Cyber-Chapel Blog

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  • The Antiquity of Pagan Christianity

    Some “Christian” groups have features that are not attested in the New Testament, such as prayers to the Mother of God and to deceased people, professional priests who offer sacrifice, purgatory, sacramental actions that make a person a member of the community, an obligation on members to contribute financially to the organization, and ornate meeting places adorned with images. They justify such features on the basis of their antiquity. We need to understand two things about this state of affairs.

    First, these features are indeed ancient. They all go back, not just to the church fathers, but to the oriental Mystery Religions (such as the cults of Demeter and Persephone, Mithra, Orpheus, Cybele, Isis, Serapis, Attis, and others) that were already part of Roman culture in the third and second centuries BC.

    Second, the NT recognizes the danger of confusing these cults with the true faith. Many of their features anticipate Christianity (e.g., the need for salvation from sin and the promise of eternal life). But the NT commands believers to separate from them.

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  • Is the Bible open or closed?

    A common question among those who call themselves “Christian” is whether the Bible is open or closed. Does the Bible contains all the truth that God wants us to know and follow, or do we need to look elsewhere as well? There are two facets to the question. The first concerns the books that are included in the Bible itself. Are they a fixed set for all time, or could more be added later? The second concerns how believers should respond to the Bible that they have at a given time. Should they simply quote the Bible to each other, or are there other teachings that they should consider alongside it?

    The answer to both questions is the same: the Bible is open, not closed–but it contains clear guidelines that regulate the additional material that we should consider.

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  • The Subtle Idolatry of Fear

    Image components from https://www.tes.com/lessons/gjVAOOheTxotYw and https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=23312

    Our generation is dominated by fear. Many people are obsessed with fear of contracting COVID-19. Each side in our fractured political system loudly announces what we have to fear if the other side is in power. Even prosperity brings fear, as we become addicted to newfound comforts, and fear that we might lose them.

    Such fear is wrong. God’s word teaches that whatever we fear, we worship. If we fear COVID-19, or the Republicans, or the Democrats, or an economic collapse, or anything other than the true God, we are idolaters. We must fear God, but if we fear anyone or anything else, we are worshipping a false God.

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  • Did Israel “Wander” in the Desert?

    Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness are commonly described as “wandering in the wilderness.” The expression comes from three passages in the KJV:

    Numbers 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

    Numbers 32:13 And the LORD’S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.

    Joshua 14:10 And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.

    Last evening, in meditating on Nehemiah 9, brother Dave called our attention to the Lord’s care for the nation during this time. Even during this 50 year period, we read,

    Neh 9:19 Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.

    If the Lord was leading them, they certainly weren’t wandering, in the modern sense of the word.

    More modern translations recognize that the first and third of the references to Israel’s wandering can be improved. The first (in Num 14:33), רעה (H7462), means simply “to shepherd flocks.” Instead of settling down in cities and cultivating the land, they would remain a nomadic people. Nomads do not wander. They purposefully seek out green pasture and still waters for their flocks, as Psalm 23 illustrates, and move between recognized areas as the seasons change. The third instance (in Josh 14:10), הלך (Η1980), means simply “walk.” They will remain on the move, not allowed to settle down.

    But the translation “wander” persists in Num 32:13. Here the verb is נוע (Η5128), which means “tremble, shake.” The wilderness life was not easy, and it makes sense for the Lord to warn them that they will stagger with fatigue and tedium. But the pillar of cloud and fire was still guiding them. They might not know the path, but they were certainly on it.

    There are those who truly “wander in the wilderness,” described with the verb תעה (Η8582), which means to err, to leave the right path. These include Hagar after Sarah cast her out (Gen 21:14), before the Lord revealed himself to her, or general descriptions of the condition to which the Lord reduces proud rulers who think they know how to run everything (Job 12:24; 107:4, 40; Is. 16:8). But I don’t know of any place that this verb is applied to Israel’s 40 year trek.

    The distinction is important. It is the difference between chastisement and punishment. When he punishes those who do not acknowledge him, they truly are wandering, until, like Hagar in the wilderness, they discover the Lord. When God’s people sin, he may chastise them. They find themselves in unpleasant circumstances, staggering under circumstances, but he will never deprive them of his guidance, and in the end he will always bring them to the destination he has planned for them.

  • The Sin of Taking Sides

    The US presidential election of 2016 is likely to be the most consequential of our generation. The distinctive personal characteristics of both major candidates have enticed many Christians to speak out against one or the other, effectively taking sides in an increasingly acrimonious campaign. The tendency for Christians to favor one party over another goes back several decades. A pattern in our Lord’s conduct calls this practice into question, and suggests we have a higher responsibility.

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  • Christmas Angels

    A few years ago Anita and I were reading through the Revelation together, and remarked how many angels there were. Every time we turned the page, we met another flurry of them. (There are sixty-nine references to angels in the Revelation, more than in any other book of the Bible.)

    This year at Christmas, we noticed another place where they are concentrated: the Christmas story.

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  • Of Types and Truth

    In our recent studies in Isaiah, I have seen more clearly than ever before the physical nature of God’s promises concerning his coming rule on earth during the Day of the Lord. Mount Zion will be the capital of all the earth (Isa 24:33). It will be exalted above all the mountains (2:1), though now it is overshadowed by the Mount of Olives. Gentiles will bring their tribute over the sea in ships (60:9), and will offer sacrifices on God’s altar (60:7). Springs will rise out of the hilltops (30:25), and the barren land will be rejuvenated (35:1-2).

    What shall we make of these promises? Should we expect their literal fulfillment when the Lord Jesus returns? Or are they figurative descriptions of God’s blessing on the church? I recently had an insight that helps me understand some of the disagreement among Christians on this point.

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  • Worshiping Jesus

    I was struck recently by the description of the leper in Matt 8:2-4:

    Mat 8:2 And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him,

    The leper is not alone. Others who “worship” Jesus of Nazareth, in Matthew’s account alone, include the wise men (2:11), the ruler whose daughter had died (9:18), his disciples in the ship (14:33), the Canaanite woman (15:25), the mother of the sons of Zebedee (20:20), the women at the tomb (28:9), and the disciples in Galilee (28:17). Commentators often suggest that this action does not necessarily imply that Jesus is God, but can simply be a sign of respect. But there’s more to the story.
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  • Let us pray.

    The Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9-13) is one of the best known portions of the Sermon on the Mount. Many of us first learned it at our mothers’ knees, and prayed it every evening before we went to sleep. The Didache, a guide to early church practice, instructs believers to pray it three times a day. Faithful Catholics repeat it many times a day as a component of the Rosary.

    In light of this widespread personal use of the prayer, I was surprised, when studying the prayer in its context, to realize that our Lord intends it first of all, not for private devotion, but for believers gathered together in corporate prayer. This insight warns us against two unhealthy tendencies in modern evangelical circles. One is a neglect to use the prayer at all. The other is an increasing neglect of gathering for corporate prayer.
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  • The Lord Overhears

    The Scriptures often tell us that the Lord hears our prayers when we cry to him. It is humbling, but encouraging, to know that we can come at any time to our Creator, share our burdens with him, and be assured of his attention. But this week, I was struck with a much smaller set of texts that emphasize that he hears even when we are not speaking to him. We might say that he not only hears us, but he overhears us.

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