Difficult Scriptures 4

Revelations

Dunno if it is allowed to put a whole book of the Bible under the heading “difficult scriptures”, but this is my blog, so my rules, so I shall =)

I find Revelations really hard and a big part of my issues with it probably is coming from a Christadelphian background when people spent loads of time trying to predict the second coming and interpret “the signs of the times”. During Communism the signal for the end of the world was going to come out of Russia, now it is going to come out of Iran. I have to be very careful not to get cynical about it all.

The thing with Revelations is that there is loads of picture language in there, half of which we do not understand 'cos we are not readig it with the mindset of first centuary Jews. Stuff that would have been so obvious to them misses the point on us.

There is also stuff in there that is history, that is current, that is for the future, and that is eternal. How do you know which bit of history you are on? Or even if you are outside of history altogether?

Some things I do get.
I understand that heaven will be awesome, and perfect, and full of worship. I also understand that it is a glorious mystery to us.
I also understand that there is a real spiritual battle to be fought, but Jesus has “read the end of the book” for us, so we know we win in the end.

I was talking to someone on the way home earlier this week about being creative and how humans can never be truly original because we can only use the materials God has given us- we have never yet made anything from nothing. Likewise even in stories like CS Lewis Perelandra, authors can never describe anything without using terms we already understand like colours or references from what God has created e.g. “a strange new plant taller than a man but not as tall as a tree”

What's this got to do with Revelations? Well, I think part of why it is so incomprehensible is that the writer was trying to describe stuff that has never been seen on earth, so he ran out of words to describe it and we run out of references to understand it by.

Anyway, last night someone was talking to a visitor who had decided to get a taste of the Bible by reading the last and the first books, and were then quite confused by Revelations. The advise given was to read the gospels first and get to know Jesus then, “rather than worrying about what is going to happen, you will be ready when it does happen”. That's sound advice.

One day I will probably be ready to read Revelations (and understand it!) but for now I think I will concentrate on knowing Jesus better. After all John who wrote Revelations was not a theologian or an expert on religious imagery, he was the one who loved Jesus dearly and lay on His breast. Maybe the understanding of the mysteries comes from intimacy with Jesus and being truly in the presence of the Holy Spirit?

Difficult Scriptures 3

The Sheep and the Goats
I have always found this parable really hard:

When I used to read it as Sunday School it was hard because in my middle class childhood I was really unlikely to come across anyone who needed food or clothes, or even anyone who needed visiting in prison.
Nowadays the dilema is that I do meet people in need, and I don't know what the balance is between loving people as Jesus would and plainly getting ripped off.
I know very well that someone with a drug habit will do anything to feed that habit.
I know that we can easily fill up our mealtimes with people who just want a free dinner, and our community houses with people who just need a bed, but I am sure we are not meant to be social services to people.

James said faith without works is dead, and quite rightly we cannot ignore our social responsibilities, but works without faith is maybe even more dead. I am sure Jesus does not want a pious or patronising “doing good” that does not actually care about people as people.
In the Jesus Centres we are able to help people in a way we cannot in our homes, and the vision is to make sure the whole thing is firmly based on Jesus. But I don't think it is good enough for me to say “I belong to a church that does these things” 'cos I don't do any shifts at the Jesus Centre anyway!

Going back to not being able to help everyone who comes to the door...There is this scripture I could quote to try to salve my conscience “pearls before swine”
BUT I don't find Jesus putting in a clause “only help those who deserve it” or “only give practical help to those who also want to enter the kingdom of God”

So..... where does my conscience settle on this one?

It is hard to apply “whatever you did to the least of these you did unto me” to someone who is behaving in a way that Jesus never would. I mean, however hungry or dirty he was, I am sure Jesus did not threaten to smash your windows in if you crossed his will or nick people's bags while they were eating.

Maybe some of the answer is seeing people as individuals and not as a collective group of “alkies” “junkies”, “needy people” or just “them” that we can't trust. Maybe I need to be ready to love the next person who comes along and not hold the sins of “the others” against them. To be “wise as serpents but innocent as doves”

In Acts Peter was struggling with the issue of what to do with Non-Jews who were finding faith in Jesus.
I think what he is saying here is that the gospel is available without limit to all who want it. So our love should be available without limit.
Whatever compassion we are able to show, it is the love of Jesus working through us. But if people reject Jesus in us, I suppose there is nothing more we can do.
The bottom line is that, although anyone is welcome, Jesus is really the only thing we have to offer.

But.... so long as my conscience is still struggling to find love for the person stood infront of me I am still scared of going to hell with the goats.

Difficult Scripture 2

This is the parable of the shrewd manager

As I see it this chap is suspected of being dishonest, so when he is called to account he fiddles the books to get a few friends on his side who will help him out when he gets sacked.

I get the point Jesus makes later on that if you are dishonest in small things you will also be dishonest in bigger things.
I also get the point that the world is much more shrewd than the kingdom when it comes to dealing with money- but I reckon that's because we try to be honest and kind in our dealings and don't lie or con people.

The bit I don't get is that Jesus commends him for being shrewd. I reckon he deserves to be blasted for his dishonesty- Can anyone explain this one for me?

I also get stuck with verse 9

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings

Any offers on this one?

Difficult Scriptures 1

1 Corinthians 10:13
This is saying we will not be tempted more than we can cope with, but I reckon the evidence of life shows we ARE tempted more than we can cope with because in times of crisis or temptation we DO fall and we DO fail.

These are a few ideas that try to match the promise that we are not tempted more that we can cope with, and the evidence that sometimes it is all too much and we fail.

• God does know how much we can cope with, just in our moment of crisis we fail to grab a hold of the life belt he throws to us.
• The temptation was not too much for us, just we wanted to do whatever it was so did not fight the temptation hard enough
• The failure we have gone through is not the end of the story. God is into the bigger picture and the lessons we will learn in the long term will strengthen our character and give God glory.

The Bible is full of people who love God but mess up. Moses had a bad temper and murdered someone. David had a problem with women, commited adultery and had the woman's husband killed to cover it up. Peter promised never to deny Jesus and tried to kill someone to stop them arresting Him, and then he denied Him, ran away, and went back to his old life after the crucifixion.

These people were still used by God loads. Moses got to see God face to face. David knew God deeply and wrote the Psalms, including ones that prophesy about Jesus. Peter was re-comissioned and led the church after Pentecost.

So... another thought is that God knows that the temptations and failures will not be enough to destroy His plan for us. So the promise that it will not be “too much to endure” might actually mean more like “so much as to wreck your whole life”???

But that still does not sit right with me 'cos I do know people who have wrecked their whole life. People who have gone back to drugs and killed themselves young without getting back to God. Or people who are so much less than they used to be 'cos they have given in or given up 'cos things got too tough.

Looking at the people above, Moses temper eventually meant he did not get to enter the Promised Land. David's violent life meant he could not build the temple and his children by different wives caused all sorts of problems after his death. They still had consequences to deal with even though God was gracious to them.

The only person who did live without sinning was Jesus.
The biggest struggle He went through was Gethsemane.
Jesus was fully human as well as being God, I think the battle of facing the cross was too much for Him to humanly bear. The battle of Gethsemane was the battle for Jesus' will, it was the battle for human will to be broken and handed over to God, it was the battle for all mankind to be able to say “Your will be done”.

Jesus prayed “if it is possible” not to have to go through with the cross, but He got to the point where He agreed with the Father's will that he should go through with it. In His human weakness he was able to find Divine strength.

On the cross Jesus faced the battle again- he felt totally abandoned. He cried out “My God, why have you forsaken me?” but in that abondonement was able to also pray “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”. Jesus was totally broken of all his human strength and so Jesus leads the way for everyone who finds their difficulties too much. He showed that we cannot handle what we are going through- the point is we can and should hand it over to the Father.

So, thats the point where I can reconcile myself to this verse. I do find things are too much for me sometimes, but the Holy Spirit in me links me to Jesus who was able to surrender to the Father and find strength there. So the strength to get me through is not my own, it is Divine. It will not be easy, but the strength I need is available once I give up my own strength.

Difficult Scriptures Intro

Do you ever come across bits in the Bible that you really wish were not there? Or bits that never will make sense, however often you hear someone talk about them in a meeting?

I think there is a tendancy for Christians to focus on the bits they do like or do understand, and kind of hope the rest will go away. As a church we have tried to "do the difficult bits", hence you will find people among us who live in community, or are celibates, or are from the "poor of society". We do believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are real and for today, and the thing that changed the church from a traditional baptist church to what it is today was people praying along the lines "God, if what I read is real then I want to see it happening today"

BUT I don't really think it is good enough to belong to a church that does such things and not make a decent attempt to be reconciled to the hard bits of the Bible personally. I don't think we can do faith second hand.
SO this is the beginning of a series (however long) about the bits of the Bible I find hard...