A Variety of Links

=Logos is offering a 25% discount on base packages for two weeks. Follow the link for details.

=A little shameless self-promotion: 5 Tips to Improve Your Bible Reading
One of my posts adapted for Beliefnet.

=Nope, Same-Sex Marriage Won’t Affect Us at All
A rundown of the fallout so far.

=Hunger Has a Profile
The variety of people who are hungry today through the eyes of one volunteer.

=The many faces of Christ
A surprisingly moving display set to a really good song.

(HT: Ben Witherington)

=A final fun link: 10 Annoying Habits of a Geeky Spouse
So you can understand my wife's pain :)

4 U LORD

I saw a license plate the other day that read “4 U LORD.” It was on a Jaguar.

I have trouble believing that Jaguar was really bought for Jesus.

A similar sight: You may have seen the bumper stickers that say, “Don’t let the car fool you, my treasure is in heaven.” Though I occasionally see this (as a joke, I presume) on a junker, it’s usually on a pretty nice car. I want to ask, “If your treasure’s in heaven, with what did you buy that car?”

I’m not going to pretend I don’t have my luxuries. Moreover, I spend a lot on convenience (e.g., pre-chopped veggies, paper plates). And I’m trying to figure out how much of that is appropriate.

How much can I spend on books in a world where many Christians don’t even have a Bible? How many toys can I give my girls when so many children need medicine? Can I justify paying extra for pre-chopped vegetables when millions would crawl a mile for any vegetable?

At the end of Schindler’s List, there is a scene where Schindler comes face-to-face with the realization that he could have done more. He rescued hundreds, but he’s haunted by the fact that he could have saved more.



At the end of our days, will we do the same? Most of us won’t have the rescued hundreds to console us. Will we go into the next world wondering how much more we could have done?

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Related:
A Christian in a Lexus and Other Perplexing Thoughts
Are You Discerning in Your Generosity?
Government, Charity, and Jesus

A Surprising Scripture on Anger

There are passages in the Bible that don’t say what we expect. They sometimes take us by such surprise that we don’t read them correctly.

One that I’ve been known to misread:

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that you have something against your brother, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Except that’s not what it says:

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

“Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment,” so if your brother is angry at you, fix it.

Shouldn’t it read the other way? Only if the other soul isn’t important to you.

We are held responsible for our part in other people’s sin. Jesus warned against causing other people to sin (c.f., Mark 9:42), as did Paul (c.f., 1Cor 8).

We don’t like that idea. I don’t like that idea. We’re an individualistic lot here in 21st century America, but that doesn’t change the scriptures. As it turns out, I am my brother’s keeper.

America’s Schizophrenic Stance on Abortion

It’s a tragic story. A woman kills one of her children, tries to kill the other, and then performs a do-it-yourself abortion. “Authorities were awaiting the results of an autopsy before deciding whether she would be charged with a second count of murder in the death of her unborn baby.”

Apparently, if the fetus was pre-viable, she won’t be charged with murder; if it wasn’t, she will be. And yet it if this women had given Murder Inc. $350 for an abortion, she would have been exercising her legal right, and anyone who interfered would be a criminal.

We can’t seem to decide if the human fetus is a valuable life or a lump of tissue. Even the old “rule” that if a woman wanted the fetus it was valuable and if she didn’t it was tissue doesn’t seem to hold.

In the outrage over this incident, can we hope that some people will realize either every fetus is a valuable life or none are? Is it crazy to hope that America will realize its schizophrenia* and as a result come to its senses? Let’s pray that is the case. And while we’re at it, let’s pray for this family.


* Here “schizophrenia” is used in the popular, rather than the technical, sense.

Objections to the Resurrection 3

Was the resurrection spiritual?

I don’t think the resurrection was an illusion or a fabrication, but what if we have simply misunderstood – what if the apostles never meant a physical resurrection?

This doesn’t hold water for a number of reasons.

1. The earliest creed (from at least the early 50s, possibly the late 30s) clearly contrasts the burial of Christ with the resurrection: “…he was buried, he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor 15:4). An empty tomb – i.e., a physical resurrection – may not be explicitly stated, but it is clearly implied.

2. Christianity arose out of Judaism with its chief theologian a former Pharisee. If they didn’t share their notion of a physical resurrection (c.f., Acts 23), we should expect it to be explicitly stated.

3. The earliest recorded polemic against the resurrection (Matt 28:11-15) assumes an empty tomb.

4. The gospels record the resurrected Christ as touching people and things and eating food.

5. The earliest recorded sermon appeals to the empty tomb:

“David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day... [but Christ] was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay” (Acts 2:29-31).

This certainly doesn’t constitute proof that Jesus rose from the dead, but it should show that the apostles were not claiming any kind of spiritual or metaphorical resurrection took place. They were clearly teaching that He was physically present after He rose from the dead.