A Letter to the Church of Philippi-Pt. 1

I wanted to simply walk through the Book of Philippians on the ole’ blog.  So each post will have the text and some of my thoughts and insights. I would love if in the comments everyone would write what was impressed on them or what stuck out to them.  As Robby Bell says, “God has spoken and the rest is commentary.”

Here we go

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

(((Joel Thoughts))) Although we usually refer to Paul as the writer of this letter, it could be confusing to see that it is titled from Paul and Timothy. Paul actually has Timothy on prescript on many of his letters in the New Testament.  All of  the nouns and verbs throughout the letter are singular and it is most likely that Timothy simply served as amanuensis or the person who actually wrote the letter down as Paul dictated it to him. Most Biblical scholars think that Paul was a Mr. Magoo type who had horrible eye sight.

(((Joel Thoughts))) I love how Paul writes this letter to the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi.  Paul does this all throughout the New Testament.  He is calling the churches that had messed up people with screwed up views and lives saints.  Not because of their personal lives and integrity, but because of the righteousness God had given them through their faith in Jesus.  Maybe we should start owning that word again.  Maybe we shouldn’t just reserve it for self-righteous people or our Roman Catholic friends, but maybe if we remembered that through Jesus—we are all saints, we would not be as likely to fall into sin.

³I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

(((Joel Thoughts))) The purpose of this letter was to thank the Church of Philippi for being so generous in giving to Paul’s mission and in giving to the collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem.  This is Paul’s most joyful letter in all of the New Testament and he continues to have a spirit of thanksgiving and gratefulness in all of his teaching in this letter.

(((Joel Thoughts)))Verse 6 is one of those great “memory verses” from my childhood.  Although Paul was so pleased with the Philippians’ spiritual growth and their generosity, he had much more confidence in the faithfulness of God to complete what only He could start and finish; salvation.  The good work is referring to the salvation that God has freely given.  Is it a different thought to think that Christ initiated salvation and we didn’t? People say all the time, “I found God.” I wonder if its more like, “I finally responded to God’s grace that has been calling me my whole life.  The day of Jesus Christ refers to Christ’s return to take His Church and judgment for everyone else.

⁷It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

(((Joel Thoughts))) I love the language of the Philippians being in Paul’s heart.  The heart today in our culture basically only leads us to think of emotions and feelings, but to the ancient Greek or Hebrew, the heart was was the center of consciousness, personality, mind, and will.  This was a BIG compliment from Paul to this church that had identified themselves with Paul even when it was dangerous to do so because of his legal standing.  If you haven’t got it yet; Paul loves these guys!

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

(((Joel Thoughts))) Paul loved the Philippians and that love caused him to pray not only for the Philippians salvation, but also for their spiritual maturity.  Not wanting simply converts, but disciples.  He prayed that they might have a spiritual wisdom that flows only from Jesus.

Well, I hope we can do this consistently.  Please feel free to comment and give your insights as well. I hope this is helpful for you to study the Bible everyday.

The Power of Story

I am clearly amazed at the power of narrative. Since I was a small boy I would always write stories and I went through crazy phases where I would watch every single James Bond Movie, every single Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and EVEN Godzilla (Godzira) movie.

I would get captivated in stories and in characters and get lost in plotlines and suspense.  There are a few recordings of me running around my grandma’s kitchen making up stories with characters and even theme songs. Story runs through my veins.

Movies and TV shows in America (esp. in today’s current economic situation) are skyrocketing with more viewers every week because of escapism. If we can place ourself in a good story, we can forget about reality and the scariness of uncertainty, right?

Story captivates our American culture. Families schedule their lives around a season premier of a favorite tv or a debut of a new movie or the drama of the big game.

Humanity is wired for story.

You are wired with a passion for story.

Being a kid growing up in church, I was introduced to amazing stories of courageous men who stood against all odds, a poor Jewish carpenter who turned the Jewish religion and Roman Empire on its head, people raising from the dead, and murderers and terrorists turning into missionaries.

These stories brought God to life in me.

The Jewish people were actually in a total oral culture, passing down the stories of God (that would eventually turn into the Old Testament) by word of mouth for hundreds of years.  After the temple was destroyed, it was normal for Jewish boys to memorize the entire Torah (first five books of the Bible).

These young Jewish men were captivated by stories.  The power of the stories of how God created, God provided, God delivered, and even how God disciplined.

Story was the ancient peoples avenue to God.

As I got older and moved out of Kid’s Church (sunday school), the stories seemed to disappear.

The stories of the people of God found in the scriptures were replaced with 3 point sermons with  3 action steps or points of application. Memory verses were used to prove theological points about God and the message would just get its toes wet (metaphorically) in the stories instead of immersing itself in the power of story.

My life has been changed and the Holy Spirit has moved through these sort of messages for decades.  They are practical and entry-level.

I just wonder sometimes if the (Adult) Church is missing the power of narrative that we expose our children to in Children’s ministry.

When I went to college, God used a New Testament survey class to place a calling for me to actually go work in ministry vocationally.

It was when I rediscovered the narrative of God. And He invited me to join.

The story of a Faithful God holding on to His promises to His people.

The story of power and of lifechange to the seemingly hopeless.

The story of adventure and mission to the bored and stuck.

The story of a just God who promises that good does win in the end.

The best part about the story of God is that it is not over.  The story of God does not end with chapter 22 of Revelation.  It doesn’t end at the Council of Nicaea when the 66 books of the Bible were agreed upon by early church fathers.

We complete the story.

God invites us to respond to the stories of old and to REMEMBER HIM in our actions as we hold out his chainbreaking message of freedom to the world.

The story is far from over and we are invited to play a part in the greatest story ever told.

What are you waiting for? I invite you to dig in to the stories of the Bible. Find a spiritual hero and follow his/her story line. Pray that God form your heart more like theirs as you join their story.

Ladies and Gentlemen…The Biggest Band in the World

Why did God order Genocide in the Old Testament?

This is a paper I wrote for Pentateuch class dealing with this mostly ignored part of the Bible.

One of, if not the most explosive and controversial acts of God during the Pentateuch is the call for the Israelites to construct a genocide of the Canaanite people during the Israelites conquest of the land.  One can easily see the obvious differences between Yahweh’s call to “show no mercy” and Jesus’ command to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  How is a Christian to reconcile and interpret these seemingly antitheses of ideas?  I will examine four major ways of interpreting the Canaanite genocide.
The first view is often referred to as Radical Discontinuity and was championed by C. S. Cowles, Professor of Bible and Theology from Point Loma Nazarene University.  Cowles believes that the best way to deal with seemingly conflicting divine commands is to acknowledge that while there are massive and important areas of continuity between Israel’s faith and that of the church, there are significant instances of radical discontinuity as well, specifically for example, the order to kill enemies in the Old Testament and to love them in the New Testament.  Cowles suggests that Christians today are to look at the Old Testament divine commands of genocide as pre-Christ and not a complete revelation that Christ brought with the gospel of enemy love.  This view is not popular among evangelicals because of its negative implications to the authority of Scripture.
Eugene H. Merrill, professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, penned the Moderate Discontinuity theory.  This theory argued that Yahweh ordered war was very different from other war and that Yahweh war must be found consistent with Yahweh’s character revealed throughout all of scripture.  Merrill sees Yahweh war as a means to protect Yahweh’s covenant relationship with the people of Israel.  This included humiliating counterfeit gods of the world, preserving the holiness of Yahweh, and teaching Israel and the nations surrounding about the nature and character of the one true God.
Daniel Gard, associate professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN, coined the Eschatological Continuity theory.  Gard’s theory attempts to connect all the passages in question inside of an eschatological lense.  Once Gard does this, he believes that the Holy war waged by Yahweh in the Old Testament is not at all contradictory to the war waged by the victorious Christ in the book of Revelation.  This view although very systematic does not deal with Christ’ teachings on forgiveness of enemies.
A fourth view called Spiritual Continuity is offered by Tremper Longman III, professor of Old Testament at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.  Longman observes that herem, the Hebrew word for Yahweh’s command of Canaanite genocide, suggests the idea of consecration or worship.  He then concludes that at the heart of Yahweh warfare is the presence of God, the presence of God demands worship.  In response to how this view works with the teachings of the New Testament, the Spiritual continuity theory states that war against the Canaanites is the beginning of a battle that reaches its climax at the cross and its completion at Armageddon.  This theory’s view as herem as an act of worship is quite troubling to many modern evangelicals even though Longman brings up informative arguments.
I feel that all four of these views offer some truth to bring to the table of discussion, but none of them truly satisfy my hunger for answer.  Radical discontinuity is attractive because it recognizes that God did call for the murder of innocent people, but its dealing with the schizophrenic character of God is too radical for me.  The Moderate Discontinuity theory makes a great point that God was having to preserve His name and purify His people and their relationship to Him, but does not deal with the loss of innocent life at all.  The Eschatological Continuity theory makes an appealing connection between God’s battle versus evil that occurs throughout all time but it is too loose an argument for me to accept all the way.  Longman’s Spiritual Continuity theory seems appalling to me because he considers the murder of innocent people as a call to worship for the people of God and I cannot except that God’s character changed that dramatically between the Old and New Testaments.  I seem to lend myself somewhere close to the Moderate Discontinuity theory.  I believe that God’s call for herem had to occur for God to secure and protect His covenantal relationship with the Israelites.  This relationship would one day give the world a savior named Jesus and the entire world, Jew and Gentile, would be blessed through Him.  I don’t understand God desiring to murder the Canaanites, but I do see Him begrudgingly ordering the wars to insure that Jesus would arrive in the future.  God’s plan for redemption could not be stopped by the Canaanites so God acted accordingly.

If you made it to the end of this “scholarly discourse”( haha)….what do you think? Why did our God do it?

A paper from my college experience

The age of scholasticism was a time where the Church attempted logical refinement of Christian theology to philosophical systems.  Early scholasticism included neo-platonism which was a school of philosophy that taught that the spiritual world is invisible and intangible, the spiritual world is known by divine illumination and mystical experience, and that the things of this world are barriers to spiritual life.  High scholasticism was defined by the school of Aristotelianism thought.  This school taught that spiritual truth may be found in the things in this world and that reason, as well as faith, is a path to God.  Aristotelians famously believe that reason both leads to spiritual reality and confirms the authority of Scripture and the church tradition.  The decline of scholasticism is characterized by the nominalistic school of thought which teaches that humans have no certain knowledge of spiritual reality, that spiritual truths are accepted by faith in trustworthy authorities (scripture and tradition), and that there can be a dichotomy between the temporal and eternal world.  I believe that although I might like to claim certain elements from all 3 of these schools of philosophical thought, I mostly line up with a little bit Aristotelianism and a lot of Nominalism.
In my personal spiritual life, I seem to love the fact that Aristotelians believed that things of God’s truth could be found in this world.  I firmly believe that all truth is God’s truth and that there is truth in Islam and Buddhism, which are religions of this world.  I do believe that the intricate nature of the universe leads reasonable people to search for  a divine, intelligent, creator.  I believe that certain statements in scripture such as “it is better to give than to receive” and “one reaps what he sows” can firmly be found in reason and logic that we have on earth.  People always feel better after giving of themselves than they would if they just received all the time.  People often reap what they sow in this world.  Men who cheat on their spouses are either caught or live in a world of deceit and regret.  I also find God’s truth in many movies and songs that are not “Christian,” as I see more and more evidence about our uncontainable God and how His life-changing truth infiltrates all things.
I find that I am mostly Nominalist in my personal Christian spirituality.  Although I find God’s truth in reason and things of this earth, I find it impossible for me to completely reason my way to prove the existence of God.  Although there seems to be reason there to help me prove His existence, I still rely on faith of the Spirit and faith that the ancient scriptures are reliable.  After being a Biblical Literature major, I feel like I have to rely on faith quite often because there are many mysteries in the original texts.  I have to accept that there are certain passages in the Bible that I cannot completely grasp and that I cannot fully comprehend with my reason or intellect and I must use the law of parsimony to choose the simplest of all explanations.  Although my faith is one that is sometimes mixed with feelings of doubt, I am very content with my spiritual experience and I continue my journey to follow Christ and His teachings.  I am somehow very satisfied with the way God has revealed Himself through the church and the scriptures in my life. I know that I do not understand everything about the spiritual realm and I am just fine with that.  I find liberation in knowing that I do not know everything and I do not have the answers to all the questions, because God has revealed himself to me in a powerful way and He has given me a purpose for my life in serving Him.  I am bound to Jesus Christ and His teachings and His teachings bind me to do nothing but love.  For me, that is true freedom. I am living my life under the guidance of God’s revelation to me and that is all that I know is true.

I’ll have what they had….

Enjoy this great clip from improv everywhere. Check out their youtube channel for hours of midafternoon distractions

Why I am not Voting pt. 4

wow. that was nuts.

i never in my wildest dreams would have dreamed that these last posts would have gotten the attention and animosity that they have received.

i just want to remind everybody reading, the purpose for my blog:its just a trip inside the walls of my weird head. i am not being dogmatic, saying that everyone should believe all the same things i believe. Its just my journey of figuring things out for myself and a place where i can share that.  Thanks so much for all the discussion.

I just wanted to share a few things I think we can take away from the dialogue and that we can all agree on.

1. Our hope for good in this world is not in the United States government but in Jesus, the Servant King.

2. It matters much more how we live on November 5 than it does how we vote on November 4.

3. There are more moral issues than just abortion and gay marriage.

4. As Christ-followers we have allegiance to a higher authority than the United States—Jesus.

This Kingdom does not hold just Americans, but Iraqis, Afghanistanis, Mexicans, Russians, North Koreans, and Chinese.  Let us remember that Christ’s blood is sufficient and offered to all peoples and that all countries in the world hold people who are part of OUR extended family in Christ.

5. It is easier to pull a lever and vote Pro-Life and Anti-Gay marriage, but as agents of reconciliation, we should be adopting children, comforting mothers who abort, and befriending people with different sexual orientations.

My journey of following Jesus has led ME to the conviction that I am sacrificing something that is dear to the heart of God if I participate in the political system.  This is not a road of apathy for me, but quite possibly a very difficult road of ushering in God’s Kingdom one mustard seed at a time.

Why I am not voting pt. 3

Question:Why are you disrespecting the brave men and women of this country who sacrificed their lives for your right to vote by abstaining from voting?

Answer: This seems to be the default response from my Christian brothas and sistas.

I will always respect anyone who will lay down their life for something that they believed in; something bigger than themselves.

The problem is when someone is willing to KILL for something they believe in.

I do not believe the right to vote was worth killing for.  I do not believe anything is worth killing for.

I respect and admire the act of soldiers giving up their lives for ideals that they believe in, but I cannot and will not ever support the lie of redemptive violence.

Redemptive violence tells us that we kill that more will live.

Jesus says,” When you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”

I reiterate that I respect and admire people who go into the military with the intent to protect their friends and family at home, but how many wars has America participated in where our freedom to vote has actually been on the line?

The Revolutionary War….ok.

World War 1 and 2….I might be able to go there.

Korea, Vietnam….I strongly have to disagree.

Iraq War….come on now

Wars are about maintaining our Empire and we are a great Empire.

(Please challenge me on this and I mean no disrespect) but I do wonder how many brave soldiers have died in The Iraq or Vietnam war and their last thoughts were,” I died for my country’s right to vote.”

My guess is not many.

I live a life following a leader who had every right to fight back and annihilate the ones who were executing him.

This leader did not fight back, but gave himself up.  That was His way.

I will give my life for that Way.

Why I am not voting-Pt. 2

Question:Why not vote for a candidate that cares about deep moral issues like abortion and gay marriage?

Answer: This is an issue that I have struggled with for a long time.  Christians have sided with Republicans on these issue since the Religious Right came to be in the 80’s.  The truth is that I believe that God’s heart does break when these things happen.  But by voting for these issues what are Christians accomplishing? What kind of message does that send to people that have gotten abortions and are gay? Are we truly showing the world that Christ loves them or are we showing them that they are wrong, evil, or bad for our society.

God’s kingdom is one where the prodigal son is welcomed home with open arms and how does the church do that when we START the dialogue off with a big,”you are a sinner and are gross and murderous.”

I believe that voting is taking the easy way out on these issues.

Its much easier to pull a lever and say that I voted pro-life instead of going and hanging out with mothers who have gotten abortions or for me to go and adopt orphans.

Its much easier to pass judgment on homosexuals than to accept them as my friends and love them despite our differences.  Let us not forgot Christ’s socially unacceptable choice of friends such as tax collectors, drunks, and people with contagious skin diseases.

I am not saying that I am excelling in doing these things, but I am stating that this is the Way of Jesus.

I also believe that it is foolish to believe that these are the only two moral issues to vote on in elections.  God hates war.  Jesus broke the cycle of violence at the cross and even stated that, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”  Redemptive violence is a myth.  How true do we see “redemptive” violence just begets more violence in the world?

I love American troops and pray for their safety.  I also pray for Iraqi insurgents and their safety.  If I thought that terrorists were beyond redemption, I would have to rip out over half of my New Testament because it was written by a terrorist trying to annihilate Christianity.  Are we all not God’s children?  I will not say that God has blessed us more and hates these people we are killing day in and day out.  God’s kingdom belongs to the peacemakers.

War is a moral issue.

Do you see how I feel we must compromise when we go to the polls? For me, I understand Jesus saying that we cannot serve two masters.  If I put my hope and allegiance in this world’s kingdom and their systems, I think I have to compromise something that is dear to the heart of God.

Personally, I am not willing to do that.

Why I am not voting-Pt. 1

If any of you reading this went to highschool with me, I am sure you are thinking I am crazy, and that I have changed dramatically.  I would tend to agree on the latter and hopefully not the former.  I went into college going after a major in Political Science and that was just a no brainer.

Government and politics made sense to me. I had always followed presidential elections and claimed that I knew what was best for our country since Bob Dole ran in 96 claiming, “15% tax cuts.” I remember seriously get upset with my mom for not voting Pro-life and my friends for voting pro-gay marriage.  I had it all right and I knew it.  Even earlier this year I debated many, many people and told them they were stupid if they did not vote for Ron Paul because I believe he was the best choice for our country.

Through literally dozens of conversations, prayer, a couple of incredible books on the subject, I have now made a decision to not participate in the political system through voting.

I have brought up a few questions I have received and some other possible questions that I thought I would receive on my shift of thought.

Question: Why not vote in such an important election when drastic change is needed?

This might be the heart of the issue.  I am not putting my faith for change in worldly empire. I refuse to.

The Jewish people in Jesus’ time were waiting for a Messiah. They were promised a King in their prophetic scriptures. This king would set the Jewish people free from oppression.  This King would set up a new kingdom and everything would be different, forever.

Enter Jesus.  A poor carpenter’s son from Galilee.  Jesus lived life on earth and taught about this new Kingdom of God that he was ushering onto earth. Then he was executed. He didn’t even fight back  This kingdom brought change, real change.  It just wasn’t what the Jewish people were looking for.

God had a chance to bring a worldly king to earth to take care of all the bad guys and set up a big castle where His son would reign, but instead–He sacrificed himself for us.

Jesus was a political leader. He set up a government.  It looks nothing like America. This Kingdom of God was different. The last are first. Lose yourself to find it. It’s no good to gain wealth and lose your soul. Blessed are the poor widows and orphans.  Take up your cross and follow….not big American ideals.

One could argue that most of Jesus’ life on earth was pointing out flaws of the earthly kingdoms and empires.  He wanted to highlight that His way is better.

I am not putting faith in American empire. I am putting my faith in the very upside-down, topsy-turvy Kingdom of God. I am going to live all of my days trying to bring God’s Kingdom way of thinking to earth.

I will give to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s but more importantly once I give to God what is God’s there is nothing left to give to Caesar.