Jun 10, 2010
Posted on Jun 10, 2010 in Current Events, Miscellaneous, Torah | 22 comments
I recently read an interview with Christian artist, singer, songwriter Jennifer Knapp in which she not only announced her comeback to her music career after a seven year hiatus, but that she’s “come out of the closet” as a lesbian who has been in a same-sex relationship for the last eight years. This may come as a shock to Christian music fans, but this news is actually a few months old and is all over the internet.
I am not writing this post to condemn Knapp or spread lashon hara or to gay bash. The reason for this post is to show how traditional Christian interpretation of the Bible can be used to justify any sin, behavior or lifestyle. The traditional Christian perspective on the Bible and its focus on grace being opposed to the Law has provided the ammunition for tens of thousands of people around the globe to justify sinful lifestyles (not in the least bit limited to homosexuality).
Over the last decade I’ve heard of many Christian musicians “coming out of the closet,” (many of which hit you out of nowhere), many scandalous lifestyles, many countless adulterous relationships, divorce, drug addictions, etc. Why should one more be newsworthy? The reason Knapp’s confession makes the top of my news is because she was honest. What do I mean by that? Let’s listen to her own words.
Have you ever felt like you had to choose between your faith or your gay feelings?
Knapp: Yes. Absolutely.
Because you felt they were incompatible?
Knapp: Well, everyone around me made it absolutely clear that this is not an option for me, to invest in this other person—and for me to choose to do so would be a denial of my faith.
What about what Scripture says on the topic?
Knapp: The Bible has literally saved my life. I find myself between a rock and a hard place—between the conservative evangelical who uses what most people refer to as the “clobber verses” to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics, and various other Scriptures we could argue about. I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church. There’s a spirit that overrides that for me, and what I’ve been gravitating to in Christ and why I became a Christian in the first place.[1.This interview with Jennifer knapp can be found on the Christianity Today website: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/music/interviews/2010/jenniferknapp-apr10.html]
Notice her reference to Torah (the Law given to Moses):
“I find myself between a rock and a hard place—between the conservative evangelical who uses what most people refer to as the “clobber verses” to refer to this loving relationship as an abomination, while they’re eating shellfish and wearing clothes of five different fabrics.”
This is where she’s completely honest. If I were to put it in more plain terms, she’s saying, “If you can pick and choose what you want to obey in the Bible, so can I.” There it is. Hypocrisy in full swing. Unfortunately, the Evangelical Church has so much demonized the Hebrew Scriptures and their application to the Believer, that we no longer have a moral compass by which we are directed. We have reverted back to the days of the Judges in which “every man did right in his own eyes.”
What Jennifer Knapp is saying here is the truth of the matter. If we can justify living lives contrary to the directives of Hebrew Scriptures, saying that they are no longer authoritative, why should the New Testament Scriptures be any different? The Hebrew Scriptures were valid for the world for around two thousand years until Christianity decided they were no longer valid. Now the Christian Scriptures have had their fair shake for the last two thousand. Why should they be relevant any longer either? If God can abrogate his Word once, why can’t He do it again?
What makes a Christian any different from a “moral pagan” these days other than a creed? This is why Torah is invaluable, and the missing component in our walk of faith. If we want to stop justifying our sins, and truly become the people of God by which the Scriptures speak, we need to wake up and smell the coffee and allow the whole of Scripture to inform our life of faith.
Thoughts?
Mar 10, 2009
Posted on Mar 10, 2009 in Archaeology, Current Events, Dead Sea Scrolls | 0 comments
If you’re not familiar with the saga surrounding the discovery, acquisition, translation and subsequent publications of the Dead Sea Scrolls, you don’t have enough excitement in your life. For the latest criminal investigations involving a major case of lashon hara, read up on the latest article from the New York Times in which a debate regarding the identity of the Qumran community ends up in an arrest for identity theft.
Jul 6, 2008
Posted on Jul 6, 2008 in Current Events, Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism, Miscellaneous, Talmud, Yeshua | 0 comments
The New York Times published an article today that already has sparks flying on the internet. It is entitled, “Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection.” It is a follow-up on an earlier article posted a year ago last April by Haaretz, called “In three days, you shall live.”
The basic premise is that of a Jewish tradition, predating Christianity which has the Messiah dying and resurrecting after three days, as a necessity of his messiahship. Israel Knohl, a professor from the Hebrew University, has been the main voice in this, because it appears to validate what he had already discovered in his studies of the Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts. In 2002, he published a book of his findings called, “The Messiah before Jesus: The Suffering Servant of the Dead Sea Scrolls” which explains his findings (and if anyone wants to get me a copy, I won’t complain).
Knohl takes the references of a Suffering (or Slain) Messiah (Mashiach ben Yosef) found in the Talmud (starting in Sukkah 52a), along with the DSS manuscripts to build a case for a first century expectation for a resurrected messiah. However, with the find of the Gabriel Tablet (the main focus of the two previous articles), Knohl has a very substantial text from the period just prior to the time of Yeshua to back his theory.
Be sure to read both articles, and pick up the book if you have a chance. This is some very interesting information that could prove very valuable in the near future.
Sep 1, 2005
Posted on Sep 1, 2005 in Current Events, Miscellaneous | 0 comments
I’m not a prophet, nor do I claim to have prophetic insight. I don’t study eschatology. I don’t focus on apocalyptic literature. It’s been years since I have read the Revelation of John. However, over the last few months, especially the last few weeks, there have been more world events to trigger biblical references than all the events combined that I can remember in my lifetime. Judgement is being meted out and the earth is groaning for her Maker’s return.
In the latest of catastrophic global events is Baghdad’s massive trampling of nearly a thousand Iraqis during a pilgrimage to an Islamic shrine. As the one million Shiites were walking across a bridge, someone in the crowd started screaming that there was a suicide bomber among them. Immediately, panic gripped the masses and a stampede broke out which ultimately ending in the trampling of the slower and weaker Iraqis. Many people even dove from the bridges to their death. It is thought that this was the strategy of a Sunni terrorist, a rival Muslim sect of which Saddam Hussein belongs.
Judgment has begun to come upon those who would seek to destroy the children of Hashem.
Aug 23, 2005
Posted on Aug 23, 2005 in Current Events, Heresy, Miscellaneous | 0 comments
I just wanted to make mention of the “real” war that is fought day in and day out–the battles that are lost and the ground that is taken each and every day without so much of a mention. It is a war in which we all contribute to each and every day. Only, we support the enemy by giving it ammunition and killing our own through friendly fire.
What ware am I talking about? It’s the war of propaganda. Propaganda for what? You name it. From sympathy towards the terrorist organization of Islam to the pharmaceutical mofia. We are all being lured into their hypnotism and churned into drones for the mass distribution of lethal propaganda that sucks the very life from us. The media is geared to present Islam as a viable religion superior to Judaism or Christianity but with a very small fraction who are prone to terrorism. The pharmaceutical companies are using the media to poison the minds of the masses into paranoia and conditioning us to have a “need” for their mind-altering drugs. What is more is that they have the doctors in their back pockets by giving them commission bonuses for the number of drug perscriptions they write per month. Do you think this helps doctors to be objective in their perscriptions when writing just a few more perscriptions will ensure literally tens of thousands of dollars PER MONTH continue to flow into their personal bank accounts? Our minds are being poisoned from side of the spectrum to the other and we do nothing. We accept it, drink it, swallow it.
What will you do? How will you respond? What propaganda have you swallowed? How will you now respond?
