A long preamble followed by short study on hate

Firstly, what prompted this post?

Two incidents involving very funny comedians.

1) Jimmy Carr on QI a couple of weeks ago. Stephen Fry had asked the question "How many commandments did Moses receive from God on Mount Sinai?" (or something along those lines) Being QI, it was referring to the fact that the commandments aren't listed as 10 separate, numbered statements, there are actually more than 10, etc. Jimmy Carr's answer was "That's easy. None - because it never happened." The response from the crowd was rapturous applause and cheering.

2) Ross Noble, last night at the Princess Royal Theatre in Port Talbot, finished his show with an opportunity to ask questions. One person asked "Who would win in a fight, Jesus or Gandalf?" Noble's reply was "Gandalf, because Jesus doesn't exist" which again was received with rapturous applause and cheering.

Here are two things that this post is not about:

1. I admit that as a Christian (and as explained in a previous blog post) I am super sensitive whenever anyone is talking about Jesus. I love Him and get very upset and offended whenever He is being misrepresented or blasphemed. However, that is not what I want this particular post to be about.
   
2. I can see why both of the above jokes are funny. Both also contained a disdain for Christianity. I am not arguing that people should not be free to say such things. Of course I believe in freedom of speech and, in that sense (and that sense alone), freedom for blasphemy (although I would strongly advise anyone against it because of the holiness of the God they're blaspheming).

So what is this post about?

The crowd's reaction in both incidents. Both reactions caused me instantly to inhale in sheer alarm. As a fan of comedy I am used to a crowd's reaction to a variety of jokes. In my experience it is quite rare that a crowd cheers and rapturously applauds their approval to a joke. Of course crowds often clap loudly and laugh uncontrollably but a cheer is rare, especially one so unanimous. Again I add that my own sensitivity may be playing its part here but I don't think I am being too melodramatic.

My assertion is that the average man or woman hates God.

Most Christians know this from their own personal experience as, through spiritual growth, their eyes are opened to what they were before conversion. They may also know this from their daily experience of living out the Christian life in what they do day by day. 'Religion' along with politics is something that should never be discussed after all and the real, genuine saltiness of some godly believers may leave certain people in the world around them quite bitter.

I have been pondering why, socially, people hate God. In a moment I intend to share the titular short Bible study on hate but what social reasons are there for hatred of God and a communal delight in that hatred? Many people have had a bad experience of church. Perhaps as children they were made to sit through boring services that were full of completely irrelevant and bizarre rituals and vocabulary. Perhaps for some people thoughts of Christianity evoke memories of certain individuals who have been self-righteous, holier-than-thou, hypocritical, ungenerous, harsh, etc. For some, Christianity may be synonymous with Creationism. Richard Dawkins is perhaps the most famous hater of Christianity for such reasons. Others may see any form of organised religion as a vehicle for brain-washing, indoctrination and offensive propaganda including intolerance towards other religions, etc. Perhaps it is these reasons, and many others, that the majority hate God.

It is true that the church is to blame for many of these things. I am sure that in my naive zeal in the past I have come across as harsh, offensive and intolerant. It is sadly true that leading atheists receive hate mail from so called Christians (see Proverbs 9 v 8 for some wisdom on that subject).

However, any thinking person would realise that counterfeit and twisted 'Christianity' exists in our world just as much as the existence of a person's own twisted morality. So all of these reasons for hating Christianity are really just the outward expression of something deeper.

Here are three quotes of Jesus speaking to His disciples in the gospel accounts.

John 3 v 20: ...everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

John 15 v 18: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

Matthew 10 v 22: you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.

Jesus always knew very well that people hated Him and always had done and always would. He knew this so clearly that he warned His disciples about it. The verse from Matthew 10 comes from a passage that predicts times of persecution that have been known down the centuries all over the world, including on many occasions in the history of the UK (e.g. the Imprisonment of John Bunyan). Such things are happening now in many parts of the world today. See the work of Open Doors amongst other Christian organisations working to support the persecuted church worldwide.

The words of Luke 6 v 22 should be a great encouragement to Christians: "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake." Helen Roseveare, the British missionary to the Congo in the 1950s-70s, experienced great comfort from the Lord when she realised that God was telling her "They are not attacking you. They are attacking me." (Please read more of her incredible story at challies.com)

Looking through the concordance to my study Bible there are many references in scripture which are basically instructions for the Christian to hate wickedness/evil and love good (see Ps 45v7, 97v10, Amos 5v15, Luke 6v27, etc) and, indeed, to respond to wickedness with kindness.

A verse on hate to finish with:

Psalm 5 v 5: you hate all evildoers

In this Psalm, David is groaning and crying out to God and comforting himself with great truths about God. One of these great truths is that God hates all evildoers. We hear so often today that God is love and that He loves everyone no matter what they've done or who they are. However, that is not the whole picture. Everyone agrees that they do things wrong in their life (and therefore they're evildoers). God hates all who do wrong but, wonderfully, He does not delight in the death of the wicked but rather that they turn and be saved (see Ezekiel 33).

Bible Study Magazine

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

Stephen

Some quotes from Acts 6 and 7 and comments about Stephen:

6v1-3: he was chosen to be part of a team in charge of distribution of food among the people
6v3: he was "known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom"
6v5: he was "a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit"
6v8: "full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs"
6v10: members of the Synagogue "could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke"
6v15: whilst in custody "they saw his face was like the face of an angel" (you can read Matthew Henry's helpful comments about what this means but suffice to say that it wasn't to do with how beautiful he was!)
7vs1-50: he was well versed in Jewish history
7vs51-53: he was very brave!
v55: "full of the Holy Spirit"

Stephen's brief story is told in just two chapters but what an impression these two chapters give of the man! As you can see from above, on five occasions it is clearly stated or implied that he was full of the Holy Spirit. He was chosen to be part of a group that distributes food so that the apostles could carry on with ministering the word and not be distracted by such things. It may not have been one of the top jobs in the church at the time but they chose Stephen and six others who were filled with the Holy Spirit to do it. Now, it is true that on conversion we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, the seal and guarantee of our redemption, but from the other verses here it is clear that it means much more than that.

I think Stephen is a great example to us in the church who are not involved in a direct "ministry of the word" such as preaching, leading Bible studies, etc (although we are all involved in evangelism which is also a ministry of the word). Stephen knew his scriptures incredibly well. He didn't have notes when he was speaking to the Sanhedrin in chapter 7 but he was able to recount the history of the Jews and apply it to the priests listening. He was strong in his rebuke of the priests which again he was only able to do because he was full of the Spirit.

We must cultivate such a relationship with and dependence upon the Holy Spirit. We don't hear great stories of people like Stephen because they were great. We hear them because God is great and is able to do incredible things when lowly rescued sinners lean completely on His grace.

Feeding daily on the Gospel

On Sunday I was browsing the Desiring God website looking for a good snippet to read out on my Radio City Sunday morning radio show. I came across a book review entitled Read Jack, which was a review of the book A Faith Worth Sharing by C. John Miller.

I found one of the paragraphs in the review particularly helpful and thought I would share it with you here:

Jack learned early on in his Christian walk that “the only way I could survive was to go over and over the gospel message until it became the central focus of my life” (28). He rehearses this principle—and sums up the main theme of the book—as he talks about the conversion of a friend named Stan.

Stan . . . became another weak person receiving grace through the promises, and his joy in the message of the cross stimulated others to seek grace too.” (96, emphasis added)

Jack’s recurring angle is that “evangelism is...one hungry beggar eagerly eating the bread and being changed by it, and then telling the other poor beggars to eat of the same bread” (98). Evangelists who don’t feed their own souls on the message of the gospel are misguided at best and hypocritical at worst. If we are to communicate the gospel to others for the feeding of their souls, we must first feed daily on the gospel ourselves.

The reason that we would want to call other beggars to eat the life-giving and life-sustaining bread of the gospel is because we’ve already tasted it—and are continuing to eat it—and we know personally how good the good news is. Preaching the gospel daily to our own souls precedes and powers preaching that gospel to others. And the more we articulate the profound truths of the gospel to ourselves and then to our believing friends, the more easily we’ll be able to articulate the message to nonbelievers.

Johann Hari's Independent articles

I wrote these thoughts on Friday after reading these two articles:
Why Should I Respect These Oppressive Religions and Despite These Riots, I Stand By What I Wrote

"Today, whenever a religious belief is criticised, its adherents immediately
claim they are the victims of "prejudice" – and their outrage is increasingly
being backed by laws."

I am all for dialogue. I really am. I realise that if I want freedom of speech, then I have to be willing for people to be free to criticise my beliefs. I completely agree with that. What I am more concerned about as a 'fundamentalist' Christian (as the article would call me, I suppose) is almost the opposite. It seems to me that laws in our country will increasingly restrict me from holding particular beliefs and trying to share those beliefs with others.

This reminds me of the Jerry Springer The Opera furore from a few years back. If you recall, the Opera featured the Jerry Springer show where some of the guests were God, Jesus and Mary amongst others from the Bible. My Lord and Saviour whom I believe deserves total adoration, respect, reverence, honour, love and glory is depicted as a man who enjoys dressing up as a baby and fouling in his underwear. I won't go into all the details but that's not the end of it. I wrote it like that to show how shocking and horrific it is for me to accept as a Christian. However, I had to think a lot about what I felt about it at the time. Was I going to be one of the people campaigning against it? Did I just have to put up with it because of the right to free speech? How exactly should I respond to it?

In the end I came to the conclusion that although personally I was deeply upset and offended by the content of the show I didn't really have ground to complain about it solely on the basis of free speech. I did, however, feel it was acceptable to complain about it on the basis of decency and offence. Should something like this that offends so many people go by quietly in our society? If there was a show that caused deep offence to the Welsh or black people or ginger people or obese people or disabled people should it go by without comment? Perhaps we decide that such a show should go on but if lots of people are offended let's not be surprised when they raise that point!

Back to the article! The chap loses me when he states the reason he doesn't respect my beliefs is because there is no evidence for them. I don't believe in macro evolution but I acknowledge there is some (inconclusive) evidence for it. The evidence for the resurrection is overwhelming, in my opinion, but, even if you don't agree, surely you would have to say that there is at least some evidence for belief? How can you say you respect me when you call my carefully considered beliefs something which "belong[s] to the childhood of our species"?

"You have an absolute right to voice your beliefs – but the price is that I too
have a right to respond as I wish."

Mr Hari you may of course have your "indivisible human right to speak freely" but when you do, please make educated comments that understand were religious people are coming from rather than dismissing those you claim to respect with a few funny lines.

"...religious fundamentalists – of all stripes – have been progressively stripping
away the right to freely discuss their faiths. They claim religious ideas are
unique and cannot be discussed freely; instead, they must be "respected" – by
which they mean unchallenged."

Personally, as an Evangelical Christian, I couldn't disagree more with the implication that I may be involved in this statement! Please do discuss the gospel freely!

I have been watching the West Wing a lot recently and in Series 3 there is an episode called Enemies Foreign and Domestic, where the White House press secretary is drawn into voicing her personal opinion on a group of schoolgirls in Saudi Arabia who died when they were prevented from escaping a burning building by the mutaween religious police because they were not properly dressed according to religious law. In a future episode President Bartlett has a rant concerning the way Saudi Arabia applies their religious laws in this way and he and Toby Ziegler both want to see Western, liberal democracy and freedom brought to these parts of the world. I have to say that watching it I was totally caught up in it and completely agreed with them both. However, I don't think anyone could speak about Christians in that way. Christians do not impose 'religious law' on anybody.

"They do not propose to stop voicing their own heinously offensive views about
women's rights or homosexuality, but we have to shut up and take it – or we are
the ones being "insulting"."

I don't go about stating any views on women's right or homosexuality unless it comes up in conversation. You may possibly find them insulting but hopefully there would be the possibility of dialogue.

"I wrote an article defending human rights, and stating simple facts. Fanatics
want to arrest or kill me for it. Is there equivalence here?"

That's not wholly true. Let's consider some facts:
1. Some Muslims are notoriously easily offended and, when they are, they riot and bring violence
2. You said of their beloved prophet "I don't respect the idea that we should follow a "Prophet" who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him."

Now whether you were right in what you said or not (and not knowing the facts I give you the benefit of the doubt here) you can still surely see that by summing up their prophet in that particular way you would at least ruffle some feathers. I certainly wouldn't say "you were asking for it" because I have a lot of sympathy with what you were saying but I do think that that one paragraph was needlessly offensive. You could have simply said you didn't agree with the beliefs of any organised religion rather than trying to make them look childish.

I guess in all I have written, probably not intelligently in some places, I am just trying to ask why are peace-loving Christians who love the Bible lumped in with violent extremists in both articles?

Genesis 50v20 - The Good, The Bad and The Baffling

This sermon covered the story spanning the last 8 or so chapters of Genesis (where Joseph meets his brothers again, etc).

The Good - Many lives were saved through Joseph's planning and preparing for the famine. Great joy in verses such as 45v26, 46v30, 42v7, 42v21.

The Bad - The brothers intended harm, potiphar and his wife behaved unjustly, there was no fairytale ending.

The Baffling - Joseph's dealings with his brothers. Why is Joseph not a tribe? Why did Jacob swap his hands against Joseph's will.

There is no full reconciliation without repentance.

Joseph told the brothers that what they did was wrong.

Being rebuked in church is a good thing. If you are being rightly rebuked you learn something, if you are being wrongly rebuked the other person learns something. However we need to die to self because it is never easy otherwise to take a rebuke.

The brothers don't appear to repent.

God's plan has no setback. Galatians 2:20 - "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Is that true of you?

Helen Roseveare - "Cross out the I in your life"

Grudges and lack of honesty with one another are massive problems in the church.

Is there a stolen cup in your sack still?

Are we more of an example of what the Lord can do as we grow older as Christians?

Satan's masterpiece is the professing Christian who dreams for nothing more than what they have now.

Genesis 41

Here are my notes from a sermon on Genesis 41. You will be able to download and listen to the same sermon from www.townhill.org.uk very soon.

Pharoah is really troubled.
Joseph always ends up leading (compare that with the first dreams of Joseph)

1. Joseph is God's man

vs15-16: I can't do it but God can
Joseph doesn't take the credit or pat on the back.
You can live on the encouraging comments of other people and this is a terrible thing.
Nail your colours to the mast straight away in any new situation. I am God's!
It is a tragedy if noone in your workplace, etc knows you're a Christian.

v38 Pharoah is so impressed that he even acknowleges Joseph's God.

Atheists who heard C H Spurgeon preach would say "I don't believe it but Spurgeon clearly does!"

Joseph doesn't live on human praise. He doesn't take any of the credit.

2. God is everyone's God

Miles Kington once wrote an article where the theme basically was "I don't bother God, why should he bother me?"
Actually everyone does 'bother God' because He's everyone's God. He's the only God that's there.
It is not true that we are all His children. He is Creator, Lord and Judge of all but not Father (see John 8: 42-47).

God is God of Pharoah but not his Saviour.

God is Sovereign, governing everything.
Joseph named one of his son's Manasseh recognising that God has enabled him to forget his past.
God is always working, He never slumbers or sleeps.
God is the only free 'person' in the universe.

Who calls the shots in your life?

C S Lewis - "I let God be God"

Look at the people we have in our great worldwide family. They are not all like us - struggling and finding the world too enticing. It is a privilege to be in their family.

Some boast "we have the Word!" but all they have is facts. Joy must be in knowing the person Jesus Christ in close relationship.

We must work hard to apply the Word to ourselves personally.