Book Comment: The 50 Most Important Teachings of the Bible

 

In his book, The 50 Most Important Teachings of the Bible, Jim George presents a Conservative Protestant Evangelical interpretation of fifty of the important doctrines of Christianity. When I first read it, I wrote on the title page: “The whole book quivers with the evangelistic impulse.”

As with most books such as this, what you get from the book depends on what you bring with you. You may not agree with everything George says. His stated purpose: “My goal for this book about what the Bible teaches is to help give you a better understanding of the key teachings that are critical for your growth as a Christian.”

Some of the topics discussed in this book:

God is both three, and one.

Satan is not as powerful as you think, but you ignore him at your own risk.

Look at Jesus to see what God is like.

How much water is enough?

Angels are not just something you put on the top of your Christmas tree.

You cannot surprise God

Information you will need to search for this book: George, Jim, The 50 Most Important Teachings of the Bible. What They Mean for You (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2015)

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A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

What Do You Leave Behind?

In 1607, the French explorer, Samuel de Champlain (baptized 1874, France -d. 1635) found "an old cross, all covered with moss, and almost wholly rotted away" at the site of what is now Advocate, Nova Scotia, Canada.  he interpreted this as confirmation of reports that the Portuguese explorer, Joao Alvares Fagundes (b. ca 1460, Portugal -d 1522), had visited the area about 1520.

Just as Fagundes left a cross, we leave traces in people's lives.  Do you leave a cross wherever you go?

The Fire of the Faith

“Christians, like coals of fire, cease to glow when they become separated from the group.”  Herschel H. Hobbs (1907-1995) 

Hobbs was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1962-1963) and was the chairman of the Baptist Faith and Message committee.

Book Comment: The Baptist Faith and Message

This book, The Baptist Faith and Message (1971), by Herschel H. Hobbs, was actually somewhat controversial upon its release.  Many called it ultra-conservative, even fundamentalist.  Actually it is a clear and concise statement of the beliefs of the majority of Southern Baptists.

Baptists come from the Anabaptist tradition, insisting on adult believer's baptism and denying the usefulness of infant baptism.  The name of the Southern Baptist Convention (the SBC) reflects our particular denomination's historical origins.  We arose during the conflict between North and South, the American Civil War.  We have long since left behind the main source of conflict with our northern brethren, a defense of the institution of slavery, and we are now worldwide, not merely "southern."  We number about 13,000,000.

The SBC is congregational; each church is autonomous and participation in state and national conventions is voluntary.  Each church calls its own pastor(s) and elects its own deacons (elders).  Elected representatives from the church attend the state and national conventions.  Statements by the conventions are "advisory" but are not binding on local churches.

The Baptist Faith and Message discusses our main doctrinal points.
1. We believe in "the competency of the soul in religion."  Man is endowed by God with the privilege of choice.  The relationship is between God and the individual believer.  Every person on Earth has an equal right to direct access to God.  The priesthood of all believers means that all believers have the right to read and interpret the scriptures as led by the Holy Spirit.
2. Baptism is by immersion only (βαπτίζω is Greek, meaning "I immerse").  Baptism is not a magical act, it is a statement of belief.
3. We practice "closed communion."
4. The Scriptures are inspired and inerrant in all their assertions.  They were written by men, divinely inspired, whose individual personalities and writing styles can be heard in their writings.  All doctrine must be based on the totality of scripture, not on hand-picked individual verses.  The ultimate criterion for interpretation of the Bible (Old and New Testaments) is Jesus Christ.
5. We are obligated by our salvation to offer this salvation to whoever will accept it.  We are not to compel or coerce belief.
6. We have a living faith, not a creedal one.
7. God is utterly holy and perfect.  He exists as one God in Three Persons, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  His ultimate revelation of Himself to man is Jesus Christ.
8. Man is created in God's image.  Every person on Earth is worthy of respect.
9. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, it is the freely given gift of God.
10. All believers are saints, "set apart."  The process of sanctification of the believer proceeds over our lifetime as we become increasingly like Christ; the believer's ultimate destiny is moral and spiritual perfection, like Jesus.  This is not the result of the believer's actions, but by the work of the Holy Spirit upon him or her.
11. All true believers endure to the end.
12. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is the ἐκκλησία, the body of all believers in Christ down through the ages and for all time to come.
13. The Lord's Supper (communion) is a symbolic act of obedience to Jesus.  It is for baptized believers only.

Baptism of Christ - Mark 1:7-11

Book Comment: If the Church Were Christian, Chapter 2, Part 2

If you are joining this book review series mid-stream , you can read the comment from the beginning by going to the LABELS section following the last post on this page and clicking on PHILIP GULLEY.

Gulley, Philip, If the Church were Christian.  Rediscovering the Values of Jesus (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010)

CHAPTER 2: Affirming Our Potential Would be More Important Than Condemning Our Brokenness

Pastor Gulley denies the doctrine of Original Sin.    He says that a God who would condemn billions of people to Hell because the first couple tasted a fruit is despotic.  A very strong charge.  To respond fully would take weeks.

Every question can be followed by one hundred new questions and this is no different.  Talking about Original Sin opens up a door to numerous doctrinal questions; original sin, the age of accountability, adult versus infant baptism, what baptism actually means, where the soul comes from and when and how it is connected to the body.  I will discuss each of these in separate posts later.

Pastor Philip Gulley says that the churches he is criticizing see humans as sinful, flawed, and broken.  Look at your history books, check the court dockets, watch Judge Judy.  The world is sinful, flawed, and broken.

In this second chapter of his book, Gulley is responding to a real attitude in some churches, a strict rules based understanding of the Christian life.  This is especially prevalent in Fundamentalist churches.  I think it misses a vital point (who we are) and robs many sincere committed Christians of the true fullness of their Christian life.  We really are different from those outside the Church

In his book, After You Believe, Anglican Bishop N, T. Wright points out that, in the Kingdom, believers are to be Kings and Priests (Isaiah 61:6, Revelation 1:6, 5:10, Exodus 19:6, 1 Peter 2:5) and that Jesus clearly said that the Kingdom is here now (Luke 17:20-21) as well as in the future.

Our purpose is to learn to live now as Kings and Priests, members of the royal household (Ephesians 2:19, 1 Peter 2:9).   That means becoming like Jesus and assuming the Mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-16, http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/4807/3577.html ), instead of living by a bunch of rules and trying to be perfect. 

This is part of a continuing chapter-by- chapter response to this book.  More to come. 

Touchdown Jesus

I read the news reports on the destruction of Touchdown Jesus and immediately thought of Notre Dame University football. This isn't that Touchdown Jesus. The Notre Dame one is a mural visible from Notre Dame Football Stadium in which Jesus has upraised arms. The "legend" is that Jesus cheers every touchdown by the football team.

The destroyed statue is actually the "King of Kings," a 62 foot tall upper torso of Jesus with His arms upraised to Heaven. The locally popular name comes from the fact that the positioning of His arms is the same as that of a football referee signalling a touchdown by a football team.

The plastic foam and fiberglass statue was built over a steel frame and placed on an island at the head of the baptismal pond of the Solid Rock Church, a 4000 member non-denominational congregation in Monroe, Ohio. The statue was struck by lightning on 14 June 2010 and erupted into flames down to its base. To see a picture of the former statue go to http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/9786

Rumspringa

     At first glance, the Rumspringa seems to be an odd, even cruel, religious practice, especially when one realizes that it is practiced by the ultra-strict, ultra-conservative Plain People, the Amish.

     Since they have Anabaptist origins, the Amish utterly reject any idea of infant baptism or of the idea that being raised in an Amish family makes one Amish.  The strongly believe that to be Amish one must make a conscious decision to adopt the life.

     Not all Amish teens (at age 16) participate in the Rumspringa (the "running around") during which they leave the community to live among the "English" (the outside world) and have no rules whatsoever.  Sex, drugs, alcohol, wild parties, telephones, fashionable clothing, smoking, profanity: anything goes.

     The hope is that the teens will be shocked and disgusted by the depravity they see and will voluntarily return to be baptized and assume their rightful place in the community.  This seems quite harsh to outsiders but the Amish see it as respect for the free wills of their  children.  No one is forced to be Amish, the life must be chosen.

     The Plain People know that their life can be seen as hard but most of their adults don't think that it is.  They do know what they're missing.

     For further study on this subject:

1. Schactman, Tom, Rumspringa: To Be or Not To Be Amish (North Point Press, 2007)

2. Video: The Devil's Playground.