Condemning Silence

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                        In the beginning, 1 man, Adam, and
                                          1 Woman, Eve,
                                     made 1 big mistake!
                                   Later, 1 flood destroyed everything except
                                          1 man, Noah, and his family.
                                          1 tower was destroyed, and people spread across the earth.
                                          1 man, Abraham, was promised a nation,
                               but he had 1 problem, he had no son!
                             God provided 1 son, Isaac, from whom came
                                          1 nation, just as God promised.
                    They could only serve 1 God, and that made them
                                          1 of a kind!
                                They took 1 look at the land God gave them and panicked,
                             but God took 1 man, Joshua, and led them to victory.
                            Israel wanted 1 king, instead of God,
                                   and so 1 king after another led them astray
                                They made 1 sacrifice after another to atone for their sins,
                                 but only 1 priest could approach God on their behalf.
                       They were promised 1 Messiah, who would save them.
                                     Then 1 day,
                                          1 virgin conceived a child,
                                      and 1 man Simeon recognized
                   that that baby was the 1!
                                          1 king feared for his throne, and tried to have Him killed,
                                      but 1 angel warned His parents, and He survived.
                                          1 day He began His ministry, healing and teaching.
           The church leaders didn't like 1 thing about Him,
          but then again, He didn't leave 1 thing unturned in the temple.
                                     When 1 disciple betrayed Him,
                             it was their 1 chance to save the status quo!
                            That night on 1 cross
                                          1 innocent man died.
                                          1 veil was torn,
                                      and 1 Holy Place was open to all.
                                     Then 1 morning, all hell broke loose,
                                      and 1 Saviour rose from the dead,
                               completing 1 payment for all our sins,
               that we may have life, and 1 day stand before God
                                 with not 1 charge brought against us.
 Then we'll spend eternity worshiping the 1 who loves us
                       In return, He asks 1 thing, our lives.
                      After all, it's the 1 thing we have to give.

Worthless Note: If you add up all the 1′s you get the answer to life, universe, and everything!

Transcript:
Today I want to talk to you about what Jesus means to me. I don’t want to talk about religion or a church. I want to tell you about my relationship with the Creator of the universe, and it’s effect on my life. I’m not telling you about it because my story matters, but because I would love you for you to experience the same relationship for yourself!

Even though I grew up in church, as I got older I decided that I wanted to know whether this religion that I grew up with was real, or just a crutch for weak people, as some would suggest. I decided that I wanted to know for myself, without bias, which was true. I remember thinking that if the Bible wasn’t real, there was no reason to waste my life following it! It would be a whole lot easier to just be a good person, and dispense with all the traditions and rituals that I saw in church!

So I started searching. What I found was a God who created the universe, and loved me with an unreasonable love! I found a God that has revealed himself in the world around us, because He wants us to know Him, and choose Him in our lives!

I walked away from my search more convinced than I have ever been convinced of anything, that Jesus Christ not only took the consequences for my faults through His death on a very real cross 2000 years ago, but alse rose from the dead from a very real tomb and offered us the opportunity to live as new creations who no longer live in bondage to our failings.
I can tell you today that the longer I spend following Jesus, the more I fall in love with Him over and over again each day. I can’t imagine spending life without Him, and don’t even want to imagine it! I know from experience that if you let Him, He offers to replace your hurt with healing, your bitterness with forgiveness, and your hate with love. He offers to fill that emptiness in your life that you’ve tried to fill with everything else, like careers, relationships, and money.
You may think that your life is going along just fine right now without Jesus. But I’m telling you, you just don’t know what you’re missing! The best that I can describe it is like an old black and white tv show. If you watch the show for awhile, you tend to forget that it’s black and white. It just becomes normal. I think we do the same thing in our lives. We’ve become so accustomed to our lives, that we forget, or don’t even realize that our life could be in full color!
If you’re a church goer and what I’m talking about doesn’t ring true for you, then I beg you to search until you see past the religion, and you meet a real living Saviour.
If you don’t know Jesus at all, I beg you to call out to Him today, and let Him begin transforming your life!

Today’s topic covers a serious issue that Bible scholars across the ages have been loathe to tackle. Have you ever noticed that in Mark 16:18, Jesus never mentioned his apostles would be safe from food?

“18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Obviously He was taking into account church potlucks. Anyone who has been to a church potluck knows they are taking their life into their own hands! Having been a innocent victim of one of these harrowing opportunities for fellowship as a child, I can attest to the pall of death that lingers over those whose immune systems aren’t braced for such an experience. Many other preacher’s kids can attest to the veracity of this danger as well! In fact, PK’s are statistically more likely to walk through this valley of the shadow of death, simply due to the fact that they are required to go to every last one of them, and perhaps even a few at other churches they visit!

For those who understand Hebrew, we see further confirmation in Matthew 16:6. Here Jesus gives us a little warning about avoiding the food the deacon’s wife brings.

6 Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Just as the disciples had a difficult time understanding the depth of this saying, many Christians today miss the warning that was spelled out here.

See also Proverbs 23:7,8:

7 for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8 The morsel which you have eaten you shall vomit up, and lose your good words.

It’s quite clear from the Scriptures that we are to have no part in these pseudo-sanctified bacterial swaps!

(Today’s post should be taken with a grain of humor. Don’t start complaining about my theology here! Perhaps the following statement can provide worthwhile ‘food for thought’ from my wayward post: I have seen church doctrines that are based on far less convincing Scriptural exegesis!).

What an offensive statement.

It frightens me though that the average Christian’s life screams that very statement to those around them who need the hope and healing that only Jesus can offer.

It terrifies me to think that my life might too.

If you listen to Bible scholars, you may get the idea that the Bible is very difficult to accurately interpret without first knowing the Greek and Hebrew. You’ll often hear scholars and pastors saying things like: “If you understand the Greek, you’ll find that it actually means…”. I think sometimes that approach can be a little alienating to the average person. The fact is, many pastors and theologians are relying on concordances and lexicons, which are themselves only more translation attempts!

Here is a simple tip to help the average non-Bible scholor grasp the context and heart of the text.

Get a parallel Bible!

When you look at the same passage in several different versions, and look for the common thread and context, you’re taking advantage of scores of translators across the centuries, and their attempts to make the most accurate translation from the original texts to English. Translating between languages can be extremely difficult, and the full meaning can often be lost, or altered. But if you use multiple versions, you’re essentially looking at the same diamond from different angles until you fully grasp the true magnificence of the jewel!

By the same token, if the nugget of truth you’ve been taught can only be inferred from one translation, it’s a pretty safe bet that it’s ‘lacking in accuracy’!