Newsline Feb 01

First, I hope you are feeling better.

In your Newsline article you struck a nerve:

We are told the reason why we should not neglect to meet together and that is we are to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Does our assembly do that? I say it does not. I see no place in the New Testament where it says the purpose of the assembly on the first day of the week is to worship. Paul told the church in Rome they were to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—which was their true and proper worship.

 

While a church should ensure that its services (did the first Christians attend "services?")  are reasonably organized, it is not biblical for a church service to be so structured that it prevents participation and freedom. I see no place in the New Testament that supports our style of preaching. It appears people asked Jesus questions as they did Paul and possibly others. As I have mentioned before you have no idea who agrees with you and who does not. That means you have no idea if you have successfully explained your reasons or if you have not.  While in the past you have said Christians need the church it is apparent you have not been convincing in your arguments. 

The idea that a Christian can unenthusiastically sing a few songs, listen to rote prayers, inattentively listen to a sermon, eat the smallest piece of bread they can find and drink a minimal amount of juice, and reluctantly give an offering – and thereby fulfill his/her role in the church – is completely unbiblical. The church is intended to be a place of healthy fellowship, active participation, and mutual edification.  

The Bible clearly shows that God’s Word is to be taught. One problem is that churches fall into the trap of one man being the sole teacher. The lack of opportunities for others to teach and/or the lack of willingness to teach can be a problem. One of the goals of the church is to make disciples, not pew-warmers. Churches should be encouraging and training individuals to teach. 

 

There is no “house of the Lord” today. Making such a statement today encourages people to think of the building as sacred.  For the first few hundred years church buildings were very rare. It was not until Constantine and succeeding Roman Emperors made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire that Christians began to build temples.  The Bible neither encourages nor discourages the idea of Christians meeting in buildings that are specifically designed for corporate worship.  I see nothing in the New Testament that justifies pilfering the collection intended for the poor saints in Jerusalem to buy buildings, pay preachers etc. Considering we claim to follow commands, examples and “necessary inferences” we do take license. We may disagree when it comes to kitchens and pianos but we agree that we all like our buildings.

 

I like your disturbing statistics. When I read those statistics years ago I was surprised. Up to that point I had thought the mother had more influence than the father and I was wrong.

 

And as I have mentioned before church to this congregation is 5 lectures a week looking at the back of the head of the people in front of them and that is not how it should be. Look at our classes. Nothing is expected of the “students” and nothing is what we get.  I love it when the teacher says, “time is up are there any questions or comments.” I call that a joke.  

 

I see no reason to believe attendance will change without other changes occurring first.

 

 

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

“Everything happens for a reason and that reason is usually physics."

Knowing Why We Believe

An article in the recent House to House mentions that the Bible does not present a defense of the existence of a Supreme Being but assumes men will know God is and gives Psalm 14:1 as well as several other verses as support.

 

I understand how nature is evidence of the existence of a Creator. To the unbeliever the Bible is not evidence and they view the Bible much like Christians view the Koran and the way Atheists view both Bible and Koran. If it is reasonable to believe there is a creator based on what is seen what similarly points folks to Jesus? One of the reasons the church loses its youth may be that neither they nor their teachers know why they believe what they believe.

 

For most of us acceptance of a truth depends on our perception of the person telling us that truth. If we trust the person we accept if we do not we reject. Truth has little to do with which we choose. 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

“Having spent considerable time with good people, I can understand why Jesus liked to be with tax collectors and reprobate sinners."

Mark Twain

Get Off the President's Back

The way our government works is the President has very little authority but a lot of influence. Pres Obama has done nothing that Congress did not allow. Checks and balances provide that Congress can stop the president from doing anything. They can pass laws vetoing his Executive Orders. They can override any of his vetoes. People who do not like Obamacare should be mad at the Republicans. They thought that by no participating they could stop Obamacare. They were wrong. Now they can vote to eliminate Obamacare but they will have to replace it with MitchOconnelcare. The best thing coming out of the SOTU was his challenge to both parties to work together, argue, fight but not demonize the opposition.

Are Homosexual Relationships Mentioned in the Bible?

 

It is sometimes said that the friendship between David and Jonathan was an example of a homosexual relationship. The relationships between Ruth and Naomi and between Jesus and John ("the disciple Jesus loved")are also mentioned.

 

In modern Western culture we associate touching, kissing and the word "love" with a sexual relationship. But that was not the case in Biblical era culture. Most Bible scholars say these relationships were no more than close friendships. That is especially clear in the case of Jesus and John - the word translated as "loved" was the Greek word agape, which means kindness and respect rather than romantic or sexual love.

 

There is no mention of same-sex marriages or partnerships in the Bible, either for or against.

 

Some Christians are strongly opposed to legalizing what they view as sinful behavior and a perversion of God's plan for marriage and distinct gender roles. Other Christians view equal civil rights for gays and lesbians as a requirement of Bible teachings that we must act with kindness and respect for all people and avoid judging the moral choices others make.

 

The only mentions of qualifications for clergy are in 1st Timothy and homosexuality is not mentioned there. All of us, including clergy, are imperfect and sinners in our own ways. The question seems to be whether homosexuality should disqualify a person from ministry while other sins (e.g., evil thoughts, greed, deceit, envy, arrogance and folly do not disqualify a person. There are obviously different opinions.

 

We need to leave the decision who gets to heaven to God. The bible teaches that we should not condemn other people or presume to know who will or will not be saved. We are all sinners in our own ways, and none of us can claim to be worthy of heaven on our own merit. We all must depend on God's love, mercy and forgiveness for our salvation.

 

Sexual Orientation is not a Sin

There is a tendency to confuse homosexual tendencies and feelings with acts of homosexual intercourse because the English word "homosexuality" is often used to describe both.

However, regardless of how we interpret the Bible's teachings about homosexual acts, it is important to note that the Bible does not condemn people for being sexually attracted to persons of the same sex. It is sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex that is prohibited by Bible teachings.

A boy or girl who discovers homosexual feelings should realize that, like other interests and feelings, it may be only a passing phase that will fade away in time. Meanwhile, he or she should avoid becoming obsessed with the feelings or indulging in any kind of sexual activity.

A homosexual Christian man or woman is presented with great challenges, and great strength is often achieved by learning to deal with great challenges. Many live without the restrictions imposed by traditional marriage and family duties.

Congregational Autonomy

On the subject of congregational autonomy: The other night you mentioned congregations having female ministers. Hiring females to work with the girls of the congregation makes a lot of sense to me. Besides there is no biblical support for congregations hiring staff the way churches do today. Can we find the concept, in the Bible, of contracting with a man to speak to the congregation twice on Sunday, to teach one or two classes each week, publish a bulletin, visit the sick, speak at funerals, marry the members, all while being on call 24x7?

 

In the first century congregations were independent, in some sense, self-ruling.

 

Today the Church of Christ practices “church autonomy” as long as those other congregations do the same things the same way they do.

 

The real question is why do we care what other congregations do? Instead of being distracted by what others are doing we should concentrate on what we do.

 

The Church of Christ has experienced 60 years of uninvolved parents, unsupervised Youth Ministers, Youth Rallies with mixed messages, preachers riding roughshod over local leadership and unqualified and Bible-illiterate Elders.

 

We are confident we have the Sunday "worship" correct. We say we rely on commands, examples, and "necessary inferences" but it is curious how much we do without any of those.

 

The problem is that the "Traditional" is not working. Churches are fading away. We hear about the lack of young men wanting to "fill the pulpit." Has anyone considered these young men do not want to run a local congregation? Maybe they want to preach the Gospel to the unsaved. Research shows that within 2 hours no one remembers what the sermon was about.

 

The Gospel doesn't change but we must take it to people in ways different than they did during the Restoration Movement or even during New Testament times. The difficulty will be the traditional churches won't like it.

I believe I have addressed the three areas on which comments were made the other night with which I disagreed. I will now leave you alone. I realize what I think is not important but since I have to listen to people say things with which I disagree it is only fair to return the privilege. I also realize you may not be reading this but that is OK because once I detect that I disagree I do not pay that much attention. 

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

“Having spent considerable time with good people, I can understand why Jesus liked to be with tax collectors and reprobate sinners."

Mark Twain

Eunuchs

On the topic of Gay folks: In the ancient world eunuchs were associated with homosexuality. Luke tells his friend that a self-avowed eunuch was welcomed in to the early church without any concerns about his sexual orientation. He was welcomed on the same basis as other people – his faith in Jesus Christ.

Not just anyone was permitted to serve as a eunuch. Given their intimate access to the women of the household, they had to be men who had a reputation for being disinterested in women as objects of sexual attraction.

It was not always possible to find someone like this but eunuchs were not all straight men who were castrated. Jesus recognized that there were eunuchs born that way, eunuchs who had been made eunuchs by others and those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The born that way apparently included males who from childhood seemed incapable of or disinterested in sexual intercourse with women.

History tells us that Darius III and later Alexander the Great had a eunuch lover, Bagoas.

When the Ethiopian introduced himself to Philip as a eunuch, Philip would have  known he was dealing with a man who was part of a class commonly associated with homosexual desire.

Like gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people today, eunuchs were the sexual outcasts of Jewish religious society. The eunuch was persona non grata both socially and religiously.

Philip, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch told Philip he couldn’t unless someone guided him.  Philip started where the Eunuch was reading and told him the good news of Jesus. When they came to some water the eunuch asked Philip if anything prohibited him from being baptized. Philip’s answer should be astonishing to anyone who still holds a prejudice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender believers “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”

Philip did not say, “Since you’re a eunuch and you may desire men; can you promise me you’ll never have a sexual relationship with a man?” Instead Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” We have no way of knowing whether the Ethiopian eunuch was in fact gay. But we do know he was part of a class of people commonly associated with homosexuality and that this fact was completely irrelevant to whether he could become a Christian.

This story illustrates that what matters is how we relate to Jesus; a point which many modern Christians refuse to apply consistently. Scripture is not what keeps them from accepting gays and lesbians as brothers and sisters; prejudice does. If there were some scriptural basis for excluding the Ethiopian eunuch because of the real possibility he was homosexual, Philip would have known it.

Changes with our Understanding

On the topic of women: explaining their conclusions on the role of women in worship the elders of Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX say “Our experiences over these several years led to certain results, which proved to be very important. At every step of this study, we bathed our study, our discussions, and our 'daily life in prayer before God. We came to understand the various backgrounds, insights and inner feelings of a wide diversity of people in race, age and gender. We slowly grew in love closer to God and to one another as we tried to understand many issues in life, not just the function of women in public worship. We received improved perceptions of the meaning and application of scripture and of contemporary thought and life. This has confirmed our former studies about the religious issues mentioned above, and inspires us to approach new issues for the church in the future.” Emphasis added.

Prayer often confirms what we already believe as it did with the Highland elders.

One of the reasons the church loses a large number of its youth may be that when their beliefs are challenged by folks who believe differently they find the bible does not support what they have been taught.

 

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

“Having spent considerable time with good people, I can understand why Jesus liked to be with tax collectors and reprobate sinners."

Mark Twain

Wondering About Adam and Eve and Eternal Life

Ask just about anyone, and they will say that Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden as punishment for their disobedience.

"Then the LORD God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" – therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life." (Genesis 3:22-24).

Adam and Eve are not cast out of the garden for disobedience, but rather because God is worried that they will live forever. The account suggests that no atoning sacrifice from Jesus is necessary for us to have eternal life; instead, just a bite from the tree of life. Finally, it does make one wonder where the garden is today. If God could have just gotten rid of it, why bother to set up the cherubim and a flaming sword at the entrance?

Understanding Changes

The Civil War occurred in an era when modern psychiatric terms and understanding did not yet exist. Men who exhibited what today would be termed war-related anxieties were thought to have character flaws or underlying physical problems. Constricted breath and palpitations---a condition called “soldiers heart” or “irritable heart” ---was blamed on exertion or knapsack straps drawn too tightly across soldiers’ chests. Asylum records show one frequently listed “cause” of mental breakdown was “masturbation.”

 

Enlistments typically lasted three years. Conditions contributed to what Civil War doctors called "nostalgia," a centuries-old term for despair and homesickness so severe that soldiers became listless and emaciated and sometimes died. Military and medical officials recognized nostalgia as a serious "camp disease," but generally blamed it on "feeble will," "moral turpitude" and inactivity in camp. Few sufferers were discharged or granted furloughs, and the recommended treatment was drilling and shaming of "nostalgic"  soldiers---or better yet, "the excitement of an active campaign," meaning combat.

Understanding Changes

The Civil War occurred in an era when modern psychiatric terms and understanding did not yet exist. Men who exhibited what today would be termed war-related anxieties were thought to have character flaws or underlying physical problems. Constricted breath and palpitations---a condition called “soldiers heart” or “irritable heart” ---was blamed on exertion or knapsack straps drawn too tightly across soldiers’ chests. Asylum records show one frequently listed “cause” of mental breakdown was “masturbation.”

Should We Reconsider

I don’t expect to change anyone’s thinking. I do expect if the church continues as is, it will become irrelevant.

 

Scientists say chemical reactions create electric circuits which cause various areas of the brain to send messages to the body etc. Do our actions originate in our brain or does the soul in some fashion influence the brain?

 

Consider people infected with the rabies virus. Invisibly small changes inside the brain cause massive changes to behavior. Should the individual be punished for failing to exercise his free-will not to bite?

 

In 1966 Charles Whitman killed thirteen and wounded thirty-three. Following his death his brain was examined and a tumor abut the diameter of a nickel was discovered and was believed by some to have been the cause of his actions. Was he responsible for failing to use his free will to make better choices?

 

In 2002, a 40-year old male school teacher began to view child pornography websites, and solicit prostitutes at massage parlors, activities which there are no accounts of him having done in the past. The man's wife turned him into the police.

 

The evening before his prison sentencing, he took himself to a hospital, complaining that he had a massive headache and would "rape his landlady." An MRI revealed an egg-sized brain tumor located in the area of the brain. Once the tumor was removed, his sex-obsession disappeared. Should he be punished for failing to use his free will to make better choices?

 

Frontotemporal dementia causes parts of the brain to degenerate causing patients to lose the ability to control the hidden impulses. Patients find a variety ways to violate social norms: shoplifting in front of store managers, removing their clothes in public, running stop signs, breaking out in song at inappropriate times, eating food scraps found in public trash cans, or being physically aggressive or sexually transgressive. Should these people be punished for failing to use their free will to make better decisions?

 

When Parkinson’s patients were given a certain drug some of them turned into pathological gamblers, became involved with compulsive eating, alcohol consumption and hypersexuality. Should these people be punished for failing to use their free will to make better decisions?

 

Christians believe salvation is only for those who freely choose Jesus as their savior and choose to follow his instructions.

 

If you are right these things happened to the people in these examples because God did not “bless” them. He allowed things to happen to them which he knew would negatively affect their free will. All while keeping others safe, healthy, well-fed, financially secure with good jobs.  Based on what I hear it is their own fault for not asking enough or not having enough people asking for them.