What the Bible Says Wk 2 - Genesis, Nature, and Sodom

Is there a difference in Original and Natural?

We are called to Rightly Divide the Word of Truth –
2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Original is defined as –
belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to
a thing at its beginning.

Genesis Story of Adam and Eve
Genesis 2 – creation of Adam and Eve
• Helpmeets
• Naked
• Affirms need for relationship.
• To use as evidence of Sinfulness of gay/lesbian relationships
would also have to admit the sinfulness of those not married.
• God had introduced all creation before to see if there would
be a connection.
• Eve created because Adam was lonely, not for procreation.
• Original formulation is no longer valid as sin and brokenness
has entered the world.
• Actually, two creation stories.

Natural is defined as –
being such by nature; born such or in conformity with the ordinary
course of nature; not unusual or exceptional.

Nature in the Greek is Physis and is used to speak of what is normal.
The physin part which was translated to mean “natural” can actually have numerous meanings. Paul himself used this word to describe several different subject matters including: Jews by birth, those who are physically uncircumcised and those who instinctively do what the law requires.

Additionally, the same word, physin, is used to say that “beings by nature (physei) are not gods,” and in Paul’s question “Does not nature (physis) itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him?”

2 Peter 1:4
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Ephesians 2:3
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Galatians 2:15
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles

Romans 2:14
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things
required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,

These passages show God using Paul to speak of what is normal for Jews, Gentiles and such. This is not a “natural law” in the sense that modern individuals would think. This is not going “organic,” or back to the original state of the world. This is concept is the concept of being true to who you are rather than being something you are not.

Romans 11:21
For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Romans 11:24
After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and
contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much
more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own
olive tree!

The last passage here of Romans 11:24 shows God acting
“contrary to nature,” in bringing the gentiles into the fold of faith.

Without this acting contrary to his original covenants gentiles
would not be included in the covenant of faith as Paul speak and
tries to bring two different communities with different “natures”
together.

Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 19:1-5
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2He said, ‘Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.’ They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the square.’ 3But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the
house; 5and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you
tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.’

• What are the chances 100% of the men were Gay.
• Angels are not human so this would be bestiality if sexual.
• Rape and sacred sex – supposed to bring superhuman powers.
• Yadha appears some 943 times in a nonsexual way. 10 times in a sexual way.
• Word that Gay sexual practice was Shakhabh. Mishkabh appears in Scripture and is used to refer to same sex practice.

Other Scripture says this:
Jeremiah 23:14
And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah."

Ezekiel 16:49-50
'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

Matthew 10:14-15
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Jude 1:7 implies sex with something besides humans.


Home Work: Find the difference between these two words in Hebrew and Greek. You will find two columns for the Hebrew. They can both be found in searches, depending on the source.
The Greek is the Septuagint – the ancient Greek translation of the Jewish Scriptures.

Anglized
Hebrew Hebrew Greek
1. tow`ebah Toevah bdelygma
2. zimah Zimmah Anomia

What Does the Bible Say? Notes Week 1

What does the Bible say about?

We are called to Rightly Divide the Word of Truth –

2 Timothy 2:15

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Voting –

Nothing Explicitly:

Matthew 22:21

"Then give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his."

1 Timothy 2:1-3

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

Drinking –

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Seize life! Eat bread with gusto,
Drink wine with a robust heart.
Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure!

Amos 9:14

I'll make everything right again for my people Israel:

"They'll rebuild their ruined cities.
They'll plant vineyards and drink good wine.
They'll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.

Proverbs 23:29-35

Who are the people who are always crying the blues?
Who do you know who reeks of self-pity?
Who keeps getting beat up for no reason at all?
Whose eyes are bleary and bloodshot?
It's those who spend the night with a bottle,
for whom drinking is serious business.
Don't judge wine by its label,
or its bouquet, or its full-bodied flavor.
Judge it rather by the hangover it leaves you with—
the splitting headache, the queasy stomach.
Do you really prefer seeing double,
with your speech all slurred,
Reeling and seasick,
drunk as a sailor?
"They hit me," you'll say, "but it didn't hurt;
they beat on me, but I didn't feel a thing.
When I'm sober enough to manage it,
bring me another drink!"

1 Corinthians 6:12

Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims.

Dating –

Nothing!

2 Corinthians 6:14-15

Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands?

Sex Before Marriage –

Nothing!

Ephesians 5:31

And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become "one flesh."

Patriotism –

Nothing specific, but!

Nehemiah 1:4

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.

Philippians 3:20

We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ

Money –

LOTS!

Luke 16:11

Jesus went on to make these comments:

If you're honest in small things,
you'll be honest in big things;
If you're a crook in small things,
you'll be a crook in big things.
If you're not honest in small jobs,
who will put you in charge of the store?
No worker can serve two bosses:
He'll either hate the first and love the second
Or adore the first and despise the second.
You can't serve both God and the Bank.

2. Proverbs 21:20 "Valuables are safe in a wise person's home;
fools put it all out for yard sales.“

2. Proverbs 21:20 "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has."

Rebellious Children–

Enough

Deuteronomy 21: 18 – 21

When a man has a stubborn son, a real rebel who won't do a thing his mother and father tell him, and even though they discipline him he still won't obey, his father and mother shall forcibly bring him before the leaders at the city gate and say to the city fathers, "This son of ours is a stubborn rebel; he won't listen to a thing we say. He's a glutton and a drunk."

Then all the men of the town are to throw rocks at him until he's dead. You will have purged the evil pollution from among you. All Israel will hear what's happened and be in awe.

Words and The Bible:

• Must look at the entire record to know what God means in all passages.
• There are 700,000 words in Greek, but only 5393 appear in the New Testament.
• There are 14,564 unique English Words in the Bible with English having over 1 Million Words.
• God would have used the words available rather than making up something new.
• Our interpretation has often been limited by our thinking that only the Biblical record could shed light on what is being said. When in fact, the biblical record is a subset of the words that were available – and is in fact, less than 1 percent of the words available to the writers of the Bible.

Original is defined as –

belonging or pertaining to the origin or beginning of something, or to a thing at its beginning.

Natural is defined as –

being such by nature; born such or in conformity with the ordinary course of nature; not unusual or exceptional.

Home work:

Find the use of the Word Nature in Scripture.

Hint look up the Greek word – Physis.

Where does God act Para Physis in the Bible and why?

Returning

Many have walked away from what they knew and needed to do to be successful. We chased quick wealth and easy money. We acted as though we could take all the benefit and are not give any credit to God for the good things we had received - and then promptly wasted. Look around you and look at the hard time people are having - they had no plan to address anything except their idea of perfection and live in greed. The story of the Prodigal Son has a lesson for us about this very issue. A lesson of returning to find what we need and getting what we really wanted all along.

In the story of the Prodigal son, the youngest asks for his inheritance while his father is still living, and goes off to a distant country where he "squandered his wealth in wild living." and eventually has to take work feeding pigs, which is a rock bottom for him as it causes embarrassment and makes him dirty. There he comes to his senses and decides to return home and throw himself on his father's mercy. Knowing that even being his father’s servant is still far better than feeding pigs. When he returns home, his father greets him with open arms and hardly gives him a chance to express his repentance. He kills a fatted calf to celebrate his return.

In the story, we see that the younger son had at least three things wrong in his mind. First, he disrespected his father by basically wishing him to die in asking for his inheritance. Yet that is not the focus of this week. The next two errors compound his insult by injury.

Those errors are taking the full benefit and not honoring God with the Tithe as expected. God has continued these expectations today because they are part of his over all economic process. They are processes to fight against greed and abuse by individuals while ensuring continuing prosperity for the person and whole society. The idea was and is that our behavior is a reflection of what we believe, feel, and want. The behaviors that reveal self-centeredness also reveal that if we strike tough times as the Prodigal did we are on our own. We are there because we are the ones who walked away from the promises and processes of God.

Yet, though we walk away and get in a tight spot God is not calloused to us. He will greet us and throw a party - we just have to return.

God does not care why you return - just that you return. Once you have, you will begin to find the grace and mercy that transforms. Your heart and motive transform with the new interaction, but it cannot be so until you return. Presence and process transform rather than truth.

This week will you return and see your worries and troubles disappear in the rearview mirror? My prayer is that you will return so you can find God giving what you do not deserve and redeeming you from what you do.

Cycling

“A senior leader in an investment bank called to tell me she was leaving her job. She realized she wouldn't make much money in the next few years and didn't want to miss her children growing up. Did you get that? She was willing to miss her children growing up if the money was good enough.” This quote by Steve Bregman shared this on CNN.com recently shows a lot of what we as a society think about life. Yet these, and other choices, are the very things that are robbing us of life with worry. We have become so stressed and strained that worship and resting in God is a distant memory – we have seen the glitter of what we thought was gold and yet it turned out to be fool’s gold.

While we may not be giving up our children’s childhood, we often do give up the peace and presence of God. We do so by chasing forever the next dollar, gadget, fashion, or whatever it is that strikes our newest fancy. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing about the process God uses to ensure prosperity that endures and transforms.

The first, is to partake in a day of Sabbath. This is a day of Worship and rest. Within the Jewish faith and some Christian traditions this is a particular day of the week – specifically Saturday (Seventh Day Sabbath). Historically, most Christians used to use Sunday (First Day Sabbath) as a day of Worship, rest and preparation. This concept transcends these faiths to Buddhism, Islam, Wicca, and others.

The whole point of each of these Sabbaths is to ensure that we acknowledge God’s ownership and creation of the world. They also are days to acknowledge the fact that we need a day of worship and rest to prepare for the world in which we live. We are created to work, but this day was created by God to ensure that we stopped the rat race of constant and frantic activity. The goal of the day is Worship, but also giving everyone a way and time where there are no rivalries and anxieties to keep our mind working, and taxed.

Our current rat race has led to destruction in confidence, care, and even compassion. It is time that we take a day and withdraw from the ongoing cares of the world so that we can redirect our efforts in ways that builds a sense of the sacred in everything we do. Ways of viewing the world in life affirming and powerful ways. It is time to embrace this discipline in our lives so that we can find rest and peace rather than conflict, stress and anxiety as we live currently.

This week, embrace a day of Sabbath. One you celebrate God in community and one that you do not fill with a bunch of other activities. Frantic entertainment is as unhealthy as frantic work. Sabbath can bring balance and teach us how it to make life livable and productive.

Cross Carrying

We love a winner! We have been taught in so many ways that winning is the only thing that matters. Hence we have all these sports heroes, politicians, even ourselves who will do whatever it takes to win, even if that means we sell our souls. Really, is winning worth whatever it costs? Can we change our attitudes to make winning something that comes from a life and process of integrity rather than to be bought with enhancing drugs, shortcuts. What would it mean to find victory by carrying the cross for Jesus rather than just showing up for the resurrection without any clue of what had happened?

We see in the passion narrative the following: “Along the way they came on a man from Cyrene named Simon and made him carry Jesus' cross.” Here we have a bystander that is pressed into service by the Roman Guards to serve someone who is about to die. He has children with him and yet he has to leave them as he carries the cross for a beaten and bleeding Jesus. He has little clue who this Jesus is since he comes from Libya and is just in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover on a pilgrimage. Oh he may have heard of him, but the fact remains he was not a follower and he had possibly some small information regarding Jesus based on the events of that week.

Why is it that someone who is not a follower is pressed into this service. Are those who claim to be so distant and uncommitted that they will not remain? Are they so concerned about themselves that they abandon what they claimed were their convictions and faith? Are they so short sighted as to not see that victory will come, but that they must endure difficulty to get there?

Simon becomes a Christ follower and his sons evangelists. Imagine how their first experience must have formed their views and passion for the one who died that they might live abundantly. These are not people who saw Jesus initially at the height of his ministry, or even traveled with him for a period of years, but that initial interaction forged in them a powerful way of being followers.

Imagine three days later when the tomb is empty and the women interact with Jesus and do not recognize him because they did not see New Life. Perhaps Simon of Cyrene was better able to see the possibility because he did not have the stake in the old way of thinking. He was not a fatalist, but rather a pragmatist who saw Jesus for who he said he was rather than what he could get out of him. His relationship was bound by the tragedy and miracle of crucifixion and resurrection. He did not see with tainted eyes, but eyes that were both compassionate and expectant – albeit at different times.

This week many Christians celebrated Easter. Resurrection though comes in many ways. The only question I have for you is: Must Jesus bear the cross alone? Will you be the new Simon of Cyrene proclaiming hope and new life to those around you?

Blessings,
Pastor Greg

Crucifying Hosannas!

Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord! These were the shouts of praise for Jesus entering Jerusalem. Yet these same voices would yell crucify, crucify! Why and how could they in such a short time turn from the one they saw as Messiah and seek to have him turned over and destroyed? There are several things that could have led them there, but mostly it boils down to he was not what they wanted him to be.

They expected a coming and conquering King that would destroy their enemies. They wanted someone with military might that would expel the Romans and end the humiliation that they felt at the hands of a people that were unclean. They wanted him to rise up and lead them in a rebellion that would transform the way that they lived. They wanted to be the ones who were the occupiers rather than the occupied. They wanted to be relieved and exact revenge.

Yet, his Kingdom was not what they expected. Far from needing an army with swords, chariots and infantry, he needed people with open hearts who were willing to let the Kingdom grow in their hearts and infect the whole of their lives. He was bringing them something far more powerful than a traditional army could deliver. He was bringing something that would bring the Kingdom across boundaries and borders so that humanity could build a community that bridged the divides of humanity to one.

That Kingdom was not what they wanted. Therefore, they turned on the one that had taught and loved them. The turned because they did not listen with pure ears, but rather with ears that heard what they wanted to hear. They heard the power and promise of his words, but did not hear his message. They could not hope to hear the truth for they did not wish to be set free. They wanted to become the prisoner with the keys to the kingdom. They wanted to find in his words something other than what he said

Now, Jesus is not the only one to be greeted with praise and then crucified by the same people in short order. We still do so today. We do it with anyone who steps forward to lead. Someone who steps forward will be greeted with the same effect in different people. Some will shout crucify. Some will slink away in fear. Others will stand silently afraid of standing up themselves. Some will take a stand and be treated in much the same way.

This week what kind of kingdom are you seeking? One where you serve or one where you are served? The first is of God the second is of sin. This week I pray that you find a way to be part of what God is doing rather than just being around what God is doing. If you do so, you will no longer be Crucifying Hosannas.

Do, or do not do. There is no Try.

“Do, or do not do. There is no try.” is what Yoda tells Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Yoda is in the saga that is Star Wars the preeminent mentor of young Jedi Knights. While it is easy to live in fantasy and fiction (As it seems our country has for years financially) it is not the true grit of who a person becomes. We all need a mentor, a Yoda if you would.

They come in various forms, shapes and sizes, but they always propel us along the journey toward God if they are true mentors. We find two very different Archetypes of a mentor in Scripture. They are Peter and Paul. As Leonard Sweet says – Peter is relationally fast, but spiritually slow and Paul is relationally slow, but spiritually fast. They exist to reach to and mentor different types of people.

Some want their mentors to be intellectual only. Others want them to be very close – almost like their next breath. The primary types we need really do depend upon on personalities, but we need both to be able to better work in and through the world. We need both around so that we remember that God does not use just those that think like us to make a change in the world for the better.

The beauty of mentors is that they have great wisdom to share with us if we will but listen. Oh, to be sure, we may not learn a great deal about technology from them. Mentors exist to teach us how to make our way through the world that is not as easy and neat as we would like. They have learned a few things about how to make it through the world. We may have to learn from their mistakes (preferable) or learn from making the same mess ups in our own lives. God has some great things to teach us through these masters if we will but stop and learn.

Mentors give us the wisdom of the ages and allow us to translate that into our own age of being and becoming. It is a powerful lesson to know that in human relationships there is nothing new under the sun. We will not have invented any new form of dealing with one another this year that did not exist 2,000 years ago. All we will invent is new technology that can make those ways more effective or less effective.

Selecting a good mentor is important. For they will and should have a large impact on how you live your life. If you select wisely they will show you things about yourself that you never knew before. They will do so in ways that challenge you to grow and become more like the person God designed you to be.

This week who is your mentor? Who is challenging you with: “Do, or do not do. There is no try.” If you do not have someone, it is time to start a new quest to find one who will give you the wisdom that will change your life forever.

Blessings,
Pastor Greg