Christmas...Christ's birth or Saturnalia reborn?

I’m one of the odd minority of Christians that don’t keep Christmas. You could call me a literalist when it comes to reading the Bible. I believe it actually means what it says. While I have no particular problem with people wanting to acknowledge or celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ…I don’t believe it should simply be a continuation of a pagan holiday. While there is no evidence that Christ or His disciples ever celebrated His birth, it is mentioned prominently in the Gospels. Of course most modern Christians don’t actually seem to have read the Bible as the ‘traditional’ story of Christ’s birth doesn’t fit the facts as presented in the gospels.

December 25^th is a day that was recognized for centuries before the birth of Christ as the pagan celebration Saturnalia. Saturnalia was an ancient Roman celebration held in honor of Saturn, one of the Titans. Saturn was the father of Jupiter, the Roman version of the Greek god Zeus. The practice predated the birth of Christ by over 200 years.

The early Catholic church, in trying to make converts, adopted many pagan holidays, practices and places of worship and simply stamped the name Christ on them. From that practice we have the saying: “When in Rome do as the Romans do”. That is the very opposite of what the God of the Bible commanded His people to do. God’s people were not to worship Him the way other nations worshiped their gods. God’s people were commanded to never do what pagans do.

In the centuries since Christ many other pagan practices were folded into the celebration that came around the time of the Winter Solstice. Celtic and Nordic practices added what became Santa Claus, the Yule log, the Christmas tree etc. These things are all clearly documented in history books, and even the Catholic Encyclopedia, for anyone who cares to research them. None of these things has anything remotely to do with Christ. Modern Christians observe the ‘Christ-mass’ because it has become tradition…and because it feels good. Knowingly or unknowingly those that observe the day do so on the authority of the Catholic church and NOT on that of the scriptures.

I believe the Bible is abundantly clear that Gods people are NOT to worship Him they way pagan nations worship their gods. The story of Cain and Able clearly shows that God will not accept forms of worship that He doesn’t command. And, Christ himself warns His people that they worship God in vain when they substitute traditions for Gods commands.

It is easily argued that Christ was not born in the middle of Winter in Israel. He was likely born in the Fall according to scholars. He was probably born in the year 4 BC and not the year ‘zero’...as there was no year ‘zero’. The scriptures say wise men came from the East bearing three types of gifts. It doesn’t say there were three wise men. While Mary, or more correctly Miriam in Hebrew, bore her child in a stable, he wasn’t there when the wise men came to visit. His name incidentally was Yeshua…not Jesus. (There is no ‘J’ sound in Hebrew.) Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua and means ‘savior’. Christ means messiah, a title His followers gave Him later. So His birth name would have been ‘Yeshua ben Yosef ‘or ‘Joshua the son of Joseph’. All these are facts that most modern Christians don’t really even care about. They are more interested in the ‘feel good’ tradition.

It is also most often overlooked that during this ‘feel good’ time, there are more suicides than at any other time of year. More people suffer from depression than any other time of year. And, families tend to go into debt buying gifts for their children this time of year. Children have been conditioned to expect gifts at this time of year regardless of their parent’s ability to pay for them.

People think of this time of year as the time to show love and good feelings towards others. People who would normally ignore the homeless, and other disenfranchised people in our society, do ‘feel good’ things for them this time of year. The homeless, and everyone else, need to eat every day but it makes those more well off feel good to feed the homeless on that day. The Bible says to show love and good feelings every day of the year…to all other people but, as has been pointed out, what the Bible actually says is not really relevant to people who observe Christmas. Saving up for this one holiday, during the middle of Winter, tends to make people feel ‘burned out’ from the stress later. That’s what this holiday is about really…stress. Every year Christ is talked about less and less. But, retailers love it…because it makes people feel good!

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Mark 7:7)

Modern Day Pharisees

We know from the New Testament something about the society and culture during the time that Christ walked the earth. We are introduced in the scriptures to two main Jewish sects that were influential during Christ’s time, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees and the Sadducees differed in many of their teachings. They differed in what they considered Biblical law…the Sadducees believed only the written law in the Torah while the Pharisees believed their tradition of oral laws carried just as much weight. The Sadducees believed in strict judgments under the law while the Pharisees allowed for more mercy. The Pharisees believed in an afterlife, the Sadducees did not. They argued about the Hebrew calendar and on and on. The Sadducees primarily controlled the civil government of Israel / Judah while the Pharisees were the dominant force in the religion of the people.

Though we know from historical records that there were other sects of Judaism we know a good deal more about the Pharisees than we do other Jewish sects of the time. The Pharisees were the dominant sect of Judaism at the time but the reason the scriptures tell us so much about them goes beyond simple history. God made sure that we had a clear picture of the Pharisees in His revealed word for the edification of His church. We have that picture as a warning to us…

A part of what Christ did in His ministry was to point out where the Judaism of His time had gotten off track from the faith God revealed to the patriarchs. It is worth note that Christ rarely addressed specific doctrines or which sect taught the correct interpretation of a specific doctrine.  Christ was much more concerned about the attitude of people towards serving God than He was specific teachings.

The Pharisees of Christ’s time are condemned over and over in the New Testament, not as much for their teachings as for their attitudes. His primary criticism was of the Pharisaical attitudes that were prevalent in their approach towards obeying God.

God ensured we have the New Testament as a historical record of Christ coming to earth and walking among us as one of us. But its teachings go well beyond simply giving us a historical record. Gods’ revealed word exists for the edification of His church. It contains instructions in righteousness and in the proper attitudes one should cultivate in approaching God. Not everyone who calls on God’s name does so in the proper spirit. It can be argued that the main criticism Christ had of the Pharisees was in the spirit with which they approached the worship of God.

The admonitions the modern church can glean from Christ’s condemnation of the Pharisees is two-fold. First, there is a movement in modern Christianity for some members to seek their Hebrew roots. This is a good thing in that it causes Christians to examine and revive the teachings and practices of the early church which was mainly made up of Jews. This is the restoration of the faith once delivered. The danger lies in Christians adopting many aspects of modern Judaism as the faith once delivered. Judaism is not the religion of the Israelites. It is an historical fact that Rabbinical Judaism, which became Modern Judaism, has its origins in the Pharisaical movement. That movement began after the Babylonian captivity. The Judaism of Christ’s time had gotten off track from the faith once delivered. Modern Judaism has continued on the same path. While there is much to be said of a people who have studied Gods law for centuries, a Christian must pay heed to Christ’s admonitions about how Judaism had deviated from God’s intent.

The second, and much more pervasive, aspect of Pharisaic thinking is in the attitudes of individuals and, in some cases, in entire churches. It is shame, but a truth, that Pharisaical attitudes are alive and well in the church today. We have all heard ministers behind the pulpit who have those attitudes. We have all sat next to someone in church who maintains a Pharisaical attitude.

The Pharisaical attitude is a way of approaching the worship of God. The scriptures address that attitude for our edification because it is alive and well in our time. The warnings in the scriptures against such thinking are for us.

So what are the hallmarks of a Pharisaical attitude?  Legalism, Spiritual Myopathy, Dogmatism, Separatism / Exclusivity, Being Judgmental, Self-righteousness, a Sanctimonious attitude, Public Piety, putting tradition on the same level or higher than Gods law, and Hypocrisy…only giving God lip service.

Perhaps the Pharisaical attitude that is best known is being overly legalistic. The Pharisees, and their offshoots in Modern Rabbinical Judaism, are known for their focus on the minutest details of legalism. Because they considered their oral law (later to become Talmudic) on the same level with the written law of the Torah they emphasized those laws. It was those traditions that Christ condemned because Pharisaical adherence to them often violated the spirit of the written law of God. Many modern Christians condemn Sabbath keepers as legalistic ‘Judaizers’ partially because they don’t understand Christ and, especially, the Apostle Paul were addressing two bodies of law…the righteous, written law of God and the oral laws of the Pharisees.

Even those who only recognize the written law of God can be overly legalistic however. One can become so focused on the correct ‘do’s and don’ts’ that one can lose sight of the intent or spirit of the law. That’s a ditch that many Pharisees and many Modern Christians have fallen into. While what we do matters to God it is obedience that comes from our hearts that He values the most. The simple truth that escapes many Jews and Christians is that one can have all the correct doctrine and be doing all the correct things and still be wrong.

Closely related to legalism is the Pharisaical focus on the minutia. That is to say there is a kind of spiritual myopia in the pharisaical approach to God’s law. Sometimes in our quest to find Gods will we tend to overlook the most obvious lessons. We can easily spend our energies parsing the meanings of Greek or Hebrew words when the lessons are much more obvious. We may believe we are “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” only to find that we are getting caught up in the minutia and missing the Big Picture. While it is a good thing to study God’s word, that in itself is not righteousness. Believing and living God’s word is righteousness.

Careful Bible study ‘can’ make us dogmatic. Membership in some organizations can often make us dogmatic. The Pharisees had both forms. Dogmatism may be defined as holding one’s opinion as fact. Being dogmatic can make us dismiss other points of view out of hand. This was the case with the Pharisees and it is too often the case with Modern Christians. We must remember that there was a time when we didn’t believe what we do now. Chances are good that one may have believed something in the past only to have come to a different understanding later. Every human being who has ever thought “I have all the answers / truth.” has been wrong. To ‘grow in grace and knowledge’ means that we must allow room to grow and change. No human being has all the truth. The scriptures themselves demonstrate how God has revealed His truths to mankind over time. Abraham didn’t believe the same things as the Apostles but all of them had the truth. 

Being dogmatic can also make us exclusivists. We humans can get caught up in the pettiest arguments and we can let the minutest differences divide us. It is no wonder some people, like the writer Jonathan Swift, see theological arguments as just plain silly. (Witness the war between the Lilliputians…one side broke their eggs from the end…the other side broke their eggs from the middle!) Swift was making a commentary on the nature of human beings to let the silliest differences divide us. It’s Pharisaical to think like: “We are the one true group (church) that God is working with. We are the chosen and God is only concerned with us.” There are people in every nation that God is working with. Like many us have learned in the last few years, the Body of Christ is a spiritual organism, it is not a physical organization. Our concern shouldn’t be who else God is working with…our concern should only be how God is working with us.

God directed the physical nation of Israel to be separate from other nations. Israelites were not to do the things that people in other nations did. In a similar way Spiritual Israel, the Body of Christ, is to be separate from the world. We have to live in the world but we are not to be a part of it. That doesn’t mean we aren’t to interact with other people. We have to interact with others to be a light to the world. We are called to live by a higher standard to be that light. That doesn’t mean we should be exclusivists however. It’s a human tendency, when we separate ourselves from others, to begin to believe that we are somehow better than others. Being called by God the Father to be a Christian in no way means we are better than anyone else…what it means is that we have a greater responsibility to live up to a higher standard. Parents don’t love their oldest children more but they do expect better behavior out of them.

Groups that separate themselves from the rest of their human family tend to believe that they are better than other human beings. This is in stark contrast to our savior. He frequently associated with the worst sinners when He really was better than anyone else who has ever lived. Separatists believe they are called to understand truths that have not yet been given to others so it becomes easy to feel ‘superior’. When one feels superior it becomes easy to sit in judgment on others. The Pharisees took this to such an extreme that they felt entitled to kill those they judged as heretical, hence their persecution of early Christians. Christ is very clear on this…we are not to sit in judgment on others. We are to focus on our spiritual growth and allow others to do the same. The scriptures stand as judgment enough against us all.

This judgmental attitude is closely related to Self-Righteousness. The Self-Righteous think they have all that’s necessary. They have arrived and have nothing more to do. The Pharisees made Self-Righteousness an art form! Since they were ‘doing’ all that was required they thought themselves the top of the heap. (God may have thought the same of them…but the heap He had in mind was quite a bit different!)

In a world as dark as ours is becoming it’s too easy for Christians to become self-righteous just by trying to be better people. Some even think that church membership or attending services regularly is all they need to do. This is an especially dangerous spiritual condition. When we think we have arrived and there is nothing more that need be done it leaves no motivation to grow spiritually. This is a kind of idolatry and it is a counterfeit spirituality. The trouble with a counterfeit is that it makes us think we have all that’s needed. If someone owes you twenty dollars and they pay you with a counterfeit bill you think you’ve been paid…until you take it to the bank!

It’s Pharisaical when we think like: “Thank God that I’m not like: (fill in the blank)…” Our concern is not what God is doing with someone else…it should only be with what He is doing with us. Christ admonished Christians to mind the beams in their own eyes…not the motes in the eyes of others. We don’t judge ourselves by comparing ourselves to others…we judge ourselves by comparing ourselves to God’s word. We should all think we have a long way to go…because we all do. Other people deserve our compassion…not our condemnation.

The Pharisees liked to make a public show of their piety. They didn’t want to actually be decent, upstanding, pious people so much as they wanted to appear to be to others. The Pharisees wanted to appear to be righteous to others more than they actually wanted to be righteous before God. This one is simple: when public appearance becomes more important to us than our walk with God…we are on path to hell. (Think ‘Politician’ here!)

This brings us to the Pharisaical tendency to put their own traditions on a par with or above God’s law. In a way this brings us full circle back to legalism. The Pharisees believed their own oral laws and traditions were equal with the revealed, written law of God. Traditions aren’t necessarily bad but in the case of the Pharisees, many of their traditions were contrary to the spirit of God’s instructions. They were in no way equal to God’s law. They put an undue burden on the people. Christ often found Himself in direct confrontation with Pharisaical traditions. He always condemned them. The apostle Paul addressed the burden that these laws laid on the people in his epistles. When one doesn’t understand that Paul was addressing TWO bodies of law, the written and the oral, one can easily become confused by some of Paul’s writings.    

When Paul said the law was a burden too hard to bear he was referring to the oral law the Pharisees considered on the same par with God’s revealed law written in the Torah. The original intent of the oral law may have been good. For example, one of the reasons Israel had been carried off into captivity by the Assyrians centuries before and Judah had been in captivity in Babylon was because of the failure of the people to observe Gods Sabbaths. The Rabbi’s wanted to put so many restrictions around the Sabbath that the people wouldn’t come close to defiling it again. Their intent was a good one. Human nature being what it is, however, the original intent became lost and all that remained was the rote, obligatory observance of minute rules and regulations that were enforced by men who wanted power over other men more than a sincere walk with their Creator. That is contrary to the spirit of Gods law. From the beginning what God has wanted of man is a humble heart willingly obedient to Him. Endless rules and regulations are easier for most human beings to observe than to honestly humble themselves to God.

What the Pharisees were guilty of was practicing the empty ceremony of religion instead of the true transformation of their hearts that would bring forth real spiritual growth. They made hypocrisy a way of life. They valued the glory and honor of men over that of God. The scriptures recorded their attitudes and practices as a lesson and a warning to us.

For the Christian the qualities that define true spiritual growth are the fruits of the spirit: Peace, love, joy, patience, kindness, mercy etc. Those qualities are far more difficult to develop than observing the endless rules and regulations religious people often define themselves by. Too many well-meaning people create such rules and regulations to set themselves apart from others. In that way they can convince themselves they are somehow more worthy of God’s love. Such people are missing point of Christ’s gospel.

There are correct practices and there are correct attitudes. The Old Testament is primarily about the former.  The New Testament is primarily about the latter. Both are essential. Christ was clearly more concerned with the correct attitudes but we must remember that He came to a people who knew Gods law. They knew how they were supposed to live. Those who were receptive to Christ’s message undoubtedly felt that something was missing in their faith. Without understanding the historical and cultural context of Christ’s ministry it becomes too easy to misunderstand what He taught. Doing the right thing without the right attitude is Pharisaical. Having the right attitude without doing the right thing is aimless.

Unfortunately many Modern Christians think it’s only what one believes that matters. That’s the ditch on the other side of the road from Pharisaical thinking. Love without the law is lost.  But even Gods revealed law without love is empty.

Corruption Most Vile

In 1973 President Richard M. Nixon resigned as president of the United States. He did so as a result of the Watergate break-in scandal wherein he ordered men to spy on the Democratic Party. That is considered one of the darkest moments in US political history. Barack Obama has ushered in an even darker time...

In 2008 Americans elected a black man as president in an historic moment thinking they were turning the page of  history on white Americas treatment of black Americans. We elected a man without any executive experience, no experience in starting or running a business, no military experience and only a short times experience in the Senate. We elected a man wholly unqualified to be president except for the fact that he is a well-spoken black man. That is the ONLY reason many voted for him. We were promised by Barack Obama that his would be the "most transparent administration in history" and it would "marked by the rule of law". We were told that he would "transform America".

Barack Obama has proven to be an arrogant, lying, thin-skinned, mean spirited, sleazy politician of the lowest order despite his skin color. His administration manipulated the IRS to unfairly and unconstitutionally target his political opponents. His administration has covered up the facts of the murder of four Americans, including an American ambassador, in Benghazi, Libya solely for political purposes. He and his contemptible Attorney General, the racist Eric Holder, covered up the truth about the so-called Fast and Furious debacle.  He said whatever it took to get elected with absolutely no intention of keeping his word. Obama lied, cheated and engaged in all manner of underhanded deals to ramrod his healthcare law through Congress despite the majority of Americans opposition to it. Obama's crimes are far, far worse than anything Richard Nixon ever did.

Despite Obama's claims, while running for office, that his would be an administration marked for transparency and abiding by the law he has refused to do his constitutional duty and enforce the laws that Congress has passed. He has ignored some laws completely and changed others to fit his world view simply by the stroke of his pen. His is the LEAST transparent administration in memory. He has insulted and belittled his political opponents, the Republican Party, at every occasion then complained that they won't work with him to institute his agenda. He has refused to do what practically every president in history has done and reach compromises with Congress. THAT is his job! Congress is a co-equal branch of government filled with men and women elected by the American people to represent their interests.In other words, he has refused to do what the constitution dictates he is to do. The presidents job is to build consensus because he is the president of all the people...not just those of his party. Ours is a government of consensus with three co-equal branches of government.

While his domestic agenda is to punish the successful who have built this country by taking their money and giving it to those who believe they deserve handouts, Obama has weakened this country militarily. His is the tired old tried and failed 'tax and spend' philosophy because he wants to buy the votes of minorities and those who won't make the efforts to better themselves. He, like other liberals, doesn't seem to realize the money has to come from somewhere and you can only punish the successful so much before they find a way to hide their money instead of investing it in our country. He has intentionally caused division between rich and poor; blacks and whites; and between men and women. The one segment of our society he doesn't want to spend money on is our military. Though a strong military is necessary for a free people and a safer world Obama wants to shrink it. Our allies can no longer trust that we will be there for them and our enemies have become emboldened because they know Obama is not a leader. He is a weak ideologue bent on bringing this country down for, what he perceives as, past injustices.   

America, for all it's faults has been the greatest force for good in the world for the past one hundred years. If America is weakened...the rest of the world becomes a more dangerous place. Liberals just don't seem to get that!

Obama has proved he is only the president of very liberal Democrats. He dismisses anyone who disagrees with him as partisan...because everything he does is partisan! He never takes responsibility for anything wrong. Nothing is ever 'his' fault! (Some leader!!!) He only hears about problems in the country when they appear in the news...or so he claims. Obama says a great many things the people want to hear but what he says often has little to do with what he does. That is what we have to watch. He doesn't like what America is. He has demonstrated that he believes America is a bad country. He doesn't understand American strengths or values. And, he clearly doesn't understand our enemies.

Our media, for the most part, has been in the tank for this unqualified, anti-American ideologue. It's time Americans wake up to how this man is attempting to destroy everything that made this county great. He claims to be a Christian but has proved time and again to be anti-Christian. His administration has created so many thousand new regulations that they are choking to death the free-market that made this country an economic power-house.

Together with his corrupt Attorney General, Eric Holder, Obama is trampling on the constitution he swore to uphold and defend. He has proven he isn't qualified to run a candy store! Instead of unifying Americans, he has been the most divisive president in history. He has surrounded himself with 'Yes' men and women who tell him how great he is while he flatly ignores anyone he disagrees with. He and Holder have set race relations back by decades. He has wrecked the greatest health care system in the world. He has weakened the greatest military power in the world. He has turned his back on veterans who's care he promised would be a cornerstone of his administration. He has made America a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. And, he has made the world a much more dangerous place.

This is a dark time in America.

The Gospel of Christ

Those that truly accept Christ as their savior must accept His authority in their lives and live by His commandments. That’s the covenant they enter with God. It should go without saying that one who accepts Christ as their savior accepts His message…His gospel (good news).

Many churches will tell you they teach the gospel but few seem to fully understand what that means. Some churches teach that the Gospel of Christ is the coming Kingdom of God. Christ did preach that the Kingdom of God is coming but we don’t see that expounded on in the scriptures.  What is expounded on is that Christ is the Way to enter Kingdom of God. One simply has to read the epistles of Paul to see what the gospel of Christ is. Paul preached Christ. Christ IS the gospel!   This doesn’t simply mean the person of Christ taught in the scriptures. It means who Christ really is to us. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the way into the Kingdom of God…period! Anyone who truly understands this should find new life in the Hebrew Scriptures. They are just as relevant today as they were when they were first penned. To accept Christ is to accept the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) because He IS the OT. He is the logos, the Word of God, made flesh.

To rightly divide the Word of Truth is to understand the coming of Christ would happen twice. The Jews of His time didn’t understand that.  They knew that the Messiah would come as a conquering king but they missed the prophesies of His first coming as a savior to mankind. When Christ came the first time He was born as mortal human being to walk among us. He would go on to live and die a sinless life. The world of Christendom celebrates His birth and His resurrection. While the facts of those events have been distorted by human traditions over the centuries what has been the most distorted is what He did in His first coming; what He preached and what He’s doing now.  These things are the heart of Christ’s good news to man.

One can roughly break down Christ’s ministry into several functions. The first was as a Rabbi or teacher.

As a Rabbi / teacher:

The first word Christ is reported to have spoken when He began His ministry was ‘Repent’. The meaning of repentance is to turn from your way of life and follow Gods way. Remember that Christ came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Most of the people He preached to knew what God expected of them from  the scriptures but their religion, Judaism, was not the faith delivered to their forefathers. Judaism was NOT the religion of the Israelites. Judaism is what the people turned the faith once delivered to them into. It was the religion of the tribe of Judah dominated primarily by Pharisaical traditions. It was that religion that had gotten off track. A part of Christ’s ministry was an attempt to restore it.

He pointed out the errors in Pharisaical thinking, as well as other errors that had entered into the various sects of Judaism. He tried to put the faith once delivered back on track.

The second function that Christ served was, what we may call, His Levitical function.

In His Levitical function:

He filled the written moral law to the fullest. He didn’t do away with the law.  He expanded the law to include its intent. What had been ‘Don’t commit Adultery’ was expanded to ‘Don’t even allow yourself to sexually lust after another’. What had been ‘Don’t commit Murder’ was expanded to ‘Don’t hate your fellow man’. What had been ‘Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy’ was expounded to mean it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. He taught that all the extra rules and regulations the Pharisees had tacked onto the Sabbath were contrary to the intent of the law.

What Christ did away with was the penalty for breaking the law for those who accepted Him.

This brings us to His role as our Savior:

He took the place of animal and other sacrifices. He paid the penalty for the sins of anyone willing to accept His sacrifice and take that sacrifice to God the Father. He filled the need for a high priest by becoming ours. He made it possible for us to go directly to God the Father.

By His life He showed us the plan of salvation that the tabernacle in the wilderness foreshadowed. Christ took the religion of the Israelites and made it universal. When one accepted Christ one no longer needed an animal sacrifice, a priest or a tabernacle because those things are all complete in Christ. He fulfilled all the requirements of the priests, sacrifices and tabernacle.  All the ceremonial laws contained in the Torah were made complete in Christ. When we ask whether we still need sacrifices, a high priest and a tabernacle the answer is YES! We need Christ to fulfill those functions. That is His continuation of the faith once delivered to the Children of Israel. We take His sacrifice when we go before God the Father every day. Christ, as our High Priest, intercedes for us to God the Father every day.

Think of the excitement it generated among believers when they learned the truth of Christ. Now the faith once delivered was no longer bound by the temple, the only place on earth where a sacrifice could be offered. The faith could now be practiced anywhere…through Christ! The Jews have never proselytized but the early church developed a burning desire to do so. Through Christ they could live Gods way anywhere! Early Christians wanted to share that Good News with the world!

We take the Belief in Christ into our hearts, not just in our actions, because He offered those called a new covenant, one which has the law written in our hearts. One could say that the Hebrew Scriptures, the so-called Old Testament, are primarily about Right Actions. They were primarily addressed to the nation of Israel. The Greek scriptures, or New Testament, are primarily about Right Attitudes. They are primarily addressed to individuals. Each is incomplete without the other.

In Judaism one can be a good Jew and still believe anything as long as one does what is expected in the community. One can be an atheist and still be a good Jew. Early Christianity changed that by requiring one to believe in its tenets. (Modern Christianity has gone so far the other direction that many now think the only thing that matters is what one believes…what one does no longer matters to such believers.)

So what now?

Since it is clear that Christ made the ceremonial laws complete, Christians throughout the centuries have asked what parts of the law are still relevant today.  

The careful Bible student will turn to the epistles of the apostle Paul for an answer. Paul seems to rail against the law at the same time that he is says we should no longer sin. Here again to rightly divide the Word of Truth we need to understand that Paul was addressing TWO bodies of law. Paul was a Pharisee before his conversion. The Pharisees believed that their oral law was on the same par with the written law of the Torah. Christ, in a carefully worded statement in His first sermon in Matthew 5 said the written law would not change. Not one jot or one tittle. (These are Old English terms used in the King James translation referring to written language.) Christ went on in the scriptures to condemn the oral law of the Pharisees because much of it was contrary to the intent of the written law that God had revealed. Remember the laws the Pharisees had added to the Sabbath made its observance so restrictive that they violated the intent of the law.

Paul later used the example of an obscure written law that said the ox that treads the grain should not be muzzled. The oxen doing the work were allowed by law to eat of the grain they trod on. Paul pointed out that the law was not written for the benefit of oxen…it was written for our benefit. The apostle Paul applied the principle of that law to paying the ministers who spread the gospel. The principle of the law is still relevant today.  This sheds a great deal of light on how Paul and the early church saw the law.

Remember that God gave us His law out of His love for us. His laws are for our own good. If one accepts the truth of that assertion then one can’t now claim the law is a burden. God wasn’t trying to be restrictive or tyrannical the way some modern Christians would have us think. They confuse the oral law Paul was referring to with the written law revealed to us for our benefit.

Christ said not one jot or one tittle of the written law would change. That means ALL the law is still relevant today. The PRINCIPLES of all the law are still relevant today even if the letter of the law no longer holds the same relevance for us. For example: Leviticus 19:27 commands us: "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Modern Judaism takes this law literally so we see modern Hasidic Jews wearing curls above their sideburns. This law had the intent of instructing Gods people not to adorn their heads the way people who followed other gods did. That PRINCIPLE is still valid today! We are not to adorn ourselves the way people who follow false gods do. Just as the physical nation of Israel was to be separate from other nations…spiritual Israel, the Body of Christ, is to separate itself from the practices of the world.

What is Christ doing now?

The last thing Christ did on earth was conquer death. He is alive and sitting at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven. He works as our High Priest to intercede for us to God the Father every day. He will return someday soon as a conquering king to live and reign on earth for a thousand years. He will expand His kingdom for ever.

Christ was our prophet and the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, He is our High Priest and one day He will be our King. That is the Gospel...

His offer to us…eternal life.

That is the culmination of Christ’s gospel… For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Amen

Guns

I guess it's time I come out of the closet... I'm a gun-nut! For years I lived in a town where folks like me were considered politically incorrect. Even owning a firearm to some of my neighbors meant I was a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, war-monger. Nothing could be further from the truth but there's no reasoning with people who judge others on their "feelings" instead of the facts.  Truthfully, I don't much mind what other people do as long as they leave me alone. I find that I now have to take a more public stand because my God-given second amendment rights are being chipped away by a government who has learned very little from history.

I'm what some might call 'old school'. I don't particularly care for synthetic stocks and stainless steel actions. Oh, I own a couple. They do handle the weather better than blued steel and wood. And they are easier to clean. But, I love the look of fine, blued steel on a richly grained piece of wood. I love the smell of gun oil, burned gun powder and real leather attached to a beautiful firearm. A well designed firearm is a work, not only of engineering, but of art. To me shooting is not much different than someone who loves playing golf. Except the clothes are more stylish!

You see, what I love is the romance of shooting. Ballistics is something of a hobby of mine. I love shooting black powder and other historical firearms. The emphasis on shooting these is marksmanship. A young guy with a semi-automatic and a banana magazine that holds, say, thirty rounds will pull the trigger thinking: "I have 29 more rounds if I miss." A man with a black powder or single shot firearm thinks: "I have one round so I better not miss!" That's the attitude of a true hunter. If one is going to hunt with a firearm it's only humane to be the best marksman one can be so the animal doesn't suffer.

What I resent, as a lawful gun-owner and firm believer in the second amendment, is the implication that I don't care as much as non-gun owners over the killing of people or animals for no reason. And I especially abhor the massacre of innocent people like the slaughter of the children at Sandy Hook elementary school in Pennsylvania. Such incidents break my heart. I still remember the children of Dunblane, Scotland and the absolute horror I felt at an adult intentionally shooting a child. The sick individual that committed that crime against humanity is another in a long line of human beings given completely over to evil. And, yes I believe it is the people who commit such acts who are evil. Such people will use whatever is available to them to kill. Guns are simply tools...tools that should not be allowed in the hands of the mentally ill.

I believe all human beings have, not only a right but, a responsibility to defend themselves. If one owns a firearm for self-defense one has the responsibility to be practiced in using it correctly. Most handgun shooting is primarily for self-defense though there are also those who love to target shoot with them. If one isn't going to practice then they should find another method of defending oneself. I'm a firm believer that a responsible gun owner is one who is practiced and knows how to use their firearm safely.

I've known other gun nuts that love old military weapons because of the history they were a part of. Cowboy gun nuts love old western style guns for the same reason. There are hunters that only care about bagging game for one reason or another. There are 'assault' rifle owners that get a thrill out of spraying the ground with lead. There are shotgun nuts that practice skeet or trap shooting as hobbies. And then there are those who have specialized guns designed for highly accurate target shooting as their hobby. I've known them all. I can say with complete clarity of conscience that, by far and away, most of them were normal folks that have no desire to shoot or harm anyone. They love and value the Second Amendment and the rights that it affords. The National Rifle Association, of which I'm a proud member, promotes safe, responsible gun ownership. We aren't wackos like some in the far-left would have you believe.

In fact it's people like the Hollywood 'elite' that promote gun violence by titillating our senses in movies where gun violence is rampant. These appeal to the lowest, basest human drives. We are set up to want to see revenge and murder in such movies. The makers of video games are no different. These forms of entertainment demean us and pull us all down as a race. Oh, the folks who traffic in such garbage will be quick to tell you that there is no correlation between what happens on screen and what happens in real life. These are the same folks who will spend billions on one minute commercials during events like the Super Bowl to influence our buying habits. As far as I'm concerned they're vile hypocrites only out for profit...when they're not beating their own chests in self-righteous attempts to make themselves feel relevant by railing against responsible gun ownership! How screwed up is that!?

Guns have been around since the founding of this nation.  Private ownership of guns in the hands of ordinary citizens is one of the major reasons why we were able to become an independent nation. You see governments fear armed citizens...and well they should. While our founding fathers plainly declared that private gun ownership is a God-given right among the other rights enumerated the Bill of Rights...it is the one right that allows us to defend our other rights.

I'm an American. I believe in our Constitution. The founding fathers intended it to be a governing blueprint that allowed the people to have as much freedom as possible without infringing on the freedoms of others.  It’s main purpose, however, is to limit the power of our government. It is being challenged and chipped away at in our time like never before in our history. We have a president who has berated those of us who "cling to God and our guns". In one stroke this 'former constitutional scholar' disparaged both the first and second amendments in the Bill of Rights. It's no wonder why he doesn't care for either. They limit his power just like they were designed to do!

There are always people that think they can run our lives better than we can. Such people always have "the best" intentions. They think they know better than our founding fathers. History has proven them wrong time and again. An armed citizenry ensures a free citizenry. As long as we have the Second Amendment and our guns they will have a deterrent from our government riding roughshod over us...whatever their true intentions. That's why they want our guns so bad.

I stand with our founding fathers, the NRA and such patriots as Charlton Heston. Mr. Heston stood with Martin Luther King to fight for the God-given rights of all Americans. Unlike our president who only gives lip-service to the constitution Mr. Heston actually stood up for it's principles. Guns in the hands of ordinary, private citizens have been a fundamental  part of our history. My hope, my prayer, is that the next generation will also come to value those rights that so many in our history have given their life's blood for.