Why the history of the Bible should matter to you.

In two weeks I will finish teaching my seminar on the history of the Bible for the sixth time in the past three years.  I am thankful for each chance that I have had to share the history of how the modern English Bible came to be, from its original Greek and Hebrew autographs to our text today.  An article on today's local newspaper (a syndicated column in the religion page) illustrated to me once again the need for an accurate understanding of the Bible based in historical fact not fantasy.  The two columnists were asked to answer the question, "Why are there so many arguments about what's in the Bible?"  An excellent question, unfortunately this particular question was put to two men who don't actually believe in the Bible, a dubious start to an answer.  The first of the two is an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; a Mormon.  Mormons believe that the canon of scripture remains open, that new revelation continues to occur.  The Elder, after referencing "errors" in the modern text, offers up the solution of instead consulting the new revelation of the Book of Mormon (among other new texts).  In the end, a non-Christian Mormon perspective advocates for turning away from the Bible instead of answering the question at hand; not overly helpful.
The second columnist is a pastor of a congregation, but in his attack on the Biblical text, which I will quote shortly, he makes error after error of outright historical falsehoods, all while positing that the Biblical text today is more/less worthless for anything other than being a "moral compass".  The pastor, whose name I will omit so as to not make this personal, claimed that the Bible "has been tweaked, touched up, added to and deleted from to fit the viewpoints of the ruling class as well as serve the personal interest of religious authorities."  There's just one problem with this oft-repeated conspiracy theory, it has no basis in history.  Manuscripts of the Bible have been uncovered, lost in the Egyptian desert since the 2nd and 3rd century, that confirm the accuracy of the hand copied manuscripts (in their thousands, over 5,000 total copies have survived) that supposedly went through this revision.  Why have there been zero new readings found in the recently uncovered manuscripts, does he really believe that the Church changed these copies as well?  And how would they have done so, when there were copies of the text being made all over the Mediterranean world by countless copyists?  Historical fantasy of conspiracies does not make them real.
The line that really made me understand that this particular pastor's education has been sorely lacking in the history of the Bible was this, "It is important to remember, when we read the Bible today we are reading a translation of a translation of a translation in a language that didn't exist when the original Bible was written."  He is absolutely right that English didn't exist when the Bible was written in Greek and Hebrew.  The rest of the sentence is so laughably inaccurate as to be akin to claiming the moon landing was faked.  The modern English Bible (and the not-so-modern KJV as well) is a direct translation from the original Greek and Hebrew with no intermediary languages involved.  The KJV is based upon Erasmus' 16th century printed Greek text, the modern translations (NIV, NASB, ESV, etc.) are all based upon the Nestle-Aland and United Bible Society eclectic text which takes into consideration all of the over 5,000 surviving Greek manuscripts to determine the most accurate original reading.  If you don't understand a simple fact such as how the Bible was translated from its original languages into English, how can I take seriously anything else you say?  The line following that whopper was this, "Scholars agree there are more than 20,000 inconsistencies in the Bible as the result of different people with different viewpoints."  Another ludicrous figure pulled out of a hat to fit the pre-supposition that the Bible is a product of men not God.
When I looked up the columnist's church on the internet, I was not surprised to find that it is a Universalist Church built upon "Spiritual Principles"; Jesus is nowhere to be found on their website, evidently not a part of the equation.
Why does it matter that pastors and the laity know the history of the Bible?  If the faith of the Apostles, and the actual teaching of Christ matter to you, then so does the history of the Word of God.  The world has plenty of people willing to reject the Bible and search for answers elsewhere, we have nothing to fear from the truth, the history of the Bible is plain and clear for all to see, only ignorance.

Sermon Video: There is only one Judge - James 4:11-12

We are all faced with opportunities, usually on a daily basis, to be judgmental of others, to act as judge and jury regarding the actions of those we know and those we only know of because they are public figures.  American society is infected with this attitude, and the Church is not immune to it.  We judge fellow Christians, making assumptions about motives, assuming the worst, and sadly even taking enjoyment in criticizing those who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ.  There is, however, only one Lawgiver, and only one Judge.  It is God's right, and God's alone, to sit in judgment, for only God is himself holy and not likewise a lawbreaker.  How can we judge others for breaking the Law of God when we ourselves have broken it?  How can we judge others when we, unlike God, cannot save them from their sins?
It is common, and it is easy, to judge others; social media only makes it more so.  As a Christian community, we need to walk away from this temptation.  We need to reject the cruel and destructive politics that passes for leadership, and we need to ignore the temptation to allow what we say (or type or text) to usurp the role of God by judging others.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video - Submit Yourself to God: James 4:7-10

There is much that humanity doesn't, by nature, like about the idea of submitting to God.  Americans, in particular, confuse their love of political freedom with their need for spiritual submission to God, resulting in a stubborn independence regarding the commands of God.  There is, however, no way to approach God that does not include submission to his will.
What does it mean to submit to God?  James explains several things that this involves: (1) Resisting the devil, we can't hardly submit to God and remain friends with his enemies at the same time.  (2)  Repentance from sin, (3) Removal of the double-mindedness that tries to keep our options open and entertains temptations, and (4) a serious attitude toward our sin that grieves for them as God does.  There are other aspects of submitting to the will of God, and James will discuss one of them in vs. 13-16, but these are enough to show us the difficulty and the necessity of the task.
In the end, submitting to God is an act of humility, one that cannot be accomplished by the proud, and another reminder why God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: A Jealous God? - James 4:4-6

James, like John and Paul, warns of the danger of "friendship with the world".  The question, of course, is what does this mean?  Instead of reading into the text our own beliefs about the subject (which would be the error of interpretation called eisegesis), we need to allow the text to speak for itself, seeking out the original meaning of the author and the original understanding of the audience/reader (the correct mode of interpretation, exegesis).  Therefore, any definition of "the world" which relies  upon modern concepts like an anti-technology explanation or one concerning democracy or capitalism, is certainly an anachronism that would have been unintelligible to both James and his readers.  This same concept is important in all areas of Biblical interpretation.  In order to honor God's word and show it respect, we need to seek the plain meaning of the text first.  Once we have ascertained what the text meant then, we can seek to understand how we ought to apply the text now.
So, what is "the world"?  In the context of James, the world is everything which is opposed to God, all that carry someone away from God.  James gives plenty of example of the types of behavior that we need to avoid, beginning in chapter two, and when we combine that contextual understanding with an overall sense of what Scripture as a whole requires of us, it becomes clear that "loving the world" equals disobedience to the commands of God.
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, cannot afford to be dual-minded, we cannot serve to masters, the choice before us is simple: Love God or love the world.

To watch the video, click on the link below:

Sermon Video: The Wisdom that comes from Heaven - Part 2: James 4:1-6

Why do people in a church fight each other?  For that matter, why do churches or denominations quarrel among themselves?  We know that these things shouldn't happen, certainly not if the one and same Spirit of Christ is in both parties to a fight, so why does it happen?  James explains that fights and quarrels erupt among God's people because of unfulfilled desires, that is people not getting what they want.  What do people want that they don't have?  The primary desires are standard human failings: power, wealth, and sex.  Far too many church disputes, even violence, has revolved around the desire for these.  Churches have been split in two over fights for power or money or because of illicit sex between members.  We need to understand that these desires are a danger if we are to avoid their destructive influence.
In addition to these, misplaced zeal for a religious belief is also a cause of disputes and divisions.  Beyond the core beliefs of the Gospel (the Virgin Birth, Resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, the authority of the Scriptures, etc.) there are innumerable other things that well meaning and God honoring Christians will not always agree upon.  What do we do then?  Do we let a desire for uniformity close our hearts to others, or do we let grace abound and let God be the judge as he has told us that he is.
In the end, the Church doesn't need uniformity of opinion, we need to be one in Spirit and one in purpose.  Our task is monumental, we cannot afford to allow fighting and quarreling to disrupt God's work, whether that be locally or in the Church as a whole.

To watch the video, click on the link below: