Psalm 128

Just because the Bible says something, it doesn't mean it's a promise. 

Some people like to find promises in the Bible that aren't really there. The Psalms and Proverbs are especially popular for this. One problem, among others, is that it's pretty safe to say that none of the people doing this is an Old Testament Jew. Another is that this kind of twisting of Scripture in order to hold God to something is just legalism. 

The commands of Jesus VIII

And do not fear ... (MAT 10.28)

Rather fear him ... (MAT 10.28)

Therefore, do not fear.... (MAT 10.32)

Do not think ... (MAT 10.34)

Go and tell John ... (MAT 11.4)

.... let him hear. (MAT 11.15)

Come to me .... (MAT 11.28)

Stretch out your hand. (MAT 12.13)

Either make the tree and its fruit good, or make the tree and its fruit bad. (MAT 12.32)

.. let him hear. (MAT 13.9)

Psalm 127

While this psalm calls children a blessing, we tend to look on them as a curse. And it's not just abortionists either; even in the church we rarely have more than two or three. I'm ashamed to say that I chose to have my wife surgically mutilated rather than accept what God might give us. 

We have become a culture that flushes its heritage down a sink. 

Review: LUNCH WITH A SOCIOPATH by Lucie Lilly Pawlak

This was a hard book to read, not because the font was too small or the words too long, but because of its depiction of both the depth and the utter banality of evil, and of how some people are drawn in against their wills. 

I was expecting this to be a novel and fairly light read, but instead I found it to be the apparently true story of a Texas woman's victimization, mostly by an Episcopalian priest. The only part that doesn't seem to fit is the late revelation of a counselor's own predatory nature. It doesn't seem false, but it does draw attention from the main storyline. 

Though it's mainly about a woman's descent, it's also about her redemption, particularly through her husband's unconditional love. Though he's hardly ever the focus of the book, he provides a solid foundation for her and embodies the love of God better than anyone else in this book. It's not an easy book, but there's abundant forgiveness on display, and I recommend it. 

Psalm 126

To be in God's favor is to know joy. 

Not happiness; that's just a temporary feeling of well-being based on enjoying your circumstances. Not contentment, which is just satisfaction with your situation. Joy is deeper; it can't be taken from you and it lasts forever. 

The incredible arrogance of secularism

Most of us have heard the story of the blind men and the elephant. One feels its trunk and says the elephant must be like a snake, another feels its ear and says the elephant must be like a fan, a third feels its side and says the elephant must be like a wall, etc. Each is right to a certain extent, but none of them can put the descriptions together to make a coherent animal. 

The story is often used to show how each religion has a part of the truth but can't see how they all fit together. What the story never tells, though, is that there has to be an independent observer who sees everything to even know there's an elephant there. That's the position secularism has assigned itself. 

In effect, its role in the story is to tell the blind men that they're all right but there's no such thing as an elephant. 

It's just unbridled arrogance to place yourself in judgment not only of religious beliefs but of the very existence of God. It's essentially saying that God can only be the second smartest being in existence, because he's only there because you allow it. That's the kind of hubris that got Satan kicked out of Heaven. 

MY POST FOR THE BIBLE EXCHANGE THIS WEEK:Something you can't lose but you can throw away

Since I can't get to The Bible Exchange this week, I've decided to post it here. So below is "Something you can't lose but throw away.

I have a question: if you can't fall away from worshipping Christ, why are there so many warnings against it in the New Testament?

I haven't made a secret of the fact that I was a Southern Baptist for many years, and was even ordained in that denomination, but feel that I can't be one of them anymore because of the issue of eternal security. I just don't believe in it anymore, because I can't find anyone in the New Testament who talked that way.

For those who don't know, eternal security, also annoyingly called “once saved always saved”, means that once you've given yourself to Jesus,you can never be lost again, no matter what you do. Though touted as a Baptist distinctive, it's functionality identical to the Calvinist doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. 

Of course, people do fall away, which is explained by saying that they were never saved in the first place. This is supposed to give us assurance of our salvation, but it has the opposite effect on me. According to this belief, you can live your whole life thinking you're saved because of some event in your past, only to find out you're not after you die, when there's nothing you can do about it anyway. That's not comforting, it's demonic, and it's again identical to the perseverance of the saints.

I believe, because Scripture teaches it, that it is possible to apostasize, that a person can turn his back on his faith if he decides to. This doesn't make me “eternally insecure”, nor does it mean that I'm constantly afraid of losing my salvation , any more than an obedient son is constantly afraid of losing disowned by his father. There are some people would say I'll be damned for believing that, but that'll just another way of saying we're saved by theology, and only those who believe a particular theology can avoid Hell and enter Paradise.

Other people would say that I'm limiting the sovereignty of God by making human decision too important. Some would even say that I don't believe in God’s sovereignty at all. That's just silly. God isn't less in charge because he doesn't make people do things. While I know that they say there things to ensure that people know that God is sovereign, but it effectively makes them sovereign, since they're the ones who decide what God is like.

All that said, you don't have to worry that Jesus will lose you. Jesus will not lose anyone. No one will accidentally go to Hell. At the same time, you shouldn't assume that you're saved when you're not. No one will blackmail his way into Heaven either.

Christ promised to abide in anyone who would abide in him. In that sense no one can lose his salvation. But you can't spend your whole life spitting in God’s face and expect him to save you in the end. If you do that, you're just throwing his sacrifice away.

[LC Bloom tries not to throw anything useful away. He's from Birmingham, Alabama, and can be reached at lechroom@icloud.com. He also writes for Built for Glory and COBRASAURUS‼‼!]

Psalm 125

Remember covenants?

This is another example of people holding God to his word, asserting that they'd kept their end of the bargain and insisting that he do that same.

Review: THE UPSIDE-DOWN KINGDOM by Donald G Kraybill

You can say the right thing but say it at the wrong time and not be heard. That seems to be what happened to this book.

When this book was first published in 1979, Jerry Falwell was building up the Moral Majority, turning evangelical Christianity into a political movement. Though Kraybill makes a strong case for political noninvolvement from Scriptrure, it's not hard to tell which position has been more popular.

I agree with Kraybill, so I recommend this book 

Psalm 124

In 3,000 nothing has changed.

This psalm is labeled as "Of David." That makes it about 3,000 years old. After all that time mankind is still entirely dependent on God.

Review: BONHOEFFER by Eric Metaxas

This is a very thick black, because it's an exhaustive account of Diettrich Bonhoeffer's life. Though I had heard of Bonhoeffer, I didn't know a lot beyond the facts that he had been German, had written The Cost of Discipleship, and that had been involved in a plot to kill Hitler.

Now I feel like I do, and I wonder if any of the American evangelicals who claim him have ever read or understood his books. For learning about the man's life, I recommend it.

Psalm 123

Remember Psalm 23?

That was 100 psalms ago. We've covered a lot of ground since then. If you've been reading along the whole time we're over halfway through the Bible. And this psalm? It's a plea for mercy.

The commands of Jesus VII

... let your peace be upon it ... (MAT 10.13)

.,,  let sour peace return to you . (MAT 10.13)

,.. Shake that dust from your feet ... (MAT 10.14)

... be wise as serpents and innocent  as doves. (MAT 10.16)

Beware of men ... (MAT 10.17)

.. do not be anxious about how you are to speak or what you are to say ... (MAT 10.19)

... when they persecute you in one town flee to another ... (MAT 10.23)

So have no fear of them ... (MAT 10.26)

.... say it in the light ... (MAT 10.27)

... proclaim it on the housetops ... (MAT 10.27)

Psalm 122

in this psalm, not only the Temple is praised, but the city of Jerusalem itself. The focus is still on God, though. The city is only praised because it's where the people of Israel met with God.

The city is only famous because God chose it.

Review: THE GEORGE VERWER COLLECTION by George Verwer

This consists of three books by Verwer. I had never heard of him, but apparently he was a big deal among English evangelicals.

The books are very well-written and easy to read, but one thing really stood out and has stuck with me. Verwer said that if you don't understand love, you don't understand anything in the Bible, because the Bible is all about love.

That's always struck me as incredibly wise, and this would be worth reading just for that. The whole thing's good, though, and I recommend it.

Psalm 121

There are a lot of psalms about why we should trust God. This isn't one of those,

Instead of telling why he believes in God, he believes in God. Instead of telling all that has done to make him trust him, he just trusts him. Why does he know God will rescue and defend him? We're never told. He just does.

Hurt but not harm

One thing I was taught when I was in seminary was that God can't be hurt. I don't think that's quite true.  I understand the reason we were taught that, and I get and completely agree with what they meant. I just don't think that "hurt" was the right word to use there.

My wife is hurt if I just ignore her. If she says something and I dismiss it, she's going to be hurt. She won't be physically damaged, but her emotions will be distraught. In that sense, we hurt God all the time.

Damaging God, though, is beyond us, and beyond anyone. No matter what someone does, he can't make God any less God. He can only harm himself; he can't harm God.

That's a quick explanation of why it's better to say harm than hurt. It may seem nitpicky, but God deserves our precision.

An announcement

I have new post, "And abortion makes three", on This Bible Exchange. bibleexchange.com

Review: PRINCE VALIANT FREE COMIC BOOK by Hal Foster

Prince Valiant was never something I particularly cared for. It was one of those comic strips I read just because it was in the paper, probably for old people, who were the only people I could imagine who might keep things like that and Mary Worth going.

With this book, I've finally learned to appreciate Prince Valiant. Because it was presented episodically and I wasn't a regular reader, it never made sense. Here are several complete tales, and everything makes better sense in context.

Appreciation is not the same thing as love, however. While the art is beautiful and the writing makes for some, as my friend Davo might say, "cracking good reads", none of that changes the fact that the whole series is based on violence. This book contains a story about a duet, and another featuring Vikings, who were, at base, thieves and murderers. I can't recommend it.

Review: UNCONVENTIONAL by JJ Hebert

I'd hate for anyone to be in any needless suspense, so I'll just tell you I didn't like this book. It seemed to embody what's wrong not only with "Christian" publishing, but with the American church in general.

First, there's the title. There's nothing wrong with calling a book Unconventional -- and with frequent use of the word -- but if you're going to you'd better make sure it is. Unfortunately, this is possibly the most conventional and by-the-numbers book I've ever read.

Second, it just doesn't ring true. People don't act like this and what's worse according to the Bible they shouldn't. It feels less like a story growing organically from a group of characters than a bunch of characters shoehorned into an existing plot.

Most importantly,  the author seems to have confused the Gospel with the American Dream. This is essentially a Horatio Alger rags-to-riches story with enough Jesus on top that it could be sold in Christian bookstores.

This is Hebert's first novel, and I sincerely hope that he's become a better writer. As it stands, though, this book shouldn't have been published. I don't recommend it,