May 27, 1997
Book stores feature a novel that alleges to be the memoirs of Jesus. It is written in first person format, just as if Jesus Himself wrote it. However, author Norman Mailer debunks or diminishes most of the Bible stories about Him. Instead, he treats his own opinions as if they belong to the Lord and claims readers should look upon this book as a “small miracle” compared to the biblical miracles. He “hopes to remain closer to the truth . . . . “ than the Bible does.
In speaking for Jesus, Mailer says His death on the cross was a “debacle and disaster” and that Christianity was invented to disguise or cover up that failure. Remember, this is not a writer merely disagreeing with the Bible but a writer claiming his thoughts are God’s thoughts, then publishing them with the hope people will buy it.
What’s new? It sounds like the same old denial of Christ and His work, dressed up for profit in an genre no one ever used before now. Mailer simply fails to realize the impact of what God has said (through the prophet Isaiah): “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”?
We have no more idea what God thinks than we can accurately guess the thoughts of other people. Unless we are told, or in God’s case, unless He reveals them, His thoughts are largely beyond the scope of our senses. In fact, God’s thoughts are beyond even our imagination.
For instance, a young pastor preparing to relocate went to a certain city near Calgary was looking for rental property. He was surprised to find none, and even more shocked that housing was at Calgary prices he could not afford. We prayed that God would solve his seemingly unsolvable problem.
A few days later, he called to tell us that the church he is going to work with had been bidding on some property but had given up when a land developer also began bidding. They assumed the developer had more funds to work with. However, the church was awarded the bid. Included with the property, was a house, a place where he could live at a price he can afford.
No one thought of that as a possibility. We saw again how God answers prayer. It is always “exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.” No matter how great our imaginations, no one successfully second-guesses God.
As for Mailer, Jesus also said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” even if they claim they “prophesy in (His) name, and in (His) name drive out demons and perform many miracles.” He says, “I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!’”
The point is, if people are rejected by God because they did not know Christ, even though they use His name and do what appears to be godly deeds, what then will happen to a man who claims to speak for Christ yet blatantly denies that He is who He claimed to be? What happens when anyone denies the written revelation God gave to help us know and believe in Him?
Besides that, God has another way of giving people understanding into His thinking. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul, who had great faith, says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him—but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit . . . For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
Truth about God is revealed, not imagined. To grasp that revelation, we need the mind of Christ, given freely to those who trust in Him. But the revelation is withheld from anyone who “has not received His Spirit” because they have denied and rejected God’s Word.
Showing posts with label blasphemy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blasphemy. Show all posts
Friday, March 3, 2017
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Sticks and stones .............................. Parables 129
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”
In self defense the children cry, but anyone who has been called names like “fatso,” “horse face,” “stinky” or even worse, knows that chanting that little ditty is only a brave attempt to cover pain.
Name calling binds lives with chains of self-degradation and blinds eyes to true self-worth and potential. Worse yet, name calling almost never stays one-sided. It soon erupts into full-scale verbal wars. When that happens, as any child knows, sticks and stones are not far behind.
The targets are not always children. Name-callers fire attacks at leaders, followers and spouses. Ugly titles are flung at well-meaning people as well as just mean people. Some people even use God’s names in their assaults or worse yet, call God names while they are at it.
When God is involved, name-calling is simply cursing, swearing or blasphemy, yet blasphemy is not mere name-calling. It is actually an attack against God’s holy character, verbal or otherwise. Case in point: “The Last Temptation.”
I haven’t seen this latest effort from Hollywood, nor will I. God commands me to keep my eyes on Jesus, the genuine Jesus, not false portrayals (Hebrews 12), but I believe I have been well informed enough to make an evaluation. Even though some say this is “a deeply religious film,” its own press releases say the film portrays the Son of God in a war of doubt, unable to shut out impure thoughts and temptations. That is not the Jesus that is presented in Scripture. Perhaps the film makers would argue the definition of purity but their own advertising blurbs are enough for me to give this movie my rating. No stars - it slanders the spotless character of God’s Son.
Christians have reacted differently, but how does God react? I know He won’t recite a chant about sticks and stones or nasty names and their effect. He won’t “get even” - He is not like us - we would return insult for insult. He likely won’t hurl a bolt of lightning dropping the offenders on the spot, although He could. My guess is that He will not defend Himself at all. He doesn’t have to . . . He is God. He is not changed by names, insinuation or misrepresentation. He is who He is.
But I believe God is grieved. We who belong to Him feel His sorrow. While we write letters, picket, protest and pray (certainly we would be under fire if we didn’t take a stand) perhaps some have misinterpreted that inner-felt grief. While we feel sorrow for God, I believe He grieves not for Himself but for those who have misunderstood and misrepresented Him.
What then would He do about this film? Romans 5:8 says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Those who create a god of their own imagination desperately need God’s mercy while there is still opportunity to avail themselves of it. To repeatedly deny the truth of Christ puts anyone on very shaky ground. He is not a personality to be taken lightly and exploited simply for the sake of box-office appeal. Those responsible for writing and producing “The Last Temptation” are writing their own ticket for judgement, and unless they repent, that ticket is a death certificate.
Inaction by God, at least for now, does not mean He overlooks this latest blasphemy. The Bible makes it clear: anyone who hardens himself against the truth of God is “heaping up wrath until the day of judgement” even if they hide that hardness in religious garb. (Romans 2:5). God’s judgement is “vengeance in flaming fire and punishment with everlasting destruction from His presence.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9)
But the Bible also says that “God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance.” Christ cannot be destroyed, by either nailing Him to a cross or portraying Him other than who He is, but those who do it can destroy their own eternal destiny.
May God have mercy - without it, His Word gives blasphemers no other hope.
In self defense the children cry, but anyone who has been called names like “fatso,” “horse face,” “stinky” or even worse, knows that chanting that little ditty is only a brave attempt to cover pain.
Name calling binds lives with chains of self-degradation and blinds eyes to true self-worth and potential. Worse yet, name calling almost never stays one-sided. It soon erupts into full-scale verbal wars. When that happens, as any child knows, sticks and stones are not far behind.
The targets are not always children. Name-callers fire attacks at leaders, followers and spouses. Ugly titles are flung at well-meaning people as well as just mean people. Some people even use God’s names in their assaults or worse yet, call God names while they are at it.
When God is involved, name-calling is simply cursing, swearing or blasphemy, yet blasphemy is not mere name-calling. It is actually an attack against God’s holy character, verbal or otherwise. Case in point: “The Last Temptation.”
I haven’t seen this latest effort from Hollywood, nor will I. God commands me to keep my eyes on Jesus, the genuine Jesus, not false portrayals (Hebrews 12), but I believe I have been well informed enough to make an evaluation. Even though some say this is “a deeply religious film,” its own press releases say the film portrays the Son of God in a war of doubt, unable to shut out impure thoughts and temptations. That is not the Jesus that is presented in Scripture. Perhaps the film makers would argue the definition of purity but their own advertising blurbs are enough for me to give this movie my rating. No stars - it slanders the spotless character of God’s Son.
Christians have reacted differently, but how does God react? I know He won’t recite a chant about sticks and stones or nasty names and their effect. He won’t “get even” - He is not like us - we would return insult for insult. He likely won’t hurl a bolt of lightning dropping the offenders on the spot, although He could. My guess is that He will not defend Himself at all. He doesn’t have to . . . He is God. He is not changed by names, insinuation or misrepresentation. He is who He is.
But I believe God is grieved. We who belong to Him feel His sorrow. While we write letters, picket, protest and pray (certainly we would be under fire if we didn’t take a stand) perhaps some have misinterpreted that inner-felt grief. While we feel sorrow for God, I believe He grieves not for Himself but for those who have misunderstood and misrepresented Him.
What then would He do about this film? Romans 5:8 says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Those who create a god of their own imagination desperately need God’s mercy while there is still opportunity to avail themselves of it. To repeatedly deny the truth of Christ puts anyone on very shaky ground. He is not a personality to be taken lightly and exploited simply for the sake of box-office appeal. Those responsible for writing and producing “The Last Temptation” are writing their own ticket for judgement, and unless they repent, that ticket is a death certificate.
Inaction by God, at least for now, does not mean He overlooks this latest blasphemy. The Bible makes it clear: anyone who hardens himself against the truth of God is “heaping up wrath until the day of judgement” even if they hide that hardness in religious garb. (Romans 2:5). God’s judgement is “vengeance in flaming fire and punishment with everlasting destruction from His presence.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9)
But the Bible also says that “God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance.” Christ cannot be destroyed, by either nailing Him to a cross or portraying Him other than who He is, but those who do it can destroy their own eternal destiny.
May God have mercy - without it, His Word gives blasphemers no other hope.
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