Show 18 – Christian BS – Part II

Baptism and the Bible

March 6th 2018

So we’re sort of working through what I call Christian BS and last week we covered Authoritai and this week we are going to talk about two B words – Baptism and the Bible.

Baptism

Many Christian brick and mortars denominations have taken water baptism and stripped it of its meaning and purpose – that water baptism is merely an outward expression of an inward faith in the life, deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God., burial and resurrection of their Lord, Jesus Christ. Adding to this, many religious people over the ages have suggested that water baptism is necessary for salvation. Must be done by a male. Must be done by a male member of their denomination. Must be done by them to be a member of their denomination. Must be done in running water. Must not be done before a certain age. Must be done by sprinkling, full immersion, washing over, splashing, partial immersion, in any way one wishes, in Jesus name alone, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Spirit. The existence of all of these differences over one simple biblical expression like water baptism gives us insight to a number of things.

First, that in the broad history of the faith few honest loving believers can really agree on anything. And second, that there is either one way to materially/physically do everything “right” before God (like water baptism) OR it is the condition of the heart of the participant that God considers and allows for a multiplicity of approaches to them to be practiced.

Looking at the practice or rite of water baptism and using it as an example, we can see that the faith can never be systematized and made completely objective and therefore God, in this age, has allowed the faith to be entirely subjective, allowing all people to (be baptized, for instance) in whatever manner they feel right and comfortable about; that there is no right or singularly acceptable way, and that all believers are free to practice everything in the faith according to how they are lead.

Early Church Practice

Water baptism was done in the early church as a means of identification. When a Jew openly received water baptism it identified him or her as a follower of Christ – something that almost ensured certain persecution. Water baptism has several expressions and varying circumstances in scripture but in all of them it seems that it was done as a result of a person possessing saving faith, not as a means to

Understanding Water Baptism

The thief on the cross, who was told that he would be with Jesus in paradise received no such rite. All believers have the rite to participate in water baptism, anyone can perform it anywhere and in any fashion and it is not a rite or ritual connected to church membership, no matter how hard the churches attempt to show that it is.

Religious Crooks

Using all they can to gather unto themselves a paying audience whom they can ultimately control in all areas of life, many religions have taken the free and open act of water baptism and codified it, assigned additional meanings to it, and made it their own proprietary product, similar to the way States make each resident possess one of their driver’s licenses. Some go so far as to make baptismal records (as if God isn’t aware of who, from their heart, was publicly identified with Jesus) and others won’t accept the validity of a water baptism that originated from another denomination. Again, these are all forms of religious crookery where an unauthorized brick and mortar makes people believe it, through its members, are the only ones authorized to perform the heart felt ritual for others.

A Broader Look at the Bible

Our second B topic tonight is the Bible. The subject of the Bible is enormous and requires a tremendous amount of research, discussion and often the breaking down of pre-conceived beliefs inculcated into the mind of believers by religious zealots. Topics like historicity, authenticity, original languages, manuscript evidence, inspirational issues, consistency, translations, transmissions, support texts, error and infallibility, contextual understanding (and much more) play a key role in how the Bible content will be understood and ultimately received by each reader.

The body of believers might be divided into several camps relative to the Bible:

• Those who believe that in its original manuscripts the text was perfect but not thereafter.
• Those who believe that certain translations today are perfect and without any error.
• Those who believe that the present translations contain some error (very little) but because these are readily identified and understood they have little effect on reliability.
• Those who believe the book is corrupted and unreliable.
• Those who believe it is the product of men and full of myth.

That’s a wide berth, eh? These views are not exhaustive by any means. And while the above issues are worthy of time and attention for any seeker of truth, the following are factors relative to the Bible that speak directly to the Christian Anarchist point of view:

Old Testament and Early Christianity

• The Bible was first only the Old Testament, or what the Jews referred to as the “Tanakh,” which is an acronym for Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim, meaning Law, Prophets, and Writings, respectively.
• These three groups in total include all the books of the Hebrew Bible which in most Christian Old Testaments covers Genesis through Malachi.
• When Jesus speaks of the Word of God or scripture, He was speaking of the Tanahk.
• When his apostles spoke of scripture they almost always were speaking of the Tanahk.
• In other words, there was no New Testament for the early apostolic church.
• The only writings that the early Christian believers had outside of the Tanahk were letters that were written by Jesus’ apostles to specific Saints in specific churches that were in specific parts of Israel and Asia minor.
• The Gospels were histories of Jesus' ministry and were for all believers to read as they became known.

The Formation of the New Testament

available to them. They are essentially an extension of the Old Testament and its Messiah.

There were no printing presses in that day, so all manuscripts of either the gospels or the epistles had to be copied by hand if they were to be shared or passed along to other believers in other places or lands. In addition to the truly inspired, apostolically authorized writings, there were numerous counterfeits among the believers in the first century. Knowing which manuscripts were authentic and which were pseudo-scripture took some time – a great deal of time. Add in the fact that the distance between where the Gospels and the Epistles were originally written was enormous, that authentication of the writings was at times difficult, and that all copying was done by hand, the Bible, as we know it today, was never available to believers for the first 250 years after Christ ascended into heaven.

Challenges in Early Christianity

Two hundred and fifty years is a long time – that’s more than six biblical generations. Think of it this way, if we today go back 250 years it would take us to the year 1767! Physically speaking, that is like saying there was no water on earth from 1767 till today! And then, even after the contents were somewhat agreed upon by the third-century scholars, the Bible was translated into a language few could read or write (Latin). This meant only the educated and (and due to the unavailability of manuscripts) only the established churches with resources (Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy) had direct open access to the collection of New Testament writings. This would be the general situation for the next 1250 years!

In and around what we call the Protestant Reformation, the Bible was taken and retranslated by men like Wycliffe, Tyndale, Erasmus, and others who provided full translations of the Bible into English. The advent of the Gutenberg printing press in 1440 allowed for wide distribution of the written word and the era of “everyman having and reading the Bible” was underway.

Spiritual Guidance Without Scripture

BUT LISTEN – while the book is perhaps the greatest material gift in the life of a believer in Christ, it was not available, sometimes in part and rarely as a whole, to the followers of Jesus for 1550 years! It was certainly not available to believers in the first 250 years. So the question is, “What did the early believers do without a New Testament?”

What did the people who believed Paul’s words in, say, in Rhodes, have to guide them once he left them after visiting them seven days? No (apparent) epistles. No direct apostolic leadership? They had the Tanahk, but that book is almost all together ignored by many Christians today? What they had was the Spirit, (which is called the Spirit of Christ in scripture) that was abiding with them, living in them, and directing them. Absent a complete, printed, and agreed-upon New Testament it was available to them.

Sola Scriptura and Christian Unity

This SPIRIT that most Christians had for the first 1500 years of Christian history. It was only when the scripture as a whole became available to the masses under Martin Luther’s direction that the Bible took the place of the Spirit leading believers. And what has his stance on what was called, “Sola Scriptura” given the world of Christianity? Instant denominations. Instant infighting. Instant wars. Sola scriptura has never produced “unity of the faith” but has actually produced the opposite – disunity in the faith, even hatred! – over such small things as water baptism! (like we just talked about).

The Loss of Unity and Love

In the face of all of this division, which is a direct by-product of looking to the New Testament as our Law (written on paper) we have lost what God gave believers in the first 1500 years of the faith – His Spirit – and the fruits of His spirit, which is love. Love is the new commandment of the King. Not laws and doctrines printed on paper. They will be forever disputed and debated but true love for God and His Son (and therefore each other) would never let disputes over doctrine and practice divide a people who claim to follow Jesus as King. There was a good reason God did not have a New Testament complete and printed for the believers of His early apostolic church. He wanted them to abide in love and unity. He wanted them to be lovers not lawyers. To live by His Spirit given to all at Pentecost. “Any fool can make a rule.” Any person on earth with a religious agenda can take the Bible and concoct another denom. God wants unity. He wants all divisions over Him to stop and wants His radical followers to radically follow Him in being peace-makers and not to allow differences on disputable matters to reign in His true body.

Summary of the Bible

The Bible, as we have it today, is a wonderful, inspired, infallible in its ability to lead and teach all seekers what God wants them to know, history of His reconciling the world to Himself. It ought to be seen and used as a personal map for the individual believer in their efforts to understand God by the Spirit and not a manual of musts, rules or laws. This sacred compilation was not available as a whole to believers for the first 250 years of Christian history and then once it became available it has been used as a tool to divide and even destroy the lives of individuals seeking to know God and His Son by the Spirit of its words.

Religious Crooks

Perhaps the single greatest tool religious crooks have at their disposal is their errant, controlling, even forceful use of the Word of God upon others. Citing chapter and verse ad nauseum they convict and control the masses through a misappropriation of its contents by refusing to allow the book to be understood by individual believers by and through the spirit and their own conscience. Understanding that there is a natural desire in good people who seek God to have spiritual certainties they use the scripture to provide such absolutes all the while ignoring context and the spirit of liberty that abides in the faith.

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