The Rambling Disciple

"Christ above me, Christ beside me, Christ within me ever guiding, Christ behind me, Christ before, Christ my love, my life, my Lord." - Hymn by John Chisum What does it mean that Christ is our mediator? We often talk about how because of what Christ has done for us we now have direct access to the Father, but that isn't what the Bible says. We have access to the Father as his children in the Spirit through Christ. We pray in Jesus' name, after all. We know that Christ is our mediator. The Bible does say that plainly, such as in 1 Timothy 2:5, but this is an aspect of who Christ is and what he does that I think we neglect in our theology and lives. We don't like having to go through someone else for anything, especially the most important things. We Americans prefer to do it ourselves. The very concept of mediation is something we aren't a fan of. Couples struggling with their relationship are often resistant to see a marriage counselor or therapist, aka a med...

During my studies both for my undergraduate and masters degrees I had to take hermeneutics classes. Hermeneutics is the technical term for how we read the Bible. I was trained to examine literary context, investigate the original languages, search out historical details, and generally try to read the text as the original audience would have as best as we can reconstruct. I'm in no way saying that this is a bad method of Bible study. I think that it is a vital tool in our arsenal as we faithfully engage scripture to try and learn about God. Engaging in this historical-critical method, as it is called, keeps us grounded and constantly holds our own cultural biases in check. Working closely with any other culture, past or present, will do this.  The problem I have is not with this method, it is a useful tool after all, but that we have seemingly abandoned all other tools in favor of this one. The only proper way to read any and all texts is to examine its place in history, literature,...

Last week we discussed how the Bible establishes the foundations for our beliefs. The Bible provides clear information about the fundamentals of our faith and practice. There are things that we, as Christians, can be confident about and sure of in our faith. However, the Bible does not provide us with all the information that we would sometimes want. It's clear on what matters most, but outside of those things the Bible often presents us with information without necessarily putting it all together for us. After all the Bible states that the purpose of scripture is to teach, rebuke, correct, build up, and equip. (2 Timothy 3:16) What the Bible does do is establish boundaries for these discussions and topics. The foundations are laid clearly and the Bible then provides boundaries to keep us from straying off the foundation into heresy and error. Within these boundaries, however, there is room for dialogue and even some disagreement. Let's take one of the fundamentals I looked at ...

Last week I introduced the idea that the Bible, while not an answer handbook, does lay the foundations for our beliefs and provide boundaries for our discussions. Today we look at the foundations. This I think is the easy part of the discussion, since most of us would agree with this. The Bible provides us with clear foundations on which our worldview and beliefs are built. The primary question that we have to grapple with is what is considered foundational? Here I think we run into a problem. Often times I think that we have made things that are not foundational to the faith cornerstones. One chief example of this is acapella worship. In the Churches of Christ, which I and most of my readers are a part of, this has been a fight to the death issue for years. This is, in my humble opinion, ridiculous. We have made the style of worship essential to being a Christian. I have seen, with my own eyes, churches get more upset about the mention of guitars than the suggestion from members that ...

The Bible is a magnificent book full of wonder, poetry, and epic stories that doesn't shy away from what the world is really like. It is a complex work written by many different authors over hundreds of years, unified in one overarching narrative and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift from God, help in time of trouble, and the chief revelation of Jesus Christ. Everything I just said is true, but the problem is I don't always want it to be true. While at times I can admire the complexity of scripture I would mostly prefer it to be simple and straightforward. I want something that will tell me what to do, believe, and what to avoid. I want a quick moral reference handbook or a systematic theology encyclopedia that I can easily reference on the go.  That isn't what the Bible is. I think many Christians feel the same way I do. It can be nice to admire the Bible's complexity and variety from afar, but when it comes down to it we want something simple. We want a...

Our view of justice is narrow and limited. Typically when we, as Christians, talk about justice we are really only referring to punishing wrongdoers for their crimes. While that is certainly a part of justice that isn't the only thing. In the Bible justice consists of much more. Consider the book of Amos, one of the minor prophets and therefore a book that most Christians barely touch. Amos is announcing judgment against the nation of Israel for their infidelity to their covenant with God. What do you think is the most repeated indictment against Israel? Interestingly it's not idolatry, sexual immorality, or war although these things are mentioned. The primary sin of in Amos is Israel's neglect of the poor and their oppression of the needy. Over and over again Amos declares that judgment is coming to Israel because of their treatment of those less fortunate. The poor are trampled and the needy are crushed. There is no justice in the land. Biblical justice includes both crim...

"God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful." - Mother Teresa The one thing we prioritize above all else in our culture is effectiveness. If something is not effective at what it's doing we replace it with something that is more effective. This is true with tools, equipment, ads, structures, and even people. It is foolish for a company to continue paying an ineffective employee when they could be replaced with someone far more effective. Everything in our culture revolves around effectiveness. We rarely support political candidates for their ideals anymore, merely their effectiveness at pursuing agendas. We continually upgrade our technology and discard the older and therefore less effective models. We want things to work and work well. This is true even in churches. We want our ministries to be effective. We want our ministers, elders, deacons, and other leaders to be effective. We want our outreach programs, VBS programs, food pantries, and ...