Tithing???

I have recently been thinking about the practise of tithing in our evangelical church and have wondered again where it came from. It doesn't seem to be a scriptural thing at all to me and I find it curious that so many advocate it. True, we find it in the Old Testament a few times. Not once is it mentioned in a positive way in the New Testament though. But most churches rely on the OT to support this practise. So what texts give all these churches and people such a strong case? I'm not really sure. The Isrealites gave to the Levites a tenth every 3 years of their increase. But the Levites were the people who set up, tore down, carried stuff, basically did menial tasks. Today, the tithe is usually sent to the preachers/teachers of the Word, not the deacon types. Doesn't seem to be a correlation here to me.

I included a link here to a blog that talks about early church thoughts on giving/tithing. It was a short entry and fairly interesting I thought.

Update

Its been a bit since I last posted. Perhaps an update is due! Katie and I have been considering moving to KC. There are two strong points to do so. 1) We would like to be closer to my family and 2) there is opportunity to get a job in the finance industry to use everythingI studied and loved in school.

Also, I have recently had some good conversations with different ones in my chuch and felt closer to the chuch than I have in a while. It doesn't solve the main problem, but it helps.

My little secret

I have a little secret that I have to get off my chest. Its something I've thought about for over 2 years. Its an issue that has been important to me in some measure along with half a dozen others. And it's something that I haven't told many people at all. Because of all that, I've felt like a 2 litre coke bottle that's been shaken up and is bursting at the seams. So here it is....

I don't believe the government's story about what happened on 9/11.

There it is... out in the open... a now naked statement. And I feel so much better!

Let me continue...

I don't believe that America was attacked by external enemies on that fateful day
I don't believe that no one in the upper echlons of power knew of what would happen
I don't believe that any real questions about that day have been answered by anyone in upper government or media positions of power


I haven't believed their story for the past 2 years. But I am surrounded by the media and pop culture during this time that has trumpeted it without answering my questions. That didn't help my pop bottle to deflate. But this post has. That's the great thing about writing; you can let all the steam and passion out in a non-violent way. And perhaps you can learn something valuable too.

What have I learned? That Jesus alone has the responses to all the painful questions I have. For example, I say that its not fair that I can't trust my government and can't get straight answers from anyone. And He answers me and says that He alone is worthy of trust and He alone has true answers; He doesn't give me political spin. He doesn't ignore me or treat me as a peon.

Another example; I say to Jesus that it looks to me that the powers of the world are caught up in a grand conspiracy. He says to me that man is but a breath and a blade of grass, here today and burned in the furnace tomorrow. He says too that (in this age) Satan is the ruler of the whole world, he sways it as he wishes according ONLY to the predetermined boundaries set by God. Jesus tells me that it is the human powers of this world who are caught in a conspiracy laid and planned by Satan.

So.... 9/11 bothers me. But Jesus has used it in my life to teach me things.

And now, I am on the record.

Less Posts

I am losing my broadband connection tomorrow for an indefinate amount of time, so my posts will become fewer. But they will still come!

Letter of the Law, or Spirit of the Law

I was recently prompted to think about whether a christian should obey the exact letter of the law of his earthly government or the spirit behind the written letter of those laws. The occasions that caused me think of this were instances when I took our dog for a walk around a jogging path. The exact wording of the law here in Kirksville is approximately that animals shall be restrained at all times within city limits. In a much earlier conversation with another christian lady I know I was given the opinion that to release a dog from a leash at anytime (outside a fenced yard) was a violation of this law which not only broke the city ordinance and caused a bad testimony, but also effectively broke the law of God.

Here is the question though, is that the correct viewpoint? Her belief is certainly a courageous one to have and it requires a very high devotion in terms of having a different lifestyle than the world. But, I am not certain that is what Jesus came to set up in his future church. Certainly, a radical lifestyle is to be pursued in regards to holiness and devotion to God.

Could it be though that God values more highly the attitude in the heart, that is one which seeks the good of all and seeks to obey any or all goodness of the written law? 2 Corinthains 3:6 states that the letter of the law kills but the Spirit gives life. Trying to obey the exact written code of every federal, state, and local municipality in one's life is a certain way to "die" in a sense. How about fulfilling the greatest commandment of all? Loving God with all you are, and loving your neighbor as yourself is actually a much greater thing.

Consider my example then. Suppose I take our dog for a walk and when the dog and I have gone into a secluded area outside of neighborhoods, I let the dog off the leash in order to let her run around, chase some rabbits, and get better exercise. The dog is better served and enjoys a higher quality of life. I feel better about the situation. And the essential desire behind the written Kirksville code is fulfilled. No one's private property is destroyed, no one's pets are harassed, no one feels threatened by our dog. And should a situation come up where the dog needs to be stationary, I can call her and she comes on command.

For some people, this obeying of the spirit of the law is not a feasible solution. Perhaps they own a wild or feckless dog that chases little children and knocks things over. Perhaps they don't live anywhere near a large wooded area. Perhaps their dog won't come when called. All these conditions add up to mean a different response from a person in those situations.

What do you all think?

Mark Driscoll

Its been a while since I posted something on this blog. I used to keep a journal in high school and college, but that petered out. Perhaps this blog has something to do with that. It seems that I should post here what I would have writted in my journal. However, I am more reluctant to post some things as the whole world would be able to read them. So my postings go down while I still have the feeling that I have things to say!

I listened to an excellent sermon yesterday. It was Mark Driscoll who spoke on Resisting Idolitry like Jesus. It was a very good sermon. He doesn't quite have the exegetical gift of the pastors of my church, but he is much more gifted in communication and has a strong sense of passion and love for the people there listening to him. I would highly recommend this sermon to all of you.

End of Car Saga

Last Wednesday the Lord ended our car adventure by having us purchase a 1996 Honda Accord EX from a guy in St. Louis. My wife's blog has pictures of this car. Before we bought it, I really didn't feel differently than some other cars in the past that have looked really good too. One difference that I did notice though was that the Lord shut down these other opportunities before we had too much invested in them. But with this car, I got off work early and drove to St Louis in the middle of the week. Perhaps the Lord wouldn't have allowed us to waste our time and money if it wasn't from Him.

I did learn some things in the past 15 months though. I feel that sometimes it is very difficult to sense the Lord's will in your spirit and as such the righteous thing to do is to investigate all possibilities knowing that the Lord can use any of them and supernaturally turn one into a good thing. Paul and Barnabas tried to go to Asia to preach the gospel mutliple times but were turned away. Later on though, the gospel did go to Asia.

I also wanted to praise the Lord and publically give His name honor for His provision for us. The car is a very nice car and we are very greatful to Him.

Losing the Gospel and Biblical Literacy in our Culture

Last week two young ladies knocked on my door with bibles and tracts in their hands. I thought to myself that they were very oddly dressed for Jehova's Witnesses! It turned out they were from a local church and were going door to door in my neighborhood. I was intrigued because I had done this very thing when I was younger, so I was sort of waiting to see what they said and how they handled my responses. One of the girls seemed to be the main spokeswoman and she started right off. "If you died tonight, why would God let you into His heaven?" I told her that I had hope in the righteousness of Christ being imputed to my account, that my own righteousness was like filthy rags before God and could never measure up to Christ's life. I said I was trusting that God would look at me and see the righteousness of Christ and that would be why He lets me into heaven.
This girl looked at me with a confused look on her face and said, "Yes, that's good... but you need to accept Christ!" Such is the lingo of Christendom today. I used it all the time several years ago. But even though I was caught up in it, I can still today wonder how an expression that isn't even in the Bible came to be superior (in soul winning) to the fundamental doctrines of how we can become just in the eyes of God.
These girls were sincere, but misguided I think. Suppose I had not been a real christian but instead was a seeker. And further more, suppose I had been contemplating my own wickedness and realizing, through reading of the perfection demanded by God, that I had no chance of meriting His approval. Now just as all this was happening, if these girls had knocked on my door and I had told them what I had been thinking, they would have told me not to worry about all that other stuff....just accept Jesus! Such a line of thinking is very dangerous because it interupts God's natural way of working new life in someone and gives them a false assurance of salvation.

Not this one....

God said no concerning our possible car in California. I feel like the apostle Paul a little bit (in an unspiritual sort of way). He and companions tried twice to go towards Asia to preach the gospel but were prevented both times by God. Later on, Asia did receive the gospel. Not in Paul's timing though.

Another Car Update

Several weeks ago I found a car for sale on autotrader. It is a 1993 Mazda 626 sedan with a power sunroof, power locks and windows, manual, and 177,000 miles. The lady who is selling was the original owner (fairly rare these days) and evidently she has taken care of it and has all maintenance records. The 626 we tested in KC really impressed us, but it didn't work out as you may recall. Since that time, I have done some more research on the 626 and found some interesting facts. The time period between 1993 and 1997 was when a very good transmission for the manual version was used. But the automatic version of the same car was awful. When I checked out the comsumer reports on the 626, it returned an average score, not that impressive really. But when I went deeper and looked at the consumer ratings I saw that the people who owned the manals gave the car a very high rating, usually 9.0 and above, while the automatics were given terrible ratings between 4.0 and 7.0 it seemed. Evidentally the main ratings don't distinguish between the two versions. Anyway, it seems this car is a very good car, just what we are looking for.

However there are two problems. The car is in San Diego and the asking price is $1000 higher than blue book. I don't doubt that the price is higher because the lady has it in such great shape, but I don't think it should be that much higher. About the location though, it really seems to be a problem. But Katie has relatives that live close to the seller. I believe they are going to check the car out for us. After that, we have several options; if they think the car is great we could fly out to San Diego to pick the car up. But that would addabout $800 to the already high price. We actually couldn't afford that. Or we could (on the recomendations of her relatives) buy the car without seeing it and have them drive it to the reunion in Colorado and pick it up there. Just from a human perspective this second option seems risky and unlikely to turn out well.

Again, I am not sure how this prospect will turn out, but I really like the car, more than any I've seen in the past 14 months. If God wants this car for us, He'll get it. We're just waiting on Him to move.

Exploring the Origins of Government

I was recently reading a portion of a book wrote by Charles Colson, and in it he stated that human government was instituted by God in order to restrain human sin and preserve order. I have heard this type of belief stated many times before, but in the past few years I have wondered whether it is really true. I have also begun to question where in scripture people like Colson get this line of reasoning.
Colson used the example of God placing an angel at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to show that government was divinely instituted. But this example doesn't illustrate his point at all! It does show that God is the ultimate governing power. It shows that He intervenes in human affairs when He pleases. But it has nothing to do with human government.
Several months ago, I had a discussion with a local pastor who argued passionately from Genesis 9:6 that human government was set up by God. This is what that verse says, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed; For in the image of God He made man."
This verse seems to have slightly more relevance than Colson's analogy, but still says little regarding our topic. Jesus said a very similar thing to this in the gospel of Matthew, "All who draw the sword, shall die by the sword." It seems that the Genesis text is laying out this principle for the first time. Those who tend toward a violent lifestyle, tend to die in violent ways. Jesus' later reference to this passage has no immediate reference to human government.
The various passages that some people bring up to support this assertion that God ordained and set up human government seem very weak and shaky to me. Do any of you know of better scripture supporting this? What do you think of this idea? You may ask me what or who did set up government if God did not.... well, we'll get to that later, lol. Let's look at this first question thoroughly first.

Our Car Update

We looked at 3 cars in KC. The first I had a bad feeling about in the first 30 seconds of meeting the guy. The car was in really bad shape though and he was acting like a slick used car salesman. I think I discounted him right off. It was fairly obvious.
The second car was not so obvious. It was the Mazda 626 that Katie found online. I liked the way it drove, the transmission was smooth. It had what we wanted on it. The tires needed to be changed though. But, we got it inspected on Monday by our mechanic and he said it needed $1300 worth of work! The salesman on that car would not come down on price, so it also was discarded. And the final car we looked at was a little bit out of our price range. Our trip ended with no car, but we felt that the Lord protected us from buying a lemon. Seemed to me that there was a lot of supernatural guidance especially regarding the final car we looked at. I had a very bad feeling in my spirit about the guy even though he was nice and smooth and polished and the car looked good. That feeling I had was the prime reason I didn't follow up on his car.

Decision Making Part 2

This is an update in our car buying process. Shortly after my last post, I noticed a 1995 Nissan Altima in a local dealership. It looked like a good possibility so I had Katie go test drive it for us. Well, while she was driving it completely broke down! Needless to say, we didn't buy that car!
We thought further about buying Katie's parent's convertable have haven't felt totally good about that. It recently went to the mechanica and needed the cooling fan replaced. It really isn't in the best of shape. This idea is still on the back burner.
I called the dealer in La Plata that my friend recommended and was told he had no cars that fit my description. I also drove my his lot about 2 weeks later and saw nothing.
Therefore, we have had 3 possibilities (as we see it) divinely shut off from us. A fourth still remains though. Katie found a 1996 Mazda 626 online in a dealership in KC. I don't like dealers at all, but this car comes with a warranty and we could get an extra warranty period on it. We are scheduled to test drive it this coming Saturday. I fully expect the Lord to either sell the car before we get there, or have some other prevenative measure happen if He doesn't want us to get it. If this is so, we are back to square one in our car search. I am again not sure what will happen from this point, ie. no inner leanings from God are present as far as I know.

Exploring Decision Making

Recently I have had opportunity to think about the way(s) that christians make decisions in their life. Two opposing viewpoints seem to leap out at me, especially in light of talking through this with a friend of mine. The way most christians talk about making decisions is they say that they know a decision is right and the will of God, when they "have peace about it." This method seems highly subjective though. A friend of mine suggested that this is not scriptural at all and christians should rather 1) seek counsel from other wise people 2) examine scripture for advice 3) pick out the best decision by eliminating the inferior ones.
I have to say upon thinking through both of these that I can't really agree with the second at all. Of course asking for counsel from friends and scripture is very good to do. But this doesn't seem to be the thrust of the Bible at all in regards to decision making for believers. How else are we different then from the unbelieving world? They also pick out the best solution through wise counsel. This method seems to put heavy reliance on one's own power of thought and human reasoning. If most of the characters of the bible had followed this method I don't think that many great things would have been done through them at all. Imagine if Noah had asked his friends about whether he should build an ark or not! Or if David had asked the elders in Isreal whether he should fight Goliath!
I really feel that relying on the personal revelation of the will of God for you individually is the only long term solution. Now of course this is subjective. I readily admit it is highly so. But the interpretation of scripture is subjective. In the same way, wicked men twist it to their own destruction, but is delivers the righteous.
I want to relate this to myself in a very personal way so that I am not only talking about theology that doesn't relate to life. We (Katie and I) are considering buying a car. In fact, we have been considering it for about a year. Last summer we came close on a number of occasions to buying one, but we never felt quite right about it in our hearts. God did guide us through circumstances (one car was sold to another while we were thinking about it). But in addition to that, neither of us had complete peace in our inner man. Now, we are in a position where buying a car seems very desireable. We need better gas mileage than our truck gets. We need space to put other people and luggage. And we have some money to pay for it. I want to outline everything for you so you can see my decision making process. I have no idea how this will turn out though. It's an experiment in the making! A) We may be able to buy Katie's parent's car from them. It is old though and the quality is poor. That prospect makes me nervous, but it might be a good intermediate car for us. B) We may be able to get a car through contact I have. Don't know if it will be available though and even if it is, we can't get it until August. C) A dealer in La Plata was recommended to me by a friend. Will go down to his place to check it out soon. D) We may be able to buy a car listed somewhere here in town or in Kansas City.
Now, I have no leanings toward any of these 4 options right now. I am waiting for sovreign events to occur, but even after they do, I really have to feel a strong peace to proceed from there. Its a feeling in the deep part of a person that I am talking about. Satan can try to immitate it, but he can't fully do so I believe.
I will keep you posted on how this car buying experiment goes.

A Testimony to the Faithfulness of God

It seems good to me to comment on the faithfulness of God toward me regarding His provision of material things, specifically vehicles. But first a small amount of background. I tend to be a very analytical person. When it comes to issues like obtaining vehicles or other big such decisions, my first inclination is to gather lots of data, review the data, and come to a comprehensive decision about what I needed and what the best choice was for me. In terms of simple logic this is a good method and perhaps one that God uses for other people. Nevertheless, in my life He has not done so. I think that He gets glory from working in a different way for me. Think about my story and notice what a good God He has been to me.

When I was 16 I needed a car. I had a job and people in my family drove me to and from work until that point. I had thought of a vehicle a bit by the time I got my liscense but I did not have any money so I anticipated spending a lot longer time riding in other people's cars. However, my father gave me his vehicle as he at that time wanted to get a new one. This is the first example.

Several years later, that first car was dying and I was anxious to put to test my independence and get myself another one. One day, a friend of the family loaned us his nice Honda Accord. I got to ride in it and admired how nice of a car it was. I learned a bit later that this gentleman was selling this car but the price was close a thousand dollars higher than I had saved up. I dismissed the idea from my mind, but it kept coming back to me. After calling this guy, I again decided the price was too high and I needed to look elsewhere. But later he came down on price and I earned more money and was able to purchase that Accord. It was a car that was put in my lap before I even had a chance to look through listings in the paper; it was a blessing from God.

My third vehicle was even more like this example. I was living off campus at the time and every day when I walked to school I saw this blue pickup truck that was not especially nice, but very nice to me as I had been wanting a pickup for a time because they are very useful in a college setting. It turned out that the pickup belonged to a friend of mine who was leaving town for seminary in a short while. That was an amazing coincidence from God, but I still had a problem; I had no money. The only possibility was that I could sell my Accord over Christmas break. I had a little over 3 weeks to sell it in the larger city that my parents lived in. In one week I listed it in the paper and sold it for my asking price, $350 more than the pickup cost.

My final example is another testament to God's ways with me. My blue pickup was dying and I had been waiting on God to provide something better. In a similar way, I came across another pickup that was in town for a short while being driven by a friend of mine and offered for sale through a friend of his.

I know that perhaps soon, this last vehicle will give out or our needs will change. It will be my inclination to scour the newspapers and internet and rely on my wisdom and power to find what is good and perfect. But at this moment I know that every good and perfect gift comes from my Father in heaven. I know beforehand that He will provide a car in a way so simple and easy that my wisdom is put to shame and I can just float down the way He has made for me.

Beware of the Many

I have been reading through the gospel of John recently and have been amazed at the negative emphasis that John puts on the event of "many believing in His name." In the first twelve chapters, this occurs 10 times, and all 10 seem to have negative connotations. Here is a list of those references (2:23, 4:39, 4:45, 6:14, 7:31, 7:40, 8:30, 10:42, 11:45, 12:11, 12:42). One major key to understanding all these false "belief decisions" is the very first one listed in 2:23. Following the "decision" of many to trust in Jesus' name, the scripture says "But Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men..." These people supposedly trusted in Christ, but their trust was not real. Otherwise, Christ would have commited Himself to them. As one preacher said, Jesus did not trust their trust. Personally, I think a key to understanding where this false trust springs from is to watch where the great signs of Jesus are done.

Following many great signs there are frequently "many who believe." In 4:39 many Samaritans "believed" because Jesus prophesied correctly about the woman's lack of a husband and extra-marital relations. 2:23 says many believed when they saw the signs. So does 4:25, 7:31, and 11:45. In 6:14, those false converts saw Jesus' great sign of feeding the five thousand. It seems then that false converts are very likely to come out of a situation in which many great signs are manifested, or even one in which many wonderful words are spoken. For example, consider 7:40. Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit and rivers of living water flowing out of him who believes. Sounds great right? But later on, Jesus spoke to many of these same people about sin and being enslaved to sin and they became angry with him. They even said he was demon-possessed! Or consider this one; in chapter 6 the men who had been fed by the multiplying of the loaves and fish "believed" in Him so much that they were about to risk their lives in order to make Him king. Later on, when Jesus talked about things that were not so wonderful sounding, "many of His disciples went back and walked with him no more."

A key lesson I have taken from these passages is to distrust the many claims in this current world of wonderful revivals where "many decisions are made." It is true that early on in Acts there were some events like that which actually were real. But as we see in John, most in scripture are not real. Is it not possible that the truly great works of God are done in a secret and quiet place? Is not the work that the Holy Spirit did in the life of Peter after he denied Christ far greater than any of these 10 false revivals cited by John? God works in the small and weak and in order to put to shame the great and mighty. Beware of the many.