Samaritans Today

As of January 1, 2012, there are still 705 Samaritans living in Israel. Samaritans are not Jews (mainnly descendents of "Jew-dah") but they descend from other tribes of Israel that have intermarried with other nations.

Amazingly, till today they have been preserved as a remnant in the land of Israel.

Here they are, worshiping on Mount Gerazim

During his lifetime Jesus had a lot of interaction with Samaritans. He was definitely and distinctly a Jew, and came for the Jewish people, but I believe that  He also had a great heart and love for the Samaritans. We ought to pray for the Samaritan people today! When we read John 4, Luke 17, may we receive the heart of Yeshua for the Shomerim who also call upon the name of YHWH. 

Renouncing and Repenting Christian Terrorism

It isn't as if church history isn't clear enough that at many points in history, traditional Christianity has been one of the murderous and vile instigators of evil. 

Our "christian fathers " have killed the prophets, and today we adorn their graves. Meaning, that many "Christians" in times past were against Martin Luther King, the Civil Rights movement, and segregation, but the majority of Christianity today would say that if they lived during those days, they would have stood up for civil rights. We adore the Christians who died in the Holocaust, and say that if we were in their place, we would have done the same. But the fact is, the majority of evangelical Christians in Germany supported Hitler. 

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/mistic/religionsplanetearth11.htm

“National Socialism was a religion,” noted Professor George Lachmann Mosse of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose wealthy Jewish family fled Germany in 1933.

“The depth of the ideology, the liturgy, the element of hope, all helped to give the movement the character of a new faith. It has been shown that [Nazi propaganda minister Paul Joseph] Goebbels quite consciously used religious terminology in many of his speeches. Moreover, Nazism was a total worldview which by its very nature excluded all others.

From this it followed that traditional Christianity was a rival, not a friend. But here Hitler at first went very slowly indeed, for he needed (and got) the support of the majority of the Christian churches.”

Despite Nazi hostility to Christianity and thanks to Goebbels’s propaganda, many Germans believed that Hitler was heaven-sent.

 

A Cologne children’s prayer began,

“Fuehrer, my fuehrer, bequeathed to me by the Lord.”

And, with the notable exception of some anti-Nazi clerics such as Pastors Martin Niemoeller and the martyred Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German congregations all fell into lockstep with the Nazi government.

 

Violent Christianity! Martin Luther promoted the following in his book, On the Jews and their Lies

1. for Jewish synagogues and schools to be burned to the ground, and the remnants buried out of sight;
2. for houses owned by Jews to be likewise razed, and the owners made to live in agricultural outbuildings;
3. for their religious writings to be taken away;
4. for rabbis to be forbidden to preach, and to be executed if they do;
5. for safe conduct on the roads to be abolished for Jews;
6. for usury to be prohibited, and for all silver and gold to be removed and "put aside for safekeeping"; and
7. for the Jewish population to be put to work as agricultural slave labor.^[4]

 

One such outstanding example is the Ku Klux Clan.  A quote has surfaced all over the internet, but I cannot find it's source. It was quoted here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080209170737AA7pm7H

"The hierarchy of the Ku Klux Klan was drawn exclusively from the hierarchy of the white Southern Baptist church. There were no Catholics, Jews or Jehovah's Witnesses in the Klan. There were a few Methodists in their ranks but their Kleagles, Exalted Cyclopses, Grand Wizards, etc., were all deacons, Sunday school teachers, ministers and preachers of that violent religion. The Klan was the enforcement wing of that white Southern Baptist church." ---http://www.mississippidays.com/murder

According to Wikipedia's pages on Christian Terrorism and also the KKK, 

Beginning after the Civil War, members of the Protestant-led^[64] Ku Klux Klan organization began engaging in arson, beatings, cross burning, destruction of property, lynching, murder, rape, tar-and-feathering, and whipping against African Americans, Jews, Catholics, and other social or ethnic minorities.
They were explicitly Christian terrorist in ideology, basing their beliefs on a "religious foundation" in Christianity.^[65] The goals of the KKK included, from an early time on, an intent to "reestablish Protestant Christian values in America by any means possible," and believe that "Jesus was the first Klansman."^[66] Their cross-burnings were conducted not only to intimidate targets, but to demonstrate their respect and reverence for Jesus Christ, and the lighting ritual was steeped in Christian symbolism, including the saying of prayers and singing of Christian hymns.^[67] Many modern Klan organizations, such as the Knights Party, USA, continue to focus on the Christian supremacist message, asserting that there is a "war" on to destroy "western Christian civilization."

  The Second Klan saw threats from every direction. A religious tone was apparent in its activities; "two-thirds of the national Klan lecturers were Protestant ministers," says historian Brian R. Farmer.^[82] Much of the Klan's energy went to guarding "the home;" the historian Kathleen Bleeits said its members wanted to protect "the interests of white womanhood."^[83]

Indiana's Klansmen represented a wide cross section of society: they were not disproportionately urban or rural, nor were they significantly more or less likely than other members of society to be from the working class, middle class, or professional ranks. Klansmen were Protestants, of course, but they cannot be described exclusively or even predominantly as fundamentalists. In reality, their religious affiliations mirrored the whole of white Protestant society, including those who did not belong to any church.<sup>[95]

The second Klan adopted a burning Latin cross as its symbol. No such crosses had been used by the first Klan, but the burning cross was used as a symbol of intimidation by the second Klan.[96] The burning of the cross was also used by the second Klan as a symbol of Christian fellowship, and its lighting during meetings was steeped in Christian prayer, the singing of hymns, and other overtly religious symbolism.[14]</sup>

I had never realized the normalcy of the KKK among many Christians. It was a Protestant movement! I feel convicted that the church has to "make full teshuvah". The KKK was really the tip of the iceberg after centuries of crusades, pograms, inquisitions, etc. We cannot afford to ignore the facts. We must face them, for only then can we be authentic followers of Christ,

1) Cry out to God for forgiveness for our pride, arrogance and selfishness
2) Utterly repent of, renounce, and turn away from racism, anti-semitism, Christian supremacy, and the pagan western-supremacist elements in our Christianity.
3) Ask for forgiveness from those we have offended.   
4) Pursue love and grace in our conduct. 
5) Spread awareness of the horrible history of Christian terrorism and antisemitism. Speak the truth about Church history!

Only then can we have a testimony in this world. How can we shine as lights if the world still accuses of the past misdeeds? The only way is for us to be completely broken over the wrong that is in the church! If only we would see as God sees.   

 

The World's Finger

"They are highly submissive to established authority, aggressive in the name of that authority, and conventional to the point of insisting everyone should behave as their authorities decide. They are fearful and self-righteous and have a lot of hostility in them that they readily direct toward various out-groups. They are easily incited, easily led, rather uninclined to think for themselves, largely impervious to facts and reason, and rely on social support to maintain their beliefs. They bring strong loyalty to their in-groups, have thick-walled, highly compartmentalized minds, use a lot of double standards in their judgments, are surprisingly unprincipled at times, and are often hypocrites."- Canadian psychologist, Robert Altemeyer.

 The world is pointing the finger at the church. They have much to contend with, and much to object against Christian fundamentalism. Are they wrong?

I believe that society's hatred of Christianity is largely justified. We have become traditionalists and legalists. Their objections are large not against Christ nor against His gospel but against the many, many, evils, or traditional Christianity.  

I have previously written on the "Fuhrer Prinzip", or the egocentric authoritarianism found in many, many, church groups and cults.

We are so inclined to worship a man, a teacher, and idolizing them. We become imitators of phrases and mannerisms. We respond to arguments with "typical" reasoning, trained and ingrained into our minds. The world is calling us hypocrites - how much more Jesus? We are walking according to the flesh - according to our carnal, irrational, subjective, closed and limited, minds and emotions. We are living the "Christian life" for our own selves. We fail to know Christ, because one needs to walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh.

Cult-like authoritarianism consists of two factors - a carnal, selfish, leader, and carnal, selfish, followers. They follow not after God but after a man.

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. (Matthew 22:25 NASV)

 And 1st Peter 5 have more on the topic. It clearly states that leaders must not have the "I am the LORD, follow me" mentality.  

Anyway, just to summarize my thoughts.

Some of the things a "leader' must be:

1) An Imitator and disciple of Christ
2) The humblest of servants to all the flock.
3) Not one to "exercise authority" but to demonstrate godliness
4) Humble, repentent, and open about his own sins and failings
5) Encourage men not to be disciples of him alone and conform to his image, but of Christ over all.
6) Not greedy for money
7) 

There is no place for a dictator in the Kingdom of God. The assembly or congregation of saints is not a one-man show.

All of us must:
1) Have discernment
2) Be clear, truthful, and honest
3) Have a gentle, humble, spirit, not of course an arrogant and rebellious one
4) Know God the God's Word for oneself, and not depend on the "leader"
5) Have intellectual honesty (I stress on that a lot), not bury our heads in the sand, but know all the truth and all the facts
6) Not be reliant on exterior factors ("social support")
7) Free from loyalty and service to a man (idolatry)
8) Not be dependent on weak, repetitive, indoctrinated, arguments and phrases.
9) Take our beliefs to the extreme to mentally test their soundness. Absolute, rigorous, thinking!!!

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)

Scripture is so balanced. Taken out of context, this can be a pretext for authoritarianism. Yet, if we all supremely care for others more than ourselves, to put others first and not our own gain, there will be perfect unity and oneness in Christ, not of the fleshly, selfish, kind found in most of Christianity. 

The world is not wrong to call Christians bigots because many times we really are intolerant and unloving. We can still be principled, however, and not be a religious, rigid, fundamentalist bigot.

With Christ, In School

I want so much to be Spiritual and to walk in the Spirit, yet not be accused of sloppy thinking and believing. I believe that God's divine power has given to us all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Truly, all there is to know is Christ and Him crucified, because to know God is to know all things because all matter originates in His being.

I believe there are many examples of learned disciples of Christ, who were teachers, who spoke and wrote with clarity, whose minds were shaped by the Holy Spirit. That does not make them less intellectual, but far more so, in the right way. They do not depend on their own intellect, and thus, have the gift from God of knowledge and understanding beyond all that they are capable of.

What does it mean to be "With Christ, In School"? I want so much to be on the right track now, while I am still being educated. That means that the choices I make and the lessons I learn now, I want it worthwhile and of God. I don't want to look back on my education and regret, or have to "count it all loss". I want an education that is cross-centered, and I believe that that is possible, and far more, necessary.

God must be brought into every square corner of my life. His Words, His call to absolute obedience, must penetrate even the "earthly" parts of life, including education.

The growth of a disciple is laid out as such in 1st Peter 1: faith, diligence, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love.

Therefore, faith alone must be worked out with all diligence. Virtue, strength of character must accompany it, and also knowledge. Knowledge in a disciple is a great thing,  but it not enough to know, one must also have temperance and personal discipline. A complete education encompasses all these things.


And I end by quoting an old School-prayer taught to children.

Father of all! we return thee most humble and hearty thanks for thy protection of us in the night season, and for the refreshment of our souls and bodies, in the sweet repose of sleep. Accept also our unfeigned gratitude for all thy mercies during the helpless age of infancy.

Continue, we beseech thee, to guard us under the shadow of thy wing. Our age is tender, and our nature frail, and without the influence of thy grace, we shall surely fall.

Let that influence descend into our hearts, and teach us to love thee and truth above all things. O guard our hearts from the temptations to deceit, and grant, that we may abhor a lie as a sin and as a disgrace.

Inspire us also with an abhorrence of the loathsomeness of vice, and the pollutions of sensual pleasure. Grant at the same time, that we may early feel the delight of conscious purity, and wash our hands in innocency, from the united motives of inclination and of duty.

Give us, O thou Parent of all knowledge, a love of learning, and a taste for the pure and sublime pleasures of the understanding. Improve our memory, quicken our apprehension, and grant that we may lay up such a store of learning, as may fit us for the station to which it shall please thee to call us, and enable us to make great advances in virtue and religion, and shine as lights in the world, by the influence of a good example.

Give us grace to be diligent in our studies, and that whatever we read we may strongly mark, and inwardly digest it.

Bless our parents, guardians, and instructors; and grant that we may make them the best return in our power, for giving us opportunities of improvement, and for all their care and attention to our welfare. They ask no return, but that we should make use of those opportunities, and co-operate with their endeavours—O grant that we may never disappoint their anxious expectations.

Assist us mercifully, O Lord, that we may immediately engage in the studies and duties of the day, and go through them cheerfully, diligently and successfully.

Accept our endeavors, and pardon our defects through the merits of our blessed Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Of Law, and then of Love

If our Christian life is still about what we can and cannot do, about what a true disciple does and does not do, then we are still living under "law". Our focus is not on love and obedience, it is on law and observance. It is about the flesh, and walking by the flesh. It is about judging others by what we see and perceive from our own experience.

Even if our Christian life from the point of view of the cross is about what we must suffer, what we must leave behind, about a set list of things we must give up, it is still missing something.  Discipleship is not a set course, or program. We are not members of a monastery. We are followers of Christ!

That leads to me to the point - love. Love is about obedience. It is about setting our eyes and mind of Christ. Our own sufferings, what we have given up to follow Christ, our nets, they have ceased. They have disappeared from our thoughts.

"Law" is when we look back at Sodom, when we groan about the "Egypt" we have left behind with its leeks and garlics, when we moan about manna and water. "Love" is when our eyes are set upon the Promised Land.

Without "love" we cannot understand God's Law, because at the heart of God's commandments was Love.

Jesus and the Pharisees. Two groups that practiced and believed almost the same thing. The imperceptible difference was that the focus of one was upon the Law of Love, namely the setting of our hearts upon God, and the other, the Law  itself. Note that the Pharisees loved God. Love was not absent from their belief and their practice. And note even more that Jesus was not antinomian. He did not command His disciples to murder and steal and to break as many laws as they could in some kind of libertarian defiance.

No.

"Do you still use the internet?"

"Do you still read secular books?"

These are probably not questions that stem from "love", but from "law".

What I mean by "law" is the kind of Christian life lived by observance of rules as opposed to allegiance to Christ.

It is ultimately about love, trust, and obedience. These are not contrary to the Law. If we truly understand the Bible then we know that love is the Torah. If we know Torah then we would understand Love. It our focus is fleshly, then we would react and say, "But that's not the only thing. Aren't we supposed to eat, to drink, to dress, to talk, in a certain way?"

The demands of Love, the demands of the Incarnate Jesus in person, the demands of a living God, will point a finger straight into the heart of the matter. Our fleshly evasions are to no avail.

Love is a heart, it is a perception. It we truly had that within us, quite naturally, the "things of the world will strangely dim."

 

Creepy?

Perhaps now I now what it means for Christians near and far, in times past and present, to share one mind, that is, to have the mind of Christ.

When hearing Biblical preaching, teaching, and reading, I sometimes have this deep connection with the preacher so much so that I hear my own words coming forth from another's mouth, or know what preacher is going to saw before he says it. It's kinda creepy in a way, but perhaps that is what is meant by us "having the same mind".

Perhaps the common denominator is the preaching of the gospel of the cross. Regardless of vocabulary, language, emphasis or style of expression, the message is the same. And no matter what the topic, whether it is prayer, or the gospel, or love, or missions, it is the same!

It just resonates in me, in complete agreement with Scripture. It's this remarkable feeling I get, that is more than a feeling. It's an identification. And it's not merely emotions because it composes of the whole being, a united being, knitted together with the body of Christ and Christ Himself.

When you read the words of Jesus, or Paul, or John, or even teachers past and present that repeated them, and you have a sense of the fulness of what they are saying, and when you read those words out loud, they are almost your own words. It that's kind of understanding, the rich, amazing, comprehensive, understanding.

It is not the fault of the mind that people are deceived. They are deceived in their whole complete being! Their emotions, their mind, their conscience, their actions- everything lines up to support their own self-deception. And they refuse the truth but choose to waddle in ignorance like a sow in the mire.

1 Corinthians 1 speaks of Paul desiring that the entire church to be of one mind, to think, to judge, and to speak, as if they were one body. How entirely impossible! Yet so entirely so, if one walks according to the spirit.

The Jerusalem congregation, the first and original Messianic community, were gathered in one body. That is a high impossibility, knowing that the nature of God's people is that they are very individual, vocal, and passionate about their difference so much so that today, they cannot even agree on a Constitution. They will never be mindless cult-like followers, blinded and ignorant. No, above all they are true to their own self and have intellectual integrity. They do not conform for the sake of conforming. That is the nature of Am Yisroel. And when that people are joined together in such a depth of unity, it is something far more than superficial cloning. It is far from socialism. It is richer, it is deeper, it is supernatural, and yet, very organic. 

Christianity of the Gospels

The Christianity of the Gospels predates that of Pauline Christianity. One cannot have Paul's writings and take them to be all that Christian life is. Far from it! Everything Paul taught and said was build on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. It is impossible to have just Paul alone, for they build upon the Gospels and Words of Jesus, which proceeded naturally and completely from the Hebrew Scripture, the Torah and the Prophets.

What I appreciate about the "Cost of Discipleship" is that it's premise is the return to Jesus alone and His Word, to the core of our faith, to what it first was, without which the rest of the epistles become meaningless.

The "Cost of Discipleship" cannot be simply dismissed as "just one man's teaching" in the pejorative sense, because the whole book is about Jesus. It is also a plea for Christians to return to the Word of Jesus and to cast off all man-made dogmas, traditions, heresies, etc.

The Call of Jesus resurfaced in the 1930s through this book. Before, it had been forgotten and hidden, mentioned but not understood. Now all the dross was cast away and the  pressing issue, the heart of the matter, thrust into the faith of Christians - Christ demands obedience, absolute, single-minded obedience to His Word and His Word alone. Nothing less that absolute allegiance and adherence to Him, conformation to His image, and the death to all religious program.

Bonhoeffer was not promoting his own writing or interpretation. He wrote to direct men back to the Words of Jesus Himself. 

It is a call to the Narrow Way. 

Is Healthy Eating CONTRARY to God's Ways?

What would your answer be, that "Yes, because Jesus is healer". I find that too simplistic. The question is, perhaps, "Is my whole life consecrated to God as a living sacrifice and do all my actions deliberately reflect that?" Am I deliberate about what I eat, drink, and wear? 

The rule is Jesus First, Others Second, Yourself Last. Meaning, the rule regarding food is that it must firstly honor God, then be helpful to others, and lastly only nourish me.

I take eating a healthy diet the same as keeping God's moral commandments in this sense - Jesus is my Savior and the forgiver of my sins, and yet, I don't go out and murder and steal and wrong other people! That would make forgiveness cheap! Instead, I practice righteousness, knowing that my righteousness cannot save me.  In the same way, Jesus is my healer, and yet, I don't go out drink poison, and should avoid man-made foods that are just as good as poison in the long run! Instead, I practice wise nutrition and stewardship of my body, knowing that that cannot save me like Jesus can, but also knowing that I cannot ever take Jesus FOR GRANTED. My body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and all physical actions must correspond to that.

The question then is, in eating wisely, are we trusting God 100% or man? The same answer then would be, in obeying God and following Christ as disciples, are we trusting God's righteousness or our own obedience? Faith and obedience, trust and action are eternally inseparable. Jesus also said that if we are poisoned by snakes, we will not be harmed. In the same way, if we confess our sins, He will forgive us.

We don't walk by the flesh but by the spirit. But that by no means what occurs in the flesh does not count, but rather, the flesh must be a reflection and outworking of the Holy Spirit in me.

Meditating and thinking through Scripture avoids oversimplistic and ridiculous assumptions that will make the world mock Christians not because of the cross of Christ but because of our own lack of integrity and wisdom.

A Sharp Hit

A verse hit me sharply today. It is one of those texts of Bonhoeffer's, that he could meditate on for hours, seeking to grasp fully its meaning and implications.

"Therefore for him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)

I had memorized the book of James. Repeated it, over and over, but until today I had not really read that verse.

Today,after reading the headlines, going about my usual business, setting the corned beef to slow-cook, and sitting down to go through and review the book of James, mumbling and scanning through it, feeling guilty about not reading my Bible enough, suddenly, the verse hit me.

I repeated it again. I was stunned. Is that what it really means? Is that what it is saying?

This is one of those verses that  make you put down your Bible and reexamine your entire life. 

"Therefore for him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)

What excuse do I have?  That's it for me. I have to repeat this, over and over again. I have to put it into practice.



"Therefore for him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)

1. Know - connotes perception, seeing, to look, to notice, to discern, to know, to be skilled in,
2. Good - that which is beautiful, handsome, excellent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable, genuine, praiseworthy, noble, morally good, honourable, 
3. Do - to make, produce, construct, form, fashion, author, cause, produce, bear, shoot forth, acquire, provide, render, constitute, declare, act rightly, do well, to carry out, to execute, to make ready, to perform
4. Sin - to be without a share in, to miss the mark, to err, to be mistaken, to miss or wander from the path of  uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong, to wander from the Law of God, violate God's law, to commit an offence, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act

If I see anything that needs to be done, I have to do it!
If I, know, see, perceive and have discerned, and have the skill in, and notice, a need, which is useful, suitable, praiseworthy, and honorable, if I do not act rightly to make ready, carry out, perform, and execute it, I have missed the mark. I have wandered from God's Law.

This Law of God honestly should change my life completely.

Legitimizing Damnation

That's what "cheap grace" is - damnation. To convince oneself that one is really safe and saved whilst on a bandwagon heading for a steep cliff. To throw oneself back into a raging river over and over again so that Christ may rescue you. To not only play with danger but to immerse oneself in it. To feign ignorance of the saving power of God's grace that leads men to repentance. To disbelieve God. 

There is no atonement without blood, and no salvation without sacrifice. And if truly understand the sacrifice of God that saves us, we would truly be saved. It we value the costliness of grace, then we tap into the power it releases to us.  

It is a self-deception to excuse oneself from obedience. To exclude obedience is to exclude faith.

Cheap grace is an attempt to separate the inseparable - the nature of God within Himself and His message: the gospel of salvation and the gospel of the cross. God cannot be divided, or conflicted. God is wholly One.  To separate God's holiness from His love is to have neither. To separate the salvation and the calling of God is to have neither either. It is a self-deception to believe that any other gospel save that of the cross is able to save.

The implications of the cross are twofold - that Christ died for our sins, and we died with Him. Christ went 100% for us, and calls us to go that 100% with Him.

There are only two possible life choices - light, faith, obedience, the narrow way, sacrifice, and salvation, or, darkness, unbelief, rebellion, the broad way, idolatry, and damnation. One have to decide between the love of God or the love of self. One have to choose between serving oneself or serving God.

There He bore: abandonment, loss, hardship, sorrow, sacrifice, suffering, grief, accusations, rejection, pain, and the burden of others' wrongs.

And He called us to follow Him, to forsake, as He did: life, riches, respect, the world, the cares of this life, the preservation of one's image, self, ambition, family, and career.

To receive, from what He bore, what He received: grace, blessing, life, glory, wisdom, peace, fulfilment, joy, and true liberty.

Self is a burden, a chain, and a hard yoke. To renounce oneself, to take up the cross, and follow Christ is to escape from bondage. The way of the cross is hard to those who receive it, but those who gladly follow Christ at His call will receive His gentle words and His grace. He asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to bear it.

If you live with the world,
You will perish with the world.
If you are married to the world, you will not escape the same judgment of God that will befall all sinners.
If you live as a sinner, you will die as a sinner, and be buried among sinners, and be burned with the rest of sinners.

God demonstrated His love by the cross. 

1) Love equals the cross.
2) Grace equals discipleship
3)  Missions equals forsaking one's nets to be a fisher of men.

Belief absolutely necessitates obedience.
Faith is to follow.

The religion "Christianity" should really be term, "Churchianity". The Sunday worship, the gifts or tithes, the religious observance, can be to a selfish man nothing more than an evasion of God. God must be our bread, our sustenance, upon whom we absolutely depend for our life, or He is nothing to us at all.

Again, Faith and obedience,
Redemption and the Cross are eternally inseparable
because they are central to the indivisible God. 

To be a Christian invariably means that this will be hard life because God's concept is always the Suffering before the Glory, the Shame before the Exaltation. This is not only the pattern of Christ's ministry on the earth and upon the cross, but the pattern laid out for all those who literally follow Him. 

 And why do we follow Him? Because with Him, and with Him alone, are the words of eternal life. No one can go to the Father except through Christ.  And He despised the shame. Are we ready to despise shame?

The Word of God births faith, and faith obedience, and obedience life. Sinful desire brings forth sin, and sin brings forth death. 

Sacrifice is only the inevitable corollary, not the purpose nor the goal nor the focus of our salvation. Sacrifice is a fruit of faith. Our goal is Christ, running towards Him with our eyes fixed ahead, our hands lifted above, and our hearts reaching out. 

 To separate love, grace, missions, etc. and all the Christian and Biblical issues from the cross is to remove all power and thus all salvation from God's Word, leaving us without God and without any Word at all. 

The selfish nature of man cannot be salvaged, let alone pampered. It is wedded to idolatry and to Satan. It has to be obliterated because it is incompatible with our union to Christ.

 There is not cross without the reality o God. Only a genuine encounter with Christ and an experience of His goodness will lead us to say, "Your goodness is better than life!" Life, the life that we leave behind, becomes of no importance because it is exchanged for something which is far better, the pearl of great price. Only when we meet Christ will we hear His call and receive the faith and grace to follow Him.  

There is no purpose to forsaking all if the forsaking of all is the end itself, without the reality of God and desire for God. It is empty, and meaningless. Nothing but Jesus Himself could call the young man to sell all he had, give to the poor, and follow Him. The cross is not the cross unless it is Christ who calls us to follow Him because of His immense love and grace and mercy.

  
  



 

I Died For You

Christ left His glory behind to suffer shame. There was nothing, not a penny's-worth, in it for Him. There was no fame or power or wealth or pleasure, only sorrow and pain and grief and separation and humiliation. He had nothing to gain, and everything to lose. That, my friends, is love.

For Him to descend, to be lowly, to stoop down to the level of degenerate man, to reach out, almost as a last resort, to a human race that would ultimately reject Him. For Him to show such love and experience  such rejection was magnimous. Why did He do it?

The amazing, incredible, miracle of the cross and salvation, is right before our eyes. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son. Jesus gave it all up. He did not have to. It was not our right, not something we can ever demand of Him.

Imagine two men standing before the cross, whose message was "I died for you". One is a Christian. He seems exceedingly grateful, pleased, and thankful for Christ's gift to him. He can only reply, "Thank you Jesus, " and walks away. The gift of salvation, so precious and so costly and so rare, he only receives, keeps, says the necessary thanks, and goes away. It sits on his bookshelf, unused and untreasured. If one were to ask such a Christian, what salvation means to him, he would say, "To get me into heaven one day, and to take to church every Sunday". This man goes to church every Sunday to do a great favor to God by showing some appreciation for God's gift of salvation.

If we are as such, we turn the sufferings of Christ and the cost of His sacrifice into nothing. 

He hung on the cross, for nothing? To be a little pretty accessory to us? To be a cherry on our ice-cream sundae? Sundae, Schmundae...

There stood another man before the cross. This man had perception. He saw and understood Christ's suffering and rejection. He knew what salvation costs. He was overcome by the magnitude of God's kindness, undeserved kindness. Christ said to the man, "Follow you, and I will made you a fisher of men".  That man was won for Christ that day, and he left behind his entire life and followed Christ. He could not keep salvation for himself, but by life and by death, he brought the gospel to as many as would hear, and died a martyr.  Christ said to that man, "Bear up your cross and follow me. Sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Share in me, in my suffering, my rejection, my pain, my loss, my humiliation, my death."

Nothing stood between that man and Christ. "I have decided to follow Jesus, and there is no turning back. The cross is before me, the world is behind. I will suffer the loss of all things that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness except that which is through faith in God."

So between the two men at the cross, which one are you?

Jesus said, "I died for you."

One man says, "I give my life to you."

The other man, "Thank you."

Who is the one who is grateful? 

Jesus said, not only by word but by supreme demonstration,

"I love you."

One man says, "Gee, thanks." Maybe he might condescend even say, "Yeah, sure, I love you too."

The other man, he died a martyr.

Which man really knew what Jesus' love was - not a pretty trifle to be received but a pearl of great price.

Jesus didn't just die for you. Jesus doesn't love only you. The only way you can realize that is when you stop being selfish, self-centred, and self-consumed long enough to understand the sufferings of Christ. We must not be a leech, a taker, and a useless fool, an adult who acts like a baby.

Yes, Jesus gave 100% for you. He went 100% out of His way for you. But it doesn't end there! Goodness - can all you say is, "thank you???!!!"

This is the message that my generation needs to hear.

No Sloppy Faith

There is absolutely no place for us to be sloppy or nonchalant about our Christian life and beliefs.

Belief
Karl Barth said, "In the church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians."

There is no excuse for us to hide behind the dogma or teaching of another. Every single disciple must be strong enough to face the world's criticism and answer their questions. Every single disciple must test every one of their beliefs against the Word of God and allow God to correct us. Every single believer must have doctrinal integrity. We cannot afford to hide behind the creed of our church and the teaching of our Pastor. We each have to find the truth in God's Word for ourselves! We have to examine our own beliefs! I refuse to be spoon-fed - if I were to believe anything it has better have a significant and complete basis in God's Word.


Slight cynicism and criticism only helps us. What if Jesus were to confront us at Judgment Day for following along the wrong teaching and practices of others? Can we really hide behind the excuse,

"I was only following orders."

We cannot. We cannot afford to be cowardly, dishonest, or languid. Each of us has to read God's Word and know God for ourselves.

Life
We cannot afford to be sloppy about our faith. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" We are blind, ignorant, and unwise fools who do not consider the future if we not dilligently grow into maturity of faith.



One has to be serious about one's soul and about one's salvation. One cannot take anything for granted. One cannot  just repeat catchwords and slogans and call oneself a Christian. Christian life is a treacherous uphill journey that weathers us body and soul. We have to be constantly on the guard and on the move. We have to examine ourselves with all soberness and vigilance. We have to work out salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who at work in us. We have to come to the realization that it is possible to be disqualified from the Kingdom, that it is possible, if we lose heart, to lose our first love for God and to be expelled. It is possible to be blotted out of the Book of Life.

We have to fear God and know what we do impacts eternity. The choices we make and the words we speak mean life and death eternally. There is hell, and there is eternal destruction. If we knew what the stakes were, we would be far less sloppy about our Christian Life, our daily living, for one soul is worth far more than the riches and culture of our entire world.

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
(2Pe 1:3-11 KJV)

Ramblin's on The Controversy of Translations

Great is the controversy surrounding the use of Bible translations… 

In Islam, the Koran is sacred and holy, and translations are seen to detract from the infallible authority of the Arabic manuscript is of itself. In Judaism, the primary, treasured, text is the large Torah and Tanakh scroll, which is a work of art, systematically and meticulously handed down by scribes. Printed editions of this text, Chumash, is in Hebrew. Every religious child learns Hebrew. Every Bar Mitzvah boy, coming of age, reads aloud a portion of the Torah which he has studied. English translations, Jewish translations, exist, though they play a minor role. 

*The Bar Mitzvah is not the same as the Bris Millah, which is the covenant of circumcision.

When the Authorized Version came out, it was a primarily Anglican work. But British Jews came to use its translation in worship services, and continued to do so, adapting slightly as time went on, until only 1836, when the first continuous Jewish English translation came out (Solomon Bennett's 1836 Specimen), and in 1917, the groundbreaking JPS, and later on, the Orthodox Stone’s Translation. The translators of the KJV were well familiar with the exegesis of Jewish scribal tradition, and though no Jews were directly involved, they were committed to the authenticity of what was essentially a Jewish text. And thus, the Authorized Version became for Jews to be a standard. A standard of what? Of the quality of translation. When the JPS was translated, it was understood that its goal was to produce a work of such quality in English. 

Indeed, the Authorized Version, in Elizabethan English, is said to hold within its pages majesty and grandeur. By choice of words and vocabulary, it is well-written, smooth, Shakespearean, and beautiful. But it is not a language in contemporary English. It falls short, because it is alien and foreign to many people today, who are not British, who are not grounded in firm Anglo-Saxon foundations, and who don’t know who Shakespeare or Queen Elizabeth were.

carnal, bloody and unnatural acts...
and in the upshot, purposes mistook,
Fall'n on th'inventor's heads

When it was authorized by the King, head of the Anglican Church, he forbade the use of certain words. He, the head of the Anglican church, laid down the rules that bound the translators to his domain. No using of the word, “assembly” instead of “church” (aimed at the dissenters), no using of the word “immerse” for “baptize”, etc.  Because man was at its head, it was, of course, imperfect.  

Thousands of years of tradition lay set in stone before the Authorized Versions plowed the sodden grounds and brought the gospel in the language of the common, Koine , people in a way never done before. The Latin Vulgate was the Roman Catholic Church’s standard. It has been translated by Jerome, and considered sacred.

"The tradition is not sprinkle, not to immerse!"

The Puritans (including Pilgrims), used the Geneva Bible, the English of a century before. To them, the Authorized Version was a newfangled horror, a Government Bible, a Bible prescribed by His Majesty for His majesty’s own goals. No, I am not saying that it was a Little Red Book or Mein Kampf. The Latin Vulgate was in some ways the Authorized Book of the Vatican, even as the Authorized Version was the Book of Westminster (or Oxford, or Cambridge). 

Even today, the Authorized Version must be studied and read in history context. We ought to look at what those words really mean, because familiarity breeds contempt and what we today see words as meaning cannot be the same way in which translators of the 1611 Authorized Version intended. “Study” to thyself approved, does not really mean “study”, as in “go to the library and look it up.”

I believe that to really understand and comprehend the Authorized Version, one needs a working knowledge of the cultural, historical, and linguistic traditions of English, not only during the time of King James, but also during the Tudor and Elizabethan periods that preceded it, and even the contributions to English by writers like Shakespeare and lexicographers like Samuel Johnson who preceded and followed it.  If one really wants to stretch it, one can stretch it far.

"I say you go all the way!"

I must address one issue, and that is that of religiosity. We like a Bible written in “majestic”, “pompous”, as it were, “religious”, “liturgical” English. It makes us sound godly, pious, and rooted in infallible tradition. The Quakers, known for their antiquated conversation, were the opposite. “Thee” and “thou” were pronouns meant to be humble, unassuming, and equalizing in nature. They were “common” words, of the earth, of the working lower-class peoples. They were not “high and lofty” titles. They were used to avoid class distinctions. 

"Join us at Green Valley!"

To address God as “thou” and other men as “you” would be the exact opposite of what the Quakers tried to do. It is false pomposity, for none of us is truly fluent in authentic Elizabethan English. It belongs to the shadows of time past, along with doublets (coats with sleeves unattached), wooden-boned stays (straight-laced corsets), shoes that were made equal on the left and right side, open fireplaces, pigs that grew hair, and British Kings that sent men down to the chopping blocks – with students and reenactors and performers of antiquated times. 

Evangelical Christians today look at the Amish, who read the High German Bible of their forefathers, which they can read but probably scarcely comprehend, as being legalistic and bound by tradition. This attitude of condescension is far more deserved by our own selves! 

If one really wanted to study, truthfully, one might as well take a little time to study texts ordained by God Himself, to read the Greek and Hebrew for yourselves, and study them. A little Jewish child begins at age three not only to study but also to treasure the actual manuscript. They come into contact with it.  

There’s nothing wrong with going a little backwards when reading the Authorized Version. But let’s go back. Let’s go all the way back. And I’m saying that on two different levels, one of satirical exaggeration, and one of absolute sincerity. A student of God and of the Bible, as every one of us, the least of us should be, should be scholarly, scribal, as it were, students of the Word in the historical and cultural sense as well – not primarily, mind you, lest I be accused of diminishing the voice of the Spirit. 

 And on the same hand, we ought to work towards bringing the gospel to people, the gospel in simple terms and in simple words a child ought to understand. Simplifying the language of our gospel, making it contemporary, will not water down its effects. Many dogmas and traditions lies in the way of people hearing the true word and call of Jesus. Is it Jesus who speaks through our preaching, or Shakespeare? Making the language common, not pompous, not upper-crust, will only hammer home Jesus’s call of discipleship, of the cross, of leaving all to follow Him. Intellectual superiority only stands between us and Jesus.

The New Testament authors attest to this. Not only did they bypass the God. Given. Hebrew., though they loved and cherished the Hebrew Scriptures, they even bypassed the common, verbal, language of the Jews, Aramaic, which Jesus Himself spoke. They chose Greek, the language of the Gentilers, the language of men who burned pigs of their altars and who sought to turn Jews away from their Living God to philosophy and idol worship. It must have made them cringe. They had the vision of reaching the whole world, to save them from the throes of death. This urgency caused them to die to everything they held dear. This gospel, caused them to lay down all that was familiar, and even godly, to them, in bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. It was a sacrifice to those Jewish saints to bring their Messiah to the Gentiles. It cost them dearly. It cost them the respect of their own countrymen, whom they still loved and shared camaderie with. So much so, that if Paul had not insisted on the gospel also for the Gentiles, his brothers who sought to kill him would have welcomed him with open arms.

I love those Jewish saints, to whom we Gentiles owe our very lives. It pains me to note that within three hundred years, the Gentiles who received the gospel turned against, indeed hardened their hearts against, blaspheming and accusing, against the sons and daughters of those who laid down life and love to bring to us Gentiles what first belonged to them, because they did not want us to perish. How we treated the descendants, the nephews and nieces of Paul, the sons and daughters of Peter, the brothers and sisters of Jesus, is more than abominable, it is cruel. It is not only cruel, it is unjust. It is not only unjust, it is unthankful. 

If we want to be stuck in tradition, to a leather-bound and Coptic-woven Authorized Version, not just the revised version of the 1800s but the actual 1611 version, if we want to insist that “You” must be “thou”, every alphabet “V” spelt as “U” and every, “S” written as “F”, then common sense would tell us, and I rather, that we ought to go back even further, and insist that our Holy Scriptures be written on parchments of animal skins, kosher animal skins, our Bibles written for a year by a trained male scribe in STA”M script, and our Bibles bound with exactly twelve stitches between each page of papyrus, and every malformed version with a single jot and tittle removed be burned and cast into the depths of the Dead Sea.  

If we realize what our objection really is, then let us bring the Bible to people. Yes, even if it is a modern version. There is a plentitude, a glut of bad translations, but there are also god-fearing, authentic, translations that do their best to bring to us the full, fresh, breath of Scripture. Translations like the NASV and NKJV are pretty good, and good for bringing to people. Translations like the Living Bible and NIV are pleasant to the ears of standard American English-speakers, like the KJV was pleasant to the ears of the English.

Every translation has it problems, and let us recognize them so that we can be helped. Let us bring the Bible to people through Apps and through Websites, even, through smartphones and through MP3s. I believe the early church would have done so, and even, the translators of the King James.

The amazing thing is that recently Greek papyri of the earliest known origins have surfaced. Wow! Thank God! And guess what, the message of the Bible is still the same!  The deity of Christ, the fundamental doctrines of our faith, can be traced back even further! Recently, in the last century certain Greek constructions make our understandings of Scripture clearer. We don’t have to depend on Erasmus; we don’t have to depend solely on Jerome. We have a history. We have thousands of footnotes. We have thousands of manuscripts, none of which are exactly the same as another. We should be thanking God that the gospel spread, that no one man had the authority to manipulate our Greek scriptures, that many heard the gospel or read it in times past, and are saved in heaven. We thank God for every text He allows us to have. We thank God for the men and women who laid down their lives in times past to bring the Word of God and the gospel to many at the costs of their lives. We thank God for the Vulgate, for the Geneva Bible, for the Authorized versions, for godly modern versions, for Bible Apps, for the Bible in every language imaginable.  

The Word of God is no longer written on stone. Nor can it be implanted by cardiovascular surgery.

No one translation, one Bible, or even one manuscript, is perfect and infallible, carved by the hand of God amidst a backdrop of thunder and lightning. But God still speaks, and His Word is still as powerful, piercing, and cutting as it ever was in history.

Sources:
 The KJV and the Jews
Plain Language of the Quakers
Archaic Words in the KJV
The Geneva and the Puritans
The King James Translators

Conscience, the Law, the Holy Spirit, and Individuality

How do we make difficult decisions as Disciples of Christ? How do we determine what is right and wrong? What should we wear, and what should we not wear? What shall we eat? What day must we worship? 

The Gospels and Epistles, our Scriptures, never really spell out to us the minutia of God’s law. Or do they? Did you know that there are more than 613 commandments in the gospels and epistles alone, many of which are impossibly demanding? 

If we think other religions are more stringent, let us compare some requirements with that of following the Messiah. For example, another religion may require anywhere from three to five to seven sessions of prayer a day. Not so with us – we are supposed to pray all the time, everywhere, as much as possible, without any form of hypocrisy, without any meaningless repetition, without pride, in sincere petition. In other religions, we may have to thank God for certain things – food, shelter, blessings – but we have to be thankful and give thanks and bless God for everything, in good circumstances and in bad, in life or in death. We cannot pray as in Judaism – that is simply not enough. We cannot pray as the heathens – is in not acceptable. We have to pray the prayers that God wants to hear from us. 

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

(1Ti 2:1-4 KJV)

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

(1Ti 2:8 KJV)

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,

(Php 1:3-4 KJV)

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

(1Th 5:16-18 KJV)

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

(Mat 6:5-15 KJV)

Wow! Here’s another “Thou shalt not”. Messiah Himself commands us that “Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites.” Who says the Torah is legalism and the NT is completely different – a form of lawlessness?

But… the NT is seriously lacking in detail! It does not tell us, exactly what we should pray. The Messiah gives us only one written prayer, the Lord’s Prayer “Avinu shebashamayim”, but then also forbids us ritualistic repetition? What are we supposed to do the rest of the ceaseless time of prayer?

The NT never specifically tells us what day to worship, what to wear, or what to eat? It does mention freedom – but does freedom mean we can live as we please and do as we like? The NT portrays quite the opposite – liberty itself is a law. We are to walk in liberty and thus not be entangled again from everything which the Messiah set us free from.

1 Corinthians 5:1-13 speaks of the “old leaven”. I believe that Paul is speaking of the things of our past life – our bondage in “Egypt” to sin. We are supposed to leave behind and purge away all the leaven of selfishness, pride, immorality, etc. because in Christ we have been made free from those things of Egypt. That is past – we have gone through the waters of cleansing and to look back is unbelief and warrants God’s destruction.

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

(Jud 1:5 KJV)

Christ did not set us free to serve ourselves – the Messiah set us to free to serve Him and to serve others. He broke us from the carnal, beastly, animal nature of selfishness and the human-inherited nature of sin.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

(Gal 5:1 KJV)

For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

(Gal 5:13 KJV)

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

(Jas 1:25 KJV)

So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

(Jas 2:12 KJV)

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

(1Pe 2:15-17 KJV)

So, here are the guidelines by which we live life and make decisions:

1)      The Will of God – we are to present ourselves to God as “living sacrifices” to hear from Him His will for us and to obey it. We must only do the things that are pleasing in His sight

2)      Love for God – we are required to love God and to do all the things that He commands us.

3)      The Holy Spirit guides us, teaches us truth, gives us wisdom and understanding, etc.

Unser Gottes Im Himmel is the law that we must abide by.

What about doubtful things? Romans 14 gives us a clue.

1)      Whatever we do, we must to it to God and as belonging to God.

2)      We should not judge or condemn others.

3)      We are accountable to God alone for our actions.

4)      No food is unclean of itself, but each much follow his own conscience with what he feels is right.

5)      The Kingdom of God is more than eating and drinking.

6)      We must heed the voice of our conscience and show consideration to others, being peacemakers at all times.

7)      We must do all things to edify others and to glorify God. In all things we must have fear of God and show deference to others. 

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

(1Co 10:23-33 KJV)

But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done unto me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void. For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

(1Co 9:15-27 KJV)

Finally, to underline our guiding law with a further stamp from God’s Word, let us examine Romans 2.

For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Rom 2:12-16 KJV)

What is conscience? Conscience is the law of God written on our heart. And it is not only for those without law, but also for those who were given the law because it was said in the Torah, “vehayu hadevarim haeileh asher anokhi metzavekha haiyom al-levavekha”, meaning “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart”. 

“What is the law of God?”, or to express it better, “What then is the guiding principle of God eternal law?” 

“Love God, love others.” “Serve God, serve others.”

What about me? What about my pleasure, my individuality? I am supposed to be all things to all men, to please and glorify God, and consider others better than myself?

How does the NT regard our individuality? 

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

(Col 3:3 KJV)

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

(Gal 2:20 KJV)

But now are they many members, yet but one body.

(1Co 12:20 KJV)

That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

(1Co 12:25 KJV)

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

(Rom 12:4-5 KJV)