Jesus Juice?

Recently I have been exposed to different traditions of the Lord's Supper - of which there seem to be an endless variety. One thing that puzzled me is the predominance of the cup (or cups) of Welch's grape juice in place of red wine. Since unfermented grape juice is a fairly modern-day convenience I wondered where and why this tradition began.

In a nutshell, the "grape juice" tradition originated with the Welch's Grape Juice company against the socio-religious backdrop of the late 1800's prohibition movement. The father of the communion grape juice is Thomas Branwell Welch, a physician and Methodist lay-communion steward from New Jersey. Like many Methodists of the day, Mr. Welch was opposed to the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages and an advoccate of the temperance movement.

Since grapes have naturally occuring yeast it is impossible to prevent stored grape juice from fermenting and turning into wine. Thus wine was the staple of the Lord's supper table for nineteen centuries until a way was discovered to preserve the juice of grapes in an unfermented state. This came when Louis Pasteur invented his namesake preservation process in 1882. After the pasteurization process was successfully applied to milk in 1886, Welch wondered if the same process could be used on grape juice. In 1869 Welch successfully pasteurized grape juice and began marketing it to the local Church's as "Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine". His son Charles would later join him in the juice venture, leaving behind a dentistry practice.

Their product was successful and caught on in both the secular and religious world. It was renamed, "Welch's Grape Juice" and the "Welch's Grape Juice" company formed. The Methodist church ruled that grape juice would officially replace wine in communion services. Other denominations followed in this regard. For instance Pastor Charles Russell, founder of the Watchtower Society, was also opposed to alcohol and argued for the appropriateness of having grape juice at the Lord's Supper instead of the traditional wine; though, he ultimately left it to the decision of the local groups.

So the tradition of the grape juice is fairly modern and grew out of the political, prohibition movement that was spearheaded by religious denominations, particularly the Methodists. Schools out.

Next up the secret origin of the waffle.

Psalm 107

I've been meditating on the 107 Psalm and what a beautiful picture it paints of Jesus, God's loyal-love.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures!
Let those delivered by the Lord speak out,
those whom he delivered from the power of the enemy,
and gathered from foreign lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.

When the Lord Jesus Christ crucified and raised he triumphed over the power of his enemy. As he was lifted up, first in on the cross and then as a lifegving spirit, he gathered people to him. He says, "Now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32) We, who put faith in Jesus, are delivered from this enemy too. As it is written, "He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good." - Titus 2:14

We are his and participants in our Father's eternal purpose. This great "mystery of his will" is "to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth." (Ephesians 1:10) Today he gathers together his believers as one body under his headship. When Christians come together in this manner is called church or congregation - in Greek the word is Ekklesia, a gathering. When we come together it is around our risen Lord for as he says, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

They wandered through the wilderness on a desert road;
they found no city in which to live.
They were hungry and thirsty;
they fainted from exhaustion.
They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their trouble
He led them on a level road,
that they might find a city in which to live.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
For he has satisfied those who thirst,
and those who hunger he has filled with food.

When John the Baptist came to the earth it was to prepare a straight path, a highway to Heaven. He came to prepare the people for the appearance of Jesus, the Anointed One. Jesus is our rest from weariness as we cross the desert. He is the rock that provides the water. Jesus gives us the true water - "those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (John 4:14) He is also the true bread that comes down from heaven and it "gives life to the world" (John 6:32) Abraham, the father of our faith, left Babylon to wander the deserts for he had faith in a promised heavenly city. (Hebrews 11:16) Today we are lead to this wonderful City as recipients of that promise. "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," (Hebrews 12:22)

"They sat in utter darkness,
bound in painful iron chains,
because they had rebelled against God’s commands,
and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king.
So he used suffering to humble them;
they stumbled and no one helped them up.
They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
He brought them out of the utter darkness,
and tore off their shackles.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
For he shattered the bronze gates,
and hacked through the iron bars.

Jesus frees us from the shackles of the Law, from sin, from death. He brings light into the world and opens our eyes so that we can see that light.

They acted like fools in their rebellious ways,
and suffered because of their sins.
They lost their appetite for all food,
and they drew near the gates of death.
They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
He sent them an assuring word and healed them;
he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
Let them present thank offerings,
and loudly proclaim what he has done!

Our Father is loyal in love. "God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8) Even when we were like fools he sent his assuring Word, Jesus, and through him we are healed. "By his stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24) He is the good shepherd who seeks out his lost sheep and draws them out of the pit. We live through him and even the pit of death is not too deep for our Lord to reach down and rescue us. Jesus is the living embodiment of God's loyal love - let us praise God for the lamb! Let us approach Mt. Zion! Let us sing before the throne! "Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name" (Hebrews 13:15)

Some traveled on the sea in ships,
and carried cargo over the vast waters.
They witnessed the acts of the Lord,
his amazing feats on the deep water.
He gave the order for a windstorm,
and it stirred up the waves of the sea.
They reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength left them because the danger was so great.
They swayed and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill proved ineffective.
They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
He calmed the storm,
and the waves grew silent.
The sailors rejoiced because the waves grew quiet,
and he led them to the harbor they desired.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,
and for the amazing things he has done for people!
Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people!
Let them praise him in the place where the leaders preside!

I'm reminded of that great sea-storm that tossed the boat. The disciples struggled against it but Jesus calmly slept at peace They roused him and frantically inquired, "Don't you care we are going to drown." Jesus turned and ordered the storm to be silent and the waves grew quiet. Let us have faith that Jesus will calm down the storms in our lives. Let us be at peace. The hope we have in Jesus is an "anchor for our soul, sure and steadfast" - it has chain reaching even up to the secret place of God. (Hebrews 6:19) Let us sing of his praise before the entire assembly of heaven!

He turned streams into a desert,
springs of water into arid land,
and a fruitful land into a barren place,
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
As for his people, he turned a desert into a pool of water,
and a dry land into springs of water.
He allowed the hungry to settle there,
and they established a city in which to live.
They cultivated fields,
and planted vineyards,
which yielded a harvest of fruit.
He blessed them so that they became very numerous.
He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number.

The redeemed of God have been brought into the Holy City. From the throne of God and the Lamb streams the life giving water that transforms the land, it brings forth live-giving fruit. Righteous fruit, the fruit of the Spirit of God, bring lifes to our dead body. Jesus gives us the live giving water that springs up from parched places. Let the spirit bubble forth and bear fruit.

As for their enemies, they decreased in number and were beaten down,
because of painful distress and suffering.
He would pour contempt upon princes,
and he made them wander in a wasteland with no road.
Yet he protected the needy from oppression,
and cared for his families like a flock of sheep.
When the godly see this, they rejoice,
and every sinner shuts his mouth.
Whoever is wise, let him take note of these things!
Let them consider the Lord’s acts of loyal love!

When Jesus came into the world the people were beaten down and oppressed. Our Lord "had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36) Jesus is "the good shepherd." and he "lays down his life for the sheep" (John 10:11) "The Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Rev 7:17)

Praise Jehovah, our God and Father for his loyal love!
Praise our Shepherd, Jesus who rescued us and freed us - who heals us and feeds us!
Let us sing praise before the Throne of God and Before the Lamb!

Fruitage of the Spirit - Part 2 "Love"

The first quality of the composite “fruit of the spirit” is “love”. The Greek word used here is agape. Agape is just one of the many Greek words for love. While it is seldom found in non-Biblical, ancient manuscripts in the Christian scriptures it is the most frequently used word for “love”, appearing over one hundred times. Agape was also the favored Greek word for love in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

In the Septuagint, agape is used in a variety of different ways. It is used for romantic love between a man and woman as used throughout Solomon’s Song of Songs. It is employed for family love; such as that that exists between fathers and sons (Genesis 22:2; 25:28; 44:20) It is used to show affection that one might have toward his countryman (Lev 19:18) his master (Exodus 21:5) his king (1 Sam 16:21) or his friends (1 Sam 20:17). It also extensively used to describe the special affection that God has for his people (Deut 7:8; 1 Kings 10:9) and the deep love that they should have for him in return. (Duet 6:5). It is in this way that the agape is fully realized. Thus in the Psalms agape is used numerous times to describe affection between humans and Heaven. The author of the 119 Psalm uses agape thirteen times to describe his love for God’s laws, his words, his commandments, and his reminders.

In the Christian Scriptures agape love is further elevated as the ideal to which disciples of Christ strive for. It is the composite love that is manifest throughout the entire family of God, from Father to Son, from Christ to his body, from believer to believer, from God to the world. It is the very essence of God himself.

Before Jesus came to earth no man knew the heights of God’s love and this prohibited any man from really coming to know God. Jesus, as God’s Word, his chief messenger revealed this love to us and allowed us an unobstructed view of the Deity himself. (1 John 4:9; John 1;18) In his life our Lord physically embodied love. As he loved those put into his care he was living example of his Father’s own love. (John 15:9)

When Jesus came to earth, God’s people were burdened by the religious teachers of the day. Instead of teaching the Law of Moses, the legalistic sect of the Pharisees added to it numerous human traditions disguised as law. In doing so they ignored the spirit of the law and neglected important elements like love for God. (Luke 11:42) Jesus provided relief from that religious system of bondage and provided an easier, gentle yoke. (Matthew 11:29,30) Instead of adding to the Law he distilled it down to its very basic elements – or spiritual essence. When asked by an “expert in religious law” about the greatest commandment in the Law Jesus answered affirmatively, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The second greatest was, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37,39) The apostle Paul, himself once a Pharisee, came to realize this important point from the Lord for he too summarized, “love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:10) Jesus stated that he came to earth to fulfill the Law. (Matthew 5:17) He did so by loving perfectly down to the end as he lay down his life for the sake of the world.

Furthermore on the night before his death Jesus commanded his followers three times to, “love one another”. (John 13:34; 15:12, 17) Jesus stressed that this agape love was to be the identifying mark of his true disciples. (John 13:35) Jesus referred to this as a new commandment and he instructs his followers to, “love one another. Just as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

It could be asked, in what sense was this a new commandment? After all, as we have noted, love was commanded in the Law of Moses and Jesus had earlier called attention to the superiority of law of love above all others. The answer is that it was a new commandment in the intensity of the love that would be displayed. Jesus called them to love “as I have loved you”. Further elaborating on his own powerful love, Jesus stated, “No one has greater love than this - that one lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Jesus would prove his love by willingly giving his own life so that others would live. Agape is a self-sacrificing love so deep that a person will gladly lay down their life for others. The Law commandment that Jesus cited earlier required that a person love their neighbor as they loved themselves. Jesus now gives the superior standard of loving others more than we love ourselves.

The scope of our love is also extended along with the intensity of it. Jesus amplifies the Law when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:43,44) Our love is no longer restricted to those who will love us back - those who we would normally be inclined to love. It’s not even confined to just family or neighbor. From Jesus’ perspective “our neighbor” becomes anyone within the scope our lives – even those that we may consider to be our enemies. He illustrated this in his parable of the “good Samaritan”. Therein, it was the Samaritan, the religious enemy of the Jew who proved to be the neighbor of the Jew, by showing love that transcended national animosity, bigotry and prejudice. (Luke 10:29-37) Such non-discriminate love brings great rewards. Loving our enemies allows us be seen as “sons of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people.” (Luke 6:35)

When we reflect on Jesus’ command to love as he had loved our mind may naturally look toward his sacrificial death; and rightly so, for this was the greatest example of love in the entire history of the Universe. However it is important to note that he spoke in the past tense saying, “love … as I have loved you”. This was before his death so we must take notice of how his entire life course was one of self-sacrificing love. Paul later commented upon Jesus’ unselfish way of thinking, saying,:

“You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped but emptied himself, by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus' entire earthly life course was marked by that noble love. He was willing to forgo comfort and totally expend himself in the service of others. (Matthew 8:20) As Paul writes to the Corinthians “love is not self-serving” - 1 Cor 13:5

As disciples of Christ we are entrusted with this sacred task of showing love to the world; but, within the community of believers such love should burn with a holy intensity. This is the essence of Christianity. John is sometimes called the “apostle of love” as he above all others really seemed to grasp the divine revelation of love in Jesus’ life and death. He was especially endearing to Christ himself for John was referred to as “the disciple whom he loved”. (John 19:26) In a letter to a congregation John distills the gospel message to, “we should love one another” (1 John 3:11) Loving our fellow Christians is the testimony that we “have crossed over from death to life.” (1 John 3:14) Jesus’ own death is how we have “come to know love” and we are thus called to “lay down our lives for our fellow Christians”. (1 John 3:16) And while we would gladly die for our brother or sister our whole life course should be of loving self-sacrifice and putting the interests of others ahead of our own. Love is more than just a lifeless theological concept but a motivating force for good. As John writes, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and truth.” (1 John 3:18)

Through Christ we are brought into a community of believers, called the church or ekklesia and it is in this forum that we are tested in perfecting our love as fellow children of God. It is here that we show our love for Jesus by taking care of those who are his own. After his resurrection, Jesus stressed to Peter that if he truly loved him that he would shepherd and feed his sheep. (John 21:15-17) Peter therefore gives admonition to “love one another earnestly”, to “love the family of believers” (1 Peter 1:22; 2:17) He raises the prominence of love when he says, “Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8)

Likewise in the apostle Paul’s letters to the congregation, love is held high above all other things and is the tonic for keeping the Christian community alive and fruitful. A prime example is at Galatians 5:6 where Paul states that in the body of Christ the only thing that matters is “faith working through love.” One of the more passionate discussions of love by Paul is in 1 Corinthians 13. He begins by saying:

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.” (v. 1-3)

In the first three verses Paul shows the superiority of love over other Christian pursuits and emphasizes how without love all of our works of faith are null and void. Like tongues and prophecy, love is a gifted through the Spirit of God; it the prime gift superior to all others. He continues:

“Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (v. 4-7)

In his listing of the fruitage of the spirit, love is first and foremost. We here notice how some of the other qualities of the “fruit of the spirit” such as kindness, joy, peace, and long-suffering, are summed in love.

“Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (v. 8-12)

Paul shows the enduring, permanent quality of love. God is everlasting and since God is love, love too is eternal. As we grow toward maturity and fullness in the Christ we are gifted by the Holy Spirit to build up others in love. When we all reach complete maturity we will be love just as God is love. At that time our faith and hope will be met with the reality of the transcendent love that is God.

Paul wrote those words to a congregation that was plagued by division and their gatherings instead of building up were tearing down the body of Christ. (1 Cor 1:12,13; 11:18) As Christians we are encouraged to meet together with our brethren in order “to spur one another on to good works.” (Hebrews 10:24, 25) The Corinthian Christians had failed in that fundamental purpose in meeting together. As a congregation they had lost sight of the body of Christ and with it began to devalue each other. (1 Cor 12) The appropriate antidote to this bitter poison was manifesting the love of God and Christ.

Similarly, to the congregation in Colossae Paul wrote, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.” (Colossian 3:13-14) Again Paul here stresses the preeminence of love over Christian qualities. The entire body of believers is likened to a building, specifically that of Almighty God. (1 Peter 2:4,5) With the temple of Solomon no mortar was used and the stones where chiseled and cut to fit and held in place by friction. It is expected that in our relations with fellow “living stones” we will rub against each other from time to time; but, love, the “perfect” or “complete” bond, will hold us together and cause us not to divide. Love is essential to the success and growth of any body of believers as love is the uniting force between us. (Phil 2:2)

In John’s writings we have and unbridled view of fullness of the shared love between the Father and his children, and between believers. He calls to our attention how God has loved us by calling us to be his children. (1 John 3:1) Likewise when we “love one another” we reflect God’s love and this provides evidence that we have been fathered by God and know him. (1 John 4:7) Jesus opened the way for us to enter God’s family as children of God. (John 1:12,13) The same eternal love that flows back and forth from Father to Son is extended to us as fellow family members. When we generate that love in our lives we prove that we are part of this family and we have confidence in our relationship with God.

Love frees us from fear. Fear of death previously held mankind in slavery until we were released by Jesus’ loving sacrifice. (Hebrews 2:14, 15) Love releases mankind from fear of others and fear of death. We have confidence that our eternal lives, our soul is secure in God’s gracious hands and in the power of Jesus’ triumph over death. If called to, our love will take us to the death of our own physical body. Paul writes, “God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and self-control.” (1 Timothy 1:7) Love also frees us from the fear of not measuring up and falling into judgment. John writes, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18) We can be confident of God’s love for us despite the darkness of our personal past. As it is written, "God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) God’s love tells us that we are good enough and thus we have faith in our eternal security.

The love that Jesus showed was in reflection of his Father. John writes, “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16) Just as Jesus proved his love for mankind by dying for all, our Father in heaven proved his. He unselfishly gave his very best, his only son, to the world. Few humans would willfully die for another, and even fewer would give up their child for the sake of others; but God did this very thing for us. Who can argue against the awesome, resplendent love of our Heavenly Father? Paul asks, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” (Romans 8:31,32)

One of the most wonderful concepts in the revealed Word is that God can live in us and through us when we love others. Peter calls this “his most magnificent and precious promise … that we may become partakers of the divine nature.” The essence, or divine nature is love for “God is love.” (1 John 4:8) “God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.” (1 John 4:16) Regarding Jesus, Paul writes, “For in him all fullness of the deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9) So in Jesus, the fullness of God’s love was made manifest and yet the sacred truth is that we ourselves can become conduits for God’s love. Paul prays that church in Ephesus would, “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that [they] may be filled up to the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19) The same fullness that dwelled within Jesus is manifest in those who believe and love him. “The love of God has been poured out into our hearts” (Romans 5:5) By practicing the truth in love we grow into a more pure bodily manifestation of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

Love then becomes the binding force at work within the family of believers and it is a reflection of that love that is the eternal force within the Godhead. There is a powerful unity that exists between Father and Son; indeed, they are one. (John 10:30) We as children of God are invited into that union so that we too become one with the Father and the Son. (John 17:21) Through love, God resides in us just as he dwells in his Son Jesus. John confirms this when he writes, “God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.” (1 John 4:16) Though no one has seen God when we love others we bring a visible representation of him in the same manner that his Son showed him to the world.

Our love for others should be the natural reflection of the intense love that we have for our heavenly Father and his Son, Christ Jesus. “We love because he loved us first.” (1 John 4:19) For example, we manifest our love for Jesus by obeying his commandments, chief of which is his command to love one another. (John 14:15) By loving Jesus, our Father loves us in response, and Jesus loves us and reveals himself to us. (John 14:21) This is because Jesus’ commands come from God the Father. When Jesus followed his Father’s commands he proved his love for him just as when we obey these commands we in turn become recipients for that same love. (John 15:10) Love of Christ brings is resounding satisfaction and leads to our salvation, as Peter writes “You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, because you are attaining the goal of your faith – the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8,9) And for those who manifest love for God and Christ we are brought into a bond that no man can sever. Paul asks rhetorically, “Who will separate us from the love of the Christ?” The answer is no one and nothing for Jesus’ devotion to those who love him is intense and perfect. “[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39) This love then is everlasting and the future is only bright for those who have come to know the love of God and we have just been given a token of what awaits us in the future for it is written “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor 2:9)

The Tabernacle of David - Our Freedom

A friend and I have been discussing King David. I'm finding him quite fascinating. Some writers have made observation that he is like the New Testament in Old Testament times. For David and his companions there was no barrier between them and the holy - it just didn't exist. David is a forgleam of the freedom that we experience in the New Covenant!


Shewbread - Bread of Presentation

In Ancient times the shewbread or bread presentation was set before Almighty God in the holy compartment of the tabernacle or temple. (Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5,6) Only the priests could enter the holy, only consecrated priests could eat the showbread. To the contrary in the recorded account in 1 Samuel 21:1-8 David and his men eat the bread of presentation. They broke the law - surely they should be condmened! They weren't. They weren't condemmed by the priesthood then. Jesus didn't condemn them either but rathered used this account of David of eating the shewbread as a favorable example in defense of his own action. (Luke 6:1-5)

The example of the shewbread pales in comparison to the "Tabernacle of David" and what went on there which is absolutely MIND-BLOWING!

Tabernacle of David

Have you heard of the Tabernacle of David? The Tabernacle of Moses is very familiar as is the temple of Solomon but I didn't really know too much about the oft-overlooked "tabernacle of David". In fact I didn't even know it existed. When I was recently told about it from another Christian it bowled me over. It is so FASCINATING and very important I would like to share this information with you.

First why is it important?

Amos prophecies, "On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;" - Amos 9:11

Then in the early days of the Christian congregation a problem arises over the gentiles coming into the Church and the problem manifested itself over the issue of circumcism. This issue was dealt with in Jerusalem and is recorded in Acts 15. In coming to a decision James under Holy Spirit references this prophecy of Amos - the restoration of the tabernacle of David!

Why? The Tabernacle of David refers to unfettered and completely accesible worship in the presence of God without any barriers, barricades, blockades, doors, or dividing walls!

To understand the Tabernacle of David we first have to go back to the Tabernacle of Moses in how it was arranged. There were three areas.

1.) The Courtyard

The courtyard contained the brazen altar for sacrifices and the lever for the cleansing of the priests. Everyone is Israel was permitted to enter the courtyard. They could worship God freely there.

2.) The Holy Place

Within the courtyad was the Holy Place. This was where we find the altar of incense, the lampstand, and the table of the shewbread. Entrance was restricted to just the priests.

3.) The Most Holy Place

Within the Holy Place was a veiled area called the Most Holy Place. It contained only one item. The ark of the covenant which represented the throne of God and his Holy presence. Entrance was limited to just one person - the High Priest, once a year.

This was how it was down to the days of Eli the High Priest. The traveling Tabernacle of Moses was now stationed in Shiloh. Eli had two good for nothing sons named Hophi and Phineas who served with him as priests in the tabernacle. These were the guys who were having sex relations with women at the gates of the tabernacle and eating the fatty portions of the offerings reserved for God. (1 Samuel 2:22-25)

One day Israel gets into a battle with the neighboring Phillistines. Israel had always had success against the Phillistines but on that day they were defeated and lost 4,000 men! So the people are confused. "Why didn't God fight for us?" they wonder. So they hatch this "brilliant" idea to go get the ark of the covenant and bring it into battle. They reason if God doesn't want to show up for the battle we will just go get him and bring him to it. So Hophni and Phineas violate the Most Holy Place and take the ark of covenant into battle. And surprise, surprise God still doesn't show up. Hophni and Phineas die along with 30,000 Israelites! Worst of all the ark of the covenant is taken by the Philistines! When Eli hears the news about the ark he falls over backward and dies. (1 Samuel 4)

Now the Phillistines take the ark and station it in their chief city of Ashdod, but it brings plagues so they pass it to Gath. The same things happen in Gath so the people of Gath send it to Ekron. Ekron is terrified so they wise up and say, "Enough, let's send it back to Israel". So they load up the ark in cart and drive it back to Israel. (1 Samuel 5)

Israel of course is overjoyed to receive the ark back. It was a dark day when it was stolen and "the glory had departed". The ark is pulled into Besh Shemash and the people are really, really happy. But they do something incredibly stupid. They decide to take off the lid of the ark, the mercy seat, and peek inside. When the mercy seat is removed, the broken law is uncovered by the blood of atonement and they are condemned to death and instantly die. So the people get frightened and call for some people from Kiriath Jearim to come get the ark. (1 Samuel 6)

Interestingly the ark is not brought back to the tabernacle of Moses in Shiloh. Instead it is taken to the house of Abinadab in Kiriath Jearim where it is guarded by his son Eleazar (1 Samuel 7:1) And there it stays during entire the reign of Saul until the days when David reigns as King.

David loves God and wants to bring him back. So he calls upon the people to go get the ark from Kiriath Jearim and bring it back to Israel. A wonderful idea with just one problem -- they load up the ark on a cart. Remember that the cart idea was originally the brain-child of the heathen Philistines. As the ark travels upon this rickety invention of man it hits a bump on a threshing floor (The place where the wheat is seperated from the chaff). The ark wobbles so a man named Uzza reaches out to steady it and is struck dead. So David gets frightened and doesn't bring the ark back to his city but they store it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. (1 Chronicles 13)

The ark is in the house Obed-Edom, blessing his family for for three months, and during that time David reads up on the Law and figures out that only the God ordained way to transport the ark is carried on staves by sanctified priests. So all the priests assemble and prepare to bring the ark to the City of David. And it is the biggest party in all of Israel. There are musicians and singers and even David himself strips down to a linen shift and dances in the presence of God. (1 Chronicles 15)

They bring the ark back, not to the Tabernacle of Moses which is now in Gibeon, but to the simple canvas tent David has erected upon Mt. Zion. David makes burnt offerings and then stations people to sing songs and play music in the presence of the ark of the covenant daily - there was even a night shift! (1 Chonicles 16:1-6)

At this time there was an anomaly in Israel - there were two tabernacles of God in existance simeultaneously. There was the Tabernacle of David on Mt. Zion and the Tabernacle of Moses in Gibeon. (Some of the Psalms even reference "Tabernacles" in the plural) David and the singers and musicians served on Mt. Zion before the ark in the Tabernacle of David. In Gibeon Zadok and the priests served in the prescibed manner of the Law with the sacrifices in the Tabernacle of Moses. At David's Tabernacle there was only a one time sacrificial offering and then 24/7 sacrifices of the fruit of the lips. At Gibeon there are daily animal sacrifices upon the altar. Mt. Zion is the new wineskin. Gibeon is the old wineskin. One had the presence of God, the wine, unfettered and accesible for all to drink. One didn't have it all. (1 Chronicles 16:37-42)

In the tabernacle of Moses only the High Priest could come before the presence of God in the Most Holy place. In the tabernacle of David it was completely open and accessible to all morning, noon, and night. Can you just picture David nestled up under the shadow of the wings of the cherubim on top of the ark writing, playing, and singing songs? Can you picture the people worshipping freely and uncondemned before God?

David was just a sneak preview of the joy that we realise today! Today we are free to eat the bread of presentation. Today we worship in the very presence of the Lord unrestricted! Through Jesus we have boldness to enter into the holy place, uncondemned! Jesus destroyed the barriers and not just those that existed between Jew and Gentile; but also those between priest and non-priest. The tabernacle of David is restored and what a sweet freedom we have!

You Are What You Read

Jumping on the "blog a picture of your bookshelf" bandwagon:

6a2 on YouTube

I've jumped on the YouTube bandwagon. We've been using the new Internet browser on the Wii to watch videos to our TV. I was organizing our personal video tapes and found some videos to upload to YouTube.

These are of me and Rebekah's old band 6a2 from our one and only live performance:

4(give/get)
Cannonball
Mr. Tough Guy

And two from my favorite band Pop Riveter taken in 2004 at the October Ridge fest:

Good Day
Cracklin Rosie

Fruitage of the Spirit - Part 1

In 2007 I will be contributing an article for each monthly edition of the Common Truth e-newsletter. The articles will be part of a systematic study of the "Fruitage of the Spirit" found at Galatians 5:22, 23. My original intention was to write a book on the topic as part of a personal study. That is still my goal but having a monthly obligation to the newsletter should keep me on track so that I don't slack off. (God willing)

--

The overall aim of Paul’s shepherding activities throughout the congregations he helped to plant was to build believers into full-grown maturity within the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13) This was true within the Roman province of Galatia. In writing to them he spoke to them as his “little children” and told them, “I am again in childbirth pains until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19) Ultimately he wanted them to be able to make the same assertion that he himself made, “It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ who is living in union with me.” (Galatians 2:20)

After leaving the church in Galatia though, those newborn Christians suffered a serious setback in their progress toward fullness in Christ. Certain ones from the church in Judea were infiltrating their congregations and teaching a works-based perversion of the Gospel. This caused the Galatians to turn away from the spirit and start living toward the works of law. After losing their focus on the spirit some were perhaps even falling back into fleshly tendencies. In writing the letter, Paul hoped to bring them back in line with the spirit they began with.

This provides the backdrop for which we obtain our theme scripture.

"the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." - Galatians 5:22, 23

Before we can begin a discussion about bearing fruit though, we must consider what is meant by the term “fruits”. Some may confuse bearing fruits as works such as evangelizing and making converts. Sadly, we don't have to look too deeply at the contemporary Christian landscape to see that even though a person may manifest good works their inner person may be void and lacking of Christ. For example, a dynamic "pastor" may lead a church of thousands; but secretly be involved in sexual sin.

Furthermore, even ungodly men can manifest good works. To illustrate we can consider briefly one aspect of the fruitage of the spirit: Generosity. A greedy business executive may give to charity to increase his worldly status or to alleviate a tax burden. Certainly we wouldn't conclude that such a man was bearing good fruitage in doing so.

So when speaking about the fruits we are not talking about what we consider good works or deeds but instead are looking at a good Christ-like personality. The spirit produces Godly characteristics in a person and as a result they will inherently have good actions. And just as Jesus cautions that from an evil heart all manner of wickedness may spring forth, the converse is true that from one having a pure heart all sorts of good fruitage will be brought forth. (Mark 7:23) Paul cites this principle when he writes to the Galatians, “Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7) Thus when we look at developing the "fruitage of the spirit" in our lives we are not seeking works but seeking to develop the spirit of Christ within us that will naturally lead to virtuous action.

In his letter to the Galatians Paul lists the fruitage, or the good qualities, that the spirit produces within us. While this listing of the fruitage of Spirit is a wonderful round look at the “mind of Christ” we must keep in mind that it is not meant to be comprehensive and complete.

In speaking about the contrasting works of the flesh he doesn't produce an exhaustive list because they are, in his words, "obvious" or "apparent". In dealing with the works of the flesh at Galatians 5:19-21, Paul quickly enumerates a few and says, "and things like these." Likewise the list of aspects of the fruit of the spirit at Galatians is a general overview of what is manifest in the personality of a spirit lead person.

In his letters to the congregation at Ephesus, Paul provides even a broader summary of the fruit of the spirit saying, it is "found in all that is good and right and true". (Ephesians 5:9) These attributes are the part of the new personality that we take on as Holy Ones of God. (Colossians 3:10-14)

Paul was not the first to use the word picture of fruit when dealing with spiritual life. Jesus often used fruit in his parables and teachings. He emphasized the importance of bearing good fruit by showing that the quality of fruit produced will determine the true man of God and show up those who are false. Furthermore he taught that those who do not bear good fruit are to be judged and destroyed in fire. (Matthew 7:19) As Christian disciples of Jesus bearing good fruit is imperative. But how can we develop good fruit in our lives?

Illustrating aspects of the Christian personality as fruitage shows how these virtues develop in a person - that is organically and not mechanically. They are not prepared as one would an apple pie; rather they are cultivated like an apple tree. To further illustrate, when baking we generally have control over the process from start to finish. The end product is therefore solely determined by our selection of ingredients, our ability to follow a recipe, and our culinary skill.

When gardening we only have partial control over the end result. A skilled farmer can do much to produce a good harvest; however there is a certain element that is left in the hands of God. Paul calls to mind this principle at 1 Corinthians 3:6,7 where he writes, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who give the growth."

By comparing the production of these qualities to a bringing forth a harvest of fruit it clues us in to the optimal way they will develop in us - that is organically grown in tandem with God. While it is possible to try to work on these individual aspects of the Christian life, our best success will be achieved when we allow them to naturally spring forth as the result of germinating the seed of God's Word planted within us, watered by his Spirit. In considering how we can have a bountiful spiritual harvest it comes down to these three symbolic elements: Soil, seed, and water.

Soil

Soil represents us as individuals as we are made from the ground. We were originally created in the image of God and still within our hearts there lies fertile ground that may produce a rich crop of spiritual fruitage.

Jesus illustrates the principle of good soil in his illustration of the seed sower in Matthew 13. In his parable he likens a person who is receptive to the seed of God’s Word as good soil that would produce an abundant crop. Such a person willingly receives God’s Word and cherishes it in their hearts. On the opposite side, poor soil is manifest by those that have no lasting interest in the Word of God, who fall away in times in tribulation or who allow secular interests to encroach upon their spirituality. Therefore, in order to have good soil we need to have a deep love for God's Word; such an everlasting love that overshadows all other things in our lives.

Seed

In Jesus’ illustration the seed is God's Word. When we think about God’s Word we may have the tendency to just think about God’s written word the Bible. But when we speak about God’s Word we are ultimately talking about Jesus Christ who is the revealed Word of God. ( John 1:14) Jesus Christ is the channel by which God speaks to us today. (Hebrews 1:2) And because the “testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” we can understand that the entire inspired written Word is a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 19:10) Jesus then is the seed that will produce “righteous fruit” in our lives. (Philippians 1:11)

The seed may also compare to our individual nature. When we are born as humans, sin implants the fleshly nature, or seed of sin, into our hearts. If we allow such a seed to germinate it will bring forth a corrupt harvest that withers and dies. Fortunately though, we have the opportunity to plant a new seed within us, Jesus, God’s living Word.

When we accept Jesus into our hearts we can begin “sowing with a view to the spirit” and we “will reap everlasting life from the spirit". (Galatians 6:8) At this time we are “born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring Word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)

Water

Soil and seed have great potential for growth but they need water to cause germination. While a fruit tree requires only the one time planting of a seed, it will require water throughout its maturation and on through that its entire life.

The water that God provides is the Holy Spirit that he rains down upon us bringing us growth. Joel prophetically spoke of a time that God would bring rain in full measure, even a downpour upon his people and that he would “pour out [his] spirit on all kinds of peoples” (Joel 2:23,28) This rain shower started to pour on Christians on Pentecost 33 CE when God poured out his holy spirit upon a group of gathered believers.(Acts 2:17-21)

This was in accord with Jesus’ promise that his Father would send them the Holy Spirit. (John 16:7; Acts 1:4,5) Like rain, the Spirit is poured down into the soil of our hearts and causes the seed of Jesus to grow within us. (Galatians 4:6; Romans 5:5) This water enriches our lives.(Psalm 65:9) The Spirit forms “living water” that flows out of the hearts of believers. (John 7:37,38) And the living water brings forth a rich crop of Christ-like fruitage - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22,23)

Prophets within the Christian Congregation

After the exodus from Egypt, Moses was feeling the heavy burden of having to lead an entire nation of people by himself. Jehovah God instructed Moses to select seventy older men to help him shoulder the load. The seventy were brought before the tent of meeting where God’s spirit came down upon them and “they proceeded to act as prophets”, but this ecstatic prophesying was just a one time event to affirm that God had indeed anointed them and his spirit was upon them. The account states, “they did not do it again.” (Numbers 11:24,25)

However there were two men, Eldad and Medad, who were numbered among the seventy that had not gone to the tent but had stayed in the camp. God’s spirit came to rest upon them as well and they proceeded to act as prophets within the camp. This caused quite a stir because it was viewed as a possible affront to Moses’ leadership. Certain young men ran to report to Moses how Eldad and Medad were acting as prophets. Joshua urged Moses to restrain them.

Moses’ response shows the depth of his humility. He asks Joshua, “Are you feeling jealous for me? No, I wish that all of Jehovah’s people were prophets, because Jehovah would put his spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29)

Throughout the Old Testament prophets are found. In many accounts they appear in groups or are collectively spoken of as “the prophets”. (1 Sam 10:5; 2 Kings 4:38) Certain prophets who Jehovah’s spirit was upon in extraordinary ways are specifically mentioned and distinguished from the general company of the prophet such as Samuel, Nathan, Elijah and his companion Elisha. Later prophets wrote their messages directly down such as Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Often times when we hear prophecy or prophet we have the tendency to think of a prediction about a future event. However in the Bible prophecy was more general in that it encompassed whenever God spoke to a human whether about a contemporary or future event. God used these prophets in various ways for the benefit of the nation.

The prophets therefore were the voice to God among the people. Sometimes their word was sought when the nation was facing a decision and they needed God’s say on the matter. (1 Kings 22:5,6) At other times they were used to deliver reproof when the nation or a leader was in error. (2 Samuel 12:1-12) On occasion they gave foreknowledge of future events such as the coming of the Messiah.

The prophets were instrumental in the compiling and writing of the Holy Scriptures. Prophets such as Moses, Samuel, and Nathan composed historical books. Many of David’s psalms speak prophetically about the coming Messiah. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and others wrote their prophetic messages down in the books that today bear their name. In a general sense all who penned down the Scriptures can be spoken of as prophets since all the entire Holy Word was formed under Divine inspiration. (2 Timothy 3:16)


With the advent of the Christian congregation in 33 CE, Moses’ desire that Jehovah’s Holy Spirit touch all of God’s people was realised. Holy spirit was poured out upon a group of congregated believers in a wonderful way. This was in fulfillment of another prophecy spoken by Joel where God says, “I shall pour out some of my spirit upon every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.” (Joel 2:28)

Unlike the former days where the prophets were limited to a group or individuals within the nation, the entire Christian congregation was spirit anointed and able to prophecy, to receive and speak the word of God. Even the young women were gifted in this regard as was true with Philip’s four daughters. (Acts 21:9) Paul also acknowledged the role that women played in prophesying in the congregation of Christ. (1 Cor 11:5)

While the Holy Spirit imparted gifts to all believers not all had the same gift and not all acted as prophets. (1 Cor 12:29). Yet the gift of prophecy was not off limit to the entire congregation for Paul encouraged them to “keep zealously seeking the greater gifts” (1 Cor 12:31). In seeking these greater gifts Paul preferred that all in the congregation would be able to prophecy because of the upbuilding effect that it had on the assembled body. (1 Cor 14:1,4)

How were the Christian congregations to view those who prophesied? Paul instructed the congregation of the Thessalonians to, “not treat prophesying with contempt” (1 Thess 4:20). Prophets were to be listened to attentively so that those assembled could “discern the meaning” of what they spoke (1 Cor 14:29) Prophecy encouraged the congregation; therefore, those who were gifted with prophecy needed to use that gift to for the benefit of the body of Christ. (1 Cor 14:31; Romans 12:4-6)

While prophesying is not to be held in contempt the congregation needed to exercise caution because Jesus said, “that many false prophets will arise and mislead many.” (Matthew 24:11) The apostle John confirmed that this becoming true within the Christian congregation. He wrote, “Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

The congregation then is implored to not accept every prophecy but to test them to see if it is indeed a word from God. In a vision, Jesus commended the congregation of Ephesus for putting to test those who made claim to be apostles. (Rev 2:2) Similar judgment needed to be used in evaluating prophetic utterances. The discernment of spirits then is a necessary and beneficial gift to the congregation. (1 Cor 12:10)

As with many aspects of the Christian life, prophecy then is a gift that is to be exercised within the context of the Christian congregation. While some may wish to pattern themselves after the Old Testament prophets such as Ezekiel to do so is to ignore the fact that God’s spirit now operates corporately within a body of believers. Those with gifts such as prophecy are not meant to dominate over other Christians. Paul instructs them to yield and keep silent if a revelation is given to another during their prophesying. (1 Cor 14:30) The hearers of such an inspired expression are meant to evaluate it and test it out. (1 Cor 14:29; 1 John 4:1)

We need to keep in mind that even those with a powerful gift of prophecy are nothing if they do not manifest love. (1 Cor 13:2) Having love causes us to know that our various gifts are provided for the “building up of the body of Christ”. (Ephesians 4:11,12) Love would prevent someone with a spiritual gifting not fall into the trap of becoming puffed up or self-centered in their attitude. (1 Cor 13:4,5)

Choose the Good Portion

"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he said. But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.” - Luke 10:28-32

I was meditating on this passage the other day and I got a new perspective. In the past I had just considered the obvious physical application. For instance we shouldn't allow the various things in life, such as household responsibilities, jobs, etertainment distraction from spiritual pursuits. Yesterday, though, I was thinking about how even in spiritual pursuits we can neglect the best part, or the good portion - Jesus Christ.

I was thinking about Martha. Certainly she felt she was keeping Jesus in mind as she hurried about the kitchen fixing food for him. I'm sure the meal that she was preparing to feed him would have been fabulous and praise worthy. However such a thing had to be secondary to focusing directly on Jesus and listening to the Great Teacher.

It could happen easily to us. We may do a bunch of charitable works in the name of the Lord but in the process lose focus on Jesus himself. Or purely in terms of learning we can get distracted with doctrine, theology, history, or eschatology. These things may be done with Jesus in mind but in chasing after them we always run the risk of gradually losing sight of our teacher.

I think about what a powerful apostle Paul was. Being a disciple of the esteemed teacher Gamaliel he had a great background education. Being filled with holy spirit he was given extensive wisdom and revelation. These qualities are certainly reflected in his letters but the primary thing that stands out is his near constant focus on Jesus. I'm mindful of what he told the Corinthian congregation, "And so I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come with an extravagance of speech or of wisdom declaring the sacred secret of God to you. For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and him impaled." - 1 Cor 2:1,2

In my personal study I'm often left wishing Paul had went into more details on such subjects as the "man of lawlessness", "the resurrection of the dead", and "third heaven". However, I'm beginning to appreciate his brief treatment of these intriguing subjects is intentional. As he told them Corinthians he decided, or made the conscious decision just to proclaim Jesus Christ.

Later on in that letter to the Corinthians Paul puts it all into perspective:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a sounding [piece of] brass or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophesying and am acquainted with all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to transplant mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body, that I may boast, but do not have love, I am not profited at all. - 1 Cor 13:1-3

Paul here highlights a danger. We can focus on pursuing spiritual gifts, discerning divine mysteries, gaining knowledge or being charitable at the expense of losing out on love. And we don't have love we don't know our Heavenly Father or Jesus. (1 John 4:8; John 13:35)

Frank Viola in his article The Deep Ecclesiology makes this personal observation regarding how by persuing things such a doctrinal correctness that we can lose sight of love. He writes:

"But during that season, I made another discovery. Namely, that Christian doctrine can make a person downright mean! I observed that the men who were the most schooled in Christian doctrine and the most concerned about “sound theology” did not resemble Jesus Christ at all in their behavior. Instead, they seemed to center their lives on making the unimportant critical. The spirit of the Lamb was altogether missing. They were harsh personalities who appeared to almost hate those with whom they disagreed. Granted, there is a doctrine in the New Testament. But majoring on Christian doctrine and theology can turn Christians into inquisitors."

The Corinthians congregation that Paul wrote to was racked with division. (1 Cor 1:11) Since this is the first thing he mentions in his letter we may conclude that was the primary purpose for his writing to them on that occassion. One specific divisive area that is mentioned is how different ones were developing camps around certain spiritual teachers. (1 Cor 1:12) However that wasn't the only problem dividing this congregation. Reading through the letter we see that there were may other divisive areas:

• Some were "going beyond the things written." 4:6
• Some were showing favoritism. 4:6
• Some were prideful. 4:18
• They were tolerating gross immorality. 5:1
• Some were taking their brother to court. 6:7
• There was conflict over the eating foods sacrificed to idols. chap. 8
• They were observing the Lord's Supper without consideration of others and with excess. chap. 11
• They weren't giving consideration to all members of the body of Christ. 12:14-18
• Their meetings were a free-for-all as the members were unyielding to one another. 14:26-33

Paul provides the appropriate remedy to this divisive situation. He says that they should be "united in the same mind and in the same line of thought." (1 Cor 1:10) What mind is this? It is the "mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16) Our unity is in Jesus Christ and in order to have unity all must have the "mind of Christ" and focus on him.

Maybe like Martha we have our hands full with many things, physically or spiritually. If so perhaps we just need to set it aside for a season and like Mary position ourselves at the feet of Jesus, the good portion, focusing just on him.

Of Note

My sister passed this on to me this morning and I'm passing it on to you.

Tonight @ 7:00pm eastern, CNN is airing a special program called After Jesus. It promotes itself as a look at the first Christians and the history of the Church. Church history fascinates me so I'll take a look.

Also ...

Kristin Hersh does guest blog entries at Powells from time to time. I just had a chance to take a look at her December 15th entry Vodka and Chocolate. It was very touching piece about loss and love. Kristin humbly denies that she is a writer but these entries reveal such a talent. Would it be wrong to suggest she put down her guitar for a spell and pick up a pen? These days I find her writings to be more compelling than her music. Though I certainly won't hesitate to pick up her new album Learn to Sing Like a Star when it comes out in January.

Killing In The Name Of ...

The only thing worse than killing people in a video-game is doing so in the name of Jesus.

The new "Left Behind" video-game is seriously in error.

What would Jesus say to the "Tribulation Force"?

Maybe something like this:

“Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword."

Give Me Jesus

I'm tired. Prayers have been said and my child is tucked into bed. I was on my way but then remembered that I was going to write a blog entry tonight.

I spent tonight writing. I've been working on a book. I have it all outlined and it just seems like it should be simply fill-in-the-blanks but more often than not I find myself studying for hours just to crank out a sentence. Tonight I was really productive and put down a couple of paragraphs.

What I really wanted to share though was an article written by Frank Viola,The Deep Ecclesiology of the Body

This is is one of those articles that I find myself shaking my head in agreement with quite a bit. I enjoyed reading about his perspective have changed throughout his religious experiences. He warns:

"Attention young Christians: You can get ridiculously obsessed with rapture fever! I was taught, “This is important. We have to know prophecy. We must study prophecy. 90% of the Bible is prophecy. We have a duty to understand it.” Let me confess. I was pathetically into eschatology. So much so that I could discuss it for hours with wild-eyed fascination."

"But I made a discovery. That all of those hours I spent pouring over Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation . . . trying to put the end-time puzzle together . . . did not help me one iota to come to know my Lord better. It was largely an academic, intellectual exercise. And a sterile one at that!"

Frank admits that he stopped studying end-times prophecy. I'm not quite ready to give it up but I do know where he is coming from. Every Sunday afternoon I get together online with friends and we churn through this stuff. And in my personal studying for a long time I was constantly going through Revelation and Daniel. I've learned a lot and there have been some specific instances where God has given me direct insight into certain things so it hasn't been a completely fruitless endeavor. However my experience is that too often we can so bogged down in the details and questions that we can't see the forest for the trees. The forest is Jesus. Revelation 19:10 says that "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"

Frank's journey seems to have lead him though to the same place I've found myself - Jesus.

"I made the striking discovery that I don’t need an it. I have never needed an it. And I will never need an it. Christian it’s . . . no matter how good or true . . . eventually wear out, run dry, and become tiresome.

I don’t need an it . . . I need a Him!

And so do you!

We do not need things. We need Jesus Christ!"

When I was in a religion I was taught that the theme of the Bible "The vindication of Jehovah's sovereignty by means of the Messianic Kingdom." It may be true - and it's truly a mouthful. I wonder why can't the theme just be "Jesus"?

Jesus was absolutely central to the early Church. The saddest thing in religions in how Jesus is minimized, just given lip service, and pushed to the side. We have spiritual ADD and can't focus on the most important element to our faith - Jesus.

We were talking to some friends recently from the same religious background as us. They were talking about their experience with one of the local mega-churches. They remarked how it had a club for everything, like "kayaking for the Lord". I've got no problem with kayaking but I just wonder about the ratio between kayaking and Jesus that the group provides.

One of the most common charges leveled at Jehovah's Witnesses is "You don't believe in Jesus". Ask a JW if this is true and they will scoff and say, "Of course we believe in Jesus." I know I used to. Afterall our religious literature had numerous references to Jesus.

But one of things I'm seeing is that while we did speak about Jesus he kind of got hidden in the mixed. It is almost like there was a fear of giving too much attention to Jesus. The general focus was on the organization, organization, organization. We focused on the body so much that we practically beheaded the Christ. What is worse is that we supplanted the leadership of Christ with some Frankenstein head construct called "the Faithful and Discreet Slave".

Christianity without Christ is a very empty faith indeed. What's the point?

You can keep your religion just give me Jesus.

Good night Friends.

Crash

This morning I was involved in a crash on the Interstate. Wrecks are scary enough but are frightening at 65 mph. I was in morning rush hour traffic which had come to a slowdown. The guy coming up behind me didn't stop in time and plowed into me causing my car to bump the guy ahead of me.

I pray every morning for protection because some days those angels really come in handy.

Wii

Rebekah and I celebrate our 10-year anniversary today!! That's a decade!! It's been a good run that's for certain. We don't really exchange gifts but we splurged on a Wii a couple of weeks ago so we have been having fun with it. Tomorrow we will get to enjoy a nice night out. I'm taking Rebekah to her favorite restaurant then we'll probably go see a movie that we'll end up leaving half-way through.

If anybody has a Wii and wants to add us our console code is: 6164 4778 8914 2690. Reply with yours.

And when we aren't getting sore muscles playing with the Wii I got a bunch of new books that have kept me busy:

The Apostolic Bible Polygot - The printed version of a new Greek/English interlinear translation of the Septuagint and the Christian scriptures that has been available online. The publication quality is kind of flimsy but the content is wonderful. I've been having fun cross-referencing using the built in Strong's number concordance. This will probably become my primary study Bible.

A Short History of the Early Church - Harry R. Boer

Saint Saul; A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus - Donald H. Akenson

The Twelve; The Lives of the Apostles After Calvary - C. Bernard Ruffin

Life Everlasting - in Freedom of the Sons of God, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.

Rethinking the Wineskin - Frank Viola

I love books. I don't celebrate Christmas but I gleefully accept books all year round. Check out my wish-list! But if you think I should read something that is not on the list I'll take it too! *nudge *nudge *wink *wink

'Tis a silly blog posting - I know.

Love,

Anthony "Anathema" Mathenia

On Relationships

"Consequently many more believed on account of what [Jesus] said, and they began to say to the woman: “We do not believe any longer on account of your talk; for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this man is for a certainty the savior of the world.” - John 4:41, 42

I realized last night that I'm kind of getting to that point in my relationship with Jesus.

When I originally put faith in Jesus it was faith by proxy. I believed in the things I heard about Jesus through what the Bible said about him. My faith was first in the Bible and through it I had faith in Jesus. While this vicariously introduced me to the persona of Christ and it didn't allow me to know him directly.

It has only been by experiencing him personally that I have been able to grow my faith in him and start to get to really get to know him.

I believe the difference can be illustrated by two translation approaches to John 17:3

"This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." - NWT

"And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" - NRSV

These two approaches to the text may seem interchangable on a surface level but look closer and the difference is evident. You can take in knowledge about a person all your life and still never really know them. "Taking in knowledge" is done indirectly; whereas, knowing a person comes from a direct relationship.

At this point in my life I hate to continue to harp on my past experience within the Watchtower organization. I only do so now because it provides a convenient reference point - maybe in the same way Paul discusses his pre-Christian past in his letter to the Phillipians. (3:5,6)

I used to pride myself that my religion and "faith" was based on knowlege and grounded in systematic study. I considered other religious experiences hollow ecstatic, emotional affairs. I remember a time when as a teen I brought a school-mate to my congregation for our annual observance of the memorial of Christ's sacrifice. For a Christian, commemorating the passion of our Lord should be a hugely compelling and moving event. At the Kingdom Hall it traditionally had all the affectivity of a lecture on home economics. After the meeting ended I asked my guest how he enjoyed the memorial. He said it wasn't like other churches and commented that the service reminded him of school. What shames me now brought me great satisfaction back then. I thought, "Wow! We are not like other churches - we are like school! Awesome!"

But a faith that is all head and no heart is anemic and powerless; because, in the hierarchy that Paul sets out in 1 Corinthians "heart" trumps all. As he writes, "If I have the gift of prophesying and am acquainted with all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to transplant mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ... there remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." - 1 Cor 13:2,13

Love. For me that's what started this process of moving from head knowledge to heart experience. All my life I never knew how to love, really love, and yet I felt like I knew a lot about God. Yet little did I realize that I while I could endlessly recite scriptural factoids regarding God and his ways and his dealings I couldn't even claim to say I knew him. Because as John writes, "He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8) Furthermore it is through love that we can even begin to know the invisible God, "At no time has anyone beheld God. If we continue loving one another, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. ... God is love, and he that remains in love remains in union with God and God remains in union with him." - 1 John 4:12,16

Being in union with Jesus and in turn his Father is such a powerful thing and it works like a marraige in that you continue to grow into it. Along these lines Paul writes about the relationship between Christ and his Church saying, "For this reason a man will leave [his] father and [his] mother and he will stick to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This sacred secret is great. Now I am speaking with respect to Christ and the congregation." - Ephesians 5:31,32

In thinking about this marraige relationship we return to the earlier contrast between "taking in knowledge" and "knowing" someone. We can illustrate it like this. You may have a favorite actor. You may take in a lot of knowledge about them by reading magazine articles and biographies written on them. You may have seen all their movies. You may have even met them once in person. But can you really say you know them as well as their wife? Certainly not.

Again we look at it like a marraige. When you first get married it is something that is foreign to your core personality - something that is external to you. You wake up and say, "Wow. I'm married" and there is great joy and excitement that comes from that. Yet as the days, weeks, months, and years pass by, "married" moves internal and it becomes who you are. You less indentify with yourself - as you merge into this new unit - the "one flesh" with your spouse. The excitement transitions to a lovely comfort and you find that you know your husband so well that you can finish his sentences. You know what pleases him and you know what pains him.

Oh, to have that kind of relationship with the Lord! To know him so well that we could we could have his thoughts! Indeed this is entirely possible for Paul assures us, "we do have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) And imagine not having to constantly search the scriptures for direction in our daily affairs! We can know what is pleasing and displeasing to our Lord and follow. Hebrews 8:10 calls attention to this where it quotes Jeremiah, ‘I will put my laws in their mind, and in their hearts I shall write them.'

Lately I've been reading some information by scholars who attempt to get to know the "historical" Jesus - which seems to mean any Jesus other than the Jesus that is presented by the Scriptures. In this quest each historian seems to find the Jesus that supports their personal feelings or thesis, be it, Jesus the peasant, Jesus the rabbi, Jesus the magician, Jesus the Essene, Jesus the homosexual philospher, or Jesus the Egyptian mystic. It seems there are no shortages of different Jesus' you can conjure out of pulling select passages of Scripture, ignoring others, mixing in worldly wisdom and inserting a dubious dose of fraudulent texts.

To the contrary Peter writes, "No, it was not by following artfully contrived false stories that we acquainted you with the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it was by having become eyewitnesses of his magnificence" (2 Peter 1:16) By their approach, these so-called "Jesus Questors" will never know Jesus. Rather those of us who are "eyewitnesses of his magnificence", who have seen and experienced him will be blessed to know the man. But, even those of us who shun "empty speeches" and stick to the recorded Gospels are at risk of missing out on Jesus.

The Gospels are a blessed gift from Heaven and have served us well for these hundreds of years. They are a wonderful way to introduce us to Jesus and cause us to put faith in him. As John writes regarding the purpose of his gospel account, "To be sure, Jesus performed many other signs also before the disciples, which are not written down in this scroll. But these have been written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that, because of believing, you may have life by means of his name." (John 20:30,31) With personal relationships we are first introduced to someone and then the relationship grows from there. Like with a marraige the day you met your husband will always be special and hold a dear place in your heart but that is just the start of lifetime relationship. It the same way with Jesus. We are introduced to Jesus through the Gospels and put faith in him. From there we can begin to develop a first-hand relationship with Christ. However just reading the Gospels is like being introduced to someone but not progressing any further in personally knowing them.

What is interesting is that if you look at Paul's letters to the Christian Congregation, unlike the Gospels you find that he speaks very little about Jesus' teachings and even less about his miracles. The gospel he preached was mainly focused on Jesus' dying for our sins and being raised from the dead.

"For I decied to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" - 1 Cor 2:2

"For I handed on to you, among the first things, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures;" - 1 Corinthians 15:3,4

What strikes me about Paul's letters is you don't really see him looking back at Jesus' life as some dead historical figure fading from glory into antiquity. Rather Paul is seized with the present-day reality of Jesus raised from the dead and exalted at the right hand above all majesty! He writes to those in Ephesus, "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." - Ephesians 1:20-23

Paul's letters existed in the present in the first century and likewise they still speak to us in the present in the twenty-first just as, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8) Through his epistles, Paul is telling us, the Christian Congregation, what it means to be living in the reality of Jesus Christ. They speak about knowing and experiencing Jesus through first-hand unity with him rather than just learning about him from secondary sources.

"I am impaled along with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that is living in union with me. Indeed, the life that I now live in flesh I live by the faith that is toward the Son of God, who loved me and handed himself over for me." - Galatians 2:20

Consequently if anyone is in union with Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away, look! new things have come into existence. - 2 Cor 5:17

Yet the question remains, how can we develop a personal relationship with someone who left this earth nearly two-thousand years ago? Jesus assured us before he went back to the Father, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper, to be with you forever." (John 14:15) In saying that the Father would give another helper Jesus is indicating that the Father had already sent one previous. This first helper was none-other then Jesus himself. What about the second helper?

Jesus indentifies the second helper as the Holy Spirit saying, "But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." The Holy Spirit then comes in the absence of being with Jesus "face-to-face".

At John 6:40 Jesus says, This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day." But how is that we today can "see the Son" who went back to the Father so long ago? It is through revelatory Spirit of Jesus that opens the eyes of our heart toward him toward him. (Ephesians 1:17,18) The Spirit is still with us today, even as it will be with us forever. (John 14:15) It is through this Spirit that we know that we are in unity with Jesus as John writes, "By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his spirit." (1 John 4:15) And it is through seeing and experiencing Jesus by the indwelling of spirit that we are assured of our ressurrection to eventually be with him face-to-face, forever. Accordingly Paul writes,

"However, you are in harmony, not with the flesh, but with the spirit, if God’s spirit truly dwells in you. But if anyone does not have Christ’s spirit, this one does not belong to him. But if Christ is in union with you, the body indeed is dead on account of sin, but the spirit is life on account of righteousness. If, now, the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his spirit that resides in you." - Romans 8:9-11

The gift given to those who develop a relationship with Jesus through his spirit in this world is to be able to see him as he is and be with him in the world that is to come. The apostle John writes, "When [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is." (1 John 3:2) Jesus gives his word of truth promising, "I will come again and will take you to myself so that where I am, there you may be also." - John 14:3

Like with every marraige our relationship only will get deeper as the years pass by. We can be assured that our relationship will continue to grow with he who loved us on through eternity. This then is our hope, sure and steadfast like an anchor for the soul. (Hebrews 6:19) Today we press upward and onward to the goal of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection as Paul says, "I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own ... I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:10,12,14) We press on putting faith in Jesus not on the account of the saints before us who believed and wrote about him, but because we are ourselves have come to know him through his spirit that dwells in all fullness within us as he is being formed in us. (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:13; Galatians 4:19)

You Can Leave Your Past Life Quicker Than It Will Leave You

I awoke this morning and looked at my e-mail. Amazon had sent me a little sales note proclaiming

"Save 34% on "Clerks II (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition)"

Amazon informs me because I purchased the original Clerks on DVD than surely I might like to indulge in the sequel. I guess there's some truth to that. There was a time I would've leapt at their discount offer.

I used to love Kevin Smith movies - but that was the old me. The old me used to revel in vulgarity. The old me used to be quite the sharp wit and when it came to tossing out a well-timed, off-coloured quip I was deadly. But in the beginning of my walk with God I really put forth an effort to leave that behind and so I had say adieu to Mr. Smith and his penchant for blue humour and four letter words.

In truth I still have the tendency toward this - though reduced considerably. Sometimes profane words still come into my mind (but thankfully not as often). Sometimes profane words come out of my mouth (but just when I bash my head into something). Sometimes I think of a really funny joke that I know would just kill but I have to bite my tongue. And sometimes a part of me looks at the advert for Borat and thinks briefly about going to see it. But I'm getting better day by day, year by year with a little help from above.

You can leave your past life quicker than it will leave you.

I look at my Amazon "Clerks II" e-mail and wonder if it is a temptation by the Devil.

You laugh and call my a religious nut-case.

I tell you this story:

I'm not going to go to the sordid details but I used to have a major addiction to pornography. It was a serious addiction that lasted for over ten years and I couldn't stop. But a couple of years back when I started having a relationship with my heavenly Father things changed. One day I just committed myself to leaving it behind and my Father blessed me with his spirit and there was no turning back. The addiction melted away - I mean vanished - overnight. I still had the occasional desire come into my mind but it wasn't overpowering. I just prayed for the holy spirit and I was able to push it way. I've learned many important lessons while growing in the Christ but one of the first was the truth to what is written at Galatians 5:16 -"Keep walking by spirit and you will carry out no fleshly desire at all."

When I was a couple months into my new porn-free, spirit-filled life UPS delivered a big, unmarked box to my front door. Do you know how exciting it is to get a package you didn't order! You think, "Wow! A Present! From who?" I quickly opened to box to find that it was full of pornographic magazines, books, and videos. I checked the address label and it was supposed to have been delivered to the next street over. I turned my head, closed the box and then took it over to the house it was supposed to have gone to.

You think that the Devil does not try to tempt us? I'm sorry but I'm a believer.

Now I'm really wondering why I just shared that little embarrasing story. I guess by being candid and sharing my struggles and victories I might be able to encourage others? Or is it to appease Rebekah who has been lamenting that I don't ever update my blog anymore?

I still do quite a bit of writing for my blog but I seldom publish my entries to the Web. It seems like I can never complete a Blog entry and I have so many entries in draft form that are like five pages long and still not complete. I think I'm unintentionally writing a book or something.

Rebekah asked me what the book was about.

"Sonship ... I think"

"Sun Chips?", she asked.

Sonship - it seems like all these half-written Blog entries are leading toward this idea of what it means to be God's children. This idea about being children of God seems rather ho-hum. Most people just take it as a given that we are all God's children without understanding exactly what this implies. But as I read and research and learn more about it I'm just awestruck. I'm floored by it. So I continue to plug away on the writing - trying to somehow take all these glorious, heavenly concepts it put them in writing. My Father is spoon feeding me though so it is going slow. There are some ideas that I feel he is leading me to but he hasn't quite revealed to me yet. Like I know there is something there that I can't quite get my mind around. I think sometimes he just drips little bits so that our head doesn't explode or something. "I have many things yet to say to you, but you are not able to bear them at present." - John 16:12

I guess I will conclude this with some sad news. It does seem like the elders of my old congregation have turned their attention toward my wife for some reason. They had already abused my family quite a bit when they persecuted and expelled me and now they are attacking Rebekah. Perhaps they feel like their job is unfinished?

You can leave your past life quicker than it will leave you.

I'm sad not so much for my family because I know this persecution is only to fulfill Jesus' words, "A slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20) Rather, I'm sad for our persecutors because their actions reveal that they do not know or love the Father. "But they will do all these things against you on account of my name, because they do not know him that sent me." (John 15:21) That is a sad thing.

Additionally, after they were done excoummunicating me I kind of wanted to hold onto the hope that perhaps they felt some regret over what they had done and would leave Rebekah alone. I honestly prayed for their forgiveness and will continue to do so but it is difficult when they want to compound their judgment by repeating their sin. I wish they knew just how strongly God feels about what they are doing. Jeremiah speaks God's Word against the shepherds,

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasturage!” is the utterance of Jehovah.
Therefore this is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said against the shepherds who are shepherding my people: “You yourselves have scattered my sheep; and you kept dispersing them, and you have not turned your attention to them.”
“Here I am turning my attention upon you for the badness of your dealings,” is the utterance of Jehovah." - Jeremiah 23:1,2

Wood River Body of Elders I'm going to use this opportunity then to speak directly to you since I know you continue to keep tabs on me by reading this blog. I ask you to stop and think about what you did to me and what you are doing now to Rebekah. Do not intesify your error and your guilt. You are being judged by Heaven. My family is not a threat to you or your congregation. We just want to be left alone. You have abused, hurt, betrayed, and lied to us enough. Now let us heal in peace. Nevertheless, I ask in Jesus' name that your sin against us and Heaven not be charged against you.

So, Are You Gonna Celebrate?

So, are you gonna celebrate?

Yesterday, I turned thirty and the question on everybody's mind was, "So, are you gonna celebrate?" (When I say everybody, I really mean two people. Stay with me - I'm building toward something.)

Today members of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses (The official Corporate name of the religion) obstain from birthday celebrations. Being raised as a "Witness" it has been common in the past for me not to celebrate my birthday. Now that I am no longer under the yoke of the Watchtower organization I guess these ones were wondering if I would start celebrating. It's a good question.

First I should explain why "Jehovah's Witnesses" do not observe birthday celebrations.

As explained by their topical Bible guidebook Reasoning from the Scriptures the Bible only references two birthday celebrations and in both cases they are held in somewhat of a negative light. The accounts are that of Pharaoh's birthday where his chief of Bakers is hung (Gen 40:20-22)and Herod's birthday where in the aftermath John the baptizer is executed. (Matt 14:6-10) They reason then that this constitutes God's statement on birthday celebrations and officially shun them as a result. Origen, writing in 245AD reached a similar conclusion. (Note: The Witness injuction on birthday celebrations is not binding on Baby showers which are celebrated festively, but I digress.)

Now certainly I can understand that a person may not wish to celebrate their birthday or that of others based on these two accounts; however, because birthdays are not directly condemned in God's word it would be hard for me to support some sort of blanket ban on them. (Additionally it may be that the Bible does reference another birthday celebration in the book of Job where it speaks of his children feasting on each one's "appointed day". [Job 1:4-5] However whether this "appointed day" should be read as "birthday" cannot be said with any certainty.)

A second reason that "Jehovah's Witnesses" reject birthday celebrations is that certain reference works point out that the early Christians did not observe birthdays. For example Augustus Neander writes "The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general." (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries)

It should be noted though that while birthday celebrations are common place in the general populace today, in the early-Church era birthdays were not universally observed, by Christians or otherwise. In the past only kings, nobles, and other creatures with God-complexes feasted and celebrated on their birthdays. Though in time the birthday celebration was introduced to the common Roman-world through soldiers influenced by the Persian cult of Mithras who held personal birthday celebrations. Birthday celebrations lost popularity as Christianity gained ground in Rome; however they would later experience a resurgence with the Protestant Reformation as a way of supplanting the celebration of the various "Saint's days". And thus concludes a brief history of the birthday celebration courtesy of the contributors at Wikipedia.

Well now you are getting somewhere with me because on a personal level I make an effort to follow the customs of the early Church to the best of my imperfect knowledge, understanding, and ability. The difficulty is that because our culture is very different from theirs we have to make certain judgment calls as to how exact we follow their example. For instance it would have been uncommon for a Christian in the first or second century to wear a wedding ring (particularly a gold one) however Jehovah's Witnesses today routinely keep that practice. So once again I would find it very difficult to have a blanket ban on birthday celebrations based on the practises of the early Church.

So did I celebrate?

Yes.

It is my custom these days to celebrate each and everyday. My current practise is that the first words out of my mouth upon waking up - generally my first waking thoughts - is a word of praise and thanks to my God for giving me another day. As Stuart Murdoch sings in If You Find Yourself Caught In Love, "Say a prayer to the man above - Thank him for every day you pass - Thank him for saving your sorry ass!"

Yeah, personally I cannot see making much of a fuss over my birthday; because, ultimately what am I? Nothing really. Nothing special. As Paul writes to the Church in Rome, "For through the undeserved kindness given to me I tell everyone there among you not to think more of himself than it is necessary to think; but to think so as to have a sound mind, each one as God has distributed to him a measure of faith." - Romans 12:3

Too I feel that it would be particularly fleshly of me to celebrate the day of my physical birth and pay little mind to the day of my spiritual rebirth. I can almost hear Paul now, "So what say we? Should I honor myself on my born again day? Never may that be so!"

What of my born again day?

Well in Paul's inspired terminology it is an "undeserved kindness" (grace) on God's part that he "saved [my] sorry ass", as Murdoch says in the French. Really I didn't do much of anything but just sit there and someway, somehow God saw fit to give me a Spirit baptism. Glory, glory, glory to Him and none to me! Give him the cake and the gifts!

So how did I spend my birthday?

My sister came over and we had a lovely meal of white chili. We then went into the living room and played some songs including the new love song I wrote to the Lord. After that we watched some videos on Church (humorous and serious). Then we shared from God's Word about inviting people to the marraige feast. (The real celebration I'm dying to be a part of!) We next shared a nice plate of chocolate chip cookies and spoke of about practical ways we could bless others. Finally we joined together in thanking God for all he is doing in our lives.

I'll take that over a cake, balloons, and an off-key, throaty rendition of "Happy Birthday©" any day!

Should you celebrate your birthday?

My buzz-word this entry has been personally, and personally I don't care if you celebrate your birthday.

But as for me on my birthday, well I'm ... I'm just happy to be here. Glory and Praise to Almighty God on Highest!