Another Good Question - Bible Codes & Hidden Messages

We just wrapped up a very cool series of messages at Harvest, where I basically let the congregation determine what we were going to teach on. They submitted a bunch of really good questions, touching on Bible, theology, ethics, current events, and a lot more. I addressed them during our Sunday worship services, suggesting how we can think Biblically about each question. It was a blast!

One of the questions I didn't get to on a Sunday was as follows: "What do you think about The Bible Code by Michael Drosnin? I heard about it but it sounded a little weird…”

Well, the writer of this question has a good instinct. The general idea behind Drosnin’s books (I understand there’s a Bible Code 2 and even a Bible Code 3 now) is that by looking at the Hebrew text of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) one can apply a complicated encryption method and discover secret messages that are hidden within the text. These messages can then be de-coded, and are generally said to be able to predict future events. Sounds cool huh? Anyone curious enough to go buy a copy?

Save your money.

I could elaborate on lots of reasons why Drosnin’s idea is nonsense, including the fact that he’s a journalist (not a scholar), that others have also alleged such things before so this is nothing new, and that every time someone like Drosnin makes these kinds of claims they always stand to sell a lot of books and make a boat-load of money. Curious.

But the most important reason has nothing to do with this particular book or its author. Rather, the really important issue here is how Christians should read the Bible. Simply put, God’s word is not a magic book from which we divine mysterious and elusive secrets. Nor is it some deep conspiracy riddle that needs to be solved.

A secret message in the Hebrew Bible? Don't bet on it.

Instead, the Bible is God’s very plain and understandable explanation of the way the world works, and how we fit into it. He intends that when we read it we would understand what he’s been up to in human history, and how we should live in light of that. God didn’t embed secret codes in the Bible that predict future events, reserved only for the select few who are insightful enough to successfully complete some mysterious scavenger hunt. Nor did he encode messages that could only be deciphered by modern cryptography, leaving centuries-worth of his own followers in the dark. In the Bible, God has spoken to all people at all times, plainly.

How can I say that with such certainty? Because of the example of Jesus and the apostles, who never looked for secret messages and hidden meanings in the Bible. Instead, they followed the plainly evident flow of thought in God’s word. They looked at what the Bible says and how it's put together, and in so doing they understood its real message: it points to a coming Messiah who would be the centerpiece of God’s plan of redemption.

How did they come to that conclusion? What were they looking at that helped them see what the Bible’s message was? I will describe that in our Fall sermon series at Harvest. We’ll look at the way God put the Bible together, and we’ll see what message it sends. And I think I can demonstrate convincingly that Jesus and the apostles read it the same way, and thus understood it the same way. Don’t miss it!

And don’t be surprised when the Bible's flow as I describe it this Fall has nothing to do with secret codes, hidden meanings, or selling tons of books to make me rich.

Another Good Question - Prophecies of Doom

So what's up with the dour mood amongst theologically conservative Christians these days? Sure, circumstances could be better. Almost everyone is feeling the economy right now. Iran seems on the brink of building a nuke, and would be more than happy to point it at Israel or (better yet) Washington DC. And speaking of Washington, the president and his colleagues in the Cabinet and on the Hill have wasted little time turning this great ship of state hard to port. But still, despite all this and a hundred other things life throws at us to fret about, God is an awesome God, we're his unbelievably (and undeservedly) privileged kids, and our hope is secure in Christ!

Nonetheless, gloom seems to be chic right now. For example, take the recent well-publicized prophecy from pastor David Wilkerson (of Teen Challenge and The Cross And The Switchblade fame), in which he says the Holy Spirit has told him that there will be massive calamity in multiple American cities soon. Wilkerson's only advice: store up 30 days of emergency supplies.

I was recently asked for my opinion of this message, which I thought was another good question and worth posting here too. Basically, while I have a lot of respect for Wilkerson's history of ministering to people influenced by drug infested streets, my response boils down to two major issues: validity and focus

By validity I mean asking the question, is he right? Is his “word from the Holy Spirit” really a word from the Holy Spirit, or just a word from his own over-active imagination? Truth is, I have no idea, and no way of knowing for sure at this point. So I don’t really worry about it much, to be honest. There are always people who say “something catastrophic is going to happen soon” in the name of God. Usually they’re wrong. Sometimes catastrophic things do happen, but even then it’s not always clear to me that the event was the fulfillment of an individual person’s prophecy.

Now, I’m not saying his statement definitely didn't come from God – it might well have. I’m just saying that even if he has truly received a word from God, a) it’s hard to tell ahead of time, especially with the vagueness of his language, and b) it’s not at all clear to me what the purpose of this “word” is. In other words, even if he’s right and there’s going to be some huge calamity in American cities soon, so what? How does that change my life or my priorities as a Christian? What exactly am I supposed to do with this information, other than stock 30 days of emergency supplies (which is probably just good practice in case of emergencies anyway, even when there’s no prophecy)? All of which leads me to the other issue…

By focus I mean asking what is consuming our thinking; what are we focused on? Too many people today, in my opinion, who claim to have prophetic gifts talk so much about their prophecies that those prophecies are all their followers think about. They invest themselves in trying to figure out various prophecies (which might be words from God) instead of spending serious, disciplined time studying the Bible (which is undoubtedly a Word from God). In other words, they aren’t consumed with the things the pages of Scripture are consumed with, they’re consumed with the latest prophecy from a big-name Christian leader. This is a major problem in my view whether the prophecy is legitimate or not. We are to fill our hearts and minds with God’s truth as revealed in Scripture and brought to memory by the Holy Spirit.

So the bottom line for me is this: Wilkerson might be right and he might not be. I don't know. And I don't much care either way. Because regardless of what calamities do or don't come I know for a fact what I'm supposed to be doing with my life: building authentic biblical community, learning and becoming more like Jesus, and being a conduit of his grace and truth to everyone I meet.

And I'm 100% sure that's a word from the Holy Spirit.

Another Good Question - Why I'm Not "Shack"-ing Up

OK, I've received my third or fourth independent inquiry for my perspective on the novel The Shack, and since there's that level interest I want to share a couple thoughts. If you haven't heard of it, The Shack is an unusual piece of fiction that has caught fire and sold well, despite the fact that its author is not a professional writer. I'm honestly not clear as to why it's been so popular -- then again, I have no idea why the Tickle Me Elmo doll went platinum a few years ago either! Perhaps trying to figure out why popular things get popular is a vain attempt at chasing the wind.

Except that books which purport to say something about God aren't as benign as Sesame Street dolls. As I noted just last week, books are an important part of our spiritual growth, because they speak to us. Good writing, especially good fiction, draws us in at an emotional level, bypassing the more critical faculties and resonating with us at a deep, visceral level. Ideas and impressions get absorbed into our view of life, sometimes without the benefit of critical analysis.

That's what makes fiction so powerful. As a preacher I know all too well the power of a good story or a poignant word picture to drive a point home. But it's precisely because I can wield that power when I preach that it's incumbent upon me to be as sure as I can possibly be that the point I'm driving home is accurate, and true. I have to study diligently to understand the truths of the Bible before I drive them into the hearts of my hearers with moving illustrations. The same standard applies to authors - especially authors of Christian fiction.

Good Christian fiction will always start with revealed truth, and then seek creative ways to expound, illuminate, and display that truth. It's disciplined imagination: seeking to advance the truths of Scripture and sound theology for the good of readers. On the other hand, one of the marks of poor Christian fiction -- in fact, of poor Christian thinking in general -- is that it doesn't start with the Bible-revealed God as the center. Instead it starts with man, and man's experience. It then moves outward seeking to fit God into that experience in ways that the individual feels will be meaningful.

Which brings me to The Shack. This is a raw, visceral dialogue between a man in deep pain and the three persons of the Trinity. In other words, the author uses his imagination to picture what God is like - a laudable aim in itself, but problematic in this case because the effort isn't disciplined to sound theology (as this review makes clear). Nor is anyone pretending it is. One reviewer said "People are not necessarily concerned with how orthodox the theology is. People are into the story and how the book strikes them emotionally..." In cases like this, one doesn't need to read the book to know that it isn't disciplined to sound theology. Parts of it are probably fine, while parts are wrong.

This leads me to a sincere question for Christians: then why read it? This question is not rhetorical, it's honest. Since the book will fill my mind with several images of God that do not line up with what he's said about himself, why fill my mind with it? Why not read engaging, well-written fiction that is disciplined to Scripture like that of C.S. Lewis or Randy Alcorn? If an allegory is a must for you, consider Alcorn's Edge of Eternity or Lewis' The Pilgrim's Regress. Lewis openly based the latter title on the all-time Christian classic allegory The Pilgrim's Progress.

Which reminds me of another thing. When Eugene Peterson (author of the Bible paraphrase The Message) recommended The Shack, he gushed that the book would have the same impact as The Pilgrim's Progress did in it's day. Dr. Petersen should know better. The Pilgrim's Progress is the best-selling Christian book of all time next to the Bible and has not once gone out of print for over 300 years. No matter what one thinks of The Shack, it stretches credulity to suggest it will still be in print even 30 years from now, much less 300. Let's not get too caught up in the hype here Eugene; or am I just chasing the wind again?

One final thought: I've heard it suggested that the allegory in The Shack (such as God the Father appearing as an African American woman) is no different than CS Lewis picturing Jesus as a lion in the Narnia series. Actually, it is a very different thing. Lewis never intended Narnia to be a direct allegory (word picture) of biblical truth like The Shack is. Rather, it's a fantasy adventure story with Christian thematic elements in it - a very different thing. What's more, Lewis' Jesus-like character Aslan, even though he's not a direct allegory, nonetheless stays disciplined to the Bible by using an image Scripture itself uses (a lion). I might choose to picture the Father as an African American woman, or as a talking toadstool for that matter. But it's not difficult to see which of the three best reflects God as he revealed himself in the pages of Scripture.

In the final analysis I think this book's popularity is yet another sign of our feeling-oriented, anti-intellectual times. We get excited about anything that makes us feel, and we're bored with God's description of himself and his plan in the Bible (bored with what God said! Wow...) And I'm a bit concerned about young believers being drawn in to it's sometimes unbiblical pictures.

We live in a time where truth is seen as passe. It's a time when even Christians - we who claim to personally know The Truth - show signs of postmodern thinking by how little we value theology, and how much we embrace (and create hype surrounding) anything that makes us feel. It's a time when Christians should be at the forefront of wedding passionate feeling with Biblical truth. In a nutshell, that's why I encourage Christians to spend their reading hours on books that are far more worthy of their time. And it's why I personally won't take the time to read The Shack.

Why bother?

Another Good Question – Should We Still Obey the 10 Commandments?

Gerry Breshears, one of my theology professors from seminary, likes to word things in a way that initially shocks most Christians. He does this to get our attention and make us think deeper than we often do about Scriptural truths. The message he preached this past Sunday at Harvest from Acts 15 was no exception.

That message led a Harvest member to ask me a good question: do Christians still need to obey the Old Testament law? Since I know all Christians, including me, wrestle with similar questions, I'm posting it here as part of my series of posts titled Another Good Question.

I explained that one can think of 3 categories of the OT Law: the civil/criminal law (e.g. death by stoning is required for murder), the ceremonial law (e.g. kosher dietary restrictions & animal sacrifices), and the moral law (e.g. the 10 Commandments). It is commonly understood that the first two categories of law have served their intended purpose and are no longer in force. But since the moral law reflects God’s character it is still a good guide for the behavior he wants from us today. So yes, “moral” laws like the 10 Commandments still reflect God’s standard.

But the story doesn’t end there, and I think I need to add to my initial response to my church friend. What was missing was the fact that while the content of God’s behavioral standards hasn’t changed, the way we interact with those standards has changed. And it has changed dramatically.

This change can best be described as changing from an external focus to an internal one. Or, changing from a behavior focus to a heart focus.

The whole force of the New Testament lays this out so it’s difficult to select just a few passages of Scripture to demonstrate this shift in focus. The whole Sermon on the Mount certainly comes to mind (Matthew 5-7), as does Jesus’ statement that the whole Law can be summed up in the single word “love” (God and neighbor). Paul shows the same understanding when he insists that we are free from the Law (such as in Galatians) but then he insists that we don’t run off into lives of sinful abandon (Romans 6:15-23; notice “from the heart” in verse 17). We could go on.

The point is this: the life God wants from us is not obedience to a list of do’s and don’ts. What he wants is your heart to be completely dedicated to the passionate pursuit of himself. In other words, we find that God's standards are still very much in force (licentiousness is ruled out), but those standards are not strict rules of obedience (legalism is also ruled out). How's that for a bit of intellectual tension?

So, while the 10 Commandments are still a great guideline for the character of a Jesus-follower, it is important to note that we don’t obey them as an external regulation that is forcibly changing our behavior. Rather, we joyfully conform our lives to that revealed standard out of a passionate desire to please and more accurately mimic our King.

Confession time: I think there’s a little legalist inside every Christian, and mine always becomes aroused when these discussions take place. How’s your little legalist doing? :)

Another Good Question: What Are We Missing?

As a pastor I occasionally get some really good questions from people who are wrestling through stuff. Some of them are so good I feel it's a pity that only 2 of us are talking about it, and more people aren't listening in and participating. So I'm going to start a series of posts on this blog that I'll refer to as "Another Good Question." From time to time I'll add a good question I've been asked, along with a few musings that may point toward an answer, and invite your thoughts too.

In this inaugural post of the Another Good Question series, I submit this gem, which actually came to me from a member of my church a while back: as a pastor, what do you see is the main thing missing in the life of the average Christian today?

There is almost certainly more than one good way to answer that question, but my answer is as follows: Christians today are in desperate need of a bird's-eye view of God's redemptive plan. It is this plan that forms the context of everything from theology to Biblical commands to the daily lives we live in his service.

That context acts like a container for Bible knowledge and our worldview: with it intact everything begins to settle into place and become cohesive. But without it, everything rolls around loose and unconnected in our minds, like a drawer full of hundreds of beautiful unconnected pearls. The pearls are pretty, but you need to string them all together to wear them.

Part of teaching this idea at Harvest Community Church was the development of a chart that lays out a non-detailed, high-level view of God's plan to buy back the world order he created (and which we broke). Starting with God's Glory as the point of it all, the chart moves through creation, the fall and it's results, redemption anticipated, redemption accomplished, and finally redemption realized.

It traces the three elements that have always been present in God’s redemptive plan (something that really struck me when I was thinking through the covenants with Abraham and David last year). And of course the chart, like God's plan itself, centers on the cross and empty tomb - redemption accomplished. The chart includes a doc with explanatory notes, to hopefully decipher what can look a bit complex at first (but which, like most things, really isn't too bad once you get into it).

Of course this chart itself is merely a teaching tool, and not the final word on anything. But it is a tool - one I hope will help Christians get the big picture so they can make much better and more Biblical choices in the little, daily picture that we call life.
How about you? Could you articulate even the non-detailed, broad strokes of God's plan through the ages? If so, good for you. I think you're in the minority and you can probably just ignore this whole post (now that you've already read it! Ha!) If not, let me know what you think of the chart, and how helpful it is to you.