Out Loud Musings On Jude

Out loud Musings on Jude

Good commentaries on Jude are few and far between. Richard Bauckham's in the Word Biblical series is the best I have seen. Of course there are numerous mediocre commentaries but the good ones are a little rarer to find. There are a number of helpful articles on Jude out there too.

There are a number of issues that surround this small letter. Significant issues in fact. I have come to the conclusion, based both on the actual character of the work and v. 17 that the readers of Jude are second or third generation folk in the Christian faith. Thus this book dates probably after A.D. 80 and perhaps later. The content of the book reflects, in my view, the beginning of what became the gnostic heresy (Kummel calls it "libertine-Gnostic[ism], Intro to the NT, p. 426). The mention of Cain is interesting in light of the trend of some Gnostics that turned Cain into a hero (they were called "Cainites"). But we must be careful of reading things back into the text yet if Jude is late first century then there is a connection with the teachers that Ignatius is concerned about too.

Keeping firmly grounded in the historical context helps us not to abuse v.3 and make it a proof text on instrumental music. Jude is concerned about the heart of the faith. Often we overlook the marvelous "envelope" that clothes the letter. The front of the envelope is v.1b in the phrase "kept by Jesus Christ". The back of the envelope is the doxology in vv. 24-25 ... "to him who is able to KEEP you from falling ..." It is indicative perhaps of an imbalance when we can recite v. 3 in our sleep and have never heard of v.1b or 24-25.

Three big "critical" issues surround Jude. The first one is the relationship to 2 Peter 2. If you have never done this xerox 2 Pt 2 and Jude and lay them side by side. You are in for an interesting read. Clearly somebody "used" somebody here. Most today believe it was 2 Pt that used Jude.

The other two issues regard Jude's use of the Assumption of Moses and First Enoch. These are not books most will find in the table of contents of their Bible's. In fact most today simply have never heard of them ... even though at one time they were some what popular among Christians.

Now if it is gnosticism that is the ultimate root of the problem in Jude then v.9 makes some sense. It was the "body" that Michael disputed with Satan about. This is important. Gnostics believed the body (human flesh) was worthless and redemption for them was the ultimate shedding of flesh/body. But Jude shows it was not the SPIRIT of Moses that was in dispute but the BODY of Moses (cf Rom 8.23. Ironically most Evangelicals are closer to gnosticism than biblical Christianity on this point). God cared about the body of Moses.

Themes from First Enoch under-gird the entire epistle not simply v.14. Some folks have a really difficult time with Jude quoting First Enoch. And there are some issues that it raises. One person I read tried to down play the issue by pointing out that Paul also quoted Greek poets. This is shallow thinking. Paul does quote the poets. However Paul does not say that the poets "prophesied" about the current situation of a congregation. Therein lies the issue.

Jude first refers to Enoch though in v.4. Jude reads, "For certain men whose condemnation was WRITTEN ABOUT long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign Lord."

Jude indicates here that there is a "written" source for discussing the false teachers. First Enoch 67.10, which in context is talking about some evil men, says "the judgment shall come upon them, because they believe in the debauchery of their bodies and deny the spirit of the Lord."

Interestingly enough v.12 mentions Michael, which comes up soon in Jude too. Jude finds this text and applies it to his own situation. Later he not only refers to Enoch but directly quotes the text in v.14. "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men, 'See the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."

First Enoch 1.9f reads: "Behold he {the Lord} will arrive with ten million of the holy ones in order to execute judgment upon all. He will destroy the wicked ones and censure all flesh on account of everything they have done, that which the sinner and the wicked ones committed against him."

I have not made up my mind about the significance of Jude's use of Enoch. His application of the book to the beginnings of the gnostic controversy is interesting and revealing. This little book challenges us to really understand the nature of our own faith. The faith that was delivered "once" to the "saints" is Jewish in orientation. It was born, bred and matured in a Jewish matrix. We need to embrace the full wealth of that heritage. Probably the biggest reorientation that will occur if this takes place is our conception of "spirituality." Greek philosophy and Gnosticism defined spirituality as "immateriality." Such a false belief led to two extremes in the early church that remains with us to this very day:

1) If spirituality is concerned only with "spiritual things" or "immaterial things" (souls) then what is done in the body does not matter. There were Gnostics that were both ascetics and some that were libertine ... two sides of the same coin. Both deny the value of the material or see it as tainted and worthless ... to be shed because it has no "eternal" value. This Jude rejects explicitly.

2) The historic church, while rejecting Gnosticism, has failed to screen out all the stuff that makes it possible. Thus monasticism and the attendant denial of "things" is at the most fundamental level a rejection or a radical downplaying of the spirituality of the material. Contemporary Christians still buy into this when they assume they are doing something spiritual by praying but not by feeding the poor.

Jude embraces the full wealth of the Jewish heritage of Christianity. He does it by embracing the doctrine of creation (i.e. remember it was the BODY of Moses that Michael was after). He also does this by using Jewish tradition ... even outside the canonical Hebrew Bible to address his readers.

May we also embrace our Jewish heritage ...

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Waynes World-Bohemian Rhapsody

Hey its Halloween!! For fun here is one of the great scenes from one of the great classics ... Wayne's World.

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Jubilee and the Story of God: Our Task & Identity in the World

Redeemed refugees should make good neighbors. This is the point of the vast teaching in the Bible on justice towards the poor and the oppressed.

It has been noted that God's people are often characterized as aliens within this fallen world. Near the beginning of the story, God's people were literal slaves, literally without rights, literally without justice, literally without hope. There arose a Pharaoh who oppressed them and suppressed their growing presence in Egypt. These outcasts lived in perpetual fear. The oppressor brutalized them through a reign of terror, aiming at the destruction of innocent Israelite children. This tyranny became the context of Israel's salvation. It became the greatest moment of redemption in human history until the advent of the Messiah. And it is, biblically, the paradigm for the Messiah's own redemption.

The Great Act of Jubilee Grace: Yahweh Sets the Captives Free

"So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor . . .They made their lives bitter with hard labor . . . in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly . . . The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God. God heard their groaning. . . So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them. . . Then the Lord said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers . . . So I have come downto rescue them . . . Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Go tell Pharaoh and say to him, "This is what the Lord says: Let my people go" (Ex 1.11-13; 2.23-25; 3.7-8; 8.1, NIV).

God redeemed slaves. God was moved by the cry of the powerless. The amazing story of the Exodus was the response of the Lord of grace to oppression. This marvelous act of redemption by God is the basis of Israel's own way of life as God's people. They were "saved by grace" in this moment of God's great act. They were redeemed slaves. They had experienced the euphoria of deliverance from a life of bondage. A people redeemed share redemption with other slaves.

Israel would never forget the Gospel of the Exodus.[1] The book of Deuteronomy has the Exodus inter-woven through its teaching to its very core. Deuteronomy bears witness to the Great Story of gracious redemption  (the Exodus), the Great Commandment (love God with our very being), and the Great Society (loving our neighbors). The Ten Commandments (i.e. Words in Deuteronomy) are rooted in the grace of God (Deut 5.6) and the Sabbath commandment in particular.  Sabbath rest was to be granted to sons, daughters, servants, resident aliens (i.e. non-Israelites) even animals because "you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out with a mighty hand" (Deut 5.15). Thus the Sabbath bridges Loving God and Loving our neighbor.

Channels of Mercy Into the Fallen World: Israel's Task in the Hebrew Bible

In reminding Israel of what it means to be the people of God, Moses states that they were to be a people of a circumcised hearts (Deut 10.16) and defenders of the aliens (Deut 10.18). Moses first reminds them of the uniqueness of Yahweh, "He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." The people of God must follow God's own example - this is how he treated THEM.  So Moses, after declaring God's own priority, commands Israel  "And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt" (Deut. 10.18-19). Israel, the rescued - redeemed and graced! - alien, was to be God's instrument in caring for other aliens. To be an instrument of grace and shalom to their neighbors.  To be the people of God is to be the channel of mercy into the fallen world.

The Psalmists impress upon the minds of Israelites the place the poor have in the heart of Yahweh through their liturgy, that is their corporate worship.  Redeemed slaves are constantly living breathing sabbaths in the world.  They are to become Jubilees! God set them free - they are now the tool of grace to set others free.  The following sampling represents an aspect of God's worship that is, perhaps, missing in our contemporary assemblies.

Rise up, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand;
do not forget the oppressed . . .
But you do see! Indeed you note trouble and grief,
that you may take it into your hands;
The helpless commit themselves to you;
you have been the helper of the orphan . . .
O LORD, you will hear the desire of the meek;
you will strengthen their heart,
You will incline your ear to do justice
for the orphan and the oppressed,
So that those from earth may strike terror
no more.
(Ps 10.12-18)

Father of orphans, defender of widows,
such is God in his holy dwelling;
God gives the lonely a permanent home,
makes prisoners happy by setting them free
(Ps 68.5-6, Jerusalem Bible)

May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
and give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor . . .
For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.
(Ps 72.2-4; 12-14)

He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and
the widow . . .
The Lord reigns forever . . .
(Ps 146.7-10, NIV)

The prophets are laced with protests against religion that has a form of godliness but missed its power (2 Tim 3.5). Amos preached to a religious Israel. Israel was meticulous in her technical obedience to the forms of religion. Yet the society of his day allowed seizure of the poor's land (Amos 2.7; cf. Micah 2.2), debt slavery (Amost 2.6), abuse of the courts in favor of the powerful (Amos 5.10, 15), sexual abuse of women (Amos 2.7b), and exploitation of the working poor (Amos 8.4-6).

The prophet Jeremiah, like Moses before him, forces Israel to ask what it means to be the people of God. Does having the temple and the altar make us his people? Does having a hill called Zion? Jeremiah says these are misplaced anchors of identity. Jeremiah declares that to know God, to be God's people, is nothing less than to live by God's values. Redeemed refugees, who know God, love other refugees. In a powerful oracle Jeremiah weeps for God's wayward people (Jer 22.13-16, NIV) ... indeed Jeremiah sounds much like Jesus on one occasion when he told a similar story ...

Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
his upper rooms by injustice,
Making his countrymen work for nothing,
not paying them for their labor.
He says, 'I will build myself a great palace
with spacious upper rooms.'
So he makes large windows in it,
panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.
Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
he did what was right and just,
so all went well with him.
He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and so all went well.
Is this not what it means to know me?'
declares the Lord.

Jesus and the Jubilee of God

The Gospels paint the ministry of Jesus in complete harmony with this emphasis on Good News of Jubilee justice in the Old Testament. Yahweh heard the cry of the oppressed and acted to save Israel. Jesus claims that language to describe his own ministry. Quoting from Isaiah 61, Jesus says (Luke 4.18-19)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the
Lord's favor.

The mission of Jesus was to release the oppressed. His mission is the same as Yahweh's in the Old Testament. Luke stresses, throughout his Gospel, the connection between the year of Jubilee and Jesus.[2] One of the many ways Luke does this is through his use of the word "save." Many modern Christians understand "salvation" in almost a totally other worldly sense (really a Platonic sense). Salvation, in this view, is only the forgiveness of sin and going to heaven. While this is one dimension of salvation it is far from the robust biblical doctrine. This truncated doctrine relegates ministry to the poor and oppressed as matters of secondary importance. But the ministry of Jesus, as well as the Law and the Prophets, calls that conclusion into question. Fully one fourth of the uses of the word "save" in the Gospels describe Jesus' miracles of healing. Examples of those "saved" include blind Bartimaeus (Mk. 10.52) and the man with the withered hand (Mk 3.4-5). Luke uses "salvation" to describe the healing of the centurion's servant (7.3), the sinful woman (7.50), the restoration of the demoniac (8.36), and the resurrection of a dead girl (8.50). Many more examples could be cited.

Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus shows Luke's wider Jubilee emphasis. Luke 19 tells the story of a zealous tax collector. He had piled up riches through corrupt taxation in which the Roman land lords allowed local subcontractors to collect more taxes than they passed onto Rome. Yet when Zacchaeus encountered Jesus, he was radically changed. He returned four times the amount he had taken through corrupt means. Then he gave half of his goods to the poor. Luke caps the story off with Jesus' words, "Today salvation has come to this house" (19.9).

Salvation is understood squarely against the backdrop of Jubilee. Through healing the sick, feeding the poor, and releasing the oppressed, Jesus proclaims the good news, the Gospel of God's grace. It is not merely his words, but deeds that declare the good news of the kingdom. Luke describes salvation as new life, wholeness, forgiveness and healing.[3]

Jubilee and Us: Channels of Mercy

Jesus followed his Father's example in releasing the oppressed. He also called the people of God, as Moses did before him, to be concerned about the powerless, the hungry, and dispossessed. To be Jubilee people. The parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25.31-46), in view of what we have discovered, is no afterthought for Jesus. This parable reveals God's concern for the oppressed, Jesus' identification with the poor, and our fellowship with the poor is ministry to Christ himself. Matthew 25 reinforces the claim of Jesus that "justice, mercy and faithfulness" are in fact the "weightier matters of the law" (Mt 23.23). Like Moses, Amos and Jeremiah, Jesus says being God's people does not rest on mere ritual and form but on doing what God does.  Being a redeemed slave means we are channels of mercy into God's world.  We continue the very mission of Jesus recorded in Luke.  We are the Year of Jubilee even as we wait for final eschatological redemption by divine fiat.

God's people receive everything by grace. Their status as a family in the kingdom of God is through grace. They have received gifts of grace in the form of material wealth. They have been saved by grace, not just from sins, but from an age enslaved to greed, narcissism, and mammon. We who have been redeemed from such an "empty way of life" (1 Pet 1.18) gladly love and serve the oppressed aliens in our midst.

From this survey, which is ever so brief, I conclude that David Lipscomb was essentially correct in his views ... as challenging as they are.

Notes:

[1] The Exodus has continued to be a powerful symbol of redemption for people through the centuries. Of interest is the different ways white Christians have read the story and they way black slaves in America interpreted it. A sensitive telling of these two contrasting interpretations can be found in David W. Kling, The Bible in History: How the Texts Have Shaped the Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 193-229.

[2] James A. Sanders and Craig Evans, Luke and Scripture: The Function of Sacred Tradition in Luke-Acts (Augsburg/Fortress, 1993), 84-94; John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 64-77. For an insightful treatment of the ethical value of the year of Jubilee in the Old Testament see Christopher J. H. Wright, Walking in the Ways of the Lord: The Ethical Authority of the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IVP, 1996).

[3] Ronald J. Sider, Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999), 89.


P.S. there is more information about Jubilee and living out the kingdom vision in my book with John Mark Hicks, Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James Harding

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Jesus Messiah - Chris Tomlin

What a wonderful song ... may it encourage you.

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Robert Milligan: Hermeneutcis & Theology

Robert Milligan: Hermeneutics and Theology

What comes first the chicken or the egg? It is the proverbial dilemma. We know there is a deep and intimate relationship but which has priority? This dilemma finds its way into hermeneutics and theology too. Which comes first? Does our hermeneutic determine theology or does our theology predetermine a particular hermeneutic. I think in the case of the Stone-Campbell Movement that a case can be made that hermeneutic comes first.

Perhaps most basic to our historical hermeneutic has not been CENI but dispensationalism (i.e. that Scripture is divided up into "dispensations" like the Patriarchal, Mosaic and Christian). Thomas Campbell sowed the seeds in the Declaration and Address, his son worked the details out systematically in his “Sermon on the Law” and it seems this was a fundamental concern for Disciples of that generation. Robert Milligan assumes the validity of this hermeneutic and it has profound implications on his (and “ours”) theology. The hermeneutic and accompanying theology is both subtly altered and hardened in Milligan. Milligan gave the Stone-Campbell Movement one of its true classics, The Scheme of Redemption. The Scheme is divided into three “Books:”

1) Book First: God, Creation and Fall of Man
2) Book Second: Scheme in Development
3) Book Third: Scheme Developed in and through the Church

Book Two relates the development of God’s scheme from Genesis to the setting up of the Kingdom through Acts 2. It is not without significance that Milligan places Jesus’ ministry and the Gospels within the confines of Book Two . . . the process of “development.” Books One and Two take up a little less than half of the 577 pages of the Scheme of Redemption (284 pages). Of these Jesus gets forty four pages. Of these 44 pages “Christ’s Nature, Character and Personality” are discussed in 13. There is no discussion of Jesus’ life and ministry, rather we have “doctrine about Christ.” There is a brief discussion of six pages under the heading of “Christ our Example.” There is no discussion on how we live by the Sermon on the Mount, no mention of the Lord’s Prayer. By way of comparison the section on “Legal Types” is twice as long the discussion of John the Baptist and Jesus combined.

Milligan’s dispensational hermeneutic has relegated the life and actual teaching of Jesus to mere development. Jesus himself is not the climax of revelation rather that occurs in his apostolic interpreters. Thus when Jesus proclaimed the great commission the teaching of “everything” was not in the Gospels at all but, as Milligan says point blank, “everything in Acts – Revelation” (p. 473). The continuing shift away from Jesus to Acts and Epistles in apparent. Jesus’ ministry is really a prelude to the good stuff (my words not Milligan’s).

There is a shift in the way Milligan approaches the Hebrew Bible as well. The “OT” becomes miniature factoids and prewritten “proofs” of Christianity rather than a witness to God’s gracious acts in history. This manner of approaching the Hebrew Bible is, I believe, deeply imbedded in our collective spiritual DNA.

But I do not wish to be to harsh on Milligan. Milligan did not wish to marginalize Jesus ironically he did did just that. But certainly has a wider theology than many in mid-20th century Churches of Christ. There is much we can learn from Milligan and his emphasis on the story of redemption. And his book, when compared to T. W. Brents “The Gospel Plan of Salvation” is far and away more balanced. Brents devotes a whopping 306 pages to the subject of baptism and never once mentions the cross (in the entire book!)

If our hermeneutic drives us to place the person and work of Jesus on a secondary level theologically . . . perhaps that should cause us to question the hermeneutic.

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Photo Album Tag

Photo Album Tag

I have been tagged by Beth and since it has been a long time since this has happened I copied the rules. The rules: choose the sixth photo from your sixth album and post it with a brief description and/or the story behind it.

Ok! So I went to my photos on my computer and I do have more than six albums with various titles. I counted over six places and ... well I decided to reverse six and seven. Then I opened up my album and counted six photos over and this is what I found ...



Man alive they do not look like this any more!! Just as beautiful but they have grown!! This is, IMHO, an adorable picture that brings back a trainload of memories. This is from 2003 and we lived in Milwaukee, WI. We lived in some apartments named Applewood Village. Rachael and Talya were taking dance lessons up at the high school in Greendale not far from our apartment. We would go over there and they did their practice and it was great. This particular day was their "show" for the parents and whoever wished to come. The teacher was not that great but I think it was worth it just to have this picture.

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby V

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Stupid Wars

STUPID WARS

As one looks back over the millennia of human existence on the 3rd Rock from the Sun there are a couple of things that seemingly have always been there. There has always been family. There has always been religion. And there has always been war. It amazes me just how constant these features are in the human experience.

About two weeks ago I was in Borders with Rachael and Talya looking for the latest volume in the Eragon series and came across a book whose title and cover just caught my fancy ... it was Ed Strosser & Michael Prince's Stupid Wars: A Citizen's Guide to Botched Putsches, Failed Coups, Inane Invasions & Ridiculous Revolutions. The German soldier on the front was in the same tradition as those dudes in a Guiness commercial. This book is a delight to read. The prose are fluid and digested with ease. As I finished the book I began to ask myself what are the stupidest wars that have been fought. There are so many and how to pick just the ones as the stupidest?? Now I agree with the authors and would list all in the book as "stupid" but how about stupidest? What would your list look like? Here is mine or at least some of them ...

The Persian invasion of Greece (4th century BC) which ultimately lead to her complete destruction at the hands of Alexander the Great.

The Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Roman Empire in the second century AD. Led to the conversion of Jerusalem into a center for Jupiter worship and Jews being literally banned from the city.

The Fourth Crusade of 1198 AD has got to be one of the stupidest episodes in recorded history. Supposedly to rescue the "holy land" from the infidel Muslims the Christians instead destroyed one of the jewels of the ancient world ... Constantinople!

Leaping over hundreds of stupid wars we come to the 20th century. The stupid wars in the 20th century are legion. Some you are probably aware of and some you may not be.

How about the invasion/intervention of the United States of Russia in 1918. Now most Americans have never even heard of this but it happened nonetheless. The US participated in an abortive attempt to overthrow Lenin and the Communists. General William Graves, commander of the American forces, retired from the Army in 1928 and wrote a book damning the entire episode. He said, "I was in command of the United States troops sent to Siberia and, I must admit, I do not know what the United States was trying to accomplish by military intervention." (for those looking for an introduction to this forgotten stupid war look into Robert J. Maddox's "The Unknown War with Russia: Wilson's Siberian Intervention"). It was interesting that the first time I ever heard of this war it was from ... a Russian!

Hitler's invasion of Russia in 1941 was incredibly stupid. The carnage of the Eastern Front is completely lost on most Westerners. Battles like Stalingrad and Kursk give a new definition to death. More soldiers died Kursk in a day than the Americans have lost in both Persian Gulf wars combined.

I know it will draw fire but I will mention it any way but the US invasion of Iraq was stupid. I opposed it before it happened but it has turned out to be a very dumb war.

It is important to make this observation, and we see its truth in the words quoted above from General Graves, the average soldier never fights a stupid war. The average soldier gets caught in a stupid war by even stupider politicians. Soldiers, like Graves, served someone elses policy. So I am not criticizing any soldier, sailor or airmen ... but simply listing some of the stupidest wars in history in which thousands of soldiers and civilians have suffered and died ... often because of an ego that a delusional politician had.

So what would be on your list ...

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby V

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Harding, Prayer & Our Loving Abba

Harding, Prayer & Our Loving Abba

One of my constant struggles in the last 11 months is the temptation to become a naval gazer in my prayer life. There are days that I am so consumed with "me" that I forget to pray for other people and even the advancement of the kingdom of God. But as comments in my previous blog more than reveal I am hardly alone in sometimes feeling that the world is full of bad stuff. Today I have been snatched back to reality somewhat by reflecting on two folks who have dealt with more hell than I hope to ever deal with ... John Mark Hicks (Yet Will I Trust Him) and James A. Harding. These two men inspire me greatly as much by their genuineness as anything else. Let me tell you a little about Harding and what he taught us ... this is stuff I've known for some time now but its interesting how God moves things from the realm of theory to life ...

James A. Harding was a legendary evangelist, debator, and co-founder of Nashville Bible School (David Lipscomb University) and founder of Potter Bible College. During his prime, Harding was one of the most influential men in the Churches of Christ.

What is often not remembered about Harding is that he was a prayer warrior. Harding cultivated prayer believing it to be the most powerful tool available for Christian living in this present age. Indeed for Harding prayer was the "secret" weapon or power that is granted to disciples of Christ and through prayer Christians literally co-author the future of the world with God.

Prayer for Harding was rooted in the belief that the Creator of the Universe was the Abba of the Christian. As our Abba he is just as active and involved in the world today as he was in the days of the Patriarchs or the Apostles.

"I believe that God loves his faithful children with a very great love. I believe he is near to them, takes great pleasure in them, knows their needs perfectly, and that he can supply their wants at any time, any where, under any circumstances. Indeed, I believe he loves these faithful children so much he guards them with a perfect care." (Harding-White Discussion, p. 3)

Prayer, for Harding, was not simply rooted in a belief that God exists. Real prayer is instead rooted in passionate faith in a certain kind of God . . . a God who is "the gentlest and most loving, the most just and most merciful of all fathers."

But, unfortunately, not all Christians (in Harding's view) believed in this gentle, gracious, and attentive Father. In fact many were trading the God of the Bible for more rational and scientific god of the present age. The God these folks believed in used to be active in the world: at one time long ago he created the world, at one time long ago he would alter the path of the world in response to the cry of a saint, at one time God would get his hands "dirty" but that was long ago.

These modern Christians believed that God had replaced his hands on approach with a more distant, and reasonable, management style and governed only through the rule of law. Everything was done according to "laws" and even God was subject to these "laws." This perspective is known as the infection of deism. Harding described this prayer destroying phenomena.

"Now a few people seem to be under the impression that all divine interventions have ceased since the death of the Apostles, and that since then there have been no super mundane or super-human influences known on earth. They think God gave the word and stopped - a very low and very erroneous conception of the reign of Christ . . . God has not changed in the least from all eternity. He is the same yesterday, to-day and forever. He has always loved and blessed those who love him and serve him in trusting faith" (Prayer for the Sick, The Way, May 9, 1901, p.41).

Harding laments the invasion of this modernism invading the church that banishes God to a book (even if that book is the Bible!) or the distant past.

"I feel sorry for those who are afflicted by these blighting, semi-infidel materialistic notions, that leave God, Christ, the Holy Spirit . . . wholly out of the Christian's life -- for those who think all spiritual beings left us when the Bible was finished, and who think we now have to fight the battle alone. Some of these people pray, but what they pray for is more than I can tell, unless it is for the 'reflex influence.'" (Atlanta-God's Providence-The Holy Spirit, Christian Leader and the Way, June 19, 1906, p. 9).

What a radical statement by one of the "pillars" of the Churches of Christ. Harding would suggest that it is Satan who has actually convinced religionists that God had subjected the world to "law" and then withdrew.

Harding was constantly calling for faith, simple trusting faith, in the Father who is revealed in the biblical narrative. He is the God we worship, he is the God we pray to. He remains the God of 2 Kings 20.1-11 (a story also related two other times in the Hebrew Bible, 2 Chronicles 32.24-26 and Isaiah 38.1-8).

When you read the things Harding says about prayer, faith and our Loving Abba it is easy to assume he is quite naive or insensitive to pain, suffering and the fallenness of the world. But it is precisely out of incredible and intimate knowledge with death, pain and suffering that Harding makes such radical claims. He married Carrie Knight. He and Carrie had three children together but Harding buried two. After a mere five years of marriage his beloved Carrie died too. He remarried Patty Cobb and had six children with her but lost three with her too. I cannot imagine burying five children!!! And yet he believed in such a God as the one he dared to pray to as Abba. I am humbled when I think of such things. I am called on the carpet for my own lack of prayer ... and I am also inspired. May you be too.

You can read more about Harding's Spiritual Disciplines in my book, with John Mark Hicks, Kingdom Come: Embracing the Spiritual Legacy of David Lipscomb and James Harding. 

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Well ... Happenings

Well ... Happenings

Well ... it is Thursday nite here in the desert. I am sitting on my porch enjoying the incredible evening air and the moonlight listening to Metallica's new CD (Death Magnetic). In many ways it is classic Metallica with some songs that are akin to speed metal and may grow old on you if you are "old." Songs like "The Day That Never Comes," "The Unforgiven III" and the "The Judas Kiss" however are deeply moving songs at least to me.

Well ... today is my dad's birthday. I called him up to wish him a happy one and all he wanted to do was ask about how my struggles were going. I tried to brush that off but dad is ... well dad. He is patient and I think feels more helpless than I do (if that is possible) ... Happy birthday.

Well ... my computer is now completely bug free and practically new ... thanks Paul

Well ... I was rereading the Gospel of John this week and was once again totally impressed with two things: just how Jewish Jesus really is and how important the "Exodus" traditions are to the writer. John begins in his Prologue by point to the "Old Testament" as the place to find salient features of Jesus' life. Three major compass points perhaps are to be pointed out: Jesus' passion is cast in terms of the passover; the wilderness wanderings are woven in various places with Jesus' life; and Jesus and the tabernacle/temple are linked. The central part of the Exodus remembered by Jews was the slaughter of the Passover Lamb. Jesus is explicitly identified as the "lamb of God" (1.29, 36). John alone records that Jesus' legs were not broken and then applies words about the Passover lamb to Jesus (Ex 12.46 in Jn 19.36). Then unlike the Synoptics John has the death of Jesus at the time of the slaughter of the lamb (John 13.1; 19.31). The blood of the Passover lamb was the marker of the salvation of the people of God. I will pass over comment on the other two themes for lack of space ...

Well ... I have been particularly agitated/ticked since Monday afternoon. No need to go into the story but sometimes you really feel like asking God when the BS will stop. BUT then I was thinking, and I do think this was the hand of God, that I am still a blessed person. I was feeling really persecuted on Tuesday but on that day I got a phone call from Jan and Daryl from Milwaukee that really cheered me, got an email from Lisa from Abilene, and Wednesday John Mark called, last night Jeanne Holt was giving me a hard time ... well you know it is good to have friends. I still do not understand and my agitation is still there but there are people out there who have been cursed to walk this world with out friends and ... well they are just poor wretches and I am grateful for friends and family. "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity" (Pr 17.17, NIV)

Well ... what am I reading? I just finished James H. Charlesworth's How Barisat Bellowed: Folklore, Humor, and Iconography in the Jewish Apocalypses and the Apocalypse of John (The Dead Sea Scrolls & Christian Origins Library, Vol. 3) and started Alec Baldwin's A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey through Fatherhood and Divorce and have been laughing through Gary Larson's The Complete Farside

Well ... that's all folks ...

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby V

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I'm Back

Well I arrived back in the land of Saguaros and Scorpions. It was a good and refreshing trip. I went to Ventura (beach), through Malibu, down to Temecula (brother) through the boonies to Salton Sea then down and back through Yuma and on to Tucson. Saw lots of interesting things along the way. I have posted bunches of pics on Facebook for those interested in them ... but here are one or two.









So this is where souls are made!!!







The infamous Bridge to No Where is not in Alaska but near Lake Isabella with a 5 mph limit!!!







Malibu Welcome Center!!!!

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Traveling Around California

Traveling Around California

On Monday morning I dropped Rachael and Talya at their school and headed off into the distance. Until next Monday I will be taking a stress relieving trip through the deserts of Arizona and California ... been to Phx, Needles, Barstow, Bakersfield tomorrow to the beach. Went to Lake Isabella and found the real bridge to no where (will post a picture soon).

Didn't bring much ... my little bible and phone ... Just checking in ...

Shalom,
Bobby V

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The Beatles - Let it be

One of the hardest things to do is simply to "Let it Be!" Defend yourself against slander? Let it be. Set the record straight ... Let it Be! It is TOUGH. Scream into the darkness and it is as if the universe says "Let it Be" ... Oh how I don't want to do that.

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READINGS: Left to Right

Readings: Left to Right


Did you know that 40% of Americans are single? That is a lot. I am one of them. How are churches ministering to singles. Here is an interesting piece from Boundless webzine "Mind the 'Single-Minded' Church"

Did you read the proposal by PETA to Ben & Jerry's to use breast milk rather than cow's milk for their icecream! "How About A Double Scoop of Mama's Milk"

We have returned to the planet Mercury after 35 year ... see cool pics and info at NASA's Messenger site

Here is a sort of mini-analysis of "Starbucks Theology" by Wayne Jackson in the Christian Courier. It seems to me that the quoted objection should reveal to us how folks often think of heaven ... the antidote is the biblical teaching on the New Heavens and New Earth which of course is heresy to Jackson ... "Starbucks Theology"

The United States has long been the world's largest distributor of military weapons and to all kinds of folks. In the last year or so the military establishment has made huge profits from the sale of weapons, "U.S. Pushing through Dozens of Weapons Deals"

If you would like to see an actual comparison of US expenditures vs. the rest of the world (i.e. China, Russia, Europe, etc) then you find this eye opening, "World Military Spending" Make sure you study the pie charts about midway down.

Here is a short and interesting essay on the "Liturgical Authority of the Old Testament"

My friend and fellow blogger Danny Dodd shows us the gracious truth that there is hope, grace and LIFE after divorce "The Blessings of the 5-0"

And John Mark is blogging about that book I've yet to read "The Shack"

Enjoy the links ...
Bobby V

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