while today

The Parable of $100,000

February 13, 2011

The Bible reader must be careful. The message must be properly understood and not distorted.

Sometimes passages do need further enlightenment that will change our perspective. This may come from taking into account all that scripture says on a subject, allowing scripture to interpret scripture. It may arise from new insights gained from history, customs, geography, understanding literary forms, or the biblical languages.

Yet, there is also the danger that we will fail to understand and apply simply because we don’t like what it says—our own willfulness gets in the way. Maybe scripture challenges our beliefs and attitudes, and we shrink away. Søren Kierkegaard told a challenging little parable of $100,000:

Suppose that it was said in the New Testament—we can surely suppose it—that it is God’s will that every man should have 100,000 dollars: Do you think there would be any question of a commentary? Or would not everyone rather say, “It’s easy enough to understand, there’s no need of a commentary, let us for heaven’s sake keep clear of commentaries—they could perhaps make it doubtful whether it is really as it is written. (And with their help we even run the risk that it may become doubtful.) But we prefer it to be as it stands written there, so away will all commentaries!”

But what is found in the New Testament (about the narrow way, dying to the world, and so on) is not at all more difficult to understand than this matter of the 100,000 dollars. The difficulty lies elsewhere, in that it does not please us—and so we must have commentaries and professors and commentaries: for it is not a case of “risking” that it may become doubtful to us, for we really wish it to be doubtful, and we have a tiny hope that the commentaries may make it so.

Let us be careful readers and students of the Bible searching for the truth (see Acts 17:11). Yet, let us not protect our hearts from scripture’s rigorous demands, but allow it to challenge and change us. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, NASB).

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Posted by Russell Holden

Psalom

February 4, 2011

It was a wonderful experience having Psalom sing last Sunday afternoon. Konstantin had a wonderful way of getting us to sing along with Psalom as well. The quartet is a ministry of Konstantin Zhigulin. Konstantin is a musician by background. When he became a Christian in 1994, he began composing hymns for use in Russian speaking congregations. These hymns are sung widely in churches of Christ in the Russian — speaking world. The music is so beautiful and encouraging, two American Christians – Mark Shipp of Austin Graduate School of Theology and Jeff Matteson, former missionary to Siberia — began translating several of Konstantin’s hymns into English, so that they could be shared with American churches. But as Konstantin said last week, his main emphasis is the development of congregational a cappella singing in Russia.

Psalom had two albums available last week. I know quite a few of us purchased the CDs and the song book last week. Some of you may wonder whether it is still possible to purchase the CDs and also how you might keep in touch with this ministry.

Psalom has a web site:

www.psalom.org

The site provides information about Psalom. There are some samples of their music under “MP3 audio.” They have some videos of performances in Russian under “Videoarchive,” and there is ordering information for their CDs under “Contacts, Donations and Store.” Their album “Peace to You!” is available at iTunes and also at Amazon.com as an mp3 download. That album was not available last week, but it is also in English. By the way, the songbook that was available is based on that album.

I hope that we learn some of Konstantin’s hymns. It was a wonderful experience having Psalom here. And thanks to all of you who made the fellowship possible. Konstantin had mentioned he was uncertain about eating prior to singing (fearful that we might all be sleepy), but he said he got it. The meal is about family, spiritual family, and he appreciated that Psalom received such a welcome.

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Posted by Russell Holden

For Your Good

January 28, 2011

A few years ago, I ran across an article entitled “Do five simple things a day to stay sane, says scientists.” The social scientists, not being writers of headlines, were talking about mental well-being. They had found that five simple things that can often be done daily make a great difference in our mental outlook. What was their list?

Connect. Develop relationships with family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.
Be active. It can be as simple as taking a walk, but physical activity is good for us.
Be curious. Note the beauty of everyday moments. Reflect on what is most important.
Learn. It’s challenging and brings satisfaction to our lives.
Give. “Helping friends and strangers links your happiness to a wider community and is very rewarding.”

What strikes me as I reflect on such a list is that my faith encourages me to do these simple things. My faith encourages me to connect with others: my family, my church family, and my community. Assembling with my church family and doing acts of service encourage me to be active. Prayer and meditation encourage curiosity and living a reflective life. As a student of the Bible, I’m a lifetime learner besides the fact that service will also entail learning new things. Following Jesus who came not to be served but to serve leads me into giving. I’ve learned giving in my weekly contribution to the church, but I’ve also learned to give to others in various settings. Following Jesus encourages me to be generous.

Another social science study notes that church attendance and having friends at church are keys to well-being. Thirty-three percent of those who attend weekly with three to five friends in the congregation report being extremely satisfied. Those who attend weekly without friends in the church and those who never attend scored 19% extremely satisfied.

The bottom line is not about social science or what I may perceive as beneficial to me. I could be self-deceived about my felt needs. The bottom line is about God. I’m struck by a line in Deuteronomy 10:13. Moses has commanded Israel to walk in the way of the Lord, to love God, and to serve God with all their heart. Moses tells them to keep the commandments “for your good.”

I’m convinced that following God is the best way. It is the way of character, inner peace, and fulfillment in life. Social science catches a glimpse of well-being, but wisdom intimately knows the inner life of the soul. Even when following God leads through hardships, I’m convinced God’s way will ultimately be the best way. I believe in a loving God who commands things “for your good.”

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Posted by Russell Holden

400 Years Old!

January 21, 2011

First published in 1611, the King James Version celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2011. The KJV had a number of important English Bible predecessors: the Tyndale New Testament (1525/26), the Coverdale Bible (1535), the Matthew-Tyndale Bible (1537), the “Great Bible” (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560), and the Bishop’s Bible (1568).

King James I, the king of England and earthly head of the Church of England, called the Hampton Conference of 1604. It was at this conference that a new translation of the Bible was proposed for use in the Church of England. One of the purposes of the new translation was to eliminate marginal notes that had become popular with the Geneva Bible. Those notes had become a battle ground of doctrinal differences.

Fifty-four translators worked on the KJV, although the names of only forty-seven have been preserved. The translators were divided into six committees. Three committees worked on the Old Testament, two on the New Testament, and one on the Apocrypha. (The Apocrypha was commonly printed in the KJV until the British and Foreign Bible Society adopted a policy of omitting it in 1826.) The draft translation from these six committees was then reviewed by a smaller group of 12 translators (two from each committee). The work of seeing the translation through the printing process was overseen by Miles Smith and Thomas Bilson. Smith wrote the preface, “The Translators to the Readers,” which is usually omitted in modern printings, although interesting to read.

In what sense is the King James Version the Authorized Version? The mention of authorized version is printed in the KJV, but unfortunately there is no historical record of its authorization. It is assumed to have come by Order in Council, but records have been lost. Such an order would only have meant that it was authorized by the Church of England to be read in their churches. It is not a reference to any divine authorization.

Why celebrate? I’ve decided to read the KJV in my daily Bible readings this year in honor of its 400th anniversary. The KJV made a profound effect on language, literature, and study of the Bible. For many, it is still their Bible of choice. The preface to the KJV remarks that they owed “everlasting remembrance” to the translators who went before them. I suspect we do owe an incredible debt to all who have translated the Bible for us. The KJV translators overcame a resistance to making the Bible available in the common language (an issue addressed in the KJV preface). Whatever translation you are reading, if it in English, you have an incredible debt to the KJV and the translations that preceded it. They made the Bible available to us all.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Greater Love

January 14, 2011

The nation was shocked by the Arizona shooting. The darkness of human madness is incomprehensible. Yet, in the midst of such darkness the light is often reflected because human beings are created in the image of God. Dorwin Stoddard, a victim of the shooting, is one such story. You may have heard his name in the news, but you may not have heard that he was a member of the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. He and his wife, Mavy, were involved in their benevolence ministry.

When the shooting began, Dorwin threw himself into the line of fire to protect his wife. Although wounded, Mavy is recovering and was released from the hospital. Dorwin was fatally wounded.

You can’t hear such a story and not be moved. How great a sacrifice! How great a love! And in the background I hear the echo of scriptures.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7–8, ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13, ESV

I have sat across the desk from couples preparing for marriage and read portions of Ephesians 5: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV). I have asked those potential husbands, “What kind of love did Christ have?” It is difficult to coax the words out of them, but the answer is sacrificial. It should not be surprising that a man who attempted to live a Christlike life died a Christlike death. Greater love has no one but to lay down his life for another.

But if you are moved by this man’s love and sacrifice, remember something. You are loved in the same way. Christ died so that you might live. How great a love! How great a sacrifice!

Our condolences go to the victims of this shooting and their families. Whenever there is darkness, a need exists for people to reflect the light. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Those who have come to know the sacrifice and love of Jesus can be light bearers in the midst of darkness.

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Posted by Russell Holden

“In Accordance with the Scriptures”

January 7, 2011

The witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection also testify that His death and resurrection were in accordance with the scriptures (1 Cor. 15:4, Luke 24:44). Another line of evidence that the seeker needs to consider about Jesus is prophecy found in the Old Testament or Jewish Tanach.

Alfred Edersheim listed 456 passages which were interpreted as Messianic in ancient Jewish literature. J. Barton Payne in his Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy identified 1239 predictions in the Old Testament (6,641 verses) of which 127 (3,348 verses) were personal Messianic predictions. An important point for the seeker to remember is that the prophecies were written before the birth of Jesus. We can know that from the Jewish literature of the time, the manuscripts of the Old Testament that date before the first century A.D. (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls) and the translation of the Old Testament into Greek (the Septuagint) which dates from 200 to 100 B.C. We do not have to worry about a criticism which would claim the prophecies were written after Christ to make it look like Jesus had fulfilled them.

Peter Stoner was chairman of the Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College. He had students calculate probabilities for eight Messianic passages. He attempted always to remain conservative in their estimates. They found the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all 8 prophecies was 1 in 1017.

Stoner illustrated the probability by imagining 10¹⁷ silver dollars dumped onto the state of Texas. They would cover all of the state two feet deep. Stoner wrote: “Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just the same chance the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”

We are faced with the choice between the inspiration of God guiding the prophets or some incredibly difficult odds. And as Stoner noted, it is not just a matter of 8 prophecies. We have more than 100 that could be added to the calculations. Stoner calculated if we were to take it up to 48 prophecies, the odds would then be 1 in 10¹⁵⁷. Stoner concluded with these words: “Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely than any other fact in the world.”¹

The witnesses claim that Jesus’ passion and resurrection are in accordance to the Scriptures. Have you examined? What have you decided?

¹Peter W. Stoner, Science Speaks: An Evaluation of Certain Christian Evidences (Chicago: Moody Press, 1963), pp. 99-112.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Time and Eternity

December 28, 2010

The eternal God who created the universe also created time. There was neither day nor passing year until God spoke the universe into existence and separated the light from the darkness. The eternal God gave the sun, moon, and stars to mark the progress of the seasons. Humankind’s first calendar was the glorious march of sun, moon and stars across the sky—each obedient to its creator. Look beyond the clock and calendar even the magnificence of the skies to the One who made it all and give Him praise.

The eternal God should be “our dwelling place.” As we see how fleeting time is—how fleeting our time is, we ponder Him for whom a thousand years is like a day or a few hours of the night (Psalm 90). But for us even a long life is soon past. Yet in those fleeting moments we may live for God and decide eternity for ourselves. “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, ESV).

Having had the opportunity to hear good news, we must not let the moment fly from us without a response. Our eternal destiny hangs in the balance.

For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2, ESV).

And once begun, the faith must be lived. We dare not drift away from so great a salvation. We do not know when the last grain of sand will fall in the hour glass of our life.

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end (Hebrews 3:13-14, ESV).

Though our life is but a mist—a fleeting moment (James 3:14), God can give meaning to our lives, and living for God can give us hope beyond the transitory and the temporary. Praise God for time and eternity!

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Posted by Russell Holden

Good Gifts

December 17, 2010

Giving gifts doesn’t necessarily come naturally. We give because we have first received. Gift giving means that we have learned to overcome selfish desires and greed. Gift giving means that we have learned to love, honor, and appreciate others. Good gift giving comes from being considerate of other people’s needs, wants, and desires. In gift giving we learn the joy of service — it is more blessed to give than to receive. I suspect that just as we love because God first love us, we give because God has richly given to us.

James describes God as the perfect giver of gifts.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ” (James 1:17, ESV)

What good gifts have you received?

God is our creator, and he has created a world that is very good, even though it has been cursed because of sin. It is a world that is full of beauty and wonder. It is a world that teems with life. I have enjoyed sunrises and sunsets that were magnificently beautiful. I have felt the awe of storms. I have felt the peace of blue skies and sunshine under the green canopy of trees. I have tasted the bounty of the earth, and I have gazed into the night sky with wonder. I have received good gifts.

God has revealed himself in the Bible. I have received the gift of wisdom that begins with reverence for God and humbly listens to his word. In the Bible I find a message that fills a void in my life. It is as if it is a missing puzzle piece that fills that hole and makes the puzzle complete. Now the world, and life, and values, and meaning make sense. I have received a good gift.

God has given his Son. The Word who knew the glories of heaven became flesh and dwelt among. He became human to save us from our sin. He learned suffering. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. He died in our place, so that we might have forgiveness of sin and eternal life. I have received a good gift — a priceless and precious gift.

Love and gratitude should be the responses to good gifts. May we experience joy because with grateful hearts we recognize the gifts we have received. May we also learn to be like our heavenly Father and grow as givers of good gifts.

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Posted by Russell Holden

Swimming with Elephants

December 10, 2010

Developing the habit of Bible reading is not always easy. The beginning reader may at times feel overwhelmed by the Bible. A quotation that I’ve heard in various forms dates back at least fourteen centuries.

Scripture is like a river again, broad and deep, shallow enough here for the lamb to go wading, but deep enough there for the elephant to swim.

Why do we at times feel like we are swimming with elephants with the water way over our head? Consider the following. The Bible has thousands of names for people and places. The dictionary Pronouncing Bible Names gives 3,492 proper names from the KJV, and many of these names are admittedly difficult to pronounce. The Bible has plenty of common nouns that we don’t use in everyday conversation, like atonement, propitiation, righteousness, and mercy. The Bible covers over two millennia of history. The geography of the Bible is not ours. The cultures and customs of the Bible are distant from ours.

So how do we begin? We wade. We begin with those portions of the Bible most relevant to us and possibly the easiest from which to gain something: the gospels and Acts. Then read the epistles. If nothing else, you will learn the ethics of the Christian life. As you wade into deeper water, you add the narrative portions of the Old Testament (Genesis through Esther). Once you have all the narrative of the Bible read, you will understand the flow of Bible history. You can add the wisdom literature of the Old Testament (Job through Song of Solomon). And finally, read the prophetic books of both testaments (Isaiah through Malachi, and then Revelation). And then repeat, and repeat, and repeat.

You will have questions and things you don’t understand. Write them down, but keep reading. The Bible is its own best interpreter. You will be amazed at how many of your own questions you can answer by continuing to read.

Have a dictionary handy. It is good to have a Bible dictionary because it specializes in Bible words, but a regular dictionary is helpful too. I’m an avid reader, but there hasn’t come a point in my life where I didn’t have to look up certain words to find out what they mean.

Recognize that this is a process that takes time. The more I read the Bible, the more I grasp of it. It begins by wading. But in time you find yourself in the deep water swimming with elephants discovering the wonder of thinking God’s thoughts after Him.

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Posted by Russell Holden

The Habit

December 3, 2010

I am a regular reader of the Bible. I say “regular” because I miss a day here or there. I often try to get ahead in my Bible reading, but sometimes I’m playing catch up, but it tends to work out. This year I am on track for reading through the Bible with a second time through the New Testament and Psalms. (By the way, this is not the plan I would suggest people start with.)

The habit has grown over the years. At first, I simply tried to read regularly without regard to how much in any given period of time. By setting a simple reading goal I made it through the New Testament and then finally the Old Testament. My only guide on those occasions was a bookmark. As the years have gone by, I’ve become more systematic in my reading. I have read through the Bible time after time after time for decades now.

Why do I mention my habit? I would like you to form the same habit, and the reasons are very simple. This one habit has transformed my life in many ways.

Scripture teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains. Unless you harden your heart against the message, the regular reading of the Bible should transform. It provides a constant reminder of what God desires. It provides a constant witness to God’s provisions and presence. This habit helps you to mature.

How do I know my way around Grand Rapids? It is by driving to various places on a regular basis. How do I know my way around the collection of books that make up the Bible? My habit of reading the Bible keeps me familiar with the Bible. I know where many things are not because I set out to memorize locations, but because I’ve made “the trip” frequently enough, I just know where it is. When I need a particular subject, I have a pretty good idea of where to begin looking. This habit means the spiritual resources of scripture are open and easily accessible to me.

Would you spot a counterfeit twenty dollar bill? If you are very familiar with the genuine, you will easily spot the counterfeit. The same is true for the teachings of the Bible. The regular reading of God’s word means that you become familiar with the genuine. When reading a human author, I will find myself saying what about this passage or that passage. This habit prevents you from being deceived.

This habit doesn’t need the change of the calendar to start, but it makes a good occasion to remind you. Join me. Make it a habit.