What does the Bible say about abortion.

This is a response from Facebook to a question about where the Bible talks about abortion.

Scott and Daryce, let me address your question. First, I think perhaps it is based on a faulty understanding of how Christians actually use the Bible. To my knowledge the Bible never says anything specifically condemning used car dealers cheating their customers, but it does say quite a bit about not lying, about not using bad scales, and about not being greedy. These principles apply in a number of business circumstances including the case of used car dealers. The fact that the Bible does not say anything about the modern practice of abortion does not mean it does not have principles that apply.

Here is my short version then I will explain it further down.

1. The taking of innocent human life is wrong based on the high value of human life, and this is found in both the Bible, and in most cultures as well.
2. An unborn human is still human life and therefore we should not take their life on purpose.
3. There is no moment other than at conception where we can define that a human life starts. Everything else is simply arbitrary.
4. Conclusion: Unborn humans have the same intrinsic value as other humans and we should not intentionally take their lives.

Long version

1. In the case of abortion, the primary principle applied found in Genesis 1:26-28 and then many places after, namely that human life has a very high value because we are made in the image of God. Genesis 9:6 actually connects this concept of the value of human life with the command not to murder, and of course the 10 commandments specifically talk about this as well. If you read the OT law, which lays out legal code for the nation of Israel, you can see that the Jews clearly had a fairly nuanced understanding of the concept of murder versus accidental death versus the responsibility of the governing authority's use of violent power.

Therefore, the principle of not taking innocent human life based on the high value of human life is well established in the Bible. By the way, this was and still remains a principle that is not agreed upon by all worldviews or other religions. The western concept of natural rights is based on the value of each individual given by God. In many cultures and worldviews throughout time, human life at any stage did not have intrinsic value, and that makes murder or mass murder much more likely in those cultures. Most of the time people know internally the value of human life, so they have to go through mental gymnastics to redefine the people they want to kill to be not truly human or not fully human, so that makes it okay.

2. Several places in the Bible such as Psalm 139:13 and in the Luke 1, where the pregnant mothers of John the Baptists and Jesus meet, there are clear indications that the life inside the womb is human life. By principle then that life should be protected. There is a specific passage in Exodus 21:21-25 that address a circumstance of a pregnant woman who gives birth after an attack. Some claim that it shows the Jews did not value that life as much because the baby dies and the offender is only fined. Others claim that the baby lives but the offender is still fined for the attack, but would be punished for murder if the baby had died. I think the passage is not clear enough to be used in defense of either position. I stand on the principles listed above and on the science listed below.

3. Scientifically there is only one moment that a unique human individual comes into existence and that is at conception. Everything else is simply growth and development. If someone else thinks differently then make your case.

Therefore, because human life has intrinsic value, we should not intentionally kill an innocent human at any stage of development.

Rhythms of a Discplemaker

As we enter the New Year as a church, I wanted to remind us why we as a church exist and give some tips for how to fulfill our mission. As individual Christians we exist to give glory to God, and we do that by worshipping Him in all aspects of our lives. The church though has a unique mission outlined in several places in scripture with Matthew 28:19-20 being one of the more clear places. The biblical mission of the church is to make more disciples of Jesus who then give glory to God. Our local church agreed to a provisional mission statement last year, which is, “Make Biblical Disciples through Authentic and Intentional Relationships.” 

This is simply a restatement of the mission given by Jesus and the method that He used to make followers. He gave clear teaching which lined up with the Old Testament, and which is recorded in the New Testament. Therefore, we can know what a disciple of Jesus should learn and how we should behave by studying the Bible.

In the Bible we see that Jesus had a clear method of to make disciples and that was to live in close relationship with them and to teach and model how they should live. Therefore, we can see that the primary biblical method of making disciples is through close intentional relationships.

The elders this last year have studied several books together that have challenged us to make disciples in this way, and one of them has been Jeff Vanderstelt’s book, Saturate. In chapter 15, titled “Everyday Rhythms,” he gives some very practical ways that we can intentionally develop and deepen relationships with people for the sake of encouraging them to get closer to Jesus. Here are six rhythms of life that can help us make disciples.

1. Eat - Meal times were important in scripture and still remain a way that we can easily gather and share life. Invite people to your house, and go out to eat with others. The relaxed setting can often lead to walls coming down, and allow you to understand someone better.
2. Listen - Spend time listening to God, so that you can hear the opportunities that He has for you. Then spend time listening to other people. One of the ways people feel most loved is when we care enough to really stop and hear them.
3. Story - In the process of listening, make sure to pay attention to the other person’s story. People are the way the are because of the life circumstances. When you listen to a person’s story you will better know how to love them well. Furthermore, when we share the gospel, people often receive it best when we share our story of the gospel. If Jesus has and is changing you, then you have an amazing story of grace to share that will often be well received. In the process by being vulnerable with your story of mercy and grace received you will make it easy for the other person to open up and share their story.
4. Bless - God has blessed us tremendously and we should give that blessing away. If we live in a sacrificial and tangibly loving way, our friends and community will notice, especially those who have not felt much blessing in their life. Vanderstelt put it this way, “Live in such a way that it would demand a ‘Jesus explanation.’”
5. Celebrate - The Christian life should be a life of joy in the Lord and our daily lives should reflect that. Would others want us to come to a party because we are Christ followers? Do we have so much joy that it makes for the best parties? I love seeing the kids at AWANA because they have fun coming to a church gathering. We adults should have so much joy that other people want us to be around. Let's seek our joy in Jesus, and then plan times where we can share His joy with others.
6. ReCreate - This is Vanderstelt’s ministry term describing resting and creating. We need to be able to stop and let the world go on without us, (God can handle it without us for a while!) We need enough space in our lives just to BE, and not be always DOING. We should stop our minds and bodies long enough that they can rest and so that we can be creative. Vanderstelt asks these questions, “Can you rest in the middle of your work, certain that you are accepted and loved, and have a Father in heaven that sees you and is proud of you?” “Can you create freely, expressing the unique design your Creator intended you to to be?

If we can examine our lives and begin to be intentional in these rhythms of our lives, we will begin to deepen our relationships with God and others; we will become more like Jesus; we will help other Christians become more like Jesus; and we will see more people become Christians because they see and have experienced the goodness of the gospel in our lives.

Love God with Your Mind

Originally written for the Oakland Independent Dec. 2016

Love the Lord your God with all . . . your mind. Matthew 22:37

Who is the smartest man who ever lived?

If you know your Bible, you might say Solomon, because it declares him to be the wisest man ever up to that point. If you think through history, then perhaps Leonardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, or even Confucius might come to mind. I would argue though that the smartest person ever was none other than Jesus of Nazareth. A man from a small town who never wrote his own teachings down, but whose life and teachings have none the less transformed the world as we know it. In fact, western civilization itself is grounded upon the life and teachings of this young itinerant preacher.

But you say, no fair, Jesus is was not just a man, He was God and therefore had all wisdom, so we cannot put Him in the same category. While that is true, Jesus was also a real human, born as a real hey born, who as a human had to grow in wisdom and strength. Luke 2:52.

He calls us to follow Him and become like Him and one of the ways that we do this is by loving God with all of our minds. Many of the wisest and smartest people in history were specifically motivated by their desire to know God and His world better. Famous mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler said about his own discoveries, "I was merely thinking God's thoughts after him."

Here are some suggestions about how we become more like Jesus and love God with our minds well.

First, read good books, because they help us think about ideas from different perspectives that broaden our lives. Of course, the most read book of history is the Bible, which is actually of compilation of 66 books, so start there. I am constantly reading through the Bible with one plan or another. In it God tells us about Himself, the world, and even ourselves from a perspective that we could never get on our own.

Classic books are another place to find wisdom. They are classics because they had an impact on people that continues. You can find lists of classic books on the internet or at libraries, and many of these books are free in electronic format and from your library. Years ago, I got some lists of classics and have been slowly working my way through them. People like, Austen, Dickens, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Voltaire, Tolkien, Lewis, and many more, have enriched by life by introducing me to other worlds, times and ideas. 

Second and related, is to find wise people and listen to them. Parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors, coaches and community leaders all have a wealth of learning that they can give you. Listen to their stories and ask them about their favorite books. For example, a older pastoral mentor of mine always has book recommendations that end up impacting my life.

Finally,  disciple yourself to learn and study. This means stopping other activities and dedicating time. This is especially true if you are reading classic literature or studying new material that is hard  to understand. Our brains are like muscles and so reading a hard section of the Bible or a Russian author whose style is very different, is like lifting weights for your brain. The more you challenge yourself, the easy it will be, and the rewards will be a healthier mind. 

All truth is God's truth and as Christians we are encouraged to discover the world that God made. In the process, if we let truth found in His Word and His world transform us, we will become more like Jesus, which will make us better humans in all of our endeavors. 

Giving Good Gifts

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

During the Christmas season, we often focus on the giving and the getting of gifts. This is a great impulse that shows how the Christian holiday still impacts the larger culture. Christmas, after all, is a celebration of the greatest gift ever given, namely God giving Himself to the world in the form of the baby Jesus. The world may have perverted the idea of gift giving into merely a giving and receiving of material gifts, but we can and should continue to give in the way God gives. Here are a few Biblical principles of giving that can help us give like Jesus.

First, our giving should be done willingly and gladly. Paul tells the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 9:7 that each person should give what they want from their heart, and that God loves a cheerful giver. He reminds them how much God gives them, and that they will receive a reward from the Lord for their giving. The reward for giving to the Lord would not necessarily be material, but rather comes in the form of deepened relationship with God and others. Furthermore, while they were giving to God, the actual money was going to poor Christians in Israel who needed material help, so by giving to God, they ended up help fellow believers too.

When we give out of love to other people, we are ultimately giving back to God. This understanding of giving will lessen the transactional nature of giving that our modern society has. Many people give big gifts because they want to see the reactions of those receiving the gifts and to hear the praise about how great the gift was. Sometimes this comes out of an emotional need to be needed, rather than loving desire to see the best for the other person. If when we give, we are simply giving it all to God then we trust Him and have joy in Him regardless of the reaction of the individual getting the gift.

This will also help us learn the second lesson of giving, namely that we need to learn to give sacrificially just as Jesus did for us. Many of us in America are very wealthy compared to the rest of the world and people throughout history. We can give a lot and not really feel the loss in any real way. Thus we need to learn how to give up something of value to us for the sake of giving to others. In Mark 12:41-44, we see Jesus pointing out that a poor widow who only gave a few cents to the temple actually gave more to the Lord than did the rich people because she gave all that she had to the Lord. 

I have often experienced that people who have the least are often those who are most generous. In my first ministry, the poorest family in the church always had and open door and was always willing to have you join them for a meal, while the wealthiest family never had me in their house in the three years even though I was on their doorstep several times.

To learn how to give sacrificially, we need to examine the areas of our lives, both time and money, to which we hold on the tightest. We then need to give those areas over to the Lord and ask Him how we might give these very things away to show His love to others. Perhaps you can find a needy family have your whole family give them Christmas presents. Operation Christmas Child, Angel Tree, and many local ministries focus on the needs of people who might otherwise not get gifts. You could also spend time helping at a mission or find some other way to serve your community. In these ways, we can both learn to give up our time and money and also help people who have real needs.

Finally then, if our giving is really to be a reflection of the love of God, then we need to give wisely. God desires to give good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:11), but He does not always give us what we want. Rather when we ask, he gives us what we need.

So when we give we need to make sure that we do not give gifts that may end up being harmful. For instance, giving a pocket knife to three year old would not be wise, but giving a cellphone or gaming console to a preteen may be just as harmful if they do not have the discipline necessary to set limits on their time or the content they watch. We could also end up hurting our family or ourselves if we go into debt to give gifts. We are not loving others well if in buying the present we give away the future. 

By learning these biblical principles of giving we become more like the ultimate giver of good gifts and become part of giving His love to the world. 

Can you Bring Joy to God?

A favorite Christmas songs is Joy to the World, where we sing about Jesus coming into the world to bring God's joy to a dark world where joy is lacking. During the Christmas season, I have often reflected on how much I need joy from God, because I am sad or I have been trusting in things that bring momentary happiness, but do not bring lasting joy. Because of what Jesus has done, God does give us great and lasting joy through our worship of Him. But is the reverse true, can I bring joy to God?

Having grown up in a religious household, I knew it needed to behave to please God, but I never really felt like my life could possibly bring Him joy. My focus was on how far short I fell of God's expectations. Therefore, I have always struggled believing that God liked me, because I was unconscously convinced that His favor was dependent on my behavior. I have met many people from small towns and good Christian homes who have felt the same.

Therefore, when I read a verse like this:

Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst;
he is a warrior who can deliver.
He takes great delight in you;

he renews you by his love;

he shouts for joy over you.

I do not immediately feel the impact of it. Here God is talking to a group of Israelites who are humble and meek, and who God has brought through a time of judgment that others in their nation had faced because they did not want to follow God. In other words, these are people who wanted to be children of God and now God comforts them by telling them that He will watch over them and delight in them as a good father does his children.

A good comparison to God's love and delight during the Christmas season is the delight you take in giving your kids and grandkids presents. For me, I get much more joy from showing my love by giving gifts than receiving gifts. Likewise, God loves to give good gifts to His children (see Matt. 7:11), and He does it not because we have done anything for Him, but rather simply because we are His kids.

God's greatest gift is Himself, in the person of Jesus. He offers this gift to everyone, and like the ancient Israelites, we have the opportunity to accept this gift. When we do, we too become His special children in whom He delights. His love renews us and He actually shouts for joy over you!

I am so encouraged by this incredible truth. Not only is Christmas a time to be reminded that God came to bring us joy, but we can take more joy in the fact that by accepting His gift we can bring joy to God our ultimate good father. 

The story of the Bible from Andrew Kavan

He is an excerpt of Andrew Klavan's book, The Great God Thing, where he describes the story of the Bible as he saw it as a young man many years before he ever believed it was true.

"The fact was, as a story—even leaving out the supernatural, especially leaving out the supernatural, taking it all as metaphor, I mean—the Bible made perfect sense to me from the very beginning.

I saw a God whose nature was creative love. He made man in his own image for the purpose of forming new and free relationships with him. But in his freedom, man turned away from that relationship to consult his own wisdom and desires. The knowledge of good and evil was not some top-secret catalogue of nice and naughty acts that popped into Eve’s mind when a talking snake got her to eat the magic fruit. The knowledge was built into the action of disobedience itself: it’s what she learned when she overruled the moral law God had placed within her. There was no going back from that. The original sin poisoned all history. History’s murders, rapes, wars, oppressions, and injustices are now the inescapable plot of the story we’re in.

The Old Testament traces one complete cycle of that history, one people’s rise and fall. This particular people is unique only in that they’re the ones who begin to remember what man was made for. Moses’ revelation at the burning bush is as profound as any religious scene in literature. There, he sees that the eternalcreation and destruction of nature is not a mere process but the mask of a personal spirit, I AM THAT I AM.

The centuries that follow that revelation are a spiraling semicircle of sin and shame and redemption, of freedom recovered and then surrendered in return for imperial greatness, of a striving toward righteousness through law that reveals only the impossibility of righteousness, of power and pride and fall. It’s every people’s history, in other words, but seen anew in the light of the fire of I AM. It made sense to me too—natural sense, not supernatural—that after that history was complete, a man might be born who could comprehend it wholly and re-create within himself the relationship at its source. His mind would contain both man and God. It made sense that the creatures of sin and history—not the Jews alone but all of us—would conspire in such a man’s judicial murder. Jesus had to die because we had to kill him. It was either that or see ourselves by his light, as the broken things we truly are. It’s only from God’s point of view that this is a redeeming sacrifice. By living on earth in Jesus, by entering history, by experiencing death, by passing through that moment of absolute blackness when God is forsaken by God, God reunites himself with his fallen creation and reopens the path to the relationship lost in Eden. Jesus’ resurrection is the final proof that no matter how often we kill the truth of who we’re meant to be, it never dies."

Confess Your Sins to One Another

This last week I was reminded of one of reasons that God made us for intentional authentic relationships. We need someplace to be honest with others and therefore ourselves.

James 5:16a says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

Confessing our sins to another person is not easy, but it is good for us. Often we are bound up in some sin that is wrecking our emotions and relationships, and we cannot find freedom anywhere but in confession and release of that sin.

When we keep our sin and our deepest life secret we are not forced to confront the darkest parts of ourselves. Sometimes we talk to God about it and confess it to Him, but because He seems removed, we don’t really get brutally honest with ourselves. We are physical creatures and when we have to talk to people about our thoughts and sins, they become more real to us. Therefore we take them more seriously, and we are more willing to truly repent. True repentance leads to true change. When we know we have to face someone it is harder to sin in the same way again, and it is also easier to know we are forgiven and release the guilt when someone else confirms it.

1 John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Walking in the light is a great place to be, and to live there we need to establish relationships where we are committed to being honest. Find safe, maturing Christians who really love you, and who will meet with you consistently. Make a commitment to honesty and confidentiality, and then challenge each other to be honest. God created us for such relationships, and when we have this kind of fellowship it will deepen our relationship with Him, with each other, and even the world. In fact, if you do not have such relationships then you cannot be maturing as a Christian the way you should. So you should this if for no other reason than to be obedient to the Lord, and you will find freedom and joy in the process.