Theology of Nuance; Struggling with God and Man and Overcoming

Mt 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Is he eternally lost?

Did he die in his sins?

Many folks will tell me that this fellow is lost.
Many folks will say that Jesus has condemned all rich people.
But, I differ fundamentally with the faulty hermeneutics used to put this stake through the souls of so many people.
Look again, at the the passage about the Rich young ruler. Verse 22 says that he went away sorrowful or “sad” because he had great wealth.

Is he sad because he’s rich?
This is not the typical response to having great wealth. Is it?

‘John Doe wins the multi-million dollar lotto, so he goes away sad because he has excessive wealth.’
You just don’t hear this.
My take on this passage is that, the rich man recognizes his deep Spiritual need. In-fact this exchange is the same in all of the synoptic gospel accounts. The man asks Jesus what “he” personally, must do to have eternal life. So, the fellow has a recognition of his need.

Consider this in the context of Mt 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The young ruler meets this criterion by simply asking the question of Jesus.

Look further, Mt 5:4. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” The young ruler meets this criterion by going away “sad”. He was not sad because he was rich, but rather, because he knew that there was “one thing” that was coming between himself and God.

Jesus has good news for people who are able to recognize such a sad personal state of affairs, “They will be comforted.”

Look at Mt 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” This young man appears to be getting a lot of good news (gospel) from Christ. The rich man clearly, has a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness, because after Jesus tells him a list of things, which he had followed “religiously” the young man didn’t celebrate and hoop-it-up, but instead he recognized he was still lacking something.

This issue could be expanded further by talking about the impossibility of any rich man’s salvation…on his own merits, versus any rich man’s salvation on God’s merits. But, I am hoping you are getting the idea by now, that this young man met Jesus’ stated criteria for being blessed in Mt 5.

Okay, if you still follow me on this. And if you too have felt “sad” that you have not achieved God’s level of excellence, then I am also hoping that you might recognize that your very deep and earnest desire for perfection is the exact same thing to Christ from Mt 5. If you didn’t care, then there would be a problem. But, that’s not the case. The only thing lacking for you, is the answer to yourself of some important questions:

1. Just How Powerful is this Jesus?
2. Is he really able to forgive anything?
3. Can he heal me, personally, for any & all faults?
4. Can He create, in me, a holy and sanctified soul? Despite my failings.

God bless,
DSM

To: Bigdaddy and Pilgrim
Thank you for responding to the exercise, of which I am including the questions at the bottom of this post as well.
Also, I will give some background for the questions, as is appropriate.

I should say that I was intentionally provocative with the title and the questions for this post.
The provocation was more to engage thought than to be critical.
Also, I know that the questions are open-ended and vague, thus resulting in some “ricochet” directional variations. That’s okay too.
However, the underlying point, that I had hoped to open to critical thinking, involves self-sacrifice for the benefit of others, without any “carnal” benefit to oneself.

So, the issue of using “common-sense” to tie your shoes is valid, but what happens if we change the dynamic a little bit.

Maybe, we could instead tie a stranger’s shoes, so that they will not trip and fall.
The Lord did take just such an opportunity to give his disciples, (us), an example of uncommon-sense, when He washed the feet of the disciples.
We must not forget this example. It applies to everything we do, as disciples of His.
We must read John 13:1-17 and answer for ourselves what it means when the Lord told the disciples, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.”
This statement is in the context of foot washing. But, does it only apply to foot washing, or does it even, ultimately, apply to foot washing?
• 15, I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.
• 16, How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them.
• 17, You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.

To my understanding of verse sixteen, Jesus is appears to be making a manifest claim to be “master” and “sender of the messengers.” This follows the context and the relationship of teacher to student.
However, in our, now post crucifixion, perspective, we have a more complete context of what Jesus actually intended by this example and His teaching to the disciples. Because, in verse one, John tells us “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He now showed the disciples the full extent of his love.”
This refers to Jesus’ death on the cross, not only Christ’s foot washing event.
It would be almost sardonic to say that Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice was washing a bunch of dirty feet.

Therefore, the foot washing that happens, is not separate from the death on the cross. The foot washing ceremony is intended to, graphically, highlight the fact that Jesus’ disciples will be expected to respond to their fellow man, in exactly the same selfless manner as Jesus Christ.
Hence, Jesus’ reminds the disciples of the appropriate hierarchy, i.e. Master is superior to servant and Message Sender is superior to message carrier.
In other words, Jesus tells us;
• ‘I am Master and I am the Message Sender.’
• ‘Do you see what I do for my slaves and couriers?’
• ‘Do you see that I wash their feet?’
• ‘Do you see that I lay down my life for them?’
• ‘Therefore Peter, you should not think that you are too important or too superior, and thus hand off the menial tasks of foot washing and life sacrifice’
• ‘God’s servants are exact images of God, in every detail and every drop of self-sacrificed blood.’

Bigdaddy, in your answer to “Q2: Is there anything that Jesus did, which He has specifically excluded from His disciples? yes–He alone could die for our sins”, I understand the point that you make and I concede that it was true.
Yet, when we receive Jesus’ Holy Spirit, we are no longer ourselves alone. We become Christian, i.e. we become Christ to the world.
• We are holy, as Jesus is holy.
• We become “participants of the divine nature”, according to 2Peter 1:4.
• We have the opportunity to glorify the Holy Father in the same way that Jesus Christ brought glory the Father.
• We may show uncommon faith in the Father’s ability to carry us through self-sacrifice for our fellow man.
• We may show hope in resurrection to a new life.
• We may deny ourselves and take up our cross daily and follow Him.

You see, I don’t see myself as carnal any longer.
I look at the carnal man on the cross everyday. The carnal man who worries about getting ahead in a “dog eat dog world” is put back on the cross everyday. This leaves me sinless. This puts me in a confident position, so confident in-fact, that I may sacrifice my own life to save the life of him, who may be my enemy, just like Jesus did for me (Romans 5:10).
I am exactly like Jesus, by God’s inexplicable grace.

My point is that while Jesus could only offer Himself for me, prior to my cleansing, I now am recreated in His image, thus giving me the privilege of offering myself for others and completing the exhortation from John 13:17, which is, according to our Lord, the “path of blessing.”

God bless,
DSM
p.s. My answers, to the previously posed questions, follow below, so please continue to read, it is important to understand my reasons for the questions, which I’ve stated above, as well as my answers to the questions, which will follow. dsm

1. Do you believe that Jesus is the “example” for all humankind? Yes, I suspect that most Christians will agree that Jesus is the perfect example for humanity. But, this also creates difficulties with our spiritual/carnal filter. For example: What actions, from within Jesus’ life example, may we exclude from ourselves or from teaching other disciples.
2. If you say “yes”; is there anything that Jesus did, which He has specifically excluded from His disciples? Pilgrim, I believe that you have hit the target, squarely, in the “X ring”. Your answer also addresses the point that I make above to Bigdaddy’s answer for this question. Because, while Jesus tells Peter that he may not come to the cross at that time, He forewarns Simon that a day will come for him to do the same thing, i.e. he will be called on to sacrifice himself for the church. Most are familiar with the historical legend of Peter’s own crucifixion.
3. Who is a “disciple” of Jesus? I agree with both answers. Interestingly, to Pilgrim’s answer, we see, in Acts 19:1-7, that Luke calls disciples, 12 men who had not be baptized into Christ. However, the lesson of discipleship continues, because the 12 men are baptized in the the name of the Lord Jesus upon hearing about, what was an heretofore missing component of their belief.
4. Do you think of yourself as a disciple? The answer to this question is almost reflexive for all who call themselves “Christian.” But, it is my opinion that discipleship holds requisite conditions that are not present in many who feel as if, they are indeed “disciples.” (Again I say LOUDLY, “THIS IS MY OPINION”) The conditions that I see for discipleship are, in the following specified chronological order; 1st) A Seeker of God, 2nd) An Acceptor of Truth, 3rd) A Follower/student of Jesus, 4th) An Employer of knowledge & example. The 12 men of Acts 19:1-7 as well as Apollos from Acts 18:24-28, meet these criteria for discipleship. They were seekers of God, they accepted truth, they followed the way of Jesus, and finally they employed their acquired knowledge, by acting on their faith, via baptism into the name of Jesus Christ.
5. Does the Father expect disciples of Jesus to use “common sense”? With this question I am dealing with personal demons. As you’ve read above, this goes to the issue of “carnal-sense” or simply doing what is expedient without regard to Jesus’ self-sacrifice and the most visible defining characteristic of His disciples, as stated by the Lord Himself in John 13:35 “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” Jesus is not limiting this love to fellow “Christians”. Remember He has already given the Sermon on the Mount, where He tells us, in Matthew 5:43ff “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.”
6. Did Jesus use common sense in any part of His incarnation, ministry, and sacrifice? Without going too much further, you now understand what my thinking is concerning “common-sense”. I use the term, because I have heard this phrase many times, when people desire cover for their giving into fear and rage, and in contravention of Jesus’ obvious teachings, both in His words and in His deeds. I won’t confess here what my greatest fears are, but suffice it to say that I am praying daily for courage and strength to say “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” My fears have motivated me to hide my gifts. I have buried them and have not invested them. I have honored the one who encourages me to fear and hate, instead of the One who promises me, that He will keep that which I’ve committed to Him, but only that I show courage and love.
7. Can you cite the examples of Jesus, using “good judgment”? Jesus didn’t turn the stone to bread, He didn’t throw Himself down in a test of the Father protection and He did not worship the “prince of the earth & air”, all of which would have been expedient by worldly carnal-judgment.
8. Was His, giving up the throne of heaven and being born as a helpless baby to an unmarried mother, “good judgment”? Pilgrim, Paul states that Jesus did have this decision to take and therefore it was His prerogative to decline. Look at Philippians 2:5-11 “5) Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6) Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7) He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. 9) Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, 10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11) and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Pilgrim and Bigdaddy, you are correct about Mary and Joseph, but the stigma of Mary being yet only betrothed, when she became pregnant was, by carnal standards, “unwise”.
9. Did Jesus use good judgment when he selected His band of apostles? Carnal judgment says that He should have picked big warrior class men, who had political connections and military training and experience.
10. Was God the Father using good judgment, when He placed His “only begotten Son” in Bethlehem under a narcissistic homicidal maniac, such as King Herod the Great?
11. Did the Lord use anything even close to “good common sense”, when He refused to answer the Jewish High priest and the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate? Good judgement (carnal) would get Him out of jail and silence the crowd, with no fuss and no mess.
12. In what way, can Jesus be said to be our “example”, if we, for our own carnal will & reasoning, seek to exclude all meaningful representations of the Father’s & Son’s love, mercy, and compassion, as being unique to Jesus’ ministry, and therefore, should not to be followed by His disciples? Men and women of God make compromises daily for why they should use “common sense” and not stop to help a stranded motorist. But, the example of Jesus says to stop and help. Godless men beat the Lord, yet He did not strike back. While Godly men and women seek preemptive strikes, to protect hearth and home. I hope to spur thought about when God’s example is a “bad example.”
13. I keep looking for the Lord to stand up and take matters into His hands and utterly crush the wickedness of humankind. But…, if He were to do the thing that I envision…, would I be swept away with all the other wickedness of humankind?
14. I wonder if there is any example in Jesus life, that the Father hopes that we will follow?
15. And I wonder if that example, might just be Jesus “in toto“?

(The painting is by Jacopo Bassano ca. 1550AD, entitled “The Purification of the Temple.”)

This article, that is hyperlinked under this paragraph, is about the unification of Christian disciples and all believers becoming one in Jesus Christ.

It was brought to my attention by my best friend. He published it on his Blog post here.

Nonetheless, I had a very good discussion at work today, with a fellow believer, who has been visiting this blog.
Our discussion reminded me of this published article.

Look at this paragraph.

• Barna also identifies a growing movement of what he calls “Christian Revolutionaries” -– believers who demonstrate much higher commitment to group worship, personal spiritual growth, Bible study and biblical beliefs, community ministry, evangelism and financial investment in Christian work.
• Even more than self-professed “born-again” or “evangelical” believers, “Revolutionaries” have a clear sense of meaning and purpose; consider their relationship with God the top priority in their life; strive to love Him with all their hearts; believe they will spend eternity with Him only because they have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as personal Savior; and have made a personal commitment to Christ as Lord.

My best friend, and fellow blogger who showed me this article, had been somewhat cynical, that the Church was not following its mission.

But the above story shows that many within the “body of Christ” are recognizing the purpose for the “body of Christ” [the body of Christ, is defined by the Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle Paul at 1Cor. 12:27 "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."]

Even if I were to say, that the “big dogs” of Christendom are promoting these fractures (and I know that many are), this would not justify me, willingly ‘giving-up’ the the body of Christ to the power of Satan, who may be working through the “big dogs.”

In-fact, this makes it imperative that I, not give-up the bride of Christ, and abandon her to the evil-doers.

I must remain in the body, to work for God and serve His Son, for the sake of Jesus’ holy bride, i.e. the Church.

I love Jesus Christ, therefore I will not abandon His wife, to the will of Satan.

Think about this.

• If my buddy calls me “friend”, and yet, when he sees my wife being attacked by evil men and women, he says to himself… “I am getting out of here. I am not going to help her.”, is he, really, my friend?
• If he is truly my friend, he will ‘throw-down’ with the ‘bad guys’, and go to the grave, before leaving my wife to the thugs.

This is the same scenario with the Church.

We need to get into the fight and save the bride of Christ.

We may not be able to do it alone, but we are not alone.

We have God’s Holy Spirit empowering us. Right?

This is what I believe in my heart. And, through this blog, I am trying to encourage people to just allow God’s Spirit to work through them, to save souls.

• Folks can’t be saved, if they are never brought into the body of Christ.
• Folks can’t be saved, if the bride of Christ is given over to the men and women who are serving the world’s goals and not the Father’s goals.

Anyway, that is why we must all be together in worship to Him.

Remember Christ’s final prayer (John 17), He prayed for all believers to be unified as one, just as the Father and He are one.

You and I must be a part of the Holy Father’s answer to the prayer of His Son Jesus Christ, because we are integrated into it by Jesus very sacrifice on the cross.

If we say ‘No’ to the Church, then we have said ‘No’ to the power of the Father, to even answer His Son’s prayer.

Why would Jesus waste time with the prayer in John 17, if the Father was powerless to answer Him, in the affirmative?

I am, just as the article above describes me, a “Christian Revolutionary“.

But, praise God, so is my Lord Jesus Christ.

And if you are wondering about the painting by Jacopo Bassano at the top of this post, Jesus is a Revolutionary, and that is why He drove the money changers from God’s temple.

God bless,
DSM

(Part Two)

The family, and how it is a symbol for the unity of God.
There is so very much in this thesis.
If…, this is true, it could help us to understand why the family is threatened by so many temptations.

Consider just a few things that the world can offer us to break the husband’s unity with his wife.

• workaholic/careers threaten it
• pornography threatens it
• blogging threatens it
• infidelity threatens it
• Sports and Recreation threatens it
• Alcohol and chemical dependency threatens it
• Motorcycles threaten it
• Hotrod cars threaten it
• Anything that we can imagine threatens the unity of the Wife and Husband

As a symbol, Satan might see the family as a physical representation of God’s nature.
Therefore, when Satan succeeds in breaking the unity of families, he might view this as a victory over his enemy, God.
It explains Jesus’ words against divorce in Matthew 19

• ·3 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?”
• ·4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’
• ·5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’
• ·6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”

Note that Jesus does, in-fact, make use of the same language that is recorded in Deuteronomy 6 about Yahweh being One.

This passage in Deuteronomy is difficult for many Christians to understand or explain. But, in the context of a family, we may see a clearer picture of what the Lord intended by the statement found in this Old Testament passage. Look again, and compare/contrast the wording from the old 1901 American Standard Version to the King James Version.

• ·4Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: ASV
• ·4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: KJV

ASV is a more accurate interpretation of the Hebrew text. The name “Jehovah” that is used by the American Standard Version is carried over from the original German translation, instead of spelling it phonetically.

Therefore, just as the spelled name “John” in Dutch or German is pronounced “Yon” and “William” is pronounced “Villhelm”, we see why Jehovah could alternately be pronounced “Yahweh”. With these differences understood, the ASV is far more accurate in showing that ‘Yahweh is one Yahweh’ or ‘Jehovah is one Jehovah’.

There are three individuals (Holy Spirit, Father, and Son) but only One Yahweh.
The Family of Yahweh may be the most simple way to understand & explain the nature of God.

As an analogy, we might consider personal examples of very strong, even “unified” families. If one is insulted then all are insulted. If you honor one family member then all are honored.

My wife often teaches a weekly Ladies Bible class, people will approach me at worship and tell me how “wonderful” and “inspiring” she is to them. This is an honor to me. I feel 10′ tall, when people tell me about Molly’s gift and the encouragement that she is to them. Molly is an extension of David, therefore I am being complimented, when I receive praise for my wife.

This is not so difficult for us to understand. How many mothers & fathers will beam with pride, as they see their son throw a game-winning touchdown pass or hear their daughter play a flawless piano recital.

We, as parents, know that when our daughters and sons are recognized for special honor, we ourselves are honored.

The underlying Unity between the wife-mother, husband-father, & son/daughter is present in the Trinity. When we accept God’s Holy Spirit, offered by Jesus Christ, we obtain the power to overcome the devil’s scheme to break up the unity of family.

We must accept our role in the symbol of Marriage & Family, however, because when we accept this mission, we have the unique position of fighting the devil on God’s terms, i.e. the terms of Holy Unity, instead of fighting him on his terms, i.e. self-gratification (a.k.a. pride).

*_____*

Back to the scenario that I laid out in my preceding post, concerning God’s creation plan and Satan’s diabolical scheme, it involves some supposition from scripture and from life experiences.

I may be wrong or right.

But, one key debate that I faced was not addressed in the comments to the post. The issue was about Satan’s creation timing. The common supposition is always that Satan was created at the same time that the physical universe was created. But, this cannot be supported by scripture. It is not mentioned, when the devil was created.

The typical texts from Isaiah or Ezekiel or Revelation do not state anything about Satan’s origination. But, since no one has mentioned these passages I won’t go into them now.

But, if I am wrong please show my error, by writing and posting.

Nevertheless, the creation described in Genesis 1 and 2 is a physical creation of the Cosmos. And we needn’t presume that all spiritual beings were created at the same time as the physical Cosmos.

Furthermore, I might point out that the use of the term “time” is utterly useless prior to the physical Cosmos, because time is inextricably linked with space and matter, which are not spiritual, but rather, are carnal.

I will pick-up again later. The time is late for a physical being such as I am.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

God Bless,

DSM

There have been some issues, about which I have written, in many small snigglet-sized thoughts, through many of my essays, but have never addressed directly.
The nature of the family is one such issue.

All human cultures have at their basic civil organization (a.k.a civilization), the family.

The “family” is, in my opinion, the government of humankind, in its most elemental form, and is designed to be so, by the Creator.
God has imbued the institution of “family” with His holy nature of union.

I am convinced that the family is a holy & symbolic representation of the relationship, which exists in Yahweh our God. You may recall that I have written about this in other essays in the past.

While many disciples are reticent to say this, my wife among them, I am comfortable in saying the Trinity represents all positions in a loving and functional family.
Holy Spirit, Father and Son, are symbolically represented by mom, dad, and child, respectively.

I hope to receive opposing opinions on this.
And to the opposing argument, I recognize that Holy Spirit is never referenced as “mother”.
I further recognize that Holy Spirit is always referenced by the use of the masculine pronoun, “he”.
However, I am not saying that God is anything physical.
“Religious” people who think it wise to rewrite the bible, and thus remove all gender from the scriptures, which references God, bemuse me.
However, to be fair, those who think that God is a physical man (”He”) also bewilder me.

I should be clear on what I am saying.

Jesus the Messiah was a physical man, but he is no longer a physical man. (If you have questions about this look at 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, specifically note verses 49 - 50; “49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”)

If you are reading this, and you are reluctant to consider the notion that the “family” is a physical symbol, which represents the holy Spiritual relationship with and between the individuals who compose the Trinity of God, then imagine this scenario for a few minutes.

1. The almighty Creator, who is made up of three separate and distinct individuals, determines that “He” wants to share & participate in love (Agapē) with a created being.
2. However there are preexisting created beings, which are not invited to participate in this union between Creator and creation.
3. These preexisting created beings are spiritual, but are not participants inside the holy union of the Spiritual Creator.
4. As the Creator completes His plan for a new type of creation, which is not an exclusively spiritual nature, some of those beings, which were created before the new creation, become jealous about the interlopers, who are designed “in the image of the Creator” and for the purpose of union with the Creator.
5. The chief executive officer (CEO) of the created spiritual beings is given a responsibility for the new creation and the divine reflections, which inhabit it. This “prosecutor/constable” is also given the power to imbibe the physical creation, however this power is available only through the consent and will of the corporeal beings.
6. For an unknown price, a certain corporeal being agrees to grant the “constable” the use of its body and form, for the purpose of interacting directly with the divine copies.
7. The jealousy of the spiritual CEO comes to culmination, as the constable/prosecutor of the created spiritual realm actually encourages the divine images to forsake their betrothal with the Creator. The constable engages in an act of legal “entrapment”.
8. As the Man and Woman take the forbidden fruit, they fulfill the constables hope and dash the Creator’s great dream of a marriage between God and humanity, or more properly the Son of God and mankind.
9. The Almighty God & Host of Heaven, Yahweh, has been thwarted by an unholy alliance between a created spirit, Satan, and created corporeal, the Serpent.
10. All Humankind are dupes for the dope of the spiritual war that rages.
11. The dope of the spiritual war, is pride. And Adam and Eve took it in. They breathed these fowl emanations into their hearts and minds before the fruit ever touched their lips, even before the fruit was plucked from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They doubted the love (Agapē) that was promised by the Creator.
12. The Creator, however, knew everything before it ever happened. And, He had a plan for the renewal of the marriage vow between humanity and Himself. (THE CREATOR CANNOT BE THWARTED. Because, LOVE NEVER FAILS. ·

1 Corinthians 13:7,8: Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever,…

(TO BE CONTINUED)

God bless,

DSM

Hey Matt! Here is the next installment on my belief.
This addresses Item C “Why do I believe that the Creator is the inspiration behind the scriptures?” (I will go back, at a later time, to Item B, Why I believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the actively creative power of the Creator.)

I do not call the Bible the “Word of God.” I may be unique among believers, concerning the use of this scriptural term.
But, as I have studied this, it appears to me that the Holy Spirit has revealed that the “Word” is Jesus. This will come out more in my answer to Item B.
I have struggled in the order of presentation of Items B & C, because they are tied together.
There are so many uses of the term “word”, that we may become confused about that, which we are discussing, i.e. the Lord’s words, God’s words, the Word of the Lord, the Word of Life, etc.
There are differences in the use of the singular rather than the plural. The words of God are not the same as the Word of God.
I hope this is making sense. Because I am attempting to hold to the semantics that I believe the Holy Spirit has used in the “words” of His prophets, apostles and disciples.

So, just as a beginning point I will outline briefly what I believe about “the Word”, and about the “words” of God.

• I believe that “the Word of God” is Jesus. John 1:1ff
• I believe that Jesus is “God’s Word”. 1John 2:14
• I believe that Jesus is “the Word of the Lord.” Genesis 15:1, 1Samuel 3:1-21 Look closely at verse 21.
• I believe that the “Word of Life” is, again, Jesus. 1John 1:1
• I believe that the words of God are found in the bible.
• I believe also, however, that the words of the devil are found in the bible. Matthew 4:3 is one such example of Satan’s words in the bible.
• I believe that the words of people are found in the bible. Exodus 3:11 (An interesting sidebar to this point, is that people either speak the words of the devil or the words of God. In the verse cited above, Moses speaks the words of Satan to Yahweh. Look at Matthew 16:22-23, to see how Jesus dealt with the words of Satan spoken by Peter. Human words may ultimately only serve two ends, they may serve God or they may serve self, where self is always the goal of the devil.)

This is the semantic difference, which I see in the scriptural use of the term “Word”. If someone has a different opinion about my distinctions, I am interested in reading them. However, until I am persuaded otherwise, this is how I will proceed in the subsequent response to belief in God’s Word and belief in the bible as inspired, respectively.

I believe that the recording and preservation of the bible is an action of inspiration by God’s Holy Spirit.
My conviction has been slowly developed, even while I was attempting to cast off my faith, as written in the first part of this series on my belief.

I have found that the bible is more than just allegorical, in its written text.
I hear many “believers” who are quite willing to consign the bible to the bookshelf, because of its antiquity.
They do this, by initially diminishing it as a collection of allegories. Thus, if it is only allegorical, then it holds no value.
In these cases, it becomes only a collection of symbols.
But, what can it symbolize? If it is not real at its root, then symbols of the illusory are of no value, for anything practical, except entertainment, if entertainment might be said to be “practical”.

Nevertheless, even if we are to accept the bible as only “a nice bit of antiquated literature,” we are still left with a very “good book”, worthy of our study.
The bible is chock full of ancient near eastern examples of early art, poetry, song, prose, proverbs, technical documentation, etc.

Surely, these many early expressions of the humanities are worthy of some respect from the world. But, oddly enough, this is not the case.
Thusly, our world seems intent on suppressing the bible, and this speaks volumes to me.

This is a simple curiosity that draws my attention.
It is, to me, the equivalent of saying don’t think about pink elephants.

Are you thinking about a fuchsia pachyderm?

These examples draw our attention. Humans are designed to seek answers to mysteries. And the bible is an enigma among human literature.

Our world doesn’t want it, ‘because its only an old book of out-of-touch allegories’.

However, our world digs deep to find an old moth eaten scrap of parchment that contains only 100 legible words from a Roman era copy of Homer’s “Iliad.”

Does this make sense to you?

Well, there is the enigma.

If you diminish the bible, by telling me that it is an ancient collection of fiction, or literary forms and allegorical chronicles, but that we should not trouble our students with this historical collection, I will be very intrigued about the apparent paradox.

To me, this treatment of the scriptures, by our world, speaks to the bible’s veracity.
This is one reason for my belief in the bible.
(To Be Continued)

God Bless,

DSM

This assumes, in my opinion, that “lines” exist, where none necessarily may be.
This very point shows up through the Scriptures, both OT and NT.
My blog is an attempt to reflect this and possibly to give some semblance of understanding to these nuances within God’s nature.
Hence, the title “Theology of Nuance.”

Example:
David is a man after God’s very heart.
But, David is not worthy of preparing the Temple for Him, because the blood of violence stains him.
Or:
Jehovah is a man of war: Jehovah is his name. Exodus 15:3
Yet, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
Or:
“Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Tension, for sure…, but not only with grace & obedience, because we find nuance, subtlety, and even harmony between disparate philosophical concepts everywhere our God turns.

God bless,
DSM

I am again blessed to have been taught “the way of God more accurately.” Acts 18:26

In my essay on What is the Value of a Soul?, I made some errors in my understanding of the value of the Human Soul. The issue was brought to light by a friend who made the case that the bearer of each soul has been granted the freedom to determine his own soul’s worth, or lack thereof. I have considered his argument and searched the scriptures to determine if his contention is true. And, now I am conceding to his logic and scriptural contention that we do indeed choose our own value.

If you care to view the debate in its entirety, you may go to the link above and see the extended deliberations on the point, and final conclusion that I was in error with my exegesis of this passage, which I will give below.

There are times when I will disagree with conventional wisdom on a particular passage. My second essay posting on this blog was one such time. There, I wrote “A different interpretation of the Rich Young Ruler”, that exegesis was certainly at odds with most theologians and wide-ranging bible readers.
So, here too, I will attempt to show a different view of Jesus words.

• 45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.
• 46 When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!

Our ability to understand these parables of Christ pivots on correctly identifying the metaphorical players in the illustrations. Jesus gives the critical information in this passage, but for some reason, we struggle to avoid the stated meaning, even when we know what Jesus has said. I will give you some examples of “conventional wisdom”, as they relate to the parable under review.
The first example is from Wikipedia.

• The Parable of the Pearl or the Pearl of Great Price is a parable told by Jesus in explaining the value of the Kingdom of Heaven, according to Matthew 13:45-46. Other uses of this title refer to this parable.
• In explaining the value of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus relates the story of a trader who discovered an extremely valuable pearl. The trader sold all that he had to raise money to purchase the pearl; with the final result that he was wealthier than before. The implied analogy was that the Kingdom of Heaven was of such worth that his disciples should gladly be willing to give up their wealth and comfort to obtain it.

The above-emphasized portion of Wikipedia’s analysis is not correct. There are not the stated “implications” in this passage. It should, more accurately, be called an ‘inference’. The people who read the passage have the power to “infer”, which may or may not, be what the speaker implied. The speaker has the power to “imply,” which is what the reader should always attempt to ascertain, if we hope to understand the meaning the speaker hoped to convey.

The second example is found in both the above quoted section from Wikipedia as well as from my copy of the New International Version bible, which attempts to “help” people to categorize and sectionalize bible passages into “Themes”.
However, this causes problems when the people who are “helping” our understanding of the passages, actually miss or ignore the semantics of the words that are used. My copy is not unique, there are many bibles that are less overtly in error and there are other bibles, which are just plain daft.

• The heading for the parables, beginning in Matthew 13:44 and ending at verse 46, is “The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl.” Emphasis added.

The passages are not the same; therefore linking them in this way carries a false inference. The second parable is not, principally, about the pearls, but rather about the merchant who is seeking the pearls. This too moves the objective focus from who is being portrayed as the seeker. The Kingdom of Heaven is the active central character.
But these two parables, while being similar are very different at the same time.
Verse 44 is correctly called the parable of the Hidden Treasure, because Jesus says clearly “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a hidden treasure.” This metaphor is of the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus makes the comparison of “a hidden treasure.”
However, verse 45 Jesus makes the Kingdom of Heaven to be the opposite of what it is from verse 44.
What I mean is this; Jesus initially states that the Kingdom of Heaven is like “a hidden treasure” and we are the treasure seekers, but in the verses 45-46 parable, the roles are reversed the other way round.
Am I missing something? Look again at verses 45 & 46.
Jesus says, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant” seeking the hidden treasure, i.e God almighty who is seeking the pearls of great value.

We become the treasure to God. This creates a profound difference in our understanding. God (the merchant) actively seeks fine or valuable souls. He is on the treasure hunt for worthy hearts.

And what does the merchant do when He finds one such worthy soul, He went away and sold everything he owned and bought the one worthy heart (pearl).

This is not so hard to understand, especially in the light of Jesus death on the cross. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”Jn3:16 This matches Jesus parables to perfection. We are seeking God when we believe Jesus, and we will give up everything in the physical realm, in order to be found in the Father’s full grace, i.e. Jesus Christ.

It is a most glorious “Theology of Nuance” that is contained in these two parables.

God is the merchant on the treasure hunt for trusting, believing hearts. They are like valuable pearls to our God. When He finds a single worthy/faithful heart, He is willing to give up all He has, which is of value. He gives His only begotten Son.

And thereby, with this bargain, from God the Father and His eager and willing Son Jesus Christ, we (the valuable pearls) are purchased back from the prince of the air’s domain of death.

These matters are important to understand, because our Lord and creator has revealed something deep and intrinsic about our Father and about ourselves. We must choose to be a worthy pearl for the bargain to be complete. If I am not a believing and faithful heart (pearl of great value), then the Father’s giving all for me will not close the deal. I must take a decision here and now while I live and breathe.
Am I worth the merchant giving up His one and only Son? If so, then I must believe:

1. That He is willing to do this.
2. That His Son is valuable enough to meet the purchase price.
3. That I, myself, am valuable enough to be desired by the merchant.

This is humbling and awe inspiring.
I am going to shine for the Merchant. I am going to be a pearl of great price.

Thank you Lord for seeing in me, what I could not see in myself.

God Bless,
DSM

Look at the Does God Exist? website. Mr. Clayton makes a bold claim that he can scientifically prove that God exists.
I want to get back to my answers to Matt, about what I believe and why I believe. (This is the 3rd or 4th part of this answer series, depending on if and/or how you might be counting the parts.)

What do you think about this photo? Is it beautiful? Peaceful? Graceful?
I say God is majestic!
Some say “nature” is awsome!
Did anyone catch the personification of Nature, in the quote from the Scientist, Russ George? About nuclear fusion within our Sun and all other stars in the universe, Mr. George said “Nature, however, does not seem to use it on a very large scale…”

So, you must understand that Mr. George has simply taken the word “God” and replaced it with the word “Nature.”

Nature is personified and given a personal will.
I don’t know Mr. George’s theology, but this same issue arises with many publicly avowed science atheists.
Therefore, simply replacing the word “God” with some other word does not get rid of God, it rather just gives Him a new title.

It is, ultimately, up to each individual to know ‘what’ he/she really believes and ‘why’ he/she has been convinced of that thing.

We may not want to work out our beliefs because the answer is inconvenient.

This issue happens in the news every week.

The story might go something like this: A mother’s “little Johnny” is caught in a tragic incident on a “joy ride” or with a trunk load of illegal drugs or “You Name It”, and the mother goes on Channel 8 news and tells the reporters that her son is a perfect angel.

We choose to believe or disbelieve for many reasons.

But, truth and lies do not exist without leaving their mark. Often times the mark is clearly present, but the evidence is simply ignored because the required action may be too painful.

It is a failing of the individual to not desire the truth.

And when this happens we make ourselves to be fools, by believing our own made-up lies.

We actually see people who can fabricate lies out of whole cloth and then begin to believe the thing they’ve just made-up. We could laugh, it weren’t so sad. This is the very thing that the Apostle Paul wrote concerning in Romans 1:18ff. Look at the following passage and think about what Paul tells us about God and humankind.

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. 19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20 From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.

Humans are the same today as they were then, “Wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.”

Pushing truth away about a rebellious and disobedient child will condemn that son or daughter to a life of misery. And yet, we do it.

Pushing truth away about a tire that has a bulge on one side will result in tragic consequences on the highway. And yet we do this too.

Dealing appropriately with either of these two examples will certainly result in personal discomfort, but the alternative is far more lasting and ugly.

My 2nd essay on this subject, posted on December 21 2006, deals with the subject that Paul outlines in the Romans 1 passage above. I made the same point that Paul made. I used specific hard evidence of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, but even non-technological folks from two thousand years ago saw the same truth that remains today.

Please, read Romans 1:19-20 again, and I will meet you up in my next post, to conclude this thought. But, you have got to follow me there.

TO BE CONTINUED…

God bless,
DSM