Literature

Well It’s still fresh on my mind I wanted to write about my experience this semester. I just finished my first world lit class at my local community college. It was quite a rewarding experience. Some of the memorable quotes from my teacher are “Literature reveals more about the person reading it than the subject matter itself”, “Each time you read a book you will have a different experience and view of that book, because each time you will be in a different place in life.” I’ve found this to be true. There is truly something very rewarding and valuable in reading the literature of other cultures. It gives you a way to see life and the world through different eyes. There’s many contrasts but the comparisons maybe the most stunning. How do other societies and cultures view death, war, God, religion and humanity? How do they cope with suffering and view the meaning of life? What has life’s experiences taught them? By just asking a few questions when you read something and then compare that to what you’ve already read, known and experienced it stimulates the mind in many ways. Besides the characters in the book itself and how they are dealing with issues it good to keep in mind “why is the author writing about this? Why is He emphasizing that, or focusing on this or ignoring that?” Not only do you look at the characters but the author. It gives much detail.
My final essay i wrote was a comparison between Job and Bhagavad Gita (a book from India). They both deal with suffering and have anguish thrust upon them. They both have interaction with their God, to sort out why. They both explore issues like the meaning of life and are like wisdom literature. I’ve written an earlier paper involving these two plus Homer’s The Illiad in how they address suffering, but this time I compared the books/writers themselves. Job’s interaction with God is mostly one sided. He listens as God describes Himself, and finally Job repents for questioning God. God does not give job a direct answer to his why questions but simply tells him He is God. On the other hand, Arjuna (from the Bhagavad Gita) has a lengthy dialogue with Krishna (his God). Arjuna asks questions and God responds with an answer. There’s really is more of a two way conversation and answers are given in a more direct way. However there’s a difference in the way they are facing suffering. Job had no control or say in the things that happened to him, Arjuna is experiencing something similar in that the war that has come is not because of his doing but it is thrust on him to fight his relatives. He struggles to do his duty as a warrior, that is his caste in life, his purpose is to fight and bring honor by being a soldier, but to kill relatives would be a against what he is taught as right and wrong. So the difference here is that Arjuna has a decision to make, whereas Job has no decision. In making that decision Arjuna’s God has this conversation, but with Job there really isn’t a conversation with God, just listening. In the conversation Arjuna has with his God, they address the issues of life, its meaning and the purpose of suffering. Arjuna would ask a question and Krishna would respond. In Job we see a different approach in dealing with the same issues. Job would respond in rebuttal to his friends and from their dialogue we see a response to these questions of life. Job does a lot of talking about the meaning of life and suffering, albeit maybe in an indirect way. By reading other literature and then comparing them to the Bible you can get a better picture of how the Bible deals with issues, why the author of that particular book in the Bible wrote the way he did and how the issue is dealt with. Why did God respond in that and why does the character see God in that light are brought into view. It really does say something about God when you read of others experience with their god or how they perceived it to be. Each time they write they give a description of their god’s character.
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This class and from others bible students and believers has taught me to remember that the Bible is literature. I still believe its the word of God and to be reverenced, but when we read remember this are people telling of their experience with God and how they interacted with Him, perceived what He was saying and how they dealt with many of the same questions we ask ourselves today. The authors intent and focus still needs to be looks at for clarity of what’s being written and why its written that way. God is the same but how we see God may not be the same. Jesus came to clarify our understanding God, he often said “You have heard it said . . . but I say into you . . .” He came to bring clarity on what God is like. He says a very excluding statement when he says “I am the way, the truth and the light”. Even the books of the Bible are to be viewed in different categories. What I mean by this is some are historical narratives, some are wisdom literature, some poetic, some prophetic, others a testimony to events and some a letter to a certain audience for a certain reason. These tell much on how we are to read and see God weave in and out of it.

KJV versus NASB versus ESV

First let me say that I have cut my teeth, so to speak, on the KJV.  I still do love that translation and regard it highly but the need for a more modern language Bible is a real issue that needs to addressed. Words, meaning and phrases have changed so much that unless you take much care and explaining of the KJV text you will get the wrong impression in what is being said. And let’s face it, me and every other average American will struggle with this. Despite this the KJV still has much value and the literary prose is beautiful. Part of the KJV value comes from the fact that it does use a different base manuscript than all the modern texts use. So I would still use the KJV as a way to check what is written.

We would do well to remember that a translation is -simply as it says- a translation. Each one does it’s best to convert the original Hebrew/Greek wording into our language, but there is no perfect rendering. And I certainly don’t want to to tout that any one particular English translation, KJV included, is to be regarded as THE ONLY REAL BIBLE to read. This would relegate us to doing what has been done in the past, that is locking the word of God in a language that other people can’t read. This happened years ago when the Bible was locked in  the Latin Vulgate language and the common man couldn’t read it. Also this reasoning makes a statement to other non-English speaking people that their Bible isn’t really good enough and if you want to read the “real” word of God then you need to learn English. Isn’t that silly? I mean come on, we aren’t even reading the exact  wording anyway, because it was written in Greek and Hebrew. It’s grammatically impossible to translate each word exactly as it was written because there are some Greek/Hebrew words that the English doesn’t have, so translators have to do their best in finding an equivalent match. The same goes for each language in the world. So we shouldn’t get hung up if we hear a translation that says it a little differently than what we are used to. My conclusion is this, if you have to support your belief system solely on the exact wording of one particular translation because other versions contradict your doctrinal view, then I would question as to whether or not your particular doctrinal view is accurate. I have found that the main important beliefs of the bible don’t hing on any one particular wording.

Now having said all this, there are translations that more closely relay the original writer’s intent. There are basically three camps of translations 1. word-for-word 2. thought-for-thought 3. paraphrasing.  Paraphrasing would be like THE MESSAGE or THE LIVING Bible, thought-for-thought would be like the NIV or NLT and word-for-word would be like the KJV, NASB or ESV. The idea behind thought-for-thought translations ( also called dynamic equivalent) is that they look at whole sentences and paragraphs and translate what they think the whole thought is trying to be relayed. This can be valuable and every translation does this to an extent but it also opens the reader up to a more subjective interpretation, that is you are more likely to hear the translator’s view point being read into a particular verse.   The word-for-word translations try to convey the original text in our language with minimal interpretation. They want the readers to make up their own mind on what is being said and not do that for them. Like I said all translations have to make judgement calls on how to render a verse in order to make it readable. If not a strictly word-for-word English rendering of the Greek/Hebrew would be nonsensical. Find an interlinear concordance to see what I mean. So I recommend staying with the word-for-word camp, though I certainly feel that the power of the gospel shines through in the other camps as well.

So this brings us to the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New Amercan Standard Bible (NASB). I’m not wanting to give an exhaustive detail behind each translation, do a short google search or wikipedia and you will find that. The NASB is said to be a response to the liberal translation call the Revised Standard Version (RSV) written in the 1950′s. The NASB uses the American Standard Version (ASV), written around 1900 and is itself an attempt to transfer the good qualities of the KJV into a more modern language, as it’s “base” text and then uses the most recent archaeological manuscript findings to compare what is being said.  There has been great improvements in the understanding of the original language since the time that the KJV was written. More manuscripts  have been found to help fill in the gaps of understanding and give the translators a better sense behind the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words. Now the ESV is said to be a response to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).  The ESV uses the RSV as it’s base text. Just to note the RSV does have some connection to the ASV in that it was an attempt to make the text read in modern English. I read one comment that says the ESV is the RSV with the theology fixed.

I own both translations and they both have good qualities about them and different strengths.  The ESV is accurate, has a very smooth easy to read flow about it and a some what “classic” English feel but with great readability. Someone commented that it is like having the readability of the NIV but the literary accuracy of the NASB.  I do find that the ESV at times does stray more into the area of interpretation for the sake of readability. But overall it is a very good translation. Now the NASB is known as being the “most literal” translation. I say this tongue-in-cheek as do many others. If you do an exhaustive research you will see why. It does live up to its reputation of attempting to be very accurate. I find it to be very readable and the 95 update has taken out a lot of the “wooden reading” that the original contained. Because of an effort to stay close to the manuscripts the NASB will sometimes read with awkwardness, some have called it Yoda language. It’s really not that bad, in fact in comparing the NASB to the ESV there are several times when the ESV had the Yoda language when the NASB didn’t and the NASB had a better read to it. When you approach this type of reading it lets you know that there is something going on with the Greek text that it’s trying hard to follow and not interpret for you. Often times I’ve encountered that the NASB gives you a better understanding of what is being spoken by taking this route. But overall the ESV does have an easier read to it. I think one way to explain this is described by this. The ESV has a classic English feel to it and the NASB is more of just a modern English. The ESV captures and saves some of the literary prowess of the KJV, but this also comes with the use of some words or the shortening of verses that don’t clearly convey what is being said for the sake of beauty. The NASB loses the poetic feel of the KJV but at the same time it helps you understand what is being said.

The choice between which one to choose is a difficult one to make. At times they reverse roles on the issues I pointed out. Currently I carry a cambridge wide margin NASB and have been using it for my main bible and note taking for the last year. The Zondervan NASB study bible is a very valuable resource. I regularly consult other translations including the ESV and KJV. I have three other KJV wide margin bibles than I have used for many years and filled with notes. The last KJV wide margin I bought was a limited edition that Oxford put out a few years ago. I call it the “fat boy” because it is about 3″ thick by 9.5″ by 10″ . It’s so thick because the quality of paper is very good.  Here’s a link to what the current cambridge ESV and NASB wide margin looks like  Click here .  Also here is another link to help you compare translations and gives some very useful info on them.

My conclusion is that the KJV is still a good faithful representation of God’s word but the archaic language and sentence structure makes it so difficult to read that many readers don’t get the impact of what’s being said or miss interpret what was said. It’s still valuable to compare with in Bible study to get a different perspective. By reading a modern English translation it will breathe a fresh perceptive and understanding to your Bible study life. There is just something about reading the Bible in an English language that you can readily understand. The ESV is said to be 8th grade level and the NASB is said to be 11th grade, so they certainly aren’t a dumbing down of God’s word for readability sake (there are some that have a reputation for this). There is no perfect translation. The ESV and the NASB are both fine modern English word-for-word translation choices for Bible study and devotion. It is not my intent to make anyone feel bad for whatever translation they may prefer to use. If you have a translation that you like best and God uses it to bless, instruct and encourage you, then you should keep using it. The light of the gospel is able to shine through many different versions and receiving the gospel is the most important part anyway.

The Presence of God

The presence of God is something that every believer should desire to be in. Psalms 27 says that its the writer’s one desire in life, his central joy, to be in his God’s presence. When we are in the Presence of God darkness cannot work in you, sin has no place in you when your in His presence. It’s like being in light that darkness cannot come into.  So we are to desire to be in His presence, we’re not to hide or run from His presence, but rather seek it, live in it.

So how can one live in the presence of God at all times? Well we are to keep in mind that there is no place that God’s presence cannot be found. One Psalm states if I ascend into heaven, lo Your there, if I make my bed in hell behold Your there also. So the reality is that we are constantly in the presence of God, but are we aware of it? Are we living as though God was standing by us. Would you say that thing to someone in the presence of God? Would say that thing about someone in the presence of God? Would you talk to your spouse, your children, your parent, your employer, your coworker, your friend, your enemy the same way if you were in God’s presence? Conversations have a way of changing when other people are present. So if we want to be in God’s presence then let’s live in God’s presence, even when we don’t “feel” Him. He’s always there. Let’s tune into His presence.

A second time

I read a good thought that I wanted to share.

 

The story of Jonah is one of the most popular accounts of the Bible. I guess the fact that the guy was swallowed up by a fish adds that extra little pizazz. Any way as the story goes God spoke to Jonah and told him something to do. Jonah didn’t want to do it and ran from God, disobeying the word spoken to him. Now look at what is said in chapter 3:1. Between this verse and when Jonah disobeyed God dealt with Jonah (here’s the fish part) and he had a change of heart. So as we read in 3:1 it says that God spoke to Jonah again a second time. And what God had to say was the same as what He told him at the first.

Now look at a second character of the Bible, Jeremiah. He was quite different than Jonah in that he did obey, the first time, what God had spoken to him to do and say. In Jeremiah 33:1 we also read of  the word of the Lord coming to him a second time. However this second time is different than what Jonah experienced. It wasn’t just the same message that God had spoken to him the first time. Here in verse 3 it says that God expanded upon what He told Jeremiah. Because of Jeremiah’s obedience to what God had previously spoken to him, God was now going to give him a further revelation of His will.

So ask yourself today, “Have I done what the Lord has already revealed to me that I should do?” If you want to know more of God will then do what He has already spoken to you to do.

Redefining the 5-fold ministry by Frank Viola

This article addresses some of the most pressing issues that the church faces today. I wish Frank would have used scripture in his defining of the gifts. Maybe he does that in the book. In all fairness he did about as much as what I’ve heard others do when defining the functioning of the gifts. Most don’t quote scripture when they do. They just share their concept based on however they received it.

Its a revelation to me that the concept of the restoration of a 5-fold ministry is a 200 year old message. The way it’s been taught in the group I’ve grown up in believes that it is an exclusive revelation that Will Sowders received. What a shocker. Oh I’m sure one might say the nuances/details of how it’s applied will differ but the overall concept is still the same. I could be wrong. This is just my perspective from 32 years of listening old and present day messages. If I am wrong in this perspective I’m definitely not alone in this perspective being transmitted.

Follow the link below to read for yourself.

http://frankviola.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/rethinking-the-five-fold-ministry/

Having more of God in your life (conclusion)

We all would like to have more of God in our life, more of His power in our lives and in our gatherings. There are times when we come together as a church that the Spirit of the Lord just seems to come in like a flood, and then there’s other times when we seek the Lord with much effort to find Him. Entering into His presence in a corporate way is a different dynamic than doing so as an individual. I believe there are times when the Lord through His love and mercy just decides to flood us with His presence. The times that God presence seems a struggle to find isn’t because He is no longer loving, but He’s waiting to see if we will make the effort to align our hearts properly to approach Him. The things we do outside our corporate gatherings has an effect on what happens when come together and whether or not we will readily enter into His presence. If our daily life is out of sync with God then it should come to no surprise that a gathering of believers would experience a “groping effect” of trying to find God

Let’s bring this down to a more personal level. Is there a key to having a closer walk with the Lord? A key to having more of God’s power in our life, and thus in our gatherings? We recognize (and if you don’t you should) that any real transformation of our life, any real development of the fruits of the Spirit, the character of God in our life is because of the Lord’s doing. So does this mean we just sit back and wait for the Lord to pour it on us? That somehow if we just wander through life aimlessly trusting in God’s ability to do all things that someday we will wake up and find ourselves molded in God’s image, having the character of God developed in our lives? Does “trusting” in God equate to no effort on our part? Does being in tune with God just come without any exertion on our part?

I believe there are disciplines that we are to do to draw us into a closer walk with the Lord. These efforts in and of themselves don’t produce the character of God in our life, they don’t transform our heart, they don’t  produce the fruit of the Spirit, they don’t even teach about God in an intimate way. But what they do is cultivate our heart in such a way that we are then open to having the Lord work within us, to having Him speak to us and reveal His will to us, to show us a little more of Himself. Like any relationship, our relationship with the Lord requires work and effort to maintain and grow more intimately. There’s a story of a couple who was having marital problems and they went to the counselor for help. He asked the husband when was the last time he told his wife that he loved her. He responded, “The day we got married”. The counselor replied, “Why only then?”. The  husband responds “Well if it ever changed I’d let her know”. This is a cute little story that drives home the idea that relationships require maintenance. A relationship is built upon interaction. If there is no interaction, then there is no relationship. Before I go any further I want to add this – law bound disciplines breath death. Once you make any set of actions a law to follow you immediately dismiss the personal offering of willingness to seek God’s face  that’s so pleasing to God to respond to. You can not reduce fellowship with God down to a formula to memorize. He is a living Being, to result to such things is insulting and those efforts won’t amount to much more than rote discipline. You will never go beyond the initial meager human effort and find the awesome living God. He won’t respond to such “dead” works.

So what can we do to not only maintain our relationship with the Lord but even have it blossom into an even more intimate fellowship? Well here’s a few things that I’ve observed our Lord Jesus and his disciples practice as recorded in the Bible. One discipline is prayer. We should daily be in conversation with the Lord. Sharing our needs and burdens, our hopes and dreams, our fears and failures. 1 Thess 5:17 says to “pray without ceasing”. A way that’s helped me to understand what this is saying is this: there are some things we have done from birth and have never stopped doing, like eating and drinking. Every day we eat and drink something. Col 4:2 admonishes us to devote ourselves to prayer. Philippians 4:6 says we are to bring everything to the Lord in prayer.  James 1:5 tell us that if we lack wisdom talk to God about, He will more than meet your deficit. Finally Luke 11:9-12 assures us that the Lord will respond to our efforts.

Another effort we are to make on our part is praise and worship. This will draw us into the presence of God, remind us of who we are and how great God is, and for just a brief period of time get our minds off ourselves and our own condition and glorify God for who He is. Philippians 4:4 instructs us that rejoicing should be a daily occurrence. Ephesians 5:19 tells us we are to sing  and make melody in our heart to the Lord if we want to be filled with His presence.

A third discipline we can do is read God’s word . We are to become acquainted with what God has spoken. Matt 15:18 says that “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. If you want to know God’s heart then read what He has spoken. Look at how God has dealt with humanity. When Jesus was faced with temptation (Matthew 4) the word of God He committed to memory helped to keep him from evil. Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. Every verse makes reference to God’s word via statute, judgment, precept, or law.

Meditation should be another habit we develop. We are to think about the things of God, Philippians 4:8 encourages us in what things we are to dwell on. Isaiah 1:18 tells us that God would like to reason with us. He wants us to think deeply about things. Finally Mark 12:30 tells that love our love for God is to be made up of our whole being. We are to devote our minds to thinking on the purposes of God and the many good things He has to say and has done.

Still yet another discipline that Jesus and his disciples did frequently is fasting. There are several different things you can fast from to condition your heart to hear God. Food is usually the first thing that comes to someone’s mind when they think of fasting but also consider other things that you might give up to focus on God. Do you like video games? Television? Facebooking? Whatever might satisfy a desire in your heart, put it away for a while and see how your hunger for God and receptiveness to Him will grow.

Finally but certainly not the least discipline we should do is service. By giving of ourselves to the needs of others this creates an opportunity for God to talk to our hearts. First of all, the way we serve our spouse and children will have an immense impact on our spiritual growth. 1 Peter 3:7 clues us in that our relationship with our family definitely has an impact on our relationship with the Lord. Its because the Lord desires that our homes reflect the great mystery of how Christ sacrificially loves the church and gives Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25-33). So servitude should first begin at home. Then we should look to the  poor and needy, for they have a special place in God’s heart. God is a champion of the weak, destitute and distraught, and He pours his blessings out on both the good and evil. Jesus showed us that didn’t He? How many times did He heal people who never did turn to follow Him? Still yet He continued to have compassion on others. Jesus said that what we do even unto the least (whoever you think would be the most undeserving), is the same as doing it unto Him. So by looking to the needs of others and not just ourselves (Philip 2:4) the Lord will speak to us through these things.

In conclusion I would like to for us to ask ourselves this question, “Why do we feel the need for more of God, the need to draw closer to Him?” It’s because He placed that feeling there and He wants to draw closer to you. Believe it. Jesus said that no one can come unto me expect the Spirit of the Father draw Him. That same One who drew us initially hasn’t stopped drawing us. He wants to be with you. Another place it says that we love Him because He first loved us. Yet still in another place it says while we were still helpless, while we were enemies to God He loved us and gave His most beloved Son for us. If we will but move out in faith towards God, doing what we can, He will meet us. And the reason we want more of God in our life will become clearer than ever.

Quote

I saw this on a poster at my college.

Those who are ashamed of asking are ashamed of learning.

Is salvation a one time event?

Here’s a good article that Edward Fudge wrote. I have heard similar messages on this through the years. I believe this is an important concept to grasp and I’m glad to find that others are preaching this perspective also.

A gracEmail subscriber in the San Francisco Bay area asks whether salvation is a process rather than an event.

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“Salvation” is another word for “rescue” or “deliverance” and there are many ways of talking about God’s divine rescue of sinners. For example, the Bible speaks of justification, sanctification and glorification. These involve past, present and future, which enables the believer to say, “I have been justified; I am being sanctified; I will be glorified.” Justification is God’s work for us; sanctification is God’s work in us; glorification is God’s work on us. Justification delivers us from sin’s penalty (Rom. 3-4). Sanctification delivers us from sin’s power (Rom. 7). Glorification will deliver us from sin’s presence (Rom. 8; 1 Cor. 15).

There is a sense in which we have been saved (Eph. 2:8). But the Bible also speaks of those who are “being” saved (1 Cor. 1:18). And it says that we “shall be saved” in the Last Day (Rom. 5:9-10). We have been redeemed, liberated, by Jesus’ blood — but we also look forward to the day of redemption (Eph. 1:7, 14). We have the Spirit of God already, but we anticipate the unmediated fullness of God’s personal, powerful Presence in new heavens and a new earth. We have been washed and cleansed, but the Christian life involves ongoing cleansing (1 Cor. 6:11; 1 John 1:7). The Messiah came and he is yet to come (Heb. 9:26, 28). The Kingdom is here but it is also coming, and Jesus taught us to pray that it will come on earth as it is in heaven (Col. 1:13; 2 Pet. 1:11; Matt. 6:10).

These days we are so accustomed to hearing people talk about “getting saved” that we might find it surprising to realize that the New Testament scarcely uses that language. “Salvation” — the outpouring and outworking of God’s grace — is not only a single-point event but a lifelong process. Some of us come to God in crisis-experiences; others are nurtured in the faith from infancy and have no “Damascus-Road” testimony at all. Is salvation an event? Indeed it is. Is it a process? Indeed it is. Is it past, present or future? Again the answers are “Yes!” We may describe salvation in the simplest of terms and speak truthfully. But as much as we ever learn, we will never be able to describe it exhaustively. Thanks be to God for his incomparable gift!
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Copyright 2010 by Edward Fudge. Permission hereby given to reproduce with credit given, without change and without charge.

Hipster Christianity

Check out this article that was brought to my attention.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=1135930

YouVersion

I just found an ultra cool Bible based website http://www.youversion.com

Its a composite of several different things.  1. It has 41 different translations of the bible in 21 different languages. You can word search, parallel view, listen to audio bibles, setup daily reading plans etc.
2. It’s a Bible discussion forum. Members can add comments to passages, have people follow you via facebook, twitter. Join a group or establish one yourself (Maybe a CGT link?) this creates a bible study group for others to join. 3. you can get an app for your iphone, android, blackberry etc.

To much to tell all, must see for yourself.
This is a real nice mesh of bible study and networking of the Christian community.

Could this (and others like it) be the 21st century equivalent of the “Campground” meetings that were held 80+ years ago? Back then that was the social networking bomb of the day. The place to hear different ideas and fresh perspectives. To have a live sounding board for what you were getting out of your bible studies. The world has changed a lot in the last 100 years and so has the atmosphere for the search of authentic Christianity. Christians are starting to ask questions more as to why things are the way they are, and this is stirring up quite a change in the Christian community. Bring it on Lord Jesus. Let your kingdom come and be restored.