Time to Wake Up. Time to Remember.

I have posted something about September 11^th, 2001 each year since I opened my Facebook account in 2008. Now that I have a blog, I should probably do the same thing.

I opened my account today and saw this video where college students are approached and asked why we were attacked that Tuesday morning in 2001. A few of them attempt to give reasons, one says it was in response to President Bush taking us to war in the Middle East, and only one says she heard it had something to do with religion, but thinks that was a cover up.

The average student starting college this year was just four years old when the attacks on September 11^th happened. It is sad to me that so many college freshman have not been properly educated on the attacks that happened during their lifetime.

Unfortunately, I’m not surprised.

I worked as a Navy recruiter for three years. During that time, I had to visit local high schools and colleges to develop prospects for enlistment. We did a variety of things to generate interest from classroom presentations to coordinating visits from the SEALs, Navy Band, and Blue Angels simulators.

When I started recruiting, as an ice breaker, some of the guys and I would bring Navy merchandise like t-shirts, coffee mugs, keychain lanyards, and other stuff to give to the students. Anyone who wanted the stuff would have to do push-ups or crunches. About a year in, a new recruiter showed up and said, “We want them mostly for their brains, so let’s do trivia instead.”

That sounded like a good idea. So my fellow recruiter and I went to the high school and the first question he asked was who the Vice President of the United States was. I wasn’t too politically aware in high school, but I knew who the Vice Presidents were. If you don't already know how old I am, George HW Bush was the Vice President when I started Highs School and Dan Quayle was when I graduated. I thought that question was too easy.

I was wrong. I don’t have the exact statistics, but more than 90% of the kids we asked could not identify who the Vice President of the United States was. Yes, I kept track at the time. Even more could not tell us anything about the three branches of government. Sadly, too many couldn’t even tell me there actually were three branches of government.

When you watch these man on the street (MOTS) interviews, you have to understand that they aren’t spending all day on campuses, filming hours of interviews and cherry-picking the idiots. Most MOTS interviewers spend an hour or so just trying to get people to participate. When people do participate, what you see on the videos are often the lightly edited results.

In this video, Dan Joseph interviews recent high school graduates, many of whom cannot identify the year that the United States declared independence from Great Britain. Notice the number of graduates wearing honors stoles and cords.

When I was in high school, we had a different name for people who couldn’t identify the date of American independence – kindergarteners. Those that somehow made it to high school without this information we referred to as unintelligent or slackers. They certainly wouldn’t be earning any honors.

In the same year as the attacks on 9/11, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation conducted a study of High School students. In the study, students were asked 4^th grade level history questions such as:

·         What year did the United States declare its independence? 86% responded correctly.

·         How many original colonies were there? 83% correct.

·         What country did the United States declare its independence from? 78% correct. Most of the incorrect students thought the answer was France and 5% thought it was Canada.

A similar survey of high school students was conducted 2008 and all of these percentages dropped to less than 50%!

It isn’t just history where kids are failing, it is basic civics too. In 2001, the numbers of kids who could pass a basic civics quiz was lower than the history results. You would think that graduates of colleges and universities would do better, but in 2010, the number of college graduates who could pass a basic history and civics quiz at the elementary school level was 65%!

Sure, that’s better than 50%, but that means that 35% of college graduates don’t know how the real world works! 65% is considered a failing grade in most college courses. So while I am glad 65% can pass, colleges and universities have no reason to celebrate.

Those who do not remember the past

George Santayana’s famous quote, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” is still true. Releasing voters into the real world who are vastly uneducated in how the government, economics, civics, and politics works is killing us. It has enabled vastly unqualified political candidates not only to run, but to win nominations and even the presidency. The past two decades have clearly demonstrated this.

In 2004, John Kerry won the Democrat nomination to oppose George W. Bush. During his entire candidacy, he never once proposed a substantive policy plan. When challenged on many of his plans he would say things like, “I have a plan and it’s a good plan,” and that was it. Sound familiar? That same line is being used today by Donald Trump who is the biggest joke to be played on the GOP. He only adds, "trust me."

An unqualified candidate was not only nominated but won the presidency in 2008. Not that the supposedly qualified alternative was any better. John McCain was a progressive and wanted to make the same kind of socialist changes to our economy as Barack Obama did. The only difference was scope and timing. Barack Obama on health care was basically throw the frog in the boiling water whereas John McCain wanted to do throw the frog in tepid water and slowly turn up the heat. McCain ultimately did himself in by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate. I've never really been a Palin fan, but I have never been a Palin basher. Recently, it's been difficult not to because she has become the Tina Fey ("I can see Russia from my house") caricature of herself (“Speak American”).

Until we can educate our kids again and teach them how to educate themselves instead of getting voting advice from movie stars, reality TV, MTV, and Rolling Stone, the situation will continue to get worse.

Panem et Circenses

Juvenal wrote in c.100 A.D., “Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.”

This also is just as true today. People don’t want real politicians who can make things happen. They want free stuff and entertainment. Don’t think so? Obama was swept in to office by promising free health care. Peggy Joseph famously thought that Obama was going to pay for her gas and mortgage. Bernie Sanders popularity is being driven by his promise of instituting Scandinavian style socialism where everyone gets free college. Even Donald Trump is pushing for free health care.

Much of Democratic support is driven by the fear that if Republicans win, all the entitlement programs providing free housing, food, and income (section 8, SNAP/food stamps, welfare/unemployment) will go away. Of course that’s absolute nonsense, but this narrative is driven by Hollywood, the media, and most of the Democrat party. Fiscal conservatives really don’t want to end those programs. What they want to do is end the rampant fraud. They want people who can work to work. There are too many people taking advantage of entitlement programs who are perfectly able to care for themselves who don’t.

People who want all this free stuff and support candidates who promise free stuff to them ignore or are ignorant of history and even current events. We don’t have to go back too far to see that ultimately these types of programs ultimately hurt countries and their economies.

Free college in Scandinavia isn’t working because college graduates are still graduating with thousands of dollars of debt. College is free, but living isn't.

Greece has been providing free stuff for years, but their economy couldn’t sustain it. Every time the Greek government proposes austerity measures, Greek citizens riot. Don’t take my free stuff away! You think Ferguson and Baltimore was bad over the past year? Athens makes those protesters look like rank amateurs.

As far as entertainment, politicians and political pundits are offering that too. Did you watch the Fox News Debate? Do you think next week's CNN debate will be any better? If 2012 was any indication, things are going to get even sillier until next summer.

Time to wake up

What does this have to do with September 11^th? Fourteen years and a day ago, we were all living in a blissful little bubble. Too many of us had become sheep. We forgot April 19^th, 1775. We forgot December 20^th, 1860 and April 12^th, 1861. We forgot December 7^th, 1941. We forgot February 26^th, 1993. We forgot April 19^th, 1995.

On September 10^th, 2001, most of us never dreamed that it could ever happen here. Bombings, hijackings, terrorism. That happens overseas, not here. In my lifetime, we only briefly woke up because of terrorist acts on American soil, but we rolled over and went right back to sleep.

I began to wake up in 1990 two weeks after I joined the Navy. I had been asleep for 18 years. When I joined the Navy, there was a sort of ethereal understanding that I could go to war. It was the military. But I thought, that doesn’t happen anymore. Richard Nixon had written No More Vietnams in 1987, the Cold War had ended, the Berlin Wall fell and Germany was reunified, and Russia seemed like it was becoming an ally. All was well in the world.

Then, on August 2^nd, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. They told us about it in Boot Camp. Suddenly, the reality of war hit me. But then I was assigned to shore duty. All my Boot Camp buddies got to go overseas and sent me cool stories about liberty in Asia and Europe. War was something that happened over there and when America gets involved, we kick butts. So, I dozed off a little.

At the end of Operation Desert Storm, I got to see what security on a military base was really like. It was crazy. On the Submarine base in San Diego where I was stationed, security was serious. They didn’t play there. But on every other base in the San Diego area, most of the time I could walk or drive on base without ever seeing a gate guard much less be challenged for ID.

It went on like this for the most part until 1998 after the US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Security was stepped up even more in 2000 after the USS Cole bombing. I have to say, it seemed like the military didn’t take security seriously. Even our military and government leaders were asleep.

For me, it wasn’t any of the terrorist attacks that woke me up. I woke up in 1995 when I read Tom Clancy’s 1994 novel Debt of Honor. The book ends with a Japanese terrorist flying a Boeing 747 filled with fuel flying into the US Capitol Building, killing the President of the United States, most of the Congress, the Supreme Court, and many other people in government.

As I read the book, I was sharing the story with my wife. At one point, she didn’t know I was talking about a book and thought I was talking about news going on in the real world. It was that plausible.

When I finished reading the book, I told my wife something to the effect of, “It’s just a matter of time before terrorists realize that it would be more effective to fly a plane into a building full of people than to simply blow up a plane.” If you know her you can ask her. I also spent the next six years telling the same thing to anyone who would listen. Of course, for the most part, I was ridiculed, called paranoid and even a conspiracy theorist.

After 9/11 I just felt like saying, “I told you so.”

Tom Clancy put two and two together. He looked at history and figured it out. Unfortunately, not enough people who mattered read his book or paid attention if they did.

Now, just fourteen years after one of the most devastating attacks on American soil, it seems we have been put back to sleep. The same culprits who put us to sleep for the sixty years prior to 9/11/01 are doing it again – the media, Hollywood, and politicians, and it’s both parties. Even worse, they have used 9/11/01 to foist some of the worst human rights violations on American citizens by simply saying, “We’re protecting you.”

Warrantless wiretapping and pretty much all of the Patriot Act violates the 4^th amendment. When these programs are challenged, we are told that we are being kept safe and that the number of terrorists caught through these means is top secret. I’m not going to say I’m a big Rand Paul supporter, but you can see I’m not a Chris Christie or Jeb Bush supporter on these issues either.

People have pretty much given up their right to privacy at airports because the TSA supposedly keeps us safe. Of course they have yet to prevent a single terrorist act and they fail 95% of their training inspections. Meanwhile, terrorists are walking, hiking, driving, and boating across our porous borders and setting up training camps right here in the good old US of A. Heaven forbid anybody talks about securing the borders because that’s racist. Of course I get no help from the GOP because Donald Trump likes to say that Mexico has a policy of sending their criminals to the US, so all conservatives are painted with the broad racist brush. So, the fantasy land people who still believe “it will never happen here” are letting terrorists cross into the US and then giving them aid and comfort in so-called sanctuary cities.

Oh my goodness! Sanctuary cities! I could go on for days about that. The same social liberals who are decrying Democrat Kim Davis for not doing her job and giving same-sex marriage licenses as prescribed by US Law give a pass to Democrat elected officials for not doing their job of deporting known illegal immigrants as prescribed by US Law. If a county clerk doesn’t give out marriage licenses, people’s feelings get hurt. If we don’t deport illegal immigrants, the economy is hurt because 5.1% of America’s workforce is made up of illegal immigrants. The safety of citizens is put in jeopardy because many of the people in these “sanctuary cities” are violent felons.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that most illegal immigrants are not terrorists or violent felons and in fact, by and large, illegal immigrants are better citizens than legal American citizens are. But when the government doesn’t do its job of protecting our borders, it’s not just bad people who come in, but illegal guns (used in 40% of firearm crimes), illegal drugs, and more.

Time to Remember

I’m not trying to scare people. I’m trying to wake people up. We, as a nation have forgotten again. We may remember the horror of September 11^th, 2001, but we seem to have forgotten what caused 9/11. Remembering goes beyond just remembering where you were that day or what you felt. Remembering means not forgetting how it happened. Remembering means not shirking your civic responsibility as a citizen.

It is obvious that many parents have fallen back asleep because their kids are asleep. It is obvious many teachers have fallen back asleep because their students are asleep. It is obvious that our government has fallen back asleep because they have abandoned their responsibility of protecting our nation.

It’s time to wake up or it won’t be long until the next alarm clock goes off. The next alarm clock may not be “workplace violence” on a military base. The next alarm clock may not be a pressure cooker bomb at a sporting event. The next alarm clock may not even come in the form of planes flying into buildings. The next alarm clock may come in the form of a mushroom cloud over a large American city. Or worse, it could come in the form of a North Korean or Iranian 300 mile high aerial nuclear explosion that would cause a powerful Electromagnetic Pulse or EMP over the central US which would send us screaming backwards 200 years technologically. The results would be catastrophic.

It's time to wake up, it's time to remember, and it's time to act.

Let's Talk About Sin

The concept of sin is one of the most troubling doctrines to non-Christians. It is offensive and it is misunderstood. I would go as far to say that it is offensive because it is misunderstood. The doctrine of sin is misunderstood not only by non-Christians, but by many Christians as well. It is misunderstood because it is often misrepresented.

Think about how the Christian doctrine of sin is presented in books, movies, television and in the media. Usually, sin is thrown in the face of unbelievers when the Christian can’t provide any substantive arguments for their position revealing them to be an unhinged, possibly insane antagonist. Stephen King, for instance, is notorious for writing Christians this way.

The problem of course is that there are Christians who behave this way and it’s not just Westboro Baptist Church members. Certainly they are some of the worst, but I can’t tell you the number of times I have seen guys standing on street corners with signs condemning everybody while screaming, “You filthy sinners are going to crack hell wide open!” at the top of their lungs. Where's the hope in that?

Some of these people may have their doctrine down, but their presentation is all wrong. When a person hears that they are a filthy sinner, they think, He’s saying I’m a bad person. I don’t think I’m a bad person, and then they ignore the preacher.

TWO DEFINITIONS FOR SIN

Willful acts - sins of commission and ommission

It is true that the Bible teaches that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), but the question is what does the Bible mean by that?

There are several words translated as “sin”. In the Old Testament, the word most commonly translated “sin” is the Hebrew word chata’ah (חֲטָאָה). This word means, “to miss the mark” or “to err”. Students of the classics or who have taken English literature may recognize the Greek equivalent, hamartia (ἁμαρτία). There are many other words that either are translated as sin, or they carry the idea of sin. These two words—Chata’ah and hamartia—most completely encapsulate the idea of the doctrine of sin. In fact, the Biblical doctrine or study of sin is called hamartiology.

The first kind of sin is the verb—what we do, sometimes referred to as acts of commission, or what we don’t do, referred to as sins of omission. The Hebrew word Chata’ah is the verb form. In Greek, it is harmatano (ἁμαρτάνω).

When the Bible says that “all have sinned” it is stating a simple fact that every single person to step on the face of the planet have willfully committed some kind of sin. They may not have killed anybody or committed physical adultery, but everyone has done something that violates God’s moral law.

Let’s just take a quick look at two of the Moral Laws from the Ten Commandments.

Thou shalt not kill.

Exodus 20:13

The word “kill” here carries the idea of murder – unjust killing. Hopefully nobody reading this is a murderer. Even so, can we really say we have perfectly kept this commandment? Jesus said that our thoughts carry just as much weight in God’s eyes as our actions.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:21-22

Have you ever been angry with someone without cause? For instance, someone holds a political view that you differ with and you go beyond disagreement into name calling, immaturity and even declarations of hatred. Sure, people get frustrated, but this is a whole other level. This is the ARGUMENT WITH MY CAPS LOCK ON SO YOU KNOW I AM YELLING kind of thing on social media. In face to face arguments it results in fisticuffs. It happens all the time. I won’t say that everybody has been guilty of it, but all groups are guilty of it – Christians, Atheists, Democrats, and Republicans. According to Jesus, this kind of behavior is akin to murder.

In the same passage, Jesus deals with another sin that goes beyond the physical and into the mental.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14

Adultery is sexual conduct outside the marriage relationship. In modern legal terms, adultery deals only with marital infidelity. However, the idea communicated throughout The Law is that any kind of sexual activity outside of the bond of marriage between one man and one woman is a violation of God’s Moral Law and plan. Again, hopefully, none of us have committed adultery since marriage. In light of the revelation of God’s entire Moral Law in the Old Testament, I will be the first to admit that while I have never cheated on my wife, regretfully, she was not my first.

What if you did wait until marriage or what if you have been faithful since marriage, are you off the hook? Am I?

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28

Again, Jesus is equating our thoughts with our actions. Just because you haven’t physically committed adultery doesn’t mean you haven’t broken God’s Law.

I hear people, men especially say “Just because I’m on a diet doesn’t mean I can’t look at the menu.” Really? What would your spouse think if they caught you checking the menu? Jesus’ message is that if you are on a diet, you shouldn’t even be in the restaurant.

Can anyone honestly say that they haven’t lusted? I can’t. There are some older people who say they don’t struggle with lust or even find themselves attracted to people other than their spouses. That might be true, but psychologists, even Christian psychologists say that everybody struggles with lust. The rare people who do not struggle with lust are called asexual and have no natural sexual desire at all.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Isaiah 59:2

The fact is that God demands perfection, but none of us is perfect. When the Bible talks about every person being a sinner, the message is that we are all imperfect. None of us can possibly achieve perfection and that separates us from having a relationship and fellowship with God.

The nice thing is that God understands this. He doesn’t just say, “Be perfect! What’s that? You can’t? Sucks to be you! Haha!” and then casts us headlong into hell. Instead, God recognizes that mankind cannot achieve the perfection or righteousness He requires, so He made a way for mankind to be proclaimed righteous. Before we get into God’s way of overcoming our imperfection, it’s important to understand the second kind of sin.

Sin nature

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalm 51:5

The second kind of sin is a nature we are born with. The first kind of sin, our actions, are simply symptoms of an inherited problem. We have a sin nature. Our sin nature is the real reason we are sinners, not our actions. Just like we know that we are sick because we have a fever, we can know that we are sinners because we sin.

We have a natural inborn propensity to do wrong. How many parents do you know that teach their children to lie or be selfish? I personally don’t know any. And yet, no matter how good the parents are, no matter how much they shelter their children, children still learn to lie and to be selfish on their own. It’s in their nature.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23

Physical death is a result of the curse of sin. This curse has been laid on all of creation. It is important to understand because even if a person was able to live their life from cradle to the grave without ever sinning, they would still die because of their sin nature.

This sin nature wasn’t part of God’s original plan. When God initially created everything, it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). When God created man, He created him to be the corporate representative of all of creation and gave him some very simple rules. Most of the rules were about things mankind was supposed to do – Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, tend the garden, be caretakers of creation. One rule was prohibitive:

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.

Genesis 2:17

The rule was put in place because God wanted Adam and Eve to love Him. Love is expressed in trust and faith. In the case of loving God, trusting Him in faith means obedience even when we don’t understand all the details as to why.

Man broke this rule when. First, Eve broke the command, but she wasn’t the corporate head of creation, Adam was and he ate the fruit right after Eve did. Immediately, Adam and Eve felt shame. God cursed creation with pain in childbirth, sweat and toil in work, and death passed upon all mankind and all creation.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

Romans 5:12

God loves His creation and was not willing that His creation should perish without being offered a remedy. Just as Adam’s original sin was an act of will, our acceptance of God’s remedy must also be an act of will.

That act of will is called repentance. Repentance is a good subject for another post, but turning from unbelief to belief while simultaneously turning from sin to follow after righteousness is an immensely important part of God's plan.

Our sin nature has so corrupted us, that even good deeds can come out as sin.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf.

Isaiah 64:6

Why is this? Why do we do good? Lost people do good because it makes them feel good. They do it for their own personal reasons. Even many of our selfless acts come down to selfishness whether we realize it or not. If you are trying to build good karma, you are trying to earn something for yourself. If you are trying to earn salvation, you are trying to earn something for yourself. The Bible says that salvation cannot be earned and that when we do good works, it must be for God's glory alone.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

I Corinthians 10:31

To my non-Christian friends, I am not writing this to condemn you. Jesus didn't come to condemn people (John 3:17-18), but rather to save them. I can't save you, but I can tell you about salvation and I can warn you about sin and its effects.

To my Christian friends, think about how you present the idea of sin and salvation. Think of your presentation as a doctor with a good bedside manner. If you go to an oncologist and he or she tells you that you have cancer by yelling at you, "You dirty smoker! You've got lung cancer and you're going to DIE!" you would probably sue for mental anguish. At the same time, you can't make light of sin or water it down. If you went to a doctor who told you, "Well, you have some slight problems, but everything's going to turn out alright," when you have stage III cancer, you would definitely sue for malpractice.

No. What you really want is a doctor who is going to give it to you straight, but as gently as possible. A diagnosis of a severe health problem and the possible treatments is going to be scary. Likewise, the reality of our sin nature and it's effects including death and hell are scary, but the remedy is beautiful.

I encourage my Christian brothers and sisters to warn with humility, respect, and even tears, but there is no reason to be mean. A mean spirit is never effective in winning our family, friends, and acquaintances to Christ. Take it from me, I pushed a lot of people away in my zealous youth. On top of that, a mean spirit misrepresents sin and God's plan, and obscures the grace, peace, joy, and forgiveness found in salvation through Christ.

How to Silence Kim Davis Supporters

So, this video  has been going around for about a week now. I'm not ready to address the Kim Davis issue yet. I'm not sure I will, so the rest of this post won't be about that.

Many Christians are challenged the way the woman in this video was. Sadly, most Christians would be silenced just as easily as this woman probably was. Either that or they will fall back on something like, "Well, I just take it on faith," or "My pastor explains it better than I do."

I would encourage Christians to learn about the Old Testament, what has been fulfilled, what hasn't been fulfilled, what laws in the Old Testament we are still required to obey and why. I would encourage pastors to teach their congregations the very same thing.

Jesus said He came to fulfill The Law, not destroy it. It is true that Christians are no longer under The Law, but under grace. I hear Christians say, "We aren't under The Law anymore so I can eat pork and shave my beard," but then they say that it is wrong to have tattoos which is addressed in the verse just before the prohibition of trimming beards. Why is it okay to shave my beard, but not have a tattoo?

The problem is that most people don't understand that there are three kinds of law - Moral, Ceremonial, and Civil. The Moral Law is summarized in the Ten Commandments. The Moral Law has not been fulfilled. That's why it's still not okay for Christians to lie, steal, kill, or commit adultery. That's not to say we earn salvation by keeping The Law, The New Testament is very clear that Salvation is a free gift received by faith.

The only part of The Ten Commandments that has been fulfilled is the keeping of The Sabbath. Jesus is our Sabbath. He is our rest (Hebrews 4:9-10). Many first century Christians began celebrating The Sabbath on Sunday to celebrate Christ's resurrection. Essentially, every Sunday was Easter. Christ's fulfillment of the Sabbath also means that punitive responses (all of which fall under Civil Law anyway) to not keeping the Sabbath have also been done away with.

Whenever the Bible refers to something the Ten Commandments addresses, it falls under the Moral Law. For instance, when the Bible prohibits adultery (Exodus 20:14), it is commanding that no sexual conduct is to take place outside of the marriage relationship. While the Bible describes many kinds of marriages, the only marriage ordained by God is between one man and one woman.

Since Christ has not fulfilled the rest of the Moral Law, we are still obliged, as Christians to keep it.

As to the rest of The Law...

The Ceremonial Law was a system of symbols and symbolic ceremonies that pointed to a future savior. All of that was fulfilled in Jesus' birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection. The Ceremonial Law also deals with dietary restrictions and the holiness code which prevents the wearing of certain types of garments, eating pork, shaving your beard, or getting tattoos, and so forth.

The Civil Law, as given to Moses, has to be understood in the context of the time. It wasn't meant to be obeyed for all time by all people. The Civil Law was directed to a 2nd Millennium BC Jewish audience. Even punitive actions for violating any part of The Law falls under the Civil Code. This can easily be seen in later parts of the Old Testament where the Jewish people were allowed to violate the Civil Law because times had changed.

At the Council of Jerusalem in about 50AD (Acts 15), even the early Jewish believers said that Gentile converts were not obligated to abide by the Civil Law. They only asked that Gentiles abide by certain dietary restrictions (no eating blood or strangled things) out of respect for Jewish sensibilities.

Every single, supposedly, biblical thing that Martin Sheen brought up in that scene was from the Civil Law and so, his argument is invalid... well... except the part where he berated the woman for not standing in his presence. If you're going to play politics, you better know how the game is played, but that wasn't a biblical issue.

It is true that many Christians do express hatred and fear toward homosexuals and feel they are justified in doing so based on the biblical verses prohibiting homosexual conduct. However, the message of the Bible is that Christians should love ALL people - straight, gay, transsexual, and whatever other letter a person may fall under in the PC alphabet soup.

In John 4, Jesus met a woman who had been married and divorced five times and was living with a man she was not married to. He had every right to condemn her in light of The Law. Instead, he treated her with nothing but respect. He even used terms of respect when addressing her. She was so touched, she brought her whole village to meet Jesus.

In John 8, a woman who was caught in the act of adultery was brought to Jesus. Instead of condemning her, he said, "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more." Notice, he still addressed adultery for what it was - sin, but he didn't beat her over the head with it. He was gentle, kind, and even forgiving.

Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). When a Lawyer asked, "Who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29). Jesus responded by telling him a story about a Jewish man who was robbed and beaten nearly to death. A Jewish Priest came by and crossed to the other side of the road. Another Jewish man came by and stopped to look at him (probably rubbernecking), but also did nothing to help him. Finally, a man did help him, a Samaritan. The Jews and the Samaritans HATED each other. They were DOGS to each other... they were lower than dogs. It would be like a Communist, Atheist, Homosexual, Bernie Sanders supporter helping out a Capitalist, Westboro Baptist, Heterosexual, Donald Trump supporter. I was trying to think of extreme ends of the spectrum here.

I hope you get the point which is that if you are a Christian, you don't have to support homosexual conduct, but the vitriol and the hate towards homosexuals has got to stop. Remember, God doesn't ask us to change in order to get saved. He says, accept my salvation and I will change what needs changing.

To quote mom, "You'll catch more flies with honey than you will with vinegar."

The purpose of the post, though, is to encourage Christians, not only to treat people with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15), but also to encourage Christians to learn how to properly handle and interpret scripture (2 Timothy 2:15)

I Am An Evangelical Christian

Not only do people have a variety of opinions of what a Christian is, the same is true of evangelical Christians. Some people think of street preachers pointing in faces and condemning everyone to hell. Some people think of crooked televangelists asking for money so God doesn’t kill them. Some think of politicians like Mike Huckabee.

It’s easy to broad brush an entire group of people based on the actions of a few. Even people who probably fall under the technical definition of evangelical Christian eschew the title. One bad apple ruins the whole bunch I guess.

What does it mean to be an evangelical Christian?

Evangelical Christians put an emphasis on the conversion experience. There are a lot of biblical terms for the conversion experience, but the most popular term is “born again”.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:3

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 2:38

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:13

These are three of the better known verses concerning the conversion experience. In John3:3, Jesus tells a religious teacher that a conversion experience is required to have eternal life. In Acts 2:38, Peter tells a crowd of people what is involved in the conversion experience. In Romans 10:13, Paul says that the conversion experience is a simple act of calling on the Lord in faith.

Essentially, the Bible says that there should be an act of conversion in order to become a Christian.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Romans 10:14-15

The Bible also teaches that a person who hasn’t had a conversion experience can’t have one without someone to guide them. In Paul’s day, literacy wasn’t as widespread as it is today, so hearing how to experience conversion required preaching and teaching. Now, there are all kinds of ways a person can receive this instruction. In addition to personal preaching and teaching, there are books, flyers, websites, and blogs like this, just to name a few.

In order to understand why a person needs to have a conversion experience, the Bible says a person needs to understand the gospel. The word gospel is an Old English word that simply means “good news”. It is translated from the Greek word, ευαγγελιον (evangelion) which also means “good news”. The word evangelical also comes from the same Greek word.

So, an evangelical Christian is a person who believes a conversion experience is central to the Christian experience, that hearing the gospel helps people understand why conversion is necessary, and is focused on sharing the gospel with as many people as possible in order that as many people as possible might share in eternal life. That's it. You don't have to be white, Republican, capitalist or rich in order to be an evangelical. If you are concerned about sharing the gospel, you can be a Native American, Democrat, communist, and poor and still be an evangelical Christian. It is and should be doctrine that unifies Christians, not ethnicity, political affiliation, economic philosophy, or economic station.

The Gospel

In my next posts, I will go into more detail and explanation about the gospel, but for now, here is a summary of the gospel message.

·         All people are sinners.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

·         Sin is an inherited trait.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

Romans 5:12

·         God requires us to keep the moral law.

Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 22:31

·         Because of our sin nature, we cannot keep the moral law.

For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Ecclesiastes 7:20

·         Even when we try to do good, our good deeds are tainted by our sin nature.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Isaiah 64:6

·         Even though we cannot perfectly keep the law, we know when we have broken the law.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves

Romans 2:14

·         Because our conscience tells us not to break the law, God holds us accountable for our actions.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1:18-21

·         Because we cannot keep the law, without God’s intervention, we would be condemned.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:17-18

·         That condemnation is comes in the form of eternal death.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23

·         Eternal death means a conscious eternity in hell.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14-15

·         In order to avoid condemnation, there must be sacrifice.

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Hebrews 9:22

·         Because of our sin nature, we cannot sacrifice for ourselves or others.

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.

Psalm 49:7

·         Because of the extent of the effects of sin, the sacrifice of animals cannot pay the penalty.

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Hebrews 10:4

·         God loves us in spite of our sin and sent Jesus to die in our place.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

·         In order to pay the penalty of sin, the sacrifice had to be sinless. Jesus Christ met that requirement.

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

·         Jesus Christ’s sacrifice provides payment for the penalty of sin.

In whom [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace

Ephesians 1:7

·         Jesus Christ’s resurrection gives us hope of eternal life.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:22

·         In order to have a conversion experience and be guaranteed eternal life, you must believe the gospel message, repent of your sin nature, and confess Christ as your Lord and Savior.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Mark 16:16

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts 2:38

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:8-13

·         Calling on the Lord is as simple as a prayer. It’s not the prayer that saves you. It is your faith in Jesus Christ alone that saves you.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

·         Here is a sample prayer.

God, I know that I have sinned. I know that cannot perfectly keep the Law and without You, I am condemned to an eternity in hell. I believe that you love me and want me to spend eternity with you in heaven. I believe that Jesus died in my place, shed his blood to forgive my sins, and rose again to give me eternal life. I now turn from my sin to follow you and put my trust only in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ alone for my salvation. Please come into my life and save me. Amen.

I am a Christian

What does it mean to be a Christian?

I make it no secret that I am a Christian. In previous posts I have identified as an evangelical Christian and said I am passionate about Christianity and the Bible. What does all of that mean?

There is a lot of confusion over what it means to be a Christian or what a Christian even is. There are a lot of misconceptions out there, even among people who claim to be Christian.

The dictionary definition of Christian is, “A person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.”[i]

That is a good definition for a census and for personal identity, but is that really an accurate definition? There are many people who call themselves Christians, but probably aren’t. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 70.6% of Americans identify as Christian.[ii] However, according to the Barna Group, fewer than 10% of all Christians have a completely biblical worldview.[iii]

The Barna Group used the following points to determine if a person had a biblical worldview:

·         A belief in absolute moral truth.

·         Accuracy of the Bible in all principles it teaches.

·         Satan is a real spiritual person.

·         Salvation is by grace, through faith.

·         Jesus lived a sinless life.

·         God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, ruling creator of the universe.

With only about 20% of Americans actually attending church each week[iv], It’s safe to say that fewer than half of the people in church each week actually hold a biblical worldview.

None of that really tells us what or who a Christian actually is. The fact is, claiming you’re a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian any more than claiming you’re a SEAL makes you a Naval Special Warfare Operator or even a semi-aquatic marine mammal. Going to church on Sunday doesn’t make you a Christian any more than walking into a garage makes you a car. Having a biblical worldview doesn’t make you a Christian any more than knowing all about Hogwarts makes you a wizard. Maybe that last analogy was a bad one, but I wanted to slip something nerdy in there somewhere and I’m sure you get my point.

We are still left with the question, who or what is a Christian? The shortest biblical definition I can come up with is this:

A person who has a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ and has assurance of eternal life based on their reliance solely in the vicarious and atoning sacrificial death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection.

There are a lot of technical terms in that definition and it doesn’t explain how a person gets to the point where they fall within that definition. I’m going to do my best over the next few posts to explain and I’m going to have to make a lot of assumptions, such as the inerrancy of scripture, the existence of heaven and hell and so forth.

The point of these posts will not be to defend each of those points, but rather to give an understanding of what a Biblical Christian actually is. At some point, I will probably post something along the lines of a statement of faith for anyone wondering what I actually believe. I will also probably post some Christian apologetics (defense of the faith) for people who want to know why I believe the way I do. In the meantime, I can always point anyone who asks in the direction of a number of great resources on these subjects.

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[i] "Definition of Christian in English:" Christian: Definition of Christian in Oxford Dictionary (American English) (US). N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2015.

[ii] Pew Research Center, May 12, 2015, “America’s Changing Religious Landscape”

[iii] "Barna Survey Examines Changes in Worldview Among Christians over the Past 13 Years." - Barna Group. The Barna Group, Ltd, 6 Mar. 2009.

[iv] "Fast Facts about American Religion." Fast Facts about American Religion. Hartford Institute of Religion Research,