Category: Uncategorized

I don’t know anyone in society who thinks that murder isn’t wrong. No, I’m not talking about self-defense. I’m talking about killing someone just because you don’t like him or because you’re trying to rob him. Murder is wrong. You should go to jail for committing it.

But for some reason a high percentage of people in society say that it’s OK to murder a baby. This does not make any sense at all. In fact, shouldn’t a society step up its efforts even more to protect those who can’t defend themselves?

Let’s talk about the term “pro-choice”. Without reading into it “pro-choice” sounds pretty good. I mean, don’t you want to make your own choices where you want to go to college, where you want to work, who you date/marry, etc? Choice is good, isn’t it?

And when it comes to your own health and body, shouldn’t you decide what’s best for yourself? After all, it’s your body, right?

Here’s the problem when “pro-choice” gets extended to the “It’s my body. I should be able to do what I want” argument.

1. The baby might be in your body, but the baby has a body of its own. You shouldn’t be making a choice for someone else whether to live or die.
2. If you really cared about your body, you’ll skip the abortion. There are significant health and safety risks.
3. It’s really not your body. You are God’s property, whether you like it or not.

All this to say, you know that murdering a baby is wrong. How would you like getting your limbs separated and your head suctioned? And if you really don’t think it’s murder, I don’t know what to say. Your conscience has been seared. Your moral calibrations are way off.

Society will collapse if murder is allowed, without consequence. And yes, that extends to the baby, the most vulnerable of all. Even if you don’t believe in the Bible, you know that a society that allows baby murder and celebrates it as a “choice” is going to collapse.

Psalm 139:13-14

“For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.”

Generally speaking, the more outwardly attractive a woman is the less God will be on her mind.

That’s why when you look at the world of supermodels, actresses, and beauty pageant winners God is not really in the mix. Let me tell you why.

So when I first stated my Instagram account, immediately in the “Explore” section, which is kinda like a section where they recommend profiles you can follow, they were all women. More specifically, women who wore clothes that didn’t cover everything. It wasn’t porn, but let’s just say, the clothes was meant to point to the body.

Keep in mind this was before I “followed” anyone. Somehow Instagram knew that I was male so they guessed that they should show what males might enjoy. And these women had something like 12,347 likes for a single photo. I was just blown away.

There’s a message, a not too subliminal one, that’s tell young ladies that if they want to be “somebody” on Instagram they need to show skin. So there’s pressure on them to just copy what they see.

Here’s the problem. It makes women think of themselves as sex objects. And they will then do whatever it takes to be desired by men. Be it the hair, make-up, clothes, etc. Now, I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with looking attractive. But when you obsess over it to the point where it’s tied into your self-worth, now that’s where it’s problematic.

Attractive women know that, generally speaking, they have their choice in men. There’s probably 15-20 interested dudes at any time. So then they decide on who’s their man based on what the man has to offer, be it money, opportunity, status, etc. What suffers is the call of God on their lives. When you can have any guy and the perks that come with it, who needs God? You can have any of the world’s stuff you want.

That’s why women who are 100% sold out to God are not going to be the supermodels with the bikini bodies. Nope.

That’s why it’s important for women to not let their beauty give them a big head. If God made you physically attractive, awesome. Just don’t be full of yourself.

Being a pretty woman can be so dangerous to your soul. All this to say… if you took care of what’s on the inside as much as what’s on the outside…. well, then you’ll be just fine.

1 Peter 3:3-4:

“Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel—  rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”

There is a crisis in our nation, in our world. There are very, very few real men (it’s equally true for women, but I digress).

I can only speak of this generation of men. I heard that in the early part of the 20th century, men knew that if they wanted sex they would have to be responsible for his woman and the children that come. He couldn’t just have sex with a different woman every night. Women wouldn’t allow themselves to be played like that. But with contraceptives, day after pills, birth control, and abortion, a way was paved for men to have all the sex they wanted and none of the ensuing responsibility. This essentially has made men very weak, a shadow of who he was created to be.

If you think about it most problems in society would instantly disappear if men were men. For instance, sex trafficking would disappear because virtually all the customers are men. Pornography would largely disappear because most users are men. Divorce rates would be cut dramatically because men would trade in their older-looking wives for younger ones.  There would be no more affairs. If men were faithful women would not have any men to have affairs with. Families would be more intact as a result. Kids would not be as messed up.

Speaking of kids who are messed up I have a friend in Singapore. She’s a nice girl and you wouldn’t be able to tell this about her unless she told you, but because her parents divorced when she was 6, she always had a fear til this very day of her future husband divorcing her, which pretty much sabotages every potential opposite sex relationship she has and will have (unless she breaks that cycle). She has a general distrust of men.

And let’s talk about men who verbally and/or physically assault their wives/girlfriends. Or men who are so controlling and insecure they need to know the whereabouts of their women all the time.

Speaking of which, this reminds me of a college friend of mine who had such a control freak boyfriend, who she was literally scared of breaking up with because he might hurt her. So sad.

And of course, when it comes to being a toxic person, I hate to admit it, but my late father comes to mind. He berated my mother and singlehandedly destroyed my mom’s social life (He would be so rude to my mom’s friends that none of them wanted to come over to have even a conversation).

I can go on and on. These are not men. These are bullies. These are emasculated men.

Real men do the right thing. They protect. They provide. They defend the truth. They do the dirty work.

Real men put God first. Talk is cheap. Do it.

Today is the eve of perhaps one of the last elections of American history.

I can’t help, but take some time to reflect on the gravity of this moment. We have a tremendous crisis in our country. People have been blinded by darkness.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says:

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

This cannot be more evident than what we’ve seen the last four years. The media, basically a tool of unrighteousness, has been exposed to the core of their lying ways yet there are still millions of Americans who believe whatever they see on TV. So obviously, they are anti-Trump.

Now, I’m not saying that if you are a believer of Christ that you need to vote for Trump. There may be 3rd party candidates that are pretty awesome, but let’s be realistic for a moment here. Either a Democrat or a Republican will win tomorrow. And between the two, you really don’t have a choice. You can’t be Christian and vote Democrat.

You have people who literally have TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) where they flip out and go mad at the mention of Trump or at the sight of red hats that mention something like “Make America Great Again”. They’re triggered as if they have some psychological illness. I have never seen anything like this before.

In this mix are believers. Their minds are blinded, too. Perhaps not completely as they can see the beauty of Christ, but they are blinded in that they cannot separate truth from falsehood in the world around them.

I don’t claim to be know the truth about everything, but the issues that I am aware of I know something sinister is behind it. This is an enviable position because I’m going to be hard to fool. But this is not because I’m smart. It’s because I know I’m not smart. I’m leveraging the expertise and insights of others around me. The absolute worse position one can be in is to think you’re smart, but you’re not. Such a person will not be open to corrective input and will always remain in the dark.

Christians in America are under attack. Society is succeeding in silencing the Christian voice. And without a voice our influence is minimized. Let me give you some examples.

Meet Laura. She’s a medical researcher/doctor. Laura is highly regarded in her field. She keeps her faith to herself because she knows her colleagues will ridicule her if she expressed her faith not in evolution, but in creation. Plus, she is trying to get grants and if word gets out about her bio-ethics she might not get anything. So she keeps her faith to herself to preserve her image and her career.

Meet Fred. He’s a California-licensed counselor. State Law SB1172 prohibits him from to help a minor with homosexual tendencies to develop normal, opposite sex attraction. He’s not even supposed to bring this topic up even if the minor and his parents are wanting it so he doesn’t.

Meet Sandra. She’s a public school teacher. Sandra is required to put up posters in her classroom about homosexuality even though she might not agree with it. In other words, she is forced to be complicit in condoning this sexual orientation.

Meet Adam. He is a Washington state pharmacist. Though he doesn’t believe in abortion he is required by law to not refuse anyone who wants abortion-inducing drugs. He’s not even allowed to refer the patient to another pharmacy. Adam has worked so hard advancing his career and doesn’t want to lose his practice that he is thinking about just complying with the law.

Meet Susan. She owns a bakery. Susan was asked by a prospective customer to back a cake supporting homosexuality. When she politely refused she was sued and had to close her business.

There are many other examples, but I think you get the picture. Society is becoming more and more hostile to the Christian voice. In some ways this shouldn’t come as a surprise. But still it is surprising because I’ve not seen such hostility toward Christians in America like I see today.

Society is trying to force its’s view and agenda onto everyone. Some include homosexuality, abortion, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, etc. And they’ll say to you, “If you believe in Jesus, that’s great. Just keep it to yourself.” Society is forcing Christians to go along with their evil ways. First, they silence Christians. If you say something they disagree with then that’s hate language. Second, they are forcing Christians to participate in or at least not speak out against their agenda lest they be fired.

A lot of Christians are not fighting back. Part of it is because they are scared. They might get targeted, harassed, or worse. Part of it is because Christians don’t have strong convictions about these issues. They feel like if the law says this or that you just follow it. No questions asked.

Because there is little opposition society plummets faster into disarray. The anti-Christian mentality asserts itself in the minds of young children. For example, in California homosexuality is introduced and portrayed in a positive light as it has entered the curriculum.

Should Christians speak out? Absolutely. To what degree? That’s between a person and God. Speaking out might not stop the tide of evil, but may slow it down. And also, it may open the eyes of a few leading them to God.

For example, if a teacher posts a pro-homosexuality poster and never voices opposition to it students who see it may start to think that there’s nothing wrong with being homosexual. They might even start experimenting. This obviously can hurt them and those around them.

Another example, teachers are not encourage and/or permitted to speak about sexual abstinence to students. Instead, students are hearing about safe sex, which is not really safe. The implicit message is that it’s OK to have sex, which they do.

When the Christian voice is silenced society’s downfall is hastened. People are only hearing an anti-Christian message and typically adopt it. After all, they don’t hear any other point of view. Silencing the Christian voice is tantamount to stripping this group of people of influence over society. And we need this influence more than anything else now.

I’m not saying speaking out is easy. It’s hard. You can get harassed and even fired. But if you don’t you won’t be able to influence your world for the better.

This is a very intriguing question because everyone one of us, whether we know it or not, probably have or have had unbiblical views on something. Maybe it was believing that you had to do more good deeds than bad deeds to be saved. Maybe it was believing that you needed to be water baptized to be saved. Maybe it was believing that once you prayed the sinner’s prayer you can live however you please. You can probably think of other examples.

You see, our views change over time. We replace what we think is unbiblical with what we think is. That’s not to say that you might not revert back to the original view. What we believe is at the mercy of what we think we know best at that time.

But how unbiblical can we be and still be saved? I mean what if you were a Mormon and you believed in the Bible as long as it agrees with the Book of Mormon? I mean what if you were a Jehovah’s Witness and believed that Jesus was a bit less than God? Or what if you’re a Baptist and reject the gift of tongues and prophecy? What if you view the Bible as a good story that teaches morals, but nothing anymore special than Aesop’s fables?

At the end of the day, unless God has given to you some special revelation, you and I really don’t know who is saved and who isn’t. The best we can do is guess, but if/when we get to heaven we might be surprised who we see there and who we don’t. This just goes to say that the last time I checked I’m not aware of anyone who got a peek into the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Therefore, you really can’t say that so and so is saved, but so and so who kind of believes whatever he wants to believe isn’t. You can’t even say that someone who flat out denies God is not saved (case in point: Peter’s denial of Christ). We know that Peter is reinstated later on, but we would have been less sure of his salvation had he died right after his denial. Ultimately, you really don’t know, so much so that you can’t even say that Hitler wasn’t saved, but Mother Theresa was.

The Bible gives very little indication about who was saved. It mentions Enoch and Elijah being carried by God to heaven and Lazarus being in Abraham’s bosom, which seems to indicate heaven and that Abraham was there, too. There might be other examples, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. Hebrews 11 talks about people who were commended for their faith, but it doesn’t say anything about their salvation. Their salvation is assumed by us, the readers.

The evangelical Christian view is what I’m most familiar with growing up. This view, generally speaking, would say that all Christians (particularly those who regularly help out at church) are saved. They would say that Catholics possibly might be saved although they have some unusual beliefs (in actuality, it’s similar to evangelicals’ beliefs if you think about it. We call it the “Lord’s Supper” they call it the “eucharist”. We call the guy a “pastor”. They call him “father”.). And then the people in the cults like Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses and the other religions (i.e. Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism) are basically going to hell.

Nope. You really can’t be too sure of who’s saved and who isn’t. If someone is an open polytheist and worshipped multiple God (I guess it can be kinda like Hinduism), you would say that person isn’t saved. But this would describe Abraham, who the Bible indicates is saved. Joshua 24:2-3 says:

Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.  But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants.

This clearly indicates that God was aware of polytheism. But God never outlawed polytheism until the 10 commandments at Mt. Sinai, which was later on. So just because someone is polytheistic doesn’t necessarily mean they are not saved. We would have assumed Abraham wasn’t, but that’s not true.

Just to clarify… I’m not advocating polytheism. Although if you really think about it Christians to varying degrees are polytheists. There are other gods that compete with our affections for God. Sex, money, power, status, just to name a few. That’s a discussion for another time. I’m also not saying that you shouldn’t speak out against polytheism. In fact, you should in the proper time and context.

And also just to clarify… I’m not saying that you shouldn’t point out why the book of Mormon shouldn’t be trusted to your Mormon friends. Of course, you should. If they don’t know better perhaps they will be excused. But they will also be held responsible if they should know better, but choose not to. The same would be true for me and you.

All this to say that this is a complex question with much ambiguity.

 

Imagine you are the parent of a daughter who has this potential boyfriend. From your conversation with her you discover the following about this guy:

• He doesn’t really have a real job.
• Most of his friends don’t really have real jobs either.
• He didn’t go to a top university. In fact, he’s not that educated.
• The job he used to have was blue collar. He worked with his hands.
• He’s not fashionable. He more or less wears the same grungy shirt every day.
• He’s a hippie with long flowing, unkempt hair.
• He doesn’t respect the leaders at his church. They think he’s crazy and offensive.
• He travels quite a lot. Kinda of a nomad.
• He’s a loner type. Nobody really gets him, including his best friends.
• He doesn’t really have much of a savings account. He lives paycheck to paycheck.
• He doesn’t own a house and will never be able to afford one.
• He’s the godliest Christian dude ever. He genuinely loves people.

So what would you say to your daughter?

1. “Sweetheart, I think you can do better.”
2. “Sweetheart, he’s a real nice guy, but I’m not sure how he’s gonna financially support you if you got married. I mean, he doesn’t have much himself.”
3. “Sweetheart, this guy won’t make our family look good. We’re not in the same social class.”
4. “Sweetheart, ________________ (fill in your own blank).”

So have you figured out what you would say? I know that in some ways, this is not fair because it’s so hypothetical, but what I’m trying to point out here is that there are many reasons why you might be concerned about this potential boyfriend. Maybe he’s not that good-looking, both figuratively and socially. Maybe you think he needs to be more financially secure. Maybe he’s of a lower social class than what you prefer. The list can go on.

But what I’m trying to get at is that the description of this potential boyfriend fits the description of Jesus. So if you were hesitant about this guy, you were hesitant about the most beautiful, awesome, loving, gentle, and kind person who has ever lived. This was the perfect man. If the perfect man is not good enough for your daughter then the person with the real problem is YOU.

It’s amazing how much sex, power, status, and money affects our decision-making and our lifestyles. It affects us to the point where we might overlook a person like Jesus. Church-going parents always say that they want their sons or daughters to marry a godly person. Church-going singles would also say that they want to marry a godly person. But when we say that we want someone godly we don’t really mean that because we wouldn’t want someone that SOLD OUT to God like Jesus. We want someone who is a CINO (“Christian in Name Only”) who happens to have a lot of toys (i.e. money, wealth, looks, social status, education…).

If we are honest with ourselves, we really only want to associate with, marry, talk to, etc… those that make us look good. That’s what it all boils down to at the end of the day. And that, my friend, is not very godly.

Imagine you are a hermeneutics (fancy word for how you interpret the Bible) professor at a seminary and you have this one student who just isn’t doing well in your class. He takes verses out of context and applies them seemingly whichever way he wants to. He accepts some verses and rejects others. So unpredictable. He’s not consistent in how he interprets the Bible, kind of making it say whatever he wants it to. And let’s say he does it for the entire semester on every test and every paper. My question is… “Would you fail him?”

I don’t know about you, but if I was his professor I definitely would. If I pass him I would only be affirming his craziness. I would not want to be responsible for all the false teaching that comes out of his mouth. I would rationalize “A consistent hermeneutic is a hallmark of a good Bible student”. If you were me, wouldn’t you give him an “F” too?

Now for the kicker… You know, this student you just flunked was Jesus Christ. Surprised? Well, hear me out. Many of us may have never thought of Jesus this way, but it’s true. The way Jesus interpreted the Bible (Old Testament) was insane.

Please don’t stone me just yet. Give me a chance to explain. Let me share a bit from where I’m coming from.

I started going to a Baptist church when I was 14. For the life of me, I had never heard anyone at any church or seminary describe Jesus the way I just did. It seems like such a taboo thing. My professors, my former pastors, and just about every Christian friend I shared this with would be appalled by this view, but my reading of the Bible leads me to such a conclusion.

This makes me wonder what Bible people have been reading. I assure you we’re reading the same book. It’s our biases that we’re not factoring in here. What is obvious is not at all obvious to the church at large. I think that people have such blinders over their eyes because they rely much too much on others interpreting the Bible for them to the point where they don’t think through Scripture for themselves. In addition, it is a scary thing to entertain a thought that the church at large steers clear of. It’s much easier just to ignore this altogether.

If this accusation of Jesus is true and legit, namely that he did not subscribe to any of our current day sophisticated and scholarly theories of hermeneutics, but kinda did his own thing, this ought to be very disconcerting for people like us who follow God.

I mean, how do you and I know that the way we interpret the Bible is right or wrong? I mean, different seminaries, churches, and Bible teachers will say, “You should interpret the Bible the way we do”, but none of them say, “You should interpret the Bible the way Jesus did.” You know why? Because the way Jesus did it was seemingly discombobulated. He was all over the place and then some. By using Jesus’ hermeneutics we might be as confused as ever.

Jesus responded to the Old Testament in several ways. He rejected it, fulfilled it, affirmed it, reinterpreted it, one-upped it, and even took obscure verses and gave it either a new or different meaning. Kinda interesting, huh?

Let’s look at some examples:

1. Examples of Jesus rejecting the Old Testament

• Matthew 5:33-34

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne.”

• Matthew 5:38-42

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

 

2. Examples of Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament

• Matthew 5:17-18

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

• Luke 24:44

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

 

3. Examples of Jesus one-upping (i.e. raising the bar of) the Old Testament

• Matthew 5:27-28

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

 

4. Examples of Jesus reinterpreting the Old Testament

• Matthew 10:35-36

For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law –
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

These verses from Micah 7:6 were speaking about Israel’s misery. Jesus applied those who would follow him. If someone did that today we’d call him out for proof-texting.

• Matthew 26:31

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
” ‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Jesus quotes from Zechariah 13:7 and applies it to him (shepherd) and his disciples (sheep), which given the context was obscure. In other words, this is a stretch of the imagination.

 

5. Examples of Jesus affirming the Old Testament

• Matthew 8:4

Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

• Matthew 13:14-15

In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

Isaiah 6 is about God commissioning Isaiah to preach to the nation of Israel. This is seemingly out of place also.

• Matthew 24:29

“Immediately after the distress of those days
” ‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

This verse was taken from both Isaiah 13:10 (prophecy against Babylon and Isaiah 34:4 (God’s judgment against the nations). This seems out of place.

• Matthew 15:7-9

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'”

Isaiah 29:13 is about God’s rebuke of Israel, but Jesus applied it to the religious leaders.

 

6. Examples of Jesus taking obscure Old Testament passages and applying it to him and others.

• Matthew 22:43-45

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
” ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.” ‘If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

Jesus quotes from Psalm 110:1, which given the context that David wrote the psalm in doesn’t lend itself as referring to Christ. In other words, Jesus took a verse that was obscure as to its meaning and said that it applied to him.

• Luke 7:27

This is the one about whom it is written:
“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’

Malachi 3 doesn’t specifically refer to John the Baptist, yet Jesus quotes it and says it applies to John the Baptist.

• Mark 12:10-11

Haven’t you read this scripture:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Jesus takes Psalm 118:22 & 23 and applies it to his rejection even though it’s not spelled out that way.

 

This has been an interesting study for me because it confirms to me that Jesus’ interpretation of the Bible was all over the place. Sometimes he rejected it. Sometimes he affirmed it. Sometimes he fulfilled it. Sometimes he one-upped it.  Sometimes he took obscure verses and tells you what it means and there was no way you would have guessed it from the context.

Food for thought: A person like Jesus with such an inconsistent Bible interpretation would never be able to get a job as a pastor or a Bible teacher or even join a mission organization.

In addition, you know how many people can look at the same verse in the Bible and come out with completely different ideas? Well, it is conceivable for the Holy Spirit to speak different things to different people using the same verse. My seminary taught me that there could only be one interpretation for any one verse. As I illustrated above, even Jesus didn’t subscribe to this principle.

For example, I have friends who’ve read the Song of Solomon and tell me that it’s speaking of God’s love for people. I’ve read it several times and for the life of me cannot see this theme anywhere at all in the passage. I cannot affirm my friends, but nor can I say that that wasn’t what the Holy Spirit revealed to them. I just don’t know. At face value it’s about a man being with a woman.

The more I learn about God, the more ambiguous everything is. My once strong convictions in certain matters of theology are weakened. Less black and white, more gray. Hazy, if you will. There are many paradoxes in the Bible. Many unknowns. At the end of the day, I have an unsettling feeling and a dizzy head.

I am not saying that we should not try to figure out what the Bible says. Quite the contrary, we ought to come to the passages with a humble posture and allow God to speak to us through his word. And it is very possible that at times, what God is saying to you might not be what it seems at face value. But then again it might be. This topic is very complicated with many, many cards on the table.

Interpreting the Bible is both an art and a science. Knowing God’s word will lead to both illumination and confusion; both “aha” moments and “what the?” moments. The Bible challenges you to “figure me out” and once you get close to the answer you’ll find a dozen more rabbit holes.