Journeying with Paul...part nine

Journeying with Paul continued...


There was a time in my life when I wrote letters to someone everyday. For the very few days that I did not write a letter, there were other days when I wrote two or three letters. During those days my life pretty much revolved around those letters. It took hours to write them. I had to go to the mail box or post office everyday. I had to make sure I had a supply of paper and envelopes. I was regularly buying more ink pens because I was going through them so fast.

Writing those letters, many of them no less than ten pages long, took a great deal of time and attention from me. I had a very good reason for writing so many letters and I did enjoy writing them but they still took much time and attention, and even money. The cost of mailing a letter begins to add up.

I think of all those things when I think of Paul writing the letter to the Romans, and of the other letters that he wrote. He didn't have the cost of postage but what might it have cost him to get hold of the supplies he had to have to write his letters? And more than that...what might it have cost him in time and emotional investment to write those letters? He obviously cared a great deal for the people he was writing to, he worried over them, prayed for them. What kind of emotional investment went into each and every word in those letters?

It's not until chapter 15 verse 23 that we see that Paul has longed to go to Rome for many years. Again, I can't help wondering...why? What made him long to go to Rome for many years and why did we never hear mention of this desire until the book of Romans?

There is so much to learn, so much to gain, so much to understand, in the book of Romans. As I think of Paul writing that letter, a letter he wrote to people that, for the most part at least, he had never met, I think of all that he shared with them through his letter. How was it received? Did they treasure it for the insight it gave them? Did they resent someone that had never stood before them telling them how to live? Did they anxiously await his arrival or wish that he would not come?

The Romans that Paul wrote to were a different kind of audience than those he had written to before. In all his other letters Paul wrote to those that he had personally taught. He had stood before them, walked with them, talked with them. That wasn't the case with the Romans.

I can well imagine my own reaction if there was a Paul of today and I received a letter from him saying he was coming to my town or home. But I can also well imagine my reaction to getting a letter from someone that I had heard was teaching something, even something I shared a belief in, telling me that they were coming to stay with me, and giving me all these instructions for how to live my life. And so I wonder how the Romans received this letter that Paul wrote. From the letter we can see that there were some in Rome that Paul personally knew and had spent a good deal of time with but I imagine there were also those hearing the letter that had never met Paul.

Whatever prompted Paul to write to the Romans, and however they felt upon receiving them, it was most likely at some time following the writing of that letter that Paul met with the men from Ephesus and then parted ways with them. I wish I could know for sure when this all took place. Did I study it wrong? Did I write it wrong? There's not much to go on except other people's opinions and thoughts on when and how this all happened. I still wonder if I should correct what I wrote and place the second letter to the Corinthians and the letter to the Romans into the middle of Acts 20 but I'm choosing to leave what I've written as it is. I do encourage anyone that reads this to do their own research, determine for themselves when they think these things took place.

We follow Paul, in the first of Acts 21, as he journeys through quite a few places but gives no attention to them other than to mention their names. We don't know if he taught in those places, if he met with believers, or if he simply passed by them as the ship went through those areas. When the ship stopped in Tyre is the first we are told of what Paul did in those towns. In Tyre 'we' sought out the disciples and stayed there for seven days. And we see again that Paul is getting direct revelation from the Holy Spirit, this time telling him not to go to Jerusalem.

After Paul leaves Tyre he spent a day in Ptolemais before going to Caesarea where he was given a warning of what the Jews in Jerusalem intended to do him. His response...

What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 21: 13 ESV

And so Paul, against the urgings of those with him, continued on his way, with all intention of going to Jerusalem despite having a very good idea of what was about to happen to him.

To be continued...

Cutesy 'Christianity'

Several years ago I had a friend that told me she believed the majority of things sold in 'Christian' bookstores should be burned. When she told me that I was literally shocked. I've long enjoyed books and well, I just couldn't bring myself to think the way she did. I still can't.

I am well aware of the false teachings, twisted Scripture, fantasy that shouldn't be labeled as Christian, and outright lies that go into some of the so-called Christian books. And I would agree that there is much being sold in 'Christian' bookstores that truly may be, and probably is, more damaging to a person than any secular book ever could be and without a doubt, every last one of those should be burned. But I can't bring myself, even now, to believe that most all books being labeled as Christian should be burned.

I thought of that long ago conversation this morning because of several things that have happened lately. I recently had someone, someone that would call themselves a Christian, same as I do, comment on one of my blogs lately. This person left numerous comments, refuting what I wrote, and correcting me, or trying to. I truly appreciated every one of those comments. I enjoyed engaging in conversation, if you can call it that, with one of my readers, and I enjoyed the chance to test my own beliefs, but I also came away from that conversation with a different perspective than I went into it.

From that ongoing conversation, and from others I've had with other people in the past, it amazes me that anyone can believe so strongly in something that isn't in Scripture. I know what Scripture says, I know they are blinded, I know they are veiled by the Lord, but it still amazes me.

The person that commented on my post corrected me, telling me that 'Calvinism' is heresy, and seemed to be outright hostile to anyone holding any belief that could even remotely be considered Calvinism. But that isn't the first time I've encountered someone that believed that way, and I doubt it will be the last. And honestly, at least they do believe in Christ. That is, at least, a start. I don't have a clue where someone believing in Christ but also believing in heresy might fall into the Lord's elect and I'm content to leave them in His hands and not worry myself too much over it, beyond the need to correct them.

But...there are so many sides to being a 'Christian' in modern America. And I really am grateful for everyone of those sides. I think. Some of them have very anti-Scriptural beliefs, and a good many of them use a label, Christian, that does not fit who and what they really are, and in the process they make true Christians look bad.

They go around living a life that is against Scripture while claiming to be 'Chrisitian' or else they live a life of such works righteousness that they show the world you must strive hard to attain salvation when Scripture says none of that is worth anything. In fact it says that those works are nothing but filthy rags and that the person striving for salvation is nothing but white washed tombs while inside they are dead mans bones.

How much plainer could Scripture be?

The person that told me most of what is in 'Christian' bookstores should be burned knows Scripture, at least they know it through the filter through which they approach it. They understand all of Scripture through preconceived ideas of what Scripture teaches and they gain from Scripture twisted teachings that support their beliefs as opposed to understanding what Scripture actually says. That pains me, it grieves me, it hurts my heart. I have tried pointing this person to the Truth of Scripture in the past but I cannot get them past those preconceived ideas, to what is really written in Scripture. Which really isn't surprising. Most people are that way. I personally believe the single most dangerous thing about the 'salvation prayer' is the false sense of security it gives people because they put all their faith in that prayer, trust in its ability to save them, and then will not listen to the true way to salvation according to Scripture because they have been assured, usually by a preacher, almost always by other 'Christians', that they have been 'saved' and will go to heaven when they die.

A number of years ago I wrote Christian fiction. I was never published but I had hopes of being published. As a result of that I made friends in the 'Christian' writing world. Today I often shake my head in wonder at the beliefs of some of the writers turning out things that are labeled as 'Christian' and sold to anyone willing to buy the book because of the label it holds.

I well remember when I had no clue of what theology meant, when I bought 'Christian' books because they were 'Christian' and therefore they must be safe to read and might teach a few biblical things along the way. How wrong I was. I once spent lots of money buying a library of Mennonite books for my children because I thought they would be good clean books that would influence my children to nothing but Christ. While I can't say those books were the worst thing my children were ever exposed to, and since they went mostly unread it really didn't matter anyway, but those books, if they had been read, would have taught my children a system of works righteousness that isn't Scriptural.

At some point I came across a 'Christian' website that had an article on it that spoke of books. The author of that article talked of how a writers beliefs will infect the books they write and if our children read those books then our children are being taught about those beliefs. They gave examples of popular classic books. One had a seance in it, another taught magic, and still another some sort of religion was taught through nothing more than making a character that practiced that religion look appealing.  The author of the article told of how those things can influence our children, sometimes with no more than something they read and forgot and sometimes by getting them interested in something they had never been exposed to before. I had never considered any of those things until I read that article. After reading that article I started being a little more careful what I let my children be exposed to.

Later, as I dipped into the 'Christian' writing world, I began to see the truth in what that person had written in that article. I made friends with a 'Christian' author, one whose books I had read, and found out that she was Roman Catholic. I had no problems having her as a friend but I remember thinking that I wouldn't have read her books if I knew what she believed.

I still have friends that are 'Christian' writers and more and more it amazes me the things they believe. Most of them, no matter what denomination they prescribe to, believe in name-it and claim-it type of beliefs. Most of them wear the label of author before they wear the label of Christian. And so many of them buy into and promote a 'Christianity' that isn't the Christianity of Scripture, than they write those beliefs in their books and teach them to anyone that will read them.

In the case of fiction, their personal beliefs are generally limited, usually to having the main characters go to 'church', prayer before meals, and throw up a prayer when they get into trouble. But even that...teaches an easy believism type of 'Christianity'. In the case of non-fiction, though, there beliefs can be way more damaging.

Let's say I wanted to read a book on Christ. If I wanted something that would show me who Christ was as a man, the things He taught, and how He lived...I would be best served to pick up my Bible, or at the very least Crossway's The Gospels...but let's assume I wanted a book where someone else was explaining all these things to me. If I managed to get hold of a book where someone went to Scripture and detailed all that Christ did without adding to it or taking away from it then I might be well served to read that book but the chances of finding a book like that are pretty much nonexistent. Chances are I would get hold of a book about Christ written by a professing 'Christian' that approached Scripture with a veil firmly in place and wrote of a Christ that does not exist within the pages of Scripture. If I did not understand what Christ really was like before reading that book, and therefore be able to mentally, or literally, mark out all the false teachings it contained, I would be influenced by the beliefs of the author.

I write. It wasn't something I went looking to do. I sort of fell into it both when I wrote fiction and now as I write the posts that I place on the blog. I have no idea how I write the things I do. It is a gift and nothing of me. But even my own writing, although I write what I understand to be the Truth of Scripture, has the ability to influence people. I consider that to be a good thing. If someone believing in a false 'Christianity' reads any of what I write, maybe, just maybe, my writing will plant a seed within that person, a seed that the Lord might someday use to save them.

But there is another side to 'Christianity', one I've seen show up in 'Christian' writers and non-writers alike. It is the cutesy side.

I am currently working my way through the life of Paul, following his journeys, reading his letters as close to where he wrote them in those journeys as I can, and learning much about him. I can't help but think that he did not live out a cutesy 'Christian' life. His life was hard. He faced much, battled much both in the physical world and the spiritual one, and endured much for the sake of Christ. 

How many people today, people that go to 'church' every Sunday, people that teach Bible study, have prayer meetings, witness to others, and write 'Christian' books, endure anything for Christ? And how many of them live the cutesy 'Christian' life?

I've seen a good deal of what 'Christian' authors, and agents seem to rely on to get them through. I know one 'Christian' author that is into Bible journaling. I see nothing wrong with that. I write in my Bible. I take notes, highlight, even put my children's and grandchildren's hand prints in them. I have Bibles that I wouldn't mark in for anything and then I have the Bible that I bought specifically so I could write in it, and discovered I truly like that Bible. But I write all in that Bible. I take notes, write questions, even make little journal entries of where I was, why I was studying that passage, or what was going on in my life as I read that. I have nothing against Bible journaling. But this friend, is into the new fad called Bible journaling, and even that, I can't say is necessarily bad. It's just that I have seen pictures of this friends Bible. She takes one passage of Scripture, sometimes one verse, and draws all around it, adding stickers and whatever else strikes her fancy to that page, making a whole page of Scripture highlight one single verse. The rest of the page can't usually be read.

It's a cutesy type of thing that encourages the twisting of, and the picking apart of Scripture. President Lincoln had a Bible that is called the blank Bible. They call it that because he literally cut out all parts of Scripture that he did not like or agree with. That, to me, is what this friend does in her Bible journaling. She may not cut her Bible apart, she doesn't have to, she just colors over, paints over, and puts stickers over, the parts she doesn't find particularly important or interesting.

That is a form of cutesy 'Christianity' that has nothing to do with true Christianity. And it's only the tip of the ice berg.

Professing 'Christianity' in a lot of ways has been redefined to fit social media. Like this and God will bless you. Share this and God will fix your bills. Here's a pretty picture and a Bible verse, a verse taken out of context, not written for every person in the world, now apply it to your life and feel better about yourself. And when you move into the writing world, a world of authors and various professionals working to put those 'Christian' books on the bookshelves, you also get book promotions, people posting about how wonderful libraries are, posting about leaving a review of a book you enjoyed because authors don't make very much money... You get the idea, they are promoting themselves and their trade. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that. If a person has a business they must promote it to stay in business. The problem comes in when this is what you see of a person that is claiming to be a 'Christian'. 

From knowing these authors I have been able to see the beliefs behind the 'Christian' label, at least I have seen some of them. And what I have seen is disturbing.

I don't know all of them well enough to know their deepest held beliefs, in fact, I would say I know none of them well enough to know their deepest held beliefs, but I do know all of them well enough to see what persona they want to show to the world. I see the persona they want their fans to see...and it isn't that of being a Biblical Christian. Not even the one author I know that claims to be reformed.

I'm using authors as an example because in a lot of ways they are what influences so many of America's so-called 'Christians'. These people write books that wind up in the hands and minds of thousands...millions...of people. They spread their beliefs to all that care to read their books, even if their book happens to be a cook book. And yet...the majority of them subscribe to a belief system that shows cutesy 'Christianity' and name-it and claim-it 'Christianity' over Scriptural Christianity.

Whether a 'Christian' is an author or an ordinary, everyday person, whether they are male or female, married, divorced, or single, there are 'Christian' retreats and conferences to attend, there are books to be bought and read, there are movies to watch... All of which promote something other than what Scripture promotes.

Much the way the person leaving comments on my blog recently was promoting something other than Scripture. That person even alligned themselves with a certain denominational belief, using the terms we and our to describe their beliefs, which left no doubt to the fact that they were laying claim to those denominational beliefs, only to turn around and say that they were not of that denomination. This person had a hard time even knowing their own beliefs well enough to stick to one story much less being able to back those beliefs with Scripture that wasn't twisted to support that denominational belief. Although I will give that person credit, I don't believe they were subscribing to cutesy 'Christianity'.

But one anti-Scriptural belief system is just as damaging to their soul as another. It doesn't matter if they believe God will do something for them if they post or share something on social media or if they believe God will owe them salvation, or owe their children salvation, if they can just be a good enough 'Christian'...it's all a false gospel that leads away from the true Christ and not to Him.

They can go to a conference to be taught how to have a good 'Christian' life on earth or they can sit home, pouring over their Bibles, studying for hours, to learn about how to be a better 'Christian' by doing...this. It all goes against Scripture.

I have been tempted, many times, to take a poll of those that I know both in real life and online, to see what denomination they line up with. I truly am curious, although I know the answer for some of them, just to see how far the cutesy or name it and claim it 'Christianity' has gone. 

Years ago I was part of a 'church' that claimed to be nondenominational. When I went there they did a fairly good job of reading straight from Scripture but the few encounters I've had with members of that 'church' over the last year or so has shown me that they have embraced the prosperity gospel and they teach classes using books and materials written by definite heretics.

Where is the true Christ in all of that? When does Christ get the glory through someone liking something on social media? How is Christ pointed to by someone working their way into sinless perfection so that God will 'owe' them the salvation of their children?

I've sat in the midst of so-called 'Christians' hearing the message they heard from their preacher, being told snippets of Scripture in a way that doesn't stretch the mind, doesn't convict the soul, and doesn't lead one to the Christ of Scripture. I've been told how much Jesus loves everyone, been told how  a 'Christian' should strive to be a better husband, wife, dad, or mom, and a multitude of other things. Things that are just 'Christian' enough to make one feel good about themselves and their weekly sacrifice of sitting in the 'church' and giving their 'tithes'.

I've visited with the people that sat through the same message and I've walked out of those messages gaining nothing from them or gaining very little. I've easily left a mornings teaching, which is really only about thirty minutes worth, behind as I moved back into my real life, going and doing the things I needed or wanted to do. Just as every other person in those pews did.

Where are the fire and brimstone messages that leave a person convicted, angry or emotionally hurting for Christ? And where are the 'Christians' that want those sort of teachings?

America's 'Christians' today don't want those teachings. They want the cutesy teachings that tell them they are basically a good person, that their sins aren't really all that bad, and give them just a tidbit of Scripture to stretch them a hairsbreadth from where they were when they walked in the door, a stretch that won't last past lunchtime.

Or worse, they take that little bit of teaching, teaching that is erroneous at best, and add it to the celebrity author or preachers teachings they have been absorbing all week in their books and movies and then they take to the internet to share more cutesy 'Christianity' and tell other people how great a life they can have here on earth while never even noticing that the Christians of Scripture, including Christ himself, did not have great earthly lives. They take no note of the fact that Scripture tells us that we are to be content with food and clothing and that earthly things are not blessings but curses.

It's almost as if these professing 'Christians' live on the cutesy sayings, the do this and you'll be blessed by God posts, the pictures of serene places with a nice little verse written at the bottom to point them back to a surface level 'Christianity'. They seem to need to see, or post, these things every five minutes. It's like a drug addict taking their next hit. 'I'm running out of steam, I've lost my 'Christian' focus, let me post this to remind myself of what I'm supposed to be believing.' They have been well trained by a world that is antagonistic to true Christianity. They feed themselves and allow themselves to be fed off things that are not true Scripture.

They pick their Bibles apart and use them like drawing tablets or coloring books. Again, I have no problem with writing or even coloring pictures in your Bible. I think that if those things help a person to meditate on Christ than doing them is a good thing. I also think that if taking notes, highlighting, or even drawing a picture in your Bible helps you to better enjoy your Bible, or if you're trying to make an heirloom for your children or grandchildren, and you want to preserve your beliefs along with pictures you've drawn, letters you've written to a certain person, or even just to whoever might get your Bible someday, than that is a wonderful thing. Anything that points someone to Christ, even through pictures or letters in a Bible, is a good thing. And anything that a person enjoys, that makes their Bible feel more like their very own, that makes them more comfortable with, or helps them better enjoy their Bible is great. What isn't great or good, or wonderful, is the picking apart of Scripture to highlight only a certain section, turning all of Scripture into nothing more than a book filled with those cutesy pages where most of Scripture can't even be read.

Those same 'Christians' wear their 'Christianity' on their t-shirts, they drive it around on their cars. But do they share the Christianity of Scripture? When they wear shirts that twist Scripture, shirts they proudly acquire the way the non-Christian acquires...something...are they pointing anyone to Christ? Do those t-shirts, bumper stickers, and emblems point to Christ or do they just promote more cutesy 'Christianity' that is of no more benefit than an atheists beliefs?

Do these 'Christians' live for Christ or do they live for the recognition they get through those t-shirts, through their weekly dip into the 'church' pool, through their taste of Scripture through their little pictures with verses, through their...pats on the back to themselves and others by way of compliments and encouragements in their cutesy 'Christianity'. Are they living for, pointing toward, Christ with their brief 'Christian' moments, that must be constantly fed with cutesy 'Christianity' in order to stay strong in their lives, or are they just feeding their egos?

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Journeying with Paul...part eight

Journeying with Paul continued...

With questions still lingering, of how Paul knew there were Christians in Rome and whether or not he personally knew these believers, I open my Bible to the book of Romans.

Not far into Romans 1, in verse 11, we see that Paul tells them that he may 'at last' succeed in going to them. That tells me that he has long been wanting to go to Rome. What made him want to go there? I know from this study that Paul was receiving direct revelations from the Holy Spirit, so I know his wanting to go to Rome was most likely of the Holy Spirit, but I wonder what human thing brought his attention to Rome and what human thing prompted his wanting to go there. But like the other questions I have about Paul and Rome, this one will continue to go unanswered. Paul goes on to tell the Romans that he was been wanting to come to them but has been prevented from doing so.

In verse 16, Paul says...

For I am not ashamed of the gospel...

This gives me yet another glimpse into who Paul is. Now, really I already knew this because Romans has long been one of my favorite books in Scripture. Even before I understood what it meant to be Reformed, before I knew there was such a thing as monergism, I enjoyed the book of Romans. I have been known to read this book over and over just because I enjoyed it. But even if I hadn't read Romans before, I believe I would have known that Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel. He has shown, through all that I have read in Scripture through this study on Paul's life, that he is not the least ashamed of the Gospel. I don't believe anyone could have lived as he did, done the things he did, and had any hint of shame where the Gospel was concerned.

The first book of Romans has Paul writing of God's wrath. He says...

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. verse 28

And then he goes on to give a long list of all the things that God gave the people up to. As I read over those verses and the verses before them, I couldn't help but see America today in them. That section of Scripture could have just as easily been written to America today. In verse 32, Paul says...

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

How much of today's American lifestyle is rooted in sin? Movies that depict sin as a good thing, movies that show sin as the way to live, movies that glorify what I would call demons at best-living dead people, music that encourages all sorts of sin, and an acceptance of sin in all of daily life. Gone are the days when couples were looked down on or even shunned for living together without marriage, in fact today, it's encouraged and seen as perfectly fine, given all but the same status as marriage.

Not all that long ago I saw a note, posted on social media, by a relative. It was a list of things that a man should (or shouldn't, I don't quite remember which) do for his wife. This relative tagged her live in boyfriend, with whom she has a child. In the comments section I saw the boyfriends reply...he said, 'notice that says "wife not girlfriend"...Now this is a man that has seen fit to move this young woman in with him and seemed to see no problem with having a child with her, but he rudely distinguished between wife and girlfriend, lowering her status in his life, when by nature of their living situation and their child, she should have been considered his wife regardless of whether or not they had had a wedding. Not only that but he proceeded to enter into an argument with her on this social media forum. Now, to give them credit, I don't know the man at all, have only met him a couple of times, and have seen nothing of this couples relationship with each other. The interaction that I took to be an argument could very well have been friendly banter between them. I do not know. What I do know is that this man straight out told the mother of his child, the young woman he had moved in with him, that she was not considered to have the status of a wife.

This is one couple in a country filled with many, many more just like them. They live next door to us, down the street, and across town. I'm not so much trying to point out the couples, although they are living in sin, as I am trying to point out that the friends, family, and neighbors of these couples see nothing wrong with what they are doing. Neither do the buildings, or the people that fill them, that call themselves 'churches'. I know that some of them do but the majority of them don't. In fact many of them open their doors wide, offering to accept them as they are.

And really...those couples, and the sins they live in...are really, in my mind anyway...not near as bad as the sin that many other so-called couples live in, even under the guise of marriage. And our country embraces them and their sin.

...God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done...

Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Those words of Paul are wise and so very applicable to America today. And they give us insight into what Paul believed to be right or wrong. This last week I had someone comment on one of my posts, The black and white of Scripture, telling me that my belief, Reformed Christian, was an abomination to God. Actually, what I think they said is that Calvinism is an abomination to God. Now, let me say right here that I do not consider myself a Calvinism. I am a follower of Christ, not of any man, and I did not know anything about John Calvin when I began to see Scripture in the way I do. In other words the Lord saved me and showed me His word without any help from Calvin. But I had told this person, who I do not know, that I am Reformed and added that some call it Calvinism. This person than told me that Calvinism is an abomination to God.

Scripture tells us what God considers to be an abomination, and it has nothing to do with Calvinism. I won't, however, get sidetracked on that topic. If anyone wishes to know exactly what Scripture says is an abomination a simple internet search for 'Bible verses abomination' should get them all the answer they seek.

The person leaving the comment that my beliefs are an abomination was off the mark on what God considers an abomination, even if what I belief happens to be wrong. But here, in Romans 1, Paul gives us insight into some of the things that God turns his wrath upon. Paul never says, here, that they are an abomination to God but he does show us the signs of a debased mind and a group of people given up by God. And that information gives us insight into what Paul would consider right and wrong, and what he would see as sin in other people.

In Romans 2, Paul uses the words, 'O man', twice. Those two little words, O man, seem so important to me. In their very simplicity they seem to say...you are nothing but man...what are you compared to God. And this is how Paul speaks to, or of, people.

Paul, in this letter to the Romans, tells of what salvation is and of how it is, and isn't, given. He gives a world of information in this single letter. He tells of how sin came into the world, or at least who brought it into the world, and how it has afflicted all of mankind since, (chapter 5), and how we are either a slave to sin or a slave to Christ (ch. 6). He shows through a single statement that Christians are not immune to suffering (8:18) and that the elect cannot be separated from God (8:33, 37-39).

As I read Romans now, thinking of it not as a book but as a letter written to a group of people, and as I think of the writing supplies Paul must have had, or not had, to write this letter...it seems to me to be a long, labor intensive, possibly difficult or expensive,  letter to write.

To be continued...

That takes me through the ninth book of Romans. My intention was to work through all of Romans today but something came up that go my mind on other points of Scripture and as I tried to get back to it, I found that my mind was still mulling over the other things that I have studied and thought on today. So I am cutting this post almost in half in order to give the rest of Romans the attention it deserves.

Journeying with Paul...part seven

Journeying with Paul...continued

Since writing parts five and six of this ongoing article, Journeying with Paul, I have discovered that the order that I wrote things happening may have been a bit off from how it happened. In my writing I had Paul writing 2 Corinthians after he parted company with the men from Ephesus, which took place at the very end of Acts, but I have since discovered that he may actually have written both 2 Corinthians and Romans during the part of Scripture that is Acts 20:2, while Paul was in Greece, most likely in Corinth. 

In writing Journeying with Paul, I have discovered that different people put a different timeline on Scripture. Some people say Paul did something at one time and someone else says he did it at another time, there is plenty of differences in those timelines. Even the Chronological Bibles in production today do not agree on when things happened. Some of them say one thing, some another. What we can be for sure of is that Romans was written from Corinth because Romans 23 says, Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. He went on to tell who Erastus was in the city. That gives us a way to discover where Paul was at the time. We are told in Romans Paul was staying with Gaius when he wrote Romans. Anything else, outside of timelines or locations given in Scripture, are speculation by men, even if they are scholars, and we really have no way of knowing who did what at what time unless Scripture gives us something to go on that pinpoints a place or space of time. After that it's pretty much anyone's guess on how or when this all, and many other things in Scripture, came about.

Once I realized, from Scripture, that I had made a mistake in my writing of what happened when, I debated on fixing my mistake, changing the way I had everything lined up and inserting what I had written into what I wrote on Acts 20 and I fully intended to do just that, even opened up my writing to make the changes, but I did some in depth study on the Scriptures in question, and on Paul, with my husband and we both came to the conclusion that what I've written is best left as it is. When I covered Acts 20 I did it all together, one book, without breaking it up to insert the books, or letters, of 2 Corinthians and Romans, I then covered 2 Corinthians and will now begin to cover Romans. I seriously considered rearranging what I've already written to show that the book, or letter, of 2 Corinthians and Romans should have been, or most likely were, written toward the beginning of Acts 20. Commentary that I read places these two books about at Acts 20:2-3 and they very well may have been written then. If so, I have my writings slightly out of order for the timeline of Paul's life. I have, however, decided to leave them as is because those timelines are, more often than not, speculation on what took place when. For instance, one commentary says that when Paul left Ephesus, he visit those places. Scripture, in that verse, does not tell us what those places were yet it was assumed in the commentary that he traveled a certain way and visited certain towns. This commentary was written by so-called scholars and yet the information they gave was not supported by Scripture, at least not by the part of Scripture they were commenting on and they gave no reference to other verses. So it would seem that these scholars made assumptions on things that very well may not have happened then placed those assumptions into the notes of Scripture as if this is what happened.

I finally came to the conclusion that I would leave what I have written as it is. If I have made a mistake...I'm a fallen person with a human understanding of Scripture. I'm working off the Bibles I own and a small amount of online research. I would like to point out here that I would advise anyone reading anything I write to double check what I write against Scripture, and in the case of Journeying with Paul, to check it against whatever sources you feel are credible, to make sure that what I've written is true and accurate. We should never take any person's word to be the way something is in Scripture. If we do not double check what we are reading or learning against Scripture than we are only being taught by men and not by the Lord's word. Please, please, double check what I write against your own copy of the Scriptures, literal translations of the Scriptures because any other translation will probably go against what I write, and form your own opinions. Journeying with Paul is not immune to that need for you to check it against Scripture, and in fact may have a higher need, do to the fact that there are discrepancies among scholars and in Bibles as to when and where something took place. When possible I have taken my information straight from Scripture but the letters are not inserted into Scripture in the places where they would have been written and therefore I must look to outside sources in order to place them in my writings. In doing so what I'm writing becomes subject not only to my own failings but also to the possible failings of any person writing out a timeline for placing those letters into Paul's life. Please, do your own research, form your own opinions, and if you have reason to believe I have written anything wrong, please leave me a comment and tell me what I wrote wrong and where you found your information that tells me it is wrong.

And now...back to Paul...

At some time after writing the second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote to the ekklesia in Rome. But before I even get into Romans I find myself questioning what made Paul write this letter to those he did and to who, exactly, did the letter go to. Scripture, Romans 16, says that he sent the letter with Phoebe of Cenchrea but it doesn't, as far as I can tell, tell us who the recipient of the letter was, beyond saying the 'church' of Rome. The tone of the letter implies that it was written to believers in Rome but, unless I miss my guess, or rather, unless there is something in Scripture that I can't, at this time, grasp or remember, than I can't find a reason for such a deep and instructional letter to be written to Rome. This isn't a letter that was written ahead of him, introducing him, and telling them that he was going to bring them a Gospel they had never heard. This was a letter written to someone that had heard the Gospel and was giving the recipient instructions, deep instructions, and understandings, on the Christian life.

I just can't understand why Paul is writing such a deep and insightful letter to a group of people that he has never visited. How does he know that there is anyone in Rome to welcome and accept such a letter as he is writing? In Paul's first journey he took the Gospel to people that had never heard it before. In his other journey's he revisited the places where he had already been, giving further support and encouragement, and teachings, to the believers he had taken the Gospel to. Why, then, is he writing such a letter as Romans to people that we are never told were given the Gospel?

The tone of Romans shows that someone must have taken the Gospel to Rome, and that Paul was addressing the believers there, we just don't know who gave them the Gospel or who the believers were like we do in Paul's other letters. 

As I write this, as I question these things, I know that those are details that do not matter. They have no bearing on salvation and if the Lord did not see fit to give us that information than it must not matter. So as I start into the letter Paul wrote to Romans, I must sit aside my questions and instead focus on what I do know. And that is that Paul hopes to go to Rome and then on to Spain, something we will learn in the letter to the Romans, and that he is most likely somewhere in Corinth as he writes the letter, once again surrounded by a city of sin, and living among a group a people that seem to be dear to him.

To be continued....

The black and white of Scripture

A few months ago I was part of an ongoing conversation that had me telling the other person that I read what is in the black and white of Scripture. I said that because the other person regularly told me ‘I think this’,when in fact what this person thought wasn’t in Scripture at all. This person was telling me what they were reading into Scripture and not what was in Scripture.

I tried to point out that I don’t read anything into Scripture, something this person had once told me they never did either. As that conversation went on, I kept saying I only believe what I see in Scripture. I believe what is in the black and white of Scripture. It’s either written on the page or it isn’t there.

Yes, I can speculate on something I read in Scripture, but to speculate on it takes what it is and turns it into what I want it to be, so I don’t speculate on it. Even when I try to see beyond what is written there…I do it in a way of ‘what might this have been like’ and beyond trying to gain a feel for what that might have been like…I don’t add those feelings to what I see there.

My grandmother is living out her days in a nursing home. I think often of what life might be like for her…but I don’t assume to know that that is what her life is like.

During the course of the conversation when I kept telling this person that I read only what is written in the black of Scripture…meaning the words as they are written in the Bible…this person told me that I should read the white.

I was almost flabbergasted at such a suggestion. Looking at the words I am writing on this page I see black and I see white. The black says what I am saying. The black is my words. The black is the point I am making. The white is…nothing. There is nothing there. If I pick up my Bible I have the same thing. The black is the Word of the Lord, the white is the blank background.

To read the white…is to read between the lines. It is to see what isn’t there. It is to inject my thoughts and ideas into the Lord’s word.

1 Corinthians 4:6 says…

Jesus said have you not read what is written

He did not say…have you not read between what is written. He didn’t say…have you not made assumptions about what is written. He said…have you not read what is written.

I try always to only read what is written…in the black of Scripture. If the Lord didn’t specifically put something in the Bible then it isn’t supposed to be there. If He had wanted me to know that ‘this’ happened, he would have written ‘this’ in the Bible. I can’t just assume it happened that way because that is what I think…or what I want to have…happened.

I must read what is written…as it is written. I must take the Lord at His Word and not add anything of my human thoughts, ideas, or opinions into it. There are times that I am forced to assume what Scripture means by a certain topic…like I did with Matthew 3:11…but never do I read into Scripture what I want to be there. I don’t read the white of Scripture because in the white there is nothing but what I want to be there.

We can easily read anything into the white of Scripture because when we read what is not there, we make up the story that we want to be there. It is for that reason that I read only…

The black and white of Scripture.

Journeying with Paul...part six

Journeying with Paul continued...

It seems that Paul wrote the 2nd letter to the Corinthians about the time that he started out for Macedonia. From what I've read he wrote the 2nd letter about 6-12 months after he wrote the first one. It would appear that the Corinthian believers required more care from Paul than the believers in other towns. They are also requiring instruction from him on some very weighty matters, sexual immorality, marriage, and now he is once again having to instruct them.

Did he really have time to be constantly instructing, or often instructing, this group of believers? Did he have time to essentially hold their hands through issues that it would seem should be fairly easy to understand are unacceptable? After all, did it really take Paul, or, for us, Scripture, to know that being intimate with your step parent is wrong? This should have been a fairly easy thing for them to handle on their own but they required Paul's help to do it, now he is once again having to instruct them.

We don't get very far into this second letter to the Corinthians before we once again gain insight into Paul's life. He tells them...

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 2 Corinthians 1:8 ESV

Life was so bad for Paul in Asia that he 'despaired' of life. How bad must things have been, things that we get short snippets of glossed over information on?

If verse 8 isn't enough to tell us what he went through look what he says in verse 9...

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.

He felt, strongly felt, the trials and tribulations that he faced in Asia. That was a very trying and difficult time for him and those with him.

In three short sentences he shows us that things were so bad for him that he 'despaired' of life. What does it mean to despair of life? To wish you were not born? To wish you could die? To despair life goes way beyond wishing your circumstances were different, it goes beyond the trials that stretch us to our limit but not to the breaking point. And Paul despaired of life.

Even in that we are given only three short, to the point, sentences to tell us what he experienced. We see a brief snippet of what he felt, what he thought, and then...

But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God...

He uses his own situation to point his audience straight to God.

In the midst of posting, and finishing writing, Journeying with Paul, my husband got me onto another topic that led to me writing something even as I was writing this. I must admit that writing the other article, Knowledge is meaningless, was a nice break from Paul. I'm enjoying writing Paul, enjoying journeying with him, enjoying learning about him but...writing Paul is intense. It's hard work and it has taken me many, many hours to get this far. And so writing an article about something my husband brought up was a nice distraction for a short time but here, as I read 2 Corinthians, I realize that the very article I wrote that distracted me from Paul for a short time, actually ties right into Paul and his teachings, well...I already knew that, I just didn't know it would tie in quite like this.

You see, Paul goes from pointing the Corinthians, and all readers, to God to telling them...

...we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God... 2 Corinthians 1:12 ESV

Paul clearly states that he is doing nothing from earthly wisdom. He also says that 'we' behaved with simplicity. That very simplicity that the Christian finds so comforting goes against all that the world wants us to be and do. A number of years ago I had a book that was about Amish simplicity. I don't know how I came to have the book but I well remember the book. It was a small book, the size of a regular paperback but not the bigger ones, and thin. I had that book for probably several years before I got rid of it. In the time that I had it, I would pick it up from time to time, read a page and put it down again. I doubt I read a total of ten pages. When I owned that book I also owned other Amish books, some fiction, some non-fiction. Amish fiction was pretty popular at one time, for all I know it might still be.

I don't recall exactly what the few pages of that book said or even the subject of any of the pages but I do remember that the whole book, and each one page...chapter...article...were instructions to what the Amish call the English, although it did not say that was who the book was for, on how to live a more simple life, more like the Amish.

I have visited the Amish multiple times, in several different states. I have been to their houses, to their stores, to their auctions. I have talked with them, eaten their food, and admired their wares. They do live a more simplified life than we do. But they also live a harder life. How hard they make their own lives by refusing to use those things that make day to day life easier.

I was once asked if I enjoy sewing. The only answer I could give was...I guess. You see, I really don't know if I enjoy it, I don't dislike it, but I don't know if I enjoy it. It's something I have always done. My grandmother sewed with me on her knee when I was a baby and as I child I was under her, 'helping' her, every time she sewed, or at least every time I knew she was sewing. It was just what I did then and sewing is just something I do now, but how much harder would I make that job on myself if I insisted that store bought material wasn't good enough and insisted on weaving my own material? How much harder would life be if we refused to wear store bought clothes? Use a washing machine? Drive a car?

Life is simpler without the distractions, frustrations, and...benefits...of modern things. Life without electricity simplifies things because you simply cannot use an electronic device. Life without a car simplifies things because you cannot drive and therefore don't need to worry about insurance, tags or getting gas.

But...life without electricity means no fans or air conditioning when the temperatures soar about one hundred. Life without a car means no way of going where you need to when you need to go, or no way to get there quickly, which creates problems when emergencies arise.

Simplicity has it's ups and downs and Americans, as I understand things, have a fascination with simplifying life, at least in theory but rarely are they able to actually live a simpler life. Of course a simple life is all in the eye of the beholder.

Paul, though, clearly says that 'they' lived simply. I have no idea exactly what this meant. I know that Paul said he was like the scum of the earth. It's unlikely that he traveled with more than a medium sized bag containing his belongings.

I once read something about a man that owned...I don't remember how many items but well under 100. This was all that he owned, or so he said. It all fit inside a backpack. I remember little about the article other than how few things this man owned and the picture that was with it. In the picture the backpack lay on the floor with all of the man's possessions laid out neatly around it. There, in that single picture, was everything this man had.

Could Paul have laid out all that he owned like that and, if he had had the ability, taken a single, fairly up close, picture of his belongings. Was that what he meant by simple? Maybe. But I tend to think it had less to do with what he had than it did with how he lived. By our standards today, everyone in Bible times would have had simple lives, even the most wealthiest of people in those times had nothing compared to what we have now, not in things and technology anyway. But by the standards of the time he was in...did simple mean that he lived simply among them? Owning little? Being what American's have at times past referred to as hobo's or vagrants, roaming the countryside, living off what he had at any given time and place than moving on with little or nothing?

I have heard a reformed preacher say that settling into this life is much like staying in a hotel for a few days and redecorating the room, buying new furniture and paint. There is no purpose to decorating a hotel room you will be in for a few days and there is no purpose in making so much about a life that will fade away. Now, that's easier said than done. Staying in a hotel is one thing, living on earth for however long we're allotted is something else. And yet...that's what Scripture tells us to do. We are not supposed to love the things of the world, we are not supposed to be a glutton for anything, stuff would be included in that, and we are supposed to live as if this life doesn't matter.

It would seem that Paul managed that, traveling from place to place. If nothing else all those travels would have made it nearly impossible for him to acquire much worldly possessions, including a home. This was Paul's life, simple, with godly sincerity, like the 'scum' of the earth, despairing of life, feeling as if he was given a death sentence. We now gain much more insight into at least a portion of Paul's life. Before we saw how he lived, heard how he believed, but here, finally, we get an idea of what he feels. Early in this book he wrote of how he had previously written them with 'tears', so we know he cried over the first letter he sent to the Corinthians. But this...this...is so much more insight than that. We get a glimpse into his thoughts, his feelings, a brief glimpse but a glimpse all the same. If we take this bit that we have now seen and add it to what we knew before...

Paul was a fairly powerful man that lost all his power, all his status, and his eyesight, in one encounter with Christ. He was yanked from the life he had, one he may have enjoyed, and thrust into a life of persecution and hardship. He worked as a tent maker while working night and day to give the Gospel. He labored to provide for himself and others while teaching, with much difficulties, strife, and tears. He gave up all he had, or very near all he had, and all he knew, to live like 'scum', travelling from town to town, land to land, giving the Gospel, teaching people how to live as believers, writing them letters of instruction when he couldn't be with them, all while experiencing enough trials and tribulations to despair of life, a simple life that gained him the love of some and the scorn of many, a life that had him telling believers that the Holy Spirit had told him that prison was in his future. He now only experienced all these trials on a daily basis but he knew what awaited him in the future.

This was Paul's life.

And he gave such great insight in the midst of all that...

Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.(vs. 16-18)

Oh, the insight Paul gives us, teaches us...

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this; that one has died for all, therefore all have died' and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. ( 2 Corinthians 5: 14-15 ESV)

And in the midst of all the great insight, all the wonderful teaching, Paul once again gives us a glimpse into him...

For even if I made you grieve with my letter (1 Corinthians), I do not regret it-though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. (2 Cor. 7:8-9 ESV)

We see that Paul grieved as he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians and he rejoiced that they paid attention to what he said, that they grieved over their sins. He hurt writing that first letter, hurt, and if we remember from before, cried over that letter. And now we see what that letter accomplished, what it did, and how Paul feels over the result.

As we move into chapter 10, we once again gain insight into Paul, this time to his character...

...I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!

So, Paul is humble when face to face but says what needs to be said when he isn't with them. Does this mean he didn't say what needed saying when he was with them? Or does it mean that he said what needed saying when he was with them but did it in a meek and humble way, gently admonishing them, whereas, by letter he, maybe through necessity because of their writing supplies at that time, he was forced to say what needed saying in as few words as possible, instructing, teaching, and admonishing, without trying to be humble about it? Or maybe Paul was a bit on the shy side, hard to imagine considering he was once a soldier going after Christians, but able to boldly write on paper what he couldn't say in person? Who knows. We aren't given the reason why he was humble in person but bold when away all we know is that he was and it adds another piece to the puzzle that is Paul.

In chapter 10 verse 10 we gain yet another piece to the puzzle of Paul...

For they say, 'His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is of no account'. Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.

It sounds to me like people were accusing him of acting one way in person but speaking another way in letters. As someone that writes, I have long since known that I can often say things when I write that I just never seem to get out when I talk. Something just happens, in me, with me, when I write that makes my thoughts show up so much clearer when I write them. Was this the case for Paul? Who knows? But he does give us more insight than just that he said things in letter form that he didn't say in person. He went on saying, 'what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.'

As I read that I got the impression that he may be humble in speech but he lived boldly, showing the things he said in letter through his actions. How many times in his letters did he write of how he showed 'you' by example. He wrote of how he lived, how he worked, and he wrote of it as it being an example for others to follow. In my mind, verses 10-11, are telling me that Paul boldly lived what he taught even if he did not speak those things in person. He may not have said them but he led by example. Many times I have seen the statement that children learn more by watching what parents do than listening to what they say. It seems to me that Paul lived what he preached. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Paul may have spoken humbly but he lived boldly.

Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, continues to instruct and reprove them. The tone of this letter is much different than the tone of his first letter to them. He instructs here more than chastises. In his first letter he got onto them even while telling them how to act as believers, but, here, in his second letter, he does more instructing and less chastising. It's clear from the tone of both letters that he holds this group of people in high regard, they matter to him. He labors over them, worries over them, cries over them. In fact in this second letter he tells them he loves them...

...God knows I do (love them)! 2 Corinthians 11:11 ESV

Paul has given us great insight into not only the life of a Christian in these two letters but also into himself as well. We have seen much, or at least it seems like much to me, of his thoughts and feelings. We know how he felt under persecution and strife, we know his feelings for those in Corinth, and for Christ. We, or at least I, have gained an understanding of Paul that I did not have before.


To be continued...

Knowledge is meaningless

Ecclesiastes 1:18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

the more knowledge, the more grief.

Today, we live in what is called the information age, knowledge is everywhere. We cannot avoid worldly knowledge no matter how hard we try. Our children learn to operate computers and cell phones before they learn to brush their teeth, they grow up on instant movies, instant video games, and information that flows before and around them like air. They absorb knowledge on so many things that they can program electronics almost before they can spell their names, and adults aren't much different. We think nothing of looking up this or that. 'Google it' has become the standard response to just about anything. There is nothing we can't find information, and therefore knowledge...wisdom...on, in a matter of seconds.

Not all that long ago there was something circulating on social media asking what 'we' thought would be the most difficult thing for someone brought from the past into today to grasp. A tiny device with the ability to access more information than all the books in all the libraries, forecast the weather, monitor our homes, and connect you, through voice or video, to your mother all the way across the country or across the world, a device we carry in our pockets and can use in seconds, was the answer. No one in past times would ever believe such a thing existed and today we have that and so much more.

Whether we want worldly knowledge or not, it bombards us from the minute we open our eyes till we fall asleep at night. There are electronic products geared toward babies. Teenagers can't seem to live without them. Adults forego time with husbands and wives, ignore children and miss important family happenings because they are focused on their electronics instead.

If we would, could even, just turn off the electronics, give up all the worldly knowledge and turn to the wisdom of Christ. 

When given the chance to ask God for anything, Solomon did not ask for health or wealth, he did not ask for things that would better his life, but instead he asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern the people that God had put him over. And God granted that request. That happened in a dream but Solomon did want wisdom and he did get wisdom. Trouble for him was that once he got wisdom that very wisdom he had longed for gave him grief in sorrow.

Today, our children are expected to know what they want to be when they grow up when they are in kindergarten. They are asked what college they will go to almost before they are out of diapers. Human education, worldly education, and learning are pushed at them despite the fact that biblical knowledge is presented as being useless and outdated. Public schools allow only so many missed days a year, that has to do with finances for them but it teaches kids to value school (education) over their own health and needs. Children go to school with sore throats, colds, fevers, aches, pains, broken bones...things that put many adults in bed, kids must endure while going off to their place of forced knowledge because it is required by law and parents must choose whether to let them stay home with this illness or save that missed day for a worse illness that may come up later in the year. And it's all done under the guise of imparting worldly knowledge to children.

We are in an election year, or so I've heard it called. Personally I pay less than no attention to politics, in fact I deliberately avoid anything and everything having to do with politics. I don't care to listen to any person that spews ideas, thoughts, and opinions, makes promises and yet, historically, is a part of a group of people that consistently proves to be liars at best, breaking most, or all, of those promises and never fulfilling the ideas, thoughts, or opinions that they put forth to gain themselves a position of power. So I deliberately, consistently, turn away from anything political in nature, even if it's only slightly political. I don't buy into the belief that our ideas matter and so I choose my own peace of mind and heart over the political condition of this country, a condition I have less than no control over whether I follow politics or not. But...we are in an election year. This year will see the end of one presidential term and usher in another one.

Like knowledge, no matter how hard we may try to avoid it, the politics are there. They bombard us whether we ask for it or not. Just yesterday, as I took my grandsons home, a leisurely trip through the country, on an old, windy, country road, overshadowed by tall trees that offered a peace and reprieve from daily life, I passed a house, set back off the road, with a small but colorful sign promoting a presidential candidate. There went the reprieve. Or it would have if I had let it.

But what's worse than not being able to avoid it, is the way it is pushed at us, as if we should spend the better part of an entire year focused on this one event.

There is a television show that I saw years ago and was recently reminded of by relatives. In this show, the people of a pioneer town, for reasons I can't remember, come to the conclusion that the world is about to end. They spend the entire episode focused on the world coming to an end. They determine what last things they want to do before the world, and themselves, are no more. They figure out where they want to be, and with whom, when the world ends. Some of them build shelters, hoping to be saved when the day comes. Some of them do things they would never have done if not faced with what they believed to be a life ending situation. Whatever they did, though, they did with the complete belief that the world is about to end.

Well...the world is going to end.

And so is my life. So is your life. From the moment you (I) were conceived we had a date with death. There is no escaping it. The world will end because Scripture says the Lord will destroy it with fire. Our lives will end because Scripture says there is a time for us to die and that time cannot be changed.

And yet...we spend our earthly lives seeking knowledge that gains us nothing. NOTHING. We want to learn about the electronics we buy, we research cars and insurance companies, we desire to understand how this and that works, we even feel as if we need to know the reproductive life cycle of cockroaches.

WHAT has all this knowledge gained us? America is a country that has put men on the moon, we have created vehicles, airplanes, and who knows what all else. We have come up with amazing things, using knowledge to do so.

And today the people of America can't even tell what gender they are.

Where did knowledge get them? What did they gain? From the beginning of time people have known their own gender. Adam and Eve knew what gender they were. They knew they were male and female. They knew it when they were naked...because...well, because who can't tell male from female without clothes? And they knew it when they were clothed.

I must ask...what knowledge did Adam and Eve possess? Before they ate the forbidden fruit...what knowledge could they have possessed? But even after they ate it...by today's standards, Adam and Eve had to be pretty ignorant. No matter what they knew, they simply could not have known the many, detailed, things that we know today. Unless God gave them that detailed knowledge. For the sake of this article I'm going to assume that Adam and Eve simply did not know the things people of today know. It's not putting assumptions into Scripture to assume that they did not know how to program a computer, drive a car, or run a washing machine.

By our standards, Adam and Eve would have been considered primitive people. They lived off the land, probably couldn't read or write, may not have understood, at least until it happened to them, how babies are made, and even if they did understand, it's highly unlikely that they understood the intricacies of conception. They didn't know about germs or antibiotics. Couldn't have understood how an engine works. The list goes on and on of what they didn't know.

But they knew what their genders were.

Where has knowledge gotten us? What have we gained? What does it profit a man to gain the world if he loses his own soul?

What good does it do a man to know how to program a computer if he does not even know that he is a man?

Claiming to be wise, they became fools... Romans 1:22 ESV

Scripture clearly lays out what good wisdom is... 

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3:17 NIV

This, however, is not the wisdom sought after by men. This is not the wisdom that our country, our world, pushes at us on a daily basis. The world's wisdom, wisdom that has our children shoved into making adult decisions while they should be living carefree without any thoughts to what will become of them as adults, wisdom that has us turning to a computer to look up how cockroaches mate or the wind blows but does not have us asking who made the cockroaches and the wind is wisdom of the world. So is the wisdom, wisdom of people, of their thoughts, feelings, and innermost...imagined...workings, that has educated people in our country unsure of what a boy and a girl are.

This wisdom is also spoken of in Scripture...

This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.  James 3:15

For a better understanding of wisdom, both Scriptural and worldly, the verses surrounding the two I just gave are enlightening...

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. James 3:13-17 ESV

Scripture is full of verses on wisdom, some for it, some against it. But Scripture also shows that it is Godly wisdom that is good and earthly wisdom that is bad. And yet we live our lives by earthly wisdom. I once had someone dispute to me whether or not Scripture tells us to seek after earthly wisdom. This person informed me that Scripture tells us to seek it, while I maintained that Scripture tells us to seek a Scriptural wisdom. We never did come to an agreement on that. It was simply a conversation on wisdom where we both came at it from different viewpoints. But at least we both came at it from a Scriptural view point, this person had verses that they used to support seeking worldly wisdom and I have verses I used to support that it isn't worldly wisdom we should be seeking. The world in general doesn't even go that far, it,and the majority of the people in it, go at wisdom with a human mindset, seeking nothing of Scriptural wisdom.

And why should they? They are lost, seeking for a world that is dying and feeding them all the sin their minds and hearts can handle. There is very little today that is seen as 100% wrong by the majority of people. The world they live in has no right or wrong only shades of gray that become black or white for each individual person.

My husband introduced me to a movie I had never seen shortly after we met. In this movie a man proposes to teach right and wrong without teaching Christ. He claimed that right and wrong could be taught on the basis that they are right and wrong with no higher authority to declare what is right or wrong. In this movie the man is shown exactly what becomes of a world where right and wrong are taught as right and wrong without Christ to define it. And the world that man was shown was tame compared to what we live in now.

But the same concept of right and wrong have been applied to our world today. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, based on human knowledge and not on Scripture. The line between right and wrong is no longer drawn based on the Lord's word and His standards but on what people believe to be right and wrong. It is men's knowledge that now governs what is right and what is wrong. And worse, it has become each man's own knowledge and not a general knowledge embraced by the majority that governs right and wrong.

Worldly knowledge has erased right and wrong. Worldly knowledge has erased boy and girl. And worldly knowledge is erasing people. Does that sound wrong or harsh? Maybe so. But if we stop and think about it, those chasing their own knowledge, drawing their own line of right and wrong, and therefore embracing sin and rejecting God, are signing their own death warrant, so to speak. They are educating themselves straight into the pit of Hell.

Wisdom is good. Knowledge is good. But not the wisdom and knowledge of the world. The only good wisdom and knowledge is that which comes from the Lord. Just yesterday I read a verse that speaks so very clearly of this very thing...

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. 1 Corinthians 9:2-3 ESV

If anyone knows something...he does not know as he ought BUT if he loves God...he...is...known...by...God. There is a simply summary of what is important. If we know something...it isn't what we should know. But if we know God, then God knows us. What is more important...earthly knowledge...education...politics...or being known by God?

Solomon sought after the wisdom to lead people. It was what he wanted, what he desired, but when he got it, it brought him sorrow. Adam and Eve had no knowledge, they didn't even know enough to know they were naked. When they gained knowledge, through means that went against God, it brought them sorrow and shame.

Years ago I wanted to be an author. I wrote books with the intention of getting them published. People in the writing and publishing industry knew my name. I was on my way to reaching my desired goal, a published book. I still know people in the writing world. I have regular contact with people that do write and publish books. And I see the knowledge and idolatry that goes in to getting those books published. 

The writing world requires a world of knowledge to even step foot into that world. You must learn so much and you must do everything by their standards. Even in the 'Christian' writing market, they have standards that are not biblical. And they have made an idol of books and the whole writing industry.

I have always enjoyed books. I still enjoy books. I even like the smell of a book. I know that sounds weird but book people will understand. It's just one of those things. A baker enjoys the smell of fresh baked bread, cakes or pies. A reader enjoys the feel and smell of a book. It just happens. I have known many other people that enjoy reading books that say they enjoy the smell of a book. Walking into a library is a wonderful experience for a book reader. Books are like old friends or your favorite, most comfortable, clothes to a book reader. 

Books aren't just a hobby but a part of who the book reader is. And this very mindset comes through when you step into the writing world. Authors base their life around their stories. They take vacations and plot their next book in that location. They encounter someone interesting and plan that person into the story they are writing. They see a picture and imagine the lives of the people living there, or the ones they will write into that place. They talk to each other about imaginary people... they understand exactly what they are saying and who those people are. Because to a writer the person they write about isn't imaginary. Those characters in a book live and breathe for the person that wrote their story. It's all real to the author even as they realize that it is all made up.

And it requires a great deal of earthly knowledge to accomplish. But even a person that cannot stand the sight of a book cannot, or should not, be able to deny that knowledge, earthly and sometimes, occasionally,Scripturally, is imparted through the pages of many books. I like books. My husband does not. I don't read books very often at all anymore and when I do they are, more often than not, written by reformed writers on matters of Scripture. The few that aren't are usually children's books. This is a far cry from the books I used to devour.

Up until very recently in time, if there was to be a symbol for knowledge it would have been a book. It was well understood that books impart knowledge. Our Lord's words are even given to us in the form of a book. We hold in our hands a book of paper and glue, maybe leather, maybe string, but for sure paper and glue, when we hold our Lord's words. My husband, not a book lover, does not have much of a preference for one type of Bible over another, he has his preferred versions, but he does not care if the Bible is made of paper or leather, hardback or paperback. It's what is inside the Bible that holds his attention. I, on the other hand, love books and this especially extends to my Bibles. I have Bibles made of paper, bibles made of synthetic materials, and hard covered Bibles.

I once heard my husband speak of people that want only expensive, leather bound Bibles. To put it simply my husband does not think highly of this belief and he's  happy to have any Bible as long as it is in an accurate translation. When my husband made that statement, not all that long after we married if I remember correctly, I kept silent. You see, while I do not feel the need to have a high dollar, high quality Bible, I do see the reason to own one. I do not have one but I can see why one would want to. And I would not be opposed to doing so. Because when we hold a Bible in our hands, we hold the word of our God...the greatest wisdom on earth. As someone that has worn out several Bibles, that has taped pages back into falling apart spines...I can easily understand why one would pay for a Bible that can take heavy use and get better with time not worse. But there is one other thing that lets me understand why someone would buy such a Bible, and no, I do not own one, for me, reading my Bible isn't just a time of reading or studying, it is an experience. I feel my Bible as it sits in my hand. I want one that bends and gives, one that fits my hands and feels like a friend bringing comfort when I hold it. Supposedly those high dollar, high quality Bibles do that. But I have found cheap Bibles that do the same thing.

If a Bible can do all that, a Book that represents, that holds, the very word of God, a Book that upon one glance a person knows what they are seeing than how much...power...does the book hold to impart an idea or understanding to a person simply by virtue of being a book? We don't understand that the Bible is the word of God because we see it on the cover, although we have been conditioned to understand that that is what Holy Bible means, a term that isn't found anywhere in Scripture, we understand that a Bible is the word of God because we have learned, been conditioned to know, that Scripture comes in the form of a Book, that it is titled, Holy Bible. 

Likewise, we have been conditioned to know that a dictionary teaches us the meaning and spelling of words, an atlas shows us the world and teaches us how to get somewhere, a cookbook gives us the instructions for making everything from boiled eggs to elaborate gourmet meals, and an encyclopedia tells us everything we need to know about that topic. Books are everywhere. Before computers they were THE way to learn something. Knowledge, worldly knowledge, was given through books, almost exclusively. Gone are the days when doctors became doctors by being and apprentice to another doctor, gone are the days when showing someone you could do a job was all it took to get the job. Today...knowledge rules. Knowledge imparted through schools. A diploma is required to get a job, in a lot of cases even for the most menial of jobs. 

This is what our world has come to. Knowledge of...useless...meaningless...earthly things, things that will never help a person know God, only hinder them from knowing Him, is valued above all else. How would a person that memorized the entire Bible, that understood it and could accurately use what they knew, but could not read, write or work a computer be viewed in today's world?

Knowledge. That is what is valued today. A person buying a car researches the car of choice, they not only want to know price, they want to know gas mileage, performance tests, safety tests, and even what problems that vehicle is prone to having. If it's a used car they want to know the entire history of the vehicle. It's almost as if each car needs not only a users manual but a future happenings manual and a journal of its 'life' from construction to the point at which the person buying said car came along. And it's not just cars. It's everything. We research everything to death. And for what? To gain earthly knowledge and buy more things?

Do they get us any closer to the knowledge of Christ? Do they show us the horror of our sins and lead us toward the right path? Do we even pause a moment to question ourselves to see if checking our emails or looking at the news, weather, or...whatever...on the computer is what we should be doing? Do we open our Bibles first thing in the morning or do we pick up our phone or turn on our computer? When we take a break in our day...to what do we turn our attention? When we have a moment to put our feet up...what do we pick up? A Bible? Or our phone?

There is a game that has become very popular lately. It has people on two different sides of a debate, one side says this is the greatest game, the other side says it's awful and they wouldn't go near it. I won't get into what the game is, or what it teaches, uses, or does, only the fact that this game is and that it has people up in arms over it. Those that promote it have their reasons, those that speak against it have theirs. But the reality is...is it any worse than anything else in this world that uses entertainment to distract their minds?

People, as a whole, will turn to something to keep them occupied, even believers. My husband enjoys golf. I enjoy writing. My husband likes to read articles on various things, most of them Biblical, some of them not. I have a doll that I enjoy making clothes for and talking to other people that do the same. Next week I may sit the doll aside and move to something else. We, even Christians, fill our time with things that distract our thoughts from our Lord. I often think of Christ, or Scripture, as I sew tiny seams on little garments designed to outfit a doll. I often wonder how much of Christ I can share with the people that share my interest in this doll and her clothes. My husband prays as he walks the golf course. These distractions aren't all bad. But...they aren't all good either. 

My husband has gained worldly knowledge about golf. He tries to share it with me and I have to admit that I have no interest in golf, but I share it with him anyway. My husband says dolls are a girl thing and he has no interest in them but he listened when I told him of the conversation I had with two women at the fabric store, a conversation that happened because of the doll I had with me as I picked material for a new dress for her. A pointless, meaningless, totally useless thing to be doing with my time. But that doll brings me peace as I sew those tiny stitches and joy when I see a miniature outfit completed. And so my husband indulges me, he listens when I talk of material, patterns and dolls, and he even looks at the things I make, commenting on them as he holds my doll, a doll I know he has no interest in, in his hands.

But that doll, like my husband's golf, have required us to gain worldly knowledge. I have to know what size my doll is and how to sew in order to make those tiny dresses. I have to know what kind of doll she is in order to talk to other ladies that enjoy that same doll. My husband must know what kind of golf club is needed to hit a ball a certain distance, he must know where golf courses are and what they require of him in order to be able to play. We are Christians but we are people too. We have found things in this life that make this time on earth a bit more enjoyable, that bring peace after a day of living in a world that does not bring peace. And so, even Christians, must acquire knowledge. We acquire it on the things we like. We acquire it on the things we must do. My husband had to have the knowledge to replace our kitchen faucet recently, without that knowledge all he would have done is create a bigger problem when he tried to fix it. My husband needs the knowledge to do the job he does. I need the knowledge to run the washing machine, to fix meals, even to clean takes knowledge of how to do it.

Knowledge is everywhere in life, even if we remove books and electronics, but what does Scripture say about this earthly knowledge? 

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 1:2 NIV

All earthly knowledge, while it may be helpful to navigate this world, is meaningless when it comes to eternity. Paul said it best when he said, 'I have decided to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified'. What do we gain by having knowledge of this world, if we do not have knowledge of Christ? What do we gain by having knowledge of this world, even if we have knowledge of Christ? We must know Christ above and beyond all else. That is the only knowledge that matters.

I used to know someone that often said she wished she lived in the 1800's. Her reason for wanting to live in that time was because she said there was so much less to compete for people's attention back then, so much less to take their focus off of Christ. I'm not sure I agree with that. I'm pretty sure they spent a good deal of their time focused on cooking, cleaning, making clothes, growing food, storing food, and what the neighbors thought of them. They may not have had hobbies and electronics to distract them but the human heart is sinful above all else. I have no doubt they could come up with plenty of distractions.

But there is still much truth to what this person said. Today we are distracted by televisions, cell phones, computers, and all manner of other things. We turn on our smart phone to check the weather and get sucked into reading a long debate on presidential candidates, no that is not one of the things that grabs my attention, or on how to make a ball gown for a doll, that is. We sit at the computer to read an article on Scripture and find ourselves reading the news when we are finished. We go online to pay a bill and check our email despite our intention to only pay a bill. It happens. To all of us. And it's not just electronics. We run into the grocery store for a gallon of milk and wind up spending and hour searching through clearance clothes because they fit those we love and they are only a dollar...or whatever. Distractions grab our attention despite our best intentions.

And why? Why do we get distracted? Because we have been conditioned to think we need those things. Those clearanced clothes are more than likely not needed by our loved ones, we just think they are because our loved ones only have five...whatevers. Five...whatevers...are more than enough to get anyone with a washing machine through each week. We stop to read that article because it's something we are interested in. And...we gain knowledge whether we want to or not because it is splashed across our computer screen, fills our inbox, and is shoved at us through social media.

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." Why don't we pay heed to the words of Scripture? Why can't we see that it is all meaningless, even the gallon of milk and the bill that must be paid, and see that only Christ matters. Who cares if the bills get paid if our souls whither and die for lack of connection to our Savior? What does it matter if our children's belly's are full if their hearts are empty of the love of Christ? What good does a television, computer, smart phone, do if they separate us from our Lord?

Turn them off!

Put them down!

Pick up your Bibles and read the Scriptures for yourself. Don't say...well, I read them online, or well, I read this article and that. What of the many, many 'Christian' books that fill the shelves of 'bookstores'? What of the books that line your own shelves, claiming to teach you what the Bible says? 

Meaningless. 

What good are the words of man (or woman) when you have the words of the Lord at your disposal?

Books abound on every topic under the sun, the topic of Scripture is no exclusion. Books fill shelves and overflow onto floors, they fill libraries and great halls, they languish on tables, hide in corners, and rest comfortingly in hands, imparting their knowledge to anyone that will pick them up. Teachers stand before students, filling their minds with predigested information, imparting knowledge that may or may not be true. Preachers stand before congregations teaching things of the Bible that are more often than not filled with errors and heresy. The internet waits, beckons even, from the seemingly safe screens of computers, phones, tablets, even television sets, waiting to throw all the knowledge at you that you can handle...and for what? What does it all come to? What purpose does all the earthly knowledge in the world do anyone?

What does it profit a man if he gains the world but loses his soul?

What gain do we get from this world if our eternity is spent in hell? 

What good is it all?

Earthly knowledge fades away. Time and age slowly steal even the smartest of peoples knowledge, little by little, bit by bit. Dementia will snatch away the professors understanding of physics, math, science, evolution...or how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. It matters not what the knowledge is on...age will take it away. And if somehow age does not steal that earthly knowledge...death will.

We pick up books from our earliest days of childhood, and today we use the internet from those earliest days, to learn knowledge of this world. The little boy that is interested in dinosaurs reads books about them, watches movies about them, and researches them online. The college student studying nursing, reads on how to give a shot, take blood, and...whatever else they study. Knowledge. Everywhere, in everything, we are bombarded with knowledge whether we want it or not. 

But knowledge of Scripture will tell us what the Lord thinks of this earthly knowledge...

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

Now all has been heard;

    here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

    for this is the duty of all mankind.

 

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

    including every hidden thing,

    whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:12-14 NIV