Evangelism isn’t Rocket Science. 
I am trying to remember how many approaches and strategies to evangelism that I have heard over the years. Maybe, I have heard almost as many evangelism strategies as I have new missions paradigms. When I was younger, I remember that friendship evangelism was big. Anyone still handing out Gospel tracts might as well have been from the Stone Age or pulling their white tube socks up. They were way out of touch with the new way to reach people. Then, that seemed to morph into using the arts and coffee bars. Or, even better, having artists play in coffee bars and then watch the harvest come in. My favorite was the ever so simple cardboard sign with “free prayer” written on it and displayed next to a lawn chair downtown.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against any of those strategies for evangelism. “Friend” people for Jesus if that helps you reach the least, the last, and the lost. I was just impressed by something these last two Sundays at church. Two weeks ago, we had a baptism service where 5 people shared testimonies before celebrating a most public confession. Four of them mentioned one couple’s name specifically as being instrumental in their coming to faith. Then, this last week at church, we had a time to honor a couple who is moving to a new mission location after many years in our community and church. Here are some of the things people shared as they affirmed them:
“When my husband was dying from cancer, you came and sat by me and comforted me.”
“You opened your home every Sunday night to us and would always cook delicious food for us to eat.”
“You helped me train and even joined my triathlon team so that I could accomplish my dream.”
Even more impressive is that all of these things were said in one of the hardest languages to learn; a language that this couple never spoke until they moved to the mission field and started learning it so they could share the Gospel and get to know people.
I know that of Paul’s writings in the New Testament, both Romans and Galatians have some of the most difficult theological passages to interpret. However, it is what looks like a simple passage of application in Thessalonians that has been one of the most challenging to me personally.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
“So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.”
Paul says that they cared so deeply for the Thessalonians that they were determined to share “NOT ONLY” the Gospel with them, “BUT ALSO” our own selves. Sharing the Gospel to Paul was not simply a verbal proclamation only. It was more than helping the Thessalonians understand the one true God’s plan of redemption and rescue. Sharing the Gospel meant that Paul cared deeply for the lost; so deeply, that he ended up sharing his very self with them. What does that mean to share one’s self? Look back at the two couples that I spoke of above.
I wish I had not heard teachings on Christian counseling, because then I could continue in my content denial that I don’t want to get close to people sometimes because I don’t want to have my feelings hurt if things go south. I wish I could keep hiding behind all of my introverted justifications of not being “called” to be an evangelist or a “people” person. Unfortunately though, God keeps bringing this passage in Thessalonians back in front of my eyes so that I will be confronted with the ugly truth that I am a self-centered narcissist at heart. Dang. I am pretty sure the Bible gives us the sobering news that this heart malady is not unique in our human species.
Yet, if I am not interested in the lives of those I share the Gospel with, why should they be interested to hear me share the Gospel?
You see then that evangelism isn’t rocket science, but we do have to love people to the moon and back if it is going to truly show people Jesus.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
On our summer trip to the US, a family member blessed us and took our whole family to a famous amusement park. At the end of the a long day of rides and sun, we settled in to watch the nighttime show and fireworks. It was a moment of bliss and calm in a day of crowds and little kids, and I was enjoying the fruit of my labor with a well deserved waffle cone. Suddenly, my youngest son, who has just finished off a mocha ice cream waffle cone with sprinkles, looks at me with a sudden look of panic on his face. Apparently, when you mix soda, hot dogs, fries, churros, cotton candy, frozen lemonade, and ice cream all together in a little kid, then throw them on roller coasters and rides for a day, the result is that all that junk is coming out of one hole or another with explosive force. Who knew? This one was coming in a downward trajectory, so I immediately began to look for the closest bathroom. My wife told me it was far away and we better start making a run for it (before the runs caught us).
In a moment of father son bonding, we began sprinting for the other side of the plaza we were sitting in. In order to have crowd control and good traffic flow, the park had ropes up everywhere to keep people moving in the right directions and area. My son decided that he could not make it to the very end of the roped area and headed directly for the nearest rope. Right as he made it to the rope that he wasn’t suppose to go under, the security guard was standing with his back to the rope and literally holding the rope up for some reason. My son took this as a sign of divine providence and ducked under and kept going. The very moment I made it to the rope, the security guard had turned around and dropped the rope back down.
“Hey, you can’t go through here,” he told me sternly. I quickly pointed to my son running away and said, “That is my son and he is trying to make it to the bathroom.” “I am sorry sir, but you are still going to have to go all the way down to the end and enter the other side there.” Desperate, I tried to appeal to the man’s humanity, “Do you want my son to get lost and hurt without me?” It was my best attempt at manipulation and guilt tripping. “No,” he said, “but you are still going to have to go all the way to the end.” At this point, sheer rage mixed with the animal father instincts to protect my kid. Without any thought apparently whatsoever, I looked the guy directly in the eyes, and yelled, “!?$%&!”
Now, for those of you who might be second language or not familiar with what someone means when they write a bunch of punctuation marks in parenthesis, it is a kind and euphemistic way to tell you that either they or someone else cussed like a sailor. Some of you even supplied your own cuss word when you saw those punctuation marks or tried to guess what cuss word I would use in that situation. I won’t tell you what I said, but let’s just say that it sounded like the name of a popular new game where you throw corn stuffed bean bags at a board.
I wish that I could say I was at least willing to be logical and pragmatic at the moment of my crises. Instead of wasting time thinking up a cuss word to call him, I should have been using the time to run and make sure I could catch up with my son. “Sorry son, I would have found you sooner, but it was well worth the time to curse that guy! I feel much better even though you were crying and huddled in a corner of the park.” The good news is that I was able to find my son, and even better, he made it to the bathroom before Mount Vesuvius erupted. As I walked back with him, my full intention was to find a park security manger and give him an earful about how their employees should know when a child’s safety is more important than park traffic flow rules. However, I was too embarrassed to do that because I would have to point out the guy, and he could bring up the fact that I cussed at him. So, still inwardly stewing over the experience, I put my head down and walked my son quickly back over to the rest of our family.
As I have thought and prayed about that incident, a teaching and rebuke that Jesus gave in Mark chapter 7 came into my mind. Jesus was having another confrontation with the Pharisees, and wanted to highlight their pursuit of outer righteousness while ignoring their inner heart conditions.
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Jesus wasn’t faulting the Pharisees for trying to pursue observance of the law and their desire to lead holy lives. The thing that he was trying to impress upon them was that no matter how many rules and regulations they followed, if they didn’t deal with their heart condition and thoughts, they were not getting to the root of sin and defilement.
For me, at the moment of my stress, anger, and concern for my son, what came out of my heart surprised and saddened me. Of course, a good father should be protective of his children and there is such a thing as righteous anger. But is it completely impossible or unrealistic to hope that the first thing that came out of my heart at that moment would have been a prayer? “Jesus, protect my son and help me find him after I run to the other end.” In a split second though, what came out of my mouth is a word I would never allow my children to say. If it hadn’t already been in my “heart”, it wouldn’t have jumped out so quickly in that stressful time. Where did it come from? The television and movies that I have watched. Period.
I have teenage kids, so of course we have discussed the use of cuss words and why it is wrong. They told me that they have heard adult Christians say that cussing isn’t a big deal, and that there are far worse sins out there. (It is amazing how much detail my kids remember about a teaching when it serves their purposes and argument, but the same day not remember I told them to take out the trash three times!) Here is how the “Christian” argument about cussing not being a big deal goes… First, cuss words are just sounds and the words themselves may have had no meaning, or no bad meaning in their original use. I am amazed how often I see English cuss words on t-shirts here in Taiwan. They either don’t know the word is considered bad or it just doesn’t bother them in a second language. I do love how people suddenly become master’s level linguistics when defending a Christians right to cuss.
The second argument is that even Paul the apostle said a bad word in Greek in Philippians 3. In the famous verse where Paul says that everything he used to take pride in, he considers “rubbish/garbage” in order to gain Christ (the knowledge of Christ 3:8). The Greek word that Paul uses here, they say, was considered a cuss word equivalent to the English cuss word for poop. So, now, these people are not only linguistics but have also become Greek scholars. The context of these verses have nothing to do with Paul addressing speech. If you want that verse, you need to study Ephesians 4:29. If you aren’t familiar with this verse, let me summarize Paul’s command: don’t say bad words. To both of these lines of reasoning in support of Christian cussing, I believe that Paul would say: σκύβαλα.
Oh, but wait! The best argument has yet to come. “Sean, you are more concerned with people saying a bad word than you are with little children starving to death in the Third World.” So, If I do cuss or don’t care about cussing, starving children will immediately feel better or get fed? I have a secret: you can care about starving children and cussing at the same time. Try it. However, my real beef with how flippant we seem to be getting in the Western church (including myself) with this has more to do with what Jesus said about the heart. I know that my cuss word was in my heart because of the television and movies that I have watched. I am very careful to avoid movies with the occult or sexual sleaze. Violence and cuss words, well, my view becomes more complicated. I have justified it in movies/tv with thoughts like: “Hey, it’s a war movie. If you get your leg shot off, you aren’t going to say Owie or darn.” or this one, “this movie is not about believers, so it would lose “realism” if they had them never using cuss words.”
I could go on, but I realized that it was a heart problem with where these cuss words were originating for most Christians. 1) action movies with lots of violence: let’s just say there isn’t a lot of “turn the other cheek” in these films. What fun would Terminator have been if robot Arnold had said, “I won’t come back but Jesus will”? The correct outlet for anger in these movies is a punch in the face followed by an expletive (or expletive first, both suffice). 2) low brow comedies that use cuss words for comedic effect. I don’t know why it is funny to hear people drop the f-bomb every other word, but that seems to be the way these comedies go when they aren’t using sex jokes and drunkenness for side splitting hilarity.
If we as Christians spend a large amount of time watching these movies, do we really think that the worldview of the movies won’t make its way into our heart? Seriously, the cuss words are part of a package deal and in and of themselves are NOT the main problem. The worldview of returning injustice and injury with violence, coupled with the worldview that praises sexual immorality and scatological jokes that is the cancer of our heart. Look, I am not a raging Puritan who demands all Christians toss their televisions in the fiery pits of Hell from whence they came. All I am trying to say is that I was shocked by what came out of my heart in a moment when my son needed me and a whole crowd was watching and listening. In the times when I need Jesus the most, I want his name to be first out of my heart and on my lips and not a cuss word.
The whole thing has challenged me to look beyond the cuss words to the heart of the matter. If I watch programming with swearing, then the greatest danger is not that I will say one of those words in a moment of stress, the greatest danger is that I will start thinking and acting like the people in those shows. Instead of blessing those who curse me (or won’t let me protect my son), I will verbally punch them in the face (because if I got in a real fight, I would lose in a heartbeat. Bible teaching missionaries aren’t known as good fighters). Instead of calling out the name of Jesus, I will call out names that I would be ashamed to say if Jesus were standing next to me. If you think you can watch all those shows chocked full of cussing, immorality, wanton violence, and sin, and not have it make its way into your heart, well, then I believe you may be full of one of your favorite four letter words…
I knew when the Ashley Madison website hack went public that there would be Christians on the list of people exposed. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the media to wade through all the information and find a “famous” Christian who is on television. You would think that people would be tired of pointing out hypocrites within the church, but apparently it never gets old dancing on the moral grave of those who were not practicing what they were preaching. “Ah ha!” they say, just more proof that Christians are a bunch of losers who act more righteous than everyone else, but in reality are chasing after adulterous affairs. Some of these “outed” believers have gone into full damage control, trying to explain away culpability or merely confess and ask for forgiveness. I can hear this Ashley Madison deal being used by someone as a reason why they are closed to the Gospel or the church.
The real question is, “how should we respond when non-Christians play the Ashley Madison card on us?” I was instantly reminded of the words of Paul when he was describing himself in the letter of 1 Timothy. Timothy had been assigned by Paul to guide the church in Ephesus and there were some serious issues there. I believe that Paul expected Timothy to read this whole letter to the church as it is full of commands for everyone and not just Timothy. At the very beginning of the letter, the common sense thing for Paul to do would be to establish his authority right away. He needs to remind them that he is an apostle, reinforcing their need to follow his instructions. Instead, Paul goes into testimony mode and shares this little tidbit about his past in 1 Timothy 1:13-16,
“13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (ESV)
Paul goes the opposite direction of what we might expect. Instead of establishing his authority, Paul humbles himself by admitting how bad his past was. He was a broken and sick man who deserved God’s wrath but received His grace instead. No matter how long Paul followed Jesus and no matter how much he accomplished for the kingdom of God, he never hid or forgot his past, sinful life. He always gave Jesus the credit for his salvation and rescue. Now, what does any of this have to do with the Ashley Madison question? The world needs to understand that Christians are not professing to be perfect people. As Augustine said, the church is a hospital where sick people go to be healed of their illnesses. Jesus Himself said that He came as the great physician seeking out those who knew they were sick and lost. Though it saddens us to hear about another “famous” Christian being caught in sin, it should not shock us nor surprise us.
Of course, we as Christians have to make sure that we are never passing ourselves or the church off as perfect or as never wavering in our moral fortitude. Our story is the same as Paul’s story: we are sinners saved by grace. The only difference between us and those in the “world” is that we were willing to admit how messed up we are and how much we needed Jesus’ redemption. We have to be quick to humble ourselves and not try to behave as though we have it all together or saved ourselves.
This might lead you to ask a follow-up question, “Are you saying that there is no difference in the lifestyle or morality of a Christian from a non-Christian?” Should we really have no expectations that a Christian acts differently than someone who is not? Do we just shrug our shoulders when we find out our pastor is on the Ashley Madison list? He is just a broken, sick, sinner after all! No, that is not what I am saying. You have to give equal time to another thing that Paul said in his letters. The Corinthian Church made the church at Ephesus look like it had no problems at all. There was division, immorality, and all kinds of gross sin happening in Corinth. Take a look at the application bomb that Paul drops on them in 1 Corinthians 4:15-17:
“15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” (ESV)
In the midst of addressing their problems, Paul points out how the Corinthian believers are behaving just like the “world” (in fact in chapter 5, he says they are doing things that are even unheard of in the Gentile world!) Then, Paul challenges them by saying that they should “be imitators of me.” Now, I want you to think about that statement for a minute. Can you imagine yourself standing up in front of your church or someone’s else’s church and saying, “Be an imitator of me.” The first thought you may have is that this sounds too proud. Like you are saying, “I have it all together and I am such an amazing Christian that you should do everything just like me!” I only thought about this later, because the first thought that I had was, “The last thing I want everyone doing is watching everything that I do and thinking that it is an example of a holy, Christian lifestyle!” That is way too much pressure. Can you imagine that much accountability in your life?
Personally, I like the first point from Paul better. It sounds much better to use the “I am just a sinner saved by grace” line to get out of being an example for anyone. I can simply say that only Jesus is a good example to follow. Imitate Jesus, not me. Sounds humble and right, but that is NOT what Paul just said. He said, “be imitators of me” knowing that he was trying to live a life that imitated the life of Christ. Yes, Paul never stopped telling people that he was broken and saved only by mercy. However, he also wanted people to know that same grace was changing him every day, renewing his mind and sanctifying him. He believed that mature Christians should be able to have new believers examine their lives and find role models.
Of course, Paul knew that he would not be morally perfect this side of heaven. I don’t think we should follow his example in the fight that he had with Barnabas over whether they should take Mark on their second missionary journey in Acts 15. Yet, Paul had a high moral standard for his life, and understood that if Christians did not behave differently from the world on a consistent basis it damaged the effectiveness of their witness. Instead of focusing on the names of Christians whose names were on the Ashley Madison list, maybe we should pay more attention to all the names who were NOT on the list. Let us aspire to be able to say, “My name would have been on that list if it weren’t for the grace of Jesus that saved me and is daily sanctifying me.”
Top Real Bible Questions: The Rapture!
Posted: May 14, 2012 in eschatology (end times), Theology, Top 10 "Real" Bible Questions, Topical Studies, UncategorizedIt is slightly ironic that there is so much controversy surrounding the rapture considering that the word “rapture” never even appears in the Bible. For me personally, the rapture held all sorts of interest and fear in my university days. I wasn’t following Jesus or attending church at that time. I knew that I was living a sinful life and that if Jesus did return, I was convinced that I would be “left behind”. I can still remember vivid nightmares of being left behind, crawling around in black lava rock caves, fire and lava all around, trying desperately to find a place to hide and escape. Yes, most of this was my subconscious mind working out all the guilt that I had for not following Jesus and living a wrong lifestyle, yet it revealed my fascination with the rapture.
Even though I wasn’t going to church and almost never read my Bible, there was one book that I actually did read: Revelation. Movies about the seven signs with Demi Moore didn’t help my eschatology, but they did fuel my paranoia. Some weekends I would come home from university to spend the weekend at my parent’s house. They are very committed Christians, and if I returned home and no one was there, I would panic. I was certain that I had been left behind and had missed the rapture. Maybe some of you can identify.
The concept of the rapture is based on the passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. The Thessalonians are worried that Christians who have already died will miss the rapture. This is mainly due to their Greek view that there is no resurrection from the dead (bodily that is). Paul wants to comfort them by letting them know, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” When the Bible was translated into Latin, the word chosen to translate “caught up” was the word we get the English word rapture from. The Greek word harpazo has the implications of being “caught up, seized, or taken”. The Latin word rapio which was chosen unfortunately is the same root word where we also get the English word “rape”. Yikes!
From the King James to the New American Standard Bible, they all use “caught up”, so I guess we should call this the catching up debate (just not as snazzy as the rapture, huh?). As you can see, the 1 Thessalonians passage doesn’t give enough detail to give much warning or specifics on when the rapture will happen. It is simply the trumpet call and loud voice, and the next thing we know, we are all meeting Jesus in the air in our new bodies. No wars mentioned, earthquakes, years of tribulation, anti-Christs, or anything! Unfortunately, Revelation doesn’t mention this “catching up” as Paul describes, so some people try to find passages in Revelation that might fit.
The pre-tribulation rapture folks look at Revelation 4:1 where John is told to “Come up here” to heaven as being the rapture of the whole church. Not much in the text to support this at all as only John is mentioned. Mid-tribulation rapture people say that Revelation 11:12 where the two witnesses are resurrected and taken up to heaven is the rapture of the whole church. This might fit the text if you read the 2 witnesses figuratively as the church, but most people who debate the rapture take the 2 witnesses as two literal, end times prophets. Finally, post-tribulation supporters point to Revelation 19:14 and say that since the armies of heaven (Christians) are riding behind Jesus when He returns, we must meet Him in the air as He is coming down. Again, since there is no detail given in any of these passages that really fit with 1 Thessalonians, we must draw implications and infer these conclusions.
Of course, all of this debate over when the rapture happens is only within the one view of the end times we talked about called premillennial dispensationalism. Those who don’t hold to the literal, futurist view simply believe that the church is “caught up” when Jesus returns. Since they don’t believe that there will be a literal 7 year tribulation before Jesus returns, there is no urgency to determine if the rapture will happen before, in the middle of, or after the suffering in that specific time frame.
Having fun yet? Waiting for the part where it really hits home? Recall Jesus’ words to His disciples in Mark 13:32-33, “ “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” Our main role as the church is to be watchful and be doing the Father’s business until Jesus returns. We may not know when, but we are assured that it WILL happen, and those of us who are Christians are going for a ride on the Jesus express. It is a one way ticket to heaven, and we are sitting in the first class seats of our new glorified bodies. All aboard!
The end times: part 2 The Millennium
Posted: May 10, 2012 in eschatology (end times), Top 10 "Real" Bible Questions, Topical Studies, UncategorizedIt is just 10 little verses, but the amount of discussion surrounding these 10 verses has gone on and on and on (and will keep going until Jesus returns!). Revelation 20:1-10 is describing God’s ultimate and final victory over Satan. As John wrote this vision down, he was probably so excited to share such encouraging news to the persecuted church. Of course, we people have a way of mucking up God’s word. Instead of the encouragement it was meant to be, it has turned into major theological views that divide the church today. Classic, right? I am speaking about the time period mentioned of 1,000 years, or as we Bible nerds like to call it, the Millennium. Not as infamous as number in chapter 13 of Revelation (666), but has seen its own share of commentary.
We will see that the main views on this passage begin with our discussion from the last post on literal and figurative fulfillments. However, throwing in an additional monkey wrench, one has to decide whether this passage is in chronological order from chapter 19, or part of the cyclical structure of Revelation. One main view (premillennial dispensationalism) views this passage as being both chronological and literal. Most scholars agree that Revelation 19 is the 2nd coming of Christ, so the literal view believes that after Jesus return, He will reign on Earth for 1,000 before final judgment and our journey to the New Jerusalem (heaven). The second main view (called amillennialism) is that the 1,000 year reign does not chronologically follow chapter 19, but instead follows the cyclical pattern in revelation and goes back to the church age. The 1,000 years are meant to be taken figurative and is the same time period as the church age.
Umm, could these two views be more different? Let us deal with the foundational issues. First, is there a cyclical pattern within Revelation, or is it chronological? In other words, do we see events happening in order leading up to the return of Jesus? I am still quite shocked when I read a commentary on Revelation which doesn’t mention the cyclical structure of the book. For example, how can one miss how many times the world seems to end? (Rev. 6:12-17, 11:15-19, 14:14-20, 16:1-21, 17:14, 19:17-21). Especially telling is the repetition from 6:14, “The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.” and 16:20, “And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.” If we are to take this chronologically, then God must destroy the world, then recreate it just so He can destroy it again. I haven’t heard that interpretation even though people insist ALL of Revelation is in chronological order.
Second, are numbers used mostly figuratively (or symbolically) or literally in Revelation? One can’t read Revelation without seeing the importance of numbers, especially the number 7 (7 churches, lampstands, stars, seals, trumpets, bowls, etc…) Seven is the divine number, often meaning “fulfillment/completion). 12 or multiples of 12 are also found throughout the book (24, 144,000). Of course, there are 7 literal churches John is writing to, but overall apocalyptic literature (which is the genre of Revelation) is characterized by it’s heavy usage of symbolic numbers. Just because a number is used symbolically, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have literal value.
None of our evidence so far necessitates one view or another, but it may help us decide what is more likely based on the context of the book. In the next post, we will go through this passage verse by verse. Until then, we need to face some facts. No where else in the Bible does it mention this 1,000 year time period. We won’t get any help from there. Jewish tradition doesn’t have anything about a 1,000 year period in eschatology (they mention a 2,000 year one, does that count?). Strike two. Old Testament predictions don’t seem to indicate a time between Jesus return and final judgment (not that most of the Jews understood there would be thousands of years between the first and the second coming). Looks like we will just have to use our powers of inductive study on Revelation alone.
Until then, ask yourself some questions: what would be the purpose of a 1,000 year literal reign on Earth? when Jesus comes back, do all people get resurrected bodies or just the ones alive? who would rebel after 1,000 years? if the 1,000 years are the church age, how can we say that Satan is bound and in the pit? why does it seem that only the Christian martyrs get resurrected and get to reign with Jesus? what ever happened to parachute pants? how can we be that stupid to pay Starbucks $4 for a cup of coffee? am I the only one on the planet who didn’t think the show Seinfeld was funny?
So it begins.
My wife has been saying to me for years that I should start a blog to talk about Bible questions and theological issues. My friends raised the money for me to have laser eye surgery so I could write a book (unfortunately this failed as I am so blind that they would have to turn my eyes into marshmallows). People who know me would say that there is no way that this will last. Our family missions blog seems to be more of a monthly newsletter than our daily journey over here in Asia.
So why start this site and start writing now? Maybe it is because I am almost 40 years old. Turning 30 sounded cool to me, the same age as Jesus when He started His ministry. I thought there would be some monumental change in my ministry then. I am not sure if I thought I would suddenly become a Levitical priest or a long-haired prophet, but life continued the same that year. Turning 40 seems more ominous, like there are black clouds looming on the horizon, and some wise old man is leaning over and whispering into my ear, “Carpe Diem!”
Wow, I can see that blog writing can quickly turn into a narcissistic exercise of epic proportions! Let me get to the point. I love God and I love the Bible. I love to talk and write about the Bible. I could sit around until the wee hours of the morning debating eschatology, so I know I have a beneficial, lifetime condition. I am a Bible nerd, and proud of it. In this blog, I will offer up my humble offerings to all the wisdom that is currently out there on the net, and contained in a multitude of writings.
Why read my blog if there is so much good stuff out there? Ummm, this is the point where I wax eloquently about my many accomplishments and impress you. I think I will take a lesson from Paul’s boasting in 2 Corinthians 11. I have a degree in political science, not in Biblical studies. I have never studied Greek or Hebrew, nor any other ancient languages (unless you can count Chinese). There are no letters after my name. I have written zero best-selling books, and do not currently have a mega church.
Impressed yet? I have been a missionary for the last 17 years, and have been involved with teaching missionaries how to study the Bible inductively. I have run 9 month Bible schools for 10 years, and have taught in Canada, the U.S., Asia, and Europe on the Bible. I know that I have so much to learn about God and the Bible, and will never be the “Bible answer man”, or “Bible answer person” to be politically correct. If this blog helps you, keep reading it and tell a friend. Check out some of my podcast Bible teachings at www.thesbspodcast.com.
Above all, I pray that my blog helps you love God more, love the Bible more, and keep hungry to learn so that we can share the blessings of God with a world in need of much healing.
The Bible Nerd 