Category Archives: Theology

Work: Necessary Evil or God’s Plan?

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Work: Necessary Evil or God’s Plan? from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

You may know I studied geography at Sussex university, which means I am just about qualified for colouring in maps with my crayons, but not much else. I also come from Suffolk where an ability to read maps, or the stars, is essential if you ever want to escape.

You may have heard of the shepherd lost somewhere in the wilds of rural Suffolk minding his own business, tending his flock of sheep. Suddenly a dust cloud approached at high speed, out of which emerged a bright shiny new silver BMW. The driver, a young man in an Amarmi suit, poked his head out of the window and addressed the shepherd. “Hi there. If I can tell you how many sheep you have in your flock, can I have one?” The shepherd looked at the car, then the young man, then glanced at his peacefully grazing flock and answered, ‘Sure’. The young man parked his car, plugged his Blackberry into his laptop, surfed the web to Google maps, used his GPS to zoom in on the field they were standing in, linked it to NASA’s real time imaging software and began a remote body-heat scan of the immediate area. He dropped the results into an Excel spreadsheet, saved it, then printed a 150-page report on the mini laser printer hidden in his glove compartment.

Handing the document to the shepherd, the young man proudly announced, “You have exactly 1,586 sheep.” The shepherd replied, “Impressive. One of my sheep is yours. Take your pick.” He watched the young man select an animal and bundle it into his car. Then the shepherd said. “If I can tell you what your job is, will you give me back my sheep?” After a nod of acceptance from the young man, the shepherd announced without hesitation, “You’re a management consultant.”

“Dead right” exclaimed the young man in surprise. “How on earth did you guess?” “It wasn’t a guess”, replied the shepherd. “First, you drive into my field uninvited. Second, you ask me to pay for information I already know. Third, you answer questions I haven’t asked. Fourth, you know nothing about sheep. Now please may I have my sheepdog back?”

Read more here cc-vw.org/sermons/work.htm

The Bible and the Land: Gary Burge

Gary Burge has written not one but two short and very readable books for Zondervan – The Bible and the Land and Jesus, The Middle Eastern Storyteller. Both are about 110 pages long, easy to read and bursting with glorious photos and simple maps.

Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller

In Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller, the parables of Jesus come alive as never before when Gary uncovers the culture that gives them their deepest meaning. His expert, illustrated guide shows in everyday terms how the customs, literature and values of the ancient world can inform and grow your faith in today’s digital age.

Storytellers made history, and Jesus was the greatest of them all. But how can modern readers know what he actually meant in such iconic parables as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan? Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller combines the readability of a popular novel and the authority of scholarship to uncover the hidden meaning of references too often misinterpreted or left shrouded in mystery. The first volume in the Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series drives to the heart of readers’ desire to know the culture behind the Scriptures. Colorful maps, photos, and illustrations enhance the context of the times that shaped Jesus’ vivid communication of core truths. This expert guide is an invaluable resource for study groups, teachers, leaders, and inquiring Christians who want to dig deeper and enrich their spiritual life.

The Bible and the Land

In The Bible and the Land Gary offers a rare exploration into the world of the Bible and how its land, culture, and traditions contribute to a unique understanding of a life with God. Insights into numerous biblical passages reveal how cultural assumptions lie behind countless biblical stories.

As the early church moved away from the original cultural setting of the Bible and found its home in the west, Christians lost touch with the ancient world of the Bible. Cultural habits, the particulars of landscape, even the biblical languages soon were unknown. And the cost was enormous: Christians began reading the Bible as foreigners and missing the original images and ideas that shaped a biblical worldview.

This new book by New Testament scholar Gary Burge launches a multivolume series that explores how the culture of the biblical world is presupposed in story after story of the Bible. Using cultural anthropology, ancient literary sources, and a selective use of modern Middle Eastern culture, Burge reopens the ancient biblical story and urges us to look at them through new lenses. Here he explores primary motifs from the biblical landscape—geography, water, rock, bread, etc.—and applies them to vital stories from the Bible.

Listen in on a Q & A with Gary over these two new books:

Q: Does culture always affect one’s understanding of spiritual life?

A: Every community of Christians throughout history has framed its understanding of spiritual life within the context of its own culture. Byzantine Christians living in the fifth century and Puritan Christians living over a thousand years later used the world in which they lived to work out the principles of Christian faith, life, and identity. The reflex to build house churches, monastic communities, medieval cathedrals, steeple-graced and village-centered churches, or auditoriums with theater seating will always spring from the dominant cultural forces around us.

If it is true that every culture provides a framework in which the spiritual life is understood, the same must be said about the ancient world. The setting of Jesus and Paul in the Roman Empire was likewise shaped by cultural forces quite different from our own. If we fail to understand these cultural forces, we will fail to understand many of the things Jesus and Paul taught.

Q: If we fail to consider cultural context, are we in danger of misinterpreting scripture?

A: We must be cautious interpreters of the Bible. We must be careful lest we presuppose that our cultural instincts are the same as those represented in the Bible. We must be culturally aware of our own place in time-and we must work to comprehend the cultural context of the Scriptures that we wish to understand. Too often interpreters have lacked cultural awareness when reading the Scriptures. We have failed to recognize the gulf that exists between who we are today and the context of the Bible. We have forgotten that we read the Bible as foreigners, as visitors who have traveled not only to a new geography but a new century. We are literary tourists who are deeply in need of a guide.

Q: Why did you write the Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series?

A: The goal of this series is to be a guide-to explore themes from the biblical world which are often misunderstood. In what sense, for instance, did the physical geography of Israel shape its people’s sense of spirituality? How did the story-telling of Jesus presuppose cultural themes now lost to us? What celebrations did Jesus know intimately (such as a child’s birth, a wedding, or a burial)? What agricultural or religious festivals did he attend? How did he use common images of labor or village life or social hierarchy when he taught? Did he use humor or allude to politics? In many cases-just as in our world-the more delicate matters are handled indirectly, and it takes expert guidance to revisit their correct meaning.

In a word, this series employs cultural anthropology, archaeology, and contextual backgrounds to open up new vistas for the Christian reader. I wrote the first two volumes of the Ancient Context, Ancient Faith series to connect modern readers with ancient life. If the average reader suddenly sees a story or an idea in a new way, if a familiar passage is suddenly opened for new meaning and application, this effort has succeeded.

Q: Do I really need to understand ancient Middle Eastern culture in order to understand the Bible?

The stories we read in the Bible sometimes presuppose themes that are completely obscure to us (e.g. the scarcity of water; see next question). Moreover, when we read the Bible, we may misrepresent its message because we simply do not understand the cultural instincts of the first century. We live two thousand years distant; we live in the West and the ancient Middle East is not native territory for us.

Q: How does water highlight the simple yet profound differences between ancient Middle Eastern life and ours today?

A: Those of us who live in North America or Europe think little about water. Rainfall averages are generally ample; if anything, we may experience flooding. This is the opposite of life in the Holy Land. The people of the Middle East think about water constantly: it is the “oil” of the Holy Land. And if you control it, you have power. Glimpses of this reality are hidden behind many political struggles. When the rains failed to come during biblical times, the springs dried up and the wells went dry, drought and famine became a reality.

Judaism also distinguished between “living” water (which came from the hand of God via rain, a spring, a river) and common water (held in a cistern or “lifted” by human hand). Many Jewish purification rituals had to take place in such living water; living water had the power to cleanse and purify. So when Jesus offers “living water” to the Samaritan woman at the well, he is offering an inner life-giving spring for cleansing. This significance would not have been lost on a woman who had probably been barred from her community’s ritual baths of purification.

Q: How is an understanding of the Holy Land’s geography, topography, and agriculture vital to interpretation of scripture?

A: The Holy Land itself gives us a window into God’s purposes for life. The Promised Land is not an easy land-it is not paradise, neither today nor in biblical times. The land has a spiritual architecture that incorporates elements we desire (good cities with ample rainfall and rich soil) and things we would prefer to avoid (wilderness). But this is life. And when God brought his people to this land, he built into it those elements that would provide a framework for his people to understand life with him.

The land is itself the cultural stage-setting of the Bible. Biblical stories assume we know something about altars, sheepfolds, cistern water, and the significance if the wind blows west out of the desert. To project European or American notions of farming (seed distribution) or fishing (cast and trammel nets) or travel (at night or day) onto the Bible is to immediately distance oneself from what the Bible may have intended to say.

Q: How did Jesus’ storytelling fit the context of his culture?

A: Jesus lived in a storytelling world and he was well known for his ability as a storyteller. Jesus himself was theatrical, and this was feature of his teaching strategy. Rather than giving a speech about a corrupt temple, he ransacked it. His culture valued the clever image, the crisp story. Jesus himself was clever and in this brilliance, people intuited his sophistication. However, Jesus’ best figurative stories contain a surprise. They are like a box that contains a spring-and when it is opened, the unexpected happens. They are like a trap that lures you into its world and then closes on you.

Q: Do we need to become more like the ancient world in order to live biblically?

A: No, we do not need to imitate the biblical world in order to live a more biblical life. This was a culture that had its own preferences for dress, speech, diet, music, intellectual thought, religious expression, and personal identity. And its cultural values were no more significant than are our own. Modesty in antiquity was expressed in a way we may not understand. The arrangement of marriage partners is foreign to our world of personal dating. Even how one prays (seated or standing, arms upraised or folded, aloud or silent) has norms dictated by culture. There is no ideal cultural standard; we must each learn how to live biblically within the context of our own culture.

Gary M. Burge (PhD, King’s College, Aberdeen University) is a professor of New Testament in the Department of Biblical & Theological Studies at Wheaton College and Graduate School.

How to be Wise: Matthew 7:24-27

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The Wise & Foolish Builders: Matthew 7:24-27 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

In 1174 the Italian architect Bonnano began work on what would become his most famous project: A bell tower for the local Cathedral. The tower was to be eight-stories and 185 feet high. There was just one “little” problem: builders quickly discovered that the soil was much softer than they had anticipated, and the foundation was too shallow to hold the structure. And sure enough, before long the bell tower began to tilt… and it continued to tilt… until finally the architect and the builders realized that nothing could be done to make what became known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa straight again.

It took 176 years to complete and many attempts were made to compensate for the “tilt.” The foundation was shored up; the upper levels were even built at an angle to try to make the top of the tower look straight. Nothing worked. The tower has stood for over 800 years, but leans about 17 feet away from where it should be and was closed in 1990 for fear that it would fall and cause loss of life and injury. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a vivid reminder that foundations may well be hidden but they are essential. As we come to the end of this series of studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brings us to his application, our take away and he challenges us to check our foundations before it is too late.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matthew 7:24-29)

The opening word ‘therefore’ draws the sermon to a close and links all that has gone before to this concluding illustration.

Notice what Jesus does not say… “everyone who hears these words of mine is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Hearing sermons is not enough. You may have been a member of Christ Church for one year or twenty years. If you have been a member as long as me – 12 years, and if you too have attended at least two services every Sunday, you will have heard more than 1200 sermons, allowing a few weeks a year for holidays. But if you have not put them into practice you are, says Jesus, you are “like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” Hearing sermons is not enough. But nor did Jesus say, “everyone who hears these words of mine and believes everything I say… is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Hearing is not enough. Believing is not enough either.

Jesus does not say “everyone who hears these words of mine and studies them carefully in a home group… is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Studying Jesus words is not enough. Jesus doesn’t even say, “everyone who hears these words of mine and teaches others to put them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” No. The people Jesus says are wise are those who “hear(s) these words of mine and puts them into practice.”

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I Want to be Left Behind: Matthew 24 and the Return of Jesus

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I Want to be Left Behind: Matthew 24 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

The video game taking Christian America by storm, apparently is called‘Left Behind: Eternal Forces’. Controversially it encourages players to kill anyone who resists conversion to Christianity. As Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft battle it out for domination of the electronic game world, the games’ creator anticipates a ready market among those who have already bought 63 million copies of the ‘Left Behind’ novels.

The game is set in New York City, a rather unusual venue for Armageddon you might think since New York doesn’t actually get a mention in the Bible. It is, however, the location of the United Nations headquarters and that is the clue. Never popular in some Christian circles, in Left Behind: Eternal Forces, the bad guys are the Global Community Peacekeepers, who are on a search and destroy mission in Manhattan. Their target is the remnant of newly converted Bible-believers, left behind when Christians were secretly raptured to heaven. These new believers, left on earth, form a Christian army called the Tribulation Force. Under the heading ‘Turn or Burn?’ a review by Focus on the Family asks,

How do peace and prayer go hand in hand with tanks, attack choppers and street battles? … Yes, you’re offered sniper rifles, gun turrets, even tanks and helicopters. And there are points at which a gun battle is necessary to avoid a massacre. It’s easier to convert a group of enemies than it is to shoot them. Still, post-Rapture warfare is integral to the game…books and movies.

In an interview, Tim LaHaye, the author justified the use of violence by Christians as the “self preservation instinct of the much-persecuted saints during the Tribulation.”[1] What a relief. It’s all right then. Christians can kill as long as its “self preservation” killing… in the name of Jesus. A rather more sceptical review by a Jewish website observes that,

The goals of the game are simple: Spread the gospel, and stay alive. But staying alive may sometimes lead to the taking of life — “fighting hellfire with hellfire”. And that raises a knotty moral conundrum for any game designer who worships Jesus, the Prince of Peace.[2]

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Ready to Rebuild: The Temple in Scripture

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Ready to Rebuild? The Temple in Scripture from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

On January 8, 2001, former Shin Bet secret service chief Carmi Gillon and former police commissioner Assaf Hefetz together with leading Israeli academics delivered a report to the then, Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, detailing their concerns regarding plots by several Jewish extremist groups, to blow up the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. Gillon and Hefetz founded Keshev, the Centre for the Protection of Democracy, based in Tel Aviv, after the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. Their report, entitled, ‘Target Temple Mount’ examined current threats to the Temple Mount from extreme militant and Messianic groups. It concluded,

‘The Temple Mount is like a smouldering volcano that is bubbling and threatening to erupt – a threat that is liable to endanger Israel’s existence.’[1]

Six months later, in July 2001, the Rabbinical Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza reversed the position taken for nearly 2000 years. They called upon all rabbis to take their communities to visit the Temple Mount. This was the first time a group of rabbis representing a significant proportion of the religious Jewish community had ruled it permissible for Jews to ascend the Temple Mount. Previously this had been forbidden because Jews might walk on the area what used to be the sacred holy of holies.

The rabbis also called upon the Yesha Council of Jewish settlements to organise mass visits to the Temple Mount from the settlements.[2] As a result around 500,000 secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews gathered near the Temple Mount at the Western Wall ‘and swore faithfulness to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem.’[3] In the same month, July 2001, the Israeli Supreme Court made an equally momentous decision. For the first time ever they gave permission to Gershon Saloman and the Temple Mount Faithful to hold a symbolic cornerstone laying ceremony for the Third Temple near the Dung Gate adjacent to the Western Wall. Every year on Tisha B’Av (29th July), the day when Jews mourn the destruction of the first and second Temples, Salomon and his Faithful drive a lorry carrying three ton corner stones as near as possible to the Temple Mount. In 2006, despite police objections, the Israeli Supreme Court gave them permission to actually enter the area of the Haram Al Sharif on the festival of Tisha B’Av. To pre-empt a massacre, the police closed the site to Jews as well as Muslims for the whole day. Intelligence reports revealed that thousands of Muslims were planning to flock to the site to protect it.[4] On Tisha B’Av in July 2007, in 2008 and yet again this July, Salomon and his disciples have asserted their legal right to hold a ceremony nearby. Salomon’s agenda is clear and unambiguous.

“The Israeli Government must do it. We must have a war. There will be many nations against us but God will be our general. I am sure this is a test, that God is expecting us to move the Dome with no fear from other nations. The Messiah will not come by himself, we should bring him by fighting.”[5]

Since 1967, when Israel took the Temple Mount by force, there have been no less than 100 armed assaults on the Haram Al Sharif often led by Jewish rabbis.[6] An Israeli Arab MP, Mohammed Barakeh described the Israeli High Court’s decision as like putting ‘petrol in the hands of declared pyromaniacs.’ And it seems some Christians too are convinced the Jewish Temple must be rebuilt. So much so, they are funding Jewish groups committed to removing the Dome of the Rock and replacing it with a Jewish Temple.

But aren’t we just dealing with a small bunch of religious fundamentalists and radical extremists? If only. Millions of Orthodox Jews worldwide pray three times a day “may the Temple be speedily rebuilt in our days”. And millions of Christians readily buy books on prophecy that predict it. And it seems, most Israelis, religious and secular, apparently agree.

A Call to Spiritual Reformation (Philippians 1:9-11)

William Carey (1761-1834) is known as the father of modern missions. Carey was a cobbler, a shoe maker, who had a burden in his heart for the nations without Christ. He made a map of the world out of shoe leather, and would look at it, and pray for the world, as he made shoes. During those early years he also taught himself Hebrew, Italian, Dutch, and French, often reading while working on his shoes.

In 1789 Carey became the full-time pastor of a small Baptist church in Leicester. Three years later in 1792 he published his groundbreaking missionary manifesto, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.

This short book consists of five parts. The first part is a theological justification for missionary activity, arguing that the command of Jesus to make disciples of all the world (Matthew 28:18-20) remains binding on Christians. The second part outlines a history of missionary activity, beginning with the early Church and ending with David Brainerd and John Wesley. Part 3 comprises 26 pages of tables, listing area, population, and religion statistics for every country in the world. Carey had compiled these figures during his years as a schoolteacher. The fourth part answers objections to sending missionaries, such as difficulty learning the language or danger to life.

Finally, the fifth part calls for the formation of a Baptist missionary society and describes the practical means by which it could be supported. Carey’s seminal pamphlet outlines his basis for missions: Christian obligation, wise use of available resources, and accurate information. Carey later preached a pro-missionary sermon (the so-called deathless sermon), using Isaiah 54:2-3 as his text, in which he repeatedly used the epigram which has become his most famous quotation: “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”

Carey finally overcame the resistance to missionary effort, and the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen (now the Baptist Missionary Society) was founded in October 1792. A year later the Lord opened the door for Carey to go to India himself as one of the first missionaries to that country. Carey translated the Bible into 37 different Indian languages, Many of these languages had never been printed before. The Lord had gifted Carey with a great intellect but the fruitfulness of his ministry can be attributed to someone else.

Back in England, Carey had a sister who was a quadriplegic. She was unable to walk or use her hands. Every day for 50 years she prayed for her brother, and his work in India. She wrote him encouraging letters by holding a pencil in her teeth. Carey made the famous statement: “Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God.”

A large part of Carey’s fruitfulness must have been the result of his sister’s faithful prayer life.

How can we learn to pray like this? A good model is found in Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It was written by Paul while a prisoner in Rome about the year 62 AD and sent to his friends at Philippi to the church founded on his second missionary journey. You can read about it in Acts 16. One of the church members there, Epaphroditus had been sent to Rome to bring some money from the church to help Paul while in prison.

Paul’s letter therefore is something of a “missionary thank you” but it is much more than that. In his letter Paul shares the secret of Christian joy. Paul mentions joy, rejoicing and gladness 19x in four short chapters. Now the unusual thing about this letter is that from what we know of Paul’s circumstances he had no earthly reason for rejoicing at all.

He was a Roman prisoner, and he did not know whether his trial would result in an acquittal or execution. He was chained to Roman guards and denied basic freedoms. Yet in spite of his danger and discomfort, Paul overflowed with joy.

What was the secret of this joy ? We shall find that the answer lies in another word often repeated in this letter. That is the word “mind”. Paul uses the word 10x, the word “think” 5x, and “remember” once. Add those together and you have 16 references to the mind.

In other words, the secret of Christian joy is found in the way we think – our attitudes. For our outlook so very often determines our outcome. This is no shallow “self help” book that tells us to think positively, or to convince ourselves everything will turn out all right in the end. It is a short letter that explains how we can continue to experience God’s joy irrespective of our circumstances.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)

Listen to or read more…

Servant Leadership – The Role of Church Leaders

Servant Leadership: John 13 from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

A year or so ago I attended a celebration at Lambeth Palace. Besides the archbishop, there were many other bishops present and guests from all around the world. All there to honour a frail 90 year old gentleman who had them all in awe. Kenneth Cragg is the leading scholar in the world today on Islam and Christian mission in the Arab world. He has written 30 books, all of them classics using a typewriter. His words are so distilled you have to read each sentence several times to have any hope of understanding its meaning. After the Archbishop and various Bishops had expressed their appreciation, Kenneth spoke with humility and erudition about his love of the Lord Jesus Christ. He summed up his long life, his academic studies, his contribution to our understanding of Islam and interfaith relations in one sentence – “Confronted by the love of Christ, we have no choice.” I like that because it sums up why we are here, I hope: Confronted by the love of Christ we have no choice. No choice but to serve the one who in loving service gave his life to set us free. Serve the one who in loving service forgave our sins, who in loving service gave us eternal life. The apostle Paul explains it like this, “For Christ’s love compels us.” (2 Corinthians 5:14) For Christ’s love compels us. That is why we serve and that is why we are here.

On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus, “got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:4-5). Then, “when he had finished washing their feet [all 24], he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I have done for you? He asked them” (John 13:12). Do you understand what Christ has done for you? Lets look at these verses in a little more detail for Jesus has provided us with a model.

Rico Tice on “What is Success?” (Luke 12:13-21)

Last Saturday Rico Tice of All Soul’s, Langham Place, spoke at two events at Christ Church on “What is Success?”. His short answer is this: ‘failure’ is being successful in things that ultimately don’t matter.

You can listen to Rico’s talk here. Check out some photos here or on Flickr

“Well, gents thank you very much for coming out this morning, I wonder if you can see this piece of paper that’s in front of you on the tables. I’m just going to throw out a bit of the Bible and I just don’t know what you make of it. Here’s a bit of the Bible, it’s Jesus telling a parable so you can fold it up and put it in your wallet. I find it really compelling. Let me read it to you, say a few words about it, and then I really hope it will be food for thought. Let me read it to you, so here’s Jesus, it’s Luke 12, one of the biographies of Jesus, and this is the story we hear him tell:

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘”You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

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Meet the New Athiests… same as the Old Atheists

Matt Sieger has written a brilliant article over at Jews for Jesus website. Here is a taster:

Move over Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche…

Make room for the new kids on the block—Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens! These “New Atheists” proclaim God’s non-existence with great fervor. But they’re not saying anything new.

Dawkins declares, “Faith is the great cop out.” Where did we hear this before? Oh, yes, Marx: “Religion is the opium of the people.”

Harris says belief in God is “a sign that something is seriously wrong with your mind.” Not new. Freud said that to put faith in God is “patently infantile.”

Hitchens states, “God did not make man in his own image. Evidently it was the other way about.” Nietzsche said it already: “Is man one of God’s blunders, or is God one of man’s?”

The Bible (oops, sorry atheists) got it right: “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

So what’s different about the New Atheists? They’re just more “in your face.” As Clark Pinnock notes:

These fellows such as Nietzsche and Freud thought more in depth about what atheism entails and could understand what might interest thoughtful people in religion. The new atheism in contrast is disinterested in fair-minded discussions about whether religion might actually have something to contribute to human knowledge. In the new atheism (and it is not really “new”), readers are not expected to understand religion or have any sympathy for it. Instead they are exhorted to detest faith.¹

But the New Atheists are actually wimps compared to the old atheists. When Nietzsche declared that God was dead, he understood that if there is no God, there are no morals. The New Atheists are afraid to go that far. They say we can have moral standards without God. But if there is a moral law, there must be a moral lawgiver. Where does our conscience come from, if not from God?

Read the rest here over at Jews-for-Jesus

Five Books That Changed My World

Wondering what to give as a gift for Easter? Want to know the five basic books I recommend every Christian to read? These are the five books that have helped me in my Christian life – after the Bible itself.

Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis
In 1943 Great Britain, when hope and the moral fabric of society were threatened by the relentless inhumanity of global war, an Oxford don was invited to give a series of radio lectures addressing the central issues of Christianity. Over half a century after the original lectures, the topic retains it urgency. Expanded into book form, Mere Christianity never flinches as it sets out a rational basis for Christianity and builds an edifice of compassionate morality atop this foundation. As Mr. Lewis clearly demonstrates, Christianity is not a religion of flitting angels and blind faith, but of free will, an innate sense of justice and the grace of God.A forceful and accessible discussion of Christian belief that has become one of the most popular introductions to Christianity and one of the most popular of Lewis’s books. Uncovers common ground upon which all Christians can stand together.

Knowing God: J.I. Packer
A lifelong pursuit of knowing God should embody the Christian’s existence. According to eminent theologian J.I. Packer, however, Christians have become enchanted by modern skepticism and have joined the “gigantic conspiracy of misdirection” by failing to put first things first. Knowing God aims to redirect our attention to the simple, deep truth that to know God is to love His Word. What began as a number of consecutive articles angled for “honest, no-nonsense readers who were fed up with facile Christian verbiage” Knowing God has become a contemporary classic by creating “small studies out of great subjects.” Each chapter is so specific in focus (covering topics such as the trinity, election, God’s wrath, and God’s sovereignty), that each succeeding chapter’s theology seems to rival the next, until one’s mind is so expanded that one’s entire view of God has changed. Having rescued us from the individual hunches of our ultra-tolerant theological age, Packer points the reader to the true character of God with his theological competence and compassionate heart. The lazy and faint-hearted should be warned about this timeless work–God is magnified, the sinner is humbled, and the saint encouraged.

Basic Christianity: John Stott
Jesus certainly existed. His existence as an historical figure is vouched for by pagan as well as Christian writers,’ says John Stott. Who was Jesus? Why was he crucified? Did he really rise from the dead? We need answers to these key questions in order to understand the basics of Christianity. The author offers a clear and full explanation, showing what it means to be a Christian today. John R. W. Stott defends the fundamental claims of Christianity and defines the proper outworkings of these beliefs in the lives of believers. Here is a sound guide for those seeking an intellectually satisfying presentation of the Christian faith. “There are…few landmark books that everyone in the world should read. This is one of the rare few. ” — Rick Warren

The Case for Christ: Lee Strobel
The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel’s attempt to “determine if there’s credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God.” The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, “Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?”), scientific evidence, (“Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus’ Biographies?”), and “psychiatric evidence” (“Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?”). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus’ divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own. A Seasoned Journalist Chases Down the Biggest Story in History The Project: Determine if there’s credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God. The Reporter: Lee Strobel, educated at Yale Law School, award-winning former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune-with a background of atheism. The Experts: A dozen scholars, with doctorates from Cambridge, Princeton, Brandeis, and other top-flight institutions, who are recognized authorities on Jesus. The Story: Retracing his own spiritual journey, Strobel cross-examines the experts with tough, point-blank questions: How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence exist for Jesus outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual historical event?

The Purpose Driven Life: Rick Warren
The spiritual premise in The Purpose-Driven Life is that there are no accidents—God planned everything and everyone. Therefore, every human has a divine purpose, according to God’s master plan. Like a twist on John F. Kennedy’s famous inaugural address, this book could be summed up like this: “So my fellow Christians, ask not what God can do for your life plan, ask what your life can do for God’s plan.” Those who are looking for advice on finding one’s calling through career choice, creative expression, or any form of self-discovery should go elsewhere. This is not about self-exploration; it is about purposeful devotion to a Christian God. The book is set up to be a 40-day immersion plan, recognizing that the Bible favors the number 40 as a “spiritually significant time,” according to author Rick Warren, the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, touted as one of the nation largest congregations. Warren’s hope is that readers will “interact” with the 40 chapters, reading them one day at a time, with extensive underlining and writing in the margins. As an inspirational manifesto for creating a more worshipful, church-driven life, this book delivers. Every page is laden with references to scripture or dogma. But it does not do much to address the challenges of modern Christian living, with its competing material, professional, and financial distractions. Nonetheless, this is probably an excellent resource for devout Christians who crave a jumpstart back to worshipfulness.

If you are looking for a good Study Bible, there are two I use on a daily basis and would recommend:

Today’s New International Version (TNIV) Study Bible

Recommended by leading evangelical scholars, pastors, teachers, and church leaders worldwide for its clarity, accessibility, and precision of meaning, the “TNIV” is now available in a full-featured study edition. The “Zondervan TNIV Study Bible” combines over 20,000 in-text notes that form the study backbone of this Bible with the most current scholarship reflected through ongoing discoveries in archaeology, linguistics, and biblical history. Including award-winning features and concise, conservative biblical commentary, the “Zondervan TNIV Study Bible” is edited by the same leading evangelical scholars who brought the world the bestselling “Zondervan NIV Study Bible”. With a treasury of instant study material alongside the easy-to-read and highly accurate today’s “New International Version”, the “Zondervan TNIV Study Bible” provides the most comprehensive study Bible for an emerging generation of Bible readers.

Features include: over 20,000 bottom-of-the-page, verse-by-verse study notes offer biblical perspectives and study insights; icons throughout the study notes highlight historical/archaeological contexts, biblical characters and people groups, notes for personal application; topical index offers over 700 entries to enhance personal and topical Bible study; 16 pages of new, satellite-generated, full-color maps; “TNIV” side-column cross-reference system and concordance; helpful indexes to study notes, in-text maps, and color maps; the complete text of the “TNIV” in a single-column format with words of Christ in red; and presentation page, notes and map index, and 8-page historical timeline section.

Check out the TNIV website.

The English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible
The ESV Study Bible was created to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way—to understand the timeless truth of God’s Word as a powerful, compelling, life-changing reality. To accomplish this, the ESV Study Bible combines the best and most recent evangelical Christian scholarship with the highly regarded ESV Bible text. The result is the most comprehensive study Bible ever published—with 2,752 pages of extensive, accessible Bible resources.

Created by an outstanding team of 95 evangelical Christian scholars and teachers, the ESV Study Bible presents completely new study notes, maps, illustrations, charts, timelines, articles, and introductions. Altogether the ESV Study Bible comprises 2 million words of Bible text, insightful explanation, teaching, and reference material—equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource library all contained in one volume.

Check out the ESV website.