Some people, maybe you, consider the Bible to be a source of good advice. However, there are also plenty of examples of bad decision-making. For the class I teach we covered a few good examples and how we can learn from them.

In each of the cases below, the underlying premise is that God is the source of all wisdom and distancing ourselves from His council increases the chances of big mistakes. As a bonus, I’m including the notes from the follow-up class where we covered a few good examples to compliment the bad.

If I spoke every language but did not love others, my words would be like noisy clanging. If I saw the future, memorized all of wikipedia and had an inner resolve strong enough to move mountains but did not love others my gains would be worthless. If I gave everything I had to the poor and even died for a good cause I might have something to boast about, but without love I would be nothing.

What is love? It is patient and kind, never bragging or jealous or rude. It never demands its own way nor keeps track of the times it has been let down. It does not enjoy getting away with what is wrong – it celebrates when justice prevails. Love never gives up, always has hope and can last through every circumstance.

Everything else known to mankind will become useless in time except love – it is precious forever. As an adult, we remember the actions of our youth and understand that we saw life as if we were looking through a foggy mirror. Right now our understanding of the universe is similarly incomplete, but when we achieve full understanding we’ll look back and be ashamed of how we’ve behaved.

Three things will last forever – faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love.

_- a paraphrase of [1 Corinthians 13](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20cor%2013&version=51)_

Let’s see, God made the universe, the earth, the plants, animals, sun, moon… then he made a man, whom he assigned the task of naming the animals, then he made a woman and created the institution of marriage. All of this in six days. Then he invented the “day of rest.” What did God do on this day? He rested and blessed the seventh day, making it holy. Some years later, Moses had a conversation with God and He gave Moses 10 commandments to share with “the people.” One of these was specific instructions to do no work on the sabbath.

So, the sabbath is the last day of the week. Traditionally, this has been Saturday. However, few people in the Christian community observe the ordinances of this special day, and those that do tend to observe it on Sunday, the first day of the week. What is the story with this?

I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading and researching it. It seems that by the time of Jesus, the laws for observing the sabbath were quite strict, comprising 26 chapters and 150 pages of very detailed rules outlining exactly what can and can’t be done and what is and isn’t work.

What did Jesus have to say on the matter? Apparently there are things more important than the sabbath law. But his answer to the pharisees is difficult to understand on its own. Fortunately, God provided a clarification elsewhere in the scriptures. Romans 6 (esp 14, but don’t take that without 15ff) says we are free from the law. Titus 3:9 re-enforces this idea. Hebrews 4:1-13 tells us that there is a sabbath, but it is not on the seventh day of the week for Christians. We will get that day of rest, but not until after we die.

So what should we do to observe the sabbath now? What is the intent of God’s word, is it to force us into strict rule following? No, remember the most important commandment as expressed by Jesus: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your strength, and likewise love your neighbor as your self. Also, remember the command taught throughout the old and new testaments to teach your children about God’s word. Spending time with friends and family and worshiping God in a Bible preaching church are all excellent applications of these commands.

However, I think that saying that we (Christians) should do no work on Sunday (or Saturday) is a gross misapplication of scriptures. I would love to have your comments on the issue.

The answer is simple. Don’t start by preaching, don’t start with morality. Don’t start by trying to be angelic. Start by caring for others. Jesus said,

34 “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35

So how do you “love each other?” Good question, but I think it’s being helpful, caring for others, being honest, being a hard worker. I think that you have to love people whom you disagree with and that even if you can’t accept a person’s actions or opinions, you can still be gentle and can still care for them. I could be wrong, but it certainly can’t hurt to try it.

The language of the Bible. Paul spoke Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. Possibly other languages too, but these three we can be certain of. When he traveled around on his missionary journeys, he invariably came to visit people who did not speak one of those three languages. In these cases, one of two things happened – either God enabled the people to understand him (aka speaking in tongues – and by the way, this is the true meaning of tongues, not spouting gibberish as you roll around on the floor) or He provided an interpreter.

Now, I’m going to make a point, so we’ll use the interpreter example. The goal of the interpreter is not to teach people a new language so that they can communicate with the intended speaker flawlessly. Instead, the interpreter takes the message of one person, and rephrases it into the language that is understood by the people who need to hear it.

Now, few people read the Bible in it’s original language; most people choose to read a translated version. This process involves scholars who are competent, or more likely, experts in both the original language and the language of the people they are translating it for.

I’ve not told you anything controversial or unexpected so far; this all should make perfect sense. What doesn’t make perfect sense to me is why some people insist that the original King James version of the Bible is superior to modern translations. The fact is, the English language has shifted since the 1600′s and many of the words used in that version are not understood by people today. Do you know the meaning of the words, “reprobate” and “concupiscence?” What is the difference between “thee” and “though?”

If a Bible translation is not understood by the people reading it, then it’s not a suitable translation.

Now, I will not say that the KJV is with out value. I like the fact that the KJV and NKJV both use a form of English that is both compact and rich with detail. For example, if you and the people you are communicating with know the meaning of the word “reprobate” then when you use it in a sentence you convey a detailed and concise meaning in only one word. I additionally like the fact that it’s 300 year head start on other translations yields a rich repository of study materials available to accompany it.

However, these benefits show that the KJV is suitable (however there are other suitable Bibles available as well) as a study aid for scholars, however is not well suited as the primary Bible in your typical English speaking household.

Just my $0.02 worth (although inflation has driven up to $0.055 recently).

I was wrong… I thought this would be about calvinism, but instead it’s about Isaiah 32:1a,3 (NLT). Actually, it may be related to calvinism… The verse is, “Look, a righteous king is coming!… Then, everyone who can see will be looking for God, and those who can hear will listen to his voice.” This is another one of those verses that seems to be both for and against predestination. Look carefully at the wording: For predestination – “everyone who can see.” For free will – “will be looking.”

I think this is another passage from God’s Word that shows both views are correct. We cannot see God unless we have been elected, but we must still search for him. I guess I will finish out this post as my view on Calvinism, and more specifically, the ULI of the TULIP.

Regarding U, It’s not hard to find passages that show that some people have been chosen by God and some have their hearts hardened by God. However, it’s also easy to find verses that show we must believe in Jesus or trust in the Lord.

Regarding the L, it is easy to find passages that show Grace has been extended to all. That anyone would preach otherwise is foolish.

My biggest disagreement is with the I. I know too many people and actually, too many churches who have the philosophy that if God calls someone they will definitely be saved and there is no need to go out and spread the Good News. This is theology from Satan. To say to people, “Hey, if God has elected people, there’s no way on earth that they will go to Hell,” is both anti-Biblical and yet the obvious mental conclusion a person must come to after thinking that philosophy through.

So about the remaining two points, I’ll clarify my agreement – P: When you believe in Jesus, you become a new creation and the Lord sends his counselor, the Holy Spirit to dwell in you – not in part of you, but to completely fill you. You cannot un-create yourself and no one, not even your sinful nature, can snatch you out of God’s hand. T: Total Depravity – we all have a sinful nature and the only way to not break the Law (note capital L) is for there to be no Law. This may be slightly different than what some Calvinist teach, that being the T signifies that we have no capacity for good and will automatically sink as low as we can go.

Yes, I have Bible references supporting every statement. Have question or comment? Let me know by clicking the “comments” link below.

Futility of Describing Non-temporal Things with Temporal Words:
There is an inherent logic error in trying to describe something non-temporal (meaning outside the scope of time) with temporal phrases. Here is an example, “Since before the beginning of time…” It is clear from the Bible that there was a beginning of time. However, there is no before time began. Before is a word that describes where something is in time, however if time did not exist then you can not describe anything relative to it (this sentence is only logical when referring to time itself, by the way). It’s kind of like saying, “Where were you before you were conceived?” Before you were conceived you did not exist and therefore you were nowhere.

God exists outside of time – He created it. It is difficult for our minds to grasp, since we exist inside this dimension of time, but for God, time and everything that happened in it is like a picture on the wall. He can look at it and see all of it or focus in on one specific segment of it

Here is my point: you could make an argument that there was a “before” time, meaning everything that existed the moment that time came into existence existed “before” time, but you would not be able to compare those things relative to each other. So, you may think to yourself, “Who created God?” because in your mind you envision time going on infinitely into the past. However since God created time and was in existence the moment time began, there was nothing before God, and any attempt to describe God’s existence in temporal terms results in a logic error. There will never be an answer to that question because the question itself is illogical.

OK, to lighten this deep thought, here’s a joke:
A scientist challenged God. So God responded, “Let’s have a contest. Let’s see which of us can create life using nothing but dirt.” The scientist eagerly agreed. So they prepared and God said, “Go!” He reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt. The scientist did the same. God looked over at him and said, “Hey, go get your own dirt!”

It’s all [NOT] good: It’s worse to murder than to lie, right? Wrong. Romans 1:18-32 clearly says that murder, homosexuality, lieing/deceit, gossip, envy/jealously and God-hating are all on the same level, and all who do these things deserve death.

I’ve never murdered, and I’m not homosexual, but I’ve done other things on that list. Since these things are so repulsive to God, how can I get on good terms with Him? Is it possible? Yes! There is a way to get straight with God. Follow that link for a very short explanation of what the Bible says.

“Throw out the mocker, and fighting, quarrels, and insults will disappear” Proverbs 22:10.

Several of today’s proverbs struck a chord with me; here are a few more that elicited comments/thoughts:

“Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender” vs 7. Yes, slavery does exist today, it just has a different name, “Revolving Credit.”

“A youngster’s heart is filled with follishness, but discipline will drive it away” vs 15, and related: “Teach your children to choose the right pasth, and when they are older, they will remain upon it” vs 6.

Who is Eliakim son of Hilkiah? According to Isaiah 22:19-21, it sounds like this is a person who would be the immediate successor to Shebna, who had displeased God. However verses 22-25 seem to cross reference Revelation 3:7-13 which describes the missionary church, Philidelphia, where Jesus says he will open doors and no one will be able to shut them. Is Eliakim Jesus or is Jesus in the line of Hilkiah? Why would the wording of Revelation 3:7 match the wording of Isaiah 22:22 except for us to draw a connection between the two.