We have reached the official start of the Christmas season. Anymore it actually seems like the the "Christmas season " is starting earlier and earlier, in fact I believe that Wal-mart began putting decoration out before Halloween. It's really gotten kind of silly, because you've got Freddy Cruger and Dracula at one end of the store and Santa and Christmas trees at the other.
So what is this "Christmas" I'm speaking of. Ok, some of you may say that's a dumb question, but in today's world is it really that bad of a question? What is Christmas? What does this time of the year really mean? Well in this pluralistic age this is not the easiest question to answer. However I think I can answer it or at least try.
Christmas as we know it today is a hodgepodge. A mishmash of cultural and religious celebrations and traditions. The Christmas tree comes from Germanic and northern European religious traditions. The day itself ,December 25th, comes from various winter solstice traditions. The tradition of giving presents seems to have come from St Nicholas a 4th century saint, as well as other pagan gift giving traditions. The famous and sometimes infamous nativity scene depicts the birth of Jesus Christ.( see the Christmas Wiki for additional details)
I ask the question again...what is the meaning of Christmas. Can we get the meaning of Christmas out of any of these traditions? Many of these pagan traditions predate Christ. So is this the meaning of the season, celebrating the winter solstice and honoring pagan gods? Another possibility is the celebration of wealth and materialism that kicks off the day after Thanksgiving. If this either of these are the meaning of Christmas, then why call it...Christmas? Yule or Solstice day or Saturnalia, or there may be others that fit these meaning better.
So if we're not getting the meaning of Christmas from the origins of the actual traditions that we use, so we must divine the meaning of the season from the name we give the season. Christmas or Christ - mass, the root here is Christ. Christ mass, or the Mass of Christ, these words actually mean death of Christ however the meaning we've assigned to the word Christmas is the birth of Christ. So the meaning for the season based on the name association is literally the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Marriage...the blog I really didn't want to write
This a blog I've had in my head for awhile ,but have been reluctant to put to paper (or keyboard). I'm not quite sure of the reason for my reluctance but my suspicion is I simply grew tired of the debate over why and who should get married
So I'm going to start simply by answering thee questions. Who do I believe should get married? Why do I believe this and thirdly what involvement do I believe the federal government should have?
To answer, I believe that marriage is for a man and woman and I believe this because this is what Jesus Christ said. As far as the federal government this fall squarely in the category of not they should butt out because as far as I can tell this is a states issue.
So what is marriage? In this country a marriage is a contract between two people. Most states it's only legal for a male and a female to sign a growing number of states are allowing this contract to be signed by same sex coupled. The purpose of this contract. Is to create a legal partnership between two people that governs custody and care of children, insurance coverage, tax issues, property issues as well as it joins two families.
This is not wrong per se, this is essentially the way it has been for centuries. Though the recent debates over who should be able to get married and who should not has forced the question, Is it more than just a civil contract?
If not, then why the firestorm over gay marriage? Are there sociological and anthropological implications? Sure any civil or social arrangement has those. My question becomes what are the spiritual implications of marriage? Does God actually care about who gets married?
I believe that the spiritual implications of marriage are great as well I believe God cares a great deal about who gets married, it was the first institution he created. Before the nation of Israel, before he set the law in stone, he created marriage between a man and woman, the first man and woman.
Genesis 2:24-25 ESV
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
This is the beginning of marriage Genesis chapter 2, day seven of creation. On the sixth day God created man, woman and marriage. Marriage is the first institution created by God for men and from the way I see it a very important one. It's continually used throughout the Bible as the analog for Gods covenant with his people.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:7
And their are many more like this even in the Old testament, in the book of Isaiah, Israel is also described as the bride. Showing God desire the intimate relationship with his people comparable to that of a married couple. With this said marriage between a man and wife is a foreshadowing of the time when God reunites with man not after death but in eternal life. In the Book of Revelation when Jesus returns and is physically reunited with the church the event is described as a great wedding feast.
The marriage supper of the Lamb, the bride, the church, dressed in fine linen ready for her bridegroom, Jesus Christ. It's an amazing image of Gods love for man, for the church, his people.
Now lets look at another aspect of this very important institution. If the physical church is made of of all kinds of people, both men and women why does it matter whether the union is man and woman or man and man or woman and woman as long as it's a union of love?
The simple answer that Gods intention for this institution as stated in Genesis is for a man and woman. No where in the Bible is this contradicted.
So I'm going to start simply by answering thee questions. Who do I believe should get married? Why do I believe this and thirdly what involvement do I believe the federal government should have?
To answer, I believe that marriage is for a man and woman and I believe this because this is what Jesus Christ said. As far as the federal government this fall squarely in the category of not they should butt out because as far as I can tell this is a states issue.
So what is marriage? In this country a marriage is a contract between two people. Most states it's only legal for a male and a female to sign a growing number of states are allowing this contract to be signed by same sex coupled. The purpose of this contract. Is to create a legal partnership between two people that governs custody and care of children, insurance coverage, tax issues, property issues as well as it joins two families.
This is not wrong per se, this is essentially the way it has been for centuries. Though the recent debates over who should be able to get married and who should not has forced the question, Is it more than just a civil contract?
If not, then why the firestorm over gay marriage? Are there sociological and anthropological implications? Sure any civil or social arrangement has those. My question becomes what are the spiritual implications of marriage? Does God actually care about who gets married?
I believe that the spiritual implications of marriage are great as well I believe God cares a great deal about who gets married, it was the first institution he created. Before the nation of Israel, before he set the law in stone, he created marriage between a man and woman, the first man and woman.
Genesis 2:24-25 ESV
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
This is the beginning of marriage Genesis chapter 2, day seven of creation. On the sixth day God created man, woman and marriage. Marriage is the first institution created by God for men and from the way I see it a very important one. It's continually used throughout the Bible as the analog for Gods covenant with his people.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:7
And their are many more like this even in the Old testament, in the book of Isaiah, Israel is also described as the bride. Showing God desire the intimate relationship with his people comparable to that of a married couple. With this said marriage between a man and wife is a foreshadowing of the time when God reunites with man not after death but in eternal life. In the Book of Revelation when Jesus returns and is physically reunited with the church the event is described as a great wedding feast.
Revelation 19:7-9 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God
The marriage supper of the Lamb, the bride, the church, dressed in fine linen ready for her bridegroom, Jesus Christ. It's an amazing image of Gods love for man, for the church, his people.
Now lets look at another aspect of this very important institution. If the physical church is made of of all kinds of people, both men and women why does it matter whether the union is man and woman or man and man or woman and woman as long as it's a union of love?
The simple answer that Gods intention for this institution as stated in Genesis is for a man and woman. No where in the Bible is this contradicted.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Hell...
NThis is going to be my look at Hell and what I believe the Bible actually says about Hell. Hell is (pun intended) a hot topic right now because of a controversial book by ,as far as I can tell, a heretical pastor. So I'm going to start this off pretty straight forward and tell you what I believe about hell and then go in to scripture to support this. I believe, what I assume is a pretty traditional view of hell.
I believe that when you die you immediately go one of two places, heaven or hell. Heaven, to spend eternity in Gods new Eden or Hell to spend eternity bearing Gods wrath and judgment in torment flame and darkness. I believe they are both actual places in the afterlife and not just states of mind on in this life or the next. I believe they are both eternal.
So where to start in scripture? The easiest and most obvious place to start is Luke 16: 19-31;
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in epurple and fine linen and fwho feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gategwas laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with hwhat fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by ithe angels jto Abraham's side.6 The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in kHades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and lsaw Abraham far off and Lazarus jat his side.24 And he called out, m‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and ncool my tongue, for oI am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that pyou in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—28 for I have five brothers7—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’29 But Abraham said, ‘They have qMoses and the Prophets; rlet them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, sfather Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear qMoses and the Prophets, tneither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
These verses , to me at least seem pretty self explanatory. You die you either go to a place of torment or a place of rest. Though I am seeing this debated and explained as a metaphor. My question is a metaphor for what? Jesus never gives an alternate explanation or goes on to say any different or indicates that it has some alternate meaning in any way. So why are we to say it means anything else than what it says?
To contrast this a little bit we have the parable of wheat and tares (weeds) in Matthew in 13: 24-30 and he goes on to explain this a little later in Matthew 13: 36-43
24 He put another parable before them, saying, w“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds3 among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants4 of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, x‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
and explained
36 Then he left the crowds and went into ithe house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 sand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear
He doesn't do this in the parable from Luke. How ever we do see that these two parables are in agreement. Both are describing a fiery place filled with torment. Jesus doesn't explain this parable as bad times during life or even simply separation from God. It is a place of torment and you are sent there by God. Do I need to go on? These are parables from Jesus himself, not the apostles, not church fathers, not theologian.
I would think it would be fairly obvious that Jesus is talking about a place not a state of mind and from the parable in look it indicates a permanency in the chasm that neither side can cross over to the other. Lets go on in Revelation 20: 10-15
10 and the devil lwho had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Judgment Before the Great White Throne
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence on earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, the was thrown into the lake of fire.
Again here in the Revelation given to John by Jesus a description of Hell. A lake of fire where the inhabitants will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. The inhabitants being, Satan, his demons(Jude 1), the anti-Christ, the false prophet, Death, Hades, the fallen angels and all those whose name is not found in the book of life. Jesus underpins the seriousness of hell several places as well saying its better to pluck out your eye or cut off your hand if they are causing you to sin than GO TO hell (matt 5: 27-30) this to me doesn't sound like some temporary hell on earth or hell state of mind, because all things on this earth pass and if you cut off your hand that's it it's gone. So...from what I can tell these are some main places where Jesus talks about hell pretty specifically and I believe that hell is real. The scriptures point to that, Jesus points to that and that it is an eternal place of fire and torment! But there is some good news! Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life then went willingly to the cross, enduring torture and beatings before finally being crucified all for you. He did it taking the punishment we all deserve. Then he over came all the sin and death and wrath rising three days later so that all you have to do is believe in him will have everlasting life and not everlasting torment. Next...pt 2 the why of hell
I believe that when you die you immediately go one of two places, heaven or hell. Heaven, to spend eternity in Gods new Eden or Hell to spend eternity bearing Gods wrath and judgment in torment flame and darkness. I believe they are both actual places in the afterlife and not just states of mind on in this life or the next. I believe they are both eternal.
So where to start in scripture? The easiest and most obvious place to start is Luke 16: 19-31;
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in epurple and fine linen and fwho feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gategwas laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with hwhat fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by ithe angels jto Abraham's side.6 The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in kHades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and lsaw Abraham far off and Lazarus jat his side.24 And he called out, m‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and ncool my tongue, for oI am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that pyou in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—28 for I have five brothers7—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’29 But Abraham said, ‘They have qMoses and the Prophets; rlet them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, sfather Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear qMoses and the Prophets, tneither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
These verses , to me at least seem pretty self explanatory. You die you either go to a place of torment or a place of rest. Though I am seeing this debated and explained as a metaphor. My question is a metaphor for what? Jesus never gives an alternate explanation or goes on to say any different or indicates that it has some alternate meaning in any way. So why are we to say it means anything else than what it says?
To contrast this a little bit we have the parable of wheat and tares (weeds) in Matthew in 13: 24-30 and he goes on to explain this a little later in Matthew 13: 36-43
24 He put another parable before them, saying, w“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds3 among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants4 of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, x‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
and explained
36 Then he left the crowds and went into ithe house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 sand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear
He doesn't do this in the parable from Luke. How ever we do see that these two parables are in agreement. Both are describing a fiery place filled with torment. Jesus doesn't explain this parable as bad times during life or even simply separation from God. It is a place of torment and you are sent there by God. Do I need to go on? These are parables from Jesus himself, not the apostles, not church fathers, not theologian.
I would think it would be fairly obvious that Jesus is talking about a place not a state of mind and from the parable in look it indicates a permanency in the chasm that neither side can cross over to the other. Lets go on in Revelation 20: 10-15
10 and the devil lwho had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Judgment Before the Great White Throne
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence on earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, the was thrown into the lake of fire.
Again here in the Revelation given to John by Jesus a description of Hell. A lake of fire where the inhabitants will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. The inhabitants being, Satan, his demons(Jude 1), the anti-Christ, the false prophet, Death, Hades, the fallen angels and all those whose name is not found in the book of life. Jesus underpins the seriousness of hell several places as well saying its better to pluck out your eye or cut off your hand if they are causing you to sin than GO TO hell (matt 5: 27-30) this to me doesn't sound like some temporary hell on earth or hell state of mind, because all things on this earth pass and if you cut off your hand that's it it's gone. So...from what I can tell these are some main places where Jesus talks about hell pretty specifically and I believe that hell is real. The scriptures point to that, Jesus points to that and that it is an eternal place of fire and torment! But there is some good news! Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life then went willingly to the cross, enduring torture and beatings before finally being crucified all for you. He did it taking the punishment we all deserve. Then he over came all the sin and death and wrath rising three days later so that all you have to do is believe in him will have everlasting life and not everlasting torment. Next...pt 2 the why of hell
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Avatar the sermon
No, this is NOT a repeat of the Matrix blog. In fact its going to be the oposite. I'm not going to be redeeming Avatar, I'm going to be JUDGING it! Which is ironic considering the sermon that inspired this blog told the congregation that judging is bbbaaaadd.
So the inspiration for this came from a sermon by a local pastor. It was part of a "God at the movies" series from North Point church One of the first things I would like to say about this, is if you've been to the movies much lately, it's hard to say with any certainty that God is actually there. Especially in a movie such as Avatar.
The Sermon, which I don't think you can see on their website but you can find on ITunes, was not good. "Pastor" Tommy Sparger used the movie as an example of empathy, learning to walk in some one else shoes. And the movie does explore that quite literally. There is nothing wrong with empathy. Empathy is good and the world probably needs more of it. However this was a church and the pastor was using a decidedly unGodly example to try to make a point of Godly empathy. I would have thought a better thing to preach from would be say maybe Mark ch1 where Jesus goes to the desert to be tempted by Satan, or any number of points in the New Testament where the writer talks about Jesus taking on human form for us.
The sermon was decidedly not Jesus centric. The high point of the sermon came towards the end where he talked about how their was not judgement at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ just grace. Which is true, however he neglected to say grace for what. Never once when talking about the cross did he go in to any explanation of why Jesus went to the cross. He didn't explain that Jesus Christ went to the cross in our place. That he took the punishment that we should have gotten for our sin and that we all need to repent of our sin and believe and accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior! Apparently he was too busy talking about how judging is bad and that we need to be empathetic and not hurt peoples feeling to tell them that we are all sinners bound for hell except for the those who accept the saving grace of Jesus.
This is not an anomaly. This is pretty much par for the course for this church and for more and more churches around the country and the world. The job of the pastor is not to tickle peoples itching ears with little feel good lectures and pretty speeches, it's to proclaim the Gospel. that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That he rose on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God and he's coming back for those that believe and to judge those that don't.
So lets turn now to the movie he use, Avatar. Don't get me wrong I actually like the movie. It's a good fantasy/sci-fi flick, beautifully filmed and technically amazing. However with that said I don't think I would ever take any theological ideas from it. Pastor Mark Driscoll once called it a "Demonic and Satanic film" and I'm not sure he's far off. The Ideology put forth in Avatar is not in any way, shape or form Christian. It's just not.
The Na'vi, the natives of the planet on which the movie took place were the very model of paganism and pantheism. They worshiped the planet and everything on it as well they had a "goddess" called "Ehwah" who was said to be part of everything, and that the whole planet is "alive". This is the Ideology that they fight for in going up against the human who want to mine the planet. In the end they win with the help of the planet as the many of the wild creatures begin attacking the humans in the last battle of the movie.
The whole movie could be considered a Gaia theory/extreme environmentalism PSA with a little new age spirituality tossed in. So ,yeah you could easily call this movie demonic from a biblical point of view. Which is why I say it was completely inappropriate to use this or pretty much the majority of movies as examples in a church. I did write a blog using matrix point of view but I don't think I would actually preach that as a sermon in a church, it was a response to another point of view.
This same church has a sermon series coming up about Hell. I am both curious and concerned about his take on Hell. The bottom line is, that Pastors need to get back to preaching the Gospel and if you're going to use an example from the world you better be able to tie it back to the Gospel or not preach it.
So the inspiration for this came from a sermon by a local pastor. It was part of a "God at the movies" series from North Point church One of the first things I would like to say about this, is if you've been to the movies much lately, it's hard to say with any certainty that God is actually there. Especially in a movie such as Avatar.
The Sermon, which I don't think you can see on their website but you can find on ITunes, was not good. "Pastor" Tommy Sparger used the movie as an example of empathy, learning to walk in some one else shoes. And the movie does explore that quite literally. There is nothing wrong with empathy. Empathy is good and the world probably needs more of it. However this was a church and the pastor was using a decidedly unGodly example to try to make a point of Godly empathy. I would have thought a better thing to preach from would be say maybe Mark ch1 where Jesus goes to the desert to be tempted by Satan, or any number of points in the New Testament where the writer talks about Jesus taking on human form for us.
The sermon was decidedly not Jesus centric. The high point of the sermon came towards the end where he talked about how their was not judgement at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ just grace. Which is true, however he neglected to say grace for what. Never once when talking about the cross did he go in to any explanation of why Jesus went to the cross. He didn't explain that Jesus Christ went to the cross in our place. That he took the punishment that we should have gotten for our sin and that we all need to repent of our sin and believe and accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior! Apparently he was too busy talking about how judging is bad and that we need to be empathetic and not hurt peoples feeling to tell them that we are all sinners bound for hell except for the those who accept the saving grace of Jesus.
This is not an anomaly. This is pretty much par for the course for this church and for more and more churches around the country and the world. The job of the pastor is not to tickle peoples itching ears with little feel good lectures and pretty speeches, it's to proclaim the Gospel. that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That he rose on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God and he's coming back for those that believe and to judge those that don't.
So lets turn now to the movie he use, Avatar. Don't get me wrong I actually like the movie. It's a good fantasy/sci-fi flick, beautifully filmed and technically amazing. However with that said I don't think I would ever take any theological ideas from it. Pastor Mark Driscoll once called it a "Demonic and Satanic film" and I'm not sure he's far off. The Ideology put forth in Avatar is not in any way, shape or form Christian. It's just not.
The Na'vi, the natives of the planet on which the movie took place were the very model of paganism and pantheism. They worshiped the planet and everything on it as well they had a "goddess" called "Ehwah" who was said to be part of everything, and that the whole planet is "alive". This is the Ideology that they fight for in going up against the human who want to mine the planet. In the end they win with the help of the planet as the many of the wild creatures begin attacking the humans in the last battle of the movie.
The whole movie could be considered a Gaia theory/extreme environmentalism PSA with a little new age spirituality tossed in. So ,yeah you could easily call this movie demonic from a biblical point of view. Which is why I say it was completely inappropriate to use this or pretty much the majority of movies as examples in a church. I did write a blog using matrix point of view but I don't think I would actually preach that as a sermon in a church, it was a response to another point of view.
This same church has a sermon series coming up about Hell. I am both curious and concerned about his take on Hell. The bottom line is, that Pastors need to get back to preaching the Gospel and if you're going to use an example from the world you better be able to tie it back to the Gospel or not preach it.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
On Gnosticism
Gnosticism is some thing I find fascinating and it's something that is very seductive. Here is the point where I would try to define gnosticism, unfortunately defining gnosticism is like trying to nail jello to a wall or prove whether or not Barack Obama is a natural born citizen. It's a subjective ,every flowing ,ever changing thing.
Their are a few points I think I can corral in general.
First a twisting of the Bible. Like in my last blog, many gnostics consider God as portrayed in the old testament as a false, dictatorial, entity that's not actually God and they see Satan as portrayed in the garden in Eden as a liberator or savior who brought man out of ignorance.
Second they don't see Jesus as god or savior of man. In gnostic thought line that I am most familiar with, Jesus is not even seen as actually existing. He is seen as a savior archetype and his mythological death and resurrection was not to save men from their sin but to reconcile the fallen "Sophia" to the unknowable god.
Third that God did not create the universe but he did. Ok this is where gnosticism gets a little confusing. The Unknowable god Created the Heavenly realms and after that their was just a bunch of junk (matter) laying around. At some point comes along this "Demi-urge" character who thinks he's God and from the junk laying around fashions the material universe and calls himself god.
Next is the character of Sophia. Sophia is a Greek word that means wisdom. In gnostic mythology Sophia or wisdom has been personified as a goddess with her own storyline and various incarnations. In fact she's actually seen as the savior of man and not Jesus Christ. When in gnosticism like with Kabbalah when talking about the various heavenly or diving entities they are spoken of as emanations from the one "unknowable" god. Sophia was one of the last emanations from the one and wanted to create something without paring with the one and actually created a deformed blind arrogant creature who was the Demi-urge. (it seem Wisdom wasn't so wise) and thus causing her to be separated from "the one".
Many gnostics also have espoused the idea of reincarnation as well as other eastern ideas. Many a hatred of mainstream Christianity especially Catholicism, anything with orthodox in the name, and any that consider themselves fundamentalist and of this created world in general seeing matter as evil. As they see them as worshiping the evil demi-urge. Another strong trait is that they don't recognize the authority of any scripture really, they take ideas from the Bible, nag hammadi, and other apocryphal and psuedopigraphical works though seeing non of them as the ultimate authority. And still others look to other works such as the writings of the mystery schools, works of Jung, works from Philip K. Dick, and even movies such as "The Matrix" and "Dark City" for spiritual ideas.
Gnostics often claim to be the christianity before christianity and were spoke about in the Bible as false teachers. Some claim Paul as a gnostic saint as he never met Christ in the flesh but had a vision of him on the way to Damascus. Though I have listed some common points here the stated goal of gnosticism is supposed personal revelation of god or "gnosis". Which is fine, Paul talked about having spiritual knowlege of God, he also talked about testing it under the light of scripture and if it didn't measure up it should be considered the teaching of demons (tim 4:1) . The gnostics take all spiritual wisdom as good whether and especially if doesn't agree with scripture.
This is just a very very quick over view of gnosticism, as I said gnosticism is like looking an ever shifting desert almost impossible to pin down, Knowledge from God is not though, James the brother of Jesus Christ writes, Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. (jam 1:17), and like I said above, while Gnosticism is extremely seductive and it tends to speak a language similar to Christianity it is a shifting shadow.
Their are a few points I think I can corral in general.
First a twisting of the Bible. Like in my last blog, many gnostics consider God as portrayed in the old testament as a false, dictatorial, entity that's not actually God and they see Satan as portrayed in the garden in Eden as a liberator or savior who brought man out of ignorance.
Second they don't see Jesus as god or savior of man. In gnostic thought line that I am most familiar with, Jesus is not even seen as actually existing. He is seen as a savior archetype and his mythological death and resurrection was not to save men from their sin but to reconcile the fallen "Sophia" to the unknowable god.
Third that God did not create the universe but he did. Ok this is where gnosticism gets a little confusing. The Unknowable god Created the Heavenly realms and after that their was just a bunch of junk (matter) laying around. At some point comes along this "Demi-urge" character who thinks he's God and from the junk laying around fashions the material universe and calls himself god.
Next is the character of Sophia. Sophia is a Greek word that means wisdom. In gnostic mythology Sophia or wisdom has been personified as a goddess with her own storyline and various incarnations. In fact she's actually seen as the savior of man and not Jesus Christ. When in gnosticism like with Kabbalah when talking about the various heavenly or diving entities they are spoken of as emanations from the one "unknowable" god. Sophia was one of the last emanations from the one and wanted to create something without paring with the one and actually created a deformed blind arrogant creature who was the Demi-urge. (it seem Wisdom wasn't so wise) and thus causing her to be separated from "the one".
Many gnostics also have espoused the idea of reincarnation as well as other eastern ideas. Many a hatred of mainstream Christianity especially Catholicism, anything with orthodox in the name, and any that consider themselves fundamentalist and of this created world in general seeing matter as evil. As they see them as worshiping the evil demi-urge. Another strong trait is that they don't recognize the authority of any scripture really, they take ideas from the Bible, nag hammadi, and other apocryphal and psuedopigraphical works though seeing non of them as the ultimate authority. And still others look to other works such as the writings of the mystery schools, works of Jung, works from Philip K. Dick, and even movies such as "The Matrix" and "Dark City" for spiritual ideas.
Gnostics often claim to be the christianity before christianity and were spoke about in the Bible as false teachers. Some claim Paul as a gnostic saint as he never met Christ in the flesh but had a vision of him on the way to Damascus. Though I have listed some common points here the stated goal of gnosticism is supposed personal revelation of god or "gnosis". Which is fine, Paul talked about having spiritual knowlege of God, he also talked about testing it under the light of scripture and if it didn't measure up it should be considered the teaching of demons (tim 4:1) . The gnostics take all spiritual wisdom as good whether and especially if doesn't agree with scripture.
This is just a very very quick over view of gnosticism, as I said gnosticism is like looking an ever shifting desert almost impossible to pin down, Knowledge from God is not though, James the brother of Jesus Christ writes, Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. (jam 1:17), and like I said above, while Gnosticism is extremely seductive and it tends to speak a language similar to Christianity it is a shifting shadow.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Is God a reptilian alien overlord?
Ok I see this...this...ridiculousness pop up every once in a while and I just thought I would address it. This is actually response to this comment I saw on a youtube video :
" I believe ppl got all wrong with the all seeing eye, its not Lucifer its Yahweh, from my own direct experience Yahweh is a reptilian Annunaki god who is in control of humanity, the serpent in the garden is actually the good guy you just have to look at the message and who is trying to empower you, is it empowering to have to submit to a dictator god or the realization that you can become your own god? GNOSIS!"
5Dshapeshifter116
I've heard this over and over again over the last few years and frankly I find it one of the dumbest idea's I've ever come across. So lets actually look at the story from Genesis, at least the parts that pertain to this, and see exactly why this guy is wrong.
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.s14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.s15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Gen 2:8
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:s17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. "
Gen 2:16
Ok so at this point God has created the entire universe and Adam and now on the Earth, God has created a special garden just for man, and from the description it sounds like some place I wouldn't mind going, four rivers, gold, animal, all the fruit you can eat and every body is running around naked. One exception, God has put two special tree in the middle of the garden. "The tree of life", which when we read further we would have gotten to eat from had we not disobeyed, and the tree of "Knowledge of Good and Evil" and all he said was do not eat from the the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that's it. Had Adam and Eve listened we'd all be running around naked, eating from the tree of life and playing with our pet velociraptors (nothing ate meat till after the flood) and communing with our creator. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty sweet life to me.
Then enter Satan who came disguised as a snake (which is...wait for it...a reptile) and tempted Eve to eat from the tree.
Genesis 3:1-5 ESV
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
So...Satan came to Eve and said "ya know God the guy who made you and the rest this stuff? Screw him do what you want and eat from the tree and it'll make you a god too." And she did and then he did and it's all been down hill from there.
All this we have to deal with now, war, hate, famine, disease, government, all this came from that one disobedient act. So how does this make Lucifer the "good guy"? I don't see it. Because after this God kicks out of the garden and because sin has entered in to and currupted us and the rest of creation and now every thing is a struggle. So if the God who loves us and created a paradise for us is evil and the reptile who helped get us kicked out is good well then color me evil! But God is not evil, he is good Jesus says only God is good and he wants us to go back to paradise. In fact he loves us so much and is so good he sent his only son to suffer and die for us so we can go back to paradise.
So is Yhvh an annunaki alien, reptilian overlord? No, it's a lie and it seems to be one of Satans favorites. That God is bad and you can be a god. But God is good and infite and we are flawed an finite.
However all is not lost, like I said, our good, infinite, perfect God sent his only son Jesus Christ to redeem us, so we can go back to paradise and not have to spend eternity in torment, in hell with Satan and his demons.
As far as the message the poster was talking about. Gods message is love. Eternal, unconditional love but he cannot abide sin, that is why need Jesus.
Satans message is hate, greed, selfishness. He hates God and he hates you.
So what's your choice?
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Dumb as a box of hair
I just commented on a friend facebook that our representative in D.C. are stupid and they are. From a normal common sense perspective they're dumb as a box of hair. If you have a debt problem you don't fix it by spending more.
However if u want to take down a country from the inside. If you want to remove it's sovereignty and make it dependent on a global system without an armed take over, then you spend like a crack head with a stolen credit card. In this light what has just happened (debt ceiling, super congess etc...) makes perfect sense. Look at Obama who during the election was campaigning all over europe. Why? They don't vote in our elections. This shows his "global" mind set. I don't for one minute that he's loyal to America like most americans are.
So...my conclusion is that all this we're seeing in Washington is globalist maneuvering. I truely belive the next step is the Amero. We might even see it before the next election...if there is one
Sunday, July 24, 2011
The Matrix Ministry
The Matrix ministies is indevelopment now! My goal in this is to bring the truth of
Gods words to well...truth seeker. To those to involved in "the infowar" or the "truth movement" or speaking out against secret societies etc. and even those who are involved in paganism and the occult or the new age movement. As I have found a lack of truth in all these
Right now it's just this blog and a twitter feed (@matrixministry), but I hope to expand as God wills and allows and as my knowledge expands.
God bless
Gods words to well...truth seeker. To those to involved in "the infowar" or the "truth movement" or speaking out against secret societies etc. and even those who are involved in paganism and the occult or the new age movement. As I have found a lack of truth in all these
Right now it's just this blog and a twitter feed (@matrixministry), but I hope to expand as God wills and allows and as my knowledge expands.
God bless
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Rambling
Now what oh what shall I talk about today? So much passing through my brain today. I sit and look around at our world, watch/read the news listen to people talk and I can't help thinking "our world is in trouble and I mean trouble".
It seems like everything is getting ready to crumble. The US economy,whether people will admit it or not, is in some serious long term trouble as well as half a dozen other big economies. There is a war raging on our southern boarder and in countless other countries. Our politicians seem to get more and more corrupt every year. Natural disasters seem to be at an all time high. Even our society seems to simply falling in to decay, nothing is sacred accept the very things that will destroy us.
When you try to take it all in it really is very depressing, to watch the world on its steady swirl down. ..or is it? Should we despair as watching the world implode. I think that depends.
If you are an atheist or a pagan or someone who's whole mindset depends on this world. If your whole focus is the things of this word then yes, you should probably despair because the whole thing is coming down! The matrix is collapsing be afraid, be very afraid because it's not going to get any better any time soon, if ever. Our economy is showing no sign of recovering anytime soon. The world economy is in turmoil. The world at a whole is in turmoil. Yet anybody even half awake should know this.
So...what about those who believe in Christ. Should we be depressed and mopy about the state of the world? Should we be angry shaking our fist fighting the world? Should we cut our selves off from the world, hide in the woods polishing our guns and boiling our water? I'm reminded of something Pastor Billy Crone likes to say "This is not a time to get fearful, this is a time to get faithful."
So...what do I think...this is a time to fight. This is a time to put on the Armor of god and fight. In this "free country" Christianity is more attack now than at any other time in this countries history, not only in this country but as Islam ramps up and tyrannical regimes crack down Christianity is becoming more and more persecuted, every day more and more Christians are killed or imprisoned for nothing more than believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God, died on the cross and rose three days later. And the enemies are not just from without they are from within as well.
False, lukewarm, and even blended doctrines are becoming more and more prevalent within the American church. Basic doctrines such as hell and salvation through Jesus only are being replaced with fuzzy wuzzy pluralism. The feelgood doctrines and the health and wealth doctrines have become a sweet poison within the church.
So what should we as Christians do? Stick together...actually read the Bible and find men and women who will actually teach whats in it. Political action, while we still can, find men and women who honor god and do our best to put them in office. Not be afraid to speak up and disagree with those spewing false teachings. Look at our own lives and see if what we're doing shows the world that we're following it or if we're following God.
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