a storm away. The only order and stability can come from the Overseer and Shepherd of our souls.

None of this is said to shame or think negatively of anyone in the South currently suffering; these are, after all, the random musings of a 24 year old in the comfort of air conditioning in a drought-stricken portion of northern Illinois (hey-- we had the clouds from Katrina a few days ago, and even they were eerie-looking). My thoughts and prayers remain with those suffering.

It's been hard going through the rigamarole of daily life when you know how many are suffering down there. Then again, it's probably sad that something had to happen within our own borders for me to get this feeling, since millions-- if not billions-- suffer similar things daily without any hope of anything better throughout the world.

This feeling, I suppose, would be best translated into renewed vigor for helping out those in greater need than ourselves and to be constantly mindful of the blessings we have in the "first world"...and the recognition that the "third world" is really the normal state of things, and that this veneer of civilization we call the "first world" can be dissipated at any moment by the hand of God.

It's pretty easy to be jaded and cynical and act sanctimonious and wonder why more people did not leave...but are you sure that you yourself would not do similar things? Humans are imperfect. Humans make mistakes. Humans need God to help them transcend their mistakes. And people need us to represent the light of Christ for them to see their need of Him.

If you live anywhere in America, there is a possibility that your property will all be lost and your life endangered by some natural calamity. Not one inch of this country is safe from such matters, be it a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, volcano, flood, snowstorm, etc. Let us be kind to those now in need, as we may find ourselves in the wake of some natual calamity in days to come.

We should all perhaps give some thought as to what we would do if faced with similar circumstances. May we all have the attitude of Job, remembering what, in the end, is truly important.

And [Job] said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
Job 1:21

ELDV