Offensive Christians

A prayer to remember:
“Lord our Heavenly Father, High and Mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech thee, on these our American States, who have fled to thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent on Thee, to Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support, which Thou alone canst give; take them, therefore, Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in Council and valor in the field; defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries; convince them of the unrighteousness of their Cause and if they persist in their sanguinary purposes, of own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle! Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. That the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst Thy people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. all this we ask In the Name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior.

Pastor Rick Warren made an interesting point before welcoming Senators Obama and McCain to the Saddleback Civil Forum: “We believe in the separation of church and state, but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics because faith is just a world view and it’s important to know what they are.” I may be in the minority. Fifty percent of conservatives think churches and other places of worship should stay out of social and political matters according to a survey released Thursday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Why did I begin this post with a prayer? This prayer was from September 7th, 1774 as the first prayer in Congress. Can you imagine hearing this prayer in Congress today? Do you think our elected officials and next President of the United States should talk about faith or live/vote/lead by faith?

OOC

Competition is in the air with the Olympic coverage streaming almost 24/7. I cannot run a sub-ten second 100-meter sprint, but am pretty competitive with many things in my life. My USAF career will soar (pun intended) if I rank higher than my peers. We’re literally scored #1 down through the lowest ranking person. The system is designed to promote “success”, but I can’t help but wonder if that really matters and continually have to try and keep things in perspective.

Does God want me to sacrifice to be the best officer in my squadron or spend more time teaching my children? Should I read books from the Chief of Staff’s recommended reading list or dig into the Word?

1 Corinthians 9: 24-25
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Please pray we will have the courage and strength to run the race worth winning.

In my last post “Catholic Mom” presented very thoughtful dialogue I’d like to continue in a separate post. While I don’t want to attack the Catholic church or Catholics (I’m convinced Catholics go to Heaven every day!) the topic of communion is worth further exploration.

One of the links Catholic Mom provided discussed John 6:48-57…I REALLY wish the author would have included verse 58. Versus 48-57 say:

I am the the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread, will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The Jews quarreled among themselves saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”

Why not include verse 58? Verse 58 states: “This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers ate, and died; he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.” There’s a subtle yet important aspect to verse 58. Jesus called the bread…bread. When exploring the full context of applicable scripture you’ll discover Jesus used symbology several times in his teachings:

John 15:1 “I am the true vine”
John 10:9 “I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture.”
Luke 22:20 “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”

Was Jesus saying He was a literal vine? Was Jesus saying He was a literal door? Did Jesus mean the actual cup was the new covenant?

Wayne Grudem brings up an excellent point in his book “Bible doctrine”. It’s a good read I strongly encourage. Wayne states:
“The Roman Catholic view fails to recognize the clear New Testament teaching on the finality and completeness of Christ’s sacrifice once for all time for our sins. The book of Hebrews emphasizes this many times, as when it says, ‘Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy Place yearly with blood not his own; for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world’.”

If continued sacrafices were necessary why would Jesus say “It is finished” in John 19:30? Wayne states, “it gives great assurance to us that our sins are all paid for, and there remains no sacrifice yet to be paid. The idea of a continuation of Christ’s sacrifice destroys that assurance that the payment has been made by Christ and accepted by God the Father and that there is no condemnation now remaining for us.”

Is it wrong to practice communion? Absolutely not…in fact we do every Sunday. What’s the difference? We practice communion to remember the ultimate sacrifice Jesus paid for our sins. Additionally, communion isn’t required for salvation as that would imply a “works based” means of salvation.

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