Pandemic of Disrespect

My through-the-Bible reading has me in Exodus right now. I am struck by how much of the Mosaic law was about respect. With the exception of Aretha Franklin, nobody is talking about respect these days. That is unless they are demanding respect for their particular cause. The grand American experiment of allowing freedom of thought has shuddered to a halt. One of the most ironic cases is the politically correct tolerance crowd being intolerant of anyone who disagrees with them. Hypocrisy, duplicity, and outright deception rule the public square these days. Respect and common courtesy are conspicuously absent.

Half a century ago when I was studying civics (a subject missing from curricula today), I learned that the three branches of the government were intended to be check and balance operations. The executive was to enforce the laws made by the legislative assuming they passed muster with the judicial. The reigning force in all this was to be the United States Constitution. In the final analysis we were to be a people ruled by law. The beauty of it was that we the people made the laws or changed the laws as the Constitution allowed and circumstances dictated. Respect for the Constitution has dwindled under the pressure of so-called dynamic interpretation which allows for rewriting or ignoring the very document that is supposed to govern.

Our nation’s founders borrowed the idea of being governed by law from Moses. God gave a specific set of laws to His people, Israel. The laws were presented as behaviors that were necessary for a person to be accepted by God. They were couched in religious language, but they were ultimately practical, defining the safest and most civil way to live in society. They were all about respect: respect for God above all else; respect for life itself; respect for authority; respect for all fellow humans; respect for livestock; respect for foreigners and slaves. The most intimate aspects of human interaction were covered, often focusing on sexual and parental relations.

Quite a few years ago I realized that one of the keys reasons God created male and female representatives who were to populate the earth through intimate contact was to build a solid foundation for social structure. The loving intimacy of the marital bond was to be the glue that held society together. The father-mother-child triad is the basic building block of society. This helps to explain the large number of laws governing marital and family relationships. For thousands of years, nations grew from on the family-clan-tribe roots ordained by God.

Because of the natural propensity toward sin, these structures did not often result in the respect God intended. To my amazement I see that the tribes descending from Esau and Ishmael still disrespect the tribes of Israel. Feuds almost as ancient are evident in the Serbo/Croatian, Hutu/Tutsi, Sino/Indian and Irish/English conflicts of recent history. Throughout history, failure to respect the opinions or cultures of others lies at the heart of most of the battles we fight whether personal or national. What’s missing is respect.

For the last one hundred years or so, respect has been draining from the tank of American values. I have written previously that the decoupling of procreation from sex made possible in the 1960’s by ready availability and reliability of birth control hastened the disrespect for traditional marriage. I have also suggested that the insidious unrelenting pressure from gay rights activists made it possible for society to redefine marriage itself, removing the God-given male/female element. Sociologist may debate the necessity of two genders in marriage, but anyone who respects the ordinance of God can see the fault in same-sex unions.

Another forbidden fruit that fell from the tree of social upheaval in the last century is disrespect for authority. The beatniks and hippies of my youth set the stage for the careless attitudes we now see a couple generations later. Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, I became the last generation to experience almost universal firm parental control and serious consequences for disobedience. I attempted with my children to carry forward the discipline I had experienced, but many of my peers did not. Societal pressures tugged at all the Gen-X parents, causing many of them to abandon firm parental discipline. I saw the result of that in my classrooms where students showed an alarming disrespect for teachers, fellow students, and property in general. Parents who were called in to discuss their child’s misbehavior often defended them against the authority of the school.

The sixth commandment sets the stage for societal respect: honor your father and mother. Families built on respect for authority should raise children who will carry the banner forward. However, even in Christian homes today, this is not always the case. Believing parents too often succumb to the societal pressure to allow children to have their own way. Another worldly pressure, consumerism, has pushed many families to require two incomes, abandoning their children to whatever structures the community provides. Unless they are fortunate enough to have Christian day-care and Christian schools, secular attitudes will inevitably be formed in their children.

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that in the last days, respect would disappear from society. Whether or not these are the last days Paul spoke of, his predictions have come to pass. I cannot change our culture and bring back respect and common courtesy. Neither can you. However, if we could convince our churches to stand up and claim their right to influence the culture, we could hope to gain back some of the lost ground.

According to George Barna, the percentage of practicing Christians in America in 2020 dropped by half in the previous twenty years. Of those who dropped out, half quit believing altogether and the rest quit “practicing.” Other polls indicate that many who left are disillusioned because the church seems irrelevant. Perhaps taking on the challenge of making the world a better place would seem relevant to those who have given up on church. I am not talking about the “social gospel” of the 1960’s. I am talking about being light in a dark world – the stated purpose of the church according to its founder. We need to put flesh on the part of the “Lord’s Prayer” that says, “Thy will be done; thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. (For more see “Bringing the Kingdom.”)

I know I am harping on an old saw again, but there is something else we can do that doesn’t involve long-term effort: vote wisely. The Barna poll I referenced has the following encouraging statement: “While the decline of Christian engagement is real, the data remind us that one-quarter of the population qualifies as a practicing Christian. This represents more than 80 million adults—a level of churchgoing that is a statistical outlier among affluent and educated societies.” In other words, we the (Christian) people have the power to shape our government. I am not advocating a theocracy as some detractors claim. I am recommending a return to the Judeo-Christian roots of our country – roots that grow from the Mosaic law that demands respect. That is the cure for the pandemic of disrespect we now suffer.

Related posts: Conspiracy Theory; Adolescence. Ugh!; The Risk of Raising Children; The Perfect Father

Conspiracy Theory

I have a theory. I mean this in the scientific sense of the word; a true theory is a conclusion drawn from the positive testing of one or more hypotheses. (Not like the “theory” of evolution which has no proven hypothesis.) The theory I am about to propose is bound to be considered “conspiracy theory” by some. So be it. As the old saw puts it: it’s not paranoia if someone really is out to get you. In this case, if I can prove my hypotheses, the theory will be sound.

Because a theory attempts to explain a set of known facts or solve a vexing problem, the first step is to pose the question or identify the problem. The question I am trying to answer is why so many drastic measures have been taken in response to the COVID-19 virus – the so-called pandemic. I admit that the virus has spread quickly throughout the world, so pandemic is not altogether the wrong word. The complete upset of societies everywhere indicates someone is pushing the idea of a deadly pandemic. However, two things mitigate against using this term.

First, Merriam-Webster defines a pandemic as, “occurring over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affecting a significant proportion of the population.” In the case of COVID-19, the wide geographic area is appropriate. The significant proportion of the population is not. As of last week’s numbers, there were just over 3.5 million cases worldwide. As I have said before, that number is certainly inflated by the monetary incentives attached to COVID diagnoses, but let it stand for now. Since world population is over 6 billion, 3.5 million persons supposedly infected represents only 0.58 % of the population or roughly 6 people per 1,000. I don’t see that as “a significant proportion.”

The second fact that mitigates against calling the current virus and its variants a pandemic relates more to the connotation of the word. Typically, a pandemic has deadly results killing a “significant proportion of the population.” Last week’s statistics report that 15 people per 1,000 infected died: 15/1000 or 1.5%. Again, that is doubtless an inflated number – early mortality numbers for COVID before the financial incentives kicked in were far lower – but even so, 1.5% mortality rate is not “a significant proportion of the population.” It means that 1 or2 people out of 10,000 from the total world population died from COVID.

Throughout 2020, I asked why the COVID policies were so drastic. (See Related Posts below.) As I move toward an answer to that question, here is my first hypothesis: we are being lied to. All the popularly published statistics relating to COVID show that the virus is not worthy of the worldwide panic that has ensued and the draconian measures that have been instituted. This is even more true of the omicron variant which has proven to be no more serious than a common cold – another virus that might be considered pandemic by current standards. Since when have we shut down entire societies because of colds? Cough into your elbow; blow your nose; wash your hands and get on with life. I don’t buy the hype.

My second hypothesis is that people are afraid. The way some people are behaving is completely irrational. The only way to explain people’s willingness to allow the government to curtail their freedom and steal their livelihood is fear. Federal, state and local governments are taking unprecedented illegal steps to counter a virus that, with the help of the media, they have made into a monster. When I see a person alone in his car wearing a mask, I know something has made him deathly afraid. It doesn't matter that the typical mask is useless in preventing the transmission of COVID; people wear them in fearful submission. Then too, millions of people rushed to get a vaccine that is neither effective nor safe. They are so fearful of the chimera named COVID that they will risk potentially serious side effects of untested treatments. Finally, millions of small businesses were forced to close never to open again, the owners submitting out of fear of illness or possible government sanctions. Fear reigns.

My third hypothesis is that some people are getting very rich from the fear caused by the government’s pandemic policies. Dr. Anthony Fauci is among today’s highest paid federal employees, his salary surpassing even the President. Bill Gates put millions into vaccine research efforts that will translate into huge profits when people submit to pro-vaccination pressure. Big pharmaceuticals like Pfizer and Moderna are getting billions of dollars from the government for developing and providing “free” vaccines paid for primarily with money that comes from the taxpayers. Moderna’s revenue in nine months of 2021 skyrocketed from $232 million to $11.3 billion year over year. Pfizer’s revenue soared 134% due to vaccine sales.

Meanwhile, the Internet is also generating loads of cash. Jeff Bezos’ behemoth, Amazon, has become the world's largest retailer during the pandemic resulting in a personal net worth of over $161 billion. Facebook profits rose 58% in 2020 reaching $29 billion. Internet giant Google charted record profits in 2020 due to double-digit revenue increases. Forcing people to stay home has turned the Internet into a money tree for those who own the harvest.

Not everyone will agree, but I believe my hypotheses are sound. This gives me confidence to propose the theory that the radical COVID measures are intended to manufacture fear resulting in large sums of money and consolidated power going to the people who are in control. This explains the government's overreach and the intentional creation of mass hysteria. People are being forced to relinquish their freedom and independence, and they are being encouraged to rely increasingly on government programs to allay their fears.

This situation may be laying the groundwork for the global government many Bible scholars believe signals the end of the age. Today’s popular end times preachers believe prophecy predicts a rapture-tribulation-millennium future. A well-known proponent of this interpretation, Dr. David Jeremiah, suggests that what we are seeing now could be a prelude to the rapture, although he insists there will be no warning. Perhaps the stage is being set for someone to become king of the world and instigate great tribulation followed by Jesus’ millennial reign. Or the end may come in one fell swoop the way it was thought to come for most of church history. Today’s conditions suit either interpretation. Because I serve the King of kings, I have no fear of what may come; I know where I will wind up when it’s all over. As I said in “August of 2020,” “The truth is that death is the best thing that can happen to anyone whose life is hidden in Christ. Like Paul said, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” That’s all that matters.

I was going to stop right there, but then I realized that something else matters more. It’s not enough to know where I’m going; I have to make the effort to show others the way. As believers, we know the perfect love of God, and the Bible says perfect love drives out fear. I think we need to stand up to the fear mongers and say we will not be bullied. I think we should vote the lying politicians out of office. I think we should find ways to disenfranchise monster corporations, especially in the media. I think we need to show our frightened neighbors that it is possible to live without fear. I think we need to start a conspiracy of fearlessness. No theorizing necessary.

Related posts: The Angel Says Fear Not; Herd Immunity or Incredulity;  Join the Lemmings; The Emperor Has No Clothes; Finding God in COVID-19; The Winnowing Fork of God

Defending Resurrection Faith

My friend, John, and I are reading N.T. Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. I mentioned the book previously in a discussion about heaven. This time I want to look at the resurrection. I am impressed by Wright’s rebuttal of anyone who doubts or denies the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus. Wright agrees with Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 that without the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah, Christian faith is vain, empty, worthless. The case Wright brings in defense of the resurrection speaks specifically to those moderns who “know” that resurrection from the dead is impossible; therefore, they conclude that Christianity is built on a sham. To believe in such a thing, they say, is to abandon reason and rely solely on faith.

There is nothing wrong with admitting that we rely on our faith regarding the Bible’s claims. The atheists and the doubters also maintain their positions by believing things that cannot be proved. I like the way Geisler and Turek put it in the title of their book: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. The atheist must take it on faith that the known universe came into being through a long series of chance occurrences. Honest scientists are gradually moving away from the Darwinian explanation of evolutionary process to explain what we observe. (I dealt with this more fully in “Think About It.”)

While believers do believe certain unlikely things, that belief is not without support. In Surprised by Hope, Wright dismisses the common arguments that the disciples stole the body, or that Jesus never really died, or that mass psychosis can explain what happened. These attacks on faith that deny the resurrection are easily debunked as many apologists have done previously. What most impressed me was the way Wright demonstrated that the resurrection of Jesus was completely unexpected, having no precedent either in secular thinking or the theology of the Jews.

Wright points out that much of the secular world in the first century followed Plato in thinking that the physical realm was inferior to the non-physical. This led them to imagine that after death, they would achieve a state of being that had shed all the imperfections of physicality. Hence, bodily resurrection was not something to be desired. Most of those who did not follow Plato believed there was a life after death in some far away place like the Elysian Fields of Greek mythology. The had no thought that they would be resurrected on earth.

The Jews, according to Wright, were split into two camps; the Sadducees denied any resurrection at all, while the Pharisees and others believed there would be a general resurrection of all humans at the end of time. This resurrection was the reestablishment of the kingdom of Israel the prophets spoke of. You hear that idea surface when the disciples asked the risen Jesus if He was about to restore the kingdom. Rather that correcting their kingdom idea, Jesus offered an explanation involving timing. He said only the Father knew when that would happen.

This still left them with the anomaly of Jesus’ resurrection. No one imagined, says Wright, that someone would be brought back from the dead individually some time before the general resurrection they looked forward to. Wright makes the case that nothing in the first century context would have led the disciples to invent the resurrection account. It was unheard of and therefore an unlikely fabrication meant to hide the “fact” of Jesus’ death at the hands of His enemies.

When the risen Jesus first appeared, the women thought He was a gardener or someone else, but they had no reason to think they were seeing Jesus. The same is true for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Rather than going about looking for Jesus in His new body, the disciples were gathered together in fear that their execution would be next. When Jesus made His unnatural appearance in the locked room, they thought He might be a ghost; no one said, “Oh there you are, the Risen One.” To prove his physicality to Thomas, Jesus offered a touch of His wounded hands and side. Interestingly, although it was a new body with unusual characteristics, it bore remnants of its former state. This represents another totally new idea that no first century thinker would have imagined.

That the resurrection of Jesus was a totally new idea in the first century without precedent in any historical context proves that it was thrust upon the first disciples and not invented by them. As Wright points out, the disciples heard Jesus speak of His resurrection, and they had no idea what He was talking about. They had to wait for the coming of the promised Holy Spirit to put it all together. Once they grasped it, it became the centerpiece of their preaching. To them, the resurrection was the ultimate validation of Jesus’ messiahship.

So, while we do hold the idea of the resurrection by faith, there is no reason to fear the arguments of the doubters and the atheists. In fact, it is they who should fear our argument. If Jesus did rise from the grave, a fact with abundant historical and rational support, those who deny it are signing their death warrant. Only those who believe in Christ’s resurrection will take part in the ultimate resurrection to eternal life when He returns to call His people home. To that I say, Maranatha Jesus; come quickly.

Related posts: I Don’t Believe in God; Do We Really Need God”

Eulogy for Wayne Pribbernow

A good friend is hard to find. And painful to lose. I lost one recently. I have had no better friend than Wayne Pribbernow. Over the thirty plus years that I knew him, Wayne proved to be everything one could ask for in a friend. In my estimation, he modeled what a Christian man should be. He loved God’s Word and took every opportunity he could to share it with others. I remember how excited he was to meet with his “lady friends,” as he called them, a group of senior citizens who gathered weekly to hear Wayne teach from the Bible. He was instrumental in keeping the little church near his cottage going, preaching and teaching there when needed as well as volunteering for whatever jobs wanted doing. Wayne also served honorably in many other churches throughout his life.

Speaking of the cottage, that too demonstrated Wayne’s big heart and generous spirit. He told me when he and Sharon first bought it that it was going to be made available to anyone who wanted a chance to get away into the woods. From what I could tell, they made good on that pledge. I was a frequent visitor to the cabin on the lake during deer season especially, but I also retreated there at other times. It became a favorite get-away for my grandson and I as it did for many others. I can still see Wayne sitting at the dining table sipping a cup of coffee with his Bible open before sunup or late in the evening. We had many hours of coffee and conversation over the meaning God’s Word and our responsibilities to live it fully.

I saw another side of Wayne’s commitment to his friends when a mutual friend went through some very difficult times. Wayne lived near the friend, and on more than one occasion he ran to his house, even in the middle of the night sometimes, to sit with him and help him deal with his troubles.

 His helping spirit was also evident in the ministry that he and Sharon offered to families that were working through the trials of blending stepchildren and second spouses into working Christian units. The two girls he and Sharon raised also proved the value of his Christian parenting philosophy. Wayne wasn’t proud of everything from his past, but the remorse he felt at his failures and the joy he found when reconciliation was possible attest to his honest repentance. If children (and grandchildren) are a testimony to their parents, Wayne had plenty to be grateful for in that way.

Wayne truly displayed his unwavering faith in God when talking about his health. He would say, not entirely joking, that he had died several times, but God wouldn’t take him home because there was still work to do here on earth. No matter what he went through including heart problems, cancer and all the things that go with normal aging, Wayne remained true to his belief that God was in control no matter what the circumstances might look like.

I will never forget Wayne and everything he meant to me. It is obvious from the number of comments on Facebook at Wayne’s passing that I am not the only one who appreciated Wayne Pribbernow. Maybe the best compliment I can offer is to say that I would be a better person if I could be more like Wayne. I am so looking forward to that new earth we all have coming so I can get back around that dining table in the cabin and continue our conversations. Keep the pot on, Brother.

Vax or Novax

The Biden administration is being accused of challenging religious freedom. The two issues that have received the most attention are LGBTQ+ and vaccination. (I have already written about the first; see Related posts below.) The demand of the New Testament to obey the mandates of government is crystal clear. Paul and Peter both make unambiguous statements recommending that believers should follow the rules made by their leaders. The only biblical incident in which someone defied the authorities is when Peter and John told the Sanhedrin they would not stop preaching Jesus when told to do so. Their reasoning was that they were compelled to obey God rather than man. This has been generalized over the centuries to mean that unless abiding by a secular law forces the breaking of a divine law, obedience is required.

The question then becomes whether there is a clear biblical concept that supports resistance to COVID vaccination. Like so many modern issues, the vax/no vax debate finds sincere Christians on both sides. Because vaccination is a modern therapy, there is obviously no Bible verse that specifically prohibits it. This leads many believers to take the shot in submission to the authorities as Scripture recommends. These folks often cite other reasons to follow the government request, chief among them is that it represents loving their neighbor by following the protective regimen. Of course, they also feel that it is prudent to guard against illness when possible.

There are, however, plausible reasons to resist the vaccine, some biblical, some otherwise reasonable. The non-biblical resistance stems from the uncertain reliability and questionable safety of the vaccines. I have written extensively on the dubious nature of the government’s claims of safety and efficacy. I have also shown that the death rate for COVID has been wildly overestimated and the actual count of fatalities due specifically to the virus will never be known.

One must also question the reliability of the persons and organizations pushing the vaccines when they are becoming wealthy from their use. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost proponent of universal vaccination, has become the highest paid federal employee in the US, surpassing even the President. We have no way of knowing what Fauci’s investment portfolio might look like, as Representative Jerry Carl pointed out last June. As a bureaucrat rather than elected official, Fauci’s finances are not public. Other individuals such as Bill Gates are making huge “donations” to research into vaccines that will pay large personal dividends when they are put into use. There is a great deal of money being made selling fear across the globe. (For more on the issue of fear see, “The Angel Says: Fear Not”)

This is going to be a weak biblical link, but I am going to suggest it anyway. Christians should not succumb to fear like that which is being propagated by the pro-vax cabal. The Bible clearly teaches that we do not need to fear any man, certainly not to the point of disobeying a Scriptural command. In early 2020 when the true nature of COVID-19 was unknown, churches were ordered to close. Mine did. That most congregations did shut down clearly violates the principle of obeying God rather than man. Once it became clear to thinking people that the threat from the virus was far less dramatic than originally advertised, a return to prudent flu season precautions would have been in order.

Unreasonable fear is also causing people to subject themselves to unproven vaccines which we now know are of limited value in preventing infection from the virus. If the vaccines are effective, why are masks and social distancing still being required in many situations? If the vaccines are effective, why are we hearing regularly about people who are vaccinated becoming infected and even some dying from COVID? If the original vaccines were effective, why are boosters continuing to be added to the requirements? The answer is fear, and the question becomes who benefits from the fear.

The evidence is increasing that the vaccines themselves pose a threat to an individual’s health. Because the major media outlets profit from the exposure that follows the fearmongering, it is difficult to find evidence of the true nature of the treatments being offered as vaccines. If you look outside of the mainstream media, you will find a growing number of physicians and scientists who can prove that the treatments currently being provided are not vaccines by any definition. More disturbing, many sources are claiming that the side-effects of the non-vaccines are quite serious. Following the principle of not putting anything harmful into my body, I think it is reasonable to refuse the vaccine on biblical grounds.

Just as it has done with the LGBTQ+ issue, the progressive factions in government have pushed against the religious interests of American citizens by supporting universal vaccination. While the vaccine mandate has not materialized on a national level for most of us (except for federal employees and members of the military), several cities have been emboldened by the White House’s insistence that it is needed and instituted their own mandates.

I have no quarrel with people who want to be vaccinated or with private institutions or businesses that choose to require vaccination. If proof of vaccination becomes necessary at the places I frequent, I will find other places that have not succumbed to the fear. What I will resist as far as possible is joining the lemmings and blindly leaping off the cliff. I also recommend that all my readers become knowledgeable about the policies of our elected officials and their bureaucratic allies. As I said in “Don’t be a Moron,” we owe that to our Lord and His kingdom on earth.

Related posts: How do you Read Paul; Clobber the Argument; Bake for Them Two; The Uncomfortable Subject; Who is Discriminating?

Read This or Die

As I wrap up another term of teaching Composition to students who don’t really want to be in my classes, I am struck by the numbers who demonstrate their disinterest by open disinclination to do the necessary work. I suspect that some of them are only attempting college because either the government or an employer has tempted them with “free money.” There are doubtless a few who have no intention of completing a degree or program, but simply want to stay enrolled long enough for the stimulus check to clear, after which they withdraw with a partial refund in cash. I call it Cash for Dummies.

This is a cynical outlook, I understand. However, the anecdotal evidence from my peers supports this theory. Soon after the stimulus money began to flow, we marveled at the twenty or thirty percent drop in enrollment after the seventh or eighth week of the term. Many of these withdrawals had done reasonably well up to that point, then they just stopped coming to class. The cloud of befuddlement began to clear from the faculty lounge when we learned that the timing of the drops coincided with the deposit of the last stimulus installment.

This explains some of the attrition, but there are many who remain to the end with little hope of earning a passing grade. Across the disciplines there are reports of students in the final weeks of class struggling with concepts which should have been mastered early in the term. Students who fail elementary quizzes want re-takes. Students who knew they were failing at mid-term come asking what they can do to pass on the last day of class. One student wrote in a late term essay that she was failing Comp for the second time, only now realizing that to pass she would have to work harder.

All this disturbed, saddened and frustrated me personally. Then I saw a news report that highlighted the sickening result of the attitude of my students. A young airman was killed in Iraq during a routine munitions demolition. The operation involved destroying a large number of fragmentation bombs, the anti-personnel type which scatter shrapnel up to two thousand feet. The manual detailing how to dispose of this type of bomb is clearly written. It plainly instructs the operators to set off the demolition in an earthen pit and remain behind barriers far from the blast.

For some reason, the deceased airman was only eight hundred feet away from a surface level blast and not protected by any barrier. He was part of a team who were trained to do the job they were doing. But they did not follow instructions. My guess is that they either ignored the clear directions in the manual, or worse, did not bother to read it at all. These young people have been conditioned by an education system which does not allow negative consequences to get in the way of good self esteem. I see these students in my classes every day. They think they can pass my class without reading the chapters or properly writing the assignments.

Unfortunately the real world assigns consequences to our actions. Ignore the manual for the stamping machine and lose a hand. Disregard the safety measures for connecting that fuel line and experience self-immolation. Discount the warning to stay off the pier in high waves and sleep with the fishes. Overlook the admonition that to befriend the world is to make God an enemy… Ouch. Maybe it isn’t only the world that attaches consequences. My late brother-in-law used to love to say, “When all else fails, read the instructions.” Good advice.

Through the Bible in Seven Minutes

As the year comes to a close, I am at the end of my annual through the Bible reading. I am struck once again by the sheer beauty, consistency and symmetry of the Scripture. Even though it is composed of sixty-six separate books written over the course of more than one thousand years by forty different individuals, it sustains one theme from Genesis to Revelation: God cares for His own. I won’t pretend to know all the reasons why God chose to undertake this project we know as human history – His ways are far above my comprehension – but there is plentiful evidence to support the central theme as it is embodied in the famous verse, “God so loved the world.”

Although Scripture teaches us that God’s love is unconditional, it also makes plain the fact that the measure of God’s favor is dependent on the human response to His love. Some modern Bible interpreters reject the idea that God’s full character includes an element of judgment. Yet, to do this these people must excise entire sections of the Scripture record and ignore scores of passages which in plain language describe the wrath of God which leads to judgment. ( See The Goodness of Wrath)

We only have to read to the third chapter of Genesis to find God executing judgment on His creation. Due to their disobedience, Adam and Eve, our fore parents, are removed from the perfection of the Garden of Eden and left to fend for themselves, more or less, in an environment that is far from perfect. A mere ten generations later, the record reveals that humans had become so despicable in their misbehavior that God passed judgment using a world-wide flood to wipe clean his creation, saving one faithful man and his family by means of the ark. Here too, there is another division when Noah’s son Ham is excommunicated for his transgression leaving the lines of Shem and Japheth to continue.

A few more generations pass when God again must deal with human disobedience at the Tower of Babel, dividing them into groups by giving each a different language. Shortly thereafter, God again chose one man to further His plan, the man called Abram, descendent of Shem. This line is further split assigning chosen status to the progeny of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This line, after growing into a nation we call Israel, then became God’s history lesson. God repeatedly showed His love and favor while continuing to display His wrath when His people disobeyed.

In the desert wanderings, after God lovingly removed Israel from Egyptian bondage, He winnowed out the unbelievers so that His remnant was prepared to conquer the land He had promised Abraham. After the conquest, throughout the period of the judges and kings, God chastised Israel time and again by allowing the surrounding heathen nations to place them in bondage. The low point for Israel was the Babylonian captivity and destruction of Jerusalem with its holy temple in 576 B.C. which seemed to mark the end of God’s favor, but He promised through His prophets that after seventy years they would return. And so they did.

The returned remnant rebuilt the temple and instituted a system of religious observance that sometimes mirrored God’s plan and sometimes mocked it. Then, when the time had fully come, as Paul puts it, God sent the Seed He had promised all the way back at the fall of Adam. The Jews had been looking for the Promised One for centuries. Ironically, when He finally arrived in history, the Jewish religious leaders who should have welcomed Him failed to recognize Him because of their slavish reliance on the human religion they had developed.

God’s plan continued unthwarted as He used the disobedience of His chosen people to complete His perfect plan. The Spotless Lamb of God, pictured for centuries in the Jewish ceremonial sacrifices, was mocked, beaten, and crucified by the very people He came to save. In their recklessness, the Jewish leaders inadvertently brought salvation to all who would believe, and they wrought destruction on their cherished religious charade. The very people who killed their Messiah lived to see Jerusalem utterly destroyed as a judgment for their unbelief.

It was here that the mystery of God, hidden for the ages says Paul, came to light. The Seed that had been promised to Abraham became the Light to the nations spoken of by many of the prophets throughout Israel’s history. The ringing bell of the New Testament sounds the message that the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of the Lord. God brought His Son into the world not just to save humans but to save His entire creation. The hidden mystery is that God will recreate Eden and populate it with the faithful of every generation, nation, tribe, and tongue.

As I finish the year in the book of Revelation, I am reminded that many people today hold to an interpretive scheme for the book that looks for a coming rapture, tribulation and subsequent thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. Most of the people I know who treasure that view are unaware that for about eighteen hundred years, a different interpretation held sway over most of the church. Indeed, many Christians today still believe the ancient message. According to that view, God’s judgment pictured in the book of Revelation was executed in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple for the final time. That view rings most true to me as it recognizes the history-changing significance of the Cross of Christ and the finality of the subsequent judgment on the apostate nation of Israel. (See “Why I am a Preterist”)

Whether one holds to the dispensational-millennial view of Revelation that places most of the book in the future or the view that sees all but the last couple chapters as completed history, one thing remains the same for all believers. We can all treasure the fact that God is in control, whether in judgment or in favor, in war or in peace, in tragedy or blessing. That is the ultimate message of the Bible, in my opinion. God loves His creation, and the record given to us in Scripture demonstrates that He is calling a people to Himself. I pray that you may be among the called so that no matter how the last pages of Scripture play out, you will be assured an eternity with God sharing nothing but His favor as the ages roll on.