Quote of the day – Shane & Chris

“The divorce rate of evangelical Christians now surpasses that of the rest of the population in the United States. Evangelicals are getting divorced, and gay folks are wanting to get married, and religionists keep accusing homosexuals of destroying the family. Yikes” (233).

Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008. 9780310278429.

This is a rather controversial book but I think he raises a good point although I have only before heard that the divorce rates are the same, not that Evangelicals are divorcing in even higher numbers than others. If Evangelicals as a whole were forced to choose between NO DIVORCE on any grounds and HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE on any grounds I am pretty sure what the result would be. The statistics speak clearly to the fact that we would be willing to accept someone else’ sin before giving up our own. I wonder why 72% of those outside the church think it is full of hypocrites?

Unfortunately, we don’t seem to care that God was pretty clear on his feelings about divorce: “’I hate divorce,’ says the LORD God of Israel, ‘and I hate it when people clothe themselves with injustice,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Malachi 2:16). It isn’t too often in the Bible that God declared he hated things. Many people seem to think that Jesus would be easier going than that but he was pretty clear on the issue of divorce as well: “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery” (Mt 19:9//Mk 10:11-12; Lk 16:18). I guess only certain verses are supposed to be taken “literally” at “face value.”

Why is there such a disconnect between belief and action in the Evangelical church? In our own lives? If this concerns you read today’s post linking to an article on Francis Chan and read Forgotten God!

Francis Chan in Christianity Today

Brandon, John. “Crazy Passion: Francis Chan keeps pushing and pushing to make more and more disciples.” Christianity Today. 10/16/2009 09:53AM.

A couple of days ago Christianity Today published an article about Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God, both of which I have reviewed recently. It focuses on his personal story and his current endeavour to start a different kind of church that mixes the house church and large group gathering church together. He is moving from Simi Valley into the more populous regions of LA.

I’m glad to hear that he still believes in the larger church and it will be interesting to see how the two can be combined. I don’t know of any house church movements that have been overly successful in North America but I look forward to something that goes beyond the small group model. What he’s doing kind of sounds like the Korean model which would be good if it can create the passion for God which is his goal.

Quote(s) of the day – William Carey

Today we have a humorous quote from our good friend William Carey and his book that shaped the world of Protestant missions:

“It is well known to require no very extraordinary talents to learn, in the space of a year, or two at most, the language of any people upon the earth, so much of it at least, as to be able to convey any sentiments we wish to their understandings.”

If you believe that I have about 1000 ESL folks I would like to introduce you to. It is well known that they slip back into their native tongue when they have something really sentimental to convey. Perhaps people were just that much more talented back then!

And now for a bonus quote – “If congregations were to open subscriptions of one penny, or more per week, according to their circumstances and deposit it as a fund for the propagation of the Gospel, much might be raised this way” or at least enough for a small coffee every three years.

How well do you see colour?

How well do you see colour?; Or perhaps how good is your computer monitor? This website allows you to arrange colours in order and then scores your ability to distinguish them. It will display which colours you had trouble with and then rate you according to your age and gender. I scored a 24 on my laptop with 0 being a perfect score and 99 being poor. Either me or my monitor has trouble in the green spectrum and the middle of the purple spectrum. Given that I was perfect elsewhere I will blame the monitor .

Happy arranging.

Ezra 4-6

The local people opposed the return of Judah and Benjamin and spoke against them, attempting to discourage them and stop the work. Chapter 4 contains a letter written by them to King Artaxerxes in which they warned that the Hebrews would rebel once Jerusalem was rebuilt. King Artaxerxes was indeed concerned and ordered the work stopped. Later, during Darius’ reign Zerubbabel and Joshua began rebuilding the temple and again the local authorities wrote to the emperor. This time they included the Hebrew response to their accusations which was that Cyrus had ordered the temple rebuilt. The record was found in Ecbatana rather than Babylon because this was Cyrus’ Median capital and the summer palace of later kings.

After reading Cyrus’ original decree Darius ordered that the Trans-Euphrates district pay for the temple construction and provide anything needed, including daily food rations. “Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble” (6:11). The modern practice of Israel destroying the homes of suicide bombers thus has a long history. The work went ahead and the temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. The people celebrated with a dedication and priestly instillation. Then in the first month Passover was again celebrated.

Ezra 1-3

Ezra begins by stating the decree of Cyrus to return the people to Jerusalem and build a temple to God there. To facilitate this he returned 5,400 articles of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar had brought to Babylon along with the exiles. The second chapter lists the totals of the men of Judah who returned, including priests, Levites, and temple workers. It also mentions that there were a number of men who could not prove they were of Hebrew descent, including some from among the priestly families. They were restricted from eating the sacred food until their heritage could be established.

When they arrived back in Jerusalem their first task was to rebuild an altar to God and perform the twice daily sacrifices. They reinstituted the seasonal festivals and holy days and performed the obligatory rites. As they were able they laid the foundation for a new temple. Those who had seen the former temple were apparently distraught at seeing the foundation of the new one while others celebrated wholeheartedly to be in Jerusalem and able to build another temple.

2 Chronicles 34-36

Josiah was only eight years old when he began to reign but by the time he was twenty he had instituted reforms and begun ridding the land of idols, Asherah poles and high places. He also instructed that the temple be restored and the Levites had begun work. Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord and it was read to Josiah. He tore his robes when he realised how sinful they had been and that the Lord was bound to punish them. He sent for instructions from a prophet and learned that the Lord would allow his reign to be peaceful because of his attitude. He then had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to God’s law.

Josiah ensured that Passover was celebrated again and that the burnt offerings were properly offered. He seems to have even outdone Jotham as it states “The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel” (35:18). Josiah was killed in battle against Pharaoh Necho who he opposed in contradiction to God’s design.

The last chapter of 2 Chronicles briefly recounts the last kings of Judah and their downward spiral. “The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy” (36:15f). Babylon was sent to sack Jerusalem and take the people into exile. The book closes with the declaration of King Cyrus of Persia that he would rebuilt the Jerusalem temple and return the people to their land.

2 Chronicles 31-33

Hezekiah insured that the temple services moved forward by sending out an edict to the people. They were not slow to respond: “As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything” (31:5). He ensured that the priests and Levites were provided for and that they carried out their duties according to the Law.

Sennacherib king of Assyria invaded Judah and laid siege to its cities. Hezekiah relied on God and was rewarded with the defeat of the Assyrian forces. The battle is briefly recounted: “the Lord sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the commanders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king” (32:21). Hezekiah and the people became proud but he repented so the Lord did not punish them. His foolishness with the Babylonians is only hinted at and we are told to consult the prophet Isaiah for more information.

His son Manasseh became king after him and engaged in all the wickedness of the nations including idols, altars, and sacrificing his children in the fire. He even defiled the temple by setting up altars and an image in it. “Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites” (33:9). God allowed Manasseh to be dragged off to Babylon but when he repented he was returned to Jerusalem. He was able to undo some of the damage he had caused but not all, He restored the temple, but “the people, continued to sacrifice at the high places, but only to the Lord their God” (33:17). Manasseh was succeeded by Amon who did evil and did not repent. He was assassinated and his son Josiah came to power.

2 Chronicles 28-30

Jotham’s son Ahaz was as wicked as his father had been righteous. He worshipped all sorts of idols and reinstituted Baal worship. He even sacrificed his children in the fire. He was defeated militarily by all the surrounding nations, including Israel. He sought help from foreign gods and closed the temple of Yahweh, setting up altars on every street corner instead. His son Hezekiah assumed power and reopened the temple of the Lord. It took the Levites sixteen days to clean out the temple and purify it and its instruments from all the wickedness of Ahaz. The cleansing ended with a great celebration and sacrifice in which thousands of animals were slaughtered.

They celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread and the Passover in the second month because they were not ready and not enough priests were consecrated at the proper time. The king invited all of the Hebrew people to Jerusalem to celebrate and although many scorned his messengers many came. Even foreigners came from both Israel and Judah (30:25) and there was great rejoicing as nothing of its kind had been seen since the days of David and Solomon.

2 Chronicles 25-27

Amaziah came to power and killed his father’s murdering officials but did not kill their families but acted in accordance with Deut 28:61 which says that “each of you will die for your own sin.” Amaziah listened to the Lord at the beginning and defeated Edom but quickly turned to worshipping the gods of Edom which had not even saved those people from the Hebrews. How strange. He then challenged Israel to a battle and was soundly defeated because of his idolatry. Israel looted the treasury and knocked down 400 cubits of the city wall. The people deposed Amaziah and put his son Uzziah on the throne. As long as Uzziah was faithful God gave him victory over the Philistines and he fame spread. Unfortunately, his pride also spread and he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense, something only the priests could do. While he argued with the priests leprosy broke out on his forehead and he fled into seclusion for the rest of his life.
Jotham then came to power and was victorious because he followed the Lord. He subdued the Ammonites and collected tribute from them. The verdict being, “Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the Lord his God” (27:6).