I just received an email for Jon Zens about the turmoil with the Shack publishing group. Here is a direct link

Zens asked what can we do to help? So I ask what would you do to help, what would you do if you felt you were defrauded out of millions of dollars. Now needless to say, these three men were friends. I followed their radio program for quite some time over at God Journey  as, they were instrumental in my escape from religious traditionalism.

Paul says over in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 :

6:1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? 2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? 7 To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 8 But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!

Now this verse sounds lovely when it is $10,000 or $5,000 but if you look at this suit we are talking millions of dollars. I told Jon that this not only changes your immediate circumstances but the lives of your children’s children. This is a boat load of money which effects your quality of living for years to come. Maybe I was cheated out of a few grand for a car or maybe a shady buisness deal but 5-10 million dollars is a lot of money and the book will not slow down.

So again I ask what would you do? Answer it from both sides. Also would you just say forget and leave the money on the table so that you can faithfully apply this particular section of scripture? Man this is a tough one. But that goes on to add, what about Christian’s who get divorced? Isn’t that a lawsuit, or does that not qualify? Anyway,  I look forward to the interaction if any

Tomorrow is Charity and my12 anniversary. What a wonderful woman to put up with me. I am very excited we are going to Texas De Brazil in Forth Worth, hopefully we can walk around downtown in the Sundance Square area for a little while and just hold hands and kiss with no kids to interrupt!

One of my great struggles is trusting the “bible” wholly. I will remove away from human error as I did before not that I don’t believe there are things that are a bit shaky but because it is a mute point that has been widely debated with no true resolution. My greatest struggle is that of “inspiration”. There are a few reason for this.

The first being that inspiration or “God Breathed” as it is written in Timothy would mean that no human error was involved. It would be as if the Holy Spirit came into the person and literally took control as the words were being written. This would be necessary to prevent any human bias in the text. So any sinful/fallen traits that contaminated the author would be removed every time he sat and wrote something of scripture. That would also mean that any cultural biases; things that are amoral neither moral nor immoral, would have to be removed also to make the text universally applicable to all people at all time until Christ returns.

The second issue would be what makes what was written scripture? Who came to that conclusion? Was it the author? I do see times where some writers say “thus says the Lord” and I am okay with that, but what about when things seem to be of the writers opinion, or a writing from the authors perspective (which would be limited of course)? What makes Philemon scripture? What makes Esther scripture? What makes Ruth scripture? Were all the Psalms and Proverbs meant to be “scripture”? How can I validate that it is God breathed versus just being something someone was writing to express themselves? What about letters that are missing? We have to believe even from the collection of letters today that we have an incomplete bible and are missing some rather important letters.

Thirdly we have the issue of canonization and what it entails. We would have to believe that the canonization process itself was also inspired by God but I hardly believe that.  So not only do we have missing letters, maybe even human contaminated words from God but we have a process that was a human council. Especially if you are a cessationist because God had stop speaking that way 300 years prior to the canonization process.

So though the “bible” speaks of inspiration we almost have to develop a systematic theological treatise to come up with the concept of inspiration and that my friends is my struggle.

How would you define manhood? What are some principles of “manhood”? Where do we get these from or who should define them? I need men and women on this one. Can anyone give me 3-10 points?

I am currently in a reconstruction phase. Just a heads up this will no longer be a “Christian” blog but the blog of a christian. Nothing is off topic. With that comes a name change . I look forward to interacting if interested.

I have come to the conclusion that I no longer believe in a closed Canon. I can’t with a reasoning mind. I believe that Revelation is still being given directly to God’s people in multiple ways. But anyway here are some reasons why.

1. The writers of scripture never ever talk about a closed revelation (please don’t quote The Revelation, please).

2. All revelation from God was not recorded, I am not saying that God wasn’t involved in what was recorded, I just don’t know if it were planned out the way we have it today. God revealed a lot of things to a lot of people that never made its way to becoming canonized and since this is the case, we would have to say the canon we now possess is incomplete which obliterates the sola scriptura notion. For instance Philemon.

3.  The writers of scripture are limited by their experience. This includes technology, knowledge, geography and maybe even science. The writers of scripture were fixed to a certain geographical area and political and economic culture. Things might have been written much more different if the Gospel ufolded under different circumstances.

4. The true word of God is living and still speaks and is not silent and He never told us to rely solely on the ancient writings nor future writings  for our ethic and decision making but on the Spirit.

5. Finally, it is hogwash when two people believe in sola scriptura and yet don’t agree. This is impossible for me to understand. Either both is wrong, one is right or if both is right then we have to conclude that the scriptures are not objective as we make them out to be.

Anyway this is something I am currently wrestling through. God bless.

As you can tell by the title of this blog I hold to something known as New Covenant Theology. This may seem like an irrelevant debate, or even a passing thought but it is not. Your theological system will drive the way you live your life as a Christian rather you want it to or not. Much like a family. Complementarianism (Men lead exclusively) versus Egalitarianism (equality between men and women) will drive the way you make decisions, relate to one another, discuss differences and even rear children.

I will say that I am usually disappointed that we Christians do not think critically enough about what we believe and why. And your system of theology will influence how you behave for the rest of your life. With that I think I have finally taken a side in this New Covenant Theology discussion.

If you are interested in the premises of New Covenant Theology here is a good link from the guys at New Covenant Theology Journal . They also have quite a few essays and posts dealing with some of the more detail implications of New Covenant Theology and the practicality of this system. In short NCT takes the position that the entire Old Covenant (this includes all three parts if you agree with the trichotimization which I disagree) given on Sinai has been abolished, cancelled out, and/or is obsolete. The hermeneutical key would be Matthew 5 and the book of Hebrews. Because this law has been cancelled and the Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21) is now what guides the believer we no longer need to look to Moses for our moral compass.

Now this post is about the debate that is sort of going on within the ranks of NCT. I have finally taken a position. After thinking through this for some time I think the brothers of at Christ My Covenant rightfully reflect my heart on the issue. I do not believe that the New Covenant is list driven, nor do I believe one list has been exchanged by a new list. I believe Christians now live by the Law of Love guided or motivated by the New Heart. I don’t believe there was any intention on the writers of the New Testament to make a new list of laws which would later become the Law of Christ. We do not need to search the scriptures to make such a list or even attempt to put such a list in front of believers. I believe if Christ be lifted up the believer will respond in moral faithfulness. I am not saying there are not principles but I do believe these principles to be a result of motivating believers not the cause of motivating believers.

I believe the new heart promised and the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8 is Christ living in us and working through us and conforming us to His image and all lists have been cancelled out completely. We now live by the Spirit and now law. I do not believe the principles on the New Testament pages to be a new type of law just boundaries or guide posts.

This is a short post and much can be said, but I think I am with the fellas over at Christ My Covenant.

I want to discuss something that is near and dear to my heart. That is the role and goal of traditional pastoral ministry. I believe our current model is the direct opposite of what the scripture teaches. I will use Ephesians 4:11-16 as a basis. It reads…

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (ESV)

So we see that Christ Himself has given us these gifts on His own accord for the equipping of the saints for the building up of the body until we mature and grow up into the Him. I want to focus on the maturity part, which seems to be goal so that entire body works together in line with the Head.

Traditional Pastoral Ministry and My Problem With It

I have written about this extensively in the past, but I have to say I am still perplexed by our current model. The end result of pastoral ministry is the equivalent of a horse having a carrot dangled in front of them in order to keep them moving. The carrot never gets eaten (unless the string is cut) and the horse is forever trying to satisfy his desire of the carrot while the owner gets what he wants, the horse is moving in the right direction.

In every church I know the pastor always own the stick and carrot and you will never ever get the carrot. Unless of course you kick the owner off of your back and go find your own carrot. It is one of the greatest pyramid schemes in history. They tell you that you can be as mature as they are, yet they will always be more mature than you. You actually pay them to keep them more “mature” than you. If you are lucky you may get recognized as a lesser among equals, but only if you are lucky and you get in early. Much like other pyramid schemes. You can get close to the top but you can never step into the capstone, unless you get out of the scheme and start your own.

You my friend can never provide care, counsel, mutual accountability, you can never teach, disciple or give insight or wisdom to your pastor. He will always be the most wise, smart and greatest among the body, well, because God has put Him there right? Wrong! In Ephesians there seems to be the goal of maturity. These gifts were given to the body in order for maturity and when I look at 1 Timothy and Titus it seems that maturity is the mark of leadership in the body of Christ, yet you are artificially held back by some logistical hogwash.

For example, I have seen in bylaws that only a fixed amount of elders are needed with the Senior pastor being the ultimate authority. If we have 1o0 qualified men then 100 men should be elders (I throw women in there but that is a different discussion altogether). So you are kept at bay because of logistics over and above what scripture says. Not to mention our churches grow upwards not outwards so unless one of the older guys die you can never be an elder. How does that work exactly?

Listen the goal is maturity, that maturity has to be defined as the ability for us to pursue a mutual relationship which leads to my next and final point.

The Goal of a Family is to Produce Mature Adults

The fundamental goal of a family is to take children, instill in them values, help them mature so that they will become full functioning, productive ADULTS. Now I don’t know about your family; however, my goal as a father is to raise my son, equip him for adulthood then release him in hopes that we would one day be PEERS. Once my son has proven that he is an adult (which for the most part is a direct reflection of my parenting) then we are no longer father/child. We are father/adult child and the entire dynamic of our relationship shifts to something wholly different. My son is no longer dependent on me for decision making, he can actually help me make better decisions. He is no longer dependent on me for his welfare, he can actually contribute to the family name. He no longer looks at me to tell him what is right and wrong, he actually contributes to the shaping of my value and morals. This is my goal from the onset. Every parent has a clear goal. Raise a child to be an adult.

However, in the church it is the exact opposite. We purposely cut the legs off of members, by making this perpetual pastor model the standard and most of the children of the faith will never become adults. And even if they are granted some adult privileges, they can never contribute to the family the way the “father/senior pastor” does, because he will always be the ultimate authority. But if I read Ephesians the way I do, I see this relationship is only a bridge to a greater and more fulfilling relationship. Once a person is mature enough to acknowledge Christ is the head then I no longer function as this persons parent/superior we actually become peers. So the codedency is eradicated by the person personally walking with Christ. He/She no longer needs me to guide them, we need each other to guide one another.

Again this NEVER happens in traditional pastoral ministry. The minister is professionaly trained, professional paid and professional staffed to prevent this from every transpiring and I believe it is to the detriment of the body. People are as about as codependent as a vantriliquest act. They both need each other or the show can’t go on. In traditional pastoral ministy, the show goes on every sunday and we entrench it by making it the “biblical” model. I disagree with such a model and hope that you begin to question it.

Church Membership is baloney. Anyone trying to sale it, is selling baloney. There is but one church and Jesus is the head of one church not multiple churches and whoever is hidden in Christ is part of this church, logistically we may express the church, but the church is a whole not parts.

With that entry I want to talk about church membership, especially this nonsense called “biblical” church membership. Once you throw the adjective “biblical” in front of church membership, you no longer are following the bible because no such monster exists in all of the bible. Church membership was not in your bible, is not in your bible, and will never be in your bible. It is a fabricated theological position without even a milligram of biblical support. For someone to make it a standard of acceptance, care and love within a group of Christians (wrongfully defined as “a” church instead of “the” church at a given location) seems to fly in the face of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Yes I did say that.

Church membership is a clever ploy, to control individual believers and to ROB them of the freedom Christ has given them. You see people say “either agree with our doctrine and methodlogy, sign this paper or we will refuse to care for you”. Wow! Who dares to usurp the authority of Christ for man made traditions and then to say I don’t have to obey Christ or His Apostles because I have drafted this document that gives me the right to not to (in my Mater voice).

Its bogus sisters and brothers. It is the equivalent of paying $100 dollars for a bologna sandwich because the meat that produces it is very expensive. There is no such precedent, example, practice or hint towards a membership that either allows or let people off of the hook for caring for you. Or that gives you some type of special privileges or holds back such privileges that other Christians have. This is slavery to man made laws, not Christian principles that motivate us to love Christ and others.

However, today we have now thrown the word “biblical” in the front of the term to give it more credence. We have to keep track right? We have to know what you believe (over and beyond 1 Corinthians 15) to see if we will extend our acceptance to you. Because we are a “true church” that practices “church discipline” and you must sign this here document if you want our acceptance.

Nothing is more hypocritical than those who boast about Sola Scriptura but then insert man made traditions and dangle them in the front of other believers. So the SBC will say “no drinking” but then say they agree with Sola Scriptura, the Reformed dudes say “church membership” but then say they are fighting for the great doctrines of the reformation, especially Sola Scriptura (in my aristocratic voice).

My church membership became permanent when I died with Christ and was raised anew in Him. My church membership became permanent when the Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf. My church membership became permanent when Jesus accepted my plea for salvation because I recognized that I had sinned against Him and was unable to earn my own righteousness. My church membership became permenant when the King of Kings sat down at the right hand of glory. Some seminary (or non seminary) trained men with some self-appointed position of self-appointed authority, who cleverly got a group of people to listen to them and build a nice building can’t revoke something that the Divine King has so rightfully given me and sealed.

Come on man, church membership? I guess I will just trust Jesus’ words.

I was asked a question on church discipline and through thinking about it all, I have come to the conclusion that we may not have enough information to make it a consistent practice. I am just thinking here but here are a few questions.

1. What if a spouse or child living under your roof falls under a specific sin that you would discipline somone in the church for? For example if we follow this command to the tee then how can I not speak to my wife or children or not eat with them?

2. What happens to the children of a disciplined couple or single parent? For example what if somone who was a single mom with 3 kids who were actively involved in the church but whose mom has been removed for moving in with a man? Do we kick the children out? Do we go pick them up but not talk to the mom? I am just thinking both logistically and practically.

3. Are there any sins that were not listed in Paul’s writing that we should discipline for? If so who makes such a decision?

4. What about a sibling or family member who may be fall unde this discipline? Do we not invite them over for Thanksgiving because we don’t want to eat with them?

Just some thoughts. God bless.