Over the last century, there have been increasing questions about the authenticity of the Bible’s version of Jesus. If the Gospels were written between A.D. 50 to A.D. 90 and the death and resurrection of Jesus occurred in A.D. 30, then there were two to six decades before the eye witness testimonies of the disciples were written down. For at least 20 years, Jesus’s disciples relied on word of mouth to spread their message of all Jesus said and did.  

One of the scholars who has raised some questions is Bart Ehrman. In Jesus Before the Gospels, he says, “I want to consider whether it is absolutely certain that Jesus was already understood to be a miracle worker even in his own day, prior to his death. …I think the answer is no. I am not saying that I know for certain that Jesus was not considered a miracle worker during his life. But I do think there are grounds for doubt.”¹

There have been a number of skeptics, including Ehrman, who have used the “telephone game” as an example of how unreliable oral tradition can be. The telephone game involves a circle of people whispering a message from person to person around the circle. The goal is to attempt to maintain the original message from the first person to the last. The end result is usually a comically distorted version of the original message.

Ehrman speculates, “With the passing of time, Jesus’s miracle-working abilities became increasingly pronounced in the tradition, to an exorbitant extent; and the stories of his miracles were always told to make a theological point (or more than one point) about him.”²

The process of passing on stories, teachings, and community beliefs from person to person by word of mouth is referred to as oral tradition. Before the printing press, access to written manuscripts was limited and writing materials were not abundantly available. Many ancient cultures relied primarily on methods of oral tradition.      

“What happens to stories when they are told in these sorts of contexts by these sorts of people? Anyone who thinks the stories don’t get changed, and changed radically, and even invented in the process of telling and retelling, simply does not know, or has never thought about, what happens to stories in oral circulation, as they are handed down by word of mouth, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade.”³

Ehrman is calling into question the reliability of memory, while also challenging the accuracy of cultures that rely on oral traditions to pass on their histories. His argument is that if the memories of the eyewitnesses are unreliable; imagine how distorted a person’s memory, of another person’s memory, would be!

What I find a bit surprising is the condescending nature of the question of how stories told “in these sorts of contexts by these sorts of people” could be reliable. Are the contemporary, western-centric studies on oral traditions and memory, able to accurately predict the reliability of people who lived 2000 years ago in a middle-eastern context with a vastly different culture and traditions? Have they considered how the invention of the internet, social-media consumption, YouTube, constant distractions, and the reduction of the average person’s attention span (rivaling goldfish) affects modern society’s ability to recall memories and pass on oral traditions?

The modern suspicion on the reliability of ancient people to accurately pass on their traditions may expose more of a Western projection ignorance than a true understanding of Middle Eastern tradition. In considering the reliability of oral tradition, we should note that oral tradition does not exclude the use of written records.

The Jewish historian Josephus, used the language of tradition to refer to accounts passed on orally but also including written recollections. For example, at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, he points to his sources as the “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word…delivered to us.”⁴ He is explaining his account is relying on traditions. Traditions could include written accounts by eyewitnesses. As Richard Bauckham explains, “The language of tradition, as used in the New Testament and related literature, entails neither cross-generational distance nor even an orality to the exclusion of written records.”⁵

Gerhardsson, a Scandinavian textual scholar discredits the form-critical view that oral tradition is unreliable in the following explanation. “When the Evangelists edited their Gospels, … they worked on a basis of a fixed, distinct tradition from, and about, Jesus—a tradition which was partly memorized and partly written down in notebooks and private scrolls…”⁶

Drawing upon his years of experience as a professor of Theology and Researcher of Middle Eastern New Testament Studies in Jerusalem, Kenneth Bailey proposes the need to “sidestep abstract Western theories and concentrate rather on concrete Middle Eastern human realities.” Bailey proposed the need to draw “from a cultural context far more similar to 1st Century Israel than the 21st century West.”⁷

As Bailey has taught and learned from Middle Eastern students from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Israel, and Cyprus he has observed the incredible ability they have to accurately maintain oral traditions. One professor studying in Egypt has documented 6,000 proverbs and wisdom sayings from one region of villages alone. Additionally, there are thousands of parables, traditions, and riddles that have been—and continues to be—accurately passed down not just through decades but centuries.⁸  

George Salibo of the Eastern Orthodox Christian Seminary in Lebanon, recounts how in the late second century, there was a man named Bardaisan. He was a poet and heretic. To share his false teaching, Bardaisan wrote: “stanza after stanza of seven-syllable-per-line Syriac hymns.” Almost 200 years after his death the Syriac community was still singing his hymns. In the late 4th century, St. Ephrem was determined to put an end to the heretical hymns. Ephrem knew if he wrote a book no one would read it so he wrote his own set of hymns containing seven-syllable-per-line stanzas, to counter Bardaisan’s heresy.⁹  

Bailey writes, “Today, at the ‘Atshani Syrian Orthodox seminary in Lebanon, the students converse only in fourth-century Syriac and, in that same classical language, sing St Ephrem’s hymns by the hour. Books? There are no books—who needs them?”¹⁰

-- C.S. Lewis, Fern Seed and Elephants.¹¹

It is wise for us to consider if the technological and scientific advancements of the past 2,000 years have inhibited our ability to accurately critique the Christians of the first three centuries. Richard Bauckham asserts the evidence of the “‘personal link of the Jesus tradition’…throughout the period of the transmission of the tradition down to the writing of the Gospels, if not ‘historically undeniable,’ then at least historically very probable.”¹²

It seems more miraculous to believe the assumption of Biblical critics–that the Jesus of the Bible is merely a legend–than to simply believe the eyewitness accounts recorded and preserved in the Bible. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life.”¹³

¹ Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus Before the Gospels. (New York: Harper, 2016), 221.

² Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus Before the Gospels, 221.

³ Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus Before the Gospels, 86.

⁴ The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Luke 1:2.

⁵ Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017) 37-38.

⁶ Kenneth Bailey, Informal Controlled Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels, (Themelios 20, January 1995) 5.

⁷ Kenneth Bailey, 5.

⁸ Kenneth Bailey, 6.

⁹ Kenneth Bailey, 6.

¹⁰ Kenneth Bailey, 6.

¹¹ Originally entitled ‘Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism‘, Lewis read this essay at Westcott House, Cambridge, on 11 May 1959.  Published under that title in Christian Reflections (1981), it is now in Fern-seed and Elephants, 1998.

¹² Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017) 7.

¹³ The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Luke 1:2.

Within a week of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, researchers interviewed 3,245 people about where they were and key details regarding the events of that fateful day. The researchers followed up with the participants after increments of 11, 35, and 119 months.

As the participants recalled the details about their memories from 9-11, many of the specifics had changed from their original accounts. Nonetheless, people remained confident their recollections were accurate–even after 10 years. Some even disputed the authenticity of their original answers, preserved in their own handwriting. However, the sudden “flashbulb memory” that forever froze the events of 9-11 in the minds of the respondents proved unreliable regarding many of the details in their accounts.¹

Based on the recent discoveries in the research of memory, some have begun to question the memories of the individuals who passed on “Jesus stories” to others over the many decades following Jesus’s life. How can we trust the individuals who wrote the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), accurately remembered the foundational claims of Christianity, without slowly distorting them?

In Jesus Before the Gospel, Bart Ehrman postulates that based upon recent studies on the brain, and the reliability of people’s memories, there are some serious questions regarding the reliability of the four New Testament Gospels. Ehrman says, “…Oral traditions change as they are told and retold from one person to another. They change every time they are told. If what we have in the Gospels are not eyewitness reports, but accounts IN circulation, not just for weeks or months, but for years and decades, then almost certainly they were changed.”²

Ehrman does not imply some great conspiracy on the part of the early Christians. He is simply saying that regardless of how sincere the disciples were in their effort to record their memories about Jesus, memories are unreliable.

In my view, the early Christian Gospels are so much more than historical sources. They are memories of early Christians about the one they considered to be the most important person ever to walk the planet. Yes, these memories can be recognized as distorted when seen from the perspective of historical reality. But—at least for me—that doesn’t rob them of their value. It simply makes them memories. All memories are distorted.³

Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus Before the Gospels
Two claims are being made. The first claim is that the Gospels should not be interpreted as an accurate Historical Narrative of Jesus’s life, teaching, death, and resurrection. Ehrman is arguing the Gospels should be viewed as a distorted Memory-History rather than a Narrative-History. Secondly, he is claiming the Gospels do not record the actual Eyewitness Testimonies of the disciples, rather they contain only Distorted Memories. These distorted memories may be valuable, but they are unquestionably unreliable as a narrative of the historical Jesus.

However, it would be wise to apply some skepticism about Ehrman’s skepticism? As C.S. Lewis insightfully expressed, “Everywhere, except in theology, there has been a vigorous growth of skepticism about skepticism itself.”⁴ As a Textual Critic by training, Ehrman’s views on memory should be weighed against experts in the fields of the science of memory.

Many factors can affect one’s memory and their ability to accurately recall and retell what happened. The psychologist John Robinson has shown that the modern understanding of memory tends to oversimplify the “distinction between objective fact and subjective experience.”⁵ For example, a person may struggle to accurately recall the peripheral details of what they wore or the order of what exactly they did after learning about the terrorist attacks on 9-11. The subjective details of their experience that day may be fuzzy, but the objective fact of what happened on 9-11 will always be clearly and accurately seared upon their memories.

There are many memories about one’s life—especially events and experiences that have significant meaning attached to them—that are forever etched in one’s mind. An event or experience of great significance becomes more stable in a person’s mind as its meaning becomes clearer. When a person experiences a significant or traumatic event, their mind needs time to process the relevant details and meaning of what they experienced. The result is that their memory becomes more stable, not less, regarding the objective facts.  

Robinson lists 4 aspects of meaning that influence the stability of one’s memory:

(1) The multiplicity of potential meanings: Different people tend to interpret the intentions and motives of others in differing ways. In the 4 eyewitness accounts of the Gospel, we find objective facts are preserved consistently, while they may each differ on their emphasis of individual responses, motives, or meaning.⁶

(2) Deferred meaning: A person’s initial interpretations of an event will be limited. With some time to understand and interpret an event, the meaning will expand and increase.

(3) Changing meaning: Robinson explains, “The meaning of any experience can change over time. New information or an altered perspective can prompt us to reinterpret specific experiences or entire segments of our personal history.”⁷ When Jesus told his disciples that following him would involve taking up their own cross, they could not have possibly understood Jesus would soon be crucified. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, they would have had a fuller understanding of the cost and reward of Jesus’ invitation.

(4) Negotiating meaning: One’s social context can shape how significant events are remembered and understood.8 After his ascension, Jesus’s followers would have reflected upon his teaching and ministry, illuminated by their experience of the cross and resurrection. As the resurrected Jesus did for the disciples who met him on the road to Emmaus, He “interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”⁹ The whole Old Testament would have needed to be reinterpreted.

As the disciples analyzed all that Jesus said and did, the memories of the disciples would have grown more stable, as they reflected on the meaning. Over the decades the disciples were proclaiming their eyewitness testimonies, their recall would have gained clarity. Bauckham explains, “As a general rule, frequent rehearsal would have the effect of preserving an eyewitness’s story very much as he or she first remembered and reported it.¹⁰

Our memories stabilize as we seek to understand the meaning of significant events. The traumatic and life altering events of Jesus’s ministry and passion would have been deeply etched into the minds of the Apostles. As the eye witnesses repeatedly shared their stories of Jesus over the decades following his ascension, the repetition would have served to further solidify and deepen the accuracy of the disciples’ message.

The accuracy of what they had seen and heard gave them confidence and boldness to share the message of good news (the Gospel). However, the eye witness testimonies temporally preserved in their oral accounts would need to be permanently preserved. This is what led to the written account of the four Gospel, along with the rest of the New Testament Canon.

¹ Malcolm Gladwell, Free Brian Williams, Revisionist History: Episode 25, June 26, 2018.

² Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus Before the Gospels, (New York: Harper, 2016) 226.

³ Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus Before the Gospels, 291.  

⁴ C.S. Lewis, Fern-Seed and Elephants).

⁵ Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017) 346.

⁶ Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 339.

⁷ Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 339.

⁸ Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 339.

⁹ The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Luke 24:27.

¹⁰ Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 346.

I must confess I have mixed feelings when I hear a Christian say, “I just believe the Bible is God’s true Word by faith.” I also struggle when I see a sign or bumper sticker with, “God said it, I believe it.” While I am always encouraged to hear people confess a child-like faith, I am concerned with a little more information they will eventually see their Christian faith as childish.

There have been too many stories from those who began to have questions about the reliability of the Bible and struggled to find answers. Many felt hostility or shame when they dared to verbalize (out loud) their questions about the authenticity or reliability of the Bible.

Of all the questions one may raise about the Bible, there is one that seems the most shocking. How can we know what the 27 books of the New Testament originally said if the original writings no longer exist?

Christians do not claim there is a secret vault in a sacred cathedral, where only a few are allowed access to the original writings. There is no attempt to deny or hide the absence of what scholars sometimes refer to as the “autographs.” They are nowhere to be found and it may seem odd more Christians are not concerned.

Bart Ehrman describes his journey learning Greek at Wheaton College. He had a deep desire to understand the meaning of the New Testament writings in the original Greek. Then he realized there were questions regarding what the original manuscripts may have contained. “How does it help us to say that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God if in fact, we do not have the words that God inerrantly inspired, but only the words copied by scribes—sometimes correctly but sometimes (many times!) incorrectly?”¹

So, is it possible to establish what the original autograph writings of the New Testament said? The answer to this question is complicated but not impossible. First, we must gain some understanding of the nature of ancient writings and literature.

During the first century, the primary material used for writing in the Middle East would have been papyrus, from which we get our term “paper.” Papyrus was made from the papyrus plant that grew in the delta of the Nile River. Scholars are almost certain that the original autographed New Testament books were written on papyrus. Unfortunately, papyrus is not a reliable material for the long-term preservation of writing and there are few surviving copies. However, there have been several ancient biblical papyruses discovered in the dry sands of Egypt.²

Vellum and Parchment made from animal skins were also used for writing. The skins would be scraped, dried, and stretched to provide the maximum amount of durable surface for writing. By the third and fourth centuries parchment was the most common source for writing, with multiple sheets being bound together to form a “codex,” the ancient precursor to the modern book.

Until the invention of the printing press, the only way to make multiple copies of a letter or book was by hand. The transmission of information, “even by word of mouth, was a more exact and controlled process than it is for us.”³ The scribes were professionals, capable of amazing accuracy, though not without occasional errors.

The errors can be categorized as either unintentional or intentional. Unintentional errors could be caused by several factors, usually audible or visual. Often, one scribe would read a text aloud as multiple scribes copied. The copyist might reword the phrase to a preferred reading or mishear the reading incorrectly copying. Visual errors would occur when copying directly from one document to another. The errors would be caused by writing the same line or word twice, misspelling words, leaving out words, or as simple as changing a word from singular to plural (“man” to “men”).

Intentional errors occurred when scribes sought to clarify or correct a misspelling or grammar of a text being copied. The intent may have been to change a word, sentence, or even paragraph of a manuscript in favor of a clearer wording. Sometimes, the changes made by scribes were for doctrinal or theological reasons.

To understand and recreate the original content of the autographs of New Testament manuscripts, the study of Textual Criticism has emerged. “The goal of textual criticism is to search with great care and diligence for that reading which is closest to the autographs.”⁴

Textual critics can compare the many copies of individual manuscripts from multiple regions and compare them to identify any variant readings and distinguish what the original text would have said. “We are not, then, left wondering whether such corruptions have happened everywhere; we can pinpoint where they did and why they arose. We are not left with a hopelessly corrupt text but a textual tradition that, while including corruptions, includes the genuine text.”⁵

Textual criticism provides a methodology to distinguish between any corrupt or genuine text. A careful evaluation of church history through the first few centuries to our present time reveals a textual tradition that continues to build an ever-increasing body of MSS evidence to further validate a genuine text.

So how many manuscripts of the New Testament exist today? Every year new manuscripts are discovered yet with minimal impact, other than adding to an already well-established body of New Testament texts. “Most manuscripts of the New Testament are only manuscripts of part of the New Testament, and providing an exact count of them is a fool’s errand. It is best to say that there are about fifty-three hundred Greek New Testament manuscripts in existence, although fifty-one hundred might be the safer estimate.”⁶

While it may seem disconcerting to discover the absence of the New Testament autographs, the 5100 plus manuscripts of the New Testament, the stability of the text, and often the relatively small amount of time between the original writing and earliest copies, should altogether build confidence in the authenticity of the Bible today.  

“I never did find that one fabled manuscript that preserved every syllable of Scripture without a single variant. What I found instead were thousands of manuscripts that, taken together, have preserved the Word of God sufficiently for us to trust and to follow Jesus Christ.”⁷ The text of the Greek New Testament available today—the result of centuries of diligent work on the part of textual scholars—should be a source of confidence, not a concern.

Maybe it is time for a new bumper sticker that says, “God said it, it’s recorded in over 5,000 copies, that can be accurately analyzed, understood, and translated so I can believe it.” We may need wider bumpers.

¹ Bart D. Ehrman, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, (New   York: Harper Collins, 2005) 7.

² David Alan Black, New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books,1994) 15.

³ John A.T. Robinson, Can We Trust the New Testament?, (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977) 33.

⁴ David Alan Black, New Testament Textual Criticism: A Concise Guide. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books,1994) 25.

⁵ Elijah Hixson and Peter Gurry, Myths and Mistakes in New Testament Textual Criticism. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019) 226.

⁶ Elijah Hixson and Peter Gurry, 69.

⁷ Timothy Paul Jones. How We Got the Bible, (Torrance: Rose, 2015) 161.

Note: The following paragraphs are excerpts from “Hope in the Face of Death” by Jeremy Marshall and published by Banner of Truth magazine, issue 687, December 2020. Jeremy Marshall has written this article to encourage and teach believers about the great evangelism opportunity we have in light of death and COVID-19.

The writer Blaise Pascal said, “Let us imagine a number of men in chains and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows and wait their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is an image of the condition of man”

For the Christian, though, the picture is completely different. Pascal again: “Reflect on death as in Jesus Christ, not as without Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ it is dreadful, it is alarming, it is the terror of nature. In Jesus Christ it is fair and lovely, it is good and holy, it is the joy of saints.”


This sharp discrepancy between the Christian and the non–Christian has, I suggest, been brought into sharp relief by the advent of Coronavirus. I believe (of course) that this was ordained by God and that one of the reasons was to give us a huge “helping hand” for our evangelism.


The Christian’s hope and confidence when confronted with death is… In my experience, intriguing and appealing to our non-Christian friends.


One of the key questions is how we can follow up on that initial interest in hope in the face of death? We need to use the word of God (which is of course where the power lies to bring people to repentance and faith). One way I have found is to invite my [non-Christian] friends to read one of the gospels with me, I suggest using a gospel plus explanatory notes such as “The Word 121” which uses John.


I guarantee you will find that the Word, available in such an accessible format, grips people, because it is designed by God to be gripping, because most people have not the simplest idea of what is in the Bible and because Jesus’ has power over death is so obvious. I had a friend who could hardly contain himself as we read The Story of Lazarus–”so what happens? Does he come back?” Even the most basic fact of all–that Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead – is a surprise to many, as a friend of mine was staggered to discover when chatting recently with his work colleagues.


When we talk of death you must not be opportunistic or harsh with our fearful and suffering [non-Christian] friends but full of compassion and kindness, as indeed the Lord Jesus was with the sorrowful and grieving of his day. If we point them to Him, who holds the keys of death and hell, we will also be doing something else vital – warning them of the second death – eternal separation from God. For those staring death in the face, we might ask them kindly, “Do you mind if I pray for you?” and “Could I read you the Psalm?” How wonderful are the words of Psalm 23 which I love to quote: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” The presence of God in the face of death is, I have found, an amazingly attractive offer. Never has there been such a God-given time to make that offer.”

As Charles Spurgeon said, “When the pangs shoot through our body, and gastly death appears in view, people see the patience of the dying Christian. Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God’s love glitters all the more brightly.”

During the controversial fight in 2008 for Proposition 8, which banned homosexual marriages in California, Jack Black humorously raised a question about Christian’s selective use of the Bible. Playing Jesus in a skit Prop 8: the Musical, Black recognized the Bible condemned homosexuality but it also condemned the shrimp cocktail. Popping a shrimp into his mouth he sang, “Friend, it seems to me you pick and choose. Well, please choose love instead of hate.”¹

In the previous blog post, we considered some of the reasons for confusion regarding the use of the Mosaic Law in the Bible and its application to our lives today. Most importantly, we consider Jesus’ use and relationship to the Old Testament Law. In this second part, we will look more deeply into the difficulty of understanding and interpreting the Old Testament Law.

To understand the Law and its relevance for today we must note that the law had three distinct parts. The Ceremonial, the Civil, and the Moral Law.

The Ceremonial Law gave instructions on the Feasts (Passover, First-Fruits, Pentecost), the Sacrificial Offerings (Burnt, Grain, Peace, Sin, Trespass), Priestly rituals, cleansing rituals, Dietary Laws regarding food that is clean or unclean. To violate the Ceremonial Law would render a person unclean.

To be in the presence of the Holy God, a person needed to be in a clean state. When a person was unclean they were not pleasing to God and could not approach God’s presence in worship. To be unclean wasn’t necessarily equal to being sinful, it meant one was unfit/unqualified for worship. For example, when Moses approached the burning bush, God had him remove his sandal because the ground he was walking on was holy ground. Even the priests in the Tabernacle, served God in the Tabernacle while being barefoot. It wasn’t that wearing shoes was sinful or made one unclean, but they were a sign to remind them of the need to be careful as they approached the God’s presence.

Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law perfectly in his life, death, and resurrection. The purpose of the Ceremonial Law is seen most clearly in Hebrews 10:1. “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”²

Jesus made it clear the obeying the ceremonial law, regarding clean hand or eating certain foods did not make them holy. “Hear and understand:  it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person” (Matthew 15:11).³

Since the Ceremonial Law was fulfilled in Jesus it is no longer necessary to make one clean before God. Only trusting in Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection can make one clean before God. This is further clarified to Peter when God tells him to no longer be bound by the dietary laws. “What God has made, do not call common” (Acts 10:15).⁴ This is why Jack Black is free to eat all the shrimp he desires while wearing a polyester-cotton blend shirt, without concern of disobeying God.  

The second division of the Law is known as the Civil Law, also referred to as the Judicial Law. Like all nations, Israel was governed by laws and rules. The Civil Law gave guidance for civil leaders on issues relating to justice or the support of less fortunate like gleaning wheat. The Civil Law revealed how God wanted authority to be exercised, executed, and maintained. These laws also prescribed the punishments that should be given depending on the crimes.

While these laws still give helpful insight on moral and civil issues Christians are not part of a distinct nation-state. In the NT, the church does not “bear the sword of authority” to execute judgment. That authority is with the government. When churches deal with violations considered sin they are to confront the sin and encourage the person to repent or they could be excluded from membership. In 1 Corinthians 5, a man is guilty of incest and they cut him off from fellowship but there is no attempt to stone him to death.

The third part of the Law is identified as the Moral Law. The moral law deals with how we relate to our fellow man in society. Contained within are the commandments: Do not murder, steal, lie, don’t be angry, do not commit adultery, or any form of immorality. Under the Civil Law, the consequence of violating the Moral Law was often death. For a person who was found to be unclean according to the ceremonial law the consequence was a cleansing ritual, like a bath or a few days of separation. The 1689 Baptist Confession (in modern English) reads:

The moral laws are mostly self-evident to all people throughout all civilizations. Some have referred to them as natural laws, is commonly understood to be bad for humanity to thrive. Jesus not only affirmed the moral law but He strengthened it to include not just actions, like murder or adultery, but the thoughts and motives behind them, condemning also anger and lust.

It is within the moral law we find Leviticus 18. “And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.  And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is a perversion. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean,  and the land became unclean so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants” Leviticus 18:20-25.⁶

Within this chapter, we find adultery, child sacrifice, homosexual practice, Beastiality, and incest all condemned. To make the argument that Christians “pick and choose” homosexuality, condemned in the moral law, and ignore laws against shellfish or mixing threads, which were part of the ceremonial law—is not remotely accurate to any clear understanding of the scriptures.

Would those who call for ignoring the moral law warning against homosexual practice also support the need for society to embrace adultery, child sacrifice, beastiality, and incest? The “pick and choose” argument goes both ways.

As Jack Black’s character admonished the audience to “choose love and not hate,” is it really loving for Christians to ignore a clear warning in scripture because it no longer jives with the greater society? “Whereas the more liberal attitude found in some modern Christian circles is possibly due to the exaggerated importance Christians have traditionally accorded to the term “love,” Jewish law holds that no hedonistic ethic, even if called “love,” can justify the morality of homosexuality any more than it can legitimize adultery, incest, or polygamy, however genuinely such acts may be performed out of love and by mutual consent.”⁷

¹ https://www.funnyordie.com/2008/12/2/17706942/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more. By Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, Craig Robinson, and Kathy Najimy. Dec 2, 2008

² The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Hebrews 10:1.

³ Ibid, Matt 15:11.

⁴ Ibid, Acts 10:15.

⁵ Stan, Reeves, ed. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in Modern English. Chapter 19.

⁶ The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Leviticus 18:20–25.

⁷ Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, vol. 3A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 247.).

The issue of homosexuality has become divisive and increasingly confusing for many Christians and churches. Many in the name of Jesus and with a heart to “love all people,” have just given up on making any effort to discover a Biblically faithful view of morality. But if Christians are going to “love their neighbor as themselves” then they owe it to their neighbors and themselves to think a little harder about the Bible’s teaching regarding sexual practice and identity.

Some may ask, “why is all this condemnation and confrontation about sin even necessary?” They find it difficult to understand why a God, who they assume should have love as His primary attribute, would be so judgmental and mad. God is loving but His chief attribute is His holiness. In Isaiah 6:3, God is described by the angels who minister day and night in His presence as, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” There is no other attribute of God that is ever raised to the third degree. God is never described as loving, loving, loving, or nice, nice, nice, though He can be described as being both loving and nice.

God created all things good, including the first man and woman, along with the institution of marriage and family. When man chose to not believe or obey God and His Word, sin entered the world. The world has been in a fallen and broken state ever since. Since the fall, every person continues to be created in the image of God, but now in a fallen state. For this reason, our mind, will, emotions, and even our physical bodies have been affected by sin. We often have desires and dispositions toward behaviors that are wrong and destructive. Some have a greater desire and disposition toward alcoholism, pornography, lying, stealing, or sexual desires that would fall under adultery or homosexuality.

To put it plainly, our perception of reality is not reality and the world is broken and not as God originally created it to be. Consider the words of A.W. Tozer on how God must respond to the corruption of His holy creation.

“Since God’s first concern for His universe is its moral health, that is, its holiness, whatever is contrary to this is necessarily under His eternal displeasure. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it. When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. The holiness of God, the wrath of God, and the health of the creation are inseparably united. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys.  He hates iniquity [sin] as a mother hates the polio that takes the life of her child.”²

We do not see or understand sin, much less the consequences of our personal autonomy, accurately. While our society may celebrate sexual freedom as liberation; God sees it as a devastatingly contagious disease that is disfiguring and destroying His Creation.

Throughout the Biblical narrative, we find a clear and consistent condemnation of homosexuality. The Bible is also clear and consistent in condemning all sexual expression outside of the God-ordained institution of marriage—between one man and one woman. The historic outrage Christians have expressed towards homosexuals while neglecting to address other sexual sins, or even cultural injustices, has eroded the credibility of their position. To condemn and ostracize a segment of the population, while self-righteously ignoring sins among their own ranks, is certainly not consistent with a Christian or Biblically informed ethic.

Those who are in the LGBTQ community are not subhuman. They are created in the image of God with purpose, dignity, and worth. “The central question here is how to think and speak and do ‘good’ when it comes to the transgender [or LGBTQ] debate—and to the real people, and real pain, that is part of that debate.”¹ When a person starts listening to the stories and hurts of those in the LGBTQ community they will discover many people dealing with deep wounds, often resulting from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse experienced in their life. Few in the LGBTQ community perceive Christians as being willing or able to provide a safe environment for those searching for healing or asking hard questions.

So what posture should Christians have towards those who are dealing with homoerotic desires or gender identity issues? With hope and empathy, not condemnation. In fact, if the only thing a professing Christian is able to communicate to others is condemnation and hate, they probably haven’t been honest about their own sin.

Consider 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Within these verses, we find homosexual practice clearly condemned as among those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We also find many other sins in the same list including idolatry, sexual immorality (general term for any sexual sin), thieves (ever downloaded music illegally?), and even greed. This is one of the clearest passages warning of the eternal consequence of homosexually, and yet, it is one of the most mistaught passages. This is for several reasons. I have already mentioned the first problem being that homosexuality is often the only sin mentioned or emphasized.

The second and most harmful way this passage is misrepresented is when it is only partially quoted. To quote the passage only to verse 10, ending with “will not inherit the kingdom of God,” one misses the whole point of the passage found in verse 11. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

The hope of the Gospel is displayed in Paul’s recognition that there is a group of people reading his letter who were all formerly on that list. Jesus met them in their brokenness and transformed their life and eternal destiny.

Any conversation about sin in another person’s life, including all sexual sins, should be approached from the position of humble gratitude for God’s grace. When I am daily repenting of sin and believing in the Gospel of Jesus, as my only hope for both salvation and sanctification, then I can approach others with understanding and grace. Any conversation about LGBTQ issues must be rooted in our common need for the Gospel of grace through Jesus and our hope in that Gospel alone.

¹ Walker, Andrew. God and the Transgender Debate. (Epsom: Good Book, 2017), 27.

² Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy. (Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1992), 166).

Scripture references are from, The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)

When Proposition 8 passed in 2008, banning gay marriage in California, there were many people, especially in Hollywood, who expressed their condemnation of the state amendment. There was no one who communicated his or her disapproval more winsomely and humorously than Jack Black in Prop 8: The Musical, which has been viewed over 8 million times.

The scene contrasts a group of unhappy, rule-following Bible thumpers with a happy, joyful, and brightly dressed group of normal, irreligious types. Jesus, played by Jack Black, shows up to settle the debate about the Bible and homosexuality. With a shrimp cocktail in hand, he explains that while the Bible may condemn homosexuality, “It says the exact same thing about this shrimp cocktail; Leviticus says shellfish is an abomination.” Black pops a shrimp into his mouth as he sings, “Friend, it seems to me you pick and choose. Well, please choose love instead of hate.”¹

Why does it seem like Christians pick and choose the parts of the Bible people must obey while ignoring other laws in the Bible?

The Bible does warn believers to be careful about how they use their tongue to speak about those created in the image of God. “With it, we bless our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:8–10).² The Bible does not justify Christians acting hatefully towards others. Christians are commanded to “love their neighbors as themselves.”

The Bible is not shy in condemning evil nor warning about the dangers of suppressing or rejecting the truth about God and His ways. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).³ The Bible warns, “Those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger” (Romans 2:8).⁴

Christians should never attack or dehumanize other people regardless of their lifestyle or choices. Sinful living, as well as self-righteousness, are both dehumanizing and destructive enough by themselves. Nonetheless, it is never loving to change or suppress the truth communicated in God’s Word. Rather than being flippant with the Bible, it is more loving to make every effort to humbly, accurately, and consistently interpret the Bible and live according to the truth God has revealed in it.

So how can a person understand the Old Testament laws and regulations? When people refer to the law of God, this is usually a reference to a specific part of the Bible, the Torah. The Torah contains the first 5 books of the Bible which are also referred to as the Mosaic Law or the Pentateuch.

The question for many is how can laws, written 2,000 to 3,500 years ago, be relevant in our current time and place? Many rules and regulations seem far removed from application to our day-to-day lives. For instance, one chapter in Leviticus says certain sexual actions and preferences are wrong, and then the next chapter prohibits mixing two different threads in one’s clothing.

If Jesus was all about love and acceptance, it may be important to consider how He viewed the laws found in the Old Testament. These same laws were taught and lived out by Jesus in the first century. Like all faithful first-century Jewish men. Jesus made it clear that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-19). Jesus also warned against those who relaxed any part of the law. Throughout the life and teaching of Jesus–and within the writings of His disciples contained in the New Testament–we find some important distinctions made about the Law.

The New Testament reveals Jesus to be God. ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1–3).⁵ Jesus (God the Son) preexisted with God the Father before anything existed. All of Creation–including humanity and the Mosaic Law contained in the Old Testament– have come into being through Jesus. This is important to consider when evaluating if Jesus affirmed the Old Testament. Jesus not only affirmed the Old Testament, but He was also involved in the revelation of the Law.

Jesus’s authoritative understanding of the Law did not go unnoticed as He finished the Sermon on the Mount. “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt 7:28–29).⁶

Jesus, being God, was involved in the writing of the verses that defined sexuality–and even defined the shrimp that was mentioned. The difficulty comes in understanding why Jesus sometimes spoke of parts of scripture as “fulfilled,” while at other times, He added greater weight to verses as He applied them not just to actions but also to motives of the heart. Jesus was constantly quoting and affirming the authority of the Bible while bringing new clarity and understanding to things once hidden.

To understand how Jesus used and viewed the Laws contained in the Old Testament, it is important to understand its parts. The Law had three distinct parts which included the Ceremonial, the Civil, and the Moral Law.

Jesus fulfilled the Ceremonial Law in His life, death, and resurrection. The Civil Law communicated God’s will regarding a just and righteous society. Jesus made it clear to show respect to the government as being ordained by God and to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21).⁷ The Moral Law was– and is– affirmed by Jesus as still relevant and binding.

Jesus was not in the business of giving laws and regulations to people to weigh them down and deprive them of all joy. Jesus had compassion and love for the most wicked and sinful prodigal. Jesus desired for all people– regardless of their lifestyle or past– to repent, believe in him, and have new life.

Jesus came to a fallen and broken world to set people free from the bondage of sin, including heterosexual and homosexual sin, as well as the bondage of living under the law. “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).⁸  

If we want to “choose love not hate,” we should love God and our neighbor enough to take the time to understand and then act on the truth that sets people free.

¹ https://www.funnyordie.com/2008/12/2/17706942/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more. Dec 2, 2008.

² The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), James 3:8–10.

³ Ibid, Romans 1:18.

⁴ Ibid, Romans 2:8.

⁵ Ibid, John 1:1–3.

⁶ Ibid, Matthew 7:28–29.

⁷ Ibid, Matthew 22:21.

⁸ Ibid, John 8:31-32.

In an interview with Jonathan Merrit (Religion News Service, Oct. 25, 2016), popular blogger, writer, and HGTV star, Jen Hatmaker, set off a firestorm in the social media world among Christians. As Jonathan Merrit asked, “Politically speaking, do you support gay marriage?”

Jen Hatmaker replied, “From a civil rights and civil liberties side and from just a human being side, any two adults have the right to choose who they want to love. And they should be afforded the same legal protections as any of us. I would never wish anything less for my gay friends.” She continued, “Not only are these our neighbors and friends, but they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They are adopted into the same family as the rest of us, and the church hasn’t treated the LGBT community like family. We have to do better.”¹

In an attempt to bring further clarity Merrit asked a follow-up question. “You mentioned faithfulness and God. Do you think an LGBT relationship can be holy?”

Hatmaker responded, “I do. And my views here are tender. This is a very nuanced conversation, and it’s hard to nail down in one sitting. I’ve seen too much pain and rejection at the intersection of the gay community and the church. Every believer that witnesses that much overwhelming sorrow should be tender enough to do some hard work here.”²

Though I would arrive at some different conclusions than Jen Hatmaker, I appreciate her compassion and her acknowledgment that this topic is not just an exercise in an arbitrary philosophical topic or debate. This is an issue that has had profound effects on people including many that we each of us may know and love. Far too often Christians have been harsh and judgmental towards people in the LGBTQ community in general and those who identify as homosexual specifically.

I fully agree with Jen Hatmaker when she notes that the myriad of issues related makes this “hard to nail down in one sitting,” much less one article. Additionally, I appreciate the call for believers to consider the pain and rejection of many in the gay community believers should “be tender enough to do some hard work here.” Nonetheless, Hatmaker’s assertion that an LGBTQ relationship can be holy is concerning statement.  

Can LGBTQ relationships be holy? That is the critical question worth exploring a little deeper.  

For a relationship to be holy, in a Biblically informed or historically Christian sense of the word, a relationship would be considered to be blessed and in alignment with the perfect, holy, righteousness character and nature of God. The relationship would also be in alignment with the purpose and design of God’s Creative Wisdom before sin entered along with the results of the fall.  

If one says yes, then everything the Christian Church has said and believed, affirmed, and taught for 2000 years has been wrong and must be recognized as wrong. Additionally, what has been taught and affirmed for 2000 years in Judaism, dating back to at least 2000 BC, would also be wrong.

The other possibility is to simply say that humanity has the freedom and authority to change our understanding of marriage and sexuality regardless of the Biblical clarity on the subject. In which case, we are now free to reinterpret everything with a new definition of what is right and holy based upon the ever-evolving mood and morality of our society.  

To simplify the issue bit further, if relational constructs considered unholy can suddenly be declared holy, there are two possible explanations. Either we have misunderstood and misinterpreted the Bible or morality changes (is ever-evolving) and therefore the Bible must change to fit our societally constructed definitions of what is right and what is wrong.

These questions lead us to the question of who’s “truth” is really the truth. Regardless of one’s views on sexual identity, there is a root desire for human flourishing. Any true believer must desire at their core to love their neighbor enough to see them experience all that God has for them. The issues at stake go far beyond anyone dictating the morality or sexual identity of another.

Consider the concept correlation of aesthetics, truth, and beauty. The theory of Aesthetics explores the principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty. Speaking of Aesthetics, beauty, and truth, Rosaria Butterfield (a Former Tenured Prof. of Queer Theory and English Literature and Culture, Syracuse University) explained, “A theory that has been very important to me in my work as a professor and in my life is that of aesthetics. The theory of aesthetics is that what is true, determines what is beautiful and ethical.”

Among the challenges of our day is the pursuit and determination of both beauty and truth. Today, many people assume what is true is determined by what they perceive (or feel) is beautiful. Beauty defines truth! What I perceive to be beautiful or what I value or even the lifestyle choices I perceive to be beautiful define truth for me.

According to Noah Webster in 1828, Truth is: “Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be…We rely upon the truth of the scriptural prophecies.”

In John 18:37 when Pilate questioned the identity of Jesus He answered, “For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose, I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” The Gospels record Jesus saying, “I tell you the Truth,” over 75 times.

Paul warns Timothy “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). To the believers in Rome Paul wrote, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:8). He also warns that some in the church will distort the truth. “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth” (Acts 20:30). “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger” (Romans 2:8).

Finally, Paul warns of those who have engaged in homosexual behavior as having, “exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25)

People are free to choose whatever they desire but they are not free to erase the consequences of those choices.  It is not loving to know the consequences and hide them from people.  We do not love our neighbor if we call what is evil good, and what is good evil. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20!

Rosaria Butterfield was a Tenured Prof. of English at Syracuse University and in a lesbian relationship. In 1999 she was given the space and freedom to explore the claims and truth about Jesus and the Bible with a Pastor and his wife. Rosaria began has a critical skeptic to eventually become a follower of Jesus. Years later she is now the wife of a Pastor, a Mom, and a writer. Responding to Jen Hatmaker’s comments, Rosaria wrote,³

The one thing we can all agree on is the issues at stack are too critically important and painfully urgent to not be willing to sit down and tenderly pursue the truth. Only what is true can be holy.

¹The Politics of Jen Hatmaker: Trump, Black Lives Matter, Gay Marriage, and More. (https://religionnews.com, Oct. 25, 2016).

²Ibid.

³Butterfield, Rosaria, Love Your Neighbor Enough to Speak Truth: A Response to Jen Hatmaker. (www.thegospelcoalition.org, October 31, 2016).

All Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016).

By whom was I created?

What is the purpose of life?

Is there an afterlife and if so, where will I spend it?

Necessary, difficult, and time-sensitive questions like these are the kinds of questions that are so easily avoided in times of prosperity, peace, and safety. Often, only difficulty can bring them to our mind.

God, in His sovereign will, often uses persecution and tribulation to expose and refine. During difficult times, people are confronted with topics that are easy to ignore in the good times. People find themselves questioning the presence of good vs. evil, life vs. death, and the inescapable reality of one’s mortality. However, what is meant for harm, God uses for good (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28, Psalm 66:5).

The question is… are we shaken by this pandemic or are we stirred towards action?

With the abundance of prosperity, freedom, and wealth in America today, our younger generations have been able to largely avoid any deep contemplation on these important and vital topics. In fact, who has the time or attention span to think long and hard about I meaningful topic?

Os Guinness says,

People’s aversion to considering the reality of death, eternity, and the need for a savior is not new. In fact, there’s a Biblical precedence for this–the prophets of the Old Testament often warned their people against the desire to live in a false reality and avoid that which is true:

So, how does this message relate to us today…?

Unfortunately, people today often won’t even contemplate death, or life after death, until their world is turned upside down (e.g. they’re suddenly struck ill, there was a death in the family, a mass shooting, financial struggles, etc.) The coronavirus has obviously turned our world upside down. There is much fear and economic strife as our “normal,” every-day lives have been shaken.

How should we view and use this momentary affliction in light of eternity and the advancement of God’s Kingdom? By being stirred to prayer.

Here are 3 things to pray about as we seek wisdom from God on how to go about this:

First off, pray fervently for those who are lost, knowing that “Heaven is too great, Hell too horrible, Eternity too long that we should putter around on the porch of eternity” (John Piper). Also, pray for “Divine-appointments” with people in order to share the Gospel and for people’s hearts to be softened.

Secondly, pray for our foreign missionaries who are on the front-lines, risking their lives for the Gospel. Look for internationals who are far away from their families and countries of origin. They will likely appreciate kindness and hospitality shown to them during these times. Also pray for local ministries and pastors, that they would seize this unique opportunity and would not grow discouraged.

Lastly, pray that we (Christians) would not be lethargic in our prayers and evangelistic mission, but would be serious and bold about the Gospel!

“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop, within a yard of hell.” -C.T. Studd

While our strategies may change due to momentary restrictions and confinement, the mission never changes. People are shaken by this change, searching without hope for the answers, and we have the solution. God is sovereign in this season—let’s endeavor together not to waste it!

May there be a stirring towards holy, eternity-affecting, and God-glorifying action in our hearts, fellow Christians!

What do you do when you find yourself quarantined at home with your young children? This is not a snow day but the new normal for the foreseeable future. Suddenly, you feel the full weight of their intellectual and educational development, squarely upon your shoulders.

Regain a right perspective. What is your real goal for your children? God is on His throne and is having us slow down, reflect, enjoy family time, and calling for us to all lean into Him. What is God asking of you during this time? If your children are young, do not stress one bit over trying to duplicate their institutional school experience at home.

Here are some activities and ideas you may want to explore to redeem this precious time. Read to your children, pray with them, make cards together for our public officials and nursing homes and mail them… just make memories. Settle in each evening and sing worship songs together.

You have not been tasked with being an activity coordinator, but called to shape a soul. Think of 4 things you can be thankful for each day and discuss them (this will morph into a habit and you and your children will begin to naturally see gifts of His grace in both the difficult and the good.) During the day, help them work on affirming each other. On each of our birthdays, we sit around the table and share what we love about that family member and how we see God at work in his or her life. What if we were to do that during this season of quarantine? Develop an attitude of teamwork by working on a puzzle together and deal with heart issues that may surface during this time.

Focus on the underlying heart issues as you see them exposed. They have likely been there all along, though you may have just been too busy to observe them. Does your child tend to claim “rights,” or have an insensitivity to younger siblings? Maybe your children just need to practice talking through conflict and humbly asking for forgiveness from each other.

Think longterm. This time should be training ground as later in life, these children entrusted to you will have the opportunity to teach these same lessons to your grandchildren.  Don’t be surprised if this is not easy for you. Your heavenly Father is “schooling” you during this time as well. This kind of work is a holy one that requires surrendering of our own agendas, frustrations, and impatience. We have no other option but to ask the Holy Spirit to do a work in our hearts. It is gloriously painful and gloriously beautiful all at the same time.

What our children need most during this time is to see their parents having confidence in God’s plan, provision, and purpose.

Have you considered how Martin Luther’s provocative act would have been received if it happened today? If Luther were living today and he wanted to confront what he saw as false teachings and distortions, what would he have done? He may have launched a blog post, or a YouTube video, or had a rant on Facebook live. Some would “like it,” others would post nasty comments about his words, and likely shame him for his bad hair cut. I think most would say, “That is good for him, but what gives him a right to push his views on others?” Today the very thought of Luther declaring sola scriptura (Scripture alone), is offensive. Our culture has declared sola hominis (man alone) or sola persona (person alone) as God’s Truth has been reformed into the image of each man.

What a difference 500 years makes! The hammer blows that would be heard around the world, as Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Church at Wittenberg, seem unrecognizable in the context of our present day. The act that sparked the Protestant Reformation was the hammer blow of God’s revealed Truth against the distortions and false teaching of the Catholic Church in that day. Most Christians have little knowledge of the cost of those who have gone before us giving their very lives to fight for God’s Word to be accessible to all and for it to be rightly taught. Many were burned at the stake, imprisoned, tortured, and martyred so God’s Word and the truth of the Gospel would no longer be suppressed, controlled, and manipulated by popes and councils.

Martin Luther described the importance of God’s sovereign and wise plan to record His thoughts, through the apostles, in a written language for us. Luther explained it like this:

God has recorded His Words for us as they create, control, and order His creation. They display God’s desire for us to experience abundant and meaningful life through the joy of knowing Jesus. Yet, it is truly amazing how Biblical illiteracy is so prevalent among those who claim Jesus as their Lord.

There are so many distractions and alternate messages, consuming our time and attention every minute of every day. In Martin Luther’s introduction of Psalms 119 he wrote, “In this psalm, David always says that he will speak, think, talk, hear, read, day and night and constantly—but about nothing else than God’s Words and Commandments.  For God wants to give you His Holy Spirit only through the external Word.”

The external Word is outside of us, like the God who spoke it. The external Word exists independent and transcendent from us. It authoritatively exposes and reveals our need to be rescued from our sin, brokenness, and spiritual death. Humans are not at liberty to shape it or remake it to what we want. Our culture is free to ignore it, disagree with it, or deny it yet it remains unchanging and ever-speaking.

As we recognize the 500th Year Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation we must be aware that propositional truth, like the 95 theses posted by Luther, pique little interest in today’s culture. As Luther said, “Let the man who would hear God speak, read Holy Scripture.” John Piper said, “The Word of God that saves and sanctifies, from generation to generation, is preserved in a book.”  Those who are searching for answers, with restless hearts need modern-day Luthers who are unafraid to publicly display and explain God’s Truth, regardless of the cost.

Fasting is an ancient and modern act in which a person abstains from food. Fasting is an activity practiced by many cultures, over many ages, for many reasons. Fasting is not uniquely a Christian or Jewish discipline. In our culture today, one is most likely to hear about fasting in the context of its health benefits for detoxing one’s body. It is not uncommon to hear of people from various world religions fasting.

The one place we seldom hear about fasting is among Christians-perhaps this is because it is difficult to talk seriously about fasting while holding a Krispy Kreme donut and a cup of coffee. Jesus was even asked why his disciples did not fast.

The answer from Jesus was remarkable. Jesus was saying his disciples do not fast because He is with them, but when He is taken away from them they will fast for His return!  There are many biblical reasons for fasting. We find God’s people fasting for God’s intervention, help, and deliverance (Neh. 1:4, Esther 4:16, Ezra 8:21.) We find the leaders fasting for God’s direction and leadership in the Antioch Church, leading to Paul and Barnabas being sent to plant churches  (Acts 13:1-3.) There are other reasons Christians may fast, but in light of the New Testament, the supreme reason to still fast is because of the absence of Jesus.

We should fast because we long for the return of Jesus to fix this broken world. We should fast as a declaration that we need the presence of Jesus in our lives.  We should fast to battle our physical longing for food in order to reawaken a deeper longing for our satisfaction to rest in Christ alone. John Piper says, “Fasting is not a ‘no’ to the goodness of food or the generosity of God in providing it. Rather, it is a way of saying, from time to time, that having the Giver surpasses having the gift.” Piper explains how fasting fuels our faith saying, “Faith is a spiritual feasting on Christ with a view to being so satisfied in Him, that the power of all other allurements is broken.”

God could have created our bodies to be fueled in many different ways, but he designed us to be dependent on food and drink. Food is such a massive part of our everyday lives. When you skip a meal, it doesn’t take long before your stomach starts telling you to find a drive-thru window. This hourly, physical longing for food can be leveraged in fasting and praying for Jesus to be our satisfaction, for His presence to fill our lives (daily circumstances and struggles), and for the return of our King Jesus.

The principle of fasting can be applied to abstaining from things other than food. What is it that most distracts you from Jesus? What do you need to lay aside for a season in order to declare that Jesus is more important and more satisfying?

In Revelation 22:20, we have the last words of Jesus in the Bible promising, "With certainty, I am coming soon!" What can I fast (abstain) from to best awaken my soul to long and labor for His return? May our lives declare, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

When one looks around the landscape of society –both sacred and secular– it is clear ,“the times, they are a changing.”  The dominant methodology for connecting with people with God and the church has been a behave-believe-belong model.

This model fleshes out in our tendency to observe people’s behavior, to make sure they are “like us.”  Going deeper, we may even ask, “Do they believe like us?” When we approve of their appearance and thinking, we invite them to belong to us.  This model is very effective in a society that is Christianized and the unchurched (former residents of Christendom) simply need some minor steering to help them find their place in “our church.”  The challenge now is that society is much more unChristian, and we are finding ourselves in an ever-increasing mission field, rather than a culture of Christendom.

It is dangerously unbiblical for one’s behavior to be the entry point for church involvement or faith.  The Pharisees appeared to “behave” and Jesus called them “internally dead,” though they were “externally polished.”  The behavior- first model can easily lead to a performanced-based group of spiritual pretenders.

If the above model is less effective today, and has some theological concerns, then what is the answer?  We must shift to: a belong-believe-become model.

We must look for ways to intentionally invest in relationships with “not yet” believers, inviting them to belong, and welcoming them into authentic Christian Community.  This invitation may happen at a cookout with your Life Group, a special children’s event, or even a service project in the community.  The foundation must be laid for people to have the freedom to come into Christian Community without having to “pretend”– allowing them to just be themselves.  This is the very reason Jesus was negatively labeled by the religious Pharisees as a “friend of sinners.”

This ministry can be sloppy in the event this person says or does something  in which you are uncomfortable.  However,  if our mindset is missional, then we will allow unbelievers to see Jesus as He is shaping our faith community and families by His transformational love.

When belonging is happening, then friendships will form, leading to honest questions.  These questions will hopefully lead them to believe.  This second stage is where the Gospel (the perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection of Jesus) begins to make sense as it is, observably, lived out in individuals and families (this is assuming one has already explained it).  Paul addresses this issue in 1 Thessalonians 2:8 …“we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”

Once someone has heard the truth about Jesus, observed it through belonging, and has been able to journey into believing, then we see the fruit as he or she starts becoming like Jesus and places his or her faith in Jesus.

This process is how we transform our community and expand the Kingdom of God.  We must invite people to belong and to journey into believing, so they will become like Jesus.

Several times over the life of CrossLife Church we have considered the equation for momentum as it relates to the ministry and the vision of CrossLife.  I want to take a moment to flesh it out a bit more here.

Mathematically, momentum is Mass multiplied by Velocity.  Think about how this relates to the Unstoppable Mission of Jesus.  
Mass is made up of density and volume.
Velocity is the product of speed and direction.

Density= is the measures of our depth of knowledge, experience, and spiritual maturity.
Volume= is simply how many are “with us” or how big is our tribe.

In terms of Mass, a lower volume (numbers) with a higher density (spiritual depth) is better than a large volume with low density.  Just compare a balloon to a bullet, one is bigger but the smaller is more effective in a war.  You have possibly seen a large church that was a “mile wide but an inch deep.”  We need to be growing deeper as we are expanding in our numbers.

Velocity is also a critical part of momentum for mass without movement means your stuck.  Velocity is speed with direction. Speed without direction does not accomplish much, but when speed is applied to an object in a specific direction then momentum results. As CrossLife joins the Unstoppable Mission of Jesus and we fight for the advancement of Jesus’ Kingdom we pray for Momentum to grow.  Momentum is created as we grow deeper in our understanding and application of the Gospel in our lives.  Momentum is created when we simplify our lives, and trade religious activity for a missional life as an expression of the Gospel that in changing us.

Jesus said, “from the time of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven is forcefully advancing,”  and of the church he said, “the gates of hell will not prevail.”  Let’s advance!

That is the heart cry, and shout of CrossLife Church.  Losing our lives not for the vain or empty pursuits of this world but for Jesus, as we take up His cross.  To “take up the cross” in the first century meant to lose your rights and possessions. It meant you would be mocked and misunderstood by the world, on the way to your impending death.  Today, the true meaning is really the same. When Jesus says “take up your cross,” He is inviting us to join Him in being misunderstood, mocked, without possessions, rights, and the need to live for the world’s applause and approval.  Sound a bit depressing?

The cross by itself leaves us hopeless, but the crucifixion of Jesus was not his end. The cross made possible the resurrection and new life.  Jesus’ invitation to die to ourselves and to this world by taking up the cross is really an invitation to real life.  Jesus  endured the mocking, beating, and loss of this world’s stuff because he never gained his identity from the people, possession, or plans of this world.  Jesus walked through the pain and rejection of the cross knowing His father would not forsake him; raising him and exalting him.

CrossLife Church is a fellowship of believers journeying together as we grow in denying ourselves, taking up the cross, and experiencing real life.  The “CrossLife” means to surrender and lose our lives for Jesus sake only to be finally alive. You are free to live without the bondage of sin or the control of peoples expectations, because the Father approves of you and He has a reward waiting for you that will make any loss in this world…simply insignificant.