Radical Islam v. the West

Tamerlan Tsarnaev

Dzhokhar Tsarneav

    The major news event of this past week, at least here in the U.S., was the terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday. One suspect was subsequently killed in a shootout; the other is now in custody. They were brothers: Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – Muslims of Chechen extraction.
    It is too soon to know for sure exactly what their motives were. Friends and acquaintances find it hard to believe that they would have been capable of such a crime. But there is some evidence to suggest that the older of the two brothers, Tamerlan, had become more serious about his Islamic faith in recent years, and that he was troubled by what his fellow Chechens had suffered at the hands of the Russians, as well as the ongoing civil war in Syria. He also reportedly had difficulty relating to American culture.
    The bombing was just one more in a string of events involving the Islamic world that has left Americans baffled. Why the hostility? What have we done to them? How can one justify terrorism in the name of religion?
    Part of the problem is that we tend to assume that Islam is much like the religions with which we are familiar: Christianity and Judaism. But it is not, and understanding the differences is crucial to making sense out of the world situation today. Consider two key events: one in Christianity and the other in Islam.
    According to the Gospel of John, shortly before His crucifixion, when Jesus appeared before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, Pilate asked Him straight out: "Are You the King of the Jews?" (John 18:33; NKJV). Jesus answered that "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here" (v. 36).
    The Jews had been looking for a political Messiah to deliver them from Roman rule. But in its present form at least, Jesus' kingdom is not an earthly kingdom – it is not a geo-political entity that can be defended through force of arms. Rather, it is a spiritual kingdom – it exists in the hearts of believers who embrace the gospel.
    Now fast forward nearly 600 years. The scene is a valley near the city of Badr, about eighty miles southwest of Medina in the Arabian Peninsula. On the one side is a relatively small band of Muslims led by Mohammed. On the other side was a larger force from Mecca determined to stamp out the Mohammedan nuisance (the Muslims had been raiding caravans). Mohammed pleas for divine guidance. He believes he received it; the Muslims attack, and the Meccans are routed. It was the beginning of a long march of conquest through the Near East and North Africa.
    In a Surah written shortly before the Battle of Badr, Mohammed lays out the rules for his community. He says, among other things, "Fight in the cause of Allah / Those who fight you, / But do not transgress limits; / For Allah loveth not transgressors. / And slay them / Wherever ye catch them, / And turn them out / From where they have / Turned you out; / For tumult and oppression / Are worse than slaughter; / But fight them not / At the Sacred Mosque, / Unless they (first) / Fight you there; / But if they fight you, / Slay them. / Such is the reward / Of those who suppress faith . . ." (2: 190, 191).
    It is important to recognize two things here. One is that the use of force in the defense of the faith is explicitly sanctioned in the Koran. The second is that there are rules that govern the use of force: indiscriminate killing is not permitted.

Sir John Glubb

    Sir John Glubb, a former British army officer who was once Commander of the Arab Legion, summarized the difference between the two cultures this way: "Their respective attitudes to the legitimacy of physical force has, ever since then, been one of the most marked contrasts between Muslims and Christians . . . The fact that Muslims believe that war can sometimes be a religious duty has resulted in the fact that Muslim soldiers are often extremely religious and enjoy a far higher status than they do in Christian countries." But then he went on to add, " . . . once violence is admitted, it is all too easily abused" (A Short History of the Arab Peoples, chapter II).

    The majority of Muslims today do not support the terrorist campaigns of the radical jihadis, but the jihadis themselves believe that they have just cause. They can point to the actions of Israel and to tyrannical governments in their own countries, and to the tacit support that the U.S. government gives to both as ample reason to attack us. We need to understand and address their concerns. Simply calling them "terrorists" resolves nothing. At the same time it will do little good to pretend that Islam is no different from Christianity. Muslims cannot be expected to think and act like Christians. And "by their fruits you shall know them."

No Salvation apart from Christ?

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

            Acts 4:12; NKJV

 

Van Gogh, Weeping Woman

    In her best-selling book Beyond Belief religious scholar Elaine Pagels tells of a close friend of hers who was tragically killed in a car accident at age sixteen. Ms. Pagels was attending an evangelical church at the time, and was distressed to hear that since her friend was Jewish he was not born again, and hence was doomed to hell. "Distressed and disagreeing with their interpretation – and finding no room for discussion – I realized that I was no longer at home in their world and left that church" (Beyond Belief, p. 31).
    The story is tragic, and one can readily sympathize with Ms. Pagels. Unfortunately we cannot delude ourselves here, as terrible as the truth may seem. It would be nice to imagine that all well-meaning and sincere people go to heaven when they die. But so to imagine is to lose sight of the bigger picture. As we have seen, no human being meets God's standard of righteousness, and the this is because of the dark forces that are at work in every human heart. There are many different religions and philosophies in the world, each with many earnest and sincere followers. But we must face the fact that as human beings we simply do not measure up to God's standards, and this creates a problem – a huge problem.
    As we have also seen, the answer involves an atonement of some sort, but then this raises the further question as to who is qualified to provide the atonement. And that, in turn, raises yet another problem: the atonement has to be the substitution of one life for another. But in order for it to be a genuine substitution it has to be of equivalent value to the original. If I smash up your brand new Mercedes and offer you my beat-up old Ford in return, it is hardly a fair exchange. Sacrifices of animals were made in the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem, but the blood of a bull or a goat can never really be the substitute for the life of a human being. Something more is needed. It must be a human life for a human life.

Van Gogh, Man Reading the Bible

    Moreover, the person being sacrificed must be perfectly innocent himself. Trading the life of one condemned criminal for that of another condemned criminal hardly satisfies the demands of justice. They both deserve to die on their own accounts. The substitute has to be innocent in order to offer his life in exchange for that of the criminal. It is for these reasons that there is only one person who is qualified to fill the role, and the person is Jesus Christ. Because He is true man He can act as the representative of the human race; and because He is true God His death is of innocent value and sufficient to cover the sins of the entire human race if need be. Moreover, because He was perfectly sinless He did not have to die for His own sins, and thus was in a position to give His life as an atonement for others. Thus He was able to do what no purely human priest or animal sacrifice could possibly do, and that was to really and truly atone for our sins.
    This is why there is no salvation apart from Christ. From the very nature of the case He is the only one who is in a position to secure salvation for us. Far from being tyrannical, for God to send His only Son into this sin-cursed world to die for our sins was an extraordinary demonstration of mercy and kindness. The person who throws a life-preserver to a drowning man is not being a tyrant; he is trying to save the man's life.
    What makes Christianity unique among the world's religions is that it offers mankind a Savior. If you think that you are a righteous person, if you think that your own good works are sufficient to merit heaven when you die, then there are other religions for you. But if you are honest with yourself, and can see some of the evil that is ingrained within human nature, if you can see that you could never stand before a righteous and holy God on the basis of your own merit, then you need a Savior. Every other religion offers a way to heaven paved with the pretense of human goodness. Christianity offers sinners salvation through a Redeemer. Let every person judge for himself what truly meets the need.

     

DID MARY MEET AN ANGEL?

                                                    The Annunciation, Lorenzo di Credi

"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!'" (Luke 1:26-28; NKJV).
    One of our readers and frequent commentators, Cedric Katesby, wants to know why we would believe "some guy, writing 2.000 years ago about how he met an angel," if we would not believe Mr. Katesby if he were to say that he had met an angel. The question is a fair one to ask, and deserves a serious answer.
    The Christmas season having set upon us, it is worth noting that in the first two chapters of the Gospel According to Luke there are no less than three different accounts of angels appearing to various people. In the fist of these (Lu. 1:13-20) the angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias, who would become the father of John the Baptist. In the second incident (1:26-38), the same angel appears to Mary, and begins by telling her the words quoted in the heading of this blogpost. In the third incident (2:8-14), a whole choir of angels appears to the shepherds to announce the birth of the Savior. So the question is, was Luke relating historical facts which cannot be ignored, or are these mere myths and legends which can be easily dismissed?
    Mr. Katesby's question does, in fact, strike right at the very heart of the crisis of Western Civilization. At no other time of the year is the influence of Christianity on Western culture more keenly felt than at Christmas. And yet the holiday revolves around a narrative which many educated Westerners no longer believe. In the end it all comes back to the historical reliability of the four gospels.
    Luke himself certainly believed that he has relating historical fact. In his prologue he tells us that he "followed all things closely for some time past," and that his aim was so that his readers might "have certainty concerning the things you have been taught" (Lu. 1:3,4; ESV). Moreover, he tells us that he had access to "those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and minister of the word," meaning, no doubt, the apostles, those who had lived and worked with Jesus and had been sent by Him to proclaim the message of the gospel (v. 2).
    So then, why believe Luke and not Mr. Katesby? What Mr. Katesby undoubtedly wants us to say is that we would believe neither. His grounds for saying this are that the claim of an alleged witness about a supernatural event has to be gauged against what we already know about reality, and there are no verifiable instances in our modern experience of angels appearing to people. The rational inference, then, is that such appearances do not happen, and any claims to the contrary should be viewed with suspicion.
    How much weight one attaches to this argument will depend partially on one's worldview. If one is a naturalistic materialist, the argument is practically conclusive. Not only is it highly unlikely that such incidents have occurred in the past, but if there actually was such a phenomenon a natural explanation must be sought. The subject in question might have met a mysterious looking person, or he may simply have been hallucinating. (Now that recreational pot is legal in Washington state and Colorado, who knows what sort of apparitions might appear in the days to come!) In this case almost no amount of evidence will be sufficient to convince the determined skeptic.
    But if one is a Christian theist there is no inherent impossibility in an angel appearing to human beings. It is quite conceivable that they exist and have appeared to people in the past. So why not today? Might not Mr. Katesby expect a friendly knock on his door someday?
    A Christian understanding of such things must be based on Scripture – the written instructions that God has given us to guide us through life. While God is theoretically capable of doing anything He wants anywhere and at anytime He wants, He ordinarily works according to a certain pattern. Miracles are generally restricted to certain periods in history. They are meant to function as "signs" to validate the ministry of a prophet or apostle. They usually occur at the decisive turning points of redemptive history. The first of these was in the time of Moses during the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The second was during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, when the nation of Israel was sunk in a state of degradation and apostasy. The final time was the climactic moment in history when the Savior was born into the world. Obviously some means had to be employed to explain to Mary the unique role that she was to play in the drama, and hence the mission of Gabriel. It was an extraordinary event under an extraordinary circumstance.
    Since the close of the apostolic age the Christian ministry has largely proceeded by ordinary means. The Holy Spirit teaches and leads through the illumination of Scripture. And while Mr. Katesby certainly has his rightful place in the cosmic scheme of things, it is unlikely that God is going to send an angel knocking on his door. (It is probably the RCMP at the door!)
    But to return to Luke for a moment, how do we know that he is telling the truth about Mary's experience? In all likelihood his source of information was Mary herself. He generally tells the story from her perspective, and in two places he makes the intriguing comment "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Lu. 2:19,51; NKJV). Significantly, in this section of the narrative Luke shifts to a style of Greek that has a highly Semitic coloring, suggested an underlying Hebrew source, either in the form of oral testimony or a written document. And from what we know of Luke's use of Mark, Luke is very careful in his use of sources. All of which points back to Mary herself. The story is an extraordinary one. How could she ever forget?
    And what did the angel tell her? That she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to Jesus, that her child would be the Son of God and would reign on the throne of David forever.
    As the angels later told the shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest, / And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Lu. 2:14). Have a happy holiday!

Related blogposts you might find interesting:
Are the Gospels Historically Reliable? 
Who Wrote the Gospels? 
How Do We Know that Jesus Rose from the Dead? 
Doubting Thomas 

A Christian Argument for Abortion?

    One of the most bizarre arguments for legalized abortion that we have ever seen recently appeared on a blogpost by Greg Rubottom entitled "Death Throes of a Great Deception – The Fall From Grace of the 'Pro-Life' Movement." This, in turn, was copied with a lengthy introduction by Frank Schaeffer
on Mr. Schaeffer's blog at Patheos under the title "A Christian Answer to the Lies of the Evangelical / Catholic Pro-Life Movement." It is an extraordinary piece of sophistry.
    Mr. Rubottom rehashes the usual pragmatic arguments: forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term would cause her harm and doom the child to a miserable existence as an unwanted child. What is peculiar about his argument is that not only does he seek a Christian justification for this, but he actually claims that his argument reflects "the core elements of traditional Christian spirituality" and that the Pro-Life position is "heresy." In support of this dubious contention he gives us one of the most convoluted accounts of Christian doctrine that we have ever witnessed.
    He claims that Jesus taught that "the human body is a 'container' for what God values in human life – the soul – and the creation of a soul is a 'process' and not all conception is necessarily the will of God." Presumably human beings decide, through their own actions, to conceive a child, and then God might decide that it was a bad idea, in which case the pregnancy should be aborted.
    And how does Mr. Rubottom know that this is what God actually thinks? He tells us that "the core teaching of traditional Christianity" is that "God must always be defined as 'good.'" God, then would not wish the pregnancy to continue if it would bring harm to either the mother or the child. In other words, Mr. Rubottom believes that God is guided by the same "common sense" as himself, and that it would be evident, from a kind of cost/benefit analysis, that some pregnancies should be terminated.
    We do not know from what source Mr. Rubottom derives his conception of "traditional Christianity," but it is certainly not from any source with which we are familiar. What God actually said was, "You shall not murder"; and the reason assigned for this is that human beings are created in the image of God. "Whoever sheds man's blood,/ By man his blood shall be shed;/ For in the image of God / He made man" (Gen. 9:6; NKJV). In other words, human life is sacred because man was created in the image of God. Murder is a form of sacrilege.
    This, then, raises the thorny question of just exactly when does life begin. Mr. Rubottom's explanation is purely fanciful – it exists nowhere in the history of "traditional Christianity." It is entirely of his own invention.
    But what is the church's traditional understanding? The fact of the matter is that historically the church has been divided on the question. One line of thought, called "Traducianism," holds that the soul of an infant is derived from those of its parents by way of natural generation. This view was held in ancient times by Tertullian, and more recently by many Lutheran theologians. Obviously in this viewpoint abortion would always be tantamount to the taking of an innocent human life.
    The opposing viewpoint is called "Creationism" (not to be confused with opposition to Darwin's theory of evolution). According to this theory each soul is created individually by God. This viewpoint was held by St. Jerome and later by Calvin and most Reformed theologians. The obvious difficulty with this position in terms of the present discussion is that it is impossible to say when the individual soul is created. What we do know from Scripture is that at some point in the course of the pregnancy the developing child is a conscious human being: John the Baptist, while still in utero, leaped at the approach of Mary (Lu. 1:41).
    What proved decisive in the debate were the advances in modern medical science that showed that the fetus undergoes a continuous process of development from the moment of conception until the moment of birth and beyond. There is no specific point in between at which the fetus suddenly acquires the definitive characteristics of a human being. Genetically the developing child is a unique person at the moment of conception and is just as human then as it is after birth. It was undoubtedly with this realization in mind that most U.S. states in the late 19^th Century outlawed abortion.
    What Mr. Rubottom has done is to palm off a modern version of ethical pragmatism as "traditional Christianity." It is, in fact, no such thing. The historic Christian position has always been that "The sixth commandment forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto" (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 69). If life begins at conception, we are forbidden from taking it.

For a previous blog on Roe v. Wade see "Should Abortion be Legal?"

The Future of Playboy America

    Probably nothing expresses the attitude of modern America toward sex than the Playboy logo. Huge Heffner was the prophet of the sexual revolution. We now speak of "recreational sex" as if it were a commonly accepted thing. Now the latest development is the growing acceptance of homosexuality, with several states already legalizing same sex marriage.
    What does God think about sex? The short answer is given in Heb. 13:4: "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (NASV). Here there is both an encouragement and a warning. The encouragement is "Let marriage be held in honor among all . . ." Notice that it says "marriage," not "shacking up" or a "one night stand." Marriage is a life-long commitment between a man and a woman – a commitment that is solemn and binding. This, God says, should be "held in honor among all."
    On the other hand there is a warning as well: "and let the marriage bed be undefiled." The marriage bed is "defiled" when it is shared with sexual partners other than one's own spouse. Sex is to be kept chaste and pure – an exclusive relationship with just one person.
    To underscore the seriousness of this principle the exhortation is coupled with a solemn warning: "for fornicators and adulterers God will judge." Here God pronounces His judgment on crimes against marriage. "Fornicators" are those who engage in sex outside of marriage, while "adulterers" are those who break their marriage vows by having sex with other partners. In other words, sex is to be confined strictly to marriage, and all other sexual activity is illicit. So serious are these sins that in the Old Testament adultery was punishable by death. According to our text fornicators and adulterers face condemnation by God in the Last Judgment.
    Sex was created by God, and in its proper context it can be a sublime experience – the celebration of the heartfelt love of a husband and wife for each other. But in our depravity we have trashed it – we have stolen it, commercialized it, made it the butt of crude jokes and used it as a weapon. We have dragged it through the slime of porno shops and red light districts. We are obsessed with it, yet we cheapen it and abuse it. That which was intended to be pure and beautiful we have soiled and tarnished. What we have done to sex is one of the greatest of all crimes.
    Our modern permissive attitude toward sex is destroying us. 46 % of all American high school students have already had sexual intercourse, including 30% of ninth graders! One out of every two marriages ends in divorce. 40% of all children are born to unwed mothers, and 26% of all children live in single parent households We have devalued the institution of marriage and are paying a heavy price for it. The family is the basic building block of society, the chief means by which children are socialized. And when the family is gone, it is gone, and not likely to be replaced. We have lost the golden chain that links the generations together. It bodes ill for the future of America.

Adultery

    The "sexual revolution" of the 1960's radically changed the social mores of America. It has had a profound impact on family life that is likely to be felt for generations to come. But was it a mistake? Did we lose something that we cannot recover?
    By the standards of Jesus' teaching the answer is "yes," it was a mistake. After discussing murder and anger, Jesus went on in the Sermon on the Mount to consider the subject of adultery. It is here that modern society is likely to feel the enormous distance between us and Christianity. To understand what Jesus was talking about, we must understand marriage; and in modern society marriage has become virtually a meaningless concept.
    No fault divorce turned marriage into a mere legal technicality. A "marriage" can be terminated at any time for any reason as long as both parties agree to it. One out of every two marriages in the U.S. ends in divorce, and many younger couples are dispensing with the formality altogether. Cohabitation and out-of-wedlock pregnancies have become common and accepted. And now we have "gay marriage," an attempt to cover a notoriously promiscuous lifestyle with a thin veneer of respectability. "Marriage" has become something of a sick joke.
    According to the Bible human sexuality is not an accident of nature, the result of a blind, purposeless natural process called "evolution." Rather, it is something created by God. It exists by design. When God created the first human being, Adam, He said, "It is not good that man should be alone: I will make a helper comparable to him" (Gen. 2:8; NKJV). God then created the first woman, Eve, and brought her to Adam. The text adds the explanatory comment: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (v. 24). The Hebrew word translated "be joined" means "to cling, cleave, be close to." In this particular context it implies an intimate relationship marked by affection and loyalty. In marriage a husband and wife are bound to each other both physically and emotionally.
    Adultery is the act of unfaithfulness to one's life partner. It is an assault on the most intimate of all relationships. The victim feels betrayed, degraded and humiliated. The family is destroyed. The children are liable to bear the emotional scars for many years to come. Marriage is a relationship that was never meant to end, and for this reason adultery is one of the most heinous of all crimes. The Torah, in fact, prescribed the death penalty for it (Lev. 20:10).
    Here again Jesus internalizes the principle. "But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). The very desire to commit adultery is itself a sinful impulse. What Jesus is doing here is interpreting the Seventh Commandment ("You shall not commit adultery") in light of the Tenth Commandment ("You shall not covet your neighbor's house; You shall not covet your neighbor's wife," etc. . . .) The words "lust" and "covet" mean basically the same thing (The Greek version uses the same word in both passages). And here once again Jesus is echoing the words of the Old Testament. Solomon warned against falling prey to the seductress: "Do not lust after her beauty in your heart . . ." (Prov. 6:25), and Job could say "I have made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I look upon a young woman?" (Job 31:1). Job then went on to say, "For what is the allotment of God from above, And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is it not destruction for the wicked, And disaster for workers of iniquity?" (vv. 2,3). Jesus, in turn, takes note of the same fact: "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell" (Matt. 5:29).
    The marriage bond between a husband and wife is sacred. Upon this the most intimate of all human relationships, and the stability of society, rest. Anything that would undermine that relationship is just plain evil. Herein lies the present peril of Western society.

Christianity and Politics

    In an editorial in today's USA Today, columnist Jonathan Merritt describes a shift in attitude among younger evangelical Christians regarding political activism ("New form of civic engagement" – May 7, 2012). Mr. Merritt says that the old form of civic engagement focused on two or three central issues, such as abortion and homosexuality, and became deeply involved in partisan politics as a result, with a large majority of social conservatives in the U.S. voting Republican. The younger generation, according to Mr. Merritt, is less partisan and more interested in a broader range of issues. Mr. Merritt concludes the article by saying "So I say bring on the new brand of political engagement. Because crucifying the culture war model could be the only hope of resurrecting American Christianity in a new century."
    A lot of Mr. Merritt's observations certainly ring true. The culture wars of the past several decades have tarnished the image of Evangelicalism without remedying the social ills it tried to protest. Yet several cautions are in order.
    First of all, it must be said that the church has a right and a duty to speak forthrightly about social issues. Separation of church and state does not mean separation of the government from justice or the law from morality. As morally responsible human beings we cannot stand by idly while society rushed headlong over the precipice. The stability of the family, chronic poverty and access to healthcare are all pressing issues that demand attention.
    As Christians, however, we must be wary of partisan politics. Both major political parties in the U.S. are largely secular in nature and encompass broad ranges of political interests. While the record of the Democratic Party on family issues is appalling, there are elements of the Republican Party's agenda that are hard to square with biblical norms as well. Typical Republican positions on the military and the economy, for instance, raise serious issues involving the 6^th and 8^th Commandments respectively. In order protect the integrity of our witness to society we must be careful to distinguish Christian values from those of the secular world.
    Which leads us to the all-important question of how are we to engage society? The biblical answer, we think, is clear enough: we engage society primarily through evangelism. The real problem with the world today is not a handful of political issues. Rather it is the latent evil that lurks in the darkest recesses of the human heart. And the solution to this evil is not to be found in the political process, but rather in the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the gospel. Win the hearts of the people to Christ first, and social reform will come later.
    The apostle Paul described his approach this way: "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (II Cor. 10:4,5; NKJV).

You Shall not Murder

Jesus then goes on to discuss particulars, starting with the Sixth Commandment, "You shall not murder." When He says "You have heard that it was said of old . . ." (Matt. 5:21; NKJV), the reference is to an idea stated in a tractate in the Mishnah entitled "Aboth" ("Fathers"). Aboth describes a chain of tradition that allegedly extends from Moses through a long succession of rabbis down to a certain Judah the Patriarch, who was the apparent compiler of the Mishnah in the Second Century A.D. The Pharisees in particular relied on this oral tradition to supplement their understanding of the Torah.

    What was said to "those of old" was "You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." The first clause is, of course, the Sixth of the Ten Commandments, and is in the Bible. The second clause ("whoever murders will be in danger of the judgement") is a brief synopsis of the treatment of the subject in the Mishnah. The tractate Sanhedrin discusses a number of different scenarios and makes a pronouncement on each. "If a murderer had struck his fellow with a stone or with [an instrument of] iron, or if he had pressed him down into the water or into the fire and he could not arise out of it, and he died, he is culpable." But, "if he pushed him [and he fell] into the water or into the fire and he could arise out of it, and yet he died, he is not culpable" (Sanh. 9:1).

    But according to Jesus this misses the whole point. While the Sanhedrin obviously had to make decisions about the individual cases that came before it, what was largely missing in the legal discussions was the intent of the Law. The underlying principle of the law concerning murder was stated in Lev. 19:17,18: "You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord." In other words, the intent of the precept is not simply that we should avoid certain circumstances that might lead to the death of the victim, but rather that we should have an active concern for his wellbeing. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

    Jesus draws attention to the underlying motive of murder, which is anger. "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment . . ." (v. 22). While man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart; and from God's perspective, the difference between the heart of a murderer and the heart of a person with "anger management issues" is virtually indistinguishable. If the only reason we do not act on our impulses is because we fear civil punishment, that hardly makes us moral persons. An evil desire springs from an evil heart, and the heart lies fully exposed to God's view.

    But it is not just a matter of escaping the censure of the civil authorities. It is ultimately God with Whom we have to do. Jesus reminds His listeners "Whoever says 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire." "Gehenna" (from the Hebrew for "The Valley of Hinnom") was a valley just outside of Jerusalem where children were once sacrificed by fire to the pagan deity Moloch. It was a vivid symbol of eternal punishment. The implication here is that we are not just dealing with whatever punishment the civil authorities might mete out. Rather we face an offended God Who is able to punish us in hell.

    Jesus then tells us what we must do. If we are making an offering at the altar at the temple, and we remember that we have offended someone, before we proceed with the offering, we should go and seek reconciliation with the offended brother, and then return to offer our gifts. In other words, the offering means nothing if our conduct is not right. Here Jesus is echoing the thought of Psalm 51:16,17). "For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and contrite heart – These, O God, You will not despise."

    In the sight of God a shallow religious formalism will not do. What God wants to see is a religious profession backed up by a right attitude and right behavior. It is the way we live that counts, not what we say. The danger of our time is to keep up the pretense of religious profession, while accommodating our lives to the secular and materialistic spirit of the age. We are deceiving no one but ourselves.

Jesus and the Torah

One of the most perplexing issues surrounding Christian ethics has to do with the relationship between Jesus' teachings and the Old Testament law. In Matt. 5:21-48 Jesus presents six antitheses in which He seems to be breaking with Jewish tradition ("You have heard that it was said . . . But I say to you . . ."). Yet in the immediately preceding verses Jesus appears to be saying the exact opposite. He seems to be arguing for the permanence of the law.

    To understand what Jesus is saying it is necessary to understand the nature of the "Torah" or the Old Testament law. Ancient Israel was unique. It did have a code of civil laws much like most other nations in the ancient Near East, but what made Israel different was its distinctive worldview. Unlike the polytheism of the surrounding nations, the national creed of Israel posited a single, eternal, self-existent and all-powerful Deity, Who created everything else out of nothing. Israel was God's chosen people, bound to Him by a covenant. This means that the Torah was much more than just a civil law code; it was also a theological statement defining the relationship between Israel and God.

    By Jesus' time, however, there was the natural human tendency to think of morality in sociological terms. People's sense of right and wrong was largely determined by the mores of society. In the case of First Century Judaism the determining factor was often the Sanhedrin, a court that sat in Jerusalem and heard cases under Jewish law. The inevitable tendency of such a court was to focus on the civil aspects of the Torah. One was guilty ("liable to punishment") if he did thus and so, and was innocent if he did not. The determinations of the Sanhedrin were eventually codified in a Second Century called the Mishnah. The Mishnah, in turn, forms the basis for modern day rabbinical Judaism.

    What was all too easily forgotten in the midst of all the judicial activity were man's moral and religious obligations toward God. And it is at this point that Jesus enters the picture. Standing squarely in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets,, Jesus issued a ringing call for righteousness as a right attitude of heart before God. It is a call for justice and humanity in all our dealings with our fellow human beings. It is also a terrifying indictment of human society as it currently exists.

    Jesus made it very clear that His intent was not to set aside the law, but rather to fulfill it (v. 17). The law is a reflection of God's own righteous and holy character. As such it is permanent; it will never change. What Jesus did was to keep the law perfectly Himself, and to offer Himself up as a sacrifice for sins so that we could be forgiven even as He upholds the majesty of the divine law. The death of Christ was a demonstration of mercy combined with perfect justice. But His final aim was to promote holiness, not provide an escape from it.

    Jesus concludes the section by saying, "For I say, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (v. 20; NKJV). The Pharisees were a First Century sect of the Jews who were known for their strict interpretation of the law. But even they fell short of God's perfect standard of righteousness.

    The passage says a lot about our modern day, comfortable, middle-class Christianity. We often think and act as if the chief end of God is to make us happy. God is a kind of doting Father in the sky Who understands and forgives our weaknesses and failures. He simply accepts us the way we are, with unconditional love. But that is not what the Bible says at all. The mission of Jesus when He came into the world was to save us from both the guilt and the power of sin, and the end result should be lives transformed by God's grace. Anything less is a pious fraud, and a dangerous self-delusion. If we wish to enter the kingdom of heaven we will do well to take careful heed to what Jesus says.

Salt and Light

In Matt. 5:10-12 Jesus had warned His prospective followers to expect persecution. "Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake" (v. 11; NKJV). And so it has been. Down through the centuries countless Christians have suffered and died for their faith. The trail of blood is long indeed.

    But this raises a question: Why? What is the point of suffering and hardship? What is accomplished by exposure to ridicule and abuse, or even death?

    It is at this point that Jesus turns our attention to the role of the church in society. And to explain that role He uses two homey illustrations.

    In the first illustration He says "You are the salt of the earth" (v. 13). The salt is used to flavor the food. But it does so because it has a distinctive flavor of its own. Thus Jesus asks a pointed question: "but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?" If the loses its flavor, it loses its function. It is, to put the matter bluntly, worthless. "It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."

    We live in a sin-cursed world. Evil abounds on every side. It is the role of Jesus' followers, a persecuted minority in society, to be the "salt," to bring out the flavor of human life, to be an example of what society ought to be like. And in order to do that, the church has to have a distinctive "flavor" of its own. It has to form a contrast with the surrounding society, and when it becomes too much like the world it ceases to perform a worthwhile function. If the church accommodates itself to the world in order to win the world to Christ, it is the world that has won the church to itself.

    Jesus then goes on to give a second illustration. "You are the light of the world" (v. 14), He said. "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house" (vv. 14,15). If a light is to serve a useful purpose it must be visible. It is ludicrous to light a lamp and then cover it up so that no one can see it. It defeats the whole purpose of light.

    So too the church's function is to be a light shining in darkness. Human society has rebelled against God and strayed from the truth. It has sunk deep into sin and degradation. Granted, many people think that they are well off – their lives are filled with work and play, material possessions and entertainment. But inside they are hollow men and women, with nothing to live for that the fleeting pleasures of this life. It is up to believers to show them a better way, the way to lasting peace and joy. But we can do it only if we are living the life ourselves. Our words mean nothing, and even worse than nothing, if our lives are not concrete examples of what we preach. We accomplish nothing by trying to be worldly and sophisticated like all the rest. Rather, we need to be living examples of faith, hope and love. It must not be an empty charade, but something real and genuine that flows naturally from within us. Let it shine, let it shine!

The Specter of Persecution

Jesus had a peculiar method of evangelism. Whereas today we might say "Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life," what Jesus Himself actually said was, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:10; NKJV).

    Jesus was looking at life realistically. There was, in fact, strong historical evidence to back up His assertion. His words echo the lament of the prophet Elijah centuries earlier: "I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am life; and they seek to take my life" (I Kings 19:10).

    One might well ask, if a prophet comes bearing a message from God, and especially if someone comes proclaiming the good news of salvation in Christ, why would anyone oppose him? We can only stand to gain by heeding the message, and opposition would only be self-defeating!

    The answer is that deep within the soul of an unconverted person there is a spiritual war going on. On the one hand his conscience is appealing to him to submit to God. ". . . what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them . . . His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead . . ." (Rom. 1:19,20). But on the other hand they "suppress" this knowledge (v. 18); they try to convince themselves that none of it is true, that they do not have to pay attention to any of it. Thus if some Christian evangelist or missionary comes along and reminds them of the truth they are trying to suppress, the natural instinct is to shoot the messenger. It is really their own consciences, however, that they are trying to stifle.

    And it is pure insanity. What is to be gained by fighting against God? He is our Creator. He is our Judge. We owe everything to Him, and His ways are always best. By aligning ourselves with His purposes we can find inward peace and joy; whereas by fighting against them we can only bring upon ourselves misery, ruin and woe.

    As for the messenger, he must expect opposition. When Jesus sent His twelve disciples out on a preaching tour He told them: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matt. 10:16). He added, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (v. 34). The sobering implication for the disciples was this: "he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (v. 38). And then He lays down the paradox of the kingdom: "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it" (v. 39).

    "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (5:10).

“Blessed are the Peacemakers”

The seventh beatitude reads "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God" (Matt. 5:9; NKJV). "Peace" (Hebrew "shalom") in the Bible is not just the mere absence of strife or warfare. It is rather a state of rest that results when all needs have been met and everything is in a state of equilibrium. At one point David asked the question, "Who is the man who desires life, And loves many days that he may see good?" (Ps. 34:12). The answer is given is this: "Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it" (vv. 13,14). Peace brings happiness and a sense of well-being; strife brings misery and anxiety. God wants us to be peacemakers.

War, on the other hand, is the most egregious manifestation of human evil. All the bonds of civility are broken loose, as nations pour themselves into an orgy of mutual destruction, with a wanton disregard for human life. In modern times science has given us many technical advances, but it has not changed human nature, and we now wage war against each other with weapons of mass destruction. We are cavemen armed with nukes.

We have a right to self-defense, and one of the primary functions of government is the protection of the lives and property of its citizens. But if everyone were righteous wars would not happen at all. We would all live at peace with one another. And in the kingdom of heaven there will be no war. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore" (Mic. 4:3).

"Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God."

This, then, is what is involved in repentance. First we must humble ourselves before God and come to Him in genuine sorrow for our sin, asking for forgiveness. Then we must manifest a change of life. We must long for righteousness and a pure heart. We must be gentle and kind. We must be peacemakers. Only such can enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Beatific Vision

The sixth beatitude contains an extraordinary promise: "Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8; NKJV). This is sometimes called "the beatific vision," because the word "blessed" is "beati" in the Latin, and "vision," of course, is what is seen. What is so extraordinary about this promise is that ordinarily we are no able to see God at all. God told Moses at Mt. Sinai, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live" (Ex. 33:20). There are hints and suggestions in the Old Testament, however, that at some point in the future we will see God. David, for example, could say that God would not leave his soul in Sheol (the abode of the dead), but "You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is the fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps. 16:11). And Job could foresee a time when his "Redeemer" would "stand at last on the earth," and that ". . .after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold . . . " (Job 19:25-27). The passage points to a future resurrection and a vision of God Himself.

This sight of God ought to be the highest goal of our existence. David could say, "One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord . . ." (Ps. 27:4), and "O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory" (Ps. 63:1,2). If David could say this about the worship in the Tabernacle, how much more do we have to look forward to in heaven!

Our modern western society is exceptional for its stupidity. We devote our entire lives to the pursuit of temporally goods – things which don't last – and ignore completely our own highest good, which is God Himself. Even professing Christians get caught up in the mania of consumerism. But in the end we are left with nothing, and will rue the fact for all eternity.

“Blessed are the Poor in Heart”

The sixth beatitude reads: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8; NKJV). In Psalm 24 the question is asked, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?" (v. 3). The answer given is, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart . . ." (v. 4). A "pure heart" involves complete sincerity and absolute devotion to God. Nothing else intrudes or intervenes. Our motives are sincere, pure and clean.

    Here we can see the difference between true and false religion. Perhaps most people have a religion that consists of a variety of external observances. They attend religious services, participate in rituals, and try to conform to an external code of conduct. But this kind of religion is sociologically driven. It is governed by our desire to appear respectable in the eyes of our peers. And very often it does not reflect the true condition of our hearts, but rather disguises it. Inwardly we are apt to be apathetic or perhaps motivated by overweening pride. Or we might be driven by a sense of guilt, social pressure, or mere force of habit. But there is little genuine piety or devotion to God.

    In true religion, however, there is a consciousness of a relationship with God Himself. And because God looks on the heart, and not on the outward appearance, our motives count for everything. Hypocrisy is the worst of all sins. Thus the true believer is acutely aware of the need to please God in all that he does. He will make a conscious effort to conform his life to the ethical standards of the Bible, and will resist the temptation to cut corners for the sake of convenience or popularity. His is a conscientious faith. Nothing else matters in the sight of God.

“Blessed are the Merciful”

The fifth beatitude states: "Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy" (Matt. 5:7; NKJV). The word "merciful" means "having pity or mercy on." It involves responding to the needs of others. Here the saying of Jesus echoes the 112^th Psalm which contains a beatitude of its own: "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments" (v.1). The psalm goes on to describe the character of such a person: "He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. A good man deals graciously and lends. . ." (vv. 4,5). "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor . . ." (v. 9). The promise in our text in Matthew is that the Lord will amply reward the generous man and supply his own needs. "For they shall obtain mercy." This principle of generosity towards others and responding to their needs likewise finds its root in the Torah: ". . . you shall love your neighbor as yourself . . ." (Lev. 19:18).

    Our Creator wants us to have a basic concern and compassion for each other. Our natural tendency is to be self-centered and to think only or ourselves. We are jealous of our "property rights" and assume that we own nothing to others. But that mentality reflects a moral failure on our part – a calloused indifference to the plight of our fellow human beings. And yet our existence hangs by a slender thread, and we are ultimately dependent upon the mercies of God for our sustenance. If we expect sympathy and compassion from Him, we should be willing to extend it to others when it is in our power to do so.

“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST”

    The fourth beatitude reads: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6; NKJV). The words "hunger" and "thirst" denote an intense craving for something. What Jesus is pointing to here is not just a mechanical performance, a half-hearted attempt to conform to an external set of rules, but a genuine, heart-felt desire for righteousness. If our heart is right with God, we will desire what He desires, a world governed by goodness and truth.

    Jesus' words echo those of Isaiah chapter 55: "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat . . ." (v. 1). The passage goes on to exhort us to desire what is truly good and worthwhile, viz., God Himself (v. 6), and His word (vv. 8-11). Then comes the promise: "For you shall go out with joy, And be let out with peace" (v. 12).

    The essence of righteousness is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Dt. 6:5). The psalmist could say "As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" (Ps. 42:1,2). And to love God is to seek to have His will accomplished here on earth. The entire 119^th Psalm is an expression of desire for God's commandments. And if we "hunger and thirst for righteousness," we "shall be filled," because that is what we shall have in the kingdom.

    Our actions are largely governed by our desires. In the long run we pretty much do what we want to do. One the problems with the modern church is its general lack of interest in God and in His righteousness. We are pretty much content to go through life pleasing ourselves and making pragmatic decisions based on our own self-interest. The result is that it is all too easy to compromise ethical principle. We are the lukewarm church of Laodicea described in Rev. 3:14-22, and the warning given there is well worth taking to heart: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent" (v. 19).

Blessed Are the Meek

Repentance, as we have seen, begins with a change of heart. But if it is real and genuine it must also entail a change of behavior as well. And so Jesus goes on in the next five beatitudes to tell us what that behavior is.

It is significant that what Jesus describes in these verses is not a mere external conformity to a set of rules, but rather an attitude or state of mind. What He lays out are basic character traits – values to guide our life and conduct.

    The third beatitude reads, "Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5; NKJV). This is a direct reference to Psalm 37:11: "But the meek shall inherit the earth . . ." By "meek" He did not mean what the word often means today: "deficient in spirit and courage," but rather the term carries the older English connotation of "enduring injury with patience and without resentment (Webster's 7^th New Collegiate). Moses was said to be "very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth" (Num. 12:3; AV), but he was hardly "deficient of spirit and courage." Rather, no doubt because of his close dealings with God, he was a humble and unpretentious man, open to and approachable by all. He lived his life in humble dependence upon God.

    What is required of us is to have a proper attitude about ourselves and our relationship with others. This is not a false humility, but a matter of looking at ourselves honestly and realistically. Meekness is the opposite of arrogance. We are to be kind and gentle with others because we recognize that we are not better or more important than them.

     It may seem unlikely that "the meek shall inherit the earth" – we are accustomed to seeing nice guys finishing last. Yet Jesus' saying, and the entire 37^th Psalm, contain a certain warning. The final outcome is determined not by man, but by God. And those who lived their lives in accordance with God's will and commands are those who will finally prevail. It is what God wants that counts in the final analysis.

“Blessed are Those who Mourn”

In order to enter the kingdom of heaven we must repent, and the first part of repentance is contrition for sin. We cannot enter the kingdom unless our sins are forgiven, and we cannot expect forgiveness if we feel no sorrow for our sins.

    The second beatitude reads "Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4; NKJV). The language parallels that of Isa. 61:1-3 where the speaker (manifestly the Messiah) says that He has been anointed "To preach good tidings to the poor," and "To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness . . ."

    The problem, in a word, is sin. God is absolutely holy, righteous and just. We, however, are fallen sinners. We may think that we are basically good people, but we are comparing ourselves with each other. The problem, in God's sight, is that the entire human race is sinful. "The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. The have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt: There is none who does good, No, not one" (Ps. 14:2,3).

    God could have, had He wanted to, simply sent us all to hell. Strictly speaking that is what we deserve. There is, however, another side to God's character: He is "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin . . ." (Ex. 34:6,7). It is important to note here, however, that God forgives sin; He does not merely overlook it or excuse it. Justice is not abrogated for the sake of compassion. And in order for sin to be forgiven there has to be a frank acknowledgement of the sin itself, that it is a violation of God's law, and that it has no legitimate place in the universe. This acknowledgement was be genuine and sincere. "'Now therefore,' says the Lord, 'Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting and weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments . . . '" (Joel 2:12,13). An insincere confession of sin make a mockery of divine mercy.

    God is not a sadist. He does not delight in causing us misery and woe. Rather, the promise is that those who mourn "shall be comforted." "'Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God. 'Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the Lord's hand Double for all her sins'" (Isa. 40:1,2). The comfort came because Israel's "warfare is ended," and this happened because "her iniquity is pardoned."

    Once the problem of sin has been dealt with, once reconciliation with God has been achieved, peace and comfort are the result. We can now enjoy God's favor and blessing. In the kingdom of heaven there will be no more sorrow or mourning. Be we must mourn in order to enter the kingdom. Repentance is the gateway to peach and joy.

“Blessed are the Poor in Spirit”

In our last blog post we noted that Mark summarized Jesus' message as "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mk. 1:15; NKJV). But what does it mean to "repent"?

    Jesus expands on the theme in the famous "Sermon on the Mount," recorded in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. The sermon opens with the "beatitudes," so called because each verse in the Latin version begins with the word "beati," which means "blessed." Certain types of individuals are said to be well-off or fortunate if certain things are true of them. In this case the beatitudes expand on the theme that if we repent we will enter into a future state of bliss and happiness.

    The first beatitude reads, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). At first sight this seems like a paradox. If someone is "poor in spirit" he is hardly in a state of happiness or bliss. But Jesus is stating an important truth here. We must repent in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, and repentance begins with a change of attitude.

    In order to have any kind of meaningful relationship with God we must first humble ourselves. "Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar" (Ps. 138:6). "But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, And who trembles at My word" (Isa. 66:2). In order to have a relationship with God we must first recognize Who He is: God Almighty, the eternal, self-existent Creator of heaven and earth. And as for ourselves, we are mere creatures of the dust, here today and gone tomorrow. Thus what is in view here is a relationship between two parties that are vastly unequal to each other – a relationship between the infinite and the finite, between the Creator and the created thing. We must bow before Him in awestruck wonder.

    What Jesus is pointing to in the first beatitude is a basic fact of human psychology. We keeps up modern westerners from a meaningful relationship with God is our own pride and self-sufficiency. We are unwilling to acknowledge our weakness and dependence on Him. And so we go our way and He goes His. This is why our churches are spiritually dead. This is why our "religion" is a sham. This is why we have not experienced a general revival is well over a century and a half. We play at Christianity the way a cat plays with a mouse. We don't take our faith very seriously.

    Does this mean that religion, in the true sense of the word, is only for weak-minded people, the "opiate of the people" as Karl Marx so famously put it – people who are too stupid and naïve to realize that they don't need God? Hardly. Rather, it is the arrogant scoffers who are being stupid, for they forget one thing: eventually we must all die. And then what?

    "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

    
 

    

 

The Message of Jesus

Christendom is divided into a multitude of warring sects and denominations. It seems that Christians have a hard time agreeing on much of anything. It is also true, sad to say, that down through the ages these denominational differences have sometimes spilled over into outright violence. Critics have pointed to these undeniable facts as evidence that God is unknowable and religion is a farce.

    There is a sense, however, in which all of this is beside the point. The real question is, what did Jesus Himself teach and say? And what relevance does His teaching have for us today in the Twenty First century.

    One of the earliest summaries we have of Jesus' teaching, based at least in part in the apostle Peter's personal recollection, is found in the Gospel According to Mark. In Mark 1:14,15 we are told that Jesus came to Galilee, a district in northern Palestine, "preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.'" (NKJV).

    Jesus' listeners would have understood what He was saying. For centuries Israelite prophets had been predicting a time when a supernatural figure, the "Messiah," or anointed One, would reign over the earth in an era of universal justice and peace. As early as 735 B.C. the prophet Isaiah foretold a time in which nations "shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isa. 2:4).

    Human life, as we experience it now, is filled with pain and sorrow. We know sickness, injury and death. We also know the cruelty and injustice that human beings inflict on each other. This raises a nagging question: is this all there is? Are we doomed to an endless cycle of evil and death?

    The problem becomes ever more acute if we view it from the standpoint of monotheism. If the world was created by a single, all-powerful intelligent Being, then why is there evil in the world? How could God allow such a thing to happen? The Bible partly answers this question by tying our physical suffering to our moral condition – we die ultimately because we sin. Death is God's just judgment on a fallen and sinful human race. And sin is a decision that we make; we can blame no one but ourselves for our predicament.

    But does that mean that creation is in a permanent state of ruin? Did evil achieve the final victory over good?

    The biblical answer is the kingdom of God – the Messianic age in the future. History is headed toward a final showdown in which good finally triumphs over evil and the earth is restored to its original state of peace and righteousness. God is sovereign and His will will ultimately prevail.

    But how will this perfect state be brought about? The answer is shattering. The prophets described an apocalyptic event called "the Day of the Lord" – a moment in history in which God Himself will come to judge the world. "The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and terrible; Who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11).

    All of which brings us to our present situation. What does all of this mean for us today? The answer is, we need to repent. Joel goes on to say, "'Now therefore,' says the Lord, 'Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning.' So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm" (vv. 12,13). We cannot "enter" or "inherit" the kingdom of God in our present state of sin and degradation. We must repent of our sin and experience an inward moral renovation before we can enter the kingdom.

    Jesus announced that "the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (lit. "has come near" – Mk. 1:15). The time to repent is now.

It is noteworthy that Jesus did not come preaching toleration and multiculturalism. He did not preach "the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man." What He preached, quite bluntly, was repentance. We must change, or we are doomed.