3/31/15

Jesus Seminar: No Hidden Agenda by Trevor Major, M.Sc., M.A.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=602

Jesus Seminar: No Hidden Agenda

by Trevor Major, M.Sc., M.A.

The Five Gospels (Funk, et al., 1993) is not your mother’s Bible. It is a reference work summarizing the present conclusions of Fellows of the Jesus Seminar. The authors wish you to know, from the very beginning, that this book is not the Gospel for conservative Christianity. They appear to sneer at translations “made by academics and endorsed by church boards” (p. xiv). They state that their translation, the Scholars Version, “is free of ecclesiastical and religious control” (p. xviii). Indeed, as its name intends to convey, this is a work “authorized by scholars.” By implication, other versions are suspect because their respective translators allowed their beliefs, or the constraints of church politics, to influence their work.
Of course, anyone who has studied the history of translations acknowledges this potential bias, and compensates accordingly. The Five Gospels is no less deserving of careful consideration. For all its claims to objectivity, Bible students also must consider the translation biases of this new Gospel account [see feature article].
However, these biases go beyond a higher critical approach to translation. The authors make it known that their work upholds the naturalistic world view. They dedicate the book to Galileo Galilei “who altered our view of the heavens forever,” to Thomas Jefferson “who took scissors and paste to the gospels,” and David Friedrich Strauss “who pioneered the quest of the historical Jesus.” They use Galileo and Scopes to perpetuate the tired and questionable conflict metaphor of science versus faith (see Major, 1994). In their assessment,
The contemporary religious controversy, epitomized in the Scopes trial and the continuing clamor for creationism as a viable alternative to the theory of evolution, turns on whether the worldview reflected in the Bible can be carried forward into this scientific age and retained as an article of faith. Jesus figures prominently in this debate. The Christ of creed and dogma, who had been firmly in place in the Middle Ages, can no longer command the assent of those who have seen the heavens through Galileo’s telescope (p. 2).
In other words, if we give up a literal Creator, then we also should give up divine inspiration and a miracle-performing, risen Christ. Clearly, their mission is to constrain biblical history by empirical science, just as evolutionists have attempted to constrain natural history by empirical science. However, this changes neither the deliberate bias of naturalism against non-naturalistic answers, nor the obvious limitations of empirical science.

REFERENCES

Funk, Robert W., Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar (1993), The Five Gospels—The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus (New York: Macmillan).
Major, Trevor (1994), “Is Creation Science?,” Reason & Revelation, 14:17-23, March.

From Mark Copeland... "THE CHRISTIAN HOME AND FAMILY" The Duties Of Parents


                    "THE CHRISTIAN HOME AND FAMILY"

                         The Duties Of Parents

INTRODUCTION

1. Marriage as a sacred institution joins together a man and a woman   ...
   a. As husband and wife in holy matrimony
   b. Each with their God-given duties to one another

2. We’ve considered the duties of husbands, who are commanded to...
   a. Love their wives
   b. Respect their wives
   c. Support their wives

3. We’ve considered the duties of wives, who are commanded to...
   a. Submit to their husbands
   b. Love their husbands
   c. Manage the home

[God’s purpose for marriage is to create families in which children have
the benefit of parents who provide the best upbringing possible.  For
this to occur, parents must fulfill their duties...]

I. THE DUTIES OF FATHERS

   A. PROVIDE LIFE’S NECESSITIES...
      1. Parents ought to provide for their children - 2Co 12:14
      2. A man who fails to do so for his family is worse than an
         infidel - 1Ti 5:8

   B. DO NOT PROVOKE CHILDREN TO WRATH...
      1. This admonition found twice in the Scriptures - Ep 6:4; Col 3:21
      2. By unreasonable commands; by needless severity; by the
         manifestation of anger - Barnes
      3. Lest by your continually finding fault with them, they should
         lose all courage, and despair of ever pleasing you - ibid.

   C. PROVIDE SPIRITUAL TRAINING...
      1. In the training (discipline, ESV) and admonition (instruction,
         ESV) of the Lord - Ep 6:4
      2. Training by way of instruction - e.g., Deut 6:6-7; 32:46; Ps 78:4-6
         a. Note that the Word must first be in the father’s heart
         b. Then the father can lead his family like Joshua led his
            family - cf. Jos 24:14-15
      3. Training by way of example - considering the following:  When
         the father is an active believer, there is about a seventy-five
         percent likelihood that the children will also become active
         believers. But if only the mother is a believer, this
         likelihood is dramatically reduced to fifteen percent. - Keith
         Meyering, Discipleship Journal, #49, p.41

   D. PROVIDE LOVING DISCIPLINE...
      1. Even as our heavenly Father disciplines His children - He 12:6-10
      2. Even though it may be unpleasant at times - He 12:11; cf. Pr 13:24

[From the duties of fathers, let’s now move on to...]

II. THE DUTIES OF MOTHERS

   A. LOVE THEIR CHILDREN...
      1. As older women were to admonish younger women - Tit 2:4
      2. For sin can lead to a lack of proper affection - Ro 1:31
      3. Tragically, more than 200 women kill their children in the
         United States each year - American Anthropological Association

   B. MANAGE THEIR HOUSEHOLDS...
      1. A primary responsibility of the wife and mother - Tit 2:5; 1Ti 5:14
      2. An important quality of the virtuous woman - Pr 31:10-31
      3. The most creative job in the world involves fashion,
         decorating, recreation, education, transportation, psychology,
         romance, cuisine, literature, art, economics, government,
         pediatrics, geriatrics, entertainment, maintenance, purchasing,
         law, religion, energy and management. Anyone who can handle all
         those has to be somebody special. She is. She’s a homemaker.
         - Richard Kerr quoted in Homemade, Feb. 1989

   C. PROVIDE SPIRITUAL TRAINING...
      1. Especially when male leadership is lacking
      2. As seen in the case of Timothy
         a. His mother was a Jew, his father a Greek - Ac 16:1
         b. Perhaps contributing to Timothy not being circumcised - cf.Ac 16:3
         c. But Timothy had become a disciple, well spoken of - Ac 16:2
         d. His faith positively influenced by his grandmother and
            mother - cf.  2Ti 1:5
      3. Too often, fathers neglect spiritual training, leaving mothers
         to pick up the slack

CONCLUSION

1. Blessed are the homes in which...
   a. Fathers fulfill their duties as Christian men
   b. Mothers fulfill their duties as Christian women

2. No home is perfect, and as fathers and mothers we often fall short...
   a. But with God’s grace and mercy, let us do the best we can
   b. Let us give our children the guidance that they may succeed where
      we have failed

Finally, some food for thought:  Seven Ways To Impact Your Child’s Faith

1. Model a growing and personal faith. [If they don’t see it, they won’t catch it.]

2. Include faith in normal conversations.

3. Be well-rounded. [Don’t compartmentalize your faith.]

4. Be authentic.

5. Serve together

6. Pray for your children and with them.

7. Learn and communicate love in their language.

                                -- The Relaxed Parent by Tim Smith

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

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From Gary... Choice, decision and consequences


You are responsible for what you do; while it is true that situations or people may influence you, ultimately you must bear the consequences for the decisions that you make. And the decisions you make are based on choices, plain and simple!!!  A good example of this is found in the book of Joshua...


Joshua, Chapter 7 (WEB)

The Choice to Sin

 1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel. 

The Disaster of Sin

 4 So about three thousand men of the people went up there, and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 The men of Ai struck about thirty-six men of them, and they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and struck them at the descent. The hearts of the people melted, and became like water. 6 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.  7 Joshua said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? I wish that we had been content and lived beyond the Jordan!  8 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after that Israel has turned their backs before their enemies!  9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?” 

The Revelation of Sin

  13  “Get up! Sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, for Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, “There is a devoted thing in your midst, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted thing from among you.” 

  14  “‘In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. It shall be that the tribe which Yahweh selects shall come near by families. The family which Yahweh selects shall come near by households. The household which Yahweh selects shall come near man by man.  15 It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of Yahweh, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’” 

  16  So Joshua rose up early in the morning and brought Israel near by their tribes. The tribe of Judah was selected.  17 He brought near the family of Judah; and he selected the family of the Zerahites. He brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was selected.  18 He brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.  19 Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done! Don’t hide it from me!” 

  20  Achan answered Joshua, and said, “I have truly sinned against Yahweh, the God of Israel, and this is what I have done.  21 When I saw among the plunder a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver under it.” 

  22  So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. Behold, it was hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.  23 They took them from the middle of the tent, and brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel. They laid them down before Yahweh.

The Penalty for Sin

24 Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his cattle, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor.  25 Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you this day.” All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.  26 They raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Yahweh turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called “The valley of Achor” to this day.


Sin is nothing less that departure from the will of God. Achan's choice let to Achan's sin and Achan's sin led to the death of 36 people. Both Achan and his family were executed for this and while this may sound severe, remember 36 people died.  

Truth: we pay for the decisions we make. Achan realized his sin, but he still had to accept the consequences for his actions!!!  We do as well!!!! 

The choices you make are yours, accept the responsibility for them. DON'T PLAY THE BLAME-GAME!!!  Do yourself a favor- read and reread the graphic (you ultimately will be glad you did)!!!