Introduction to Hinduism

The good folks at BiblicalTraining.org have provided a new free audio course for your advancement.  It is Introduction to Hinduism by Timothy Tennent.  I have listened to other lectures by Tennent and he is quite good.  You can download this course here.  BiblicalTraining.org has many other resources that are worth checking out as well.

Learn New Testament Greek

One of the best things students of the Bible can do is to learn the original languages.  Even an elementary understanding can be of great benefit.  I have found a video podcast of James Voelz teaching elementary Greek.  You can find the podcast here.

Gay Cure App the Offensiveness of Ex-Gay Ministries

Apple has now removed the “Gay Cure” app from iTunes as described in this article.  First of all, I am not sure why Exodus International would name their app “Gay Cure” as it is just asking for trouble.  However, it was not just the name, as the Manhattan Declaration app was also removed for affirming marriage as being between a man and a woman.  I am not going to comment on the Gay Cure app specifically, as I have not seen it.

However, I would like to comment on the outrage many people have toward ministries that try to help people out of the gay lifestyle.  I am not exactly sure why people are so offended.  What do they think these ministries do?  Do they think they hide outside of gay bars, hit people over the head, toss them in a car trunk and use electric shock to force people to become heterosexual?  I have been able to meet some of the people, both ministering and ministered to, from a ministry called New Direction Ministries.  They are incredible compassionate and respectful.  They do not force their beliefs or lifestyle on unwilling people.  But they are there for those who are truly struggling within the gay lifestyle and are trying to get out.  Should these men and women not have the right to do that, just because it is not politically correct?  If you believe that people are born gay and should embrace that lifestyle, fine.  But have some grace for the people who want out and for the people willing to help them.

One final comment on the app that was removed.  How would Apple respond if Christians went through iTunes and deemed which ones were offensive?

Journal of Biblical Literature

The Winter 2010 issues of the Journal of Biblical Literature has the following articles:

“Esther and Benjaminite Royalty: A Study in Inner-Biblical Allusion” by Yitzhak Berger

“Ben Sira and the Giants of the Land: A Note on Ben Sira 16:7″ by Matthew J. Goff

“When Did Angels Become Demons?” by Dale Basil Martin

“A Rabbinic Satire on the Last Judgment” by Aaron Amit

“The Life of Aesop and the Gospel of Mark: Two Ancient Approaches to Elite Values” by David F. Watson

“Audience Inclusion and Exclusion as Rhetorical Technique in the Gospel of Mark” by Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll

“‘Stretch Out Your Hand!’ Echo and Metalepsis in Mark’s Sabbath Healing Controversy” by Kurt Queller

“Mark’s Empty Tomb and Other Translation Fables in Classical Antiquity” by Richard C. Miller

“‘Do You Love Me?’ A Narrative-Critical Reappraisal of agapao and phileo in John 21:15-17″ by David Shepherd

“A Note on Papias’ Knowledge of the Fourth Gospel” by Jake H. O’Connell

“Succeeding Judas: Exegesis in Acts 1:15-26″ by Tzvi  Novick

“Revelation 5:1 and 10:2a, 8-10 in the Earliest Greek Tradition: A Response to Richard Bauckham” by Leslie Baynes

Spiritual Formation

I have encountered a number of Christian apologists that have some serious concerns about the concept of spiritual formation.  That seems strange as you would think that every Christian would agree with growing spiritually.  What they really mean is they have issues with some of the “techniques” of spiritual formation, taught be such people as Richard Foster.  My impression is that this concern is based on three fears:

1) Too Catholic – If one is “into” spiritual formation, it is not long before encountering the Roman Catholic mystics, people such as St. John of the Cross or Brother Lawrence.  Even before looking at the details of their writings (and how many critics actually read their books?), their Catholicism sets off some red flags.  Many evangelicals are not excited about learning spirituality from Roman Catholics, who they see as having a very different theology.  While prepared to discuss any specific teachings, I would suggest that being Catholic does not stop someone from being close to God or being a good example for evangelicals to follow.  Surely we would not reject taking care of the poor because Mother Theresa was Catholic?

2) Too Eastern – Some of the talk of meditating and fasting and other exercises seem a bit too New Age or too much like Eastern religions for some people.  What is next?  Christian astral projection or Christian tarot reading?  I would suggest that the measure of spiritual formation should not be how close it is to Eastern religions but how close it is to the Bible.  My reading of authors such as Richard Foster has shown me how biblical spiritual formation really is.  Things such as meditation are actually very biblical.  There are more verses telling us to meditate on God’s Word than there are to study God’s Word.

3) Too Experiential – Many apologists and others interested in the academic side are very skeptical of anything that smacks of experientialism.  Experience is too subjective.  How do you know if it is God or bad pizza?  While as a person who enjoys logic and rationalism, I can sympathize, I would also like to suggest another perspective.  The Bible does not teach a strictly rational faith.  Paul became a Christian, not because he read a book on ten reasons Jesus was the Messiah, but because he experienced Jesus.  Paul had visions and even seemed to have a spiritual trip to heaven.  Christianity seeks a balance between a rational faith and an experiential faith.

I am not giving blanket approval to every teaching on spiritual formation.  There probably are some Christian authors who step beyond biblical teachings and attempt to blend with New Age or popular ideas.  At the same time, I believe that we are to seek to grow spiritually and that spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, silence, service, giving, and biblical meditation are very helpful in this endeavor.

Gospel of Luke: Yale Divinity Bible Study Series

You can find a very good video podcast on the Gospel of Luke on iTunes here.  It is a conversation between Yale Divinity School Dean Harold Attridge and Yale Divinity School professor emeritus David Bartlett.

Blasphemy Against the Spirit and Personhood

What is the Holy Spirit?  Is it, as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim, just the power of God, or is the Spirit a divine person within the Godhead?  Here is a verse to take into account:

“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Luke 12:10 ESV)

Here are some observations.  How does one blaspheme against power?  It seems to require some sort of personhood.  Even if the Spirit was being personified like other things sometimes are, the Spirit seems to be placed in parallel to the Son.  The natural reading of this verse would seem to be that the Spirit is some sort of personal being.

Reflections on Rob Bell

I must give a warning here, I have not yet read Love Wins, nor is this a response specifically to that book.  I must also say that I like Rob Bell.  I have watched a number of his Nooma videos and it is very obvious that he has a deep love for God and love for people.  While I have wanted to give Rob the benefit of the doubt on his latest book, the quotes I have read and the interviews I have seen with Rob, make me question the direction that he is going.

At the same time, I want to suggest some perspective.  Rob Bell is not a theologian.  I see people doing what they did with the Shack, attempting to treat this as a serious piece of theology by a professional theologian.  I am including in this post an interview with Rob Bell.  I have heard a number of evangelicals celebrate that Rob squirms in this interview, when pressed theologically he does not have all the answers.  A number of evangelicals have found joy in that Rob Bell struggles here.  Do you know what I see?  I see a pastor who has caught a glimpse of the love that God has for people, especially the broken and the lost.  Rob is convinced that God’s love is the answer to the needs of these hurting people.  Rob is attempting to work through the Bible and church history and experience to discover what that looks like.  I suspect that his specific answer is unbiblical.  However, I also doubt that he is trying to lead people astray or has a secret pact with the devil.  Nor do I think that someone will read Love Wins and walk away with the idea that they really don’t need to know Jesus after all.  My fear is that the heresy hunters will spend so much time looking for errors that we will all miss what God is saying to us in this controversy.  And to my conservative apologetic friends who hate this book so much and have a strong dislike for Rob Bell himself, you have provided free of charge more promotion than Rob Bell could have ever purchased by himself.  If we do not want people to read this, we probably should have kept our mouths shut.

What is Heresy?

There seems to be quite a bit of labeling of people as heretics in recent years.  It is easy to discount people with a label, but have people really thought through what this means?  The word heretic or heresy does not technically mean something bad or even false.  It literally means sect, opinion or sentiment.  Here are a couple of passages where outsiders described the early Christians as a sect.

“For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” (Acts 24:5, 14; 28:22 ESV)

The word translated ‘sect’ is the Greek word from which we get heresy.  While they may have been using this in a pejorative sense, they were actually correct: Christianity began as a sect or heresy of Judaism.  In this way, Roman Catholics are correct to see protestants as a heresy.  I just happen to believe that this heresy is more biblically correct than its parent group.

Well, what do we mean we speak of a Christian heresy?  It is very easy to describe positions that people disagree with as heresies, and by that they mean something un-Christian or unorthodox.  But where do we draw the line?  Should Calvinists see Arminians as heretics and Arminians see Calvinists as heretics?  How should evangelicals see Pentecostals or people who baptize infants see people who baptize believers?  How about amillennialists and postmillennialists and premillennialists?

That is not to say that we should not draw a line.  There is a difference between biblical Christianity and unorthodox belief systems.  I would make this suggestion of doctrines that must be present to be orthodox:

1) God as personal, separate from creation, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and triune.

2) Jesus as historical, God incarnate, crucified, atoning and resurrected.

3) Salvation by grace through faith, found only through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

We may disagree on other things, but I would hesitate to label a person or movement as heretical if they agreed on these doctrines.

Are YHWH and Allah the Same God?

What should people do with questions of the relation of the God of the Bible and the God of the Qur’an?  Are YHWH and Allah the same God?  This is a hard question to answer.  If one read the Christian Bible in Arabic, they would find God as Allah.  The words are not important.  The question is with regard to the concepts.  Some uncritically equate them and others label Allah as a demon.

On a practical level, most missionaries and evangelists working with Muslims would talk as if they were the same, giving the Christians and Muslims an important point of contact.  Some theologians and apologists, however, strongly disagree.  They would suggest that YHWH and Allah, despite both being the God of Abraham, both being the God of Israel, and both being the God of Jesus, have almost nothing in common.  It is true that if you compare the biblical and Qur’anic descriptions of God, they are not exactly the same.  The God of the Qur’an demonstrates his personality less, the God of the Bible is more loving.  However, one could demonstrate differences (not contradictions) between descriptions of God in the Old and New Testaments.  One could argue that they are definitely different Gods because the God of the Bible is a Trinity.  However, it is difficult to see a Trinity in the Old Testament.  Would we say that Christians and Jews worship different Gods?  Yes, there are differences between how Christians and Muslims describe God.  But there are also some differences between how Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Arminians, Open Theists and Pentecostals describe the attributes of God.  Would we say that each of these traditions/movements worship different Gods?

While one should not ignore the differences between the God of the Bible and the God of the Qur’an, it is difficult to deny that there are remarkable similarities between Allah and God, especially as described in the Old Testament.  Both Christians and Muslims would agree that God is a personal God, separate from creation, who is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.  Therefore, I believe it is appropriate for missionaries and evangelists to use our common belief in God as a point of contact for conversation.