Blakeyblog

Last night, on my way to our student Bible study I witnessed a four car accident. I’ve never actually seen a car accident happen other than being in one. It was a terrible thing to see. One car sped into the intersection running a red light and three other cars were affected in the process. Four cars hitting each other made a horrific sound and smoke and steam immediately clouded around them. I gasped and felt jittery as I was the very next car at the light and it was my turn to enter the intersection. It was pouring rain, but I could see all four drivers stepped out of their cars, one was an old man and he brushed the broken glass from his window off his sleeve and straightened his glasses. With it raining now on and off and darker much sooner in the evening, please be careful as you are out driving! After seeing that, I sure am.

This semester we have been studying Matthew 5. Last night we discussed verses 14-16.

On my drive to work each morning I listen to a local Christian radio station. Right as I’m arriving to the office there is a ten minute update from United News and Information. Yesterday it opened with a statistic from a new Gallup Poll which stated that four out of every ten Americans claim to be Evangelical Christians. This surprised me.

I realized I wasn’t even sure exactly what the intricacies of the word “evangelical” meant. So I wondered if most people were asked if they were an “Evangelical Christian” and hearing the “Christian” part agreed without understanding the “Evangelical”. I did a little research and found that “Evangelical” and “Christian” is like saying the same thing. Even a simple dictionary definition defines “evangelical” as: “of, relating to, or being in agreement with the Christian gospel especially as it is presented in the four Gospels. Emphasizing salvation by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the authority of Scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with ritual”(m-w.com) After reading this I was even more surprised! If four out of every ten Americans are in agreement with the four Gospels, have experienced true conversion in being saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone, live on the foundation of the authority of Scripture and dedicate themselves to learning from teaching and preaching…If this were true I think this world would be a drastically different place.

Reading the dictionary definition I would love to be classified as an “Evangelical Christian”. I am concerned that all who are claiming this term may not really believe and live the truth of its meaning. Rather than trusting some poll, it is much more edifying to trust Scripture and see what it’s definition is.

In The Gospel According to Jesus, John MacArthur writes, “The Gospel that Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer.” I find this statement very encouraging on one hand and revealing on the other. Many of us in the church are quickly interested and accepting of the decision of a prayed prayer. We don’t focus so much on people being liberated from their sin, putting out hypocrisy and avoiding behavioral Christianity and instead spurring others on toward repentance, forgiveness and true righteousness. Much of the evangelism done today is more about a decision to pray rather than a life that is surrendered to obey. Perhaps evangelicalism today is very different from Webster’s definition and even Scripture’s…

Scripture warns us not to take salvation lightly. Throughout Jesus’ teaching it is clear that the cost to follow Him is high and the road to Him is narrow, few even find it. It even says in Matthew 7:13-23 that many who will call Him “Lord” will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Later in the same book, MacArthur writes a sobering analysis of our approach to salvation today in light of these warnings.

This weekend Bobby and I had an open house at our new apartment. Lots of friends stopped by to visit with us and see our new home. I was under the impression that gifts are only brought to a housewarming party rather than an open house, but many of our friends came bearing scented candles, small plants and even gifts for the baby. We made a table full of snack foods and some hot apple cider and for three hours people graced us. It was a wonderful and warming experience.

My younger sister Monica was up for a few days so Bobby and I enjoyed having Friday off and spent time with her shopping and seeing a movie. Bobby and Ty were even able to finish their new project “There’s Been Born” a thoughtful song straight from Luke 2 about Christ in Christmas. You can hear the song by simply following the Godsong Music link in my column on the right.

I haven’t thought much about Christmas yet, in terms of the actual holiday itself. I don’t have any shopping to start running around like crazy to accomplish. I do want to get a few things and will probably do so within the next week so as to avoid the crowds that usually pack out our mall. I mostly order things online so I can do the shopping in my own time, instead of not being able to find my car in the parking garage while I hold arms full of shopping bags. I guess I try to keep things around holidays fairly simple.

One thing I have been thinking about is the statement “Merry Christmas.” Recently someone told me that I shouldn’t say that to people because I can never be sure what their background is or what religion they practice–so I may offend them. I was baffled by this because on every calendar I’ve ever seen the name of the federal holiday is “Christmas.” It doesn’t say “Season Day” or “Holiday”. It says, “Christmas.”

I was encouraged when Bobby shared his lesson yesterday about keeping Christ in Christmas because He is where it began and what it is about anyway. It is not difficult to see that Americans have turned the day into a commercialism fiasco. And I am aware of the roots of the holiday in some of the man made traditions and worldly practices. I’m not referring to Santa, trees, gifts or shopping…I’m referring to the day in which we commemorate the birth of Christ.

Some elements of Bobby’s message really stood out to me. He pointed out that we treat Christmas as this warm and fuzzy holiday now, but when Christ came it was for a reason and there is nothing warm or fuzzy about it. Christ came because we are sinners. Scripture speaks beautifully of Jesus coming as the light of the world. What we often don’t realize is that He came as light because of our darkness. Our world is very dark. People’s hearts are continually longing for selfish ambitions and worldly lusts. We worship family, morality and helping others rather than Christ. It is a sad thing to go to our local mall and see so many people caught up–and in what?–nothing. When we die it will not matter how wonderful our holiday parties were, what gifts we received or gave or if our family was together around the tree. The only thing that will matter is whether the light of Christ saved us from the darkness of sin in our hearts.

Christmas, no matter what it has been morphed into today, is the same reality of Luke 2:14 all those years ago. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” We receive and give gifts that will end, but the gift of God never ends. The good news to all of mankind since the day the events in this verse took place is that though we are lost and fallen, there is a Savior. The Savior is not my hours of community service, having a moral family, trying my hardest or religion. The Savior is Christ the Lord. This is the best news for anyone and there should be no hiding it.

At Christmas we should be careful not to blend with the world in our celebration. On the other hand we don’t want to be so anti-Christmas that we don’t celebrate it at all. The Christian should not be silent. We more than anyone else should be in constant celebration that Christ has come. This is good news of great joy which should be proclaimed at all times. I find that especially these next few weeks when people are in a bustle over it all, this is the time to speak up even more so. We can ask people why they celebrate the way they do or what is it that they are celebrating. I can share why the holiday means so much to me personally. People should not be able to keep us quiet about the beauty and wonder of the gift of salvation that we have received. I hope we will all remember and excitedly share with others that Christmas is not just the beginning of the story or a precious picture of a manger. Christmas is that God became human flesh one day long ago and did so for one purpose: “…to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

I was given a new Bible for my birthday. My brothers-in-law, Billy and Ben, gave me this beautiful cranberry-colored leather compact English Standard Version Bible. I am excited about owning a compact Bible because I like to take my Bible with me most anywhere. I read from the MacArthur Study Bible which is rather large being about 10×7 inches and probably a good couple of inches thick. I like to carry my Bible in my purse, so you can imagine how my purse style has changed from cute little clutches to more of the tote style. With this new Bible I was excited about having the convenience of carrying it with me at all times for reading on the go, but would still be able to keep my study Bible at my office or home for when I’m spending time in study.

I am aware that there is no perfect and flawless translation of the Scriptures. We will not agree on one translation in every detail. But I like to be careful to avoid the somewhat trite paraphrases and cultural translations. I’m often perplexed by how many varying translations and versions exist on the bookstore shelves. I want to be certain that the Bibles I read, including my new copy, stand in the category of most accurate translations. So yesterday I opened my new Bible hoping to find out just what “English Standard Version” means. In reading the preface I was able to learn that the ESV is an “essentially literal” translation. Not knowing exactly what this meant I did some research on Bible translation and learned some new things.

Scripture is translated most commonly in one of two ways. The first is “word for word” translation. This philosophy of translation focuses tightly on exact wording and grammar it seeking to be as close to the original text, “letting the reader see as directly as possible the structure and meaning of the original.”(gnpcb.org) Versions translated with this philosophy would include the NASB and the NKJV.

The second philosophy used is a “thought for thought” translation which holds what translators call the “dynamic equivalence” approach. This philosophy of translation focuses more on the readability and meaning of the Scripture rather than strictly accuracy. Often being more of a paraphrase, these versions are much more subjective as they reflect more of our cultural influences and often the interpretive opinions of the translator. Versions translated with this philosophy would include the NIV and the NLT.

I was interested to find that the ESV seeks to integrate some of the factors of “thought for thought” into a “word for word” philosophy of translation. Grammatically the ESV seeks to smooth out the reading by altering some of the punctuation, paragraphing and by dividing long sentences so as to read more clearly in English. Some of the gender language is changed for smoother reading. For example “anyone” is written where other translations say “any man” also “people” rather than “men”. Despite some of these changes, the ESV translation “objective has been transparency to the original text, allowing the reader to understand the original on its own terms rather than on the terms of our present-day culture.”(ESV preface)

I was also interested to read that the ESV at its base has been translated not as an altered form of previous versions, but rather directly from the latest collection of the Hebrew and Greek documents. This can clearly been seen as a strength of this new translation. There are also a few points that could be considered weaknesses of the ESV. For example, some earlier translations such as NKJV and NASB used italics to indicate when words were being added to the text for clearer reading. The ESV does not do this. Also in some passages specific words are translated too generally where the Greek word allowed for a more specific translation. The ESV translates the Greek word porneia as “sexual immorality” where the NASB has translated more literally as “fornication”. Though the ESV has some weaknesses, as do other translations, it seems to be an accurate and literal translation for the English language and can serve well for reading and study.

Before this study on translations I was unsure if the version I read or my church taught from really mattered in the scope of all things. I assumed that God’s Word is essentially preserved even in paraphrases. Surely the translators aren’t paraphrasing so much as to greatly alter the meaning of Scripture of put a blasphemous spin on it… But last night I was enjoying coffee with Missy and Katie discussing this very topic when the paraphrase “the Message” came up. The Message is a newer version and increasing in popularity especially among teens, which is each of our area of ministry in our church. Being at Borders Bookstore it was easy to locate a copy and the three of us were appalled by what we found. Having just studied the Beatitudes for our high school small groups, that was the first passage we turned to. Here is an example of how drastically varying versions can be:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (NKJV)

“Blessed are you when you’re at the end of your rope.
With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” (The Message Remix)

“Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.” (NKJV)

“You’re blessed when you get your inside
world–your mind and heart–put right.
Then you can see God in the outside world.” (The Message Remix)

I was surprised and sickened to see such liberty taken with God’s Word. The paraphrase comes across as light, shallow and even disrespectful. Other passages were just as concerning, such as Psalm 1, 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 5. It quickly became clear that translation does matter. We must do what we can to study the most accurate representation of God’s Word, without compromising on issues of cultural relevancy and readability.

We find often that the writer’s of Scripture defend it’s authenticity as God’s Word. In the Psalms the writer praises and adores Scripture. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and is a song all about the beauty and truth of Scripture. Below are two of my favorite New Testament verses proclaiming the value of Scripture:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction and instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17

Both of these verses hold a high perspective of Scripture, not just as the very words from God’s mouth, but also in view of what those words are capable of in the lives of man. Scripture says what God wanted us to know no matter how we alter it to say what we want to hear. We may want to think that all we’ve got to do is get our “inside world” together to see spiritual things, but this is man speaking, not God. I have read that some of these translators are simply trying to make the Bible more approachable for teens or palatable to non-believers. This is a dangerous venture because Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Having some trendy magazine Bible or a vastly altered paraphrase is not going to change or save anyone. To those who are being saved the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God to open the eyes and transform the heart.

If you wrote a letter to my church and I stood up before the people to read it and instead of saying what you wrote I said what I thought you meant, you would be very upset. You would tell me, “No, read them what I wrote.” In the same way we should never lessen or alter God’s Word in any way. We should not culturalize it or insert our interpretation and then call it God’s Word, but rather should humbly and diligently search the Scriptures just as they were written, praying constantly for the Spirit to open our eyes to it’s meaning. Let’s not have a casual or flippant attitude about the Bible but instead say with the Psalmist, “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97)

As the meadow is to the cow,
The house to the man,
And the nest to the bird…
So is the Holy Scripture to the believing soul.
-Martin Luther