Faith for Faith

It has been several years, but I do vaguely recall going to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. I personally had no desire to go, but some zealously thoughtful person had assumed that his friends would naturally want to go see the film shortly after its release and presumptively bought tickets to the show for me and some other of my close compadres. We went (since we were then financially obligated), and we experienced what was likely a common experience for those who went to see the movie, namely the gasps, the turning away of heads, the silent sobbing, the wails, and the somber departure from the theater. We had all witnessed the same things–a man flogged in excruciatingly gory detail, and we left as all did–utterly speechless.

If I recall that night correctly, it was quite a while before any of us dared to offer any commentary on the movie. It were as though we felt that we were obligated to keep silent after the film though the man in the movie was certainly not Jesus, and the movie was created and directed by a man who is unabashedly Catholic. Yet after the obligatory silence was lifted, a common thought about the message behind the story presented in the movie was, “So what?” Sure, the movie did what I believed it aimed to do, namely present the sufferings of a man in such a vivid and unapologetic way so as to drive its onlookers to deep pity and sorrow, but for what reason? The movie gave no explanation for the man’s sufferings, save it came through the betrayal one Judas Iscariot, yet in the context of the movie his suffering was terrible and pointless.

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Theology | 2 Comments »

Repost: As I told a friend when speaking to him concerning the subject of images and their place in Christian life and worship, I told him that I am a man of strong convictions. Upon things that I believe to be certain in life, I believe on them strongly and fight opposition to them strongly, and, upon things that are not so certain, I tend to let those things slide as matters of opinion until it is demonstrated to me otherwise. For living in such a manner, I have been called by some to a legalist, by some to be divisive, and by some to be nitpicky and overbearing. Despite this, I pray that in this particular matter at least you will see in my discourse the same love that you see in yourself when you in tears tell a beloved person of their future judgment and desserts in hell. For of the Ten Commandments, there is but one that carries with it a particular judgment, and it is a weighty judgment indeed. Therefore, for the sake of your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, I pray that you take heed to what I write in this post, because whether or not you affirm it, your failings with regard to this commandment will surely as the Lord lives affect all of them.

By and large the subject at hand, expressly images that are supposed depictions of Jesus Christ, is relegated to the realm of opinion rather than to the realm of certainty. I am not sure why there is such lack of questioning with regards to this subject, but I suppose is greatly based upon the Catholic influence on the church, to whom images are not merely decorations but aids for worship and have been so for centuries. Also, visual depictions of Jesus Christ might very well fall into the same realm as notions such as regarding the church as a building, tithing, and taking the communion elements off a silver platter—such things have been practiced so long that no one knows differently and therefore assume that they are proper notions. I therefore challenge you in this matter, as I would in all matters, to allow a bit of doubt to creep into your religious practices and to test them with the declarations of Scripture. Do not merely say to yourself, “I do not see in the Ten Commandments a command that specifically says, ‘Do not draw pictures of Jesus Christ,’” but ask yourself, “How can I glorify God more with my practices?” “How can demonstrate the glory of God in face of Christ better to world that spits on images of him?” (cf. 2Cor. 4).

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Theology | No Comments »

In Joshua 10, it is hard come down from the incredible manner by which God fights for his people and destroys his enemies. On that day when God prolonged Israel’s advantage at Gibeon by causing daylight to be extended for an entire day, we learn that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is able to do anything for the sake of his people and for the execution of his justice. Why did it happen? We may never know on this side of the grave, but we do know that God did it for his good pleasure, and that its record in the book of Joshua was not intended to be a figurative statement, for the author appeals to an outside work called The Book of Jashar that records this same Anomaly.

And it is from this mountain that we come to Makeddah–literally, the Place of Shepherds. Little is known of this place except that after Joshua and Israel had fought the armies of the five united cities, their five kings fled to Makeddah and hid themselves in a cave there. Their place of hiding was not long kept from Joshua, and he commanded that large stones and guards be placed in front of the entrance of the cave to hold the kings until the pursuit against the armies of their cities was completed. After Israel had struck the majority of the armies in battle, they returned to Makeddah to meet the camp of Israel there.

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Fridy Night Bible Study | No Comments »

If I have ever been on the verge of a faith crisis, I am there now. The Big Move, or as I self-righteously call it, The Journey to Unindebtedness, has taken its toll on me, and I feel that I could snap at any minute. Financially we are a wreck, and the list of expenses that is involved in selling our house and moving to Wendell seems to be mounding exponentially.

And just when things seem that they could not get worse, they do. And it seems to get worse daily. Whether it is the heat pump that needs to be fixed or replaced ($1600-$5000), the new carpet that must be installed ($800), Uncle Sam demanding his due by April 15th ($1100), or the seemingly daily emails that report that our home value estimate has dropped yet again when we were already set to lose money six months ago, etc., etc., the bombardment of negative information has me groping for answers. “Are we not on the path that is honoring to God?” “Will God provide so that we can honor him by honoring our debts?” “Is God really in this at all?” All these questions and more continually pop into my mind and heart, and with each passing day they seem harder and harder to answer.

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Miscellanies | No Comments »

Contrary to popular belief, indifference with regards to politics in the United States is not an easy position to hold. For if you express your position as thus to the non-Christian you are labeled as “un-American” and “ignorant,” and if you express it to a Christian you are labeled as “uncompassionate” and (gasp) “liberal.” And despite your greatest efforts to point your position to what you believe is its Scriptural foundation, you will be charged with misapplication since the United States is not governed by a dictator or a monarch, but it is “governed by the people.” And since citizenship in the United States means that the people are the government, then everyone, including Christians, are obligated to be actively and outspokenly involved in the political system.

And while I can sympathize logically with the sentiment that every American citizen ought to be involved in politics if indeed the American government is controlled by its citizens, I cannot help but wholeheartedly believe that the American government is not the government we believe that it is. For we are spoon-fed from the time we are old enough to hear that we live in a democracy–a government by the people and for the people. We are bombarded with the ideals of the Founding Fathers expressed over two hundred years ago, and we are taught to believe that what they expressed in ideals existed then when they first spoke them, and they exist today in our present government. And regardless what might happen on Capitol Hill or what might be signed into law in the Oval Office, we hold fast to the belief that the process at its core is democratic (i.e. citizen driven) and it is for the sake of each person’s inalienable rights (whatever that is).

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Theology | 4 Comments »

Yahweh is not only a faithful God, he is a shockingly faithful God. He is zealous in keeping the covenants he makes despite the character of those with whom he makes his covenants.

This was the only conclusion to which I could come in studying Joshua 9 concerning the deceitful manner by which the Gibeonites spared themselves from the sword of Yahweh and his people. It is to me one of the most dumbfounding narratives with regard to God and his promises, for though a covenant is certainly made, it is made wholly on pretense by the Gibeonites.

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Theology | 1 Comment »

To those who know me, it is scarcely a secret that I have been in a valley of sorts, spiritually speaking. And lest it be misunderstood as of what I am speaking, my communion with God has been lacking, my desire for the things of the God has been quelled, and my life has been consumed with things that are passing instead of with things that are everlasting. And there is little mystery behind why these things have been so (namely arising from and perpetuated by a lack of beholding Christ in his Word and communing with his people), and yet I have done little to remedy my state. I have been till recently content to feed myself with the fleeting things of this age instead of feasting upon riches of God and his glory in his Son.

Yet to be honest, content is much too strong a word. For I have found little contentment in the those things which deterred me from beholding Christ, and I have found no rest for my soul in those fleeting things. And despite this, the Adversary had convinced me that the things of God were laborious and that there was little reward for chasing after them. And so he (being the slick devil that he is) convinced me, figuratively speaking, again and again, meal after meal, that it was better for me to drive across the street to eat off the Wendy’s value menu than to drive a few miles down the road to dine at the Ruth’s Chris.

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Posted by D. Matthew Brown under Theology | 1 Comment »