On Hearing From God

Today I believe God wants me to share a chapter from the book He gave me to write called The Prayer Directed Life (www.thepdl.org). Chapter 8 is called 'God's Voice - What Does It Sound Like'. It fits in well with the theme of this blog, and I hope it ministers to you and your efforts to have a meaningful prayer relationship with your Father.

GOD’S VOICE – WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE?

If you really want to “torque” some people off – make them mad enough to bite a 10-penny nail in half – try announcing at your next Bible study or meeting with Christian friends that during your prayer time God spoke to you and He gave you something to tell them. (Don’t try this with your secular acquaintances: You will be forever labeled a “whacko, intolerant fanatic.”) After the initial shock wears off, there are basically two things they want to know about your encounter, and what the message was is not one of them. The two things they want to know are: 1) Why would God speak to you, especially since you’re not a preacher, elder, or deacon; and 2) What did He sound like?

I think that the second question is an important, valid question. After all, if I am going to be spending most of my prayer time listening for direction and revelation from God, shouldn’t I know what His voice sounds like? Will He speak to me verbally, like you and I having a conversation? How do I know that it’s not just me answering my own questions? Or worse yet, how do I know that what I’m hearing is not Satan trying to mislead me?

Jesus used a phrase similar to the following one at least three times in the Gospels: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”(Mt 11:15, Mk 4:23, Lk14:35) Jesus wasn’t speaking to a group of deaf or deformed people in these instances; each of the people who were following Him around had a set of ears that they listened with. Ears are part of the human body, and hearing is one of the five human senses. So, what did He mean when He said that?

The problem with trying to describe what it “sounds” like to “hear” from God is that we wind up using “flesh” words to describe a “spirit” event. God is Spirit, and He communicates to our spirit, although He may – and often does – use “worldly” means to deliver His message. When Jesus made those statements, He was encouraging His followers to listen to and hear the message from the Father with the “heart” and “ears” of their spirits, in addition to the ears of their bodies. Only then would they truly comprehend His message.

Although it is certainly not outside the realm of possibility, as nothing is impossible with God, you are probably not going to hear a verbal manifestation of God’s voice. It would be nice if we could experience the Lord’s voice the way Charlton Heston’s Moses hears it in the movie The Ten Commandments, or the way Jim Carrey’s Bruce experiences it in Bruce Almighty. I have heard of instances where a person facing imminent danger or peril has clearly heard a human voice warning them, when there was absolutely no other person around; but that’s just not the norm.

If I may be so bold, it’s been my experience during my prayer time that God communicates His thoughts to me through something like ESP – “Extra Sensory Perception” – except that I would term it “Extra Spiritual Perception”; that is, He impresses His thoughts and words on my spirit and mind. This is Biblically supported in 1 Cor 2:10-14:

“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.”

On other occasions, this voice seems to be coming to me like a very quiet, gentle whisper. Do you remember that account of the Lord visiting Elijah at Horeb, the mountain of God? In 1 Kings 19:11-13 it says:

“The Lord said (to Elijah), ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

I’m just thankful that I haven’t had to experience everything Elijah endured to hear that “gentle whisper!” (Here’s an interesting side note for you: Did you know that the Bible says that Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights to have this meeting and hear from the Lord? Remind you of Someone else taking 40 days and 40 nights to hear from God?)

Still other times He impresses on my spirit a scripture He wants me to look up and read. This is always an awesome experience, because when you take your Bible and go to the reference He gives you, it’s always like He’s right there saying the words to you – like the words are alive, with a special meaning just for you! Unfortunately, I think that far to often people abuse this form of communication when they take verses from scripture and try to make them say what they want to hear.

But I think the best way for me to answer the question about how you know when you are hearing God’s voice is to ask you a question about your adolescence. Do you remember what you were told the first time you asked someone whom you trusted that all important question that burns in the heart of most every young person the moment their hormones start kicking in: “What is love,” or “How do you know when you are in love with someone?” Didn’t the “bottom line” answer, after the sugar coated explanations of some of the symptoms of love, go something like this: You know, because you know, because you know, because you know…? Well, I’ve got news for you; the same thing applies to hearing from God – “You know, because you know, because you know…!”

Now, I know; the first time you heard that phrase from someone, you probably thought that this answer was just a “cop-out” from a person who just didn’t know what being “in love” was like, or who had never experienced loving someone. That was, until you experienced the first pleasures and pangs of being in love yourself! That was when you discovered that the answer given to your question was correct: Being “in love” is not something you could ever adequately describe or put a “handle” on; it can only be described by experiencing it! But, once you do experience it, you’ll never forget what its like – and you will never have to ask someone to describe it again.

We receive Biblical support for this concept of “you know, because you know…” from Jesus Himself in the Gospel of John when He talks about being the good shepherd. In John 10:3-5 He says,

“The watchman opens the gate for him (the shepherd) and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Please note that the last part of this scripture indicates that those who are His sheep also recognize the “stranger’s” voice, and know not to follow him. Also, to take the analogy one step further, consider that the sheep are all about listening for the shepherd, while he tends to their needs and safety.

While you are over there in the Gospel of John, let me remind you of a scripture that says if you’re born again, you have heard the Father at least once in your lifetime. In John 6:44-45(NKJV), Jesus tells his disciples and the Jews following Him this:

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall be taught by God.’ Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”

This scripture also supports the fact that when we do hear from the Father, we had best be doing what He tells us to do, if we want to hear from Him again. I can assure you, if you have not come to Jesus, you’re not going to be hearing from the Father on other issues; it’s just not going to happen!

Finally, here’s the most important thing that you must believe and get into your Spirit: GOD WANTS TO TALK TO YOU AND HAVE YOU HEAR HIM; and He will do whatever it takes to have that happen, if you are earnestly listening to Him! How do I know that? Just look at the Bible, which, coincidentally, is called the Word of God; almost every book, has some example of God actively trying to communicate with His people!

Sometimes He spoke directly to people without an intermediary; other times He spoke through other people, such as the prophets. Once He spoke through a donkey, and still another time, through a burning bush. Other times He used angels and visions to communicate with those waiting to hear from Him. Do you see what I’m saying? All of these different ways that God has used to communicate with people are precedence for what He can, and will, use today to speak to you and me!

You can even see that in the Old Testament, He has to rely on “flesh” means to communicate, because no one had the Spirit of God living in them; whereas in the New Testament, His communication is in the “spirit”, with and through those who have the Holy Spirit living in them. As in any family, if you are a son or daughter in the Family of God, it is part of your heritage to hear from your Father, if you are listening to Him!

On Colored Ribbons

COLORED RIBBONS

Base Scripture: Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

You know, I hate to take on “sacred cows” because the attacks of the “bull” that protects them can get you pretty bloody sometimes, but here goes anyway. Should Christians be involved in campaigns that involve wearing or displaying certain colored symbols (ie, ribbons, t-shirts, balloons, etc) that are representative of specific maladies in order to “raise awareness” of that sickness or disease?

Here’s the scenario that brought this on: I was out walking my Jack Russells the other morning (or should I say, they were walking me), contemplating God’s presence and handiwork, when I saw one of my neighbors walking down his driveway with his three-ish little daughter following him; he had a pink balloon in his hand which he was apparently taking out to attach to his mailbox. So after a greeting I said to him, “Oh, is someone in your house having a birthday today (meaning the little girl following him)?” To which he replied, “No, I’m putting out my balloon for the ‘Paint The Town Pink’ project going on in town this weekend for breast cancer awareness (as in, “didn’t you get the memo?”).” Then I remember reading somewhere that the local postmistress of the town I live in had organized this ‘Paint The Town Pink’ campaign for this weekend with the idea of everyone wearing pink ribbons and/or pink T-shirts and attaching pink balloons to their mailboxes to raise awareness of breast cancer. So anyway, now I’m forced to take the rest of our walk, as well as the walks I take for the next two days, being “made aware” of breast cancer every few hundred yards, instead of having one of the prettiest colors God made in this world remind me of the beautiful females in my family, or of the softly tinted moisture-laden clouds that occasionally muffle one of God’s glorious sunrises (or sunsets).

As I continued my walk that day, and later on in my prayer time, I decided to ask the Father what He thought about this practice. What follows are some of the thoughts I believe He was sharing with me.

We have allowed a world of well-meaning people to purloin some of God’s most beautiful colors to represent or remind us of some of the most ravaging and debilitating diseases that Satan has inflicted on this earth; and we, as Christiansh and Believers have enabled this practice, and sometimes have participated in it, in the name of compassion and comradery. Please don’t misunderstand me here: I’m not denying that breast cancer, aids, heart disease (the number 1 killer of Americans), other cancers, Down’s syndrome and a plethora of other diseases and illnesses exist in the world (and the Church) today; nor am I advocating that we stick our head in the sand and ignore them. What I am saying is that they have no right to exist in the life of a Believer or in the Kingdom of God, so we should not be dwelling on their presence!

Here’s the problem with this practice: Do you see that it is impossible to live by the tenets of Php 4:8 if every time I see a specific color it causes me to think about a specific sickness or disease? The idea is diametrically opposed to the Word of God, regardless of our good intentions. Let me ask you this: Can you show me anywhere in the teachings of Jesus or the New Testament Scriptures where we are encouraged to create and display symbols of sickness and disease in order to remind ourselves and others that they exist in this decaying world and need to be “dealt with?” I’m here to tell you, my brothers and sisters, you ain’t gonna find anything like that because it’s simply not in God’s plans for the way Believers are supposed to deal with Satan and his tools of destruction.

Please believe me when I say that I am not trying to belittle the efforts of those in the world to seek funding for their causes or consolation for their (or their loved ones) conditions. That is all they know to do to fight against the maladies which are increasingly invading our lives. I will say, though, that the number one killer of both men and women in the United States is not breast cancer or aids; it’s heart disease, and I don’t recall any specially colored ribbon being set aside to wear to raise awareness of that fact!

Consider this:

- If we were to wear one colored ribbon to represent all the different colored support ribbons, wouldn’t the appropriate color for that ribbon be black, since black is the combination of all colors? In other words, aren’t all of those colored ribbons derivatives of the color black? When you’re trying to make a statement with color (as opposed to trying to dress fashionably), isn’t black usually associated with death and mourning, as well as morbidity and evil and darkness?

- On the other hand, white is the absence of all colors. Isn’t white usually associated with purity, life, hope and Godliness? As Christians and Believers, why don’t we start wearing white ribbons on statement-making occasions; then, when people ask us why we are wearing white, we can tell them that it represents Jesus Christ, who defeated all sickness, disease and death by His death and resurrection, and who lives in us now. It helps us to “raise awareness” that by His wounds, we are healed (Is 54:5, 1 Pet 2:24), and it promotes “research” into getting a hold of this fact and applying it to our lives.

Your Brother in Christ,

MarkMc

Concerning the Ten Commandments

HANGING TWO INSTEAD OF TEN

An Argument Against Arbitrarily Posting The Ten Commandments

By Mark E. McLeroy

Part 4 of 4

Finally, look at 1 Cor 2:10-14. Paul writes, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given. This is what we speak not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

That word “know” and its derivatives are used in the sense of intimately experiencing someone, as opposed to factually knowing about them. In other words, it pertains to relationship, not “book knowledge”. In the Old Testament, the same word is used to describe the intimacy between married couples. When we become born again, we come to know how our God thinks and understand the things he has given us through experiencing his indwelling presence, not through facts and concepts gleaned from study materials. Of course, part of what we learn about our Lord comes from studying his word in the Bible, but remember that the scripture above says these things are spiritually discerned, and are foolishness to the man without the Spirit of God. This is part of the fulfillment of the prophesy in Jer 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12, which says “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” (The chapter and verse numerical relationship between the two scripture references is interesting, wouldn’t you say?) Notice the two different uses of the word “know” in this passage: One means “head knowledge”, and the other means “heart knowledge.” It is that “heart knowledge” which equips us to understand “the things that come from the Spirit of God.”

It is also through this process that we are equipped with power to want to obey God’s two “love” commands. As we develop our relationship with him, after we become “born again”, our Father takes the love that is in His heart and begins to place it in our heart. He teaches us how to love him with everything we have, because he has loved us with everything He has. Then, because “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness,” he lets us help him to love others with a love that has no conditions or expectations, just as we love ourselves. This is a love that that is different from what the “world” teaches us about love; it must be spiritually discerned...it must be caught, not taught.

By now, I am sure that quite a few of you are considering breaking the fifth commandment where I am concerned (You shall not murder!). But before we go on, would you please notice that nowhere have I suggested that we should not have laws, rules or regulations in schools or public institutions. In fact, we had better have some rules, laws and regulations for our own protection in a society where God is increasingly excluded, because without some guidelines for restraint and direction, that society will hasten its self-destruction (In the long run, it will self-destruct anyway...as the saying goes, “Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.”). Paul Harvey, the famous newscaster, often makes the point on his show that self-government without self-discipline eventually results in self-destruction.

So then, what is the solution to this dilemma, if it’s not posting the Ten Commandments? Frankly, my friend, without getting God fully involved in our children’s lives, and our own, I don’t know what the answer to this problem is. Remember that line from the old Brilcream commercial that says “…a little dab will do ya...”? It seems to me that we’ve developed a Brilcream mentallity about getting God invlolved in schools and public institutions when we suggest hanging the Ten Commandments on the walls; that is, a little dab of God will do ya!

Let me ask you something: Do you really think that the Almighty God, creator of the universe, and everything in it, is going to settle for our attempt to just get Him a “little bit” involved in our lives and problems, like for instance, the disciplining and discipleing of our kids? Do you think that posting the Ten Commandments is going to work where we have banned the Bible and studying His teachings? Do you really think that God is going to draw closer to us as we distance ourselves from Him? I think we both know that God is not going to force Himself onto the lives of those who reject and resist Him either by words or actions. Even after we become born again, and Jesus Christ is living in us, we still have to decide if we are going to live by His ways, or by the ways of the world. God makes this abundantly clear through the writings of the Apostle Paul in chapter 5 of his epistle to the Galatians, where he teaches about living by the Spirit (His ways) rather than induging in the sinful nature (the world’s ways). The good news is that when we do decide to live by His ways, its not us doing the living; it’s Him doing the living through us!

Concerning the Ten Commandments

HANGING TWO INSTEAD OF TEN

An Argument Against Arbitrarily Posting The Ten Commandments

By Mark E. McLeroy

Part 3 of 4

The writers of the New Testament, especially Paul, repeatedly reminded us of our new life and our freedom from the law of sin and death. In Col 2:13-14, Paul wrote “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Please, read chapters 3 through 8 in the book of Romans, which some call the “Heart of the Gospel”, where Paul repeatedly explains the purpose of the Commandments and the Law, and how we have been freed from the bondage they bring. Look in chapter 6, verses 2 through 7, where he explains, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Want more? Read chapters two and three in Galatians, where Paul chastises not only the “foolish Galatians”, but the Apostle Peter, himself, for continueing to promote the observance of the Law.

A teacher I know puts it this way: Christ gave His life for us, so He could give His life to us, so He could live His life through us! In a nutshell, God gave us the Commandments and the Book of the Law to show us what He required of us in order to live perfectly, but knowing that we could not keep them according to His standards. Why? Because people were dead spiritually, seperated from God, thanks to Adam. As He said in Jeremiah, “...they followed the stubborn inclinations of their sinful hearts.” (Surely you’ve noticed the stubborn, rebelious nature of all little children, especially when they’re told not to do something!) Then, after mankind was buried with His righteous requirements, God, who is Love, sent His Son, Jesus, to: 1) Tell us about the love in which He was most interested; 2) Show us His unconditional love by fulfilling the Commandments and taking all the punishment due for the failure of mankind to keep them; 3) Give us love, and new spiritual life, so that we could walk in the two ways of love He suggested in the Gospels. Through His Holy Spirit, the One who gave the Ten Commandments, and the One who fulfilled them, is able to put His law in our minds and write it on our hearts when we accept Jesus into our lives, thus completing His prophecy; and His Plan. In effect, the Law was established to lead us to Jesus Christ, not by what we do, but by what we cannot do without His presence in our lives.(Rom 6:20-21, Gal 3:24-25) As Paul put it: “ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!!” (Rom 7:24-25)

Surely someone is thinking, “Well, if posting the Ten Commandments will lead people to Christ, isn’t that a fine argument for supporting that idea?” It would be; if God - and Jesus - and the Bible - and teachers of grace were allowed into our schools and our public venues; and if the punishment for breaking those Commandments had enough teeth to force a showdown - and a decision! Someone else is probably saying, “Well now, Paul said the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good in Rom 7:12.” That’s true, he did; but read the rest of the chapter, where he explains the reason that he called them holy, righteous and good is because they made him realize how dead he was in his sinful nature, and how much he needed life, which is only available through Jesus Christ, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. He explains this process in Romans, chapter 8, beginning with those wonderful words of freedom: “Now there is no condemanation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life (the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit) set me free from the law of sin and death (the Book of the Law)”. Oh, by the way, since the Commandments are holy, should we be entrusting them to our Godless, unholy public school facilities?

OK, then, what about the idea of posting or displaying just the two commandments about loving God and loving our neighbor that Jesus gave us? But again, there is a problem with this idea. What would be the power behind these commands, that is, the incentive to keep them? When we read these commands in Deut 6:4-5 and Lev 19:18, we see that even in the OT there were no punishments listed for disobeying these two commands. Can you imagine the idea of punishing someone because they didn’t love God or their neighbor (or their self) like they were supposed to do? The very essence of the type of love Jesus was teaching was that of a totally devoted love (“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”[Mark 12:30]) (emphasis mine). This was a love with an unconditional nature, in that no exceptions were allowed for not obeying the commands. So then, if we attach a punishment to breaking the command, it is no longer the unconditional love Jesus had in mind. Likewise, if we add a specific award to the keeping of the commands, it would no longer be unconditional. Can you immagine a teacher telling his or her class, “ If you don’t show your love for me today, you will have detention after school!”, or “Now if you love everyone you meet today, we’ll have a pizza party tommorow!” No, God knew that this love had to come from the “heart”, or center, of a person’s being – his spirit. Therefore, the power for keeping these commands had to reside in the same place: In a person’s “heart”, or spirit. Only then would love be an outcome of who we are, instead of what we do.

Of course, that can only happen when we become “born again” (John 3:3-8), and the Lord Jesus Christ, the author and purveyor of unconditional love, comes to live in our heart, and brings new life to our spirit, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.(2 Cor 5:14-21) Here’s how the Apostle Peter put it in his second Epistle, chapter one, verses two through four: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may partcipate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”(Emphasis mine) Wow! Please, look closer at the words of this incredible scripture! Not only do we who are “born again” receive and abundance of grace and peace; but we are aslo equipped by God’s divine power with everything we need for life and godliness, including the ability to love unconditionally (wouldn’t you say that is a part of life and godliness?). AND, we are allowed to participate in the divine nature of God! AND, we are enabled to escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires! Can you imagine what effect all of that would have have on our schools and our homes and the other areas of our lives, if we could get a hold of this truth, and teach it to our kids?

“Where does it say that you have to be ‘born again’ to partake in what this scripture is saying?”, you ask. Well, do you see those two similar sounding phrases which appear twice in that short scripture passage? The two phrases are, “...through the knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord” and “...through our knowledge of him”. The words “knowledge of” are the key. Take a look at the Gospel of John, chapter 17, and Pauls first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter two, verses 10 through 14, and I think you will see what I mean.

The 17th chapter of John is what I call the “real” Lord’s prayer in that we see our Lord, Jesus, praying to his Father. In John 17:3, Jesus describes what he means by the words “eternal life” (=salvation). He says, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Now, look at John 17:25-26: “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them.”

To be continued...

Concerning the Ten Commandments

HANGING TWO INSTEAD OF TEN

An Argument Against Arbitrarily Posting The Ten Commandments

By Mark E. McLeroy

Part 2 of 4

For those of you who insist on holding on to the Ten Commandments, let me ask you another question: What did God say about the “when”, “where”, and “who” of teaching these laws? Does God suggest that the Commandments be hung in our schools? Does He suggest that they be hung in our public buildings or statehouses? May I suggest for the answers to these questions that we take a look in the Word at Deut 6:6-9: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Let me ask you this: Do you have the Ten Commandments posted on the walls in your house? If not, then why are you clammoring to have them hung in the schools? Wouldn’t you agree that God pretty much gave the reponsibility for teaching children about the Commandments to the parents, and possibly family, in the previous scripture?

Now, go back over there to Matthew and take a look at the standard that Jesus explained is required to obey the Commandments. He made it pretty obvious that God expected not only the letter of the Law to be kept, but also the spirit of the Law. What does that mean? Well, take a look at what Jesus had to say about the sixth and seventh Commandments (Before we go on, did you remember which ones they are?) In Matt 5:21-22, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry (emphasis mine) with with his brother will be subject to judgment.” So if we assume breaking a commandment is a sin, and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), then what is your punishment for being angry with that guy that cut you off in traffic yesterday, or that woman who ran in front of you and grabbed the last sale item this morning? You say, “But that’s too hard!”. Well, take it up with Jesus. I didn’t say it; He did!

And what about that zinger in Matt 5:27-28: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks (emphasis mine) at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.” (I won’t depress you by quoting the rest of that paragraph; you can read it yourself.) Once again, I did’t say that looking at someone with lust in your heart is the same as commiting adultery with that person; He did! By the way, do you recall what the physical punishment for adultery was? That’s right: stoning, until dead! Ouch! In fact, other than a quick divorce, when was the last time you heard of anyone being either physically or verbally punished for commiting adultery?

Speaking of punishment, that brings up another interesting dilemma for hanging the Commandments up on the wall in schools and public buildings. You see, the Bible says that the “the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”(1Cor 15:45). Remember also Rom 6:23, “...the wages of sin is death”? Put simply, the Commandments make us aware of what is sin, and that the punishment for sin is death. Yes, I know, since we don’t physically die every time we break the law, “death” must mean spiritual death. But hold on! Take a look back there in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy again. Did you notice that along with a list of the Laws or Commandments is a corresponding list of physical punishments required for breaking the laws? And, as far as I can tell, a “slap on the wrist” or “timeout” are not among the list of punishments. In fact, violating most of the Ten Commandments involve either death or dismemberment. Therefore, the power of the Commandments is in the punishment for breaking them (sinning). If there is no punishment for breaking the law, then there is no power in having the law, and if there is no power in having the Commandments, what is the use in posting them? The problem is that we have taken away the power of the Commandments by minimizing the punishment for not observing them. So the question is, if we are going to post the Ten Commandments, should not we also post the corresponding list of punishments for violating the laws, and then enforce it?

If that is not enough to bury you (figuratively speaking), recall what James said in chapter 2, verses 10 and 11. He said, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.” And what is the punishment for being a lawbreaker? Your right again: Death! The Apostle Paul put it another way in Gal 3:10: “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything (emphasis mine) written in the Book of the Law’.” Even if the Book of the Law were just the Ten Commandments, that would be like a game of trying to tread water in a pool while trying to hold ten corks under water at the same time; if any one of the corks pop up, you might as well let the rest go, because you lose the game.

Finally, at the risk of sounding like Detective Columbo, may I ask you just one more question? Who, or what, decides what the standard is for whether a commandment has been broken, or kept? Think about that for a minute: At what point has a commandment been broken, and who decides that point? Do you see what I’m getting at? We get a marvelous glimpse of this dilemma in a confrontation between Jesus and the teachers of the law over the Third Commandment on at least two occasions. Recall that this Commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”. Now, I would say that this Commandment is pretty well spelled out, wouldn’t you? (Did you know how far beyond the words “Keep holy the Sabbath” the text went in laying out this Commandment?)

The first instance, in Matthew 12:1-8 (also Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5), Jesus and his deciples were walking through a field on the Sabbath. They were hungry, so they began eating some of the wheat kernals from the stalks of wheat. That didn’t set very well with the Pharisees who were travelling with them, because picking grain to eat was work, never mind that walking, eating and breathing air was a form of work also (you see – where do you draw the line?). Jesus is quick to remind them that the Sabbath was created for Man, not Man for the Sabbath, and that He, the Son of Man, is “Lord of the Sabbath.”

Another time, you will recall, was when the man with the shriveled hand was at the synagogue, and Jesus had compassion for him (Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6, Luke 6:6-11). Jesus asked the man to stand up in front of everyone. Then Jesus asked the teachers of the law, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” In Mark’s account of the incident, it says that “they remained silent.” Then it says that “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn (another translation says “hardened”) hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.” (Mark 3:5) What’s amazing to me about this particular scripture is that the Pharisees’ lack of mercy in interpreting this particular law upset Jesus so much that He looked at them in anger! This is the only place I can find in the scriptures where it says that Jesus looked at someone in anger.

Now, do you recall what important development occurred after Jesus healed that man in the Temple on the Sabbath? All three accounts in the Gospels note that the Pharisees began to plot on how they might kill Jesus. This is the first time the idea of destroying Jesus began to take shape. Were they serious about keeping the letter of the Law regardless of the intent of the Law, or what!

Let me give you another, more recent, example of men’s hypocracy in trying to observe the Sabbath Law. I grew up in the deep South (Alabama and Georgia) in the early 1950’s and 1960’s. At that time, and prior, they had what were called “blue laws,” which were basically laws, codes and regulations to keep businesses from operating on Sundays. Notice right off that we are not talking about the Sabbath, which is biblically on Saturday, but Sunday, which is the traditional “church going” day (I guess my first question is, who had the authority to do that?). Both Alabama and Georgia are part of the South that is still known as the “Bible Belt,” and the blue laws were an attempt to legislate compliance with the third Commandment. The idea was that if businesses were closed, then people would not be forced to work on Sunday, and that would also free them up to spend that extra free time in church (I was a Catholic, so we only had to go to church for one service, which was about an hour, but many of my friends were Protestant, and most all of them were supposed to go to two services on Sunday, one in the morning and one in the evening, which were usually a couple of hours long each. A few of them even had to spend the afternoon at church, too!)

Sounds initially like a great idea, in support of one of the few Commandments which every one knew: “Thou Shalt Not Work On Sunday.” But, boy, were there exceptions. Of course, every parent had dispensations to hand out so that household chores could be done. People had to eat, and for any one who had the means, cooking at home was work, so restaurants had to be open. People had to have medicines and ice cream sundaes (wonder where that word came from...), so the drug stores had to be open, if only in the afternoon. People who had jobs at movie theatres had to be on duty so that those who did not have to work could relax and entertained between church services, hence the “afternoon matinee” was conceived. And to get to and from the businesses that were allowed to be open, people needed transportation, so busses and cabs and gasoline stations were allowed to be open, although on reduced schedules. Of course, crimes and fires did not recognize the Sabbath, so police and firemen had to man their stations. The list went on and on, and varied from town to town. Now, since all of the exceptions were not listed in the Bible, who do you think had the right to make the decisions on what the exceptions would be to Sunday closings? That’s right, the politicians, the police and the “reverends”: The modern day Saducees, Teachers of the Law, and the Pharisees.

But God knew that hypocracy would abound in the interpretation of this Commandment, as well as the others. That is why when we read the epistles of the New Testatment, our covenant, the only reference I can find to the Sabbath is in Collosians 2:16, where Paul says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths.”(NKJV) (As far as God’s idea of resting from work goes, read Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, where it explains how to enter into “God’s rest.” There we find the real meaning of why God created the sabbath) In other words, the idea of making one day of the week holier than the other six days was never brought forward to the New Testament scriptures: Every day is sacred when we have the “Lord of the Sabbath” living in and through us!

Now I ask you, who among us could even begin to live by those standards that God had in mind for keeping the Commandments? The answer is that none of us could, at least on our own; not even the most righteous acting person. But do you know something? God knew that! It was all part of the Plan. Even the Scribes and Pharisees and the human lawmakers and politicians of all the ages unwhittingly contributed to the Plan by adding and legislating thousands of laws to the original commands that God had already provided to the people.

The Plan was to bury us with frustration and desperation in our impossible attempt to be righteous and to please Him on our own, so that in the end we would give up and turn to Him for relief from our desperate condition. Paul probably said it best in Rom 7:18-20, when he lamented about trying to live under the law: “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing.” Paul wasn’t the only one having trouble trying to live by the Law. God pointed out the problem, and His solution, through the Prophet Jeremiah early on. Concerning the people of Israel, He said, “...but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.”(Jer 7:23-26).

But then, God explained His plan for a new covenant in Jer 31:31-34, which included these words: “ ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Do you recall when we see the words of this prophesy again? That’s right...it’s over in the New Testament in the Book of Hebrews. In chapter 8, it’s listed in verses 8 through 12 as the “new covenant” that Jesus mediates, and which replaces the one that Moses received from God at Mt. Sinai (which, by the way, contains the Ten Commandments!). Heb 8:13 says, “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. The writer went on in Chapter 9 to point out that this new covenant (testament) was put in effect upon the death of Jesus Christ, with the shedding of his blood. This fulfilled the covenant which contained the Book of the Law that was mediated by Moses, by neutralizing the power of the Commandments, which, as we saw earlier, is the punishment we are supposed to receive for breaking them. Then, through Christ’s resurrection, God enabled the the new covenant, including His promise - “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts”, to become an amazing reality. When Jesus returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to bring new life to the spirits of those who would receive Him, thus allowing the God who gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Law, and Who fulfilled the same, to live in their hearts and influence their minds. The God who gave us those two important “love” commands (Mat 22:37-40, Mark 12:28-31), could now demonstrate His unconditional love to us and through us.

Concerning the Ten Commandments

Sorry I have taken so long between postings; I got caught up in the problems Blogger.com had with their system and couldn't access my blog for posting for several months. (Interesting how everything broke down shortly after I started blogging; Satan is relentless in trying to stifle God's "Good News.") Hopefully, I have things straightened out now.

The following is an article I wrote concerning all the recent controversies about posting the Ten Commandments in public institutions. Since the article is rather lengthy, I will post it in 3 parts; hopefully, that will make it easier for you to read and consider.

Thanks for your patronage and comments. Here's the article:

HANGING TWO INSTEAD OF TEN

An Argument Against Arbitrarily Posting The Ten Commandments

By Mark E. McLeroy

Part 1 of 3

With all the activity surrounding recent decisions to return the ten commandments to classrooms and various public enclaves, have you wondered what the Word of God has to say about this seemingly noble endeavor, if anything? Since the devil thrives on conflict and confusion, whenever I notice a fracas developing between “Us” (Christians) and “Them” (other Christians and all others), I try to get alone with God and my Bible for a while to see what He has to say about the situation before formulating my own opinions and arguments with which to weigh in on the matter under dispute. I’ve found out once too often that there are not too many things worse than jumping into a dispute on the apparent “sounds good” or “feels good” side of things and having to eat my often foul smelling and fowl tasting foot for my efforts, only because I didn’t check with God about the issue first. After all, James 1:5 does say, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all with out finding fault, and it will be given to him.”(NIV)

The purpose of this article is to present a few biblical arguments against the idea of arbitrarily hanging the Ten Commandments on schoolhouse and courtroom walls, or putting them on monuments in courthouse rotundas. I know that this idea may sound sacriligeous to most practicing Christians, but it seems that God has a lot to say on this issue, both directly and indirectly, and I would like to take a few minutes to share with you what I think the Holy Spirit has shown me in the scriptures concerning this matter. My desire is to know the truth, because the Lord Jesus says that “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:32, NIV)

Would you please do me a favor? Before you continue reading this article would you please take a pen, a piece of paper and a moment to sit down and list the Ten Commandments. In order, if possible. If you don’t remember them all, then just put down the ones you do know. Go ahead and take as much time as you like, but don’t (ahem)...cheat and look them up, at least until I tell you to. Come on back to me when you get through: I’ll be waiting.

There, now, how did you do? Most of the people I have asked to do this exercise haven’t done too well, including myself (even though I was raised in private, religeous schools). It’s kind of like the national anthem; everyone loves their country and loves the song, but very few people know all the words to the first stanza, much less the other two. But let’s assume that you beat the odds, and have a list of ten “You (Thou) shall nots”. Does it read like this: 1) You shall have no other gods before me. 2) You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain. 3) Keep holy the sabbath day. 4) Honor your father and mother. 5) You shall not murder. 6) You shall not commit adultery. 7) You shall not steal. 8) You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 9) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. 10) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or possessions? If it does, I’m sorry, but you, too, are wrong. “How could that be” you ask? Well, take a look for yourself. You can find the ten commandments, along with the rest of the law, in two places in the Bible: Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, both books of the old testament. (There is another list of them in Leviticus, chapter 19, but you won’t like that list because it has quite a few other “Do nots” mixed in with the ten, and they are in a different order.) You will have to look them up yourself, due to space constraints here.

Again, take a few moments to read through the list; notice that both the Exodus and the Deuteronomy lists read almost exactly the same, except for the addition of the phrase “as the Lord your God has commanded you” to the fourth commandment in the Deuteronomy list.

Do you see the difference in the list I gave above, (which, by the way, is very similar to every posted list of the ten commandments I have ever seen) and the ones listed in the Bible? Look at commandments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10. Don’t you think that if God had wanted to truncate those commandments down to one-liners like numbers 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9, that he could have done that when He gave them to Moses? If He felt that it was important enough to expound upon half of the commandments when He could have shortened them like the other half, then wouldn’t you think that we should honor His intentions by doing the same thing when we post the lists that everyone is supposed to obey? Seems to me that Jesus had something to say about that when He talked about “every jot and tittle”(KJV) over there in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verse 18. In fact He seems downright emphatic about it when He says, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter (jot), not the least stroke of the pen (tittle), will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Doesn’t the “Law” that He was speaking of include the Ten Commandments?

On the other hand, are the Ten Commandments the only thing included in the Law? Go back to Exodus and Deuteronomy and take a look at the chapters following the Ten Commandments; what about all those other commandments and laws God gave to Moses to give to the people? Can we just ignore those, or, since God gave them to Moses at the same time, shouldn’t we be posting them also, along with the initial ten? In fact, let me ask you a question. Can you name even two of those other commands God gave to the people through Moses? “Why is that important?”, you ask.

Remember when Jesus was asked by one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, which is the greatest commandment in the Law (Matt 22:34-40)? Which of the Ten Commandments did Jesus give in his answer? That’s right, none of them! His answer, which I’ll return to later, were two commands from that other group of commandments which God gave to Moses: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”(Matt 22:37, Deut 6:5) and, “ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”(Matt 22:39, Lev 9:18). Don’t you think it significant to those of us who profess to be Christian that the two commandments Jesus considered to be the most important are not even among the list that we insist be hung on our school walls? Do you think that maybe Jesus, who is God, had a different idea about what Commandments should be posted in our public institutions and churches?

It would seem to me that if we are going to post any Commandments in our schools, it would be the two that our Lord said were the most important out of all the laws He provided. Although they are two commands, Jesus treated them as though they were one, saying that loving God is the most important, but that loving our neighbor is just as important. That was as if to say, you can’t have one without the other! Look at the scripture in the the gospel according to Mark, chapter 12, verses 29-31 and you’ll see what I mean: “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, ‘Of all the comandments, which is the most important?’ ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord our God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’” Notice, the teacher of the law asked Jesus for one commandment (“...which is the most important?”); Jesus responded with two. Wouldn’t you agree that the Ten Commandments, and all of the rest of the Book of the Law, could be classified under one or the other of these two commands, and therefore would be fulfilled by obeying them.

To be continued...

Concerning the Christian Position on Marriage

Concerning the Christian Position on Marriage

Recently, the church I am a member of decided to finance an expensive marketing campaign to let the community know where we stood in the same sex marriage issue, primarily by using billboard ads to declare what we believe marriage is. This is a letter I wrote to the elders after I asked the Father what He thought about that idea during my prayer time:

Greetings in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Let me ask you a question: Does witnessing or evangelizing to people mean trying to make them do what you or God thinks they should do, or is it about convincing them to change their hearts so that they want to change their rebellious ways? Did Jesus Christ commission born again Christians to immerse ourselves in our society’s fruitless efforts to elect officials and pass laws in order to make lost people (some of whom appear to be masquerading as Christians) toe the line, or did He commission us to be dispensers of grace, mercy and love in quantities which will overwhelm the evil in men’s hearts, and cause them to search Him out?

Christ calls us to be His ambassadors to the world (1 Cor 5:20), yet we insist on being an army of occupation. We seem to be more concerned about exercising our citizenship in this country than we are in expressing our citizenship in the Kingdom of God. What good is it to spend a lot of money, talent and other resources on creating a huge campaign to market the concept of “Marriage – one man, one woman”, when statistics show that around one third of the marriages in the Christian community average 2 men and 2 women (just not at the same time)? Do you not see the hypocrisy of this endeavor?

I would surmise that some of the motivation behind this plan is your concern that our society is going, pardon the expression, to hell in a hand basket; or worse, God’s going to loosen His wrath on America and destroy our comfortable little haven of Christianity. In that case, let me ask you to recall Abraham’s hypothetical negotiation with God in Genesis, chapter 18, over His planned destruction of Sodom, a city which had been overcome by sexual perversion and immorality. Remember? Abraham asked God if He would spare the city’s destruction if there were fifty righteous people living in the city. God told Abraham that for fifty righteous people He would spare the city. Abraham continued negotiate: What about forty five; what about forty; what about thirty; what about twenty; and finally, what if there were only ten righteous people in the city? In every case, God said He would spare the city. (Please recall that although he destroyed the city and its occupants, He made provision for sparing the five righteous people who did live there.) My question is this: Shouldn’t we be about being one of the righteous persons that God would spare the city, or country – or world – for, rather than trying to be the conscious of a bunch of lost and rebellious people by passing a new law for them to struggle with?

You see, I believe that our focus is not to be on the family, or marriage, or the church, but rather, on Jesus. As Christians, if anyone comes up to us and asks us what we think about same sex marriage, shouldn’t we answer them by first asking them what they’ve done about Jesus? If they haven’t become born again and made Jesus Lord of their life, then our answer is only for the sake of argument, because they are lost and facing eternal damnation, regardless of our opinion, or their actions. On the other hand, if they have accepted Jesus, and believe in His Word, then they already know what God’s plan is concerning marriage, and again, our opinion concerning this subject doesn’t really matter.

Now, one final question: Do you really think that people in our community, whether they belong to the church or not, do not know where our church stands on the subject of same sex marriages, or abortion, or any other of a number of social ills? Brothers, if we have to have a marketing campaign to declare our position on these issues, then haven’t we already missed the boat on presenting who we are and what we are about? Which is more important: Evangelizing the lost, or being a conscious to the community?

I think Philip Yancy said it best in his book on Grace: He said, “If my activism, however well intentioned, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus’ gospel. I am stuck with law, not the Gospel of grace.”

Thank you for your time and consideration.

A Concerned Church Member

PS – For the record, I do believe in “God’s plan”; I have been married to the same person, who is of the opposite sex, for thirty-plus years!

The MOST Amazing Race

With the debut of the new season of TV "reality shows" (Survivor, The Great Race, etc), I thought I might share with you something God showed me as I watched the end of one of last year's episodes of The Great Race. I hope that it speaks to you as it spoke to me.

I was reading about the winners of the latest edition of the Amazing Race in USA Today (Ulchenna and Joyce; it made the front page) the other day, after having seen yet another commercial for the finale of Survivor - Palau on Sunday, when it suddenly struck me: Wasn't the Apostle Paul the original "Reality" contestant? I mean, think about it, didn't his "road blocks" and "challenges" make these modern day "reality shows" look like a walk in the park?

In Acts 20:24, Paul himself said, "However, I consider my task worth nothing to me, if only I may FINISH THE RACE and complete the task the Lord has given me - the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Have you ever looked at the "races" (not one, but four) that Paul ran to spread the Gospel? Many of the newer Bibles have them illustrated in the back appendices - or you could probably go on line to view them. Considering the times and modes of transportation available, they were truly AMAZING, especially the last one, his trip to Rome. Consider, for instance, the litany of tasks, roadblocks and setbacks he had to endure as listed in 2 Cor 11:24-28.

Take a look at the description of Paul's last race to Rome in Acts 27 and 28 - it's unbelievable! He rode a "Northeaster" with hurricane force winds across the Adriatic Sea for FOURTEEN DAYS, only to be shipwrecked (thanks to him, no lives were lost!), where he participated in the first Survivor series, Survivor - Malta, where, among other things, he survived a poisonous snake bite with no ill effects, and then went on to heal all the sick on the island. Man, what a contestant!

In a quote about his winning strategy, Paul said, "One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Php 3:13-14.) Wow! So what if Ulchenna, Joyce and Tom (he won Survivor - Palau last night) won; all they got was a little money.

I wonder...Do you think that Producer Mark Burkett would consider acknowledging creative rights on these productions? ;-)

Have a GREAT RACE yourself today!

MarkMc

On Unconditional Love

A radio talk show host I occasionally listen to named Dennis Prager (The Dennis Prager Show) recently challenged the Christian concept of "Unconditional Love." In my prayer time, I felt impresssed with the idea of responding to his challenge with a letter explaining the Believer's position on what this concept means and how it should be applied. The project took several months of research and waiting for the Holy Spirit to fill in the blank spots. The following letter is the result of my undertaking. I would certainly appreciate your comments and observations.

Dear Dennis,

Christians believe that the concept of “Unconditional Love” is one that the non-Christians cannot understand or accept because they will not accept the “Unconditional Lover,” Jesus Christ, and the concept of Him residing in those who embrace Him.

You and almost all other “unbelievers” (in Christ) and, sad to say, some people who call themselves Christians, believe that one must earn love and, by extension, must earn the right to be with “Perfect Love” (ie, God) in the Hereafter (ie, Heaven). The inherent problem with this concept is this: Who gets to decide what is being “good enough” to earn one’s love? Who, or what, sets the “bar”? How do I know if I’ve done enough to earn Dennis Prager’s love, and is that enough to earn God’s love also – along with a place in Heaven? Are the standards I have for me loving you the same as your standards for you loving me?

You see, if I compare my life of loving others and doing good to that of Adolf Hitler, I’ve got it made. But if I compare it to someone like Mother Theresa, then I’m lost!

Now, you may say that God gave us all of the Commandments in the Old Testament (your Torah) as a standard or guide for our actions and behavior for doing good, and thereby earning “love” points. But here again we have a problem, as evidenced by the fact that most all of the people of the Old Testament, including the Patriarchs and the Prophets were miserable failures at obeying the Law. That problem is that Man takes God’s laws and interprets them to fit his needs and adjusts the standards of what is “good enough” performance in order to avoid being a law-breaker.

Please allow me to give you example of what I mean. The 5^th Commandment says, very simply, “Thou shalt not kill.” Notice that God did not say, “Thou shalt not kill, except for…killing criminals who break the law, killing enemies who try to kill you, killing enemies who haven’t tried to kill you, killing in self-defense, ect.” Then Jesus Christ came along in the New Testament and added another dimension to “up the anti”; concerning the 5^th Commandment, He said that even if you think about killing someone, or are angry at them for unjust cause, you are guilty of breaking the law. Keep in mind, when Jesus laid out this standard for keeping that Commandment, He was explaining God’s standard (or requirement) for keeping all of the Commandments, if we are to try to live a perfect life and hope to EARN our way to a love-based relationship with Him.

But, you say, no one can live by that standard of “doing good” – and you are right, none of us humans in ourselves can meet those requirements. Again, the books of the Old Testament are loaded with examples of people trying to keep the Commandments, but failing in every way. In fact, Christians believe that in reality, God set Man up for failure in this endeavor in order to show him that he (man) could not do it on his own; that he needed a Savior. The point is, if I cannot earn God’s love, why should I care about earning the love of men?

When Jesus came along and ushered in the principles of the New Testament, He introduced some profound and radical changes to the old way of doing things as taught by the Old Testament. (By the way, this was all prophesized in the Book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verses 31-34.) Jesus not only taught these things verbally; He also demonstrated them in the way that He lived, and He verified the authority He was operating under by performing supernatural signs and wonders.

One of the most important things Jesus did was to reduce all of the Old Testament commandments and laws down to two commands: 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. (Mt 22: 37-40, Mk 12:30-31) Basically, He was saying, if you can strive to keep these two commands, you will keep them all.

Now, let me ask you, do you see any “conditional” words in the commands listed above, other than the words “as yourself” in the second command? For most born again Christians that is not really a condition, since we believe that the Spirit of Love lives in and through us because we cared enough for ourselves to ask Him to come into our lives. The only restrictive word in this command might be the use of the word “neighbor”, as opposed to use of words like “others” or “friends” or “people” or “enemies.” What I’m getting at is that neither Moses nor Jesus gave us any “love commandments” that were conditioned by the idea that someone had to earn that love from us.

But before He emphasized the importance of these two commandments, Jesus had already taught on one of the most important – if not most ignored – principles of love, which included these other groups of people not implicated in the word “neighbor.” Jesus said that we must also love our enemies. He expounded upon the “Love your enemy” theme considerably in Mt 5:38-48 and Lk 6:27-36. In the interest of time and space, I will not write out those verses here, but suffice it to say that in these scriptures He was quite specific in explaining His Father’s expectations on this issue of loving those who aren’t exactly trying to earn your love. Keep in mind, this principle was not something Jesus dreamed up: It is based on Proverbs 25:21-22, which says, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

The Apostle and Epistle writer Paul expounded this tough love message even further in the 12^th chapter of the epistle to the Romans, verses 9-21. These teachings are very powerful, but difficult – if not impossible – for the average person to put into practice. In fact, he laments his frustration in following his own teachings on being a good and loving person in Rom 7:14-25. Basically, Paul says that the things he wants to do he doesn’t do, and the things that he doesn’t want to do, he does anyway. Verse 21-25 says, “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members (sound familiar?). What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

The true believer Christian’s concept of “unconditional love” is all wrapped up with the personage of Jesus Christ. Here’s a saying that explains this belief: Jesus gave His life for us, so He can give His life to us, so He can live His life through us. The believer’s overall goal in life is to allow Jesus to live His life through him or her, so that He might have the opportunity to “love” those that the believer comes in contact with into the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, through a conviction that is brought about in the unbeliever by His (Jesus’) actions and words of love. That is why it is so devastating when people who claim to be Christians act and speak in un-Christian ways.

You see, Dennis, it’s not about men loving men unconditionally; if that were the case, then you’re right – what reason would my enemy have for NOT indulging in hateful behavior and treating me badly. (We see this attitude in the Muslim extremists who believe they can “EARN” their way to a blissful afterlife with their “Allah” and a bunch of youthful virgins by killing Christians, Jews and other infidels.) It’s about God loving Man unconditionally through His Son, Jesus Christ, who was sent into this world to provide the only perfect sacrifice for the cumulative sin-debt of all mankind through His death on the cross, and to restore Man’s relationship to God prior to Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience through His resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Jesus said it Himself in the Gospel of John, chapter 8: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Christian believers don’t believe that Jesus came to earth to demonstrate how we are to live our lives; only He could obey all of the Commandments and live the perfect life of love. We believe that Jesus (God the Son) was sent by God the Father to fulfill the Commandments, to be sacrificed for the cumulative sin-debt of all mankind, and to be resurrected from the dead (thus defeating satan and his ultimate power) by the Father, so that He might combine His resurrected Spirit with the spirits of those on earth who will invite Him into their hearts through receiving the indwelling presence of God the Holy Spirit into their lives (the “Pentecostal” experience – Acts 3). The Christian believer believes that in effect, Jesus “re-creates” our spirit with His to create a new spirit – a new child of God: Thus, the “born again” experience. The Christian concept is that it is through these newly created lives that Jesus is still able to walk this Earth today, over 2,000 years after His death and resurrection, spreading the “good news” of the Gospel.

Perhaps this analogy will explain this concept a little better: Suppose you, a healthy vibrant man, were to contract a deadly form of cancer and die. Suppose further that I am your brother, and I had this miraculous power to heal sickness and disease and raise people from the dead. Given these assumptions, what are the TWO things I would have to do in order to restore you to your previous, normal, healthy life? I would need to remove your cancer and I would need to restore life to your body. Here’s the reason: If I gave you life but I did not remove the cancer, you would simply die again, in short order. Alternatively, if I removed your cancer but did not give you life, you would be a healed corpse; free of cancer, but still dead.

In the analogy, your situation represents the spiritual condition Mankind inherited after Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Cancer represents the debt due for the pride and rebellion that they demonstrated by disobeying God in their attempt to become equal to Him – to become “like” Him in knowledge and power. Until Jesus came, we were all doomed to inherit the sin nature of Adam and Eve, the original parents of all Mankind, and, ultimately, the punishment required for that sin nature.

Death, in the analogy, represents the separation between God and man caused by sin of Adam and Eves’ disobedience and unfaithfulness in the Garden of Eden. This “death” was a severance of the bond between the Spirit of the Lord God and spirit of man, which eventually resulted in the physical death of man’s body (see Genesis 2:16-17).

God’s plan to restore the relationship and dynamics He had with Mankind in the Garden of Eden before the “fall”, is represented in the analogy by the idea of my healing your cancer and restoring life to your spirit and body, neither of which you either earned or deserved (remember, you were dead). In an absolutely awesome act of unconditional love, God did the same for all of Mankind!

It was with unconditional love that God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, to live among men and fulfill the Commandments that they could not keep, and to pay the impossible sacrificial price for the cumulative punishment due for the sins of Mankind.

It was with unconditional love that God the Son went about His mission: Healing people from sickness and disease and delivering them from demons, without regard to their race, religion, social standing or national origin; teaching His message of God’s love, forgiveness and salvation to Samaritans as well as Jews, to publicans as well as Pharisees, to servants as well as masters, to women as well as men. He went forgiving and ministering to adulterers, thieves, and, yes, even murderers – even though they didn’t ask for it; and finally, in the ultimate act of unconditional love, He allowed Himself to be tortured and killed as the perfect sacrifice for the trespasses and evil acts of undeserving Mankind, past, present and future, that we might become “the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)

And, finally, it is with unconditional love that God the Holy Spirit (also called the Holy Ghost) has come to live in the hearts of people who will receive Him, beginning with the day of Pentecost, described in the New Testament Book of Acts, chapter 2 (which corresponds with your Feast of Weeks). In this act of unconditional love, God doesn’t say “Clean up your act and I’ll forgive you and allow my Spirit to bring you life by dwelling in you.” Instead, He says “If you will accept the forgiveness I’ve already provided for you and receive my life-giving Spirit into you being, I will clean up your act and make you a conduit of my Unconditional Love.”

You see, Dennis, we believers in Christ don’t believe this life on earth is all about everybody loving each other (unconditionally or otherwise) and being nice to everybody else with the idea that if I’m good enough I’ll earn my way to some mystical place called Heaven or Paradise in the “hereafter”. (Jesus once told a rich young ruler who came to Him for advice, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only One who is good.”[Mt 19:17]) Nor do we believe that life in this world is about establishing a new world order, where everyone is on the same political page – or of the same religion. In fact, we believe that this way of life is impossible, because God’s standards for “being good” and “doing good” are impossible to attain, and Man’s standards vary, almost to the person.

Instead, we believe that life on this earth is about a spiritual relationship which is eventually manifested in our flesh endeavors. We believe that it is who we are that determines what we do in this world, and not the other way around.

In terms of “unconditional love,” our mission in this life is to be witnesses and ministers of God’s unconditional love for all Mankind. Jesus tells us to “Go into the world and preach the ‘good news’ to all creation.” St. Francis of Assisi use to say, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words!” God inspired the Apostle and Epistle writer Paul to put it this way:

“For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”(2 Cor 5:14-21, NIV Bible)

Let me make one thing clear right now: For this way of life to be effective, one cannot operate out of weakness or lack of faith, lest one be overcome or killed by the evil that one is facing, as in the Christians facing the lions in the Coliseum for an afternoon of slaughter and mayhem. No, operating under the concept of “unconditional love” can only be accomplished successfully by acting from the strength of knowing who you are in God’s eyes and what His mission for your life is, as in the story of Daniel in the lions’ den. If you’ve read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life in the Bible, recall that whenever His enemies tried to seize Him or kill Him, they were unable to lay a hand on Him and He simply walked away from their midst, until such time that He “allowed” them to take Him into their custody to fulfill God the Father’s plan (mission) for His life.

Please also understand this: I am not suggesting that Christians, or anyone else, are above the man-made laws of our various cultures and societies. I think that it is Paul Harvey who is fond of saying that for a society of people, self-government without self-discipline is ultimately self-destruction. Jesus said, “Render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s.” Wherever we live or visit, we are subject to the laws of that location. If we break any of those laws, whether we think we were justified or not in our disobedience, we should be prepared to suffer the worldly consequences of our actions. My personal belief is that if we are acting under God’s direction, we can expect His intervention in whatever punishment we may incur. We read in the Book of Acts in the New Testament Bible that when Paul, Barnabas and, later, Peter were incarcerated for their actions and teachings on Christ’s behalf, they were all miraculously released from their confinements and allowed to continue their missions. Even Jesus did not raise up an army to overcome the evil authorities that surrounded Him (much to Judas’ chagrin), because He knew that to truly overcome the evil in men, you must change their hearts; instead, He relied on the protection of His Father, as He went about doing the work that God directed Him to do.

Finally, Dennis, please know that I don’t pretend to be in a position to judge you, your relationship with God, or your religion; after all, the Jewish people were the original children of God, long before Gentiles were let into the Family, and were the first to experience His unconditional love. Jesus was explicit in His teachings to his followers about not judging others, lest they in turn be judged.

Thank you for challenging this concept of “unconditional love” and for providing the forum for the ensuing discussion on this topic. Your challenge caused me to reevaluate my thoughts and solidify my position on this very important subject. The bad news and evil behavior in this world today easily wreak havoc with our emotions and thoughts, pulling us away from the spiritual life we are called to lead, dragging us down to live in the weaknesses of the flesh and soul…pride, anger, revenge, retribution – and unconditional hate.

Sincerely yours,

Mark McLeroy

Romans 13:8-10 (NIV Bible):

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.