December 05, 2005
ESV
So I switched to the ESV translation of the Bible. Picked up my first burgandy bonded leather red-letter version today, it's only immediate draw back was the color but the store I went to, didn't have any other colors. :( You can thank partial influence from Matt Heerema (http://www.mattandnancy.org/) but also from a staff meeting we had last Tuesday with regard to calendar stuff, but we got off on a tagent discussing the merits of ESV versus NIV and NAS.
Two things while reading this afternooon caught my attention: "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matthew 6:24 ESV) But it had an attached footnote, "Greek mammon, a Semitic word for money or possessions." [NIV lacks the footnote, though the meaning can be derived from context.] (This is one of the formative life changing versus that God hit me over the head with.)
"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28-30 ESV) I loved the word 'arrayed'. It made me smile and think of "int alpha[26][26]" or something of that nature.
From our brief staff discussion, ESV is more literal like NAS, but easier to read, and does a better job than NIV or NAS at preserving the original intent of the author with regard to literature and stylistic writing. So, in some ways, it does read more artsey, but has been good. I'm hoping to finish Matthew today.
But in a lot of the well known versus in NIV, ESV has read almost identical [for what I have read so far]. I've not been bumped by switching translations, yet, though I am assuming (based on discussion) the prophets, psalms and proverbs might pose an interesting challenge since they are not narratives like the Gospels. The Epistiles should be interesting too. I wonder how Ephesians (my favorite book) will come out as?
And for those who are dying to know:
Favorite Book: Ephesians
Favorite Chapter: John 17
Favorite Verse: Genesis 2:18
:)
Posted by mtriley at 01:09 PM | Comments (4)
November 13, 2005
Responce to Comments on Tithe
Here's my overall responce to the comments regarding my post on Tithe: (http://www.notourhome.com/riley/archives/2005/11/tithe.html)
At initial glace of the comments, my over all question wasn't really confirmed or denied. I agree when those commenting state we can't excercise authority over and we must exercise patience with growth and God's conviction (or lack thereof) in the saints.
But my overall question, is 10% gross income as a matter of Tithe an enforceable standard? Aka, can you tell someone they are living in sin if they are not tithing?
The message I'm getting from some of our Elders, is no to that question, though I am not understanding why. And I agree with Tony about Abraham's example to the Christ arch-type, but I was told recently, examples pre-dating the Mosaic Covenant, don't necessarly mean they are to be followed as command now.
To rephrase: Is telling someone murder is wrong and they are in sin to do so, at par with a base standard of generosity as defined by 10% of gross income? (To illustrate my question by being absurd.)
Which then brought me to another question. If someone told you they were planning on murdering someone, how far would you go to actually stop that sin from being committed? This being an absurd example, but illustrates my point: Where is the line of no action where we allow someone the choice to sin and take no deliberate action (which will seem against them) to prevent them from sinning? What criteria is used?
Do you see what I am driving at? In the murder case we'll do what ever we can to prevent that sin? So why don't we do this with all sins? If not to be done for all sins, where's the line?
Aside from desiring to dialong on the matter of Tithing as an enforceable Biblical standard, (or the practicle means of working out the command to be generous), I also want to call to attention that part of the Great Commission is to "teach them [new converts/disciples] all that I [Christ] have commanded you." So for me, this issue has brought up a deep issue that I'm still processing on about the 'core' truths that must be tought and enforced. And that brings up another question, what means of enforcement is appropiate?
The example of the Psalmist, though he was a King, said something to me about putting up with sin in others, "I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me" (v3) "Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure" (v5) "No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence. Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD." (v7,8) [Pslam 101 NIV]
I'm not sure what example here, if any, should be followed or how that should play out.
As before, comments, insights or questions are appreciated. :)
Posted by mtriley at 03:57 PM | Comments (9)
November 10, 2005
Tithe
23:44, I should be heading to bed. But I feel the urge to rant! Well, at least share my peace and thought process. I am hoping some of you intellectuals out there will take some time to dialog with me on this subject of the Tithe. Maybe I have theological mis-understanding or I'm just ignorant -- what do you think? {Maybe writing out what I think will help clarify things... well, take a moment and pray!)
There are few topics I love, Tithing is one of them. I'll paint the picture...
While serving as Stonebrook's Finance Overseer, I was charged with the task of informing various leaders that giving is down compared to last year and that we could be looking at upto $45,800 in budget cuts. In my e-mail I made the following comment, "However, church attendance is up. In my opinion, we need to be praying and challenging people to be faithful in giving/tithing."
So, later in the day, one of the leaders says to me, "You know tithing isn't commanded right?" I affirmed this statement (though I don't agree with it, I know our Pastor's would) and this person added, "You seem to always be concerned about the tithe" and we battered back and forth about what I actually said. Well I toned it down, challenging (not commanding) people to be faithful in 'giving/tithing'. (I used the word giving....) And we talked briefly how giving is a reflection of the heart. The leader wanted us to be sure to be teaching that, the heart matter. Which is fine and any time the Pastor's teach on it, the heart matter is always first. [Rightfully so, I might add.]
So in the New Covenant, sealed by Christ's blood, am I not to Tithe? The command was never explicitly repeated right? Hmmm... I wonder....
This really bugs me. I can't command someone to tithe. "O really?", I ask myself. So before I go off into a theological proof, (or at least in my mind it's a proof), let me share a brief back ground of myself.
Background: I've been serving in a financial/money management role for The Rock since Spring of 2000. I've been working for Stonebrook since Spring of 2002. Add that all up, I've been dealing with money related matters for the Kingdom of God for five years. The only reason I can say, at my age, I can do my job, is because the first three years serving The Rock, God pounded into me a heart about money, the Kingdom and stewardship that was directly from His hand. I recall those first few years, they were tough as God pounded, banged and beat on my heart into submission so that I could be in a position to do my job now. Hense forth, on this topic, I will admit, I'm a little fanatical. (Ask me more later if you want me to fill in more detail.)
Theological Reasoning #1:
This thought is rather new. I've got another line of reasoning, but this one came to me tonight, so I thought I would elaborate on it first.
Can anyone think of any moral law stated under the Old Covenant not explicitly repeated or strengthed in the New Covenant? I might be missing something, but I cannot think of one. In fact, Christ seemed to go the extra mile in making matters worse for the sinner. Adultry is the most noteable. Old Covenant law was "Do not Commit Adultry" (Duet. 5:18) Christ took it to the nth degree by saying, "Do not look lustfully" because when you do you are committing adultry in the heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)
Roughly speaking:
**Old Covenant - actions
**New Covenant - heart, motive and actions.
To take this a step further, if God's character is un-changing, then doesn't that mean the standard for right and wrong didn't change between Covenants? And this is the value of the Old Testament. To peer into the moral understanding of the law... (topic for another time.)
Is Tithing moral?
If yes, then it can't be revoked on a change of covenants for that violates the notion that God is unchanging in His character. Thus we can command poeple to Tithe.
If not, then we can't command people to tithe, or it might mean something else and not directly imply I cannot command people to tithe.
Actually this line of reasoning brought up a broader question, "Is choosing to or not to follow God a matter of moral choice or is it simply free choice devoid of moral consequences, just as picking chocolate over vanilla ice cream?"
If it is moral to follow God, wouldn't that imply my responce in following Him has moral implications?
If I'm making any sense, then I think you will see where I'm going. If not, then maybe I'm on the wrong track or not making sense at all.
Theological Reasoning #2:
This proof I rather prefer. Seems more strait forward, at least to me. Hopefully someone will illustrate where I'm off. (You might be wondering why I'm taking that stance, but it's hard to argue with an Elder who agrees that we cannot command to Tithe, so I want to be cautious in presenting a line of reasoning.) [But as you can tell, or will shortly, based upon my understanding of Scripture, I don't see how we can't command the Tithe.]
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share." (I Timothy 6:17-18 NIV)
What standard of generosity should I use? 1% of gross income? 5%? 10%? $1, or maybe $100? Or is it $1,000,000?
If you take any class in appropiate Biblical interpretation, you would learn not to pull from extra-Biblical sources for a means of interpretation. So I'm forced to look at the Bible, the examples and other passages where it is clear about what it means to be generous.
So I'll turn to my favorite example. Please read Genesis 28.
Aside from the fact this example pre-dates Levitical Law, what is bare responce to an understanding of God's presence?
1) Fear (v17)
2) Alter (v18)
3) Vow (v20-22)
4) (as part of the vow) Tithe. (v22)
Levitical Law commanded the Tithe. So how in good conscience can we look at the command "Command them to be, ..., generous" and let it mean anything less than Tithe? The bare responce to God, for who He is, was to Tithe. Abraham did it, Jacob did it, why in the world would I not do like wise? Is Abraham not heralded as an exmple in Hebrews 11? {I'm making the point this isn't an example like David and Bathseeba that is a negative example. A negative example being one not meant to be followed but learned from.)
I suppose you could make the case that I Timothy 6:17-18 is solely addressing rich people. But that is so shaky (and seems to be poor exegesis in light of the context of the passage). Well, we can look to other commands of generosity. But needless to say, if you are living in America, even if you are dirt poor, you are most definitely, compared to the rest of the world, "rich in this world."
Hopefully I've provided enough material to outline my train of thought and reasoning without needing to do an indepth proof.
Let me know what you think.
-MTR
Posted by mtriley at 11:52 PM | Comments (11)
October 03, 2005
Trusting God with Marriage
Encounter 2005 was very good this year. I particularly enjoyed the Q/A time at the end. I thought it addressed real issues and heart felt needs. During the Q/A time, I watched an exchange of thoughts between Tim and Nathan that I thought was interesting.
Tim was saying that if we can trust the Lord with our Salvation, something dealing with our soul, unseen and quite significant, then we should be able to trust Him with our future spouse. Saying that we need not get worried, anxious or fret the decision. Nathan basically said, "That sounds fine in theory, but how do you actually go about that."
I thought I would elaborate on Nathan's question....
In one sense, I think trusting the Lord for salvation is quite a bit easier. I can say this for one primary reason: I have a Bible, I have a verse, I have a promise. For example: "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NIV) "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:15 NIV)
Having read the Bible at least four times cover to cover, I can quite safely say that no verse exists that says, "Joe Smith [or any one at Encounter] will be married on such and such a date."
I think this is the heart of Nathan's question. On what basis do I form the trust? I was pondering that question this morning. I think at this point, lacking a clear and direct promise, the trust placed in the Lord is based upon experiential trust. But if there was thing pointed out in the questions asked about pain and later about marriage, the one thing that seems the most damaged to me in the hearts/minds of the saints at Encounter, was the experiential trust people have in the Lord.
And in my understanding of what was said during the Q/A, the older/wiser and longer we stay with the Lord, the more we know His goodness but that also means [in my thinking], the longer it takes us to actually form that experiential trust.
So the real question I think should be, "How do I trust God with my marriage (something close and dear to my heart) when I have no direct promise that it will happen? On what basis is the trust formed, what do I do when things look like my trust has been violated?"
I have more thoughts on the matter, but time presses me to get to work. :( Needless to say, I think some of Pat's thoughts about having incorrect expectation apply. But I am interested how we do actually bridge the 'theory gap' here, as Nathan called it.
Posted by mtriley at 06:31 AM | Comments (7)
August 29, 2005
Free Time
Free time. I've been thinking about my free time. Actually the lack there of. I'm trying to stay encouraged and at the task of doing all that God wants me to be doing. So, my free time has been on my mind. What do I do? What is the best thing for me to do? How should I be spending my time? ......
So after some reflection, it occurred to me. Nothing new. But I've been reminding myself of it for quite some time so that I don't get bugged by the lack of 'free' time.
Because, in reality, time isn't free. (It's a constant trade.) When is time free? God ordained our days before they were created and since when was my life, my own? And really, is there ever a point in life, (as an adult) when you are devoid of any and all responsibility and obligation? Not in my thinking. It only seems to increase as you get older. So, there's no free time. It's an illusian created by not knowing what is the best thing to be doing. Now don't get me wrong. There is a place for resting (Sabbath), recreation and other activities we associate with 'free' time, but make no mistake, free time really isn't real, just an illusion.
On top of this, for those who are in Christ, you are now His. You are, as Roman's put's it, a slave to righteousness. What time we think is free, was bought at a very high price. Be darn sure you are using it wisely and to His ultimate benefit and glory.
So in my opinion, if you feel you have a lot of 'free' time, call it discretionary time. Make sure your responsibilties and obligations are fulfilled. Then serve the Body of Christ in any way possible. :)
Posted by mtriley at 12:27 PM | Comments (4)
August 23, 2005
Remember to Pray....
"Remember to Pray" has been a phrase that has haunted me. It's been written on our white board at home. Somone drew up a lesson on "Identity with God" and remembering to pray was one of the things.
This really irked me. Remembering to pray....
Not to insult anyone, but in my opinion, failing to remember to pray leads me to two possible conclusions.
1) People who fail to remember to pray are actually so un-involved in Kingdom development, advancment and growth that they don't need to pray.
Conversely, those who are meaningfully engaged in the Lord's work, do not need to remember to pray, it comes out naturally. You are at such a point in your task/life mission/calling that you realize instinctively (like breathing) that without prayer, the work can't be done or would fail. So if you think you are involved in the Lord's work but are forgetting to pray, I'd say you are deceived or idle or about stuff that is actually not important or not making an eternal difference.
2) People who fail to remember to pray are so filled with pride and self-reliance they feel (either cognitively or sub-consciencely) that prayer isn't important.
Just some thoughts on a little rant of mine.....
Prayer is like breathing, don't forget to do it!
Posted by mtriley at 07:57 PM | Comments (6)
November 22, 2004
Don't Care?
A friend of mine wrote on his blog a feeling or symptom I think we all suffer from time to time. In fact, reading it this morning, I was struck again by the emotion of it all. He was much better at words, so I’ll quote, “On a brighter note, this week sucks. No motivation. I'm really starting to not care anymore. Pry a bad time of the year for me to develop that attitude, ey? But hey, if I don't care, then I'm not affected by the disappointment, and I can just continue to exist, right? Sleep is comforting. Sleep is just about the best use of my time anymore. Sleep is a great escape.”
I know from time to time we all feel as if we don’t care. But do we stop to think about why that is? Why is it that I get to a point that I don’t care? Or are you simply willing to go on not caring until something magical or something new happens to suddenly make you care?
There are times in my life where I simply didn’t care. When I look back at those times and even now consider some frustration in my life, I have begun to realize several common threads. I have put this entry in the theological section of my blog because I think Christianity offers real answers to the question, “Why don’t I care?” or “Why does life suck?”
But before I talk about some Christian answer, let’s look into the heart. I can only offer mine at this point, but if you feel you have something to add, please leave a comment.
When I have felt like I don’t care it is usually a result of a few things going on in my life. In particular regard to classes, I was usually in a class where I hated doing the work or didn’t see the point of it. That is my first point:
#1) You start not to care when you loose sight of what it is you are doing and why.
This question raises several others. Why is it that I am doing what am I doing? Is there any point to what I am doing? Is what I am doing really satisfying and how do I know that it is?
I think the heart of it is that we want to be satisfied. My friend commented that he wasn’t satisfied. In life, I too have been completely unstatisfied to the point of frustration. Are you unsatisfied now?
Considering point one, I think it raises the deeper questions of, “What is it in life that I am really living for and what is it out of life that I really expect to gain?” Thus point two:
#2) You srart not to care when you are unable to connect what it is you are doing to what it is in life that you are living for and or striving to gain.
Before I go any further, because you are either going to hate my answer or love it, I want to make one thing clear. I don’t care much for the answer either. In fact, I think, in the depths of my heart, I really hate it too. So I want to make it clear, I am not only speaking to you out there who doesn’t care but also to myself.
For those who are not Christians. I belive you are on your own. I was there at one point in my life. I used to be an atheist running after certain life goals. And as I look back (and in the depths of my own heart) at them, I see constant striving to remove pain, burden and strife out of my life. I think to get out of the cycle of not caring you must be able to clearly express what it is you are living for and be able to clearly connect what it is you are living for to what it is you are currently doing. If you can’t, then I would consider doing something else or start by cleary expressing what it is you want to do with life.
But I feel it necessary to point out several things about life that the Christian must keep in full view and for the non-Christian to be watchful off. That is there are things in life that you must accept. Those things you can’t change nor can you prevent. They may even completely prevent you from fulfiling what it is in life you want to gain, and that is simply life. It’s not fair, and making it so, I belive is just as fruitless as attempting to make it your life goal to be something that can’t be done; like preventing the earth from rotating. I’ll offer some illustrations in my own life:
Several of my life gains were to have deep friendships, a wife and a close father. However:
1) I couldn’t help the fact that my peers (schoolmates) didn’t want anything to do with me.
2) I couldn’t stop them from taking every opportunity to make fun of me, tease me or ridicule me.
3) I couldn’t make people like me.
4) There was nothing I oculd have done to make a girl like me despite all the negative peer pressure/ridicule that was upon my life.
5) I was in no way able to prevent the cancer that showed up in my dad in 1992 and later came back to take his life in 1997. [I was 17 at the time. {Jr. in HS}]
Subtle to all of this is another point:
#3) You must be able to define a life end that is safe from the attacks and threats of others or circumstance.
Otherwise, I believe you’ll start down a road of pain, bitterness and eventually hatred. Though, if you are able to derive a life goal that is devoid of the pitfalls of life, please let me know. I’d be most interested in hearing what it is you have to say. {I later thought of self-actualization as a goal as I was revising this entry, but that too I think can be thwarted by a mental illness.}
This is at the point that I belive Christianity offers real answers to the problem our discussion begins raise.
If you logically follow where this dicussion leads, you will realize you need a life end that transends this world, circumstance and potentially all the bad things that can happen. Sure you can get lucky in life and things work out. But I’ll assert that a life that relys on that and actually suceeds, is a rarity and for the common person, not achieveable.
The ‘duh’ answer is that Jesus Christ transends this life and is the one we must put our hope in. I’ll spare you the cheesy Christian pat answers here. I want to focus on some spiritual truths to help the Christian in times when they are not feeling as if they care anymore about life or what it is they are doing. (And yes, I have been there myself.)
I also think it is important to point out right now, that I personally believe, from what I have seen growing up and now as a person involved in this Christian thing full time, that apathy is one of the greatest evils our world faces and is the greatest pain causer man has ever invented. (Why I belive this is for another discussion.)
To the Christian, the one who has accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior who trusts in His divine work to bridge the gap between man and God and who hopes in His second coming and knows that He wants more than religious duty, but rather a deep relationship:
When you don’t care, you must ask yourself what it is you are living for? Are you genuinely living for the things of God or have you placed something else in the way that is ultimately unsatisfying?
When I look at my life, the times where I begin not to care, the times where I get down right frustrated at life, I see a constant stiving towards something that isn’t found in the Lord. So I’ll speak from experience.
I have come to realize that my biggest Christian hangup, the thing that constantly keeps me from purusing and connecting with the Living God is a constant strife to avoid pain, difficulty and to achieve satisfaction. (What is your constant stive that pulls you away from Him?)
You see, my aim in life prior to being a Christian was to be as perfect as possible as soon as possible. So now, as a Christian I’m bugged by the fact that I’m not perfect. Thankfully God brought John Meyer to this last weekend’s GCLI and things in this Christian life are starting to make a little more sense.
There are several spirtual truths I want to bring to bear on this “don’t care” mentality that can easily plague us. (You see, my frustration, in the end, leads to not caring. Your’s will too, if you let it.) We need to remind ourselves of these to help end the cycle of not caring or apathy.
The first truth is that Christ did not promise satisfaction in this life. We are not promised that things will go well, that God will bless us (in ways that we may want to define {this is a tricky point so if you are confused by what I mean, ask}). In fact we are promised the exact opposite: Paul the Apostle encouraged the saints in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch with this truth, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-23 NIV) “Endure hardship as disciple for God is treating you like sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” (Hebrews 12:7 NIV) Christ said the world will hate us. (John 15:18-24)
When we get our eyes off of Him, carrying the cross and focused on what it is that will please or satisfy us, is what in the end will lead to frustration and then a general attitude of not carrying or apathy.
I’m still learning what this means in application but I do know that if we don’t take the higher ground, the more difficult path to find satisfaction in the Lord, we will always end up disappointed.
John Meyer talked about the placing our hope in the second coming of Christ. You see, things in this life, are broken. I belive much of my deeper sense of tension is a result of an internal realization that things are not right and my drive to fix everything. You see, we are not saved in the sense that life will make sence and things will all work out. I could list many examples from the lives of the saints to demonstrate this or you could turn to your Bible and read about the lives of the first myarters.
We are saved from our sinful nature. We are no longer slaves to our flesh. We are new creations (endwelled by the Holy Spirit), with some old baggage still but that will eventually be removed. Thus we are also saved to a new kingdom. An eternal kingdom. A kingdom where all the problems are fixed. John hit this point well, we are saved to something new. A time when every knee will bow and tounge confess that Christ is Lord. A time when all wrongs are corrected, all hurts healed all dissapointment turned into satisfaction. But it is not in this life. I’ll write more on this topic when I understand it to a greater degree.
The overall point is this: If you don’t care you are attempting to find, either directly or subtly in the depths of your heart satisfaction in something that isn’t of God or in the Lord. You must therefore learn, as I am starting to as well, learn to find satisfaction in Him and hope in the second coming of the Kingdom where all things will be made right.
Upon third review of this entry, I was thinking of the college graduate or the person who feels stuck in the rut of life. It’s easy to get hung there and feel dissatisfied and start not to care about work. This too I think is a loss of sight of what we are to be living for. We are not to live for the work, but the people at the work. We don’t live for the money, but for the opportunity to give that money to build the Kingdom. We are not interested in chugging out eight or more hours of productive work for some company that in the end will burn, but chug out eight hours of glorious service to our King on High for the opportunity to advance His Kingdom in our midst and/or through the finances he bestows upon us to be faithful with. I’ll add though, if you feel as if you go to work and keep wishing you were doing more on the mission field, I would consider full time staff. Just remember, it isn’t easier nor better than the full time job.
P.S. After the 4th revision, I realized that I never said why I don’t care for the Christain answer. Put simply, I want things fixed now and it irks the heck out of me that they aren’t or cannot be fixed in this life.
Posted by mtriley at 11:03 AM | Comments (2)