Thoughts about Inerrancy.

I have been doing some more digging and believe that my first impression of Craig Evans was a bit off. Here is a some questions which he answers and makes me rethink my first opinion I had of him, which I discussed in this post.


Undoubtedly if you ever explored this blog you will come to see I have a very high view of scripture.

Our view of scripture determines all that we believe. If we view scripture as mere words of man we may just as well declare our local glossy magazine our book of faith.

The way we understand what the Bible is, determines how serious we take it.

There are very different views on scripture. We can see it as inerrant in its original transcripts or we can say it is a human book pure and simple.

Both these views have pitfalls. The question is “Is there a middle ground?”

I do not think so, either it is the word of God or it is not. Others would say that there is a middle ground and if you take ever side you are going too far.

You can also say that if you follow the doctrine of inerrancy to it’s a logical conclusion you will arrive at an unscientific place or at full blown liberalism.

These past few days I’m being delving into what Dr Craig Evans has to say. He has a very unique take on the whole thing which warrants more investigation.

If I understand him correctly he will not defend the Bible as historical inerrant but, what the Bible sets out to do it accomplishes.The Bible brings us the good news of Christ and how we might be saved.

He would not agree with the Chicago statement of inerrancy then. Would he?

I’m still checking it out but it does seem on face value that he takes the Bible seriously and that he believes that Jesus physically died and rose again. I will then place him under the wider evangelical umbrella but, not under the traditional group.

He makes a very good case that we must take all the differences in the synoptic gospels seriously. He seems to be a very competent and thoughtful scholar. What I do think is that he gives up to much ground. I see many points where he could have defended the reliability of the Bible.

What I do appreciate of him is that he does a very in depth study of everything he is just a wealth of information. Not a grain of laziness in the man.
Although I think that my view of scripture is pretty much the same as Norman Geisler, I think his answers and explanations of some difficult passages are a bit shallow and he doesn’t really answer many of the concerns.

I admit I have limited resources on both these men and pray that I will be able to acquire more in the future. In all I’m not satisfied with either ones handling of the issue.

Craig Evans gives to much ground to the sceptic and it seems that Norman Geisler isn’t really listening to them. I wonder what Kaiser will say. I have read his book on the reliability of the Old Testament documents and his approach was very balanced. He takes the critics very serious but, he makes a strong stand. Don’t take me wrong when Evans decides on this hill he will die on, he makes a stand. 

My quest is to sift all these thoughts running around in my head and find out which way is the best.

Giving up ground on the issue on inerrancy is not to be taken lightly. My question is it even necessary. In the past it has been proven on many occasions that the Bible is reliable.

Many times the historicity of the gospel is taken in question because of many differences between the synoptic gospels. The problem is that these differences do not impact basic doctrine.

Many times the sceptic is are simplistic about the perceived discrepancy. They take it at face value while on other occasions they fire both barrels of the shotgun if we dare take the Bible at face value.

The sceptics always seem to fire off all the alleged discrepancies in the gospels and then claim “superior number of arguments wins” while each individual argument and accusation must be handled on its own.

This is one of the problems with debates. For some or other reason the liberal will list his long lists of complains and the “evangelical” just gives an answer that is weak and vague, they sometimes try to explain a principle to answer similar arguments but, never answer the point made by the liberal. Maybe it is the way debates are done but, why not for once just answer the man’s question straight down the middle? If I look at Norman Geisler’s stuff I think he will actually do it, the problem is sometimes even I can spot the holes in his argument.

I’m probably being a bit to forward, I regular keyboard warrior. My question is why not take the dog by the scruff of the neck and manhandle the opinion, say it like it is, answer the critic, go at him toe to toe. Or do we have no real answer or witty comebacks?

I think the problem is not as simple as just saying we are inarticulate or not assertive enough when it comes to debate ting these issues.

Most debates between evangelicals and liberals always have the evangelical starting off on the back foot, defending an already weaken position.

For starters they almost never bring in the ancient tradition, on who wrote the gospels. It is a great big debate yes but, why have we resigned from that fight. Many scholars have written against the historical teachings on who wrote the gospels. They doubt the accuracy of these traditions. The question is must they not proof their case to us, are they not attacking a very old tradition handed down through generations? Are these persons who wrote about this tradition not closer to the original authors in time and culture?

The case is made that these guys seen as the writers traditionally could not have written such great literature and that just 3% of the people living in Israel at that time could read what to say of being able to write such well edited gospels.

Let us look at the traditional writers then.

The Gospel of Matthew was said to be a tax collector appointed by the Romans , would the Romans appoint a illiterate man as tax collector?.

The Gospel of Mark was written by some companion of Peter. Mark according to tradition wrote the Gospel according to what Peter told him. Peter was one of the leaders of the church a man of great influence. The church was very large over five thousand and there was added to their number daily, is it not possible that out of this large crowd Peter could find such a writer as Mark.

The Gospel Of Luke, according to tradition he was a companion of Paul and that he also was  a kind of doctor, is it also such a far fetch dream that he could have been well educated just as Paul? Is it so far fetch that a doctor could read and write?    

Then we get to sequence of the gospels. The modern view is that Mark was written first after that Luke and Matthew. So how do they devise such a sequence? Well they look at all synoptic gospels and seen that a lot of material over lapses. Sometimes exactly. So they come to the conclusion that they must have copied from each other or used a common source. They even gave the source a name “Q”.

The question is then this, why could they not all been written independent from each other? Why could they not just have been writing the same story from three prospective and why could the overlapping parts not be because they are telling the same story.

Bart Ehrman makes a very strong case, he says that even if you take a lot of eyewitnesses and let them write what exactly happened that you wouldn’t get two accounts that is remotely same to the extent that the gospels are similar.

This is a very strong argument, the problem is this cannot be the only argument, I believe he would add a few. The problem is what about inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was He not the one who inspired the writers to write accurate accounts?

The other question is why accept the viability of the “Q” source which has no proof accept the similarities between the gospels and reject the historical account of the possible existence of the Hebrew gospel?

Has the liberal scholar not infringed on the evangelical scholars so much that we have fallen to the winds of chance, while we believe in the God who created that wind.

We have abandoned to many outposts, it is time to take stock and decide which ones are to be retaken.

In a real sense I agree with Craig Evans, the Christian faith is grounded on the factual death and resurrection of Christ and not on the Bible. The problem is that the Bible is the source that ultimately proofs it and explains it.

Over simplification is very dangerous. The minimal facts approach is great for short debate and discussions but, not enough for deep, sustained Christian life.

The Mantra of the American Dream

Ht Frank Turk

BE DISCIPLINED

GOD, HELP ME TO BE DISCIPLINED

·        Learning obedience is a lifelong process.

·        Even if you have walked with the Lord for 40 years, you still need to ask God to show you any area where you are not being obedient.

·        We get into trouble when we think we know what to do and we stop asking God, if we’re doing it.

·        We have NO excuse for not doing what we need to do when God says He will enable us to do it if we will just call upon Him for help. All we have to say is, “Lord, help me be disciplined enough to obey You the way You want me to so I can become the person You created me to be”.

PERSONAL OBEDIENCE

·        In addition to the rules we all have to obey, there are specific things God asks each of us to do as individuals in order to move us into the purpose He has for our lives.

·        “Lord show us what we are suppose to be doing”.

·        Whatever He asks you to do, remember He does this for your greatest blessing.

·        But you must understand that you may not hear Him speaking at all if you are not taking the other steps of obedience.

·        He expects all of us to take that are found in His word. “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).

DOING THINGS YOU’D RATHER NOT

·        When we do things we don’t like simply because we know we need to do them, it builds character in us.

·        It makes us disciplined.

·        It forms us into a leader God can trust.

·        And there is always a price to pay when we forsake the things we need to do in order to do only the things we FEEL like doing.

·        We must be willing to make sacrifices for the blessings we want.

·        When you find it difficult to do what you know you need to, ask the Holy Spirit to help you.

10 GOOD REASONS TO OBEY GOD

·        There are countless reasons to obey God, but there is one primary reason: HE SAID TO!

1.          We get our prayers heard. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer” (Psalm 66:18-19).

2.          We enjoy a deeper sense of the Lord’s presence. “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23).

3.          We gain wisdom. “He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly” (Proverbs 2:7).

4.          We have God’s friendship. “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14).

5.          We can live safely. “You shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them, and you will dwell in the land in safety” (Leviticus 25:18).

6.          We are perfected. “Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5).

7.          We are blessed. “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today” (Deuteronomy 11:26-27).

8.          We find happiness. “Happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18).

9.          We have peace. “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace” (Psalm 37:36).

10.      We have a long life. “My son, do not forget My law, but let your heart keep My commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you” (Proverbs 3:1-2).

A  STEPPING-STONE TO DESTINY

·        God has great plans for you.

·        He has important things He wants you to do.

·        And He is preparing you for your destiny right now.

·        But you have to take steps of obedience in order to

get there.

·        And you have to trust that He knows the way and

won’t hurt you in the process.

·        God’s rules are for our benefit, not to make us

miserable.

·                                                                                When we live by them – life works.

·                                                                                When we don’t – life falls apart.

·                                                                                When we obey – we have clarity.

·                                                                                When we don’t – we have confusion.

·                                                                                And there is a definite connection between

obedience and the love of God.

·                                                                                Even though God loves us, we won’t sense His love if

we are walking in disobedience to His ways.

·                                                                                There is also a direct connection between obedience

and getting your prayers answered (1 John 3:22).

·                                                                                If you have been frustrated because you don’t see

answers to your prayers, ask God if it is because of

disobedience. Say “Lord is there any area of my life where I am not obeying You?”.

·        Don’t keep telling God what you want without asking

Him what He wants?

You never know when you will step into the moment for which God has been preparing you. And it is not just one moment – it’s many successive ones!

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He wants you to be willing to let Him purify you, and grow you up in Him. But you have to play by the rules.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT!

Luke 11:28

WHATEVER WE ASK WE RECEIVE FROM HIM, BECAUSE WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS AND DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASINIG IN HIS SIGHT.

1 John 3:22

HT My wife.

Courageous. The movie sound track

Ht, Fish With Trish. 

Battle Lines are drawn.

The field of battle has been chosen. The men have dug themselfs in. We have been assigned our posts. All is quiet, the birds are singing as if nothing is wrong but, this is war. The war that will end all wars.

The enemy out number us, we know some of our own are traitors; the one in the foxhole with me might stab me in the back.

I will watch my line of fire, all I can do is my job.

The men on the other side are merciless, vengeful killers ready to charge at us at any minute. Armed to the teeth and totally committed.

My first aid kitt is fully supplied; maybe I will get too save someone life today. Many of my enemies will die today but, not by my hands, not by any of us. We are here to try and save those who would kill us in an instant.

The games afoot, they are coming, yelling DIE, DIE, DIE. We jump up yelling LIVE, LIVE, LIVE.   

Who wrote the Gospels?

Our Hope.

Man is dominated by his dreams and desires; everything we do is motivated by our dreams or desires. The saddest person is the one who has no dream or who has lost all hope that his dream will ever come to pass.

Man has always guarded his desires treasured them, protected them. Our dreams is what motivates us to get up, it gives our lives focus and direction.

The problem is not our desire or our dream but, what is our motivation for this dream. Dreams give us hope. The problem this hope within us could be false or true. It could be a dream given by God, anchored in Him or a dream of our own.

It can be a dream that is in line with what God’s will is or that opposes Him.

We are either against or for Him. We can be friends with Mr False Hope or Mr True Hope. There is no middle ground.

Even if we have a noble dream that gives us hope for the future that is not riddled with sin, it could be rebellion if it is not God’s will for us.

Hope is needed by all, we all hunt it down and want to own it, without hope mans back is broken. We must find true hope.

Having true hope starts like all other things with knowing God.

Our relationship with Him starts by Him calling us through God the Holy Spirit, revealing our sinfulness to us, our utter state of “lostness.” We are dead spiritually and cannot make ourselves alive. Only through the inner work of the Holy Spirit and Christ righteousness imputed to us (credited) to us can we become alive.

Now after we have been quickened (raised spiritually) and all that entails. We often still act as if our life is our own. We plan our lives and dream, dreams and find our hope in them.

In effect we are practicing atheist in a way ignoring God in practice which we would deny but in practice we almost forget Him we leave Him out of the equation.

Our hope is Christ, it is God and His sovereign rule, our hope is too be grounded in His love for us and above all in His glory. See His glory is all that counts, do not for second think that His glory is under threat or could be threatened, it cannot be.

So His plan will never be, even minutely successfully apposed, He has a plan a great plan for our lives, of how we would grow in knowledge of Him. By knowing Him better our faith grows.

I have been a Christian all my life and have been a believing, Spiritual living one for over 22 years.

If I look back I have made many mistakes but, I have always had the knowledge that God is sovereign and has a plan. There is a reason for all that I have experienced the good and the bad.

The dream of full time ministry has always stayed, in the beginning it wasn’t as strong but the desired has grown over the years. The detour of the last 11 years had a reason. To others it might look like wasted time but, it wasn’t and if it continues, it still wouldn’t be.

I remember Moses, he was trained in Pharaoh’s court and fled to the desert land and stayed there for forty years before his visible ministry and service started. Look at Joseph, he was sold as a slave, he was imprisoned before his service started.

Think of the Apostle Paul who also lived in the desert after his conversion before his ministry really took off.

As long as we recognise that we are not the captain of our ship, as long as we realise that God know best and that He is in control we can have hope. We are not exposed to the elements and the whims of luck. Our lives are ordered by God. If someone knows what has to be done and what is best it is Him.

Praise Him, for in Him hope is not empty, candyfloss dreams but rock solid and sure.

James 4:13-17. 

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶ As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. 

  

The God of Jonah

The book of Jonah has always been used for calling people up to missions and evangelism. Which is a great and noble thing and the contents of Jonah makes this possible without changing the meaning of the text.

I however think that missions are just one thread that goes through this short book.

I believe however that Jonah is a great book to teach Theology Proper from. Let me explain. Theology Proper is the dogma of God. How God is.

First let me say this, God cannot be fully explained or understood. God is not a frog that is to be dissected no; He is God the creator to be marvelled at. He is the only true God.

God through His word reveals Himself to the world; He wants us to know Him. How do we get to know someone? Above all other ways, we spend time with them. Quality time is a humanistic myth, nothing replaces a long period of time spend with each other. (I’m digressing that will have to be for a different post.)

Now let us have a quick look at the book of Jonah.

I believe we all know about this book, it has been seen as a myth by some. I’m not one of them there is just too many historical data that corresponds.

Let’s look at why I say that the book of Jonah firstly displays God to us and not the life of a bull headed prophet.

God is the one who takes the initiative to save Nineveh. He witnesses this great city and its sin and His righteousness and holiness demands that they be sentenced. God however is merciful and call upon His prophet Jonah to preach too this city of unbelievers.

The fact that God calls Jonah also shows us that God is not just concern for those who does not know Him but, that He is also concerned with the ones who do know Him. He still has got a plan for Jonah.

God knows everything even before it happened, so He knew Jonah will rebel and run. God could of used a different servant who He knew would carry out the task immediately, but God does not.

God chooses the one servant He knew would rebel, Jonah might have a rebellious streak in Him but, God does not leave Jonah to live in his sin. No, God loves Nineveh and Jonah and He want Nineveh to repent and He want Jonah to repent and grow.

So Jonah runs and his rebellion brings a whole ship and it occupants in danger. God spares them when they decide to throw Jonah over board as Jonah requested.

God chases Jonah down, He throws a storm at the boat, God works with intent, He does everything with intent, with a view of the future and what He wants to accomplish in the lives of people. God is intensely involved in every person’s life.

Through the storm and what Jonah says about God, the sailors who were formally pagans convert and praise Jhaweh the God of Israel as the only living God.

God could have let Jonah drown but, He is merciful and through His sovereign rule over the living creatures, He causes a large fish to swallow Jonah hole.

Jonah repents and now after the fish pukes him up he goes to Nineveh. Still we see Jonah only going out of duty and not out of love. Jonah who experienced God’s love, mercy and long suffering still hates Nineveh and does not want to see them shown the same love and mercy.

The contrast is projected for all to see, the one who does not deserve mercy but, gets it, does not want others to taste it.

God who is infinitely sovereign causes Jonah to preach, even against his will and what he wants and God’s sovereign love and mercy and rule is shown. Displayed for all to marvel at.

God causes the entire city to repent and turn away from their sin and to Him. For a generation the people of Nineveh serves God. This shows God is sovereign and reigns.

This is just some small snip-bits of what the book of Jonah teaches us about God. I believe in the first place the book of Jonah displays God and is attributes to us through His actions and finely designed reaction to things He knew would happen and ultimately made happen.

A book displaying the infinite God doing infinitely great things.     

The Gospel Message to Believers.

Most often the Gospel message when preach is preached and applied to the unbeliever. The Gospel is seen by most believers as Christianity 101, something we have to go through to get to the good stuff.

We even will go so far as to call it the milk and the debate about Revelation 20 as the meat, the 2 inch steak.

This is actually very sad and has led to so many bad things it’s hard to list them all. The biggest problem is we under appreciate the Gospel. We see it as the doorway while Paul said all he was about is Christ and He crucified.

So if the apostle who wrote the biggest part of the New Testament focused on the Gospel why is it not our centre of attention anymore?

Our arrogance towards the Gospel leads to the formation of a moral church. We evolve into a club of ‘stiff upper lippers” guys ignorant of our sin.

Most Christians will never claim that they are without sin; most of us know that is a lie. We choose to ignore our sins and not to think of them anymore. We think of our achievements, all the sins we do not commit anymore.

We look at the world and transform into the Pharisee that Christ talked about, self-righteous and convince of our own holiness.

The Gospel is not just our way to be saved and reconciled to God. The Gospel is in its very essence, Christ. Jesus Christ is the gospel, are we really going to call Him Christianity 101? Are we going to only see Him as a saving instrument, something to be used?

Christianity at its core is a relationship. Sin has defiled that relationship.

Sin in our lives right now defiles that relationship. We must always constantly be examing ourselves and our hearts. Open to Matthew 5, read the Sermon on the Mount. Consider God’s standards, are we anywhere near that?

We must preach the Gospel to ourselves daily, hourly. By understanding it by living it, by repenting of our sins, may it be visible or invisible. The Gospel is needed by all, the righteous and the unrighteous.

   

Becoming what you are.

Many believe they are saved. They remember a date which they converted. They believe that Jesus is the son of God, send to earth to pay for our penalty. They even believe that they have given their lives to him. A few can even explain a few more complex doctrines but, they are not saved.

Being saved comprises of more than just knowing some facts. The proof of saving faith is found in the deeds.

Our deeds do not save us but proclaims that which we know as our beliefs.

True repentance is a change of direction, our centre changes. Our heart is changed by God. We are quickened like the older church men used to say.

We are completely changed and our way of life changes. Let me try and summarize it in one sentence.

Sanctification is the proof of a work already completed.

Sanctification is the gradual change of a person’s deeds towards what honours God. Already if you truly have come to Christ and are saved you are given a new heart by God, a heart that longs for God and the things that pleases Him.

You die to self and to your worldly and selfish dreams and come into line with what God wants.

A person who claims he is a Christian but, does not lead a Christ-honouring life is a fraud. James 2:17, 26

Remember that frightful passages; Mathew 7:21.

Think of Nicodumos coming to Jesus in the dead of night asking Christ what he should do to be saved. John 3:2-3

Jesus then answers him look especially at John 3: 31-32. “If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine…”

A life that continually careens of the road set by Christ is the life of a false disciple.

We will not lead perfect lives but, our inclination will change we would desire neither good nor evil and we will fight the good fight. “It will not be perfect obedience and repentance, but good works will be present” J MacArthur.

Eph 2:8-10 “created in Christ Jesus for good works,”

Good work does not save us but, it shouts to the world that we are different and that we are saved.

The demons are most probably more orthodox in their believes than most believers but, they are not saved. You can know everything but, if your heart is not changed you are not saved.

By examining your works you will be able to determine if you faith is authentic. Remember that all of us will fall, sometimes even jump and swim with the pigs, but what you do after that is what counts.

Do not think in a moment that I’m saying “sin all the more so that grace can increase” oh, no if you say that, if we would think that for a instant it proofs our faith is dead and not a iota of love for Christ lives in us.

Sinning, is like walking past the Cross of Christ and spitting in His face, striking the nails with a hammer. Sinning is rebelling against our saviour and if we do it “all up in His face” you can be assured we are not saved.

What I’m saying, times of weakness come, situations present themselves and we resurrect the dead monster in ourselves and do what is not pleasing to our saviour.

In these times we forget what he has done for us and how much He cares for us. On the other side of such a horrendous detour Christ is waiting to reconcile with us but, if these detours are frequent and extended re-examine yourself, do not lie, are you a Christian, do you really love Him above all else?

Return quickly to Christ; do not give sin a foothold in your life, run, hide, and fight.

In times of severe sin (is there any other kind) your assurance of salvation will waiver, this sometimes becomes a vessel to extend the period away from Christ.

The best remedy is to not fall into sin but, we are not in heaven yet so we will sin. This dark cold fact must not be an excuse; it must be a call to arms, to knees, fight.

Sin mostly comes when we give our imagination free reign in our lives. Curb it. We only sin after we have played with that set sin in our minds, guard your eyes and ears. That temptations will come is a given, what we do with them we can determine.