Our hope lives because Christ lives. Our hope cannot fail because Christ cannot die. He lives and reigns in victory. The writer of Hebrews describes our hope in objective terms in reference to the finished work of Christ. 

“… according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3)
Electric cars have been in the news quite a bit lately, particularly with gas prices going through the roof. One area of concern, however, has been how far EVs can travel on a single charge. Even the most capable of batteries holds the potential of leaving a driver stranded when their charge is depleted.
As Christians, we do not need to be worried about the power needed to reach our destination. Peter tells us we are powered now by the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. Ours is a living hope.
What is a living hope? First, let’s understand what hope is. Hope is not wishful thinking. “I hope it doesn’t rain.” “I hope my team makes the playoffs.” That sort of hope is more hope-so. It carries no assurance, only possibility at worst and probability at best. It offers no certainty.
The hope Peter has in mind is something completely different. It carries absolute certainty. Ours is not a hope-so hope but a know-so hope. It engenders confident expectation, assured conviction, and vibrant certainty. It will neither fail nor will it disappoint.
From our experience, even the surest of things can fail.
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“You, dear reader, are no more responsible for slavery than German millennials are for the Holocaust. Understand how it works? To suggest, as some overpaid politicians now do, that Western people today are somehow tainted by the enslavement of Africans by some of their ancestors, is an idea so extraordinarily backward that even the Old Testament – not exactly a hippie manifesto at the best of times – prohibits it.”

Regrettably, slavery has always been with us. Basically all cultures throughout human history have been involved in slavery. Yet Westerners today tend to think it ONLY happened in Western countries and was perpetrated by whites on non-whites.
Slavery is wrong, but telling lies about it is wrong as well. Like most topics being discussed in the West today, we are being sold a bill of goods along with plenty of self-loathing and political correctness. Indeed, the whole point of things like Critical Race Theory is to convince us that racism is purely the result and domain of white people, and only whites are the ones that need to grovel in remorse and make continuous apologies for all this.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, whites were involved in enslaving non-whites, but every other colour combination is also a reality – even today. Thus non-whites have enslaved whites and other non-whites. Plenty of fact-based discussions on these matters exist.
The Black American economist and intellectual Thomas Sowell for example has written often on this. See a recent article that I wrote on him and the issue of slavery here: link
Many others can be appealed to in this regard. A few days ago I discussed a recent book by Konstantin Kisin – a writer who left Russia and now lives in Britain. The book is this: An Immigrant’s Love Letter to the West (Constable, 2022). My piece is found here: link
I want to utilise this book once more, since he devotes an entire chapter to this topic. Chapter 3 is titled, “Stop Feeling Guilty About Race, Whiteness and Slavery.” It is well worth quoting from. And I should emphasise at the outset that he does NOT make any apologies for slavery – he condemns it. But he seeks to bring some moral and mental clarity to the issue and refute the reverse racism and identity politics we see being pushed throughout the West.
He begins by stating that his paternal great-grandfather was a slave. He then says this:
He wasn’t black or involved in the transatlantic slave trade. He was a white, communist immigrant from Poland. This combination of facts either offends people, gets misconstrued as a provocation or acts as a conversation stopper. Sometimes all three – I don’t get invited to a lot of dinner parties these days! Many react by shaking their head, some respond by scoffing, while countless others simply walk away, unable to discuss the matter further. As if their brains had been tasered.
Not because they’re bad people, but because they’re victims of bad thinking – especially when it comes to the scope and scale of slavery, which has become one of the biggest hot-button issues of our time. To some extent, I understand this impassioned rush to judgement. After all, the subject is a highly emotive and contentious one. There’s no doubt that human trafficking is one of the most shameful episodes of the world’s past – and present. According to the United Nations, there are 40 million people estimated to be trapped in modern slavery across the globe, whether that’s men who are forced to work in factories, women traded as sex objects or minors trapped in child labour.
Geographically, the breadth of the problem is vast and spreads across the planet. A 2018 report suggests that India is home to the largest number of slaves globally, with 8 million people of all ages, followed by China (3.86 million), Pakistan (3.19 million), North Korea (2.64 million), Nigeria (1.39 million), Iran (1.29 million), Indonesia (1.22 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1 million), Russia (794,000) and the Philippines (784,000). In case you hadn’t noticed, none of these places is big on white privilege. (pp. 49-50)
He speaks more to his own family’s past history with slavery. And he reminds us that Soviet slavery – the gulags – was just as bad as the Nazi concentration camps, but far more extensive. While the Nazis had over 1,000 concentration camps, the Communists had over 30,000 in Siberia and the Russian Far East.
Kisin goes on to offer a few hard truths about the reality of slavery throughout human history:
The politically incorrect truth is that in every corner of the world, from the earliest human societies up until the present day, slavery has been a universal, abominable phenomenon. It has been conducted by people of every race against every other race, as well as their own.
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The resistance to socialist ideology remains powerful in the West, ironically,  especially among the “Proletariat,” the working class. Roughly half the electorate in the US is anti-socialist or “reactionary.” Some recent European elections appear to be in part a repudiation of internationalism, if not socialism per se, though the two go hand-in-hand.And the most powerful voting bloc opposed to socialism, at least in the US, is indeed the Church. This is because the natural law moral commitments of the Church are opposed to socialist ideology.

As it supplants Revelation [Revolution] acquires the influence of a new Religion of Humanity, kindling in the hearts of its confessors a fanaticism that acknowledges no distinction of means in order to attain its ends.
Groen van Prinsterer, Unbelief and Revolution, 1847
The Christian…imagines the better future of the human species…in the image of heavenly joy…We, on the other hand, will this heaven on earth.
Moses Hess, A Communist Confession of Faith, 1846
Why is This Happening?
Polling indicates that currently, only 18% of Americans are “satisfied,” with the way things are going in the US, with 81% believing that our democracy is “threatened.” Politically-alert Americans hardly need reminding that our political division is disturbing, with both major parties threatening that if the other is elected, this could mean the end of our country. Indeed, we seem to be coming apart. The cause of the polarization is far more than discrete policy disagreements over defense or taxation, or mere regional factionalism. Rather the cause is an ideological crisis. In fact, it is the culmination of a centuries-old religious war.
An impressive number of books, including by Evangelicals, sounds a deafening alarm that variations of “critical theory” or “identity politics” are taking over our republican form of government, the news media, education, corporations, charitable foundations, and even churches — placing our society and even our civilization at risk.[1] Some trace the ideology to the early 20th century, to the Frankfurt School, or limit it to the rise of “identity politics,” denying that it has anything to do with classical Marxism.
What then we are dealing with? While the Church must recognize a dangerous trend, we can’t address it adequately unless we understand its origins. This will help us detect it, and also resist it when it has begun to influence the Church itself. We cannot afford to be “…the incompetent physician who fights the symptoms but does not know the cause of the disease.”[2]
Natural Law, Humanism, and Socialism 
My thesis is as follows: Just as natural law is the moral theory of Christendom prior to modernity, socialism is the moral theory of modern atheistic Humanism. Because modern socialism is born of another religion, Humanism, it is hostile to Christianity-based natural law; indeed, it seeks to destroy it.[3] Its hostility to Christendom and to natural law is analogous to Baal or Moloch worship in the Old Testament, the practice of which continually threatened the worship of Yahweh. And just as ancient Israel had to resist pagan idolatry, the Church must resist the siren’s song of socialist ideology.[4]
The extreme dangers of socialism should be well-known, but in a kind of collective amnesia, no doubt intended by some, these dangers are often ignored or explained away. As Milan Kundera said, “The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Joshua Muravchic estimates that since 1917, 100 million people have died under socialist regimes, including the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, China under Mao, and Cambodia under Pol Pot.[5] In addition, severe prohibitions on freedom of speech, secret police, the arrest, persecution, and assassination of political opponents, forced labor camps, wiretapping and other forms of surveillance, and religious discrimination are typically constitutive of socialist regimes. The detection of socialist ideology should be met with the same alarm as calls for the reintroduction of chattel slavery or concentration camps. Tragically, for reasons I will explore below, this is not happening.
Part of the reason for our forgetting is that as a cultural phenomenon, socialism is not necessarily linked to theory — socialist convictions can develop without direct exposure to socialist theory proper, sometimes through a naive desire for a perfect world free of inequality, but also through guilt for one’s advantages, or the incentivizing of envy. Guilt manipulation goes hand in hand with the vice of envy, wherein those with advantages, whether earned or not, are resented by those who see themselves as inferior, the “superiors” then responding with guilt and seeking atonement through compliance with their demands.[6] This is of course the strategic genius of the Oppressor/Oppressed distinction, i.e., that envy, a violation of the 10th Commandment, can be weaponized to produce guilt, one of, if not the most powerful incentive in the human psyche.
If a political candidate or party is socialistic, the Church must oppose that candidate or party by uniformly voting against them at the very least, if not pursuing all legitimate political means to defeat them. In our American political context, there are two dominant parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. As is well-recognized, the Democratic Party has been trending steadily toward socialism at least since the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Despite its manifest flaws, the Republican Party offers the only political instrument the Church has to resist our nation’s further slide into socialist policies and practices.
Natural Law and the State
The witness of nature together with Scripture affirms three institutions ordained by and under the sovereignty of God, each independent and possessing its own authority, yet deeply interrelated: the church, the family, and the state. When the integrity of these three are violated, e.g., when the state demands reverence and loyalty due God alone, or violates the sanctity of the family by hiding gender confusion from parents, or requires that Christians remain silent to accommodate modern ideology, the result is not only idolatrous, but calamitous for all three institutions.
A key element in maintaining the integrity of the three institutions is private property. The integrity of private property is recognized by Scripture in the 8th and 10th Commandments, “You shall not steal” and “You shall not covet,” as well as numerous additional verses and passages (e.g., Deut. 19:14; Prov. 23:10; Rom. 13:9). Private property defines and restricts the boundaries of each institution and is thus a buttress against the depredations of innate depravity. National borders function similarly to prevent the absorption of one state by another, or indeed, all of humanity under one tyrannical state. National borders also provide persecuted peoples with the opportunity to escape discrimination and persecution, as we see historically with the Moravians, the Huguenots, and the Puritans.
Whereas socialism assumes the cause of human evil lies in how society is organized, and believes the transformation of society will liberate people to express their inherent goodness, Christian natural law assumes the opposite, that the cause of evil lies in the human heart.[7]  Neither the state nor the church may demand that Christians hand over their property (1 Kings 21:1-23). Private property thus justifies efforts to resist the tyrannical absorption of family and church by the state.
According to the fifth commandment, certain forms of inequality are “natural.” The man is the natural and biblical head of the family, and men are to lead the church. All must respect persons in authority, whether they are teachers, employers, or political leaders (1 Pet. 2:13; Titus 3:1).
Ultimately, all authority is given by God in Christ (Rom. 13:1; Matt. 28:18). Thus, mere government by consent of the governed is not enough without recognizing the authority of God because all authority is given by God, and he demands worship. Government by consent of the governed in a republic, with strong checks and balances to prevent tyranny by any one branch, is arguably the best form of government ever devised by man, yet for government by consent of the governed to function properly, the voters, or a critical mass of them, must recognize God as sovereign and vote according to the creation order he designed for our well-being, as the Founders recognized. When the voters reject this, or begin voting against the natural order, God allows a society to become degenerate and self-destructive (Rom. 1:18-32).
Depending on how far along a society is in becoming depraved, honest, candid discussion in mutual respect between Christians and non-Christians will become increasingly difficult, such that “finding a middle way” will require moral compromise. Consequently, there will be increasing conflict between those who fear God and those who reject him.
Socialism: A Very, Very Short History
In confronting socialism, the first thing the Church must realize is that socialism is less an ideology than a phenomenon.[8] It is akin to a virus that can affect a society’s thinking such that the state begins attacking or undermining other institutions God has established, especially, the church and the family. Thus, socialism is hardly new. Secondly, we must realize is that it is one of the most powerful forces in human history. A popular misconception is that socialism began during the French Revolution. In fact, socialism predates Christianity by several centuries. It has a long history across disparate cultures. Ancient Egypt and the Inca Empire employed elements of collective control that resemble modern versions of socialism. In Assemblywomen, Aristophanes depicts a feminist-socialist coup d’etat in which private property is banned, children are raised “in common,” and full sexual equality is demanded by law, along with “free love,” the rejection of monogamy. Plato recommends a socialist state in his Republic which institutes collective ownership, and replaces the family with common parenting and state assignments for procreative coupling. Thomas More’s Utopiaabolishes private property and legalizes euthanasia, though he retains the sexual morality of traditional Christianity. In the era of Christendom, splinter groups led by Anabaptists sought to create socialist societies, often with horrific results.
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I’m not saying that if you love God, you have to vote Republican. I am saying that God’s Ten Commandments should inform our votings for and our votings against. And too bad for “progressives” if they continue to forget and scorn the Lord’s bedrock guidance. As the old saying goes, the Word of God is an anvil that’s worn out many hammers.

Several years ago, I heard a Catholic radio commentator say that the Islamic Middle East was so focused on the “Great Satan” (America) and the “Little Satan” (Israel) that they might miss the fact that another “Satan” was approaching from their rear—an increasingly Christianized east and north. Despite the best efforts of those trying to suppress the faith in China, the “Stans,” and the hinter regions of Iran, God was working to transform those cultures and draw his people to himself—a nightmare for the mullahs, ayatollahs, and functionaries of Xi Jinping.
From the get-go, with a flurry of executive actions, President Joe Biden made our southern border more porous and moving to bring upwards of 20 million illegal immigrants “out of the shadows”—essentially an effort to secure a massive new voting bloc for his party. Pair that Hispanic surge with the Democrats’ already huge advantage with blacks, and the party of Pelosi and Schumer is beginning to make out victories as far as the eye can see.
Maybe not. Maybe there’s a Trojan Horse crossing near El Paso. Maybe the black voting bloc is a sleeping giant, about to awaken and roll over on them. And the reason could be religion.
Republicans are already seeing percentage gains among these voters. Politico’s Zack Stanton picked up on this trend in a November 12, 2020 piece, “How 2020 Killed Off Democrats’ Demographic Hopes.” Still, in the 2020 election, Hispanics went two-to-one for Biden and blacks went nine-to-one for him. But can this hold? I think not, and let me work briefly from the Ten Commandments to suggest why.
The Ten Commandments and Voting
Consider this: Hispanics and blacks overwhelmingly identify with some form of Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant, and their Bible contains the Decalogue, for which they profess respect. Of course, some of their churches field ministers serving up a socialistic “grievance gospel,” a nasty brew of perpetual resentment lacking biblical warrant, and many of “the faithful” are not discernibly faithful. But there’s still a big connection between church and ethnic populace.
Because of that, it’s hard to see how these two groups—Hispanics and blacks—can long abide marching alongside leftist politicos. When these ethnic hikers pause for the night, they increasingly and disturbingly find themselves bivouacked with strange bedfellows.
Let’s run through the list: Commandments one through four concern basic reverence for God. Over a third of Democrats call themselves “unaffiliated” (“nones,” if you will), compared to only a sixth of Republicans. Then there’s the fifth commandment, the one about honoring your parents. So where do we find the “children of the ’60s,” the ones who liberated themselves from, and continue to distance themselves from, the allegiances and scruples of their parents?
Commandment number six forbids murder, which brings us to the black-on-black carnage in Democrat-led cities and the Democrat-platformed abortion mills, which destroy tens of thousands of innocent black babies for every George Floyd.
Commandment seven addresses sexual immorality, for whose proliferation and enforced normalization Democrats are taking the lead. Eight forbids stealing and thus honors the status of private property. Socialists, who find their home on the left, are impatient with this institution. Nine forbids false testimony. The epithet “liar” is thrown around as carelessly and viciously as “racist,” but a critical mass was reached in the Swamp with Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Schiff, Steele, and Clinton. (We’re not talking obvious hyperbole, honest mistakes, or even confusion from negligence, but rather willful misleadings for the sake of harming others and/or protecting yourself.) And finally, commandment ten, which condemns covetousness, the driver of the Left’s politics-of-envy car.
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Christ is the basis of reality itself, and thus disentangling oneself from Him necessarily means moving further and further toward madness and pandemonium. As has been noted before, it truly is Christ or chaos and the proof is in the cultural rodeo-circus unfolding all around us. That being the case, the Church’s task remains the same, to publicly declare to a rebellious world the riches and beauty and glory of the Saviour.

…in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)
If we were to attempt to describe the world God has made in a single phrase, we might choose something along the lines of “ordered hierarchy.”
This description, by virtue of its brevity, is of course incomplete, like trying to sing four-part harmony with a single set of vocal chords. Nevertheless, it retains at least some usefulness in that it grapples with both the breadth and depth of the created order. On the one hand, it leaves room for all the billions of individual creatures that inhabit the cosmos; on the other, it gives reference to the various categories and classes that hold them all together.
Thus, describing creation as an ordered hierarchy captures both the genus and the species, the universal and the particular, the one and the many. And it does so, furthermore, while conveying the ever-important truth that there is a discernible shape and structure to the whole ensemble. Creation, in other words, is more like a symphony than a 90’s grunge band — no matter what the materialists say to the contrary.
One question this definition poses, however, is, “What is creation ordered to?” Or better, “Who is creation ordered to?” If the universe is not in fact an arbitrary cacophony of sights, sounds, and sensations, then what is the overarching purpose or theme that binds it all together? Who sits atop the hierarchy?
In answer, the New Testament rings forth with a single, resounding conclusion: all things — whether things in heaven or things on earth — exist through Christ and for Christ (Col. 1:16). Indeed, in Him “all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).
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As Christians, we need to let our redemptive imaginations go a bit and recognize that our work is a way of blessing people, even if we don’t see it, because we trust that God is a God who cares for those in need. And, one of the ways he cares for those in need is by using the vocations of his people to bring blessing.

The fact that we celebrate the American worker by not working tells us something about our relationship with work — it is very complicated. Even Labor Day itself has an interesting background. When President Grover Cleveland signed the law that made Labor Day an official national holiday in 1894, he did so against a backdrop of social unrest in this country — much of it because of unjust work practices. Many laborers were working twelve-hour days, seven days a week, in unsanitary factories and unsafe places. It was not long ago that children as young as five or six years old were put to work in factories and mines in the United States. And so, against that backdrop, which led to riots and strikes, there was good legislation passed in Washington — good work done on behalf of people, treating them like the image bearers of God they are — so that they might be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace.
Fortunately, times have changed… somewhat. In professional situations, some still work seven days a week, twelve hours a day, but because they choose to. In other situations, particularly low wage environments, economic necessities require long work hours. Yet, even when things have improved in terms of work environment, our relationship with work remains complicated because (as a general rule) even if we love our work, daily work is hard. People are annoying. Co-workers are indifferent. Bosses and supervisors are selfish. Organizations and institutions are greedy. Our clients are demanding, and they do not call us simply to thank us for doing a great job today. Even if we love our jobs, we never love all of them. That’s just part of our complicated relationship with work.
And, truth be told, some of us really do not like our jobs. Some are just paying our dues until the next thing comes along. Some are just trying to pay the bills. For some, the job right now is studying in order to one day be employable. Any of us who have gone through school knows that that’s kind of an up-and-down affair, depending on the class and the subject and the teacher and the classmates in the school. For some, our job is looking for a job, something that is no fun. Work, of all these types, can be frustrating, disheartening, and discouraging.
For others, our job is now figuring out what our work will be now that we no longer have a job, because we are retired. The days involve thinking, “Now what do I do with myself for the decades ahead? People used to answer to me. People listened to what I said. I had influence on an organization. And now I’m just trying to find my place.”
Most of us are somewhere in between all of these, just blandly doing the thing in front of us. Despite all of those frustrations and all of those hindrances and barriers to joy, tomorrow morning, guess what? We’ll be back at it, showing up, in front of the screen, in precalculus class, dialing in, making a 45-minute commute, looking for a job again, trying to figure out what to do with ourselves.
Why? We have to pay the bills. We have to do something. We have to put one foot in front of the other.
There is nothing wrong with a sense of duty and responsibility. Yet, there remains something deeper inside of us when it comes to work. Even if we mainly work because we have to, we want something more out of our work, something that is a vocation, not simply a job. Deep down, all of us want our work to matter. We want our lives to matter, and we will never be able to get away from that, because it is how God made us. God made us in his image, put us to work, and gave us a day of rest — so that in his hands, our lives would matter. And since approximately 80% of our lives are work, that 80% of our lives matters as well.
So how do we know that our work matters, that we are not simply wasting our days? One option is ultimately subjective: to look at what the world would tell, to look at our record, to show others our resume, to list the really important things we have done.
But sometimes, we doubt ourselves. We ask, “Does what I have accomplished actually matter? Does it matter that I have built a good reputation in the sight of others? Does it matter that I have achieved a high-ranking position in my organization?” In the end, most come to realize with age, that what we have accomplished, the reputation we have built, and our rank are all poor measures of our actual value. And, as the author of Ecclesiastes suggests in chapter 12, if age alone does not bring such wisdom, ultimately death makes it unquestionable. Ultimately, our resume will not get it done. Doubt will always gnaw at us. So how do we know that our work matters?
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable, one that reminds us of our value. Jesus tells us that God loves to do his work in the world by taking ordinary people and making an extraordinary difference.
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:31-33)
What does this parable tell us about ordinary people?
First, it reminds us that the kingdom seems small. Notice that the object lesson here has to do with two very small things. In fact, Jesus goes out of his way to note that the mustard seed was the smallest of all the seeds. The beginning of the parable contains a remarkable juxtaposition. Jesus begins, as he does in many of the parables in Matthew 13, with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like….” An original Jewish audience would (just as a modern audience) hear “kingdom of heaven” and think of something immense, grand, large, and endless. The disciples’ minds might go to Daniel 7: Daniel’s vision of the throne of God and the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man; a vision that declares God’s kingdom as an everlasting dominion, a kingdom that shall not be destroyed.
But instead, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.” It would not have been surprising if there were ripples of laughter through the crowd when Jesus spoke those words, almost the humorous dissonance of a Monty Python skit. People would have had to squint to even see if Jesus was really holding a mustard seed, or if he was just pretending to hold a mustard seed, because it is the smallest thing he could have picked, yet Jesus said, “This is what the kingdom of heaven is like.” It starts small. You can barely see it. It does not get a lot of recognition or applause.
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To speak of “God’s purpose of election” (Rom 9:11) involves speaking of those who are not the elect—those whose fate should bring great sadness to our hearts. We should also remember that, as mysterious and incomprehensible as it is to us and our finite minds, God justly holds unbelievers accountable not on the basis of His promises and election but on the basis of their rejection of Him (cf. Rom 1:18–20; 2:8–9).

Romans 9–11 is a difficult and debated section of Scripture in terms of God’s role in salvation and ethnic Israel’s role in the redemptive plan of God. Over the next few weeks, I hope to crystallize my own thoughts about these chapters into a few posts, passage by passage, as we work through this section of Scripture as a church, making devotional comments along the way.
Reminding ourselves of the context, Paul has just focused on the glory that will certainly come to us who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:18–39). As for Israel, however, Paul’s prose turns to pain for his “kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3). He has “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” for Israelites who do not believe even though God’s many blessings belong to them (Rom 9:1–5).
These first five verses set the tenor for Romans 9–11 and should guide our discussions about these matters as well. To speak of “God’s purpose of election” (Rom 9:11) involves speaking of those who are not the elect—those whose fate should bring great sadness to our hearts.
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Written by J. Warner Wallace |
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Without a commentary or study guide, most of our blog entries (and responses to blog entries) will be difficult to understand. Study guides and commentaries are not only reasonable resources, they are responsible resources. They help us understand the author’s context so we can understand the author’s meaning. 

The famous atheist magician Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller fame) once included the Bible in his list of favorite books. The inclusion was cynically sarcastic, as it provided him with the opportunity to make the following statement:
“If you’re considering becoming at atheist, read the Bible from cover to cover. No study guides, no spins, just read it. Sometime between when God tells Abraham to kill his son and when Jesus tells everyone to put him before their families, you’ll be an atheist.”
Jillette’s statement echoes the sentiment of many skeptics who argue that Biblical commentaries and study guides are little more than efforts to “spin” the ugly nature of the Biblical narrative. Now, much has been written about the alleged moral failings of God in the Old Testament, from Paul Copan’s work in “Is God a Moral Monster: Making Sense of the Old Testament God” to Clay Jones’ “Killing the Canaanites: A Response to the New Atheism’s ‘Divine Genocide’ Claims”. It’s not my intention to make a case for the “goodness” of God in this post. Instead, I want to address the claim that the Bible ought to be read without any assistance from commentaries or study guides. This assertion is silly, and in my opinion, dangerous.
The Bible is filled with propositional statements; claims about historical events, claims about the nature of God, and claims about the nature of man. Along the way, the authors use language that is specific to their own culture and time in history. Something similar happens in cold case trials. There are times when a witness makes a statement to the original investigators and this statement becomes part of the case.
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James’ problem with the rich is not their money but their master. In serving money they oppressed the poor, ran roughshod over the helpless, and exploited whomever they could for their own gain. Rejecting the model of the Master, they sought to be served rather than to serve. 

FAITH AT WORK: Devotions through the book of James

You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. (James 5:5, ESV)
My guess is that we won’t find James 5:1 in one of those verse-a-day packets: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you” (James 5:1). Yet that verse and the contrast it presents captures the tension we face each and every day as disciples of Jesus Christ, seeking of first importance the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Earlier in his letter, James discourages believers from discrimination on the basis of station. He says they should not give preference in the assembly to a man wearing fine clothes over someone sporting shabby clothing. Beyond the level playing field of all being mired in the same sin and all being in need of the same grace, James levels particular criticism of the rich. “Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?” (James 2:6)
Now as he winds down his letter, James addresses the rich themselves. “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days” (James 5:1–3).
What is James’ problem with those who have wealth?
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Those who trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ will NEVER face God’s judgment for their sin. Instead, God promises to clothe them in the perfect, pure, and spotless righteousness of Jesus Christ. The promise of God’s judgment in Hebrews 9:27 is followed by these beautiful words: “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (9:28). No other religion will save you, because no other religion has a Saviour.

One True Judgment / Fundamentals of the Faith (Part III)

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment…
(Hebrews 9:27)

In his 1971 hit single ‘Imagine,’ John Lennon sang the following lyrics: “Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us, only sky.”
I think it’s fair to say that many Australians follow Lennon’s philosophy, particularly when it comes to hell. Many naturally find the concept of hell deeply troubling, and so it is easier to ‘imagine’ such a place does not exist at all.
Australians are happy with a God of love. However, we find it difficult to believe in a God who judges sinners by casting them into eternal, conscious torment.
Therefore, as a culture, we have decided it is socially unacceptable to speak of God’s judgment. In fact, we don’t even talk about death. It is offensive to our modern ears to speak about such things.
However, we need to stop and ask ourselves this:
“Why do we find death and hell so difficult to talk about?”
After all, you don’t get offended if someone talks about Santa punishing you with coal for being naughty. You don’t get offended if someone tells you that the Easter Bunny is running late.
You don’t get angry if someone mentions unicorns or the tooth fairy. We don’t get offended by things that we know are not true.
So, why is it that we find the idea of God’s judgment so deeply offensive to discuss? Why are we deeply unsettled by the idea of hell?
Could it be that deep-down, we all know that God’s judgment is a reality we must all, one day face?
Why Don’t We Talk About Death?
I think there are two reasons we don’t like to talk about death.
FIRST, when someone brings up the subject of death or God’s judgment, we are reminded of our mortality. We are reminded that we will not live forever, and this is scary. Death reminds us that we are not actually in control of our lives.
SECOND, death reminds us that we will be held accountable for the way we lived our lives. No sin will be left unpunished by the God who sees all. Death reminds us that there are consequences for our actions.
We Run Away from God
No one doubts the existence of God; rather, we suppress it (Rom 1:18). Just as a prisoner does not doubt the existence of the police, neither do we doubt the existence of God. We just run away from Him.
Every single person to have walked the planet (bar one) is guilty before the Living God.
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