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Name: Andrew
Posts by Andy:
- “Would a shepherd let anyone who volunteered take care of his flock?” (part 1)
- “Small groups are just one of many bandwagons that the church has jumped onto in an effort to assuage and comfort their flock.” (part 1)
- “But God doesn’t ask us as Christians to stay in touch with each other, God calls us to make disciples of the nations” (part 1)
- “Learning out of context is most small groups, is Sunday school, and unfortunately is church in most churches. Do you live with everyone who is the same age as you, the same sex, and the same exact interests? Probably not. Those types of settings are artificial. They are contrived.” (part 3)
A Response to Richard Boureston's "Why Small Groups are Failing the Church"
September 2nd, 2009Beginning in May of this year, Richard Boureston wrote a 3-part series on “Why Small Groups are Causing the Church to Fail.” I would like to respond to some of the articles’ points and suggest that his main premise in fact leads to a completely different conclusion. You can read the original posting on http://orangecountychurch.wordpress.com here.
I must begin by commending the author’s passion for reviving strong families in America. This is what God wants. One of our culture’s biggest downfalls is that fathers are not leading and mothers are not nurturing. Children are not raised to fear God, and teenagers are too readily given up on. This leads to weak relationships within family units, and a church can only be as strong as its individual parts. Mr. Boureston has earned my utmost respect because his essays, internet presence, and overall ministry calls Christian adults to work at rebuilding strong families.
I would like to suggest that his main premise– that discipleship needs to happen in families– leads to the logical conclusion that families are failing the church, not small groups. If discipleship is not happening, and it should be happening primarily in homes, then the home is what needs attention. Our focus should not be on dismantling a strategy that has effectively worked in maturing person’s faith. Our focus should be on impressing the need to repair unhealthy families. I have personally experienced growth in small groups, witnessed people grow in small groups, and heard wonderful testimonies of small groups’ usefulness.
That being said, I would like to address some of the specific points:
That is not how most churches go about selecting small group leaders. I have yet to meet a church pastor who “let anyone” get involved in small groups leadership.
I don’t know of any church that began a small group ministry for the purpose of merely comforting people. It should also be noted that since offering counsel is one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, there is no reason it should not be the church’s as well.
This seems to be an overstatement of the Great Commission. The church of Jerusalem enjoyed a tight fellowship as did the communities that Paul & the other Apostles planted. “When you come together…” (1 Cor. 14:26) “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people…” (Eph. 4:11-12)
They are not completely artificial. People join clubs because they share interests/hobbies; they visit attractions that draw them; young people hang out together; college campuses are full of students who are effectively at the same life stage. The idea is that when it comes to spiritual growth, it’s OK to learn and grow outside of the family as well. If it happens naturally in other areas of life, why not have it aide in discipleship as well?
It is not small groups that are failiing the church, it is unhealthy families. We must recognize that accountability happens best in families, while acknowledging that parents need to lead their children in the faith better. On the other hand, small groups are not a modern concept– it is a bibical one (see my article “Small Groups and the Christian“). As a church, let’s call our members back to a faith practiced in families, while still retaining methods that are healthy and helpful. Let’s keep small groups.
The Poor Don’t Cramp Our Style
August 19th, 2009The other day I was catching up with a friend over some drinks out on the terrace of a coffee shop. It was in a plaza smack-dab in the middle of a corporate hub. Half-way through our conversation we were approached by a young boy and girl holding chocolate bars. The sales pitch was coming and I was anxious to hear what charity/need they were representing. As I sat up in my chair a server from inside the shop rushed out and scurried them away with,
“Hun, you can’t be soliciting in this shopping center!” I don’t think the children even knew what it means to solicit.
Experience helps me understand that con-artists, liars, and lazy people do exist. But Jesus’ words also affirm that the poor we will always have with us! And so began my contempt with this attitude of elitism we often express.
We’re the type that want to enjoy our strolls in the park, glances at architecture, and gazes at landscapes without having our consciences bothered by the reality of poverty. We complain about their work ethic but when they drive/bus/walk/bike out into our neighborhoods and offer us a service we look the other way. We know there are poor people out there but we don’t want them to come into our homes and bother us where we live. Why have we become so calloused to the needs of others?
Here is the emptiness of our logic:
Premise: I should choose when I want/can help the poor.
This implies that the poor need to stay put and wait on wealthy people who have the moral conviction to give. But we know the saying; evil triumphs when good people do nothing. And this happens far too often for it to be a viable solution.
I was recently in a downtown area where I hung out with a street musician after grabbing some late-night Coney Island. His rhythm, tapping foot, and big ol’ smile was something worth sharing in as be plucked away the blues that night. He sang about the simple things– dancing, love, church– and I became richer as I sat with him on the sidewalk.
Bourgeoisism fails to see the connectedness we all share as people made in God’s image. As important as intentional aide is, sporadic help is needed too. The poor don’t cramp our style. When they come to us, the least you can do is pull out those crumpled bills and coins floating around your change purse. If everyone they asked would do that little, we would all be much better off.
The Paul Quest by Ben Witherington III
July 21st, 2009Ben Witherington III is a world-renowned New Testament expert and biblical exegete. He has authored books at both the scholarly and popular level, writing in a way that furthers discussions but is also accessible to all. He is not cut and dry; both his personality and convictions come out strong, making enjoyable reads of otherwise serious topics. Some of his expertise lies in the historical Jesus, the historical Paul, women in the early church, and using Graeco-Roman history to inform our exegesis and understanding of biblical theology. He is presently on staff at Asbury Theological Seminary and has pastored many churches.
Witherington, Ben. The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001.
347 pages.
The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus is Ben Witherington III’s most comprehensive treatment of Paul the apostle. This book is a welcome addition to Pauline literature that attempts to accurately discover the apostle’s identity, and contributes to the scholarly discussion by clear and strong argumentation. Witherington’s approach is accessible, offering background information that is important for understanding Paul’s world. In this way, his text is similar to those at the introductory level; detailed discussions are stabilized by the basic information important in keeping perspective healthy. Still, The Paul Quest has a thesis that is focused and unique enough that it explores various dimensions of his life and character which further the scholarly discussion. But before the particular ideas of his work are explored, it is worth noting some strengths that are both immediate and easily recognizable. First, in his introduction Witherington reminds readers why studying the figure of Paul is so important. The more we know about this influential apostle, the more we will know about the person of Jesus as well. In other words, a strong connection exists between the historical Jesus and the historical Paul, since Paul’s letters are our earliest sources about Jesus. Therefore for a Christian, knowing Paul the apostle means drawing closer to the object of their worship—Jesus Christ. For the skeptic, knowing Paul means historically understanding one of the original forces behind the spread of the Christian faith. Yet that is not to say that such motivations for embarking on the Paul quest cannot overlap!
Secondly, the structure Witherington chose for organizing his work offers a valuable method for one interested in learning about Paul. His chapters each begin with several italicized paragraphs that introduce the material that will follow. The conclusions stated in this section of the text are then supported by evidence in the main text of the chapter. By providing a brief overview of the contents it creates easy access to crucial information. The repetition also serves as a valuable learning method when one chooses to read straight through the book. At the macro level, Witherington chose an interesting way to organize his ideas. His chapters each describe a particular nuance of Paul’s identity (“Paul the Writer and Rhetor,” “Paul the Apostle and Prophet,” “Paul the Realist and Radical,” “Paul the Anthropologist and advocate,” “Paul the Storyteller and Exegete,” “Paul the Ethicist and Theologian”) The strength of this approach is that it allows for the author’s particular interests and persuasions to be emphasized. Sticking to a thematic outline for his book and avoiding the temptation to analyze Paul’s letters on an individual basis provides a sense of freshness and convinces readers that the contributions offered are more important than repeating information that can be found elsewhere. A weakness of this approach is that nuances and perspectives cannot be exhaustive; they can cause a reader to sense that particular aspects of his identity may not have been treated.
One last remark is due for the book’s structure. The section on chronology of life is wisely placed in the book’s appendix. Again, this allows for smoother reading, flow of ideas, and analysis of Paul’s person. Although important, chronological issues come as secondary in importance. He even states this in the introduction. The intent of the book is to examine what type of person Paul was, not what kind of life he lived.[1]
The strongest feature of The Paul Quest is in fact its thesis. Witherington convincingly argues that understanding Paul’s identity requires familiarity with his context as a first century person living around the Mediterranean Sea.[2] He was a unique individual who lived in a world very different from ours, and ones interpretation might suffer from anachronism if modern Western methods are applied to understanding his identity. Witherington warns of this danger throughout his book, and works to rebut misrepresentations of Paul.[3] At the same time, he offers ways in which we can reconstruct identities of ancient persons living in communities like Paul’s. A great discussion introduces what actually determined the identity of ancient Mediterranean people. Generation, gender, geography, wealth, education, and religion are some of the components of ones identity, and individuals were expected to conform to them rather than try to defy or resist them. Witherington demonstrates that understanding the social norms of Paul’s day helps clarify the struggles, intentions, and meaning of many of his letters. Roman Citizenship, Jewish Pharisaism, and Christianity are treated as the “trinity” of Paul’s identity. He does a good job at providing necessary background information to understanding how these influenced Paul’s person. His treatment of honor, shame, and physiognomy were very clear and helpful. Still, the section dealing with Paul’s Jewishness suffers a little from focusing too much on his interpretation of the Law. Some more information on how Pharisees were trained and how they lived might have been useful. This section may have benefited from some of the points from the discussion on p. 97. Also, Witherington’s conclusions about Paul’s view of the interplay between the law of Moses and the law of Christ on p. 68 could use some more attention and expansion.
Chapter 3—Paul the Writer and Rhetor—provided a clear and thorough discussion of ancient rhetoric. Witherington did a better job at introducing the matter than other texts out there, and successfully showed how recognizing Paul’s use of rhetoric helps us better understand his person and ideas. Galatians and 2 Corinthians were used as case studies to demonstrate Paul’s handle on rhetoric. Also helpful was Witherington’s treatment of ancient letter-writing. Included in this section were comparisons and contrasts with other Graeco-Roman letters. This helps readers of Paul gain some perspective, and by comparing Paul’s letter-style to other letter writers from his time, conclusions can be made about what emphases Paul wanted to make when writing his church audiences.
After developing Paul’s use of rhetoric, one conclusion that the author repeatedly points out is that the apostle “prefers to persuade” rather than command his communities of believers.[4] This idea would have benefited from some qualification, because it seems that often times Paul had no other choice than to persuade. It is difficult to imagine a person whose authority is being challenged still being able to command people (2 Corinthians, Galatians).
Finally in this chapter, Witherington states that his argumentation of Paul’s identity as an ancient person will only be done from those letters whose authenticity have received approval from the majority of scholars. In doing so, Witherington leaves out the Pastorals. Though he wants to have his thesis accepted by the scholarly community, he does not hesitate to provide a brief (but strong) case for their authenticity, pointing out the weaknesses in other hypotheses.
In the chapter “Paul the Realist and Radical,” an attempt is made to create a distinction between “submitting” and “obeying.” The discussion centers on what level of adherence to government authorities is proper for Christians. Although the Greek “hypotasso” and “hypakuo” are offered to show that the two words are not identical, Witherington’s point suffers slightly from not defining the terms and not actually pointing out what the difference between the two words is. In his discussion of household codes that follows soon after, the same problem surfaces again.[5] In this case, the author is trying to enunciate the difference between the commands given to wives vs. those given to children.
What may be considered the meat of Paul’s identity by some people—Paul the exegete, ethicist, storyteller, and theologian—is included in the last part of The Paul Quest. While some scholars contest the idea of a Pauline theology, given the occasional nature of his letters, Witherington submits that at the center of Paul’s thought were stories (narratives). The theology found in his letters flow from his narrative thought world, which Witherington divides into 5 main series of stories (the story of God; the story of the world gone wrong in Adam; the story of God’s people in that world, from Abraham to Moses and beyond; the story of the Jewish Messiah, Christ; the story of Christians, which arises out of stories 2-4).[6] Within this section he offers a strong apologetic for Paul’s typological interpretation of scripture, against many modern scholars who accuse Paul of “exegetical legerdemain.”
Also found in this section is an interpretation of Romans 7:7-13, which the author suggests is a presentation of all fallen humanity, told primarily from the perspective of a Jewish person.[7] He offers good evidence for such a reading, although it seems much of it clinches on the fact that verses 7-8 make mention of only one commandment, which Witherington argues is referring to the commandment Adam received about the tree of knowledge. But this seems to ignore the fact that earlier in the context Paul is referring to the struggle with the single commandment of covetousness. Why can it not be this commandment that verses 7-8 are referring to? Furthermore, the defense of Paul’s use of the singular “seed” in Romans 9 could be honed and strengthened; his argument was a little less than satisfying.
Conclusion
The Paul Quest consistently provided strong argumentation for the points it made. Ben Witherington convincingly presented the apostle Paul as an ancient Mediterranean person whose identity needs to be reconstructed very differently from ours. The different aspects of Paul’s identity were carefully argued and they help modern readers get a sense of what type of person Paul was. Some of his arguments could use stronger support, but the majority of his work was sound and well written.
While Witherington successfully proved the uniqueness of Paul’s identity, one of the most helpful aspects of his work were his conclusions drawn from the interaction between Paul and his culture(s). The apostle seemed to have well understood which cultural norms could be harmonized with the law of Christ and which could not. Ironically, he occasionally used some of the unacceptable ones to prove his point (2 Cor. 11), but in doing so, dismantled the very game of honor and boasting that he was using. Witherington did a wonderful job at showing how, though Paul lived and ministered in a world that thrived off of honor codes, he managed to turn that which was shameful—a crucified Messiah—into the object of faith for the empire.
[1] Ben Witherington III, The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), p. 13.
[2] Ibid., p. 17.
[3] See p. 87 for good examples of modern classifications that do not suit the social context of Paul’s day.
[4] Ibid., p. 90, 127.
[5] Ibid., p. 189.
[6] Ibid., p. 230.
[7] Ibid., p. 241.
Primer On Abortion In the U.S.A.
July 17th, 2009
4,000/Day – 25,000/Week – 109,000/Month – 1.3 Million/Year
Since 1973, over 40 million children lost their lives.
“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” Proverbs 24:11
Roe (plaintiff) vs. Wade (her state’s attorney general) 1973
-This Supreme Court case ruled that unborn babies are not persons who are protected by the right to life under the constitution. It also determined that a woman has a right to the privacy of making decisions pertaining to her body. Therefore, the issue that now needs to be resolved is when a baby (embryo, fetus) has personhood. If the case can be made that an embryo has personhood, they too should be protected under the constitution’s right to life, making abortion illegal.
Where the court went wrong: Biologically, an embryo has the genetic make-up which makes something a person. Consciousness, reasoning, and communication are not the qualifications for personhood, otherwise the mentally handicap, clinically insane, or those in a coma should not be considered persons. But that would be absurd. Therefore, an embryo/fetus is a person and their right to life is more basic of a right than a woman’s right to privacy.
What the Bible has to say on abortion: Exodus 21:22; Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Matthew 1:20. Life begins at conception.
What you can/need to do: Pray for our country, vote with this in mind (Matt. 23:24), educate yourself, speak out against this injustice, offer hope and love to those considering this procedure: http://optionline.org
1-800-395-HELP.
Learn more: http://abort73.com
You have my permission AND suggestion to link to, copy, paste, further alter, and please print this information off to inform Christians on the issue.
See also “The New Evangelical Politics: Camels & Gnats“
The Social Gospel In Evangelical Theology & Church Life
July 14th, 2009Just in case you’re not “in the know”, there’s been a large-scale debate in the evangelical church especially in recent years (though its roots can be traced to earlier in the 20th century) about what exactly defines the “Gospel” and what the essence of God’s work here on earth is.
If you’re an evangelical Christian you’ll agree that sin separates people from God and that the atonement–however you define it–provided for us, through Jesus’ death on the cross, reconciliation. In other words, the Gospel is largely about sin in the heart of the individual and that God saved us and allowed us to be in right relationship with him both now and in eternity.
The disagreement lies in how complete this good news is. Certain churches and authors have rightfully, I think, reacted to conservative Christianity’s failure in reaching the social needs of the world in which we live. New perspectives submit that God has a much bigger plan in salvation, that goes beyond the condition of individuals persons. He is “reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19) and working on restoring all of creation to its original design (see Romans 8:19-22 & 2 Peter 3:10-14 & the end of Revelation). So, although Jesus Christ came to save persons, persons are merely the parts of a bigger picture. Part of the bigger picture includes how redeemed persons are to relate to this world.
This is to say that too many Christians have an escapist mentality when it come to salvation. An unbiblical theology will tell you that this world doesn’t matter, our bodies don’t matter, the environment doesn’t matter, and the poverty of my neighbor doesn’t really matter all that much either. What matters is eternity and saving people from their sin. This type of teaching stands in stark contrast to the word of God. If we are to include the idea of repentance in the Gospel, we must repent of our negligence, apathy, and uncompassion when it comes to our neighbors. God wants to use his church to usher in the kingdom of heaven onto this earth, his creation. The kingdom lifestyle includes all those things which make earth a better place to live, with the law of Christ serving as our guides. To reduce the work of Christ to “getting us into heaven” misses Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom is coming to earth.
So we return to the Gospel. What is it? It is essentially about God making a way, through Jesus’ death on the cross, for us to be in right relationship with him. What matters most is that people repent of their sin and turn to God so as to enter into communion with him, avoiding the pains of hell and enjoying the pleasure of heaven in eternity. But remember that Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is near, it has come with power, and it is indeed in us (Luke 17:21). An essential ministry of the church is to preach, teach, live, and usher in the kingdom of God here on earth. This can only happen after sin is dealt with in our hearts, but must continue with acts of love to all those whom we share this planet with. Since no one exists outside of relationships (i.e. we are social beings), the Gospel deals with our relationships. The Great Commandment means that loving our neighbor is a necessary dimension to living out the Gospel, which translates into being concerned for God’s justice for all peoples. The Gospel is God making all things right.
One last note. 1 Corinthians 15, often referred to when defining Gospel, is very revealing.
By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. (NIV)
God could have accomplished the atonement without the resurrection. Jesus was raised from the dead not merely as a confirming sign that he was the Son of God, but he was the firstfruit of what is to come! We are going to be resurrected in the last day and will inhabit a new earth, not some immaterial place called “heaven” (see above references). Our bodies matter. This world matters. Matter matters. This is why social justice matters. If God was just going to rescue us from this world, Jesus could have remained in the grave and our faith would not have been in vain.
As John Piper once said, “We exist to relieve all suffering, especially eternal suffering!”
Watch this video for a very helpful discussion between Tim Keller, John Piper, & D. A. Carson.
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