The Under Shepherd

As the previous post will guide you, it is apparently shocking that some non-believers are surprised when a Christian claims that God does not do everything for His children. The article, “God Is Not A Babysitter” has brought about a wonderful and sometimes disturbing discussion on one website (see previous post).

A couple of people even stated, “Either god is active in the world, or he isn’t. And by active, I mean in people’s personal lives. That includes protection for the innocent. Or else … he’s not worth believing in.”

What is quite interesting to me is how similar the view of some atheists are to some Christians.

One of the major pictures that studying the Hebraic and Jewish roots of the New Testament has given me is that of the Shepherd.

To read the rest, click on www.flocksdiner.com.

An Atheist Responds

On October 4, 2007 I posted an article titled “God Is Not A Babysitter” at www.flocksdiner.com.

The gist of the post had to do with the absence of God in the world. An atheist picked up on the article and posted a response on his own website. It may be a good idea for some of you to read his response and consider the heart of his words. The true heart of an atheist or agnostic is often (not always) a desire to know the truth.

For the last two years, I have had the privilege of studying with a couple of agnostics. It is one thing to preach to and teach a room full of believers, and an entirely different thing to discuss the things of God with those who don’t believe in God. I will tell you that I have been so challenged by the interaction I have had with non-believers that I have learned as much from them (through the studies I underwent in response to their doubts) as I have from theological professors.

If you want to read the response to my article by this atheist, you can click on the link at thechapel.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/need-a-babysitter-dont-call-god. That article will also connect you to my article.

May we all bless God today.

Johnny

After the Vomit...Don't Forget!

Complaining is an easy thing to do. We all have reasons to complain.

Sometimes it is a little more difficult to notice the great stuff in our lives.

Think about that feeling right after you vomit when the wish-you-were-dead nausea is finally relieved. It is as if the whole world is at your feet just waiting to be conquered.

To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.

In His dust,
Johnny

Homo-Sex God

In continuing my studies concerning the Bible and homosexuality, I have come across another interesting, controversial, and “possibly” misinterpreted text.

The many Bible teachers, including educated scholars and backyard theologians (a.k.a. uneducated, honorary doctors of Bible study leadership) who teach that homosexuality is overtly mentioned as a sinful behavior in the Bible, often quote from a few passages that often include 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10. There are other passages which are quoted, but we will stick with those two for the time being.

To read the rest, click www.flocksdiner.com.

In His dust,
Johnny

God and Gay(?) Sodom

The story of two angels visiting Sodom in Genesis 19 gives us many reasons to pause and wonder. Many sermons have been preached on this passage, which usually lead us to decide that homosexuality is the sin that caused Sodom to be destroyed. After all, how could God not destroy a city where a bunch of gay people wanted to rape two angels?

A closer look at the passage will help us to paint a new picture of the incident in Sodom.

To read the rest, click on www.flocksdiner.com.

Permit and Forbid

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

Throughout the history of God’s people we often read that those whom He chooses to lead are not always the same kinds of people that we would choose to lead. Sometimes they have hot tempers, questionable character, and checkered pasts.

How many of us are in charge of something or have been given responsibility for something very valuable, and the idea of you or me being responsible for it surprises us? The world is full of people who are in charge whom you and I would be quick to judge and say, “I can’t believe that person i is charge.” I heard one pastor say with a nasty attitude, “They will send anyone to seminary nowadays, even those who have been in prison.”

To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.

Forgiving Idols

How often do we place ourselves in the role of worshiper without first being a forgiver? Why do we forgive? Why do we worship? Often the answer hovers dangerously close to being “to meet my needs.” Jesus said “first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). This teaching of Jesus gets its roots from the ancient Jews. There is a 10-day period between the Jewish New year and the Day of Atonement. This 10-day stretch of time was to be used by all Jews to seek reconciliation from one another, followed by a nation-wide fast.

The great fast on the Day of Atonement was not to be observed by any person who did not first seek forgiveness from his or her neighbor. Imagine for a moment how wonderful an observance this was, as a magnificent communal experience for all God’s people, when they spent 10 days reconciling all wrongs and bringing the entire nation to a place of peace with one another.

To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com

Blessings,
Johnny

Tsimtsum

The church is very familiar with the teaching of God’s omnipresence; the idea that God is everywhere. Theologically, a less than thorough understanding of omnipresence can lead a person to run the risk of tampering with a belief in pantheism and/or panentheism.

What does the Bible say about the presence of God in the world?

It is apparent that God cannot co-exist with man directly. God covers himself in a storm cloud when He must be in the presence of man. There is no place in the Old Testament where God is able to stand person to person with anyone without some kind of cover. It is interesting that God does long to be with people despite this exception to the rule of His omnipresence, which inevitably leads us to wonder whether God is truly unlimited in His abilities.

In an amazing book that I am thoroughly enjoying, titled, The Gospel According to Moses, written by Athol Dickson, the subject of God being limited is discussed with very convincing facts and scholarly opinions. Dickson speaks of the kabbalistic rabbis who taught about tsimtsum. (The Kabbalah is a collection of mystical rabbinic teachings.) Tsimtsum, or “withdrawing” is the subject of separation that was required in the creation process. God separated the light from the darkness, the water from the water, the dry ground from the seas, and the day from the night (see Geneis, chapter 1).

Why all this separation? And what about tsimstum with regard to God himself?

The Bible’s understanding of everything is that before anything, only God existed. God filled all that was, because God was all that was. And once the earth was formed, God limited himself in order to make room for His creation. Tsimtsum was required for God to allow creation to exist outside of His own existence (see Dickson, pages 40-41). Otherwise, everything would be God, hence pantheism, or God would permeate everything, hence panentheism.

“This does not mean that there are places where God is not present. It simply means God has different ways of ‘being,’ some of which are universal or omnipresent, and some of which are not” (Dickson, 42).

This year, my wife and I will celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. For the first eighteen months, my wife and I only considered ourselves. We had nothing and no one for whom we needed to make room. I was all hers and she was all mine. Once our children arrived, we had to make room for them in our hearts and lives, and with our time and finances. Tsimtsum entered our marriage.

Once God decided to create, He would have to make room for His creation. Why? The answer is “free-will.” In order for creation to fully exist outside of God, God would have to allow for it to make its own decisions.

This subject is very important to me, because it helps me to answer the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? And even more important: If God is so powerful, why do bad things happen at all? The answer has to do with the ability to make a decision. If there were no options, there would be no such thing as free-will. Yet, free-will requires that creation has the option to do evil.

So, why doesn’t God just destroy all of the evil?

The Flood is the result of God imparting His perfect justice on the world. If everyone was punished for their sins, then everyone would be dead…again. God has chosen to limit even His perfect justice in order to impart mercy and grace upon humanity. This may be difficult to accept by many, but once we begin looking into our own lives, we quickly realize that none of us is perfect. And, unless we are perfect, God has no choice but to remove us from His presence, permanently.

This, once again, brings us back to the rabbinic teaching of tsimtsum, and God’s willingness to limit His presence in the world.

In His dust,
Johnny @ www.flocksdiner.com

JeHoVaH

Hamakom, hagavoah, halashon, hag'vurah, and shamayim were all names used by the ancient people of God in order to avoid misusing the name YHWH (yah-WEH) when having daily conversation or even in teaching. This is still the practice for modern Jews. ‘Adonai or ‘elohim was used when reciting or reading Scripture. Yet, even ‘elohim was not used in conversation.

The reason these other names, literally meaning the Place, the High, the Tongue, the Power, and the Heaven, were used in place of the tetragrammaton, YHWH, was due to a literal translation of the third commandment, which was to never use the name of YHWH in vain.

Until some time around the third century B.C., but definitely up until the exile in 586 B.C. the name YHWH was used regularly. But in the third century B.C. the name YHWH was only spoken by the priests during Temple liturgies.Until the sixth century A.D. there were no vowels used in writing the Hebrew language. But at that time, due to the deficite of people who were still fluent in Hebrew, vowels were used to help future generations pronounce the words of the Hebrew Scriptures.Here is where the name Jehovah was accidentally invented.

The scholars of the sixth century, known as Masoretes, are the ones who began using vowels in writing the Hebrew Scriptures. In their attempt to preserve the third century B.C. law of not saying YHWH, the Masoretes superimposed the vowels of ‘adonai into the tetragrammaton YHWH. This was a protection for those who stumbled across the name YHWH in their reading and prevented them from saying the “sacred name.”

In 1516 A.D. an Italian theologian named Franciscan friar Galatinus came across this superimposed “warning” and misinterpreted it to be a name used for God. He then transliterated the Hebrew Y with the Latin equivalent J and the Hebrew W with the Latin equivalent V and presto…JeHoVaH was created.

Remember that as you sing, “There’s no God like Jehovah,” just take out the “like” and you have a more theologically correct song.

In His dust,
Johnny @ www.flocksdiner.com

Agnostic Christians

There are a lot of conversations within the church with regards to orthodoxy, especially in the area of specific doctrines. And we are all aware of the menial bickering over worship styles and carpet colors.

And even worse, while we are all having our little in-house brawls, the world outside the church is finding fewer and fewer reasons to be a part of the immaturity. But there is something much more scary happening within the body of believers. As Christians swagger into meetings with their meaningless opinions that lead to nothing productive, there is an even more sinister problem that has yet to make its presence fully known.

None of us are unaware of the constant decline of faith in the Western world. Evangelicals make it our spoken goal to reach the lost. But what about the found that are becoming lost. It is not just the unbelievers with whom it is becoming increasingly difficult to share the Gospel. The fact is many life-long Christians are beginning to question the very existence of the God they have spent their lives worshiping. And even worse, there is a shocking number of church leaders who are among the most doubtful. And yet, they preach and teach every week as though they are having no issues of doubt.

But, before we become too critical of those who are suffering with this dilemma, let’s consider the hearts of those who are sincerely trying to maintain their faith, but are losing the battle. It is not a simple task to lose one’s belief in God. The constant bombardments of new knowledge and insights within the world of science and technology are stripping away thousands of years of faith. It is not a simple skepticism that is taking pastors and other God-loving Christians to the realms of agnosticism and atheism, but highly educated thinkers and writers who share their doubts and struggles with faith. Those who are losing their belief in God are tormented by the thoughts of “What if?” and “If only I had some kind of proof.”

“Who wants to waste another Sunday at a church singing about a God who doesn’t exist?”

They are truly searching, but there are very few Christians who are prepared to do battle with the highly-educated thinkers who are pounding the world of faith with their eloquent speeches and very convincing studies. “They have proof! Christians only have faith. They have fossils and men landing on the moon. Christians have an empty tomb and Jesus walking on water.”

As science and technology continue to make new advances, miracles and the existence of God are placed under an ever-strengthening microscope, pulling Christians to wonder if God really exists at all.

I am in constant contact with agnostics, and some of them are pastors who ask genuine questions with sincere hearts, and who simply want to know……the truth. Many of them are deeply troubled, and are not prepared to give up their “jobs” just because they have doubts, while they also struggle with their integrity, wondering if continuing to teach in the church is the right thing to do.

Like many, I have been down the road of doubt. Fortunately, I have come out the other side with a deeper belief in God. What’s the difference between me and others. My answer is by no means exhaustive, but I would offer the fact that I’ve been exposed to incredible Christian scholars who have done battle with the secular thinkers of our time. They, like highly educated scientists and philosophers, have studied their subject deeply, and have learned things that most of us have no idea exist in the area of theology.

I am deeply concerned for those believers who are having their faith ripped out of their lives. In most cases, we are pulled away just as any cult may drag away a well-intentioned believer. We want to be right. We don’t want our lives wasted by hopes and dreams that amount to one more Santa Claus or Tooth Fairy hoax that was planted in our minds by well-meaning, loving, and important people.

This is a serious problem in the church. Agnostics and Atheists are no longer those people who stay home on Sunday. Some of them are preaching in our pulpits.

It’s time that more Christian scholars and teachers spend less energy arguing about the Trinity, the reality of Hell, and whether or not we should have Sunday school. It’s time to spend more time sharing the Living God with a searching world…..of Christians.

"With his mouth the godless can ruin his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered" (Proverbs 11:9).

In His dust,
Johnny

(For more articles and weekly podcasts go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/)

You are "elohim"

Elohim is the name by which God is most commonly called in the Old Testamant. The Hebrew word elohim is also used in other contexts, including the description of the heavenly hosts and man in Psalm 82:1 and 6.

As Christians, we often use the plural name of God, Elohim, as a mysterious proof of the Trinity. And this may be so. However, elohim is the same word that is used when referring to royalty and leaders in the ancient Near East. This means that Genesis 1:26, “Then Elohim said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…'” can be a reference to the Trinity, and it could just as simply be a reference to the heavenly hosts or royalty of heaven. To make man in the image of Elohim would be to make man to resemble heavenly royalty and leadership, in contrast to mere earthly creations, such as the animals.

The latter definition is further confirmed by other ancient Near Eastern writings. ”…the ruler of Mesopotamia and Egypt was described as the image or likeness of a god. In Mesopotamia we find the following salutations: ‘The father of my lord the king is the very image of Bel (salam bel) and the king, my lord, is the very image of Bel’; ‘The king, lord of the lands, is the image of Shamash’; ‘O king of the inhabited world, you are the image of Marduk.’ In Egypt the same concept is expressed through the name Tutankhamen (Tut-ankh-amun), which means ‘the living image of (the god) Amun,’ and in the designation of Thutmose IV is ‘the likeness of Re’” (JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, 12).

Although there is no biblical reason to doubt the existence of the Trinity, there is no definite proof that the plural name of God, which is used in the Old Testament, is a reference to the Trinity. After all, if we were to use a more literal translation of Psalm 82:1 and 6, we would read, “Elohim presides in the great (divine) assembly; he gives judgment among the “elohim” (divine beings)…I said, ‘You are “elohim”; you are all sons of the Most High.’”

God saw fit to create human beings (Heb. adam) in the image of royalty, to be placed in charge of the earth and all of its inhabitants as stewards. As elohim, it is our responsibility, privilege, duty, and honor to imitate the Elohim above all elohim.

(For more articles and to hear weekly podcasts go to www.flocksdiner.com.)

In His dust,
Johnny

Depth from the Jews

TIME magazine recently published an article titled “Ten Ideas That Are Changing The World.” In that article, the tenth idea is “Re-Judaizing Jesus.” This is what Marvin R. Wilson calls the Hebraic Wave.

Many scholars, professors, pastors, and even Sunday school teachers are beginning to see the desperate need for Christians to recognize the Jewishness of Jesus. In the TIME magazine article, New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine is quoted to say, “If you get the [Jewish] context wrong, you will certainly get Jesus wrong.”

In a previous article I wrote, “I believe that going back into the history of first-century Palestine will help the church deliver a clearer message and erase centuries of misunderstandings… As long as we rely on the intellectual Western mindset rather than the practical wisdom of the Eastern mind we face the danger of misinterpretation. As more research is done, and more study of first-century Jewish culture is undertaken, we are learning that the influence of Greek thought has sometimes clouded, or even twisted, the Christian message.”

Reading the ancient Jewish thoughts on the Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament) opens new windows into the world of Jesus. When those Jewish and Hebraic perspectives are absent, much is lost in the way of understanding the depth of the Scriptures.

Let’s look at one passage from the Jewish perspective, which will at least give us a clearer view of the text. Genesis 6:2 has always been a passage that is surrounded by mystery and many opinions. Usually, the sons of God and the daughters of men are thought to be angels (or angelic beings) and women (your average female variety of the human species). Or they are thought to be the men of God (the faithful) and the pagan women (those who didn’t follow God).

Now, let’s look at this passage from the ancient Jewish view from the 12th-century Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher, Moses Maimonides, also known as Rambam. According to Maimonides, the Jewish word adam has many meanings. Among them is the name of the first man who is created from adamah (earth), ”mankind” (which includes females), “the multitude,” or “lower-classes” (bene adam), which is in contrast to the high or distinguished classes (bene ish).

“It is in this third signification that it occurs in the verses, ‘The sons of the higher order (Elohim) saw the daughters of the lower order (adam)’” (Moses Maimonides the guide for the perplexed, 25). Here Maimonides couples the passage with Psalm 82, where people are referred to as “‘gods’; sons of the Most High.” By using scripture to confirm scripture, and with this Jewish understanding, it is very likely that the writer of Genesis interpreted the sons of God and the daughters of men to be the children of God and the pagans of the world.

Although there is much to be valued in non-Jewish biblical commentaries, I am in agreement with Professor Levine, and would have to say that if you get the Jewish context wrong, you will surely be missing out on the depth of biblical truths.

In His dust,
Johnny

P.S. For more reading and podcasts go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Holy Moly!

“…as if humility, chastity, poverty, in a word holiness, had not done incalculably more harm to life hitherto, than any sort of horror or vice…As long as the priest, the professional denier, calumniator and poisoner of life, is considered as the highest kind of man, there can be no answer to the question, what is truth? Truth has already been turned topsy-turvy, when the conscious advocate of nonentity and of denial passes as the representative of ‘truth’” (Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist, 10).

Is holiness the denial of pleasure?

To an archaic monastic individual, maybe so. But I would argue that there are many falsehoods inserted into post-Roman Christianity, which have led to the incensed attitude of such people as Nietzsche.

It was not Jesus, the one who turned water into wine, hung out with prostitutes, and partied with sinners who told us that sex is sinful, alcohol is a Devil’s brew, and Christians should not hang out with sinners. Indeed, Jesus would tell us that alcohol in moderation is advisable, sex within marriage is the God-way, and the ungodly should take a great deal of our personal time. And none of these are offensive to God. He made all of them, and even the most vile human is His child.

If drinking wine and hanging out with drunks and hookers makes a person a sinner, then Jesus died for his own sins.

Holiness is a life that is pleasing to God in accordance with His will. Denial of pleasure is not the gateway to holiness, but to self-righteousness. I would agree with Abraham Cohen that holiness is apartness from everything that defiles. Unfortunately, the people of God often feel that it is their responsibility to define that which is offensive to God based on what is culturally offensive to them.

We may be awed and satisfied by our own opinions of holiness, but it is God’s vocabulary that truly defines what it is to be “set apart.” And God’s Word is filled with that definition.

“If God is alive, then the Bible is His voice. No other work is as worthy of being considered a manifestation of His will. There is no other mirror in the world where His will and spiritual guidance is unmistakably reflected” (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God In Search of Man, 245).

If holiness is the act of pleasing God, then, for the Christian, a life of holiness is that of obeying Jesus' commands, which are encapsulated in Matthew 25:31-46. It is not the outward and personal appearance of personal piety that is most pleasing, but the outward service to others that brings true pleasure to Christ.

In His dust,
Johnny

P.S. To read another one of my articles that supports this subject, click here: http://flocksdiner.com/?p=46

Fishers of Men and Their Mysterious Sage

Jesus called fishermen. Why?

In the first century, Jews were not fond of any open space of water, seeing it as the abyss, the place where spirits dwell. That’s why the disciples thought Jesus was a ghost when he came walking on the water (see Matthew 14:26), and why Jesus sent demons into pigs that immediately went into the water and drowned (see Matthew 8:28-32).

There were not too many fishermen at this time due to the fact that the water was not considered a safe place to work. Read the rest by clicking www.flocksdiner.com.

In His dust,
Johnny

Easter

First let me say thank you to Ray Vander Laan at www.followtherabbi.com and the scholars and authors of www.jerusalemperspective.com for these amazing insights.

It is officially midnight as I begin to write. The holiday of Easter has ended. But, to the Jews of the first century, today’s celebration would not be Easter, but the Feast of First Fruits, and it would have ended around 7 PM or at sunset.

Read the rest www.flocksdiner.com.

Blessings,
Johnny

My Little Man

In just a little more than a month, I will be the father of an adult. Yikes!

It's so difficult to believe that the little boy I used to kiss on the toothless gums is now a man complete with facial hair and six pack abs.

Life does go by so fast.

Blessings,
Johnny

Let's go to the Diner!

www.flocksdiner.com

See you there.

Essene Roots

Jesus’ movement began before Jesus.

That probably doesn’t come as any great surprise. However, it may be surprising to some that the similarities surrounding the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the Essenes are striking.
Even the behavior of Jesus is often very Essene-like.

Written in historical Jewish writings is the true story of an Essene who walked into the Temple with a herd of sheep. He then stood on top of a crate and yelled, “My Father’s house is a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a market.”

To read the rest, come with me to www.flocksdiner.com.

Be a blessing.

Johnny

"The Hebraic Wave"

I want to know Jesus!

More than anything, I hate simply knowing about him.

During the first year of my active service as a Christian teacher and preacher, I struggled to write sermons. All around the table where I would sit for hours and hours to study and write were literally dozens of well-written books on the subject of Christian thought. However, I found myself unable to share the teachings of the Bible with confidence.

What was I missing?

To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.

Be a blessing.

Johnny

The Repentant Camel

In my latest podcast, “Malchut Shamayim,” I speak a little about the statement that Jesus made, which is recorded in Matthew 19:24, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”

Why a camel through the eye of a needle? Couldn’t he have said, it’s easier for a pig to fly or a spider to eat a horse?

The reason that Jesus used the particular saying of a camel going through the eye of a needle has to do with a common teaching about repentance, as well as a first century rabbinic style of teaching.

To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.

Blessings,
Johnny