Christian Concepts

Biblical Commentary On Current Events

The Loss of Common Sense

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While many within the evangelical community are hailing the Supreme Court decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop Case a win for religious freedom, I lament the breakdown and loss of common sense in what was once a Christian nation founded on biblical principles.

If you think that is an exaggeration stop and consider the current Masterpiece Cakeshop Case as an example. Our legal system has devolved to the point it takes the highest court in our land to decide the circumstances under which one citizen should, or should not, bake a cake for another citizen.

Justice Anthony Kennedy who wrote the majority opinion in this 7-2 decision is the same one who struck down the Defense of Marriage Act effectively legalizing same-sex marriage back in 2015. DOMA was unconstitutional and needed to be struck down, but not for the reasons Kennedy cited in his opinion.

This case has not resolved the tensions between those wanting religious freedom and those same-sex couples who think they are being discriminated against.

In overturning DOMA, Kennedy created, though not alone, the legal imbroglio that led to this case, and any celebration now should be tempered by the truth that what the Supreme Court gives it can take away with the same caprice it uses to interpret the constitution now.

That is because his legal reasoning is as silly now as it was then. DOMA should have been struck down because the regulation of marriage is not one of the powers of Congress enumerated in the Constitution.

According to the Tenth Amendment those powers not enumerated in the Constitution to Congress are reserved to the States and the people. Marriage constitutionally and historically is the exclusive purview of the States and the people. Congress had no constitutional authority to enact DOMA.

The highest court broke the law and justices became outlaws.

DOMA merely gave the Supreme Court the opportunity to redefine marriage and approve same-sex marriage through judicial fiat apart from the legislative process. Ergo, that ruling is constitutionally flawed; the Supreme Court cannot legislate, it can only interpret. But in DOMA the Supreme Court abrogated the right of the States and the people to define and regulate marriage as provided by the Tenth Amendment. What are we to do when the highest Court in the land breaks the law?

Marriage between one man and one woman is not the exclusive practice of Christians. Heterosexual marriage is the predominant practice of all major religions and cultures around the world. No religion or society on the face of the earth has flourished celebrating homosexual marriage that is wholly incapable of reproducing the next generation.

Common sense is not as common as it once was.

Ultimately fallen men cannot be trusted to use common sense when trying to use their position as justices to engineer social change. This is why the Scriptures declare, “Many seek the ruler’s favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord,” Proverbs 29:26. Ultimate justice will tarry until Christ returns.

Common sense is not as common as it once was. Evangelicals will soon learn you cannot have your cake and eat it too, because a fallen system does not possess the common sense that will produce lasting, transcendent justice.

The Tragedy in Parkland and Student Walkouts

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On March 14 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida staged a walkout to protest gun laws. Considering the horrific horror they were subjected to, their emotion-filled sentiments are understandable, their actions are not.

Their example sparked similar protests across the nation as the news media elevated them to the status of, in Ben Shapiro’s words, “untouchable moral authorities.” What was wrong with these protests?

A son asked his mother…

A son asked his mother if he could join the walkout. She asked him what he wanted to protest and he said, “Gun laws; they need to change.” So his mother asked him what are the gun laws, and he replied he did not know, but they need to change.

His mother said, “Then no, you may not protest in ignorance. You don’t protest just because everyone else is doing it. Yes, what is happening in our schools is wrong, and scary, and sad, and yes, some things need to change, but you must educate yourself before you can be an agent of change. I’m all about protesting for change, for justice, and being passionate about a cause; I’m not about blindly following the crowd in ignorance.”

This is the very point God was making to Moses when He said, “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice,” Exodus 23:2.

The cause of justice is never advanced through ignorance, emotion-filled peer pressure, or mob rule; these tend to pervert justice not establish it. A proper reading of the Second Amendment to the Constitution in its historical context reveals it was not adopted to protect a citizen’s right to hunt, but to protect himself from the tyranny of an oppressive government.

The cause of justice is never advanced through ignorance, emotion-filled peer pressure, or mob rule; these tend to pervert justice not establish it.

Some of these students, encouraged by the agenda of a liberal media, have blamed the National Rifle Association for school shootings because of its lobbying at all levels of government. But I am not aware of a single school shooting that was carried out by a member of the NRA, an organization that promotes the legal, responsible use of firearms. In fact, if everyone who owned a firearm followed its guidelines there would be no school shootings.

If what I am reading is correct every school shooter to date grew up in a home without the influence of a father, and every school shooter was either a student or former student of the school he shot up.

It seems if you want to end school shootings you should take students out of school and enroll them in the NRA. That is not meant to be a political statement; it’s a conclusion based on a simple observation of the facts.

What we are witnessing…

What we are witnessing is the breakdown of the home and individual, moral responsibility in our society, and it is reflected in the schools. It will take more than fewer firearms, some new laws, and a few walkouts to fix this.

Healing and the Flu

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Gloria Copeland, wife of Kenneth Copeland and member of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, is in the news. In a recent telecast she said some things that have come under fire according to the mainstream media.

Gloria said, “Well, listen, partners, we don’t have a flu season…Inoculate yourself with the word of God.” She went on to say believers should repeatedly say, “I’ll never have the flu,” and then went on to pray for those who have the flu anyway. Those who got the flu must have missed the message on talking it away.

Gloria and her husband Kenneth have been saying things like that for years, what makes it so newsworthy now? Well she is supposedly a member of President Trump’s evangelical advisory board, and it is useful in making Trump look like a kook by association ahead of the midterm elections.

I am not a fan of the prosperity Gospel

To be clear, I am not a fan of the prosperity Gospel. Even calling it a Gospel demeans the term. A comprehensive consideration of scriptural teaching and examples of godly people in the Bible reveals health and wealth are not necessary elements of holiness.

The idea that one can recite Scripture as a sort of incantation to manipulate God to do our bidding is nothing less than bibliomancy. It is one thing to trust in the promises of God, and quite another to try and coerce Him to produce the outcome we desire.

The idea that one can recite Scripture as a sort of incantation to manipulate God to do our bidding is nothing less than bibliomancy. It is one thing to trust in the promises of God, and quite another to try and coerce Him to produce the outcome we desire.

They are fond of quoting by “his stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53:5 (KJV). They claim physical healing was a part of the atonement of Christ and is our right to claim. While some deny that was what Isaiah was referring to, there is a certain truth here.

If, as we believe, sickness and disease are a result of original sin and the fall of man, and the atonement was meant to reverse the effects of the fall, then freedom from physical injury and disease were an integral part of the atonement.

In eternity “the first things have passed away”

The answer is in the timing. I am confident in the resurrection when as Paul said, “this mortal must put on immortality,” that our eternal life will be characterized by a glorified body without physical defect and free from any disease processes. There will be no need for wheelchairs, or eyeglasses in heaven.

Hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities will not be needed in heaven. The Father has a major medical plan that is out of this world. But that does not preclude His ability to heal us now in answer to prayer, which I believe is just a foretaste of heaven to come.

Journalist should stick to reporting the news rather than delving into theological issues they have no understanding of and trying to criticize some of those lumped in with evangelicals.

The Scriptures declare “each one of us will give an account of himself to God,” Romans 14:12. Maybe those in the news business should think about that, because on Judgment Day a flu shot won’t help.

Deadly Perfectionism

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Perfectionism
Statistics from the CDC in 2014 say suicide is the second leading cause of death for those 10-34 years of age. Photo by Matthew Kane

In a recently released survey published in the Psychological Bulletin results revealed a problem that plagues Millennials and the Gen Z crowd. It is what one account termed the “irrational desire.” It is the pursuit of perfectionism.

The results of the study

The study concluded that between 1989 and 2016 society’s demands have created a meritocracy that increasingly burdens our newer generations with the need to be perfect in the work place and their social interactions. This in turn creates an unrealistic demand on their fragile psyche increasing the incidence of depression and its partner suicidal ideation.

Even Jesus said, “you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” Matthew 5:48. But what Christ said is by many exegetes either misapprehended or dismissed as inscrutable. And the fact that we have a less than perfect understanding of perfectionism as evidenced by the 2014 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control.

The second leading cause of death among the younger generations between the ages of 10-34 is suicide. Accidental death is the leading cause in this age group. Statistically speaking, the only killer greater among the younger generation than intentional death is unintentional death.

The incidence of suicide is growing among the younger generation

The news is rife with the rising tide of those ending their own lives, and the incidence of suicide is evident across the societal spectrum. No one is immune, even pastors and their children can be found among the deadly statistics.

So Jesus’ call to perfection appears to add fuel to this contemporary fire. But though it may seem counterintuitive, Jesus’ call to perfection is actually the antidote for perfectionism.

You see, the push for perfectionism existed even in His day. The religious leaders of Israel had adopted a set of rules to augment what the Scriptures taught. It was a manmade attempt at self-righteousness.

Jesus condemned their teachings saying, “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders,” and countered their demands, with His teaching “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Peter would later admit these religious leaders had created a system of perfection so difficult “neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear,” Acts 15:10.

Jesus said to love God and others

When these religious leaders questioned what Jesus taught as commandments, He told them the greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and to “love your neighbor as yourself,” Matthew 22:36-39.

Jesus said the Law of Moses is fulfilled and God is satisfied when we do these two things. The German theologian Albert Schweitzer purportedly condensed Jesus’ words even further writing Jesus gave us only one commandment, “to love.”

Of course, loving is not something we can do alone imperfect as we are. But He has promised to never leave us so there is help to be had, and we need not worry what others may think because we do not have to live up to their standard of perfection. Perfection is as simple as loving God and others.

A Warning about Prophetic Interpretations

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Two weeks ago in an article titled “Rapture Mania” I addressed President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and we would be moving our embassy there. Some evangelicals hailed it as hastening fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Since writing that article, I thought I should expand on my concern about what is said about biblical prophecy. It is important that we understand the distinction between what the Bible says will happen, and how men interpret what the Bible says.

Christian beliefs about the future

Christian beliefs about the future are shaped by that branch of theology known as Eschatology. The term comes from a Greek word “eschatos,” meaning “last things,” and is the study of the end times.

There are four recognized schools of thought within this branch of theological study: Premillennialism, Postmillennialism, Amillennialism and Preterism. There are similarities within each, but there are definite differences also. These differences are predicated on differing interpretations.

Common sense dictates all of these interpretations cannot be right. This lack of hermeneutic harmony led me to comment “there is more confusion than there is consensus” when it comes to those prophetic passages of Scripture that have as yet to be fulfilled.

Most of us are familiar with the more egregious misinterpretations of prophecy, those quacks who try to predict the return of Christ. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone,” Matthew 24:36. If Jesus does not know when He is to return, what makes anyone think they know? What is important to remember about the return of Christ is not the timing, but that it is inevitable.

The uncertainty of interpretive speculations

Hal Lindsey who wrote The Late Great Planet Earth predicted the 1980’s would probably be the last decade in human history, he missed that by almost three decades and counting. The Left Behind Series by Tim Lahaye is more speculation about the end times than prophetic verity.

There are many books written on end time prophecy, and the only thing predictable about them are the royalties they garnered playing on man’s inherent curiosity about the future. I am not saying the motivation for all these writers was to make a profit, but making a profit may be the only thing predictable about what they wrote.

I have said, “The purpose of prophecy is not to give us an exact map of where the future will take us; it is to give us enough information about what is to come so that as it unfolds we will know God saw it coming and is in control.”

The takeaway

Here’s the takeaway, I did not write this to discredit any particular interpretation of prophecy. My purpose in writing this is to warn the reader that if things do not unfold according to some book you read, or an author’s interpretation; it means his interpretation is wrong. It does not mean the Bible is wrong. God’s Word will not mislead us.