Interpreting the Bible

I have come across so many different interpretations of the Bible lately that I thought I would write about it. I took a class on it in college called hermeneutics. I really enjoyed the class because I learned a lot about the practice of interpreting the Bible, but especially because the teacher told us plenty of examples of times where we use a verse to back up our argument when that is not what the verse means. I have heard that a lot in the Christian ranks.
We need to take a humble approach when studying and understanding the Bible. We all have presuppositions as a result of how we were brought up. And it is easy to say, well this is how I have always known it, so it must be true. We must humbly come to the Scriptures and study to see what passages are really saying. To understand what the author and God are trying to communicate, we must study the background, context, who they are writing to and why, the culture and customs, and also the language. Unfortunately, humans did the translation of the Bible and words change meanings as well.
One must also be careful where resources are found for interpretation. Scholars are humans too, and many disagree, soooo..... someone has to be wrong in their interpretation. That is why it takes much time in study before we become sure of a meaning, and then even still, unless it is a major proven doctrine, we must not be dogmatic about its meaning and label everyone else as liars.
Well, there are other thoughts on my mind for this post, but if it gets too long, I will lose the 3 people that visit my blog.

"Putting Christ back into Christian" article

There is no doubt that the church today has declined in her commitment to Jesus Christ. Members do not show up regularly, Pastors are caught in scandals, and we are caught wondering where the lack of faithfulness is from. Although, there are many reasons for this, three have caught my attention. The first problem starts right at the root, and that is our doctrine of salvation. We have made salvation too easy in that we have handed out a prayer as though God gave out tickets to heaven for us to pass to all those around us. We have not thoroughly explained God’s plan for salvation, but instead have made the entrance exam a no-brainer for the lost. We encourage each other to make wise decisions not based on emotions, but when it comes to salvation, we have found that the easiest way to convert the lost is through the emotions and then wonder why we never see them at church. The second problem is a lack of discipling new believers. The last few decades we have had Sunday School for that, so what need is there for small group (2-4 people) discipling? The problem is not the available teaching, but the lack of ability to integrate discipleship and accountability. Once we utilize a better system for discipling we will not see the fallout rate we see now. Thirdly is an overall deficit of integrity in leadership which flows down to the followers. Between our Christian pride, materialism, bad influence, scarred testimonies, and no desire for personal holiness or understanding of the lost, we have not been effective in displaying Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. We need Believers who are on a mission to put Christ back into Christian!

Illogical beliefs dealing with the beginning of time

So there is a debate that is highly illogical. The creationism versus evolutionism debate contains arguments that are not within the realms of logic. Creationism teaches that there is a God who created the world in six days using the power of His voice. He creates land and sea, animals, birds and fish and ends with creating man. He breathes into his nostrils the breath of life and man is given a living soul. It takes a lot of faith to believe that all could happen.
Evolution takes much faith too. First of all, there is nothing but some sort of mass and it explodes and there is a universe with a bunch of stars and earth. But there is no life for a long time until all of a sudden, lightning strikes a mud puddle and boom, life is formed. Millions of years pass by and we all of a sudden have hundreds of species of animals that evolved from the first living organism. One species cannot make another species according to science, yet that is how we have so many different animals. Anyway, I could go on and on, but I think the point is made that there is not much logic involved in this argument. Both evolution and creation take much faith. Personally, I believe in creationism, but I do understand that it takes much faith to believe in it.

Joy

Man, I am a slacker sometimes. I let the smallest things rob me of my joy. Rejoice in the Lord always is a pretty clear verse, but one I struggle following. Our sufficiency should be in Christ, not in circumstances. I was bummed the other day when someone said; hey, you should smile back there. I do not know what my face looked like, but it must have been pretty ugly. Life is so much easier when we relax and have a good time and trust in the sovereignty of God.

Even if

When Rack, Shack and Benny were asked by the king to bow down before his image, they refused. They said that they would not disobey God understanding that their consequence would be to go through the fiery furnace. They said that they knew God could deliver them, but EVEN IF not they would still obey God. Faith is trusting in God enough to obey His Word. Sometimes I wonder if I have faith, but really I need to look at my obedience level. Am I obeying God and trusting His Word? If I am, then I am showing faith. And if I am not, then I need to be like the Centurion in the gospels who said, Lord I believe, help my unbelief. Our faith ultimately comes from God and we should never stop asking for it.

Putting Christ back into Christian

So, in case you have been reading this blog and do not know it, my friend Jeremiah and I just wrote a book. We are really excited about it. Here is a little about the book and the link to look at the first few pages of it:
Although many people in the United States today claim to follow Christianity, most do not practice it. This book takes a look at the reasons why and the ways Christians can correct the problem. The authors peer into Christians' views of salvation and discipleship to uncover solutions to the unchristlike actions of Christianity's followers. The book is a quick read that will cause the reader to examine their own practice of Christianity.
http://www.lulu.com/content/3146802

Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God

So I am reading this book right now by Larry Osborne. He really has me thinking so much about how I measure my own spirituality. Many times we have our own rituals we do that we think makes us spiritual. I have had the problem in the past of saying - reading the Bible + Prayer + Memorizing Scripture + Church = God's pleasure. As many times as I have said that these are helping me to know God better, is that the main goal. Or am I just doing all those for kudos bars in heaven?
My Pastor has been preaching on Worship the last couple of Sundays and I have really learned a lot from it. God wants our worship above our service. Our service and actions are just means by which we are worshipping God. So we must focus on worship above all else. "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him." -John Piper.