I was reading Exodus this morning, and the first bits of Leviticus. I was reading from a skeptical point of view, not because I have doubts, but because I am always looking for a better defense of my faith. As I read about the sacrifices, I noticed that all of the really choice portions of the offerings got to be eaten by the priests. I thought about the liberal critics and their scoffing attitude towards the WORD, and I saw a real opportunity for the skeptics to jump all over this. From a critical, doubting perspective, it looked like Moses set up the Tabernacle and the priestly sacrifice to benefit himself and his family. He and his close relatives got the best food the nation could provide, wore the finest garments in all of Israel, and held tremendous authority and power over the people. Then I got to chapter ten. Leviticus 10:1,2 Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.
Aaron was the High Priest and his four sons were priests. This was the very beginning of the priestly ministry for Israel, and two of his sons were killed by God for not following Moses' exact instructions for worship, as given by God. Now I really started thinking! To whom much is given, much is required. Sure, the priests got to eat well and dress finely, but what a responsiblity they assumed! Every time they handled the Lord's sacrifice or performed the rituals of the Tabernacle, they were literally putting their lives on the line. Another verse came to mind: A workman is worthy of his hire.
Moses didn't set up the priestly order and Israel's sacrificial system to benefit his family: his family paid dearly to answer God's call upon them!
I approached the scripture with skepticism and came away with greater faith! When we approach God's word honestly, HIS word can handle the close examination and build our faith. It isn't wrong to question, or even to doubt, as long as we keep seeking until we find truth.
In the end, the word of God is living and sharper than a two edged sword, and well able to answer our doubts and fill our hearts with ever greater faith.
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Do you believe in modern Prophets & Apostles?
I recently picked up a Charisma magazine. Generally, I have very literal interest in what's going on in the church world beyond my own neighborhood. I stay loosely informed, but I despise christian fads. What struck me from Charisma was the preponderance of Prophets, Apostles, and other minor deities. In Lystra, Paul and Barnabas were extremely vehement about not allowing the people to worship them. It appears to me that there is a massive movement in charismatic circles today to solicit worship for the preachers. Some of the ideas are fantastic, such as armor bearers. But, the potential for abuse is real and appears to me to be a common pattern.
Is this a WOF thing or part of the broader charismatic world? The whole concept of SUPERSTAR preachers is antithetical to the gospel.
I seem to recall a worship leader named Lucifer who began to crave the anointing of his Master.
Am I wrong? I have never met anyone whom I thought would qualify as an Apostle. Everyone I know of who has called themself Prophet or Prophetess "X" has had an easily exposed track record of false prophecies which were never fulfilled. I am not saying there are not prophets and apostles among us: I am saying that men and women with that type of anointing in their lives are unlikely to have the hubris to label themselves as such.
Is this a WOF thing or part of the broader charismatic world? The whole concept of SUPERSTAR preachers is antithetical to the gospel.
I seem to recall a worship leader named Lucifer who began to crave the anointing of his Master.
Am I wrong? I have never met anyone whom I thought would qualify as an Apostle. Everyone I know of who has called themself Prophet or Prophetess "X" has had an easily exposed track record of false prophecies which were never fulfilled. I am not saying there are not prophets and apostles among us: I am saying that men and women with that type of anointing in their lives are unlikely to have the hubris to label themselves as such.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggests
Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing - an inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of King David's reign.
The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible's Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.)
Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month.
"It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research," said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text.
BCE stands for "before common era," and is equivalent to B.C., or before Christ.
The writing was discovered more than a year ago on a pottery shard dug up during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Israel's Elah valley. The excavations were carried out by archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At first, scientists could not tell if the writing was Hebrew or some other local language.
Finally, Galil was able to decipher the text. He identified words particular to the Hebrew language and content specific to Hebrew culture to prove that the writing was, in fact, Hebrew.
"It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah ('did') and avad ('worked'), which were rarely used in other regional languages," Galil said. "Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah ('widow') are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages."
The ancient text is written in ink on a trapezoid-shaped piece of pottery about 6 inches by 6.5 inches (15 cm by 16.5 cm). It appears to be a social statement about how people should treat slaves, widows and orphans. In English, it reads (by numbered line):
1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3' [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4' the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5' Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.
The content, which has some missing letters, is similar to some Biblical scriptures, such as Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, and Exodus 23:3, but does not appear to be copied from any Biblical texts.
Clara Moskowitz
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com clara Moskowitz
livescience.com
Fri Jan 15, 9:40 am ET
Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.Questions or CommentsPrivacy PolicyAbout Our AdsTerms of ServiceCopyright/IP Policy
The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible's Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.)
Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month.
"It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research," said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text.
BCE stands for "before common era," and is equivalent to B.C., or before Christ.
The writing was discovered more than a year ago on a pottery shard dug up during excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Israel's Elah valley. The excavations were carried out by archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. At first, scientists could not tell if the writing was Hebrew or some other local language.
Finally, Galil was able to decipher the text. He identified words particular to the Hebrew language and content specific to Hebrew culture to prove that the writing was, in fact, Hebrew.
"It uses verbs that were characteristic of Hebrew, such as asah ('did') and avad ('worked'), which were rarely used in other regional languages," Galil said. "Particular words that appear in the text, such as almanah ('widow') are specific to Hebrew and are written differently in other local languages."
The ancient text is written in ink on a trapezoid-shaped piece of pottery about 6 inches by 6.5 inches (15 cm by 16.5 cm). It appears to be a social statement about how people should treat slaves, widows and orphans. In English, it reads (by numbered line):
1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3' [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4' the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5' Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.
The content, which has some missing letters, is similar to some Biblical scriptures, such as Isaiah 1:17, Psalms 72:3, and Exodus 23:3, but does not appear to be copied from any Biblical texts.
Clara Moskowitz
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com clara Moskowitz
livescience.com
Fri Jan 15, 9:40 am ET
Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.Questions or CommentsPrivacy PolicyAbout Our AdsTerms of ServiceCopyright/IP Policy
Monday, January 17, 2005
The Stranger
A few months before I was born, my dad met a stranger who was new to our town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer, and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around to welcome me into the world a few months later.
As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. Mom taught me to love the Word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening.
He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill, and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars.
The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn't seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up - while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places - go to her room, read her Bible, and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.
You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted.
My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (too much, too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man/woman relationship were influenced by the stranger.
As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.
More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive. But if I were to walk into my parents' den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name?......We always just called him...TV.
As I grew up I never questioned his place in our family. Mom taught me to love the Word of God, and Dad taught me to obey it. But the stranger was our storyteller. He could weave the most fascinating tales. Adventures, mysteries, and comedies were daily conversations. He could hold our whole family spellbound for hours each evening.
He was like a friend to the whole family. He took Dad, Bill, and me to our first major league baseball game. He was always encouraging us to see the movies and he even made arrangements to introduce us to several movie stars.
The stranger was an incessant talker. Dad didn't seem to mind, but sometimes Mom would quietly get up - while the rest of us were enthralled with one of his stories of faraway places - go to her room, read her Bible, and pray. I wonder now if she ever prayed that the stranger would leave.
You see, my dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions. But this stranger never felt an obligation to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our house-not from us, from our friends, or adults. Our longtime visitor, however, used occasional four letter words that burned my ears and made Dad squirm. To my knowledge the stranger was never confronted.
My Dad was a teetotaler who didn't permit alcohol in his home not even for cooking. But the stranger felt like we needed exposure and enlightened us to other ways of life. He offered us beer and other alcoholic beverages often. He made cigarettes look tasty, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (too much, too freely) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I know now that my early concepts of the man/woman relationship were influenced by the stranger.
As I look back, I believe it was the grace of God that the stranger did not influence us more. Time after time he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked and never asked to leave.
More than thirty years have passed since the stranger moved in with the young family on Morningside Drive. But if I were to walk into my parents' den today, you would still see him sitting over in a corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
His name?......We always just called him...TV.
Monday, January 10, 2005
I feel intensely about this subject.
I feel an intense sense of the imminence of the coming of the Lord. All of the scriptures point to HIS return at such a time as this. In my personal life, I feel an overwhelming unworthiness and gratitude for salvation. I want HIM to come, and I want HIM to find me working for HIS harvest.
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