Last days religion

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TODAY’S SPECIAL: 2 Timothy 1-4; Psalm 22

TO CHEW ON: “Having a form of godliness but dying its power. And from such people turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:5.


I have been following with interest the story of Gretta Vosper, the atheist pastor of a United Church in Toronto. That there should even be a debate over whether she keeps her job seems to me the big story here. Of course Ms. Vosper is free to believe what she likes. But to call herself a minister and leader of a faith in which belief in God and the Bible are the foundation while she has bluntly stated she “… does not believe in God or the Bible” shows how far down the path we as a society have wandered toward the last days scenario of “having a form of godliness, but denying its power.” (In early November 2018, her "heresy trial" was called off and she was assured a continuing position with the United Church despite her beliefs that go against the doctrinal statement of the denomination.)


Such a theological symptom is part of a quite horrendous list of self-absorbed behaviours:

“Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despairs of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” - 2 Timothy 3:2-4. 

(Had Paul been watching, in prophetic foresight, one of our newscasts?)

A little further along in the passage, Paul gives more insight into “last days” religion: “… always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” - 2 Timothy 3:7.

This reminds me of the description of a modern stream of the Protestant church called "Emergent" found in the book Why We’re Not Emergent:

“Certainty for the emergent church is the same as pinning down Jesus and summing up God, while uncertainty is a breath of fresh air.”

 The authors quote Brian McLaren (a man prominent in the Emergent church movement): 

“‘ Drop any affair you may have with certainty, proof, argument—and replace it with dialogue, conversation, intrigue and search … since reality is seldom clear but usually fuzzy and mysterious, not black-and-white but in living colour’” - Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck, Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be, Kindle Location 522, Brian McLaren quote source: Adventures in Missing the Point, by McLaren & Campolo, 84.

What does Paul advise Timothy to do in the face of such beliefs and behaviours? He says simply: “And from such people turn away.”

[“Turn away” - apotrepo - means to turn oneself away from, shun, avoid.]

It might be tempting to get a little involved in the self-first behaviours that are so common today (often whipped up and spurred on by social media). Doubt is cool. It’s sophisticated to keep one’s belief options open to any and every belief system. But, Paul tells Timothy and us, that isn’t the path of the Jesus follower who lives by the certainty of God’s word - 2 Timothy 3:16,17.

PRAYER: Dear Father help me to detect any side trips I may be tempted to take into the realm of self first and denying of the truth and power of Your word. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 22

The Bible Project VIDEO: 2 Timothy (Read Scripture Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Is Jesus the only way to God?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 14:1-14

TO CHEW ON: "And Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" John 14:6


I am glad that Thomas was as honest as he was in this vignette of Jesus interacting with His disciples. Jesus had just given them a glimpse of the afterlife: the Father's house, mansions (or rooms), "'I go to prepare a place for you...where I go you know and the way you know.'"

But we don't know where you're going, Thomas objected, so how can we know the way?

Jesus replied with one of the most pivotal statements in the Bible. What He said that day is more controversial now than it ever was.

He answered the HOW part of Thomas's question first: "I am the way, the truth and the life" and then the WHERE: "No one comes to the Father except through Me."

He was saying, your destination is God and the place He lives, and you'll only get there through Me.

He had said something similar before when He talked picturesquely of being the door and the only way into the sheepfold (John 10:1-10).

His disciples and the early church leaders understood Jesus' claims of being the only way to God. The writer of Hebrews interpreted Jesus' death in terms of how it satisfied God's sacrifice law requirement. In the temple a curtain or veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holiest room. Only a designated priest was allowed behind that curtain to make a yearly sacrifice for the people. Remember how that curtain ripped at the moment of Jesus' death (Matthew 27:50-51)?

 In Hebrews 10:19-20 the writer says the "new and living way" into the Holiest of Holies comes by the blood of Jesus "through the veil that is His flesh." His body was torn so we can each go directly to God with, as it were, Jesus' blood in a bowl proving to God that the penalty for our sin has been paid.

In Ephesians Paul told the Ephesus Christians then (and us today) that Jesus' death wasn't only for people living at the time, but also for the ones far off, i.e. those living before and after Christ ("for through Him we both [those who were afar off and those who were near - vs. 17] have access by one Spirit to the Father" - Ephesians 2:17-18).

In our culture it's much more comfortable to believe, with the masses, that there are as many ways to God as there are sincere seekers (religious pluralism). But that's not what Jesus said. Let's not compromise on His clear and beautiful message: "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." Its urgency is underlined as we keep in mind the destination of those other ways: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it" - Matthew 7:13.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for being clear about You being the only way to God. Help me to be just as uncompromising as I face the religious pluralism in my culture. Amen.

MORE: More about the challenge of pluralism

"... for those willing to receive it, our current context can be a fruitful gift. Like Paul, we will no doubt discover that the obstacles often stand taller than we realized and the words we have to offer fall short. Our pluralistic world wants very little to do with a great many of the things we profess. It is therefore all the more vital that we live the apologetic we attempt to preach among the barrage of choices before our neighbors. While we cannot profess that following Christ will bring fortune or erase hardship, or that discipleship will come easily or without cost, we can portray the coherence of the Christian worldview, the primacy of Christ beside life's inescapable questions, and the hopeful reality of forgiveness, justification, sanctification, and new life." - Jill Carattini (excerpt from the article"Pluralism as privilege") - emphasis added.

Thoughts on seeking God

"They take a bribe and they turn aside
the poor in the gate" Amos 5:12 - Artist unknown

 TODAY'S SPECIAL: Amos 5:1-15

TO CHEW ON: "Seek Me and live;

But do not seek Bethel

Nor enter Gilgal

Nor pass over to Beersheba;

For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity,

And Bethel shall come to nothing

Seek the Lord and live ... "(Amos 5:4-6)

Amos, speaking to a backslidden Israel, warns her people to stop their frantic religious activity and start actually looking for God. The three cities of pilgrimage he names—Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba— all had significance in Israel's faith story.

Bethel:
Jacob first attached the name Bethel to the place where he dreamed of angels ascending and descending from heaven (Genesis 28:16, 17, 19). But Jeroboam 1 corrupted it when he set up an idol calf there. Bethel's reputation continued to go downhill so that Hosea named it not Bethel (House of God) but Beth-Aven—House of Nothing (Hosea 4:15). Amos reinforces that name when he says here, "Bethel shall come to nothing."

Gilgal:
Gilgal was the place the Israelites camped just after crossing the Jordan River from their wilderness wanderings. There Joshua had them set up twelve stones of remembrance taken from the Jordan's riverbed, signifying God's faithfulness to the twelve tribes of Israel (Joshua 4:19-20). Since then it had become an idol shrine: "Gilgal was a place where high places and altars were erected, and idols worshiped as it had formerly been a place of worship of the true God. The ten tribes made use of it in the times of their apostasy for idolatrous worship" - Hosea 4:15" - Gill's commentary on Amos 4:4.

Beersheba:
The patriarchs—Abraham (Genesis 21:31-33), Isaac (Genesis 26:23-25), and Jacob (Genesis 46:11)—had worshiped God in Beersheba. Now, however, it was associated with the "sin of Samaria" and linked, along with the city of Dan, to idol shrines (Amos 8:14).

There is a lesson for us in Amos's plea to the Israelites to seek the Lord as opposed to going to Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba. Three aspects of this seeking come to mind:

1. We need to guard against trying to duplicate the past. When we have met God in a place or time, like the Israelites had in these three cities, it's tempting to make a shrine there, hoping that we will relive what happened if we go back.

2. We need to be vigilant against syncretism, i.e. molding our experience into something it wasn't or isn't by adding in elements, like Israel added idols. Meshing our worship of God with the practices of other religions is always dangerous.

3. We need to follow Amos's simple instructions on how to find God. It is not by going to a sacred place or enacting a religious ritual, but by nurturing an awareness of who God is, and by doing what He values. In simple words, He meets us when we are obedient.

"Seek good and not evil

That you may live;

So the Lord God of hosts will be with you..." Amos 5:14.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to keep my relationship with You fresh and alive with my obedience. Amen.

MORE: One Master

"A man is a slave for obeying unless behind his obedience there is a recognition of a holy God. Many a soul begins to come to God when he flings off being religious because there is only one Master of the human heart, and that is not religion but Jesus Christ" - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 18 reading.