Creating Capacity

It is one thing to give yourself to being used by God; it is something else entirely to prepare yourself to be used. There are many people who have given their lives over to God to use, but their lives are often full of unresolved hurts and bitterness. Their failure to address these wounds and have them healed limits their capacity for being used by God. Similarly there are others who invite Jesus as their lord and saviour but fail to surrender their wills completely to His direction. It is as if they are saying, “Now that you are in my life, I will carry on as usual, but please feel free to use what I’m doing anyway you like.” The problem of course is that they’ve put being used for God’s will as subservient to our own will.

In 2 Timothy it says, “In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”

In some ways preparing ourselves to be used for noble purposes is harder than giving ourselves to be used. The giving of our lives can happen in a moment, the preparation and cleansing for noble purposes is an on-going process. And yet, the value of a vessel is in part determined by its content. And even a garbage can is more valuable empty than full. Being a follower of Christ is a continual process of emptying and cleaning so that we can be used for greater and nobler purposes. Our capacity to be filled and used is directly proportionate to our being emptied and cleansed.

A book review of Humble Apologetics by

Humble Apologetics by John Stackhouse – A book review

I always find it refreshing to find a book written by a Canadian author. John Stackhouse’s book Humble Apologetics reflects allows his Canadian identity to shine through both in his illustrations and his perspective. While I had expected the book to put forward apologetic arguments for a Christian worldview, the main thrust was to address the apologist and the way in which arguments are presented. The book challenges those defending Christianity to reflect in their manner of argumentation a thoroughly Christian attitude and behavior.

Stackhouse pulls no punches in shining light upon some of the darker aspects of how apologists and evangelists can be less than gracious in presenting the evidence for their belief in a gracious God and Gospel. While not encouraging compromising one’s beliefs, he does encourage a less strident, more gentle presentations of one’s beliefs. Essentially Stackhouse is encouraging us to believe that truth itself is able to convince and that convincing the other person is not the apologist’s responsibility. While the thrust of the book is at time difficult to hear, it is a needed corrective and one that needs to be heeded.

A review of “The Voice” New Testament

The Voice is a new translation of the New Testament. It is produced by the Ecclesia Bible society and included a large selection of scholars, pastors, writers, poets and musicians in the production.

I find myself with mixed feelings about The Voice. On the positive side it is written in a very easy to read modern rendering. The dialogue sections are written as if reading a play where the speaker is identified. There are many helpful notes which alert the reader to cultural nuances that may be missed and devotional sections which I found were insightful and thoughtful. It is certainly a translation worthy of reading, especially if you are very acquainted with the New Testament and would like a translation that will help to make the familiar text ring fresh.

Normally, when I choose a Bible, I do not choose devotional Bibles or those which have margin notes or commentary sections. I generally find them distracting and over the long haul I feel it distracts from allowing the text to speak to me.  The thing that most annoyed me about this translation was that they included words or phrases in  italics that they felt would help to bring out nuances of the Greek language and inform modern readers of concepts that would be obvious to the original audience. At times this was helpful, but more often than not these additions revealed theological biases that may or may not have been accurate to the original text.

As a devotional read The Voice is worth reading. However, as a study Bible I would not recommend it as the primary text but it is helpful as a secondary text and its fresh wording  will, no doubt, cause you to reconsider prejudices that you can be blinded to when you’re used to reading from the same translation that you always read from.

This book has been provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available now at your favourite bookseller.

Easter Poem

With Easter approaching next week, I thought I would send out this poem that I wrote last year.

Love Died

I hear the screams for blood; for death

They yell and shriek with every breath.

Cursing and spitting with hate-filled eyes,

the crowd demands that “this man dies.”

The crack of whips slice flesh and skin.

Grunts from soldiers, but none from him.

His blood is splattered, and still they whip

But not a sound escapes his lip.

Now through the street with crown of thorn,

They mock, and jeer but none to mourn.

They spit, or laugh, or scold or stare

but no show of pity; none that care

Now on the hill they hammer home

Thick nails through wrists, and feet and bone

And lift his body spiked to that tree

And I realize then it should be me.

Why are all so mad, insane!

Thirsting for blood and laugh at pain

such vulgar displays, which they should hide?

And then I understand, love died.

And now he’s dead, and beauty’s gone

The world is bleak and evil strong

For death has come, it conquers all

And none can ever escape its call.

The cold stone grave, seemed too secure

The hope of life, was too obscure

But the one who died was stronger yet

And by the cross, he paid our debt

And out He came in strength and power

A shelter from death, a mighty tower

And all who put their trust in Him

Are cleansed from filth, and guilt and sin

For who could know what God had done

When on the cross He gave His Son

the foe we feared for us He fought

And by His blood our souls He bought

And now by faith we rest in Him

No more to fight with haunting sin

For our hope is sure the battle’s done

Christ fought for us and love has won!

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (book review)

Unbroken is the biography of Louie Zamperini, an Olympic track star, a World War II bombardier and a prisoner of war survivor in Japan. If this were billed as a fiction story the reader would be tempted to throw it out because it is so unbelievable. The story gripped me from beginning to end and held my attention all the way through. It is by far one of the best Biographies that I have read in years.

Zamperini moves from one incredible adventure to another: amazing sky-high dog fights with enemy fighters, stranded in a life boat in the pacific ocean for over a month, cruel and brutal treatment in concentration camps, an amazing account of deliverance after the bombing of Hiroshima and the most incredible inward account of freedom from alcohol and anger following the war as he tries to come back to “normal” life. Zamperini’s first hand account of World War II atrocities shows not only the potential dark side of human nature, but also the incredible resilience of human life in the midst or hardships and deprivation.

I really hope that this book is made into a movie! If you like biographies this is a must read on your summer reading list.

Digging into Scripture – Part 5

In this last blog on Digging into Scripture I want to cover some odds and ends that will help to find the author’s original intent. While we’ve already discovered that there are many genres in Scripture (Digging into Scripture – Part 2), much of the Bible is written as narrative; the author is telling a story. When a story is being told the reader needs to determine  why the author is telling it.

When it comes to following the teaching of Scripture it is important to understand if the story being told is descriptive (i.e. telling what took place) or prescriptive (i.e. telling what should take place). For instance the book of Acts tells us how the early church used to meet and function. Some have taken these descriptive narrative sections and assumed they are prescribing how the church should always function. While we may find principles for application in these descriptive sections, we need to acknowledge that they were framed within a particular culture, time period and historical context.

Similarly, there are some rather disturbing stories in the Bible which need to be understood as the author intended. Judges 19  tells a particularly disturbing story of a Levite cutting up the body of his concubine and sending the limbs to the tribes of Israel. Some have mistakenly assumed that the Bible was commending such behavior since it doesn’t outright condemn it. The reality is that the writer expects the reader to be outraged by the story and to know it is not being approved of. The purpose for including it was not to commend it but to help illustrate the main thesis of the book of Judges which was that everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes and not following God (see Judges 17:6 and 21:25).

Finally, keep in mind that, just like any other literature, author’s may use figurative language in a narrative section. When Jesus says “I am the gate…” (John 10:7) we don’t assume Jesus is made of wood. Rhetorical questions assume that reader understands what the correct answer is. If ever you are not sure what is going on in a text, consult another translation. Reading the same verse in several different translations can help you to better understand a text.

Digging into Scripture – Part 4

In this fourth blog on Digging into Scripture, I want to address perhaps the most important consideration as you study the Bible. One of the most difficult things to overcome is one’s own bias in coming to the text. It is very easy to manipulate a text and bend it to make it say what you want it to if we are not careful and brutally ruthless in examining our own motives as we come to the text.

I once found a humorous illustration that really helps to illustrate this point. I do not know the source but it is so good I’d like to share it with you:

Pretend that my daughter, Alison, and her boyfriend are going out for a Coke on a school night, and I say to her: “You must be home before eleven.” How would you interpret that? It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

Suppose it gets to be 10:45 and the two of them are still having a great time. They aren’t really anxious to end the evening, so suddenly they have difficulty interpreting my instructions.

They say, “What did he really mean when he said, “ you must be home before eleven”?  Did he literally mean us, or was he talking about  you in a general sense, like people in general? Was he saying, in effect, “As a general rule, people must be home before eleven”? Or was he just making the observation that, “Generally, people are in their homes before eleven?” I mean, he wasn’t very clear, was he?

And what did he mean by, “you  must be home before eleven”?  Would a loving father be so adamant and inflexible? He probably means it as a suggestion. I know he loves me, so isn’t it implicit that he wants me to have a good time? And if I am having fun, then he wouldn’t want me to end the evening so soon.

And what did he mean by, “You must be home before eleven”? He didn’t specify whose home. It could be anybody’s home. Maybe he meant it figuratively. Remember the old saying, “Home is where the heart is”? My heart is here with my boyfriend, so doesn’t that mean I’m already home?

And what did he mean by, “You must be home before  eleven“? Did he mean that in an exact, literal sense?  Besides, he never specified 11:00 P.M. or 11:00 A.M. And he wasn’t really clear on whether he was talking about Central Standard Time or Pacific Time. I mean, it’s still only quarter to seven in Honolulu. And as a matter of fact, when you think about it, it’s always before eleven. Whatever time it is, it’s always before the next eleven. So with all these ambiguities, we can’t really be sure what he meant at all. If he can’t make himself clear, we certainly can’t be held responsible.

Clearly, it is possible for a person to distort anything said if someone wants to. The key to understanding Scripture is to be a lover of truth regardless of where that truth leads.