Why This God? Why This Bible? Why This Jesus

Hey guys, this is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. and our show tonight is called “Why this God? Why this Bible? Why this Jesus.” Let’s kick it off with a prayer.

Upcoming Interview

Next week, we are going to have a special pre-recorded show with John Dehlin of Mormon Stories fame. John and I started out discussing Mormonism around the same time and one day he invited me on his show – much to the behest of other former LDS who considered me too radical, zealous, or “Jesus-ey.” That three-part interview has proved to be quite important to a number of people who either hated me or did not understand me. The interview allowed them to see a side of me that was not on television doing a live call-in show but instead I was just openly talking with John.

Since that time, John has finished his PhD and has become quite a voice in all things LDS in terms of trying to create change within the church from the outside as he has been excommunicated. A few months ago, I boldly stated that the truest religious leaders in Utah who are helping LDS people transition out were Denver Snuffer (who still maintains allegiance to Joseph Smith and claims to have seen Jesus – which to me is just another form of Mormonism), myself (who reaches former LDS people with the Good News of Jesus Christ), and John Dehlin, who has become somewhat of a pied piper for the LGBTQ. This will be a great opportunity to interview John and really hear what he is about as a man today. I think it will be of great interest to anyone who has ever been LDS, is still LDS, or is wondering what to do with themselves relative to God in having left Mormonism. So next week . . . a two-hour pre-recorded special with none other than John Dehlin.

Text-Driven Faith

You know, we got a call last week from a man named John in Maryland who seems to enjoy the show and remains LDS. He opened by asking a question that said something like: What does James White, Jeff Durbin, Dave Bartoziwitcz and that pastor guy Jason who is constantly critical of us have in common? John’s reply was, “Dude they are so text driven!”

What did our caller mean by them being “so text driven” (which was a phrase I really love)? I think he meant that they are all men who read a line of text, build mountains out of everything they read, and then demand the rest of the world comply, conform, adhere, and accept their understanding of the text! It is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY easy to do, folks – so I understand why they have pursued this path.

Note that of these four men mentioned who are all text driven, three of them using the text do not agree with the others – which proves the results of Sola Scriptura and gets to the Heart of the Matter in the differences between them and us. The rub comes when we, who are NOT text driven and receive all of them, but are rejected by all of them who are! And on this basis alone, we suggest that our approach to the faith (and the stance that it is subjective and led of the Spirit) (with abundant fruits of love) is superior to claims of an objective faith led by knowledge of holy writ and an ability to cite it.

The Role of the Bible

This got me thinking about scripture and those who are “text driven” and so I wanted to share a reiteration on the board that I think is often overlooked. Now remember, there is no book on earth I think has more value than the Bible and I consider it to be one of the greatest material gifts God has given humankind. I am in it every day, teach from it four times a week, and believe that it has a power by the spirit that cannot be had in any other way materially.

But we must remember the following about the Bible (meaning the New Testament):

• It was written and addressed to the people of that day and age as letters from living apostles that God called in THAT day to assist them.
• That the church-bride in that day and age was beyond holy and righteous and puts us to shame.
• That all of the letters emphatically referenced the coming of the end of that age of material religionThe biblical era of temples, laws, and rituals—ended in 70 A.D. to make way for spiritual freedom..
• That God himself says that when that age…

The Role of the Bible and Sola Scriptura in Christianity

It is over that everything will become unshakeable, that He will write His laws upon our minds and hearts, and that all things material that were addressed in the epistles would be fulfilled.

• We must then admit the following:
• The accepted epistles were not universally agreed upon for 150 to 200 years after Jerusalem was destroyed.
• That there were a number of counterfeit epistles that were all around for the first 200 years.
• That the collection of all the accepted books did not happen for 200 years.
• That the Bible was not accessible to many Christians for at least 200 years but more like 1550 years.
• That the Bible was not readable for most for the first 1550 years.
• That the Bible was not available for the first 1550 years.

And so we see that without this gift from God the Bible did not play the role we suggest it did outside of Roman Catholicism or Orthodoxy! But the Spirit was certainly in charge of true seekers of God in spirit and truth. And while the availability of the Bible certainly helped bring great light to a very dark age, men – again – made it “God” instead of the Holy Spirit, which was in charge of Christ’s church since Pentecost!

Sola Scriptura and Its Implications

The making of “the Bible God” is seen under the name Sola Scriptura. Where the fruit of the Spirit and the presence of the Spirit is love, the fruit of Sola Scriptura stands in nothing but the antithesis to Christian love—in division, denominationalism and historically, in the deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. of all who disagree with what some suggest the Bible means. It is of great interest that in the Bible, Paul clearly says:

2nd Corinthians 3:3 Forasmuch as ye (the believers) are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Dropping down three verses Paul adds, speaking of God “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” “The LETTER KILLETH” – what is Sola Scriptura but letters? And the Letter killeth? Exactly. Look at the words that come from men and women who are “text driven?” They are aimed at killing! Why our modern “text driven” men and women don’t see this is a mystery to me. Paul says something interesting in Romans 7:6:

Romans 7:6 “But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Listen – laws are written in books. And while Paul was speaking of the Old Covenant here, the principle still applies, folks. God has written His laws in us – so the written letters are for the benefit of the individual to grow thereby and not to govern and judge His neighbor!

God's Covenant Beyond the Law

Try and hear Romans 8:2 in light of this when Paul says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and death.” And Galatians 3:10 where we read: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. If and when text driven people take the laws of the New Testament and use them on others, they are making the written word laws—and the result is a return to the former covenant—which was impossible to keep!

So, God makes it very clear how His children will operate in this world after the end of that age, saying in Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.”

Nobody on earth had the right to take the newly printed Bibles and shout to the world: THIS IS THE NEW LAW BY WHICH ALL MUST COMPLY because in so doing they pushed people right back under the Law, establishing an untenable situation of which God was never apart. He is moving by His Spirit, whose fruit…

Understanding God's Will

is love. And this is the way all people are known to be His. We are SO blessed to individually have this book of scripture today. It washes me and renews me with insights and information like nothing else on earth.

But . . . “the SPIRIT is primary and preferential; the written word is secondary and referential, the traditions of man of tertiary and at best mildly substantial, and organized objectified religious demands are obsolete and utterly inconsequential.”

Just an insight for you to all consider that I’ve drawn out on the board:

The path is set and the destination is known. The demands to reach the destination are an ardent desire for truth – no matter the cost – faith, the Spirit, a willingness to suffer and unconditional agape selfless love. Along the way there are appeals that seek to sideline the pursuit of the goal. They are as varied as the lives we live. For some they are banal and animal – for others they are material, and others they are institutional, of earth, of man, of our own flesh.

Challenges Along the Journey

Early stages –

• gobbled up by the dark – never to recover
• Cares and riches of world – sidelined by materialism, occupations
• The Word of God itself – sidelined by being offended by God and His Ways

Middle stages –

• Philosophy, Humanism, academia
• Religious tradition, institutional reliance on salvation

Advanced stages

• Despair
• Re-establishment of the Law, perfections in the flesh
• Giving up the fight

Surrender to suffering

The Nature of God

Okay, to our topic:

“Why this God? Why this Bible? Why this Jesus?”

I’m sure over the course of post ascension human history people have always wondered why they would believe in who they call “the God of the Old Testament,” why they would trust the Bible’s record of Him and His ways, and why on earth they need Jesus to go to heaven after this life.”

In this age of millennials, and a huge number of people taking this position, I think it's important to address these questions or stances in a reasonable, rational but biblically endorsed manner.

Addressing Difficult Questions

So first, why this God (of the Old Testament).

I recently watched John Dehlin interview the pastors of a large church here in the state and he was hitting them hard with talk about God having the COI practice genocide, and of Him endorsing slavery, and other practices like misogyny and the life.

I found their answers weak and unfortunate. So in preparation for brother John’s heartburn with these representations of God, I want to preemptively speak to them.

One, did God allow and even command the killing of women and children and animals in the Old Testament.

Yes.

Did he condone and address slavery. Sure.

Did he have people stoned to death? Yes.

How do we address these facts without stupidly dancing around them using modern Christianese?

We begin with perspective. From a human perspective, from our limited view, this God appears pretty heinous. I mean, what kind of God would allow, command and have

Understanding God's Goodness

For God to be Good he must be good in all ways, not just some. So where we want Him to be good in stopping things that are abhorrent to our views, we have to admit that if He were to stop things, and force other things, he would cease to be Good. Instead he would be a tyrant. So being all good, he must refrain from forcing others to do good. Got that.

From his perspective, as an all-good God, his human creations, even the very world He created, fell and was alienated from Him. Being Good, He knew what it would take to save it – and so he got to work. How? By engaging with us and the circumstances surrounding us here on earth. Not forcing evil to stop, to manipulating good to happen, BUT by working IN AND THROUGH what exists in this fallen world as a means to accomplish his ultimate ends.

We get the idea that God is endorsing things when in fact He is merely working in and through the existence of them to bring about a total victory as a Good God and not a despotic sovereign ruler over heaven and earth. Because if He was despotic – even in the cause of GOOD, He would be evil. So, instead of trying to see God from the human perspective, my suggestion is to ask ourselves: “What could be HIS reasons and purposes for doing what He does, for allowing what He allows, and among the Nation of Israel commanding what He commanded.

Eternal Perspective vs. Limited View

The second thing to consider about this God is His eternal perspective verse our limited view. In other words, what parent, knowing that their child has a throne in their hand, would not try to take it out, as painful and frightening as the extraction might be to our child. Looking at the eternal perspective of God, if He is able to bring about more long term good in what He commanded of His initial nation, should we recoil because it doesn’t fit our understanding?

Think about this. Can a moment of God directed action upon a people or person that will alter the course of eternal history be justified? Of course it can – when enacted by the hand of an omniscient and omnipotent God. I suggest the human view and judgement of what has and does occur under his LOVING watch is like an ant looking up to heavens and telling the galaxies in the universe how to operate.

The Role of the Bible

So then, why the Bible. The answer lies again in what God was doing in bringing about His purposes in and through the Nation of Israel. What purposes? The redemption of the fallen world. How? In and through His Son.

So, the Old Testament narrative, while reprehensible to human sensibilities in many ways, illustrates the fall, separation, and need for a Messiah to reconcile broken man to Holy God. Everything in the Old Testament – at least all the thousands of major events – tend to serve as types and pictures for the Nation of their Messiah. So God sends stinging flying creatures to bite and torment the recalcitrant people – which is a picture of death. Moses, a type of Christ, is told to create a brass serpent and to hold it up on a pole.

We could read this as the works of a sick maniacal God, or as a God who is weaving through a written narrative for that nation and us His solution to the sting of death – His Son, who too was lifted up from the earth with all who merely look up to Him in faith being saved.

Why all the killing of surrounding nations? Type and picture of God having a people by the Law wherein no unholiness (which was present and manifested in the heathen nations, the idols, their practices, etc) could abide – and so the call was to eradicate all of it from their presence. Again, we might suggest like the ant looking to the stars, that such things are barbaric. I would suggest our myopic views are truly failing to trust that the loving, good God know what He is doing, and anyone that was subject to any perceived injustice (and I emphasize, perceived) will be more than compensated for their role in the grand scheme of things.

In and through all of these types and pictures (seen in how the Holy Good God dealt with

The Need for Jesus

The COI's struggles with understanding their own identity and their enemies ultimately highlight the need for Jesus. This final question remains on the lips of many humanists and atheists today: Why do we really need Jesus? So often, in the spirit of questioning why God and why the Bible, this question is asked.

Where we may try to explain this to people, we have already discussed two main ways where the answer is most obvious: in understanding God and in understanding His Word. See, God is holy, God is Good, He is love, and mercy, and justice, and righteousness. And being such, He shows us, over time, what it takes to be in relationship with Him. First, he told Adam and Eve to simply obey a basic commandment, and He gave them the ability to choose.

They chose wrong. Damn. Separation. A fall. The first two humans created in His image didn’t care enough to really love Him – and they had no sin in them! So God says, “Plan 2 is to now show that my ways – my laws – will not work with humans either. Because they will also do what they want, and so by the law, none were justified."

But along the history of the COI being under the law, He established a narrative that would all point to the only real solution to the fallen human race – the birth, life, and death of His Son. See, we might see the human race as a giant pack of wild dogs. The first two dogs disobeyed God – because that is what dogs do. The whole nation of dogs would not follow His rules – proving that the nation did not love nor truly seek Him.

So God became a dog, and dwelled among us, and chose – the only dog to ever live in the face of the earth – chose to obey His father perfectly. And that dog named Jesus, because of His holiness, would not die – because He didn’t deserve death, He had no sin. But having lived perfect, He gave His life up for the pack, and allowed them to put Him to death. And His shed blood was powerful enough to permanently cleanse the whole pack of sin. Those who looked to Him would be saved from continued separation from God. That’s why we need Jesus.

Questions About God's Actions

But for many, the question remains – but why couldn’t God just snap His fingers and forgive all of us for everything from the beginning? It all comes back to His Goodness, His giving us FREE WILL and the right to choose, and His loving us dogs so much He stepped down, became one of us, and as one of us, sacrificed His perfect life for our imperfect existences.

Hope this helps.

Why This God?

Okay, to our topic: “Why this God? Why this Bible? Why this Jesus?” I’m sure over the course of post-ascension human history, people have always wondered why they would believe in who they call “the God of the Old Testament,” why they would trust the Bible’s record of Him and His ways, and why on earth they need Jesus to go to heaven after this life.

In this age of millennials and a huge number of people taking this position, I think it's important to address these questions or stances in a reasonable, rational, but biblically endorsed manner. So first, why this God (of the Old Testament)?

I recently watched John Dehlin interview the pastors of a large church here in the state, and he was hitting them hard with talk about God having the COI practice genocide, and of Him endorsing slavery, and other practices like misogyny and the like. I found their answers weak and unfortunate. So in preparation for brother John’s heartburn with these representations of God, I want to preemptively speak to them.

One, did God allow and even command the killing of women and children and animals in the Old Testament? Yes. Did He condone and address slavery? Sure. Did He have people stoned to death? Yes. How do we address these facts without stupidly dancing around them using modern Christianese? We begin with perspective. From a human perspective, from our limited view, this God appears pretty heinous. I mean, what kind of God would allow, command, and have His nation do such things. Ready? A good one. Let me explain.

For God to be Good, He must be good in all ways, not just some. So where we want Him to be good in stopping things that are abhorrent to our views, we have…

Understanding God's Nature

To admit that if He were to stop things, and force other things, he would cease to be Good. Instead he would be a tyrant. So being all good, he must refrain from forcing others to do good. Got that. From his perspective, as an all-good God, his human creations, even the very world He created, fell and was alienated from Him. Being Good, He knew what it would take to save it – and so he got to work.

How? By engaging with us and the circumstances surrounding us here on earth. Not forcing evil to stop, to manipulating good to happen, BUT by working IN AND THROUGH what exists in this fallen world as a means to accomplish his ultimate ends. We get the idea that God is endorsing things when in fact He is merely working in and through the existence of them to bring about a total victory as a Good God and not a despotic sovereign ruler over heaven and earth. Because if He was despotic – even in the cause of GOOD, He would be evil.

Human vs. Eternal Perspective

So, instead of trying to see God from the human perspective, my suggestion is to ask ourselves: “What could be HIS reasons and purposes for doing what He does, for allowing what He allows, and among the Nation of Israel commanding what He commanded. The second thing to consider about this God is His eternal perspective verse our limited view. In other words, what parent, knowing that their child has a throne in their hand, would not try to take it out, as painful and frightening as the extraction might be to our child. Looking at the eternal perspective of God, if He is able to bring about more long term good in what He commanded of His initial nation, should we recoil because it doesn’t fit our understanding?

Think about this. Can a moment of God directed action upon a people or person that will alter the course of eternal history be justified? Of course it can – when enacted by the hand of an omniscient and omnipotent God. I suggest the human view and judgement of what has and does occur under his LOVING watch is like an ant looking up to heavens and telling the galaxies in the universe how to operate.

Purpose of the Old Testament

So then, why the Bible. The answer lies again in what God was doing in bringing about His purposes in and through the Nation of Israel. What purposes? The redemption of the fallen world. How? In and through His Son.

So, the Old Testament narrative, while reprehensible to human sensibilities in many ways, illustrates the fall, separation, and need for a Messiah to reconcile broken man to Holy God. Everything in the Old Testament – at least all the thousands of major events – tend to serve as types and pictures for the Nation of their Messiah. So God sends stinging flying creatures to bite and torment the recalcitrant people – which is a picture of death. Moses, a type of Christ, is told to create a brass serpent and to hold it up on a pole.

We could read this as the works of a sick maniacal God, or as a God who is weaving through a written narrative for that nation and us His solution to the sting of death – His Son, who too was lifted up from the earth with all who merely look up to Him in faith being saved. Why all the killing of surrounding nations? Type and picture of God having a people by the Law wherein no unholiness (which was present and manifested in the heathen nations, the idols, their practices, etc) could abide – and so the call was to eradicate all of it from their presence.

Again, we might suggest like the ant looking to the stars, that such things are barbaric. I would suggest our myopic views are truly failing to trust that the loving, good God know what He is doing, and anyone that was subject to any perceived injustice (and I emphasize, perceived) will be more than compensated for their role in the grand scheme of things.

In and through all of these types and pictures (seen in how the Holy Good God dealt with the COI and their enemies) we are ultimately given in living color the need for Jesus, the final question on the lips of many humanist/atheists today. So often the question is asked, which is in the same spirit of why God and why the Bible, why do we really

Understanding God and His Word

Where we may try and explain this to people, we have already discussed two main ways where the answer is most obvious – in understanding God and in understanding His Word.

See, God is holy, God is Good, He is love, and mercy, and justice, and righteousness. And being such, He shows us, over time, what it takes to be in relationship with Him.

First, he told Adam and Eve to simple obey a basic commandment and he gave them the ability to choose. They chose wrong. Damn. Separation. A fall. The first two humans created in His image didn’t care enough to really love Him – and they had no sin in them!!!

Plan and Redemption

So, God says, “plan 2 is to now show that my ways – my laws – will not work with humans either. Because they will also so what they want and so by the law none were justified. But along the history of the COI being under the law, He established a narrative that would all point to the only real solution to the fallen human race – the birth, life, and death of His Son.

The Metaphor of the Dogs

See, we might see the human race as a giant pack of wild dogs. The first two dogs disobeyed God – because that is what dogs do. The whole nation of Dogs would not follow His rules – proving that the Nation did not love nor truly seek Him. So God became a dog, and dwelled among us, and chose – the only dog to ever live in the face of the earth – chose to obey His father perfectly. And that dog named Jesus, because of His holiness, would not die – because He didn’t deserve death, he had no sin. But having lived perfect, he gave his life up for the pack, and allowed them to put him to death. And his shed blood was powerful enough to permanently cleanse the whole pack of sin. Those who looked to Him would be saved from continued separation from God.

That’s why we need Jesus. But for many, the question remains – but why couldn’t God just snap His fingers and forgive all of us of everything from the beginning?

It all comes back to His Goodness, His giving us FREE WILL and the right to choose, and His loving us dogs so much he stepped down, became one of us, and as one of us, sacrificed His perfect life for our imperfect existences. Hope this helps.

Phones?

John Dehlin next week – tell your friends and join us – here in HEART OF THE MATTER.