Bible Study Archives - NowTHINK!AboutIt

Abortion: It’s Not What You Think

December 2, 2022 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Faith Is Important
But Only If It Is An Option
And Not An Imposition

After my wife and I retired, we did what many retirees do which is whatever we wanted. We went where we wanted, whenever we wanted and we sat around watching TV snacking as we pleased. It was great at first but the downside became apparent rather quickly.

Not having a schedule or a plan got old and we couldn’t figure out how to get paid sitting on the couch so we decided to look around for some temp work.

The casual lifestyle also caused another problem. All the snacking created a need for a new wardrobe.

About the time we were coming to our senses, my wife noticed an ad for a local charity and it seemed like a fit. It was seasonal work and it paid a little so it met our criteria. We weren’t looking to be consumed by a job so this was a way to work a bit, get paid a little, and in this case, it was a way to give back too.

We had to fill out applications which is fairly standard. What we didn’t know is the application also involved a level of scrutiny not usually associated with part-time, casual, no-skills-required work.

It wasn’t long after submitting the paperwork before we got a screening call. It was a surprise. There was no advance notice of a call and the caller abruptly hit us with two questions we didn’t see coming:

One, do you believe life begins in the womb?

And two, do you believe the Bible teaches marriage is only heterosexual?

The wording was a little different but that was the essence and it really bothered me. The questions were offered in the spirit of interrogation like the caller was daring me to disagree.

But aside from being irritated, I actually had a question of my own (more than one) which I didn’t share in the phone conversation but have thought about ever since.

In what way do these questions qualify anyone to do charity work?
If the people who do charitable work must qualify in this way are the people who receive the charity required to think this too?
If so, must they agree before receiving charity? Are material goods dangled scintillatingly before the eyes of the needy till they comply?
Is charity provided to meet genuine human needs or is it used as leverage to force a point of view on unsuspecting but needy people?

This conversation didn’t sit well with me. I’d spent over thirty years doing missionary work in South Africa and had witnessed first-hand religious groups preying on the desperation of very needy people, providing material goods just to maintain social/religious control. That type of charity is neither biblical nor liberating.

Jesus certainly never did anything like that.

The caller and the questions came across a little heavy-handed and my wife and I decided to give the job a miss but we did go through the in-person interview which was the next step. We wanted to put eyes on the people and organization that took this approach. I would have been in my right to do so but I wasn’t going to just call and say no thanks.

This experience also provoked a deeper dive into a bothersome issue.

Abortion

In the past, I had always just gone along with the fundamentalist ideas about abortion and marriage.

Mostly.

I differed on some issues and moderated on others marginally, and had shared a few ideas about those differences with others but when it came to abortion, I had usually acquiesced to popular opinion.

Before anyone becomes too judgmental about the apparent prevarication, consider the fact that religiously people aren’t given the option to choose freely what they think. Thinking is generally not allowed. Compliance is required. Anything else is heresy.

The phone conversation, as I said, didn’t just irritate me, it motivated me to do a deeper dive and look at the issues more closely. Unfortunately, I can’t say I came up with the absolute answer. In fact, the conclusion I came to was there is no absolute answer and that is important. We can’t just motor on in the same vein unless we can dispel every possible doubt. Uncertainty must be factored into the discussion.

The Real Question

What I realized is we’re actually asking the wrong question. The question we got was “do you believe life begins at conception?” That’s a fair question but it isn’t the right question.

The right question is at what point do you believe the fetus becomes a living soul? Life is one thing. A living soul is another. [Read more…] about Abortion: It’s Not What You Think

Biblical Election Has Many Applications

January 22, 2022 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

If you don't do the hard work of becoming the person you need to be, you won't be able to do the thing you're called to do.

Election Is For Service Not Salvation
Part 2 of 3

Part 1 – Calvinism Has No Connection To Election Or Predestination

Part 3 – Biblical Predestination Not Focused On Individuals Or Minutia

Part 1 of this series focused on the many fallacies of Calvinism and there are many. Too many to enumerate in one post.

Calvinism raises so many questions that if you took each to its logical end, you would end up with a book, maybe a set, not just a post.

The previous post was intended to whet the appetite and set the stage for further investigation. The fallacies don’t explain Election or Predestination so the job isn’t done yet but they do reveal the questionable nature of Calvinism and that opens the door to a different approach.

So, what about Election.

Preliminary Thoughts

First, a few preliminary thoughts.

More than any other word, Election has become the anchor for Calvinistic thought. Everything Calvinists teach about any subject in the Bible is tethered to the idea that God selected some for salvation and deselected everyone else.

Calvinists don’t like it when their ideas are framed in those terms and they’ve produced a litany of sophisticated-sounding prose to suggest that isn’t true but when you boil it all down, if any person is not saved and doesn’t get saved before they die, they were deselected.

As we go along, it will become clear why that is the logical inference of Calvinist teachings.

There are several key passages that need to be explained but before we get into those, a few foundational observations are needed first.

Election Is Too Common To Be Special

First of all, a word about the word Elecction.

The word Election is just one word. It isn’t a unique word. It wasn’t specially coined in the Old Testament or New Testament to carry a strange, weird, or unusual meaning.

The word was never intended to become a theological Shibboleth. It’s not even particularly spiritual.

The New Testament writers haven’t said enough in context to impregnate it sufficiently with the idea that God did something before we were born to divide humanity into two groups: the ins and the outs.

The word simply means chosen and it can apply to all kinds of things. Making choices (elections), is very common.

We choose what we wear and eat each day, what we watch on TV, what we read, think, and more.

We choose how punctual we are, how we act under pressure, who we marry, spend time with, vote for, and so on.

People choose careers, places to live, and methods for managing money.

But the choices we make are always qualified or should be. Careless people make random, unqualified choices and suffer badly as a result. Words like thoughtless, irresponsible, negligent, and imprudent describe the random-choice approach to life.

And that is exactly what Calvinists are suggesting about God.

Election Presents Opportunities

Sometimes we make good choices. Sometimes we make bad choices. The good news is after we make bad choices, we can still choose to learn from the experience. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we don’t.

Choices shape our lives they don’t define us. [Read more…] about Biblical Election Has Many Applications

Calvinism Has No Connection To Election Or Predestination

January 22, 2022 by EnnisP 2 Comments

God has the power to do whatever He wants, but would He want to do what Calvinists suggest?

Calvinism’s Many Fallacies
Part 1 Of 3

Part 2 – Biblical Election Has Many Applications

Part 3 – Biblical Predestination Not Focused On Individuals Or Minuia

When any person says they don’t believe in Calvinism, the first question they’re confronted with is:

What about Election and Predestination? Both are in the Bible.

It’s true. Election and Predestination are both mentioned in the Bible. What is not in the Bible is Calvinism.

It is also true that while Predestination is a biblical concept, Election does not constitute a subdivision of soteriology. It’s a word. It’s used many times in the Bible to refer to people who’ve been saved but it also refers to some who haven’t been saved and it never represents unqualified selections. I’ll explain more in the next post and as we go along but for now, the word alone carries no special meaning.

The reason people ask about Predestination and Election is they’ve been led to believe that these ideas are somehow connected to Calvinism. Not so! The terms Calvinism and Election are not synonyms and cannot be used interchangeably, although that is the assumption at the ground level.

Calvinism is nothing more than an interpretation imposed on the biblical text. The belief that these separate ideas are intertwined is where the conversation needs to begin. We need to disentangle the mess and one way to start is to disclose the endless number of fallacies implied by Calvinistic thinking.

Calvinism (including all the concepts reflected in the acronym TULIP) is a manmade system that is not biblical, was never biblically based, and those who promote it in this life will be embarrassed for it in the next. They’ll definitely have a lot to apologize for.

Calvinism’s illogical ideas turn grace into cruelty, diminish the potential effect of the Cross, insult the intelligence of humans created in the image of God, and mask one of the most important truths of the New Testament.

Jesus died for everyone, every person, every individual. He left no one out. He loves the entire world and wants all people to come to repentance.

First Steps

I’m taking a good old-fashioned farmer’s approach in this discussion.

To replace Calvinistic confusion with clarity, like the farmer, you must first clear the ground. Planting the good seeds of truth in uncultivated soil is wasteful. We need to break up the ground and remove the foreign matter first.

The initial set of talking points must focus NOT on Calvinism but on the illogical implications of Calvinism. You can’t begin to discuss Election and Predestination with a clear head till you reveal and dispel the fallacies of Calvinistic thinking.

There are many questions to ask and answer before you settle into the privileged armchair of Calvinism.

What is being said?
What are the implications?
How does it apply?
Where does it take us?

To be clear, this is not a study of weeds. I’m not going to discuss the ideas promoted by Calvinists any more than necessary. I’ll start by giving the general definition of Calvinism so we have a base to work from but that’s it.

The point of this series of posts is to look at two things: the implications of Calvinistic teachings and what Election and Predestination actually mean.

I am fully aware that that is a tall order but it isn’t near as ambitious as trying to build a generally accepted version of Calvinism. Many have already tried to do that and failed.

This and the two following posts are long but even with the length, it’s just a beginning. Hopefully, it will encourage the curious, provoke the naysayers, but most of all, stimulate additional thought. [Read more…] about Calvinism Has No Connection To Election Or Predestination

Thanksgiving: One Of Many Ways To Say Thanks

November 24, 2021 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

There Are As Many Ways To Show Gratitude
As There Are Reasons
To Be Grateful

Everyone should be thankful. The Bible not only teaches this it also plainly commands us to be thankful.

Give thanks in all circumstances. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

And that verse finishes by saying “for this is the WILL OF GOD for you in Christ Jesus.”

If that were the only verse mentioning gratitude you might have an excuse for whinging but there are many additional verses that make the same point.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

That’s just a sample. There’s plenty more where that came from.

More importantly, what we learn from the Thessalonian command is that gratitude is more a mental exercise than an emotional response.

Instead of being momentarily grateful for some unexpected benefit on the odd occasion, it’s to be a constant state of mind, even when there is nothing happening in the moment that tickles our Thank You button.

That means it is the byproduct of an intentional mental exercise more than a passing response to things as they happen.

In fact, if gratitude is exercised properly you’ll find yourself expressing appreciation for many things and to a great variety of people often, not just one day a year.

Don’t misunderstand. My one-day-a-year comment is not intended to diminish the significance of this important day. The celebration offers a unique opportunity to really give muscle to the idea of giving thanks.

It’s a great way to mark the end of one year and the beginning of the next but there is no end to things for which we can be thankful and the ways in which gratitude can be expressed. It’s an everyday attitude and an all-year-long experience.

We all know these things intuitively to be true but I was pleasantly reminded of that fact when I received the following email from my son, Timothy. [Read more…] about Thanksgiving: One Of Many Ways To Say Thanks

Review: If God Is Love, Don’t Be A Jerk

November 12, 2021 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

There Is Nothing Neat Or Unified
About Fundamentalism

The book titled If God Is Love, Don’t Be A Jerk is the most recent offering from the minister championing the LGBTQ cause, John Pavlovitz. On some levels, it was a great read and on others, it was a disappointment.

I came across John’s online presence this last year and was intrigued. I identified with his frustrations, particularly with regard to the same-sex marriage debate so I was really looking forward to this book. He was a prominent voice with the dubious distinction of having been ousted by the religious community promoting intolerance for sexual orientation issues and I was hoping he could offer arguments and rationale that hadn’t been thought of yet.

Unfortunately, his arguments weren’t that fresh. In fact, same-sex issues weren’t the main theme and when mentioned, were usually lumped together with other issues which in the end only minimized the topic. The other issues are important also but I was looking for something different.

What surprised me most was his ideas emerged from a very different perspective than the one in which he’d spent much of his ministry labors.

I grew up in fundamental evangelical circles, much like the one John was ousted from, but, like John and many others, have grown concerned about Christian obsessions over political issues and personalities. I didn’t vote for Trump in either election and I’ve known professing Christians who were far worse than the same-sex-oriented folks they decry.

John was an interesting breath of fresh air. He writes on many political/cultural/social issues on his blog and he often hits home. Many people don’t like him or his remarks but that might be because many of the arguments stem from the very words of Jesus and that makes them hard to refute.

I was hoping the book followed the same line of reasoning and was focused specifically on issues revolving around sexual orientation. It wasn’t.

I don’t say this in a mean-spirited way but I think John speaks to/from both sides of the aisle, Bible-believing and Bible rejecting. I wondered at several points in the book who his target audience was. I’m still not sure.

That’s not a criticism. It’s just an observation. People ask me the same question about the books I’ve published and, to be honest, I’m always tempted to say, everyone.

But I was motivated to read his book because I knew there had to be something better than full-on intolerance toward same-sex issues and I was hoping John could offer something to bridge the gap to a better place. Unfortunately, there was no bridge. It seems John simply leapt the gap and now wants everyone else to do the same. [Read more…] about Review: If God Is Love, Don’t Be A Jerk

Faith Is Important But Only If It Is An Option And Not An Imposition