What would you say?

This week I was asked to speak to group of young business people from a local church.  The brief said:

Basically, we are all young professionals so have many questions around entering the workplace and what it is like being a Christian at work.

After thinking about it for a bit, these were the key messages I wanted to deliver:

1. Life is short.  Eternity is a long, long time.  Make your choices with this in mind.  Work isn't everything.  But it isn't nothing.  Make your work missional.  Look for opportunities within it to ask why am I here.  How can I be salt to these people?  Keep an eye out for how God will want you to join Him in His work there.
2. We are called to be God's people.  He has revealed how we should live through His Word.  Become a student of the bible.  Study it, research it, discuss it, debate it, be guided by it, implement it.  Learn to think independently about the Word.  Research your views.  Be humble enough to accept when an initial position is proven wrong or incomplete.
3. Be faithful and diligent.  This is the story of Joseph.  Joseph learnt this in his time as Potiphar's servant and then under the prison warden's rule.   This is the story of God.  No matter what Israel did, He remained faithful and diligent in fulfilling his Promises.  When times get tough, the tough remain faithful and diligent.  Work hard.  Uphold high standards.  Don't accept that Grace means you live with shoddy workmanship.  Keep a perspective on the business you are in.  
4. Do not compromise with what God says to you.  Wait on Him and He will guide you through His word, through His body and through His Spirit.  The bible says our hearts are deceitful.  Don't go with the crowd.  Learn to think independently.  Be ready to back up your thinking with fact-based logic.  Don't jump to conclusions.  That's laziness.  Be careful with who you join up with.  They must share the same values.  All lies no matter what the colour are deal breakers.

 What would you say?

Steve Jobs saved from the Abortion Clinic

I came across this from Kerrie Woodham this morning:

"Jobs was their iDol and, from what commentators are saying, deservedly so. The boy who was born to unmarried college students and adopted by a middle-class Californian family grew into one of the most visionary entrepreneurs of the 20th century." --Source

So what would have happened if Steve Jobs' birth parents had opted for an abortion?  The world would have been so much the poorer for it.  

Hebraic Time v Greek Time

I was given a copy of a chapter from Boman's "Greek Thought and Hebraic Thought."

According to Boman in Greek thought, time stretches out on a line, with the future stretching out before you and the past extending behind you.  The point on which you stand is the present.

In Hebraic thought only the past and the present exist.  The future does not yet exist.  Anything we do is in the present and it shapes the future.

If true, how does this affect our views about predestination?

September 28 Christchurch Earthquake Prediction: If in doubt, suppress it!?

Dust rises from Christchurch immediately following the February 22 earthquake

While discussing the September 28 earthquake prophecies I was amazed that some were advocating that such prophecies should be suppressed on the grounds that many people were not well positioned to process them maturely.  Hiding people in a cupboard is no way to deal with the situation.  Besides, talk of the prophecies has reached talkback radio and national radio.  No church can stop its people from watching television.

The right way forward for church leadership to deal with the situation is to train and equip its people on how to maturely process prophecies as they come to hand.  Censorship isn't the answer. 

This is the raison d'etre of leadership in a Christian Church:

(Eph 4:11)  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

(Eph 4:12)  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

(Eph 4:13)  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

(Eph 4:14)  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  (Eph 4:11-14)

This is where church leadership often falls down. 

Instead of training the saints and equipping them for the work of the ministry leaders often attempt to do the work of the Ministry themselves.  Consequently burnout is common.  Often leaders lack the patience to nurture new leaders and step in too early when they judge that they can do the task better themselves.

Leaders with churches that have members with sufficient biblical education and who have the gifting to do so, shouldn't be doing most of the preaching.  Instead, they should be discipling others and training them in that ministry.  The same can be said for each church role be it apostleship, prophecy, evangelism or pastoral care.

The Christian leader faces many temptations that can prevent him or her from taking up this responsibility.

September 28: Another Major Christchurch Earthquake Predicted: How not to assess prophecy

Buildings burn following the September 2010 Christchurch Earthquake

You may not know it but there is quite a buzz going on in some Christian circles as several prophecies are circulating the city, predicting a major earthquake event affecting Christchurch at the end of the month.  Some credence has also been added by other forecasters such as Ken Ring, who bases his theories on the movements of Moon's orbit.

The most widely circulated prophecy can be obtained here.

How should a Christian process such a document?

A written response from a number of prominent Christchurch Protestant church leaders might give us some insight.  Their responses can be found here and here.

All the leaders acknowledge that they cannot definitively rule out that the prophecy is true.  Their call to individual prayer and meditation is also useful and constructive. 

Their causes for doubting it may be summarised as follows:

1. Date and time specific prophecies never come true.
2. We are in an "Age of Grace" so God would never administer judgment like this.
3. God's prophecies are always encouraging and edifying.  This prophecy only promulgates fear and panic.  God wouldn't act like this.
4. Other prominent leaders don't "witness" or feel that God is speaking to them in the same way, confirming it.
5. The source of the prophecy lacks credibility.

It is a useful technique to challenge positions such as these by looking for counter-examples from the bible as a test procedure.  How do these four factors measure up when put through this test?

1. Date and time specific prophecies:  Despite David MacGregor not being able to recall any, in fact there are quite a few prophecies which are date and time specific.  A few biblical examples include: Joseph's prediction of seven years of plentiful harvest, followed by seven years of famine; Moses' prediction that the Firstborn would die from midnight on; Elisha's prediction that the siege of Samaria would be broken within 24 hours (2 Kings 6:24-7:20); Jesus' prediction of his resurrection being 3 days and nights after his death.
2. "Age of Grace": This implies that previous to this era of Grace, we were in an era where Grace was lacking.  In fact, Grace is a recurring theme throughout the bible from Genesis to Revelation.  There is no Age of Grace.  We follow a God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  A God of lovingkindness, tenderness, righteousness, justice and judgment; all in One (Jeremiah 9:24).
3. God's prophecies are always encouraging and edifying:  The corollary to this is that God's authentic prophecies don't cause fear and panic.  Is this true?  When reading the account of the Samarian siege, the King's captain doubts Elisha's prophecy.  Elisha predicts that as confirmation, the captain would not live to see it.  I'm sure the captain found it hardly edifying.  When Jesus predicts the fall of Jerusalem he advises his followers then to flee, warning that pregnant and nursing women would be greatly distressed.  Ananias' sudden death is another NT example.  Hardly "uplifting" stuff.
4. The "witness" of other leaders and credible sources:  MacGregor says he would like to think that God would tell the leaders of a church if he had a message such as this.  Yet God seems to make a point of singling out obscure, and unlikely messengers to bear his communiques.  Joseph was from a family of shepherds.  Moses was a Midianite shepherd.  Egyptians looked on shepherds with disdain.  Jesus was a Galilean carpenter.  Urbane Jews looked on Galileans with disdain.  God might be telling the leaders but through his chosen messengers, whoever they might be, whether they are recognized prophets or not. Even the recognized prophets can get it wrong (1 Kings 22:13-28).  I assume that Christian leaders teach their people to hear from God, then why be surprised if God chooses to speak to them?  Eli Wiesel relates the story of his journey to Auschwitz in his book "Night." During the journey a woman has a nervous breakdown and begins to hallucinate that she can see flames and that they were to burn.  She ranted and raved for hours.  Eventually she was beaten into silence.  When he stepped off the train, he saw the flames leaping from the chimney of the crematorium.  He understood.

It's easy to be dismissive.  There is little or no risk of derision.  1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 tells us not to despise prophecies but we should test all things.  Deuteronomy 18:15-22 says that we can tell a prophet after the date and time of the predicted event has past.  So can we test a prophecy in advance of its predicted occurrence?  Yes, we can.  The biblical tests are there.  What do you think they might be?  I look forward to reading your responses.

In the absence of anything else, no matter which side of the debate one might be, it is good risk management to ensure disaster survival kits are well stocked.  If you decide to leave town for a day or two, then what is the cost if nothing happens, a small amount of embarrassment?

The Talmud on Logos Bible Software

Jacob Neusner

I recently read in an article by Michael Brown,

According to b. Yoma 39b, God did not accept the sacrifices that were offered on the Day of Atonement for the last forty years before the destruction of the [Second] Temple (this was known to the people by means of a series of special signs, all of which turned up negative for those forty years; see b. Yoma 39a). The Temple was destroyed in 70 c.e., so from 30 to 70 c.e., a period of forty years, the annual atonement sacrifices were not accepted. What great event happened in the year 30? Jesus was rejected and nailed to a cross! Is it possible that God no longer accepted the atonement sacrifices because the Messiah had offered himself as the perfect, final sacrifice? [1]

He cites a couple of references to the Babylonian Talmud as a source for point.  In the past, I couldn't quickly and conveniently look up his source to read it firsthand.  But with Logos recently releasing Neusner's translation of both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, this problem is no more.  A quick look up and I was able to read:

He said to them, "Every Day of Atonement, appears to me an old man dressed in white and cloaked in white, who enters with me and goes forth with me [to and from the Holy of Holies], while this year an old man appeared to me dressed in black and cloaked in black, who went in with me but did not come out with me."

E. After the Festival of Tabernacles, he fell ill for seven days, and then he died. His brothers the priests refused to pronounce the divine name when bestowing the priestly benediction.

II.5

A.

Our rabbis have taught on Tannaite authority:

B. Forty years before the destruction of the sanctuary, the lot did not come up in the right hand, and the thread of crimson never turned white, and the westernmost light never shone, and the doors of the courtyard would open by themselves,

C. until Rabban Yohanan b. Zakkai rebuked them. He said, "Temple, Temple, why will you yourself give the alarm [that you are going to be destroyed? You don’t have to, because] I know that in the end you are destined to be destroyed. For Zechariah b. EIdo has already prophesied concerning you: ‘Open your doors, Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars’ (Zech. 11:1)." [2]

Yay.

[1] Brown, M. L. (2000). Answering Jewish objections to Jesus, Volume 1: General and historical objections. (74). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.
[2]  Neusner, J. (2011). Vol. 5a: The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (141–142). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Who are the Sons of Abraham?

There has been much debate over who are the People of God, the Israel of God, the Sons of Abraham, the Seed of Abraham.

In my view, after many centuries, the People of the World had largely lost their understanding of God and His ways. Israel came into being when a Gentile, Abraham, decided to follow God by faith and became the first member of God’s people.  They were to be called Abraham’s Seed or the Sons of Abraham. 

These people were to become a “blessing” to all the other people of the world. The nature of this blessing is described as being a light to draw all the people of the world back to God. God intended that this nation would eventually encompass all ethnicities as more people came back into covenant fellowship with God. As time passed, God’s people came to be known as Israel. 

Their numbers grew predominantly through natural breeding and as a small number of Gentiles joined their ranks. As further time passed, birth and the signs of the Covenant became “identity markers” that demonstrated membership in this People.   The idea that faith and obedience as the key factor for admission into the People of God, faded  in the People's memory.  

For many, outward tradition had often displaced internal faith and personal engagement with God. Thus the prophets began to speak about “circumcised hearts.” Over time, with Israel being overrun repeatedly by invaders, the fear of assimilation and loss of national identity made many take aggressive action to ward against these dangers. This included, focusing inwardly to preserve the Torah and their national customs; putting up social barriers to prevent social interaction with Gentiles; not developing a missionary theology; and in some quarters, even teaching that the Torah is not for Gentiles.
 
In the conventional Christian view of the Sons of Abraham, 

1. Only the Church are the legitimate Sons of Abraham because it alone is based on faith (Gal 3.7). 
2. Thus the promises to Israel are inherited by the Church (Rom 8.16). 
3. However the Abrahamic (Gen 12), Mosaic (Exo 20) and Davidic Covenants (2 Sa 16) have been replaced by the New Covenant (Jer 31.31).   
4. Under this new covenant, the written Torah has been replaced by a Torah of the Spirit, that is only written upon the heart. (eg. Rom 8.12ff)
5. Any observance of the Torah is obeying the letter of the law and is a reversion to legalism (2 Co 3.4); and undoes the work of Christ (Gal 2.21), who brings into an age of Spirit and Truth (Joh 4.24) versus the prior age of legalism and mindless tradition (Col 2.8).

Replacement Theology is based on these ideas.  It is the notion that Believers in Jesus Christ as the Messiah have replaced the People of Israel as the People of God. Adherents to Replacement Theology hold to the view that the unfulfilled biblical promises made to Israel are now inherited by the Church. The People of Israel and the idea of the State of Israel are no longer relevant in God’s future plans, claiming that all of the world is God’s. 

An alternative view may be fashioned from what I have gleaned from my First Century Hebraic studies:

1. Abraham is the first of many Gentiles who form the People of God by answering His call on their lives with faith and obedience. 
2. His Covenant is the first of several covenants between God and Abraham's Seed.
3. Each covenant has commandments, as well as consequential blessings and curses depending on obedience or disobedience. 
4. Each covenant is between God and Israel
5. Each covenant is enduring and eternal.
6. Each covenant was an expansion of the one preceding it. 
7. No covenant abrogated its predecessor. 
8. Each time Israel fell into disobedience, the covenant was renewed (eg Exo 20 cf Exo 34).
9. The text translated as “new covenant” in Jer 31 could also be translated as “renewed covenant.” 
10. Entry into the People of God has always been based on faith. The OT has always deplored outward obedience in the absence of an inward love of God (Deu 30.6). Such a perspective is not an NT innovation (Col 2.11).
11. The people of God were always to be a nation of kingly priests (Exo 19.6 and 1 Pe 2.9).
12. New entrants to the People of God were to be treated impartially and they were to observe the same Torah as they (Lev 19).  After several generations, these "Aliens" would be indistinguishable from the incumbent believers.
13. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit demonstrated that the traditions of the Jews were false and that God had returned to first principles (Gal 3.5).
14. Circumcision of the flesh was not the means by which Gentiles entered Israel but by faith just as Abraham, the Gentile, had done in the past (Rom 2.29-29; Gal 3.6ff). Thus Circumcision was not a sign of entry (but an act of obedience following entry.

Thus in this formulation, all the covenants that are applicable to the conventional People of Israel are applicable to the People of God as defined here. 

Conclusion

The People of God, are those who respond positively to God's call with faith and obedience. Taking Race into consideration is a red herring. The Seed of Abraham are those who God credits with Righteousness. The Seed of Abraham are the People of God or Israel. Membership of this Nation is based on faith and obedience not race or ethnicity. The culture of these people is shaped by the Bible which sets out God's ways for living. Obedience to the Bible and its commandments is not "legalism" but an act of faith.

Under this formulation, gone are the gymnastics required to figure out which covenants are applicable to "Gentile" believers.  The People of God were all at one time "Gentiles."  For a Gentile is by definition a non-believer.  The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has no grandchildren.

An Exegetical Analysis of 2 Cor 6:14-7:1

I'm currently working on a Management Buy-In that involves a closely held business and one of the shareholders wants to sell his 65% ownership. The other 35% is held by a non-Christian who is openly antagonistic toward Christians. The share parcel comes with the right to appoint 3 directors while the other holder may appoint two; and the company shows good growth prospects. My Client is a Christian.

Naturally the principle of being unequally yoked sprang to mind. Freeman's paper is one of the better constructed that I found. His conclusion is:

In most evangelical circles this passage is not cited for any other reason than as a proof-text for why Christians should not marry non-Christians. However, the challenge Paul lays before the Corinthians is much greater. They are to cleanse themselves “from every defilement,” pursuing perfect holiness in the fear of God, in light of the promises of his presence. Their refusal to give their whole hearts and lives to God had constrained their affections for God’s minister-Paul-and had greatly damaged earthly relationships.

Earthly relationships, however, for their own sake are not Paul’s goal. Rather, he needs to be reconciled to the Corinthians because the whole defence of his apostolic ministry as that of the new covenant depends on their partaking of the Spirit, since they themselves are his “letter of recommendation.” This passage is nothing short of a passionate plea for holiness from the people who were called apart to be holy. They must separate themselves from the cult worship and all defilement because they are the temple where God dwells; God is their Father, and they are his children, the heirs of all his promises.

Surely, his children are to in a manner appropriate for being in his presence. This includes respecting their covenant relationship with God by not joining with outsiders in covenantal-type relationships, but surely it is even broader. We must see that this passage teaches us, just as it did the Corinthians, that in opening our hearts to God, the proper response is absolutely exclusive. [1]

[1]  Freeman, J (undated). An exegetical analysis of 2 Cor 6:14-7:1.  Julian Freeman. Retrieved from http://julianfreeman.ca/articles/exegetical-analysis-2-cor-61471 on 31/5/2011.

Bequeathing Logos Bible Software Licenses

Lots of people invest heavily in their Logos Bible Software collections. My uncle estimates that he has spent tens of thousands on it. Fortunately Logos allows users to bequeath their licences to whoever they name in their wills.

Follow these links to find out more.

1. http://community.logos.com/forums/t/87.aspx?PageIndex=3; and
2. http://community.logos.com/forums/p/29832/220728.aspx#220728; and
3. http://blog.logos.com/archives/2005/12/heirloom_books.html

Logos 4 review

The Logos Home Screen: Click to enlarge

I've just started using Logos 4 since Christmas Day. It is quite different from Logos 3 even though many of the concepts have been carried over.

Aesthetics. The look and feel of the program is completely different. It is much crisper and modern looking. Greater emphasis has been placed on making all the resource material more accessible. The home screen is illustrative of the change in design thinking applied in Logos 4. It is almost newspaper or magazine like in appearance, providing a potpourri of little article excerpts that tickle the reader's curiosity and hopefully leading him or her to click the "read more" link. Many hours can be whiled away reading all the interesting articles, exploring the many corridors of your resource library. It reminds me of childhood memories sitting beneath our bookcase, with many volumes of encyclopedias opened out as we followed the referrals at the end of each article.
PDQ Searching. By far and away, the most significant improvement is indexing. Indexing has improved searching by an order of magnitude. Database Indexing is analogous to looking up an alphabetical index in a book to go straight to the right page rather than looking for your item of interest by searching for every page. The earliest known indexes and concordances date back to medieval times. Database indexing creates another list of some of the contents of a data table, arranged in a way that the database engine can find information quickly. By organizing table contents deliberately, this eliminates the need to look for a row of data by scanning the entire table, creating considerable efficiency in searches.

Logos 3 Reverse Interlinear Bibles look like this (click to enlarge)

Greek or Hebrew Interlinear Bibles. Instead of having separate resources for reverse interlinear bibles, the original language text has been integrated into the base English bibles. Highlighting different English words in the text highlights the corresponding words in the original language ribbon.

Logos 4 Interlinear Bibles look like this (click to enlarge)

Installation. The biggest initial hurdle to overcome is the time required to install Logos 4, load all the resources and building the index for the first time can take, literally, hours. Set it going late and let it run through the night. On my ThinkPad, Logos 4 and the index takes up over 2GB. Having Logos 3 beforehand just means that new licenses don't need to be purchased, so it doesn't speed things up much as Logos 4 resources are structured differently.

Annoyances. One of Logos' greatest strengths is the breadth and depth of the resources they have available in the searchable Logos eBook format. They list over 124 bibles, 600 commentaries, and 28 encyclopedias alone. Although Logos says buying their collections is the best "value for money" method for purchasing resources, I disagree. Much of the resources are irrelevant and redundant to the reader and searching through all those resources under Logos 3 used to be so... slow. Indexing on Logos 4 has greatly alleviated this annoyance but nonetheless the principle remains. I think it would be far better to focus on building a core set of highly regarded and up to date commentaries, dictionaries, handbooks and other resources would, in my view be the most cost effective approach. Of course, the operative words are "highly regarded," for what might be well thought of in one circle might be considered a heresy in another. A most suitable subject for an upcoming blog entry.

Recommended system requirements. The required minimum system specifications mean that computers bought more than 3-4 years or go may struggle with the overhead. My desktop is a Windows 2000 machine, 1 GHz, 1GB RAM with about 50GB of free space on the hard drive. Sorry L4 doesn't work on Windows 2000. A faulty power supply led to the end of our family desktop and its replacement with a ThinkPad T60, 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo 2GB RAM, 100GB HDD with Vista Home Premium laptop. The T60 took all that Logos 4 could throw at it, in its stride.

On the whole. Logos 4 is a worthy upgrade the power of the new user interface and design features give users a lot more flexibility and indexing really has made the resources so much more accessible. Ecosystems are the order of the day in strategic software marketing. In the bible software development world, Logos' ecosystem is the most layered and expansive, largely because of the huge breadth and depth of its resources. A majority of the most prominent evangelical thinkers of the 20th and 21st Centuries are represented. Its nice to see more materials from a Judaic perspective appearing. It would be nice to see more works from Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox thinkers as well. God is on the move, and there is a heavenly trumpet call to return to the Scriptures to solve life's problems and bring new life to a dark and violent world. This is the answer to irrelevance. Logos 4 is an excellent tool for the interested lay person, the professional clergy or the academic scholar.