Opus 2018-082: What Is So Good About Friday?

Most people who bother to read my blog understand the significance of Good Friday.  I will throw in a little explanation in case it might be a mystery to you.

We are now in what Western Christians call “Holy Week”.  It began on Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem on His way to the cross.  Friday is the day that He was crucified.  What is so good about that? 

Christianity and Judaism are grounded in history and have the same roots.  The Bible talks about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and whether you accept it as literal or think of it as some kind of allegory, the fact is that sin became a reality.  Before sin entered the world, God used to come and fellowship with Adam and Eve.  We can infer that from this verse.

(Genesis 3:8 KJV)  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Sin came between man and God and condemned human beings to hell.  Forgiveness was necessary.  This was done by the sacrificial system because

(Romans 6:23 KJV)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Historically the sacrificial system put animals in the place of the sinner.  Because the blood of animals was not sufficient, sacrifice was an ongoing event.

Than comes Jesus who was called the Perfect Lamb of God.  When He gave up His life on the cross, His death and shedding of blood was enough to pay the price of sin.  Thus, on what was a bad day for Jesus, we had offered to us the hope of forgiveness of sin and restoration in our relationship with God.  It was the ultimate good day for us, thus “Good Friday”.

Good Friday represents the possibility to escape hell and spend eternity in the presence of God.  The second great hope is realized on the resurrection, what has come to be called Easter.  That takes the fear of death away. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-188: Book Review: The Shack, part 3 of 3

So why would I urge a word of caution about this book?  It has a very new age/emergent church view of the atonement and salvation.

Although sin is mentioned it tends to be watered down in its significance.  Take this for instance.

“I am not who you think I am, Mackenzie, I don’t need to punish people for sin.  Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.  It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.” pp. 119-20

If you have the feminine new age view of God then you reject His wrath and how sin demands punishment.  Take the very familiar verse,

(Romans 6:23 KJV)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

While the love of God comes through it is very clear that sin demands punishment.  The book contradicts itself here.  In this chapter it tends to make the justice and wrath of God misunderstandings of the Bible, leaving the way open for having a God of the Old Testament and a God of the New Testament.  Later it refutes that, as it should.

“Mean?  Sad, isn’t it?  He came to show people who I am and most folks believe it about him.  They still play us off like good cop/bad cop most of the time, especially the religious folk.  When they want people to do what they think is right, they need a stern God.  When they need forgiveness, they run to Jesus.”
    “Exactly,” Mack said with a point of his finger.
    “But we were all in him.  He reflected my heart exactly.  I love you and invite you to love me.” p. 186

One of the heresies that I have read in emergent church literature is that Jesus did not die to pay for our sins but to make us feel good about ourselves.  This book tends to follow along that path.  It uses some of the same language but doesn’t deal with the sin problem. 

“Honey, you asked me what Jesus accomplished on the cross; so now listen to me carefully:  through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world.”
    “The whole world?  You mean those who believe in you, right?”
    “The whole world, Mack.  All I am telling you is that reconciliation is a two way street, and I have done my part, totally, completely, finally.  It is not the nature of love to force a relationship but it is the nature of love to open the way.” p. 192

It doesn’t really tell us why the world needed to be reconciled.  You see the beginning of a sense of universalism.  This is stated more clearly on the last page.

“And one day, when all is revealed, every one of us will bow our knee and confess in the power of Sarayu that Jesus is the Lord of all Creation, to the glory of Papa.” p. 248

I could go on with pro’s and con’s but that is more than enough.  If your faith is strong, read it for yourself.

Young, William P.  The Shack.  Los Angeles:  Windblown Media, 2007..

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-151: It’s in the Blood

Christians have a lot of ideas that seem strange to modern minds.  One of the obsessions that we have is with blood.  It isn’t that we are violent or perverted.  We are not talking zombie makeup.  It is because of the teachings rooted in the history of Israel about God’s character and humanity’s needs.

One attribute of God is justice.  This is tied in with His immutability.  God is thus locked by His character into a consistency that does not allow for Him to violate His principles.  We may not always understand them but they are consistent.  The laws of science and nature are a result of this consistency.  Thus we have such ideas as cause and effect, action and reaction and a refusal to accept that life could come from nothing.  We might get a deeper understanding through research and experimentation but at the core are unchanging laws.

As a just God, there is a requirement that breaking His laws demands punishment.  When we sin we must be punished. 

(Romans 3:23 KJV)  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

So that means that all must be punished.  That is what a just God demands.  But a loving God provides a way out.

(Romans 6:23 KJV)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In order to be consistent, God won’t just forgive the sin.  The sin must be paid for.

(Hebrews 9:22 NAS77)  And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

So you end up in a paradox.  We sin.  Sin must be punished.  The punishment must be death.  Blood must be shed.

(Leviticus 17:11 KJV)  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Thus blood becomes of vital importance to Christians.  Blood must be shed.  It can be ours or it can be the blood of the Perfect Lamb of God.  Is it the shedding of the blood or the sprinkling, application, that makes the difference?  That is for another day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-203: Glucose and Grace, part 1 of 2

Warning to sceptics, pagans and unbelievers:  This is an excursion into speculative theology.  If that really, really bores you, come back tomorrow.

I was thinking about how Christians say we are under grace, not Law.  We say this because we recognize that our salvation comes as a gift of God.  It is not something we earn.  Some try to use this as license to behave without restriction.  Paul faced that in the early church.  Some people were saying that if they sinned more and they were saved by grace it would multiply the amount of grace and that would be good.  So they encouraged people to sin.  You realize when you read this that crazy sophists have been around for a long time.

Paul responded to these people. 

(Romans 6:1-2 KJV)  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Grace did not destroy the Law.  Remember the words of Jesus.

(Matthew 5:17 KJV)  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Grace did not make righteous living unnecessary.  There has always a conflict in Christian circles about the place of righteous living which is a way of saying the Law is important.  All would agree it is a good thing in general but some seem to think it is optional.  What is the place of law when you live under grace?  Do you need to follow the rules?

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-139, Basic Beliefs: All Have Sinned

Closely following after the idea of Original Sin is the idea of personal sin.  The Bible makes a simple statement,

(Romans 3:23 KJV)  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

This is a simple statement that is in harmony with the rest of scripture.  All human beings have sinned.  The result of sin is spiritual and eternal death.

(Romans 6:23 KJV)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This means that every human being is on the way to hell, not because of a precondition, but because of actions and choices they have made.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-36, Key Verses: Romans 6:23

(Romans 6:23 KJV)  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In a previous post I talked about the reality of sin.  Everyone is a sinner.  The next question would be, “So what?”  This verse explains why that is a problem.

Sin leads to death, both physical and spiritual.  Before sin became a reality in the disobedience of Adam and Eve, the world was sinless.  Part of that was the lack of death.  It would seem that people were designed to live forever.  I am guessing that at that time they were vegetarians because after flood Noah was specifically told to eat meat.

(Genesis 9:3 KJV)  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Adam Clarke suggests that one reason animals were now allowed for food was that the nature of plant nutrition had been reduced by the flood.  An interesting thought.  Perhaps in the new Earth we will go back to being vegetarians.  There is mention of the lion and the lamb lying down together.

Sin causes death.  Jesus brings life.

That is the point of the second part of this verse.  There is a problem:  sin.  There is a solution:  Jesus.  And the solution is given as a gift from God.

homo unius libri