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Tuesday, the "Big Three" american auto-makers came before congress to say that they needed a bail out. They weren't going to be able to make it on their own and they would have to close down hundreds of plants if they didn't receive the aid. This is, of course, after they took their companies' private jets to DC and stayed in their company-paid-for five-star hotel for the week. Yeah, these guys seem to know what they are doing.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081118/D94HLE300.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=6285739&page=1
And, just for the fun of it!
I love you.
~Curtis |
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Stirring Up The Hornets' Nest: Reasons to Discuss the Instrumental Music Debate
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11-15-08 02:37pm EST
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Growing up, I never liked hornets. I tolerated bees because once they stung you, they couldn’t sting you again. However, hornets could (and would) sting you over and over again. They would even call their buddies over to help them sting you. In light of that insight into my life, it may seem a little contradictory to my nature, but I am about the stir up the proverbial hornets’ nest. I want to talk about the instrumental music debate.
One might ask why I would want to approach and discuss this topic. It is not merely a trifle or because I like to stir up trouble. I assure you that there are a number of different reasons for doing this.
1) It is discussed in the Bible. The Bible is God’s inspired word (2Timothy 3:16-17). All of what we have in our Bibles are “God-breathed” for us to know what is “profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This includes all of the Old Testament and New Testament. Now, we understand that we are no longer under the Old Law because Jesus fulfilled the Old Law and died to establish His New Law (Hebrews 7-10). Although the Old Law (“The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms” as per Jesus in Luke 24:44) holds no authority, it is still important for us to examine because of what is said in Galatians 3:24, “Therefore, the law (of Moses) was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” It is important for us to study the Old Testament to see the “shadow” to better understand the substance which is Christ (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:5, 10:1). With that said, the issue of musical worship is something that is discussed throughout the entire Bible and, therefore, it is a topic we need to examine so we can know how to worship God in a pleasing manner.
2) How we approach God in worship is important. There are a few things that are important to note with this point. First, this is an issue of worship to God. In one aspect, everything we do should be in worship to God (Romans 12:1). However, what we are discussing is the proper way to worship God when His saints assemble for the purpose of worshipping Him collectively. When one examines the New Testament, he or she sees Christians commanded to assemble together (Hebrews 10:23-29) and the many examples of Christians assembling together (Acts 2:42, 4:31, 14:27, 15:30). When one examines why they came together, he or she sees they worshipped God in their assembly. They did this by studying God’s word (Acts 2:42, 15:30, 17:11), encouraging each other to do what was good to do (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:24-25), taking the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42, 20:7, 1Corinthians 11), praying prayers of supplications and intercessions and praise (Acts 2:42; 1Timothy 2:1-7), and singing praises to God (1Corinthians 14:15; Hebrews 2:12; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). We need to keep in mind that this discussion is in regards to musical worship in the assembling of the saints who gather together for their collective worship. Second, in no way am I condemning instrumental music. I love it. It is very entertaining to me. However, there is just no God-approved place for it in our worship assemblies. Third, it has always been important to God how we approach Him in worship. One of the first problems God has with man is in Genesis 4 and how Cain refused to approach God properly and offer a better sacrifice like His brother Able did (Hebrews 11:4). That problem persisted through the entirety of the Old Testament (Leviticus 10:1-7; 2Chronicles 26:1-23; Ezekiel 8, 13). God has never been pleased with improper worship to Him. He will not stand for it now. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to worship God in the manner which He prescribes.
3) We need to strive for unity. It is important to know what God says and to obey what He commands us to do. All of us should strive for unity, not in diversity, but in the Holy Spirit. In Ephesians 4:1-6, Paul says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Later, in vss11-16, Paul says, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” In Romans 12:16, Paul tells the Christians in Rome to be of the same mind. In Philippians 2:1-5, Paul tells us to have the same mind that was in Christ (humble obedience to God). In Philippians 3:16, Paul implores the Christians there to be of the same mind and walk by the same rule. In 1Peter 4:1, Peter tells Christians to arm themselves with the same mind. In 1Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul told the Corinthians that there should be no divisions among them because Christ and His gospel is not divided. Does this mean we have to agree on every little thing? I think passages like Romans 14 show us that there are some issues that are matters of opinion in which they are not binding. However, what God has specified and commanded, we must be unified in His mind and unified in that commandment. Singing praises to God definitely falls into this category or prescribed commandments.
4) We need to stand for the truth. In 1Corinthians 16:13, Paul tells the Corinthians to stand fast in the faith. Another way of saying this would be to “fight for the faith.” In 1Timothy 6:12, Paul tells Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. Galatians 5:1, Paul tells the Galatians to stand in the liberty by which Christ made us free. In Ephesians 6:11-13, Paul tells the Ephesians to stand against the wiles of the Devil by putting on the whole armor of God. This standing for the truth by fighting the good fight of faith in liberty is against the wiles of the Devil and his lies. Jude warns against false teachers and tells Christians everywhere to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). In 2Peter 2, Peter tells Christians to avoid false teachers and their false doctrines which are contrary to the word of God. In 2John 7-11, John warns the “elect lady,” a Christian, to be on the look out for “antichrist deceivers.” In 2Timothy 4:1-5, Paul warns Timothy that there will come a time when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but heap up false teachers because of their itching ears. Because of that, Paul tells Timothy to preach the WORD in season and out of season to fulfill his ministry as an evangelist of the Gospel of Christ. It is a Christian’s duty to stand for the truth of the whole Gospel at all times, whether the current issue is a new one or not (which it never is, cf. Ecclesiastes). We need to stand for the truth of what God commands for musical worship to Him. That means we need to boldly proclaim that the only prescribed musical worship is singing and not using any musical instruments.
5) My final reason is a bit of a personal reason. Over the last year, I have noticed an unsettling trend or theological idea. I don’t know if it has always been there and I just hadn’t noticed it before or if it is a “new” way to look at the Bible. The idea (as I understand it) is that only the five books that constitute the Law of Moses, the Pentateuch, were done away with when Jesus established His New Law. This is, of course, a false doctrine because of what Jesus Himself said in Luke 24:44 in which He said that He had fulfilled the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (or Writings). When Jesus died on the cross, He nailed it all to the cross. When He established His New Law, His New Covenant, His New Testament, all other things were finished and completed and fulfilled. All that remained was the New Law of Christ. I bring this false doctrine up because people will try to use it to find authorization and justification for practices in which they wish to engage, like using instrumental music in the worship assembly.
It is important for us to look at the Instrumental Music Debate (IMD) so when this false doctrine becomes more and more prevalent, we will be ready to stand for the truth and strive for unity in the Spirit which is God’s word. Let us all strive to worship God in an acceptable manner according to His New Law.
I love you all.
I love you.
~Curtis |
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The New Testament is the testimony of the witnesses (the apostles and others) who witnessed Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascention. It is, also, the testimony that Jesus did what He said He was going to do by giving the apostles and Bible writers the Holy Spirit to guide them in all truth (what Jesus said while He was here and what He withheld for a more proper time). The New Testament records for us the New Covenant between God and man that Jeremiah spoke of in Jeremiah 31. It is the Law that was written on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. While the New Testament, New Covenant, and New Law all have different aspects to them, they are essentially the same thing because they cover the same material with the same purpose in mind. Also, and maybe most importantly, all three come from God and therefore bear His authority which necessitates and demands obedience to each.
I've just been thinking about this lately and I wanted to share. Tell me what you think.
Have a great weekend.
I love you.
~Curtis
PS- It's CHILI TIME!!!! |
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I am giving my students a pop quiz tonight. Let's see how well you all do on the Multiple Choice section. :)
Multiple Choice
1. The Bible is… a) the word of God, b) just a good book, c) $29.95 at Barnes&Noble.
2. The Bible was written by… a) God as He inspired holy men, b) a bunch of different people with different ideas, c) a dietitian with an addiction to spray butter and "whippits".
3. The Bible is divided into two sections. They are… a) the Old and New Testaments, b) the First and Second Halves, c) “War & Peace” and “The Brothers Karamazov.”
4. The first five books of the OT are called… a) the Law, b) the Prophets, c) Boring
5. The first four books of the NT are called… a) the Gospels, b) the Epistles, c) Gus
6. The Temple was in… a) Jerusalem, b) Bethlehem, c) Timbuktu.
7. The feast the Jews celebrated every year was… a) Passover, b) Lord’s Supper, c) Thanksgiving.
8. Jesus came to the Temple when He was… a) eight days old, b) twelve years old, c) on His off days.
9. The one baptizing people in the wilderness was… a) John the Baptizer, b) John Mark, c) Dave the Dunker.
10. The angel that spoke to Zacharias and Mary was… a) Gabriel, b) Michael, c) Tex Colorado, the Arizona Assassin
Well, how did you all do? I am anxious to see who gets to clean the erasers after class. :)
I love you all.
I love you.
~Curtis |
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Mark 7:24-30 reads: “From there, He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him and she came and fell at His feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” Then He said to her, “For this saying, go your way; the demon has gone out from your daughter.” And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out and her daughter lying on the bed.”
The text tells us when Jesus went to the region of Phoenicia, to the north of Judea, He encounters a woman with a demon-possessed daughter. She begs Jesus to heal her daughter. Oddly enough, Jesus refuses at first saying, “Let the children be filled first.” The woman responds by saying, “Even the little dogs eat the children’s crumbs.” Then, Jesus heals her daughter because of her faith. What is Jesus talking about when He talks about the “children” and the “little dogs?” The “children” mentioned here are the children of Israel, the Jews, while the Gentiles are the “little dogs” (an affectionate term for a house pet). When the woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter and Jesus said “Let the children be filled first,” He was saying two things. One, He came to convince the Jews that He was the Messiah they had been looking for and that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. He tried to prove this by the miracles and teachings He did. Two, there would come a time when the “little dogs,” the Gentiles, would have the same opportunity as the Jews to call Jesus the Savior and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
We see, in Acts 10, with the conversion of Cornelius and his household, that the time Jesus spoke of had come to pass. In Acts 15:13-19, James explains to the council in Jerusalem that “Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.’ Known to God from eternity are all His works. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God.”
Now is the time that the “little dogs,” those without a Jewish ancestry, people like most of us today, to come to Jesus. We can now call Him our Savior and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven through baptism into His blood like those on the day of Pentecost did so many years ago. Why not, oh “little dogs,” eat of the feast the Lord has prepared for you?
I love you all.
I love you.
~Curtis |
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