Article in local newspaper about Ben-Ghazi

Leave a reply

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jim-driskell/freedom-of-religion-and-speech-ydr-article/4635805386025

Freedom of religion and speech YDR article

December 19, 2012 at 12:52pm

York academics, clergy disagree over limitations on freedom of speech

By JOHN HILTON

Daily Record/Sunday News

<!–date–> Updated: 09/25/2012 05:21:10 PM EDT Does freedom of speech have limitations when words prove capable of inciting deadly violence?One area academic says yes, while a York pastor isn’t so sure.

They responded to mixed reports that an anti-Muslim video led to deadly violence in Benghazi. American ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and four other consulate staff were killed Sept. 11 in the violent uprising.

The Rev. Jim Driskell said the American media was too quick to blame the attack on the low-grade anti-Muslim video, “Innocence of Muslims.”

Driskell, pastor of First St. Johns Lutheran Church at 140 W. King St., doubts the movie fueled the attack. U.S. officials are still determining how much of the attack was preplanned.

“It seems clear that this was a terrorist plot and not some spontaneous act of violence,” Driskell said. “But let’s focus on where the violence is coming from and how to stop that, instead of trying to find ways to shut Americans up.”

The onus, he stressed, should be placed on the perpetrators of the violence, not on those exercising their First Amendment rights.

Lee Barrett, professor of theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary, said the First Amendment includes no absolute protection. Comparing it to laws against shouting fire in a crowded theater, Barrett said free speech in the religious realm should have restrictions as well.”Freedom of speech is not the only moral value and it’s not the only political value,” he said. “Often moral and political values don’t harmonize nicely and you have to make some choices.”

For Barrett, the choices are simple. He believes the video had some role in the violence, just as general religious oppression has promoted unrest in the Middle East for centuries.

“If you weigh on the scales dozens of dead Americans, Libyans and Egyptians over the right of one jerk to say outrageous things, then I think the rights of the dead take precedence,” he said.

What about Christians?

For Driskell, the concern is one of consistency. Numerous Christian-based films have caused controversy over the years – “The Last Temptation of Christ,” for example – and he said the media generally tends to give these filmmakers a pass.

Directed by Martin Scorcese, “Last Temptation” depicts the life of Jesus Christ and his struggle with various forms of temptation including fear, doubt, depression, reluctance and lust.

The book and 1989 film depict Christ being tempted by imagining himself engaged in sexual activities, a notion that outraged some Christians. The movie includes a disclaimer explaining that it departs from the commonly accepted biblical portrayal of Jesus’ life, and is not based on the Gospels.

Still, Scorcese was nominated for an Academy Award for the film.

“If any of the people who made some of these anti-Christian movies were shouted down … I can only imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would result,” Driskell said

But Barrett sees it differently.

“I don’t really think there is a double standard in the way the media covers Christianity and Islam,” said Barrett, who holds four degrees from Yale University, including a Master of Divinity conferred in 1975. “The mainstream media has been pretty even-handed in covering terrorism of any religion, be it Christianity, Islam or any other religion.”

The fact is the vast majority of Americans recognize that Christian terrorists in the United States are a tiny minority, Barrett said, “so that message does not need to be repeated.”

Polls tell a different story when it comes to Islam, he added, with many Americans still viewing the religion with distrust and doubt.

‘One of those gray areas’

Imam of the congregation Masjid At-Tawheed in York, Mujahid “Rick” Ramos values freedom of speech and calls the issue “one of those gray areas.”

“Freedom of speech is something we all cherish and appreciate,” he said. “But at the same time, a person has to be responsible.”

Ramos does not think the video, or the coverage of it, was anything more than a contributing factor in the recent violence. While he does not believe Islam has a propensity toward violence, followers are definitely frustrated, Ramos said.

“There’s this widespread frustration among Muslims, this sense of feeling helpless,” he said. “Throughout history we see that violence tends to be the reaction of a person who feels helpless.”

Integrity in the workplace in faith in Christ

Leave a reply

Father Nkwasibwe raises a point which I think deserves a lot of consideration in terms of organizational management. “Only a leader who has undergone a personal path of conversion and lived with an interior attitude of conversion and humility can be an example of the effort to downgrade workplace religious bias, prejudice and discrimination and other sinful inequalities. Such a leader enjoys the moral courage of freedom, responsibility and participation in social, cultural and religious interchange and promotion of the common good.”

Ya, ya, I can hear the clenching from here. The contemporary wisdom goes something like this, you have to hire someone who is completely unbiased, unattached, uncommitted, just “un” everything. I have to wonder if that is someone you can really trust. One of the main reasons for this blog is to champion the concept of living one’s faith life out in the workplace. Now, I will grant you that many see their faith life as converting the heathen. And I’m certainly not saying that given the opportunity in the workplace that I wouldn’t witness to Christ. I have, but when I do/did, it was with integrity. I’m there to present Christ, to tell people what He’s done in my life. What the Lordship of Christ in my life means, and what eternal life means. Now to be truly faithful to that, my witness has to be one that is with integrity, doing my job in a way that glorifies Christ. Not getting into holy wars, not picking on people, not discriminating etc. Always remembering that part of living my life in Christ in the workplace is to do my job with integrity and not using it as a way to abuse my position in favor of those who agree with me. Is that easy? No.

On the flip side, that person who has no scruples in terms of their life regarding “God”, however they see that, that’s better? No, it just isn’t. This is a person who’s decided that they know best, they trust only in their own judgment, or the judgment of other people. That is the continued downfall of secularism. We continue to try and impose individual, unguided, uncritical, frankly mostly about how I can do things to enhance me, and then expect that person to make principled, unbiased judgments. That’s a ridiculous expectation. This person is, bottom line, all about him or her. If anything they will discriminate against people of faith, like the college professor who picks out Christian students and decides that for a variety of reasons, they just don’t have it, tries to bully them into denying their Christian convictions. Come on, are there more Ken Lay’s and Bernie Madoff’s in the business world, or more David Green’s (owner of Hobby Lobby)? Ya right, who would I trust more? Come on! Who could I expect to hold accountable and who would think that they are a law unto themselves?

I’m not saying that Christians are always the most humble or the most principled. But I can go to David Green and if he’s not acting according to Christian principles I can hold him accountable. Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff et al, the only thing they are accountable for is the bottom line, investor value anything else, they will do as they judge and that’s what will get the secular man or woman in trouble every time.

“Self leadership, which is an offshoot of conversion, is that leadership that spurs others through moral values and exemplary skilled practices because nemo dat quod non habet. …Latin … “nobody gives what he or she does not have’. No matter what, this cannot be bypassed if effectiveness and righteousness are to be realized… Undergoing a path of conversion involves sustaining on-going renewal and connotes persevering in holiness, true friendship and altruistic service. … a journey of discovery, spiritual progress or soul’s journey toward God…”

“…it is also when conversion occurs that the leader can develop courage to lead the workplace community to ascend from the disrepute to which unethical practices and religious rivalry and confrontations have drawn most business actions.”

A man of faith is going to be a lot more likely to step up and take the heat and trust God’s providence as compared to the just cowardly, infantile, pathetic actions of people like Lay, Madoff and Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco. Just squirrely little weenies. I know, not very charitable, but it is what it is. (Quick note, I had to Google Tyco. You know what the first reference was “tyco scandal”. Ya, just how you want to be remembered.)

Popular media likes to try to portray people of religion as bigots, narrow-minded, abusive. But the reality completely contradicts the popular fiction. I’d rather work for Hobby Lobby or Chick Fil A before I worked for Dennis Kozlowski.

Our group meets for discussion on Wednesday 10am, coffeehouse at the corner of  W King and Beaver Sts. Parking is behind the church 140 W King St, about a 50 yard walk from there. No charge, no committment, I will even buy your first cup of coffee. We are still in Gene Veith’s book, “God at Work”. See you then and God bless you.

 

100th blog

Leave a reply

I just did my 100th blog, which is pretty neat. Appropriately enough it was sharing another’s blog to remember those who serve in our military and are in difficult, uncomfortable and even dangerous places. (I’m sorry I forgot his name, so now you have to check out the blog to get his name.) Anyway, I pray that in 100 attempts, I have made some difference, did something to truly serve my Lord Jesus Christ in someone else’s life. Some I’ve done just to have a little fun, or get something on the table, but I try to make most to make a difference for the Kingdom – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May God richly bless you.

One other quick thing I wanted to note, I’m sure it’s probably not a big deal for most of you who have been doing this longer and much better than me, but at this time people in 24 different countries, which have been from every continent, have viewed my posts. Can’t say I’ve gotten a lot of feedback, so don’t know how much they’ve been “viewing”, but I really do appreciate seeing so  many different people have at least give me a chance. Again, God bless.

I have set my face like a flint First St Johns Apr 13, 2014

2 Replies

Click on this link for the audio version of this blog

Father, set my face like flint, give me, that strength, that character, that determination, that conviction of faith that Jesus showed in His march to the Cross. We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit and all those who have set their face like flint to serve and glorify Jesus said … AMEN!
This is the deal, we have a crowd that has decided that they have the King of Israel, the run who will run the Romans out and even more, He’s the Bread King, He’s going to feed them and heal them and bring them back to life, heck he just did that with Lazarus a few days ago. When we were in Israel at Lazarus’ tomb, it was pointed out how close his tomb, where he lived, was to Jerusalem. All of Jesus’ other healings and raisings, were done in the northern part of Palestine. As far as the shakers and movers in Jerusalem were concerned the people in the north were just huckleberries, right off the tuna trolley. They had created these crazy stories, no one but this rabble took them seriously. But remember how Jesus had waited three days after He knew Lazarus was dead? He wanted there to be no doubt, Lazarus was dead, beyond all hope. Martha had given up hope, she chastised Him; “if you had come Lazarus would be alive, why did you dwaddle, I thought you loved my brother, how could you fail us and him?” Why? Jesus wasn’t going to get into it with her, He had a plan, “His face was set like flint.” It’s interesting the use of “flint”, flint was used to start a fire, Jesus was going to start a fire. The crowd may be cheering now, but the fire was sparked and the crowd would be on fire to crucify Him five days later. The world as everyone knew it at that point, would go up in a metaphorical burst of fire and three days later Jesus would overcome the ultimate enemy death! He started to chip on that flint with Lazarus. Right under the leader’s noses. Why this dramatic resurrection of Lazarus? The other people Jesus raised had just died, so even if the stories were true, from these hayseeds, it could be explained, somehow Jesus managed to resuscitate them. So even if the stories were true and not just the imagination of some hick, they were explainable. Not so with Lazarus, he was raised right next door, the memory was fresh in the mind of everyone who mattered. It was immediately following the raising of Lazarus that the Jewish leaders met and Caiaphas had decided his prophesy needed to happen immediately, Jesus must die to save the nation, more importantly to save us and our positions so the Romans wouldn’t decide to take matters into their own hands about Jesus. Just to underline the event, chapter 12, the chapter we are reading, starts with; “ Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table. Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.” (John 12: 1-6 ESV) There it is the table is set, Jesus was making a statement without any words. He sat down to dinner with Lazarus the day before He makes His Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem. “Remember what I did with Lazarus? You either acknowledge who I am, because no one but God could have done that or take the worldly way out. Judas? It is now plain what he is all about. Why are you wasting all that good stuff on Jesus? We could get a lot of money for that. The passage says he said that not because he cared about money for the poor, he wanted the money for himself. Jesus said he was being anointed for his burial. You are always going to have the poor, but this is where it all comes together, starting now. Six days after this Jesus would be buried and not one of those people at this dinner, none of the disciples saw Jesus’ death coming at all. Six days later Judas would receive a nice little payoff, that was his concern, until the reality of his action hit him right in the face.
Isaiah is telling us five hundred years earlier what is going to happen on that Palm Sunday. Jesus has hit the high note, he raised Lazarus, He is being hailed by the crowd, after hiding the last few days from the Jews, He is riding into Jerusalem in triumph. We have no other evidence in the Bible that Jesus did anything but walk anywhere He had to go, but not today, He’s set this up, told His disciples where to find the donkey and what to say to its owner. He’s riding into Jerusalem in a way that everyone would understand, He’s doing it in a way that a king of his day would demonstrate that he has conquered. He has drawn the line in the sand. The Jewish leaders can accept what He has made very clear, that He is the Messiah or they can chose to fight against Him and all the players are set to play out their part.
The Key Word Study Bible explains the word “set” in the Isaiah passage the Hebrew word :~yf which means to “to committ, to determine, “The verb indicates that which God put on the earth, as noted in Genesis where God put the man and woman that He formed in the Garden of Eden. The usage of the verb in this sense indicates God’s sovereignty over all creation … The word is used in Exodus in response to an interaction between Moses and God, in which God gave a new decree and law to the Israelites (Ex 15:25). In this setting, the verb again emphasizes God’s sovereignty, His ability to establish the order of things”1 Isaiah is describing Jesus at this pivotal moment, He is setting a new order, He has stacked the deck and the outcome is going to be according to His sovereign Lordship, Jesus is deciding what will happen here and the priests, Pharisees and lawyers are playing out the parts that Jesus has put them into.
The word shame in the same verse in Isaiah is the Hebrew word vAb to put to shame, disgrace, guilt. The Jewish leaders have tried to make Jesus out to be a shameful, fool, one who is trying to convince people that He is God and He’s not, they are sure that He is a charlatan or just a naïve bumpkin. In either case a very real threat, one that they can no longer allow to live. The Key Word Study Bible explains” disgrace, guilt “as farmers with no harvest”2, that is to say that after they are through with Jesus He will have nothing to show for His efforts, His intention is to raise a great harvest and now He will be tortured, shamed, humiliated on that cross, they intend to make it so that Jesus’ world will crumble around Him.
No brothers and sisters, His face is set like flint, He has become hard, He intends to be the ignition of that fire that will consume the world of the Jewish leaders and the whole world. Those people are cheering Him now because He is the “Bread King”, the one they can make do their will, feed them, heal them. They will be crying for Him to be crucified in five days because He didn’t do their will. He did His will, they wanted bread and health, He gives them something that they don’t understand, Life and life eternal. By lighting this fire, He will be sacrificed for all of them for all of their sins, He will put them back into relationship with the Father. Those who know Jesus as Lord will know true life, now and in the resurrection. Jesus set it all up so that He would be their salvation, He would be our salvation, He would die for the sins of all mankind on that cross and would rise and defeat death three days later. For those who know Jesus as Lord, that would be their promise of eternal life.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Spiritual attack

Leave a reply

I suppose Good Friday isn’t a time to be whining, good things are happening, the Lord has been blessing us. But it’s hard to break this feeling of being under both spiritual attack and spiritual oppression.
In my heart I know that is a good thing, if you are truly being effective for the Kingdom, you certainly put a target on your back, you are going to attract Satan’s attention. In that sense I say bring it, if I’m going to be the one to suffer the slings and arrows, if I am taking the hits for Jesus, He tells us that we should rejoice, that it is commendable: “ESV Matthew 5:11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
People who are just going through the motions, trying to stay “safe”, not stepping out for Jesus or His church, they aren’t a threat to Satan, so he’s not going to cause them grief. Wouldn’t the strategy be more to keep people kind of fat and happy and isolated? You just stay there and go by the numbers and nothing happens to you, I’m just interested in the guy who is trying to bring the Kingdom of Christ into my world. This is Satan’s world, those who are Christians are in the world, but not of the world. Seems that for those who actually step out, they draw the fire, while everyone else hides behind their barricades.
Jesus certainly stepped out, Jesus certainly confronts the world and no matter how attacked I feel, I know that Jesus is going to be there to support me and to keep me going. Jesus promised us: “And behold, I am with you always even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28: 20) In the meantime I certainly covet your prayers, I continue to pray that I stay strong and faithful, trusting that if I am drawing Satan’s fire, then Jesus must be using me effectively and I’m staying out of His way as best I can. But pray that this oppressiveness will be turned from feeling as if I’m being pushed down and give me strength to rise up and push back hard in the strength of Jesus Christ. We remember the death and sacrifice of Jesus today, His paying for our sins on that cross. Good Friday is the second most important day on the Christian calendar. On this day, Jesus made full payment for our sins, lifted what separates us from the Father. Sunday, He rises from the dead, our sins have been paid for and now we are restored to eternal life in Christ, the life that the Father had always intended for us in our resurrection. This is a great time for family, but set some of that time to worship together, today and Sunday. In His peace.

The Dying Word

1 Reply

First Saint Johns

April 9, 2014

This is from Concordia Publishiing House “Words of Life from the Cross” series

SERMON: THE DYING WORD (LUKE 23:46)

The sixth word is Jesus’ dying word, a word of committal, a word of trust. His dying words are faithful, full of trust in His Father, trusting that in His death His Father will receive Him in loving arms just as the father of the prodigal received his son with open and welcoming arms. Here again is the paradox of faith. Jesus had cried out in abandonment, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” and yet now He cries out in faith, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!”
Isn’t that how it is with the life of faith? God seems so distant at times, especially those times of darkness and woe, those dark nights and days, and yet He stands ever near to embrace us in those strong, loving, fatherly arms. Jesus trusted His Father, and He did it on behalf of all of us. His trust is complete and unwavering. Though He dies, yet He trusts. Though He suffers, yet He trusts. Though the Father is silent and hidden, yet He trusts.
But take note of something—this dying word is not sighed or whispered. This is not a weak word of resignation by a man who is overcome by death. No. He shouts this word in a loud voice. He summons His strength and shouts it to the highest heavens. He wants the whole world to hear what He has to say. He is the Son of the Father, begotten and beloved from all eternity. He trusts His Father’s mandate that sent Him on this mission to the cross.
Jesus is not overcome by death. Rather, He overcomes death by dying. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Jesus has taken the sting of death and the venom of the Law into His own flesh, shed His own blood, and now He cries out in victory and triumph as He commits His life to the Father who sent Him. This strong word of the cross cuts through your doubt and disbelief. Adam’s death is conquered by this Second Adam’s death. Adam hearkened to the doubting word of the devil and became a transgressor, plunging the world into the chaos of sin. But this Second Adam, the new head of redeemed humanity, holds true to His Father and will not waver even as He dies. His life is in the hands of the Father.
With His final breath, Jesus shows Himself to be the faithful Son. Where we have failed, He has succeeded. Where we have sinned, He has proven sinless. Where we doubt, He remains strong.
Being self-absorbed and self-oriented, the old Adam in us resists this surrender. It fights like crazy against the loving embrace of the Father, like a small child throwing a temper tantrum who will not be held. We want to be in control, we want to be in power. We resent any notion that we sit not in the driver’s seat, but in the passenger’s seat of our lives. Like so many drowning victims, we think we can swim to shore ourselves. We do not need a lifeguard; we even resist the attempts to save us. We want it all on our own terms.
You know how it is in your own life—the bargaining, the denial, the transactions—anything but letting go and leaving to God our Father to hold us in safety. Jesus does it. On the cross, He entrusts His life, His mission, His death, everything to His Father. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
The words are from Psalm 31. The psalms are the hymnbook of the living and the dying. Jesus takes up the words of David on His lips, for they are His words, too, wrought by the Spirit of Christ in David.
In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
in Your righteousness deliver me!
Incline Your ear to me;
rescue me speedily!
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me!
For You are my rock and my fortress;
and for Your name’s sake You lead me and guide me;
You take me out of the net they have hidden for me,
for You are my refuge.
Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
David, surrounded by his enemies, commits his life into the hand of God. Jesus, the greater Son of David, hanging in the darkness with the burden of humanity’s sin hanging heavy upon Him, commits His life to His Father. In committing Himself into His Father’s hands, He entrusts us as well, gathering all into His death that we might be gathered to Him in our death.
In Luther’s day, people were quite intentional about writing down their last thoughts and confession. What you said at your death was what would be remembered about you. This is Jesus’ last word of His being humbled unto death in obedience to the Law. This is the last word of His work that began with His Baptism where His Father voiced His approval over His beloved Son. Now at the end of His mission, His work completed, the Scriptures fulfilled, the redemption of the world accomplished, He closes His eyes and breathes His last breath with a faithful, trusting word.
Remember these words when it comes time for your last words and make them your “now I lay me down to sleep” prayer. Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit. Say them each night, as the Small Catechism instructs, in case you should die before you wake. Hold the cross of Jesus before your closing eyes, and rest in peace and joy, knowing that death has been swallowed up in the victory of Jesus’ death.

For Your last triumphant cry, for Your faithful trust to the end, for Your final breath of the old creation, for Your entrusting Yourself and us to Your Father, we give You thanks and praise, most holy Jesus. Amen.

Please cllick on the following link for a audio recorded version of this sermon

 

 

Jesus married? No….

3 Replies

The following is an article from the Huffington Post, which is not a credible source of much of anything, no less history, religion, philosophy. If you want inflammatory headlines, you definitely want this, and not credible journalism. At the very best I would describe the following as disingenuous, at best complete ignorance of any of the applicable scholarly subject. So read this and then I have my comments following:

“An ancient, business-card-sized papyrus fragment that appears to quote Jesus Christ discussing his wife is real, Harvard University announced Thursday. The fragment caused international uproar when it was revealed by a Harvard historian in September 2012, with prominent academics and the Vatican swiftly deeming it a forgery.

Harvard officials said scientists both within and outside the university extensively tested the papyrus and carbon ink of the badly aged fragment, dubbed the “Gospel of Jesus’ Wife.” The document, written in Coptic, a language of ancient Egyptian Christians, is made up of eight mostly legible dark lines on the front and six barely legible faded lines on the back. The handwriting and grammar were also examined over the last year and a half to confirm its authenticity. Scientists have concluded the fragment dates back to at least the sixth to ninth centuries, and possibly as far back as the fourth century.

The document was never meant to prove Jesus was married, Harvard Divinity School professor Karen L. King emphasized Thursday. Instead, she argued, it’s meant to highlight that some early Christians may have believed Jesus was married. The distinction is significant because debates over sexuality and marriage have dominated contemporary discussions about Christianity; the Catholic Church cites Jesus’ celibacy as one reason its priests must not have sex or marry.

“The main topic of the fragment is to affirm that women who are mothers and wives can be disciples of Jesus — a topic that was hotly debated in early Christianity as celibate virginity increasingly became highly valued,” King, whose specialties include Coptic literature, Gnosticism and women in the Bible, said in a statement Thursday. “This gospel fragment provides a reason to reconsider what we thought we knew by asking what the role claims of Jesus’ marital status played historically in early Christian controversies over marriage, celibacy, and family.”

The legible lines on the front of the artifact seem to form a broken conversation between Jesus and his disciples. The fourth line of the text says, “Jesus said to them, my wife.” Line 5 says “… she will be able to be my disciple,” while the line before the “wife” quote has Jesus saying “Mary is worthy of it” and line 7 says, “As for me, I dwell with her in order to …”

“The main topic of the fragment is to affirm that women who are mothers and wives can be disciples of Jesus…” First, of course women can be disciples of Jesus’. Any who are in Jesus should be His disciples. Who ever said they weren’t? You really have to reread this article with a critical eye.

Because this is an ancient document does not make it factual, the Bible is an ancient document, based on Bible copies going back to at least the 5th century (around the same time as this fragment) we know that the Bible we have today is very well documented. Why is this one fragment credible, and a document (the Bible) that can be traced back to the earliest times not credible?

The proponents of this are trying to say that the rap against this is a forgery. I haven’t read anyone that takes issue with whether it’s a forgery or not, the issue is whether it’s credible. Anyone could write something to be found hundreds of years later, the fact that it was discovered doesn’t make it fact. We are supposed to change all of history, theology because one scrap of paper was found??? Really!!! We have credible evidence of Scripture and writers dating back to the beginning, in straight succession to today. How does one unassociated scrap of paper change anything? During this period there were other writings that have shown to have no basis in fact. My fun example is always the “Gospel of Judas”. Help me out folks, the man was a traitor, he ran off and hung himself, and he still had time to write his gospel? Actually “gospel” means “good news” in Greek, so in Judas’ case it’s “not so gospel”. I don’t know? Fact is there are a lot of people out there with an agenda, with little scruples who will try to make a case out of anything they oppose. Also please note, this was written in Coptic. The language Jesus and His apostles spoke was Aramaic, essentially all their writings were in Greek, which was the common academic language of the time. Coptic is an Egyptian language, relatively speaking, israel and Egypt were a long ways a way. Why something written in a language that had nothing to do with Jesus’ contemporary life, at least four hundred years after Jesus, is being given any kind of credibility is, again, a mystery to me. A scrap of paper, in Coptic no less, doesn’t prove a thing, doesn’t change a thing. Someone back in that time wrote down their opinion, in a country very distant from Israel, and as far as I can tell would have no reason to have any first hand knowledge of Jesus’ life at all. Now Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, Jude, did and they don’t mention anything of the sort. Well yea, I guess we’re going back to fiction in the DaVinci Code. Hey Dan Brown said it was entirely fiction, yet we have people who worship his book/movie. Yea, don’t try to confuse me with the facts, just tell me what I want to believe.

Justified by the faith that God gives us

1 Reply

Justified by the faith that God gives us.
March 23, 2014 First St Johns

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and of God the Son and of God the Holy Spirit and all those who know the faith that God gives us, said … AMEN!

So Paul starts right out of the chute for us: “Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through out Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom 5:1) Faith one of the four onlys. I got a little red line in my word processor when I wrote “onlys” there is only one only, yet in Christ, there are four onlys. Remember back in confirmation, the four onlys that guide our faith, yea, I don’t know how you can have four superlatives, there’s good, better, best right? Best is the superlative, the best, there can only be one best, yet in the mystery of the Christian faith, we have four bests, four ultimates. Go figure? Sola Scriptura, sola gratia, sola Christi, sola fide. Only Scripture guides our life in Christ, only grace guides our life, only Christ guides our life and only faith/fide makes us righteous. Paul says we are “justified”, because of our faith in Christ we are justified, we are just. If we were brought to court, if we were accused, we would be found innocent, justified. Why? Because we are innocent? Ambrosiaster writes: “Faith gives us peace with God, not the law, for it reconciles us to God by taking away those sins which had made us God’s enemies. And because the Lord Jesus is the minister of this grace, it is through him that we have peace with God. Faith is greater than the law, because the law is our thing, whereas faith belongs to God. Furthermore, the law is concerned with our present life, whereas faith is concerned with eternal life. But whoever does not think this way about Christ, as he ought to, will not be able to obtain the rewards of faith, because he does not hold the truth of faith.”1 So, where do we get this faith? We have a lot of churches that teach that you are responsible for generating your own faith, if you aren’t stacking up, if you’re not healthy or pretty, or talented, or rich, it’s because you lack faith, they teach that God wants us to be happy, healthy, wealthy, pretty, talented, but if we can’t crank up our faith ability, well then it’s our fault and if we don’t make it in these areas it’s a sign that our faith is lacking. Can we, being sinner, somehow miraculously generate our own faith? By grace “sola gratia”, we are given the faith that we need through Jesus. God’s grace gives us the free gift of faith, nothing we can do can give us faith, or help us to increase our faith. We pray, we journal, we attend worship and receive absolution and the Body and Blood of Jesus, we study scripture and through these God gives us faith, God gives us what we need, when we need it. We can reject it, we can decide it’s not fast enough and far enough, like Israel in our Exodus reading. They decided, they wanted what they wanted now! It’s tough to be in the desert, no water in sight, wondering when you’re going to get your next glass of water. We’re all guilty of that, I’ve decided that this is what I need and I need it now. The Hebrew word hsn means to test, as the “Keyword Study Bible” points out: “the Lord has the right to test the faithfulness of His people, Abraham, Moses, David the people complaining to the leaders or the leaders complaining to God or both. And also the sense that God can test our faithfulness.”2 You probably saw the story in the last couple of weeks of the 18 year old daughter who sued her parents, because she felt she was entitled to support even though she was technically an adult. She picked up and left her home, but still expected her parents to foot the bill. The judge in the case according to the New York Post even “blasts her for gross disrespect”. Pretty much every article I saw about her described her as a spoiled brat. That is how the Israelites come off in our reading. God has miraculously delivered them from their grinding slavery in Egypt, he has provided them with food every day in the desert, He has provided them with clothing that for forty years will not break down, He has provided them with water and at the right time would have provided them with the water they needed, but because they were acting like spoiled brats and threatening to stone Moses, God gave in and gave them what they wanted. But they failed the test, God had kept them alive and promised to continue to do so, but they decided they were too important, God was continuing to give them faith, but they rejected it, got what they wanted, but failed. The Hebrew word ,byrI means to quarrel but has the same sense as the spoiled woman, that Israel was somehow entitled to plead their case in court against God, that they felt they were unfairly treated and “deserved” what they wanted.
If God is giving us our faith, we should know that God is faithful and therefore we really don’t have a right to test His faithfulness. The faith that He gives us is intended to be sufficient, when we presume to be above testing, we make an idol of ourselves, we decide that we are above that, too important for testing. Instead of looking for what God is doing in your life through this test, just like taking a history test to show how much you’ve learned in school, when we are tested we look for the lesson, the advancement in our life and grow in our relationship with God, in our ability to be a good disciple a disciple is a student, but he/she is also a teacher. We have to learn in order to be able to teach those who God gives us to disciple. What better way for someone to learn, then by you being able to say, this is how God taught me faithfulness, how God put me into a situation that tested my faith, this is what I learned, how I learned to apply the lesson and now I’m teaching you because of what I learned through God’s testing. Because at some point, that person that you are discipling is going to come into his/her own testing, and the hope is that they will remember what you taught them, see how God is working in their life and we pray their attitude will be, “ok God, I can see this is testing, help me to see what this is about and help me Lord to, essentially, pass this test.” Your disciple learns through your teaching, through the testing that God gave them and they grow as disciples and have something to pass on to those that they disciple. The cycle of life in the Christian life.
We see great examples of faith and we admire those who have lived a life of great faithfulness, St Patrick in last weeks sermon showed great faith in going back to dark, dangerous Ireland. Mother Theresa in the dark streets of Calcutta, St Paul going from city to city preaching a man who is God, who was crucified, and then resurrected. The suffering and testing these people were put through and to what end? None of them really knew in their lifetime, but years later we still remember and admire them, because they did not resist the faith that God gave them.
Chuck Swindoll writes about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn during his eight years in the Russian Gulag Archipelago: “…his parents died and his wife divorced him. Upon his release from prison he was dying of a cancer that was growing in him so rapidly that he could feel the difference in a span of twelve hours. It was at that point that he abandoned himself to God, in three lines of the incredible prayer that came in that dark hour: ‘Oh God, how easy it is for me to believe in You. You created a path for me through the despair … O God, You have used me and where You cannot use me, You have appointed others. Thank You.’” Do you want to be remembered as a spoiled brat? That it’s all about you and what God wants, what He is trying to do in your life doesn’t matter? Swindoll tells about a monument at Saratoga, the turning point battle in the American Revolution. The statue has four niches in it, one for each American general who participated in this vital battle, “the first stands Horatio Gates; in the second, Philip John Schuyler; and in the third, Daniel Morgan. But the niche on the fourth side is strangely vacant…” Anyone care to guess who should have been in that niche? … Benedict Arnold! “’The empty niche in that monument shall ever stand for fallen manhood, power prostituted, for genius soiled, for faithlessness to a sacred trust.’”3 We remember people like Arnold with contempt, we spit on the name when it’s mentioned. We remember the Israelites who so shamelessly rejected God’s faith and threatened His prophet and teach about them with contempt. We remember, someone like the Samaritan woman in our reading today and while she questioned Jesus, tested Him, she is remembered by us for her simple faith, she was the first woman evangelist. After she was given the faith to understand who Jesus is. She said to Jesus: “I know that Messiah is coming… and Jesus said to her ‘I who speak to you am he.” She rushed back to her village to tell everyone that Messiah was here and Jesus spent two days, with hated Samaritans and because of that many more were given the faith to believe “because of his word.” Do we want to live in faithfulness, to know true life in Christ, to daily remember our baptism in Him and His sacrifice for us and to trust in the hope and promises of our baptism? Or do we want to be remembered as the spoiled brat who sued her parents?
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.