Book Comment: God is Not ... Religious, Nice, "One of Us," An American, A Capitalist

God is Not ... Religious, Nice, "One of Us," An American, A Capitalist, edited by D. Brent Laythem, is a very hard book to read, for several reasons. One is that it is written from a very academic seminary level veiwpoint. The other reason is that it directly challenges numerous modern Christian assumptions.


This is not some "pointy-headed liberal" attack on the Church. The authors take pains to point out that they are evangelical and trinitarian and that they do not subscribe to the moral relativism now infesting most of the world. The editor, Brent Laythem, says "... true boorishness is the 'unflinching tolerance' that cannot tolerate traditional Christian conviction."


You may disagree with some of the conclusions the writers draw in their articles. I do, but it is not forbidden for Christians to disagree among themselves. We are not even required to all like one another, but we are expected to all love one another and to love and obey the Lord.


Some of the insights discussed in this book are:
God is not religious. Religion can become a work of Man, with rules, rituals, and places which, in effect, distract our attention away from God.
God is not "one of us." Jesus is not just a holy man and an enlightened teacher. He is fully Human, but He is also fully Divine.
God is not nice. God is dangerous. He is a direct challenge to man's pride in his accomplishments. To call God nice is an attempt to tame and control Him.
God is not tolerant. Modern moral relativism insists that there are no absolutes. God presents Himself with no compromise.
God is not interested in being your therapist, in making you "feel better." God is not a coping mechanism. He seeks to restore you to a proper relationship with Himself.
God is not American. The angels rejoice when a new person enters the Kingdom whether that person is in Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Spain, or Florida.
God is not a capitalist. In his "render unto caesar" comment Jesus seems to say that He considered money to be unimportant. Remember that he laid aside his privileges as God to become what the world's culture would consider to be an absolute failure, executed by the government as a criminal.

The Glory of God

"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." John 20:21

"For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." Leviticus 11:45

What does it mean, that our only purpose is to show the Glory of God?  What is the Glory of God?

These questions come to the ultimate question: what is the true nature of God?  Obviously, He is not an old bearded man with scary intense eyes and a massive grey beard.

God is a Spirit.

God is personal, not some indeterminate “force.”

God is infinite, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-sufficient, and utterly perfect and holy.

God is just.

God is eternal.  This does not mean “timeless,” but independent of time, not bound by linear time as we are.

God is unchangeable.

God is One God in Three Persons; the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, who exist in a community of Love.

God is Love.  God does not love, He is Love.

So what is the Glory of God?  The Glory of God is in His act of sharing Himself with His creatures, us.  As created beings we are imperfect and therefore excluded from the presence of Perfection.  We are incapable of correcting this situation, though in pride, we try.

Though he is complete in and of Himself and has no need for us, God has chosen to correct the situation and to include us in His Love.  Only He is capable of fulfilling and satisfying the Law and so He sent His Son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Because of God’s Act of Love, He has “given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:4

The True Purpose of the Church

"The very purpose of the church is to be a vision of who God is and what God is not. ... we are to make the one God visible first to ourselves and then to the rest of the world."  D. Brent Laythem 


"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." John 20:21



Why did God, who is all-sufficient and all-powerful, send Jesus into the world?  He did not need to, He has no "needs,"  He does not even need us.  He sent Jesus into the world as the revelation of Himself.  He sent Jesus into the world to reveal His glory.  We exist individually and corporately (the Church, the ekklesia) for one reason only; to declare the glory of the Lord.  In tomorrow's post, I will talk more about what this means.


"For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." Leviticus 11:45

Watching

Yogi Berra (b. 1925, in Missouri, USA, as Lawrence Peter Berra) is considered to have been one of the greatest players ever at the Catcher position in professional baseball.  As a team manager he led teams in both the American and National Leagues to the World Series.  He deservedly became a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 but, in the mind of the general public, he is best known as a mangler of the English language.  One of his most famous malapropisms is "You can observe a lot just by watching."


Malapropisms, on their faces, seem to be absurd, but sometimes they carry a grain of truth.  You really can observe a lot by watching.

"Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Luke 12:27  (If God takes care of mindless plants, He surely will take care of you!)

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." Psalm 37:37  (Strive to imitate the finest examples of humanity.)

Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Proverbs 6:6 (Use the hyper-industrious insect as an example for your own life.)

Be an example for others:

http://www.openbible.info/topics/lead_by_example

An Example for Other to Imitate

http://bible.org/seriespage/mark-1-example-others-imitate

Just Because it's Cute!

Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.

Boo!!! YouTube seems to have blocked this video!

Another Discussion of Pi in 1 Kings

Yesterday's post was about the use of the mathematical constant, pi, in 1 Kings 7:23.  Today is another answer to the question of whether or not the verse represents an error in the Bible.  The writer of the web article, "Answer to: Does the Math in 1 Kings 7:23 prove that the Bible has errors?" , says the solution to the question is in 1 Kings 7:26.  You have to read both verses to see that two different measurements are being discussed, one is the diameter of the outside rim of the cup and the other is the circumference of the inside rim of the cup.  This may sound like "splitting hairs"but, actually, it is not.  This is not the "Aha! Gotcha!" that the Bible-haters would like it to be.

Pi: Not the Movie But the Number

Pi (1998) is a movie I will talk about later.  It was the first feature directed by Darren Aronovsky, who is best known for the intense psychological thriller, Black Swan (2010).  This post is not about the film, but the number.


Pi is a mathematical constant; the ratio of a circle's circumference to its 
diameter.  It is often approximated as 3.14, but it is actually an irrational 
number whose decimal representation never ends and never repeats.
It has been calculated to 5 trilllion decimal places without breaking 
this pattern.  The number is useful in mathematics, science, and engineering.  


Jerry Tuttle, (who gives a calculus based derivation of Pi, π ) in his web article, "Does the Bible say Pi equals three?" discusses this very question.  Some say that there is a mathematical error in the Bible at 1 Kings 7:23.  Remember that one of the recurrent attacks on the Bible is that it is full of "errors."  It is ironic though that the supposed errors can almost always be explained away just as the cities and places which "never existed" keep on being found.