The 2nd Annual Official Blogprophet 2010 Calendar auction will begin soon.

Tell your friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The beneficiary of this year’s funds will be the people of Honduras who get their food from a dump.  Trey Morgan has visited this mission and knows the people involved.  He and Steve Tucker will be going down there soon.  Check their blogs for the latest information.

Here is some info on the situation there in the past year:

Go to this link and start at the bottom for the beginning of the story.

Here is the blog of a missionary who lives and serves God in Honduras.

The auction will commence on Monday, December 7th, right here at this blog.

You will bid by leaving a comment, then I will have your email, even if you choose to be anonymous.

The bidding will close on Monday, December 14th.

The winning bidder(s) will send the amount directly to Trey Morgan.

I may provide a sneak peek of a couple of fotos from the calendar.

“It is the mark of an instructed mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision for which the nature of the subject admits, rather than to seek exactness when only an approximation of the truth is possible.”

Aristotle 384-322 BC

Aristotle wasn’t a follower of Jesus.  He lived 300+ years before Jesus was born.  But he was a pretty smart guy.  Since the above quote is a mouthful and wasn’t written with Bible Study in mind, I would like to rephrase it and make a point that will help us in our daily Bible study.

How about:

“Speak where the Bible Speaks and Be Silent where the Bible is Silent.”

Or, “Don’t make the Bible say what it doesn’t say!”

Many of the teachings that have divided God’s church originate from someone’s interpretation or opinion of a Bible doctrine that they forced on others.  God has revealed a lot but only a certain amount.  When we go past that revelation and then tell others they are going to Hell for not arriving at our same conclusions, we are in trouble.

For the sake of having a consistent systematic theology, or sometimes to win arguments and debates, we arrive at dubious conclusions.  We often make the Bible be specific about something for our sake, when God has left it vague.

Whether it’s human nature or our western Greek heritage, we like everything neatly organized in lists, charts, and categories.  But sadly, we crave that so much, that we often abuse the Word of God to make things fit.

I am not totally against a systematic view of Scripture.  There is a great benefit in that.  But too often, it comes down to spending a lot of time and focusing on things that God either didn’t say explicity or didn’t say at all.

We need, like Aristotle, to be satisfied with the “degree of precision” of God’s revelation on any given subject, and not try to force some precision for precision’s sake.

I am not saying we should give up short of an exhaustive and comprehensive study to make sure we know what God has revealed, but I suggest caution in our conclusions.

Dear ones,

It has come to my attention that some of you like to worship me as it relates to the fact of my incarnation during the month of December.  Please stop. I never told you it was okay.

Feel free to focus on that important point in our story of redemption other times of the year, just not around the end of the year.

Even though it was an amazing,  miraculous act of love.  Even though it represents what I gave up for you.  Even though it is so wonderfully complex and important.  Don’t worship me pertaining to that for a few weeks in December, okay?

When others are talking about it, emphasizing it, and getting excited about Me, please restrain yourself.  Practice some self-control and wait until spring.

Even if joy, wonder, and amazement well up inside of you, don’t give in.  Just continue on like normal, as if nothing happened.

This might require turning off the radio at certain times and avoiding certan hymns in your books and certain people who won’t obey this command.  Whatever happens, resist the temptation.

I hope you understand,

your Lord and Savior

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I was wondering if that argument made anymore sense if put explicitly in Jesus’ words.

Nope, it doesn’t.

…that I don’t have swine flu.

…watching my kids play with people who played with me when I was their age.

…my blogging friends.

…that the security/TSA officer used the back of his hands when frisking my “sensitive areas” at the Newark Airport.

…seeing church family who knew my parents.

…going to my Uncle Tom’s cabin in Bowling Green to see half my family for Thanksgiving day.

…getting to visit with high school friends and see their new baby.

…a Sunday when I can be fed instead of feeding.  Plus sit with my wife and family the entire time.

…my church home in New Jersey.

…to worship with the congregation that supported me while in Italy and at Harding.

…celebrating 9 years of marriage with my great wife yesterday.

…that I will be able to be at Tulsa this spring, thanks to my church.

…in-laws who used their skymiles to gift us plane tickets to see my family.

…good food.

…my sister and her family.

…Father, Son, and Spirit.

…the Cross.

I feel a little more emotional about this one because it involves people forbidding worship.  I can understand concerns about how to worship but can’t relate to issues of when.

I do understand that there are degrees, while some are against singing “Happy Birthday, Jesus” with a full-scale pageant, others would be okay with simply preaching on the incarnation in December.

Barry Baggott, in his article, “‘Tis the Season” gives these reasons not to celebrate Christmas:

We are not told to do so

Do we need to be told to worship Jesus?  I understand he is dealing with specifics.  We were not told to emphasize the birth/incarnation on December 25th or on any particular day.  But why does that exclude doing what we are expected/commanded to do whenever we do it.  Just because some are doing it annually, why must we refrain at that particular moment?

Couldn’t the “expediency” argument enter in here?

We have no Apostolic Example

(see above)  We have examples for worshipping Jesus.  Where does the Bible teach that it is right sometimes and wrong sometimes?

This section which includes the Reformation leaders reaction to Catholicism many holy days.

We are following human tradition

The root of this concept bothers me:  “We shouldn’t do something because the denominations do it.”  We talk big about having the Bible as our only guide, yet so much of our teaching/practice seems to be based on not being like the denominations, or reactionary as some of you commenters have pointed out.  Baggott refers to “the world” but means denominations, I assume.

Here is a general truism that we have to learn:

Something is not wrong just because the Baptists do it.

I have a hard time understanding and accepting this reasoning, can some one help me out?

“Another argument one hears is simply: ‘the birth of Christ is in the Bible, so that means celebrating Christmas is biblical.’  That same line of reasoning would allow one to say that “the Bible tells about the virgin Mary, so that means it is biblical to pray to her.’

There is no example of praying to Mary.  There are numerous examples of worshipping Baby Jesus.

So, I am among those who feel that Matthew 2:10-11 and Luke 2 are example enough to make a big deal about the incarnation, whether that is in December or any other time of the year.  I don’t understand why it is wrong on any given day. It’s the refraining that I can’t comprehend.

Then, Brother Baggott deals with Romans chapter 14.

His first point suggests that while the context talks about Jewish holy days (agreed) there can be no application to future Christian holy days (why not?).  off topic–More irony here is that wine comes up again as a matter of opinion in chapter 14.

His second point is that Romans 14 deals with personal/private matters and not assemblies/congregational matters.    He concedes that an individual Christian can observe such a holiday as Christmas and Easter but it becomes wrong when a church does it because it will be forced on others.

Okay, but….what about congregational autonomy?  There are some congregations in which no one has a problem with it.

We have an area-wide singing each December that is not intended to be a Holiday/Christmas program, but a time for fellowship and worship.  We do usually sing a few nativity hymns, as well as hymns dealing with every part of Jesus’ life.  Some don’t come.  Some accuse us or assume it is a “traditional” Christmas program.   They miss out.  That’s okay.  No one is forced to come.

We received a phone call the first December we lived here from a small, conservative group of brethren who are near us.  I had unknowingly sent them a flier/invite to our singing fellowship.  Unfortunately, my wife picked up the phone that day and received a tirade about our “Christmas program.”

I will never understand Christians being mad about other Christians worshipping Jesus at the “wrong time”.

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Questions I would like answered:

When–what months–is it okay to “celebrate” the birth of Jesus?

By celebrate, I simply mean sing the hymns, study the texts, meditate on implications, be in awe at what God and Jesus have done.

Would it be okay to focus on the birth every July?

Is it okay to do it regularly, just not on the same day or month every year so that people won’t think we have made it a holiday?

If you are against focusing on the birth of Jesus the same time of each year, do you participate in Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Thanksgiving themed services annually?

I intend no sarcasm or mean-spiritedness in these questions.  I realize the questions and my blogging habits might confuse, but I sincerely would like to hear more than a couple of passages such as Galatians 4:10-11 to condemn this practice.

Why is the Bible our Authority? by Dan Owen, p. 12

This is a really good article about the authority of the Apostles (not just because Dan Owen is from Paducah).  He doesn’t refer to the mentality, but some seem to think that what Jesus said in red has more authority than what the Apostles wrote.  But Owen does a good job showing how the NT writers were speaking for Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

The Berean Yardstick by David Gibson, p. 14

This article is not much different from the first except for an amazing bit of irony.  He makes a great point about the standard that exists.  He also brings up Acts 17:11-12, the Berean example of studying to make sure the things Paul had taught were true.  In my opinion, and from the perspective of many others, that is exactly what many Church of Christ members have done with traditions and teachings which have existed among us for along time.  It is the same attitude of the Bereans and the Campbells to re-evaluate our understandings based solely on the Word of God and then make changes.

Many whom the GA would consider liberal/progressive/emergent are actually following this example.  They have not rejected the standard of Scripture as THE Authority.  They have studied the Scripture to make sure the teachings of previous generations are true, and found them lacking or outright wrong.

The All-Sufficiency of Scripture by Sellers Crain, Jr., p. 16

In another interesting piece of quoting, Craddock said, “Never in the history of the church have so many periods slumped into commas, and so many triumphant exclamation points curled into question marks.”  Yes, but Craddock would be surprised at some of Crain’s periods and exclamation points.

There are two parts to this article.  One dealing with hermeneutic (FINALLY!) and the second half dealing with views of inspiration.  Interpretation truly is the issue.  Many have rejected conclusions of CENI (command, example, necessary inference, or in Italian, second person singular of cenare, “to dine”) and others have rejected parts of it or all of it.

A hermeneutic is like a language.  The miscommunication that arises when discussing instrumental music or the 5 Acts of Worship comes when one person is speaking French and the other is speaking Chinese.

Until/unless our basic, foundational presuppositions are resolved, the gulf will grow greater.  The dialogue is minimal.  Texts are fired at each other from a distance with disdain.  Each side grows weary of rehashing the same arguments and misunderstanding, and sadly, we tire of each other.

The Question of Authority by Alvin Jennings, p. 19

He gives a list of the usual suspects (Lord’s Supper, worship assembly, etc.) which are all important, but simply writes our unwritten creed on these topics. This is after a fantastic quote: “Perhaps of greater importance for those of us who worship in the body of Christ are some basic principles of discernment or interpretation of biblical authority.”  Yes!… but then we get Gopher Wood.

A good example  (which I am stealing from someone I can’t remember) to show the inconsistency of CENI is what the Bible teaches about sickness.  James 5:14 says to call the elders to pray over the sick person and anoint him with oil.  Paul tells Timothy to use wine for his stomache issue.  Anointing with oil and drinking wine are two things that will get you in trouble with many churches of Christ.  Yet we rationalize that it is okay to call 911, visit a doctor, and take anti-biotics.

We don’t invoke the prohibition of silence.  We rationalize what seems right, and would look at someone cross-eyed if they thought it was wrong to see a doctor or take medicine on religious grounds.

The is my concern with “necessary inference.”  Too much subjective reasoning enters in.  What appears necessary to me, doesn’t to you, and vice-versa.

Generic and Specific authority.  Gopher wood.  Nadab and Abihu.  Expediency.  Sigh.

Not helping the issue.  Just ways we defend our traditions and opinions and attempt to enforce them on others.

Authority in Christianity by Phil Sanders, p. 22

Brother Sanders makes good points about the necessity for standard and the rebellious spirit that exists in all humans.  Submission to God’s Word is key.

The problem as usual, is assuming that people who disagree with me are in rebellion to Scripture.  He says, “Amazingly, some people read God’s will in the Bible and still do and believe what they want.”  Well, yes, this is true of most of us at some point.  He lists views of denominations, modes of baptism, and instrumental music as examples.  Without commenting on those specific issues, we have to realize that we all struggle with that.  Men who are just as sincere, honest, and godly as Sanders believe differently.  We have to recognize that.

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Epilogue:

I believe in the authority of Scripture.

I also believe in the Fallenness of mankind because of Adam’s sin.  I believe that our minds are just as messed up as our bodies because of the Fall.

I don’t believe a perfect understanding of the Bible is necessary for salvation.  Neither do I believe that a perfect agreement with ME is necessary for either fellowship or salvation.

I believe we have been inconsistent with our hermeneutics, which has opened enough doubt to cause us to re-evaluate, be Bereans, seek even older paths concerning Church of Christ doctrine and tradition.

I know that some in churches of Christ have developed a Catholic concept of having to have the imprimatur of some preacher, periodical or college for books or ideas in order to even read or consider them.  What I mean is, some understand faithfulness as not reading or considering anything different from what has been taught or believe in my circles for the last few generations.

Others will consider, but only to debate and defeat.  And some sincerely and honestly will disagree because of the language difference. I am not referring to one side or another, just all of us in general.

I think that interpretation is not” perhaps”, but indeed the second most important thing.

The first, IMHO, is LOVE!

Love is patient and kind.  Love wants to understand.  As Phil Sanders states, concerning God, “Love always listens.”

We get three copies of the GA each month thanks to the White Rock Fund, a parachurch organization of Christ in Dallas.  I am not GA hater.  I sometimes read some articles.  I sometimes agree. I sometimes lose interest just by looking at the table of contents.  I feel that it can be repetitive, as if their rotation of topics is too limited for me.

But I wanted to share some thoughts of the most recent issue this week for discussion, debate, dialogue.  All hopefully done in a kind spirit. I will put away my satire for awhile.

First up, three quotes I wanted to tie together from three different contributors.

“I have reviewed every book, lecture, article and letter that I could locate within my possession on how to discern authority in the Bible.  If there is further study on the subject that might shed additional light, please share it with me.“  p. 21 Alvin Jennings.

Brother, I don’t doubt your efforts, sincerity or your humility.  But you would agree that Truth is not based on those three things.  I actually agree with most of your article.  What I disagree with is the mentality that all it takes is more info to clear up everything.  Many brethren just as studied and sincere have reached different conclusions.  The answer is how do we handle this.

I will write more about the issue theme of Authority later but let me sum up my concern:  the issue isn’t a belief in the Word of God as our only authority.  Teaching on Biblical Authority will not solve the problems/division among churches of Christ.  That is simplistic and actually insulting.

It implies that those who disagree with me on any given topic are either ignorant or in rebellion to God’s authority–a false dichotomy.  Another option is they reached different conclusions in prayerful study. Yes, there is absolute Truth.  Yes it’s possible that someone is wrong (although it could be that both options are acceptable to God on some issues).

Brother Jennings continues to list numerous (conservative, IMO) church of Christ preachers who agree with him.  That is great when preaching to the choir, but doesn’t help us arrive at Truth.  Appealing to authority is a logical fallacy.  Anyone with any opinion can appeal to a list of respected men to back them up.

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Quote #2:  “In a brotherhood besieged in some quarters by those ever anxious to draw tighter lines of fellowship, this lesson is eminently valuable.  Indeed, one is tempted to ask whether some of the radicals of our number, who quote copiously from the pioneers when it suits their fancy, would even associate with these great men where they alive today!” p. 33, Brandon Renfroe

A 7-fold amen for Brother Renfroe’s statement.  It almost sounds as if he has been reading John Mark Hicks and Bobby Valentine’s great book on Lipscomb and Harding, or even Todd Deaver’s works.  Although, it is highly unlikely any of those brothers would be published in the GA.

The article deals with the fact that McGarvey and Lipscomb  had some different views but were in total agreement on the inspiration and authority of Scripture.  This is still true today of many on different sides of the issues.  Amen.  This article gets the point, although I doubt it will be taken to its logical conclusion.

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Quote #3: “Early Reformation leaders such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, William Farel and John Knox recognized the non-biblical origin of the various ecclesiastical festive days and observed only Sunday.” p. 38, Barry Baggot

More name dropping in an article against celebrating Christmas and Easter, which I will come back to later.

We all appeal to someone or something.  I just wish that we all (myself included) would appeal to arguments instead of persons.  It doesn’t help.  How many billion Hindus are there?  The Catholic church must be the one true church because they have the most adherents.

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I worry that even though this issue is emphasizing a very important topic, but not to the ends which they hope:  to convince brethren of their conclusions on various Biblical topics.  In other words, they are missing the point.

While some of the people who they perceive as wrong/liberal/etc have rejected Biblical authority, many have not.  Many feel just as strongly that the Bible is the sole basis for authority but have a different view of how to read the Bible.  Or even some with the same imperfect hermeneutic have reached different conclusions.

I have outlined and worked on a few book ideas.  I probably won’t get around to finishing any of them unless I win the lottery, or get fired and make my wife work full-time.  But it’s fun to dream.

Here are the main ideas I have thought about.  I have preached on them so I already have a basis of material.

Fruitful Evangelism

A look at the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 as the basis for evangelism.  Instead of methods and charts, we need to produce godly fruit.  I think that is the foundation of any and everything else we might do to try to teach people about Jesus.  Without it, our efforts are empty.

God Bless America, and maybe those other Countries, too.

I have lots of things to say.  As of now, it would be a 3 part study.  Part one dealing with the idols that are prevalent in our Nation:  abundance, instant gratification, nationalism, etc.

Part 2 would be based on Daniel and be a guide for how to live in a culture which is anti-God.

Part 3 would deal with the Christian’s relationship to Government.  Maybe this should be three separate studies but they are definitely all related.

The Spirit of Marcion in the Churches of Christ

Marcion was an early heretic who ripped out the OT and some parts of the NT, because he believed the god of the OT was a lesser god and the God revealed in Jesus was the true Christian God.  Sound familiar?

This one I have worked on the most and it is something I get excited about the most.  The study would show how valuable the OT writings are for the NT Christian.  It would look at reasons why we neglect those writings and then consider how Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church valued the OT writings.

What My Children Have Taught Me About God

I have written a few bulletin articles already and would like to develop the thought of God as Father and illustrations and implications from life as a parent.  It would be a devotional book and a gift idea for new parents (hopefully).

So, now I want your input.  Which of these should I focus on and why.

Let’s even create a poll just for fun!

This is great.  It was found and shared by Katherine who is serving the Lord in China.  The full article can be found HERE.

Please share this with your church’s mission committee and members.  Speaking as someone who has served in a foreign culture, this is very accurate and helpful.

1) Relationship with God:

Loving and studying God’s Word

Strong prayer life

Walking in the Holy Spirit

2) Physical/Emotional:

Adaptation to climate

Health

Safety in danger

Victory over loneliness and depression

3) Family Relationships:

Husband/wife

Children/parent

Family life as a model to nationals

Coping with singleness

4) Ability to Communicate:

Language Study

Continual improvement in fluency

Cultural adaptation / understanding

5) Effective Ministry:

Teaching, preaching, witnessing

Boldness, open doors

Prepared hearts, fruitfulness

6) Team Relationships:

Other missionaries

Relationship with Nationals

7) Country of Service:

Government- national and local

Political situation

Visas, continued open door

Outreach to city, village, tribes

Help Them Feel Connected

You may have read the article in the Christian Chronicle or seen on national news about the typhoons in the Philippines.  They need help.

We (our congregation) have been supporting a family and work in the Philippines for about 5 years.  The Limbawan family had a daughter and son-in-law who worshipped with us before moving to California.  We met Brother and Sister Limbawan when they visited their family in NJ.  Brother Adrian Limbawan died unexpectedly soon after we began supporting the work but his widow, Elvira, has continued working faithfully under the oversight of the leaders in the local churches and school.

We will be taking up a Special Contribution next Sunday, November 15th, during our weekly assembly and sending the funds to Sister Lambawan in the Philippines.  We sent one check as soon as we received a plea for help from her.

Here is her letter:

Dear Brethren

A blessed day, hoping and praying you are all in the best of health.

I am appealing to you with help or assistance since you have known of what had happened to us about the devastation of typhoon Ondey, especially Peping, in which we suffered flash floods and landslides as you have seen on CNN Television.  This typhoon Peping caused much damage in Pasgasinan, Lleses  Region, La Union, and most of our brethren so with us, ricefields, houses and families.  Our congregation is Rabon Church of Crist, this is our place of work wherein my late husband Adrian Limbawan had his fulltime mission work of Pangasinan, that I am continuing the work of the Lord’s with the coordination of our church leaders and preachers of Pangasinan since we since we have been working with them when Adrian Limbawan was still here with us.  He passed away five years ago and thank God the Lord’s work that he had left off is being blessed by God.

My Family and I live here in Baguio, that as of this time we are isolated, our roads coming up to Baguio were all closed because of big landslides and falling rocks and these are the Kennon Road, Marces highway, and Maguilian road.

In the name of the Lord, please consider my appeal in behalf of our brethren and us, that your prayers and comforting words, and financial help will lift us in this in dire need.

Looking forward to hearing from you brethren, God bless us all.

In His Service

Sis. Elvira

If you would like to contribute, leave a comment or email me and I will give you info and we can include your donation in the check we will send the following week.  All checks should be made to “Echo Lake Church of Christ.”

If you prefer paypal, I can help you with that.