Charlemagne Speech (802 AD)

Today is January 29 2021. Joe Biden was recently elected 46th president of the United States. He is claiming to be a devout Catholic. He attended mass and for some reason was not denied the Holy Eucharist. I see no reason why he should have been allowed to do so by any God fearing Faithful Catholic Priest. The democratic platform and Joe Biden’s personal record on the issues of abortion and gay marriage chief among the many publicly known mortal sins would be enough to deny him a place at the table of the Lord. That said, this post is simply a a reminder for many that it is possible to be in politics and be an actual devout Catholic. One who sets about his role as sovereign to not only the the physical well being of those under his rule but foremost to the conversion of all his subjects to the One True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The relationship with church and state according the the Tradition of the Catholic Church is one of strong integration. Enjoy.

The following speech of Charlemagne to his subjects, delivered in March 802 AD.

“Hear me, my beloved brothers! We were sent here for your salvation, to exhort you to faithfully follow the Law of God and to convert you, in justice and mercy, to obey the laws of this world.

“First, I exhort you to believe in the One Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: the only true God, perfect Trinity, true Unity, Creator of all things visible and invisible, Who is our salvation and the Author of all good things. Believe in the Son of God made man for the salvation of the world, born of the Virgin Mary by the work of the Holy Ghost. Believe that for our salvation He suffered death; and that on the third day He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God. Believe that He will return to judge the living and dead, and that He will give to each one according to his works.

“Believe in one single Church, the society of the blessed through the entire universe, and know that only they can be saved, and that the Reign of God belongs only to those who persevere to the end in this [Catholic] Faith. Those who are excluded from the Church because of their sins and do not return to her through penance, can never make any action accepted by God. Be convinced that with Baptism you received absolution of your sins. Trust in the mercy of God, Who daily forgives our sins through confession and penance. Believe in the resurrection of the dead, in eternal life and in the never-ending torment of the impious.

“This is the Faith that will save you if you keep it faithfully, and add to it the practice of good works, because Faith without works is a dead faith; and works without Faith, even when they are good, cannot please God. Therefore, love Almighty God above all things with all your heart and strength. With the help with His grace, do everything, always and as much as possible, that you believe will please Him. But avoid everything that displeases Him, for the man who pretends to love God and does not observe His Commandments lies.

“Love your neighbor as yourself, and give as many alms to the poor as you can, according to your means. Receive travelers in your houses, visit the poor, and show charity to the prisoners as much as you can. Do evil to no one, and make no compromise with those who do bad things, because it is bad to not only harm your neighbor, but also to be familiar with those who harm him.

“Mutually forgive offenses if you want God to forgive your sins. Rescue captives, help those who are unjustly oppressed, defend widows and orphans. Make judgments fairly; never favor any injustice, do not harbor long hatreds; avoid drunkenness and taking part in frivolous feasts.

“Be humble and good to one another; be faithful to your lords. Commit no robberies or perjuries, and avoid any acquaintance with those who commit them. Hatred, jealousie and violence separate us from the Kingdom of God. Reconcile with one another as soon as possible, for while it is human for men to sin, it is angelic to repent and diabolic to persevere in sin.

“Defend the Church of God and help her so that the priests of God can pray for us. Remember your promise in Baptism to renounce the Devil and his works. Do not return to him in anything; nor should you return to the works you have renounced, but rather follow the will of God as you have promised, and love the One who created you and gave you all the gifts and goods you possess.

“Each one should serve God faithfully in the place he finds himself. Wives should submit to their husbands in all goodness and modesty. They should avoid any dishonest action, and not poison others or be jealous, because those who do such actions are in revolt against God. They should raise their children in the fear of God, and give alms with a glad and joyous heart according to their means.

“Husbands should love their wives and speak no rude word to them; they should direct their homes with goodness and frequently gather in church. They should return to others what they owe them without murmuring, and with good will return to God what belongs to Him.

“Children should love and honor their parents; obey them in everything, and remain far from stealing, murdering and debaucheries.

“Clerics and canons should diligently obey the commands of their Bishops; they should live in their residences and not wander here and there among the people. Nor should they enter into secular questions. They should preserve their chastity: the reading of Holy Scriptures should remind them of their service to God and the Church.

“Monks should be faithful to the promises they made to God. They should not do anything against the will of their Abbots or seek any shameful personal benefit. They should know their rule by heart and follow it regularly, reminding themselves that it would be better not to have made any vow than to have made them and not be faithful to them.

“Dukes, counts and judges should be just with the people and merciful to the poor. They should never sell justice for money, and never allow a personal hatred to lead them to condemn an innocent man. They should always have these words of the Apostle in their hearts: ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that which he has done, whether it be good or bad.’ (2 Cor. 5:10) The Lord expressed this by the following words: ‘For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged’ (Matt 7:2); “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hidden, that shall not be known. (Luke 12:2) ‘That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment’ (Matt 12:36).

“We must make an effort, therefore, with the help of God, to please Him in all our actions so that after this present life, we will merit eternal happiness in the company of the Saints of the Lord. This life is short, and the hour of death is uncertain. What matters except to be ready? Let us not forget how terrible it is to fall into the hands of the Lord. By means of confession, penance and alms, we make the Lord become merciful and clement. If He sees us turn to Him with a sincere heart, He will show us pity and will have mercy on us.

“May God grant us prosperity in this life and an eternity with His Saints in the future life.

“God keep you, my beloved brothers!”

Looking for a good Church: In search of Christian fellowship and Brotherhood.

One of the reasons I have been lax in finding a church to go to since moving to Kentucky is because I honestly have not been sure of where I should go. For years during my time with YWAM I would typically look for a non-denominational church. I wanted to hear a weighted message from the pastor. I also didn’t want to be bothered with angry sermons. For some time we went to an Assemblies of God church but got burnt out on the hype. In my time in YWAM not only was I exposed to many other friends who came from different denominational traditions but we went to just about ever main type of church out there. YWAM its self had an imbalance of folks from the charismatic churches like Assemblies of God, Pentecostal, and non-denominational. It was rare for me to meet others from the baptist church, or from episcopal backgrounds. I may have meet a few from Catholic backgrounds, one or two from Orthodox background. It was not super uncommon either to meet folks from Methodist or Wesleyan churches.

Then there was my scholarly work that i spent most of my 8 year in YWAM working on. The primary focus was scripture and interpreting scripture with illumination from historical context and guidance from the holy spirit and the counsel of other people of God who had the same pursuit of such revelations. I absolutely loved this work and believe this was the best thing about YWAM. Our team of scholars and teachers within the Chronological School of Biblical Studies. So during the course of these year I also took it upon myself to understand the various traditional denomination differences in interpretation of books and the different doctrines of the faith accordingly.

All that to say Ive not really been sure where if anywhere I would fit within the church. I have many of my own opinions. I don’t have hatred for the church. Even the ones I have the most objections to their traditions or their doctrines. In fact even though I remain opposed to the Catholic doctrines on the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, immaculate conception, and some other minor issues -I feel there is a lot that is lost with the break in unity with Roman Catholics around the world. It really is sad the disunity of the church. Though necessary, it is sad. Because when we break unity with true believers we lose the ability to counter balance each other with doctrines and traditions that are not always opposed to each other but complimentary to each other. Sometimes we reach important impasses and a correct and official doctrine is needed. But sometimes I think its really unfortunate that the church has not been able to appreciate each others unique perspectives on divine revelation. There are so many schisms in the church, throughout history, every day there are new divisions in the church over minor differences.

Thus I am not eager to embrace a place in only one tradition. Within the nest of one set of doctrines. I foresee attending two or three churches regularly and seeking fellowship with people of faith from as many denominations as I can. I hope to be used by God as a peacemaker between people of a genuine faith. Its a difficult year for this in part because people are not as eager to get out and meet with strangers. But I am beginning to scout people of faith for this kind of fellowship.

The other difficulty with finding a church to take part in has more to do with cultural issues than doctrine.

This is actually pretty important. I like the Anglican and Episcopal church for instance for a number of reasons. However I’m not interested in just going and finding an episcopal church near me without some research as to the culture of the church itself and the degree to which the church is changing its moral and ethical positions on a few key issues. Those issues being the LGBT agenda, (gay marriage being sanctified by the church, gay clergy, etc.) The other issue being abortion. I don’t want any part of a church that condones choice. I am 100% pro-life on the issue of abortions. The other thing I’m looking for is a church with strong male leadership. This does not mean I’m completely opposed to a church with female clergy. As a male I want to join a church with a strong male presence. I recognize I may have to assist in contributing to the positive male energy in a church if it is not already present. However that is something that’s important to me. There is actually another cultural thing that I’m looking for and willing to contribute towards fostering if I am to finally find a good fit. That is a sort of deeds and not words mentality. Defending the faith is not merely a words issue. Though I do love discussion and debate and philosophizing. I believe there is a sever lack of action among the faithful. This could mean doing cleanups, and simple volunteerism. But I also wish to see the church with strongly mobilized men. Ready to take any action necessary for defending the church, and the cultural traditions valued by the people of faith. This brotherhood of Christian men who embrace tradition and faith also have a deep love and devotion to country. They are willing to act in defense of these things should opportunities arise for them to stand. I realize this is probably not actual common in many churches at all. But this is one of those things I’m considering when I look for the right church or churches to partner with. I want to see this take place. Christian Brotherhoods.

For years I have believed in the uniquely blessed character of the West and of the concept of Christendom. These concepts have not been limited to the west but are concentrated in them without interruption for the past two thousand plus years. I am looking for a brotherhood of Christian men who also understand this. Who know that this is something worth fighting for. That fighting to defend the family, faith, and tradition is a birthright for all men. It is their destiny. And no I am not speaking solely of simple physical violence. It is the mentality first and foremost that men remember the basic principles of scripture that no matter how good things have become. No matter how civilized and structured the modern world is. There is still evil in the world. Evil that wishes to claim the souls of men and of Christian society. If and when this happens -indeed it already is, then men will be required to do as they have done before. To stand their ground. NO! To do more than stand their ground. To primitively root out evil before it can do all that we know it will do if it goes unchallenged.

There is not peace when the righteous do not resist evil.

Peace no doubt is important and Christian. We are to pray for THE PEACE OF GOD. There is such a thing as false peace. There is also mans peace, though it may be real it is not a lasting peace and must be fought for again and again in order to preserve it. There is also the devils peace. It is a false peace. It is the kind of peace that cripples great men from fighting with God to achieve his peace. It is the kind of thing that has “Christian” men and women accepting the wholesale slaughter of the unborn and the infants. Those tiny children of God violently torn from the sacred womb of their mothers by steel and metal tools of destruction. It is in Satan’s peace that “christian” men and women accept sinners into the church not with the hope of spiritual freedom from the grip of sin and its destructive ends but just as Adam and Eve sought to hide themselves with fig leaves. We desperately attempt to cover their sins with inadequate sacrifice. GOD SAID WHEN YOU EAT OF THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT YOU WILL SURELY DIE!!! Only a blood sacrifice could cover sin against God. When we bring people into the church following confession of sin and statements of Faith we do not say to them ‘now continue to be who were before you met God.’ With God we are a new Christian. We follow the mandate and design he laid out for us in the beginning. We are not perfect, we are not sinless, but we strive for Gods design. We strive for obedience. For some this is harder to do. But for those who have been raised by good parents, who love each other as Christ Loves the church, and who are examples for their children and raise them in the wisdom of God and the Love of God it is much easier. The more we as a culture push people to be who they feel like being. People who already come from broken homes. People who have no mentors who loved them and believed in them and instilled in them wisdom from God. We push them into the clutches of Satan. The further we push them to accept themselves or whatever secular aim the further we push them from the grace of God. It is difficult for people to sacrifice themselves to God when they have been convinced that who you have decided to be is all that there is, that without who you have chosen to be without God is the only real thing you have. It becomes incomprehensible to these lost people to embrace God who asks that you lay down your life so you can take it up again renewed. In other words weak cultured woke “Christians” are doing the work of Satan. Love people absolutely. Love them as Christ loves them. Just remember that Christ’s love for sinners is not what “saves” them. Love is why God in Christ was Incarnate and Crucified. Those who come into the church of God do so through the finished work of God in Christ with the hope of being made whole. Of being made new, born again to a new family who makes sure you are raised to walk in newness of life with God according to his image, his design. Being saved is not a prayer it is a life with God, with his true church. Churches who attempt to sanctify gay marriage, gay clergy, and remain silent and unopposed to abortion are heretical churches who themselves are in the clutches of Satan. True believers aught to distance themselves from these so called churches of God.

All that to say, the Anglican and Episcopalian recently had a big split in unity over the issue of same sex marriage and clergy. This is happening all over the place. So its not as simple as saying, ‘Oh, I like this churches traditions or doctrines, Ill go there.’ You have to double check to see if the church is part of the portion that affirmed same sex unions or the one that did not and split off. This is happening in Anglican, Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist, nondenominational, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc. Most if not all churches are having to make a stand on this or continue to be changed with the times and most seem to be having more schisms over this. I currently don’t know a single Catholic who believes the current pope to be a real Catholic after the recent moves he has made to make church doctrine come in line with what is culturally acceptable and right. More divisions to come on this issue and I for one am seeking union with people of faith who while willing to go to great lengths to show love for all people will not suffer the family of God to be corrupted by the work of Satan. This is the great fight of the church down through the ages. Many different battles from the same enemy who devises new schemes for infiltration the church.

That brings me to the last cultural issue that I am hesitant to make union with other churches over and that is the satanic work Marxist ideology and its many front groups. I’m going to go into this in detail for today. It is a believe worthy of a full treatment in a series of posts related to it. This is actually very serious as well and already creeping into the church for its undoing and I’m sick of it.

Ive gone into quite a lot here for today. The main point being is that I am on a journey to seek out people who are staunch and sincere in their faith. I want to be unified with people who though I may not agree with all of their doctrines are people who will not allow the church to be infiltrated by heretics and tear down the family of God. I want to be unified with people of action who also seek to protect and preserve all of the expressions of the people of God in the wider culture. The kingdom of God may not be here in fullness but it is here in and through the true church of God. Historical and presently this body is reflected in the establishment of great nations who the very much imperfect are worth defending and building up, not tearing down.

For the time being I have found strength in unity with the local Orthodox Church (Byzantine Rite) and the Anglican Church (ACNA). I also have a nearby Southern Baptist church that I am seeking fellowship with though not as often. I see no reason not to seek fellowship with any people of a sincere faith in the Trinitarian God of Scripture. I will continue to post updates here as this develops.

I’m Back – Stop Regression – (The answers to the worst of our problems in 2020 are in the past not in the ethos. In others words Progressivism is a virus -Tradition is the cure)

2020 has been a year from Hell.

But with all this time contemplating how we got here I’m determined that its going to make me better. In many ways I’m very much not better yet. Right now I’m less healthy then i was to start the year. So much stress, so much disruption to all of my good habits and hobbies that kept me physically fit. But the year has caused me to look a little deeper and remember what is important. Its uncomfortable. Its inconvenient. Part of me want to just give up on life. Play more Xbox, watch more TV, and drink more bourbon. Certainly that is what I have done as an initial reaction to the frustration and depression this year has brought.

I’m still not physically back to where I want to be but I am working on that again. I’m also determined to return to the books and the learning that I do love. Before moving to Kentucky I spent most my hours deep in research, or at the very least always flipping through a book or two on history, philosophy, theology, culture, biblical studies, religion, worldview, and generally widening my mind to perspectives and ideas. This still is very important. Ive continued reading and done some study over the past 5 years. This year with more time on my hands Ive rediscovered some of that passion for this. I have delved ever deeper into topics such as political science and theory, the role of government, history of race in America, economics, class struggles. This was no doubt motivated by one of the most insane political years in American history with more twist and turns to come I’m quite sure. I intend to bring here a new aspect of who I have become over the past 5 year as I am not the same person i was then. Though Id say I’ve changed very little in some respects and maybe quite a lot in others.

But the main question. The question I’m sure many others have been asking and contemplating this year.

• HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Yikes, I mean am i really going to be able to answer that? I guess for now I wont really try to give any real justice to such a question. But maybe a simple anecdote.

I was looking for a segue back into this blog. I feel its such an abrupt end to what was a really enjoyable blog to writing almost nothing for five years. Part of me really wishes i had filled the last 5 years with my standard weekly or twice a week post. Incredibly this page gets a decent amount of traffic considering Ive been completely inactive on here for five years. But here we are.

Political history may begin to fill up some of the space in this blog. But perhaps not today.

True to the real nature of this blog I believe we are here today at this moment of turmoil because of what has been lost. This as opposed to what some say many are still clinging to. For instance. In 2019 Toxic Masculinity was under fire. Negative ad campaigns discouraging “Toxic” masculinity. Without going into great detail as many have already done. This attack seems to me and many others completely out of touch with current society. If anything its apparent to me and many if not almost everyone I come into contact with that masculinity is almost completely missing. Its gone. Its not something that needs to go because its not something that seems to even be present. The finger can be pointed in so many directions. Broken homes, absent fathers, break down of traditional parental roles being chief among them. But there are other culprits contributing directly to the break down in male psychology.

This is just an example. Masculinity is lacking. Its not something we’ve had an abundance of so that now it has become toxic and dangerous because men don’t know how to be sensitive. Men are too sensitive. Men are too submissive. Masculine men lead, they act, they speak with authority. They defend their honor their property, they protect those they love, they stand up to tyrants and bullies. They are not controlled by any man but by their own sense of right and wrong. Masculinity is also humble when confronted by difficulty and wonder but resolved to overcome what must be for the sake of self preservation and care for those less capable. Masculinity is in short supply. Toxic Masculinity to is almost non existent as a result.

We are here because of the many things that we have lost or worse that have been stripped away from us. Was it out negligence, our laziness, our complacency? Was it a great enemy, someone who means us great harm by stripping us of the many things that we have lost that bring us to this point of desperation and chaos? Will we find it within ourselves to begin now to do the fighting we must do to retain all that is lost? Are we willing to change those things in our-self that must be changed?

Who now is telling us still that is those who hold on to what is old, from days past, from the wrong side of history who hold back “progress”? Who is telling us that our traditions are no longer important? That the world as it was before is backwards?

Progressive philosophy coupled with Marxist ideology and a deadly combo. This is a rough start back on the blog. But these themes are hard on my mind this year. I’m sure I will have more on male psychology and roles or men and women in society. Many things have changed. Traditionalism is not simply about returning to the old days exactly as they were. Instead its going back to specific things that worked. Recovering what was lost by recovering small pieces that are the building blocks of strong and prosperous societies.

Art in the Bible (Part 3): What is Romans all about?

Two Basic points Paul wants to clarify for the church in Rome. How to gain membership in the covenant people of God and what it means to be a member of that covenant family.

What are the implications of this kind of reading of Paul in Romans?

Romans: Not what I expected

Romans is not at all what I had always thought of it as. When I began by School of Biblical Studies in YWAM 8 years ago I thought that Romans was the book I needed to know because this was the most theological book of the bible. I will not doubt in the strict sense of the word that Romans is a book that reveals more about who God is and is therefore a book about theology. However I always felt that how the theology of Paul worked was based around how to get Saved as an individual.

Of course this was of huge concern to me coming into the school because I had encountered some very strong (and I mean hyper) Calvinistic folks right before coming to do my CSBS. So I wanted to be sure Salvation was in fact by faith. Strangely my dilemma with Salvation by Faith was that I felt that there must be some kind of importance in my own heart, and mind, regarding the decision to actually have faith. I was shocked really after getting to Romans and after spending a few years coming back to Romans to the same issue.

Romans was a book written to a specific community of Jews and Gentiles in the first century AD. It was not written directly to me about Salvation. In fact it was not even written to them simply about how individuals get saved. Though there are passages that can be used to clarify how Individual Salvation works. I was shocked to find that it is a book written to groups, groups that Paul wished would learn to have fellowship together and call themselves the true Israel of God.

So then, the book references so much from the OT, stories, symbols, practices. It is a book certainly written with the Jewish people in mind. They are one of the communities he is speaking to. He uses the stories and symbols not at random to prove theological points. Instead he uses them (often in order) to show that there is an ongoing story of Gods redemptive work in the world. How that plan started when the race of man fell, or rather rejected God and his original plan. So God starts with plan two so to speak. Abraham, the rest of the patriarchs, Exodus, Law, Land, Temple, Exile, and eventually he climaxes with Christ. He retells the story to show that God had a plan to use the family of Abraham, to give him land, law, influence. But that just as Adam rejected Gods plan so Israel rejected Gods plan, they embraced pagan lifestyle. But what about the Jew during the time of Paul. They did not reject Gods Law. Some say they made an idol of it. That is very simplistic. However, I think it is not far from what Paul himself thinks is the problem in his own day. Paul’s thoughts on the Law are not limited to such a simple reduction. Its perhaps one of the most perplexing parts of Paul. I have written at length in other posts about that specifically. But in summary here I think Paul believed there were multiple functions that Law played both pre-Jesus and post-Jesus.

It did pronounce judgement. It did serve as revelation of God and witness to surrounding nations. It did intend to shape identity of Israel. Some focus in on specific uses of the Law because so many wish to simplify what Paul says about the Law. But to ask Paul to give one purpose for the Law would actually be very crude. Paul was a Jew. Jews in the first century saw a great many uses of the Law. One of which was that by paying close attention to it, study, and practice would bring about Gods blessing in the form of his deliverance and vindication of Israel. In short, Law brought salvation. Paul because of his faith in a faithful Jewish Messiah believes this has already taken place in Jesus. But of course Paul’s twist is that when God did what he had always promised to do in the Messiah he did it not just for the vindication of Israel in the Flesh but for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Passages that always terrified me in Romans could be narrowed down to two references to the OT. First is when Paul is telling the story of the Exodus and Pharaoh and the second is when he is talk about how God had always made distinctions between the people of Jacob and the people of Esau. The combination of God hating Esau, and God manipulating the heart of Pharaoh made me scared to press in any further. But why did Paul use those quotes of OT passages? Pharaohs heart was in fact hardened by God to bring about his salvation for all people, Jews and Egyptians alike. And God did not actually hate Esau or his family. Paul quotes this as a reminder that God simply made a distinction between Israel in the Flesh and its fleshly enemies. God had a plan for ethnic or fleshly Israel. That is why there is a distinction. They are being called to account for why they failed to carry out Gods plans of blessing the nations around them. Thus, the reference to Esau and Jacob is not about blind favoritism. It is about who had the greater responsibility. Paul goes on to say that it is in fact these tribes and nations that are coming into the Israel of God by faith, that they are being grafted in.

In short one of Paul’s most profound points is that being the people of God, the Israel of God, the Elect, is not just about privileged but it is about responsibility. This is my summarizing title for the book of Romans.

“The Story and the Future of the People of the One God”

Thus Paul is not doing Theology so much as he is implementing the use of Jewish story telling, with the key themes being eschatology, election, and monotheism.

Art & Bible: Part 1

This is the first of a series of posts on Theology, World View (both ancient and modern, east and western), and my own Art. I would not consider myself an artist really but I enjoy it. I’ve no training or art classes. But sometimes I will be spending hours studying and the urge to draw something comes over me and once I actually sit down and draw or maybe paint something my brain feels better and I am able to continue working. So I have two projects. One of them is an Old Testament project to teach the book of Genesis in Salem Oregon in the spring of 2015, and then to teach the book of Romans for the first time in Tijuana, and in Honolulu with the CSBS in the spring of 2015 as well. I have piles of resources I will be going through and projected hours of time in study. I want to make a plan now to produce no less then 20 posts here on bibleontap over the coming months that include my art and theological and cultural ramblings from this or that area of my study in both Genesis and Romans. These two books I believe are two of thee most essential texts of scripture one could set out to study. Please join me and give your feedback along the way.

This particular drawing is one I did in just a couple of minutes and it is what gave me the idea for this blog roll. I had already spent about 4-5 hours grinding away and then I just thought I want to draw a picture of the Apostle Paul. I have done this sort of thing before in prep for teachings as it helps me focus and connect more with the particular author or character I am studying.

When the church first reached Rome it was mostly a Jewish thing. The first churches of Rome were likely held in Synagogues and I doubt we would be able to tell the difference between a strictly Jewish synagogue in ancient Rome and a Christian one. Crazy thought. But then in 49 AD Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. The church in Rome, in a blink of an eye, now becomes a mostly Gentile church. Then during the reign of Nero in 54 AD they were allowed back into Rome. It is a post 54 AD church in Rome that Paul writes his famous epistle to. The disunity of the church is apparent in his writing. His central focus is the work of God throughout history climaxing in his work of Christ. Though Romans is one of the most generally theological books it is not a book in which he specifically set out to be theological, or to write a letter about how to be saved. Many going along the whole “Romans Road” concept with Romans believe it to be a book that one would study to be sure how to be saved. The typical answer for many is now a compact definition based off of the passage in Romans, “Saved by grace through faith…”. Though this can often mislead folks. You might say to some one, this is how you get saved. Have faith. Someone might respond, “well, I’m not sure if I can right now. I don’t think I am ready to have faith.” In other words, just that line stripped out of context gives no hope to mans situation. Paul did not set out to give the church a simple formula for salvation. He set out to tell the story well. He begins in Adam, and explains Abraham, Moses, Egypt, David, Prophets, Exile, and more climaxing of course in the part of the story where God shows up and finishes the great work of salvation for all. This is less likely to mislead folks today. People need to know the story of how God did the work of salvation. Faith then is not a human effort to believe in something. It is simply what happens when people are confronted with the wonderful story of Gods work of salvation through out history and in Christ. Faith happens when people gladly receive and believe in the wonderful story.

Often the approach to a book like Romans (or the bible for that matter) goes like this; “What must I do to be saved?” And we force the conversation with scripture and the interpretation of it around that question. But that is really the wrong question to begin with. Many well meaning theologians all across Christian history have attempted to give answers to that question rather then present a better question as a starting point. The right question might then be; “How has God brought Salvation?” Coming at it in this way opens the door to really see the power of what Paul is doing throughout the book. More then ‘theology’ as we think of it Paul is being sort of Hebrew. He is telling a story of the one Gods redemptive work in the world.

Medieval Man – Modern Man – Post-Modern Man

The Medieval Man had God and Religion at the center of all things. Kings were baptized and whole kingdoms across Europe   became Christian before the individuals that make up that Kingdom ever heard the gospel of Christ. On the surface this is neither encouraging or something to boast about as a Christian. But what does the gesture imply for the future of that nation. Again, your answer may be that the implications lend toward a Christian culture in name while remain ignorant to what God has done and desires to do in the world through the church. This may be true as well. Wow! I’m really digging myself a hole here. 🙂 However disastrous we may think these types of things to be that happened throughout the middles ages they do say something of the place of God and religion in a culture. And that is to say that God and Religion were right at the forefront of things. Kings and other rulers were baptized and whole kingdoms “became” Christian. Over time this had an extraordinary effect. At some point individuals hearing the gospel caught up a little bit and the presence of Popes, local Bishops, perish priests, and enclaves of hermits and monks brought something of the essence of real Christianity to Europe. Though not thoroughly and as we might wish. And from an early time God and Religion were understood to be essential to the life and culture of the West. Though I am dealing primarily with the West there was a similar emphasis with Christians in the East and in Africa. Placing God at the center had an extraordinary effect. Great advances in technology and science culminated around the 1400-1500’s to spark the Scientific Revolution with great contributions coming from Roman Catholics and Protestants across Europe, from some Persians in the East, and a handful of Africans. It was however primary an endeavor of European Christians. In other words the scientific revolution was an outgrowth not of recovered Greek learning but of Christian doctrine. There is so much upheaval then taking place at this point in history. The protestant reformations, the secular revolutions, and the so called enlightenment. I believe the enlightenment term to be useful in explaining that what many experienced as a result of reformations, and revolutions, was that having God and religion at the center no longer seemed valid.  Philosophers such as Edward Gibbon, Voltaire, and Rousseau to name a few were a large reason for the violent dismantling of matters of faith from matters of real life and philosophy. It is by understanding the work of enlightenment figures and their influence that we can approach the Modern era clear headed about the nature of it. Of course I believe it helps to have a realistic honest look at the Middle Ages if we want to look critically at these “Enlightenment” figures and what the propose to be true about life and faith.

The Modern man is now a man who has removed God from the center. He may not have removed God completely but like many of those original figures mentioned above, God was banished to the clouds. He no longer belonged anywhere near this reality and what we mean we speak about reality in the universe. It has been throughout this Modern era that man removed God from Science. Once you arrive at the current time, science has become something seemingly incompatible with God and matters of faith. This took place over a period of time. Two great leaps forward from God happened with the enlightenment figures of 1600-1700 and with one particular individual during the mid 1800’s, Charles Darwin. The first leap was to place God off in the distant, and the second leap to banish God completely from reality. Before the turn of Darwin’s century a man by the name of Friedrich Nietzsche said that “God is Dead” and in the coming century men would no longer speak of him. So confident men became in a Science that is free from God and religious talk that eventually we make our way to the horrors of the 20th century. It is only here in the first 50 years of the 20th century that man begins to have sensible doubt regarding the unchecked positivism in human endeavors. But what could one do with God out of the picture, and now man out of the picture? Where can we turn. For Americans at least there was turning back to God, and a putting your hand to the work of rebuilding your life with God and family at the center. But another war dragged on stirring up doubt and mistrust in “the man” at the center. Young people sought an escape, sought a revolution, clung to ideologies, experimented with drugs, sex, thrills, and rock n’ roll.

The Modern man is now a Post-modern man. Uncertain of anything he tries everything and hesitantly agrees with everyone unless someone believes in absolute claims about truth, meaning, morality, origins, and destination. Man is no longer certain about placing any one thing at the center. So he places many things at the center and is unsure what he believes and why, and where it is taking him. If he is sure of anything it is that he can not be sure of anything, that he is broken, frustrated, confused. Yet he constantly seeks validation and does not wish to be corrected. He is looking for someone who will agree with him and feels obligated to agree with everyone else. Unsure of what is up and what is down the post-modern man is tempted simply to take a step back, to place himself, his endeavors, and his own gain at the center of everything. What you then have is a post-modern man being reborn as a Modern drone-man without a soul. A man who hesitantly placed something specific in the center only for the sake of getting on with life. Even though he embraced some of the ideals of the modern life he is still a post-modern man. The original Modern man still had God in view and could not completely push him out. It is these lifeless zombies of post-modernism that lack God and eventually hopelessly leap into the dark for meaning.

Conclusion: Post-Modern youth have grown up and eventually and hesitantly re-embraced the modern ideal. If you want to have a job and get on in life then you need to re-embrace those ideals. But again, that does not make you modern. There is a real transition we have undergone. The answer to understanding post-modern man actually lies in our knowledge of Modern man, and the Medieval man. If your are a christian trying to learn to communicate you need to be able to paint the picture as I have. To see the ways in which the church engaged and came under the influence of each era and to what degree did Christians resist and maintain a biblical worldview and way of looking at reality. In other words though the Middles ages were rife with problems, corruptions, and tares among the wheat, it was a time in which God was placed at the center. Men like Martin Luther saw the corruption and error of the time piling up to something intolerable and sought to preserve the centrality of God, scripture, and faith at the center. It was the middle ages that gave us men like Luther, Augustine, and Francis of Assisi. Though God may be given a high place in culture it takes the work of devoted men and women of God to make that a lasting thing with depth. Without such men, their is such a high level of hypocrisy that people will get tired of it and seek to remove religious folk and their ‘god’ along with them from the center place. I’m crazy enough to believe that good people seeking to place God at the center and not man or even the church in the center will bring about a great healing. God at the center is the answer. I’m not advocating that we need a replica of the Medieval Christian world, what I am really aiming at is the principle at play in that era which culminated in more freedom, more churches, more education, more science, more human potential, and more progress. That the idea of human progress can not sustain itself without God, without morality, without meaning, without truth, without origins and destination.

For more on the middles ages. A personal favorite area of research and study for me check out these posts.

The Myth of the Dark Ages

Two Historical Myths – Two Historical Revisions: Part 1

Two Historical Myths – Two Historical Revisions: Part 2

“Enlightenment” Myth

Reformation Rethought

Reńe Descartes: Foundations for Modern Science

What kind of Christian am I?

Here is something for change. I am being introspective.

As I read, study, and do life with other Christians in Mexico of all places I wonder what Christian category I actually fit into in all of my beliefs. I have been a part of YWAM for the last 8 years. Crazy! I’ve been a part of the CSBS for the past 7 years. So what that means is I have been a bit of a bible nerd for all that time. Over the past 4 years I have begun to really broaden my reading and writing habits. I mean broaden, in that I have been reading more then the bible. But that is perhaps the first observation about myself. Reading the bible so much and studying it in context did something to my brain. I think perhaps seeing the bible as one story, a story that fits into real history, a story that covered centuries of history and exposed me to new kinds of literature and authors. Essentially it was a new education, using an entire library of information presented in poetic form as well as prose. For me this study sparked an interested in adding to that sacred library more and more material. I have taken a strong liking to the kind of extra biblical material that challenges and enriches my understanding of the sacred library. Books about ecology, psychology, history, sociology, worldviews, science, and an ever broadening list of subjects. Of course the list of reading material includes a ton of theology stuff. I still don’t have a large appetite for theological debates. But as I have engaged in new theologies, and old theology I have began to wonder about this question: “What am I”?

I read about Reformed tradition, Anglican, conservative evangelical, charismatic, Catholic, emergent, orthodox, neo-orthodox and on and on. Ive read and engaged with a lot of church history and history of Christian thought and still I’m wondering where someone might fit me. I feel this way in part because I serve in YWAM, an Inter-denominational organization. We have people from all traditions and non-traditions in our tribe of Jesus followers.

I come from the Baptist Tradition. GARBC to be exact. My Father, my grandfather, and my three uncles are pastors with GARBC churches in the state of Michigan. I suppose you could say I have carried my share of disillusionment with the church. But over the past 8 years things have shifted. I have sought to find a clearer head in regards to what my thoughts are about church and about the kingdom of God. I now have a stronger love for the local church then I ever have. She has her problems and people will always line up to point them out. To me this is one of the observations I have been seeing. You know it is the church because people are watching to see inconsistencies with beliefs and actions. The most common accusation of Christians may be that we are hypocritical. I think it is important for the church to recognize its inconsistencies and respond to the critics with candor and sincerity to change.

My own disillusionment with the church lead me to explore some of the “Emergent” authors; McLaren, Bell, Campolo, Rollins, McManus. I have enjoyed to some degree a lot of what these guys do and say. I have not disagreed with them on each and every point. But in the end I’m not what we are calling “Emergent”. I don’t know… I think its just not cool to stay disillusioned forever. Some of the Emergent guys are doing quite well because its sexy to be disillusioned, confused, “broken”, and uncertain. It is not cool to know something for sure, its not cool to be healthy or to want to be healthy, and doctrine/theology/history is not cool at all. Its all just power play and dogmatism. So while a agree with some of the tough criticism that “emergent” writers bring on the established church I don’t in the end wind up an emergent. I’m not emergent in the same way that I would not consider myself a modern, pure materialist, humanist, secularist, blah blah blah. I am of course a person who lives in what many consider a post-christian, post-modern world and I am effected by much of the thinking, and the style of the rest of my generation. But I suspect that In order not to be cast off as a super old school, pre-historic conservative I need to find the right brand for myself. Maybe someone can help give me some insight as to what I am.

My title suggest that I might just fit right in with the Emergent crew. Because I seem to be unsure about what I am. But I’m not really unsure about what a believe. Check out my blog. I have lots of opinions and I am under no illusion that my beliefs are wrong. I believe most of them to be correct. In all humility I hope to correct the existing mistakes. But they are either correct, or they are mistakes. The only in between for me is that I do believe things aught to be looked at from different perspectives. This is actually post-modern more then it is a modern or pre-modern way of thinking. However, it is also an ancient Hebrew way of thinking. So I would not say that this acknowledgement of the need to asses truth from different perspectives is post-modern pollution of Christianity. Its like, why did God provide two accounts of the history of Kings in Judah with Kings and Chronicles? Why are there two accounts of creation? What we end up with is further enrichment of revealed truths. We are not talking about opposing contradictory messages. What we have are two complementary views about reality. Jeremiah paints a portrait of a failing monarchy and a decaying community headed for hard times. Ezra takes the same original model and paints a complementary portrait identifying the particular features that would help the community at a much later date to put things back together. The fact that this is happening in the bible affirms the validity and benefit from seeing things at different angles for a clearer grasp of the truth.

So aside from needing to get new perspectives I feel that I am either bringing truth or stumbling through error. Feel free to read, agree, or disagree. For now Ive have enough self evaluation. Just to wrap up. I love the church. It has issues here and there, but I love the church. Whatever your creed or tribe I love to see the gathering of folks seeking Jesus ans seeking to bring him out into the world initiating a transformation that he completes. God Bless.

Paul and Titus: A model of Transformation

In the Letter to Titus  –  Paul says ‘good works’ a lot. Why?

In light of the book of Galatians, where for to many, it would seem to indicate that works are not of great value for the spiritual life. That by faith and by Grace alone are we enabled to live a Godly life. Works alone then are of no use in ones spiritual life. This is a rough synopsis of only some of the thought coming out of Galatians and the language of Paul.

But even following up with that in his other books it is clear that what he means to say and often does with as much clarity. That no amount of good works ever saved anyone. That only by the goodness of Christ has anyone found adoption into the household of God. (Titus 3:5-7)

That said, the emphasis seems always to be on our endless desire to define “Salvation” into a science of belief, and prayer. Making it as simple as possible for us to add to our numbers and feel better about ourselves. If all I need to do is say a prayer, or believe in my heart then many will gladly do it and go on with their lives unchanged. Fortunately and unfortunately for some that is just not a message to be found in the bible.

Paul is quite clearly emphasizing in most of his work the full picture of salvation. It is not limited to the moment when you pass from death to life but expanded to the whole picture if what it looks like when one passes from death to life. Not that your eternity can not be sealed in a moment. Paul emphasis good works in Titus slowing once to point out that good works are possible because Jesus was ‘good’ first in every way. His good works made it possible for the adoption, salvation, cleansing of “us” for the purpose of good works.

In order to know the real purpose of good works at all then you need to know what the two silly words really mean. What are we to think of when we consider the value of good deeds. The only alternative translation might be “Beautiful Works”. This begins to highlight a theme Paul speaks of often. That from the beginning of time man was created for good or beautiful works.

The Garden was the place where man was created and given the task of creating and nurturing life to make more life and even make it better. (Eph 2:10) Good works touches on more then just religious activity like we might be inclined to think it is when we consider Galatians and the “good works” of the Judaizers. But good works of the rest of Paul’s writing often indicates a much larger concept. That good works is about the creative and endless potential of man. Man made in Gods image means in part, that man has infinite potential for creatively living life and giving life. What a massive influence then Paul letter might have with the despised people of Crete, who may yet walk in a new identity full of “good works”. They are not only encouraged to start in the institute of family life, and church life, but also into the public sphere.

Crete is full of bad works. Full of men and women resembling in almost know way the idea that they are made in the image of a good God. In fact quite the opposite is believed and lived by. They reflect the story that has been told about them.

The church needs to find order first, then the family of Christians, then begin to show good works toward to public sphere. Perhaps Titus is a model for community development.

Paul is not just about starting churches, but about starting organized and healthy churches that have healthy families that find creative ways to make whole cities and governments healthy.

Paul’s “Good Works” then becomes another ‘cargo ship’. It is loaded with a whole story of what Good works really is. It is like sin. Sin has a story. Its not just important to avoid sin because its sinful. But because of what sin really is. Sin is actually connected with the idea of good works. Christians have often settled for “not sinning” when they called to “DO, Good Works”. Its not about what we are not doing so much as about what we are doing for the kingdom of God. Titus is a book written to Titus and his community of believers who need to grasp on to the next step of walking out in good works for their church, family, and cities.

Professor NT Wright affirms some of these ideas himself;
“we find, here in Paul, at least the beginnings of an outline sketch of a Christian responsibility in relation to the wider world, rather than an ethic which is concerned only for the ordering of the household of faith. And I am inclined to think that we should read the passages about ‘good works’ in this light as well: just because other civic benefactors are pagans, that doesn’t mean that Christians shouldn’t ‘do good works’ for their wider society if and when they have the opportunity…” 1

“…They are part of the worldview which Paul believes must characterize the Messiah’s people.”

In other words, Paul was not really someone who in his previous life sought salvation without any knowledge of Gods grace or the importance of ones faith. Something else had been going on in Paul. He is seeing very clearly however that in order for the Jews and everyone else to get on with the next step in Gods plan. Only the messiah could accomplish by faith what no other man was able to. Paul knows now that Jesus made it possible for adoption, for others to become obedient sons of God and begin to bring the Messiah’s worldview to earth. The kind of world that Paul wanted found its full expression in Jesus the Messiah and knew this was what the Messiah had actually initiated in his coming.

Titus is instructed to continue the work of establishing the Messianic Kingdom of God. Beginning with elders for the churches on Crete and finding a strong place in the home, then working its way outward to the general culture and the civic sphere of authority and rulers. The transformation of Crete. An Island that had once been the capital of a large and powerful world civilization was being pointed back to their true greatness as a people. That they were made for the purpose of showing the world their many great works.

Really the people of Crete believe that they are descendants of wicked rulers who had sex with beasts and became beasts. That they were put in their place by the ordered civilization of the Greeks. The gods of Crete were rendered weak and pathetic beasts and the people resembled their gods. They saw themselves as inferior to the greeks and their gods of power and might. They were in need of a corrected story. Who is our true God? Who are our ancestors? What is our identity? How do we rebuild what we have lost?

They needed a new story about their God. They need a new story about their ancestors. They needed this in order to really begin to understand themselves. They needed to know how to begin to rebuild. The answer is God in Christ, that their past is full of potential yet tainted by their own sin, that their identity is found in knowing their origin as created in Gods image, and that God wants to begin the rebuilding process inside of them and then in their families, in their community by way of the church and then by way of their relationship with the established system of Cretan culture.

 

1. Excerpt From: Wright, N. T. “Paul and the Faithfulness of God: Two book set (Christian Origins and the Question of God). Page 916”

The Gospel is also a Comprehensive Worldview

Gospel means good new. The good news of Jesus was that he had come to save humankind from their own destruction. Sin is powerful and it was destroying humanity. Not only humanity but the environment. We are now well aware that humanity is not the only casualty of mans depravity. But the whole environment has suffered deeply and waits for restoration, just as man is looking for a time when he will be put right. The good news of Jesus is salvation has arrived.

One of the major problems with mans theology regarding salvation is that it is influenced by Greek or Platonic thinking. Salvation is nearly synonymous with escape. Salvation has become a way of escaping the destruction of the flesh as all flesh seems to be crumbling with all of nature, all or mans environment. Mans theology regarding God and his environment has been fatalistic. This too has its root in Platonic Greek Dualism.  That God will allow the destruction of the earth until all is completely ravaged.  But the good news of Jesus is that he was the ‘snake crusher’ that was spoken of in the garden before all of this crumbling began. He is here to put right what was put wrong beginning in Genesis chapter three.

The lens by which the Christian views his world is Platonic, or dualistic, or gnostic Christian. We need to remember that the good news is that Jesus coming was in part the commencing of his kingdom. Perhaps not in fullness but in part. That means that not everything had to do with souls being saved for heaven in the sky. But whole people being saved, whole nations being discipled, and the whole earth taking a big sigh of relief. All of creation is one step closer to redemption. Salvation is near not just for the human soul.

Finally, the gospel is not simply a message of salvation; it is a comprehensive worldview. It must not only move around the world, but it must penetrate and transform it.

Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, James and the other apostles did not simply give us a way to do what is narrowly seen today as “theology or doctrine” but they worked in communities to examine the cultural lenses of real people and help them live their lives based on truth that would transform individuals and communities. That is, they did not do “Modern evangelical theology” as we know it but they examined and challenged worldviews. They did this because God’s master plan was being unfolded from Christ, the plan was to redeem ‘whole communities’ starting with ‘whole people’.

The Great commission was to do all of this in the nations. They brought salvation, bot not the Platonic escapism. They brought salvation built on the idea that God had come to earth to transform it and that he came back from the grave to resurrect it. The disciples preached the good news of the resurrection which defied the dualism of the Greek worldview.

Discipling, transforming, and saving humanity begins with a biblical worldview.

Discipling, transforming, and creating communities begins with a biblical worldview.

Stewarding and nurturing nature begins with a biblical worldview.

Jesus’ kingdom coming to earth as laid out in the gospels is only the beginning. But it is the beginning of discipleship, transformation, salvation, of man, his community, and his environment.

What we do now to seek his kingdom will be part of the fullness of the kingdom of God when Jesus completes what he started.

That is part of the idea of the comprehensive nature of the biblical worldview. It has been Gods desire from the beginning to restore humanity, to restore creation, and restore family to its original place. This begins with the first sin, and continues with the coming of Jesus the Messiah, Gods son, initiating the kingdom of God on earth bringing salvation for mankind, for nations, and for all the earth. This will be completed later not with the destruction of the earth and the creation of heaven but with the recreation of heaven and earth.

Thus we begin to think like God about other people, about self, about nature. All of it is valuable and wonderful to God. All of it is in the grand scheme of Gods redemption. So we should treat nature, self, and communities with love and respect because God does.

My examination of western evangelicalism is that we have been very good at spreading the Platonic dualist gospel of Jesus around the world but we have not as often spread the holistic gospel of Jesus’ kingdom on earth as in heaven.

The good news for earth and everyone living on it is that God cares about its groans and pains and will one day restore it.