Viral Faith

"Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful." I Corinthians 4:2 According to New Testament scholar, Kenneth Bailey, in the Biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, there is no word for honesty.  Honesty is fidelity to an impersonal truth.  It is sharing something that is objectively true.  The ancient Biblical cultures did not understand truth apart from the divine.  In their understanding, truth was personified, and to live truthfully was to live in relationship with the divine. The concept for honesty is a Roman terms, which was indicative of western thought, that although virtuous, was not well understood in the Judaic worldview. This difference is relevant because the Bible continually rewards faithfulness above what we would objectively describe as "successs".  In a parable of Jesus,  (Luke 19:12-27), Jesus describes a rich man who gives several men the same amount of money and then checks on them aft...

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Timothy 2:1-3 Over the past fifty years, there have been monumental shifts in how the American public sees its government and its purposes.  The Constitution of the United States was written as a grand experiment in democracy in a loosely held confederacy of states in a largely agricultural society.  The founding fathers had wisdom, but could not have anticipated the modern empire.  Government in the immediate post-colonial America was basic and austere.  The infrastructure of the nation was largely non-existent and states were largely responsible to promote commerce.  The military was very low tech, and was mostly dependent upon militias.  Initially, there was no Navy, Marines, or Air Force.  There were no public schools, health ...

They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious.  'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?  No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen;  they will be brought down when I punish them," says the Lord. Jeremiah 6:14-15 The most difficult patients in my medical practice are those who are very sick, but cannot or will not acknowledge they are sick.  For whatever reasons, the would rather be covered than cured.  They refuse both diagnosis and treatment and ignore the signs, even if those signs point to something potentially deadly.    Everyday, I listen to the politicians, the preachers, the pontificators, and the professionals speak about American society in various ways.  Yet, I find that most often, very few are talking about the diseases at the core of our identity, but focus on blaming our symptoms on the entit...

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 There is a sense of radicalness in the call of Jesus and a decision to follow him.  In the gospels, as Jesus invites his potential disciples to follow him, he expects an all or nothing response.  The disciples either drop everything and immediately follow Jesus (Mark 1:16-20) or they attempt to fit Jesus into their plans, priorities, and agenda (Luke 9:57-62, 14:25-33).  Those who attempt to make a nominal decision (a decision in name, but not radically changing their lives) are rejected by Jesus as disciples.   Its strange to talk about Jesus rejecting anyone, because Jesus offers an invitation to all, regardless of background, religiosity, character, or experience (Rev 21:6).  However, the invitation is not without expectation.  There is a sense in Jesus' call of "leaving" before "following".  In the call of Andrew and Peter, as well...

 "For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! Jeremiah 2:13 (NLT) One of the classic stories of the Bible involves the dramatic release of the fledgling Hebrew nation from the oppressive Egyptian empire.  This is done through God's dramatic and miraculous intervention that culminates with the spliting of the Red Sea,  As the story continues, the Hebrew people are brought to Mt. Sinai, where God would summon their leader, Moses, to receive the laws for governing his people.  This conversation would take 40 days.  In those 40 days, in the absence of their leader, the Hebrew people would demand to make a statue that would represent the God who brought them out of Egypt. (see the entire book of Exodus). One of the interesting notes of this story is that the Hebrews did not think they were worshiping a different God, but that the...