What is "REAL" according to the Bible?

There are some very charming (and quite deceptive) people out in this big diverse world that would have you believe that many of the truths of the Bible are simply "truths" and not TRUTHS. They will try and say that the Bible is full of nice stories, good principles for living, parables, paradoxes, parodies, and pious precepts; but they say, of course, the Bible should not be taken literally. The fact is, the Bible is the very word of God.

Why do they bother using the Bible if they don't really believe it? It's like reading the owner's manual to a new BMW, but not taking what it says literally. Let's break that down as the world may see it.

Congratulations. You just bought a new BMW. Luxury meets sport. A car set-apart. You have arrived. You've worked, saved, sacrificed, and finally come to the point where you are ready to make the purchase. It's a sleek, Jet Black BMW 750i, custom built just for you. The odometer reads 000001.6. The sweet aroma of the fine Flannel Gray Nasca leather fills your nostrils and you feel a sense of accomplishment. The feel of the wheel in your grip convinces you that this is a fine piece of German engineering. The way the seat wraps around your body gives you a sense of comfort and security. Your palms sweat, your guts turn with excitement.

Interrupted from your fantasy, you are handed the owner's manual, and it is literally too large to fit in the glove box. You set it down on the passenger seat, and go back to dreaming about your new baby. You can't wait to be one with the road.

So, you gingerly drive your new precious the 7.9 miles home from the dealership, taking care to avoid other cars by more distance than you would with any other car you've ever owned. Once you get home and park it in the garage that you had already prepared for the last car you will ever own, you decide to peruse the owner's manual. It is as thick and heavy as War & Peace, and as complex as a neurosurgeon's textbook; but its message is simple...follow the specific details laid out in this book, and your BMW experience will be rewarding.

As you start thumbing through the book, you see things that you don't believe, don't accept, and downright reject as factual or necessary to follow. I mean you literally don't believe them. They are specific, they are concise, they display a method of 'if you do this, then this will happen', and 'if you don't do this, then such and such will occur and void your warranty'. You think to yourself things like, "That can't be right. I don't have to take that LITERALLY. They don't really mean that if you don't get the oil changed regularly that it could damage the engine, do they?" OF COURSE they do. They don't just put that stuff in there to make the manual bigger, to sell you service, or to aggrandize themselves. They put it there because it is true, right, and is to be followed. After all, it is the OWNER'S MANUAL. It is the instruction book that any new owner of such a fine piece of machinery shoule WANT to follow to the letter. If you don't, you risk all you have laid forth for the purchase of the car. You risk losing everything you have worked so hard for. You put your pride and intellect above that of the automaker that wrote the manual.

Enough of the analogy, you get the point. Here's where I'm going with this...each element of the analogy represents something. The car is God's free gift of salvation; it is priceless (to the buyer, God - and you are not God, every analogy breaks down), it is ultimate (the best money can buy), it is final (the last car you'll ever own). The effort put forth by the buyer providing the Gift is the work of Jesus on the cross; it is perfect (without flaw), it is complete (never needs anything added), it is pure (in its intentions). The Owner's Manual, of course, represents the Word of God; the ultimate authority on the Truth. The consequences of not taking the instructions (Bible) literally and point by point could result in voiding of your warranty (false conversion).

Some Biblical topics that MUST be taken literally by the Christian:

• Existence of Hell as an actual place
• Existence of Heaven as an actual place
• Christ as the God-man
• 6-Days of Creation
• Second Coming of Christ
• Signs & wonders of Jesus and the early Church
• Prophecy, Old and New Testaments
• Miracles, deliverances and plagues of the Old Testament
• Demon Possession
• Existence of Angels as actual created beings (not to be worshiped)

Dr. McLaren - Are You A Good Person?

If you are a follower of Brian McLaren, and you care about your eternity, you need to re-evaluate what you believe what the Bible says about eternity. I am finding more and more that Brian McLaren, and others in and around his circle, are moving farther and farther away from what being a Christian is all about. He continues to align himself with secular humanism, which by its very nature denies the need for God. McLaren refuses to understand that to be a Christian means to be set apart and that we are not of this world. That phrase that's translated into English as 'set apart' (qdsh) in the Old Testament has significant meaning in the Hebrew language. It was used to describe the blood sacrifice that was to be specifically and exclusively for God. It was to be set apart, untouched, holy.

Dr. McLaren, when label yourself as a Christian, yet you put man first, and think that we can do it all on our own, you are telling the world that God is not sovereign, that God is unable to meet our needs, and that God is not in control. What do you believe? Is that love?

You paint you . . . and me . . . with . the . same . brush.

If that is what you believe is the definition of love, then you need to read the Bible some more, and at the same time, cease calling yourself a Christian until you get it together. In Acts 3, Peter had no way of helping a beggar with the money he was asking for, but he healed him (signs and wonders) and then unashamedly proceeded to tell everybody who saw the miracle to repent and trust in the Savior (the Gospel). That is love. It has eternal benefit, which is obviously more important than the here and now. God met the man's immediate needs, but didn't stop there. He saved him and countless others that afternoon. He called him out of darkness and into light. If Peter had stopped at the healing part and continued on his merry way, sure the man's body would be whole again, but he would have been, alas, still lost. How many people were saved that day?

I see this trend in modern humanism (read post-modernism) that is pushing change. Change the way we see the world, change the way we interact with the world. In so doing, the Gospel is being changed right along with it. In fact, it is being ignored altogether. What is the point of Christians helping somebody (or a tribe, or a region, or a nation) with aid, food, money, etc. if they are not then presented with the Gospel of Truth? It is not about being a good person, it is not about helping people, it is not about meeing their needs. Those things are mere tools we use to do what is most important. It is about the Gospel. It is about God, it is about spending eternity with him in wonder, awe, thankfulness, and worshipfulness. Do you not realize that eternity is longer than the here and now?

So, Dr. McLaren, I challenge you with this; do you think you are a good person? If you do, you need to understand that God will judge you (and me, and everyone else) according to His standards, which are perfect, by the way. If you are not set apart, then I fear for your future. I am not your judge, but it is my responsibility as a Christian to warn people about heresy. Sir, please repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ. This is the only way to be saved.

On a similar, slightly paranoid side-note: What is the connection between Barack Obama and Brian McLaren? They're both pushing this "CHANGE" thing. Is there a conspiracy by some deep-dark-liberal-political organization to raise up people that call themselves Christians but align strongly with the political left? This would stand to explain this radical swing away from God's plan for man, and toward man's plan for himself and his own well-being in this short shell of an existence. Dr. McLaren, are you trying to get in good with Mr. Obama in order to gain high places within his cabinet? You would make a great Foreign Aid Secretary. The problem is, you make a horrible Christian.

The Deity of Jesus - A Scientific Analogy

Important To Believe

I've spent years trying to wrap my head around the deity of Jesus; how He could be fully man, yet at the same time, fully God. Understanding and believing the doctrine of Christ's God-manhood is critical to the faith of Christianity. Some humanistic teachers such as Tony Campolo have written and would have you believe that "Jesus was God because he was human" (A Reasonable Faith). Furthermore, those belief systems that do not believe in the deity of Christ are considered cults (Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others) when viewed from a Biblical perspective. If Jesus was not God, then the work he did on earth and especially the work of the cross would have absolutely no power to forgive sin and redeem mankind back to fellowship with God.

Modern Means

He was called both the "Son of Man", and the "Son of God" throughout the New Testament. The doctrine itself is quite inarguable, so I am going to make an attempt to demonstrate exactly how Jesus can be concurrently both man and God. This is simply an analogy to help explain how Jesus can be both God and Man. This may be a bit too scientific for some of you, but bear with me, it all works out. Please do not take this to mean that the biological explanation given herein is what happened in the conception of Jesus, the Bible doesn't really say definitively, except that the Holy Spirit came over Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. I believe that Jesus was conceived supernaturally, not biologically. Teaching that God the Father had intercourse with Mary in order to conceive Jesus would be absolute heresy.

23 + 23 = 23

Remember 7th grade biology, when we had that chapter in the textbook about genetics, chromosomes, etc.? At the chromosome level, we (as in, human scientists) have observed what happens when the reproductive cells of a male and a female are joined. Fertilization of a female egg is defined by the joining of 23 chromosomes from the mother's cell, and 23 chromosomes from the father's cell. Without getting too geeky, we simply need to understand that in the case of chromosomes, 23+23 does not equal 46, it equals 23. The product of that 23+23=23 formula nevertheless concludes that we are made up of 100% of our father and 100% of our mother. In a nutshell, to understand this, is to understand exactly how Jesus can be both God and man.

An Note On Jesus' Human Lineage

It was required by Jewish law that the Messiah come from the blood line of Judah (and more specifically David). The first 16 verses of Matthew runs through that bloodline, all the way back to Abraham, and the last name mentioned in the lineage is Joseph, but he wasn't Jesus' father. Well, if you think you'll try to say that Jesus isn't God or the Messiah because of this, God, in his infinite wisdom, has that one covered too. In Luke 3:23-38, Luke details a very different lineage. Most Bible scholars agree that this is actually Mary's lineage (attributed to Joseph by marriage of course, considering the culture), and to sweeten the deal, it goes all the way back to Adam...that's 77 generatations from Adam to Jesus, by the way, interesting number. So in conclusion, not only is Jesus' adoptive father Joseph from the line of David and Judah, His biological mother Mary, is as well.

Sound Doctrine Says...

...God is:

• three persons in one - Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
  
• Creator and Ruler of all things
  
• eternal; there was never and will never be any other
  
• sovereign; the ultimate authority, answers to no other
  
• exists outside of time and space
  
• omnipresent; everywhere at all times, but not IN all things
  
• omnipotent; all powerful
  
• omniscient; all knowing
  
• perfect in holiness, but also righteousness
  
• love, and at the same time, He is just
  
• the only One worthy of worship
  

...God the Father is:

• the first person of the Trinity
  

...Jesus Christ is:

• the second person of the Trinity
  
• 100% man
  
• 100% God (John 1:1, 1:14)
  
• the final sacrifice for the redemption of man to God
  
• the Messiah, redeemer of mankind, that was promised throughout the Old Testament
  
• eternal with God the Father
  
• the Mediator between man and God the Father
  

...The Holy Spirit is:

• the third person of the Trinity
  
• 100% God
  
• dwelling within the true believer
  
• sent to man to convict him of sin by bringing the Law to remembrance
  
• sent to man to comfort him
  
• sent to man to help and teach him
  

...The Bible is:

• true, sufficient and complete; shall not be added to
  
• inspired by God and written by men
  
• the infallible manuscript of God's perfect plan for the salvation of mankind
  

...Man is:

• fallen since and because of Adam
  
• separate from God
  
• born inherently evil with a sin nature
  
• worthy of eternal punishment because of his sin nature
  

...The Church is:

• the members of the redeemed and repentant body of Christ
  
• commissioned to proclaim the gospel to the people of the world
  
• diverse in its membership, but must be united in core beliefs
  

...Salvation is:

• by God's grace through faith alone
  
• available to every person who repents and trusts in Jesus' perfect and final sacrifice
  
• the free gift of God, not by works; cannot be earned in any way, whatsoever

...The Counterfeit Kingdom is:

• ruled by Satan and a demonic host who rebelled against God and were cast from Heaven
  
• throughout and rules over the earth and unrepentant souls that dwell in it
  

...Heaven is:

• where God, His angelic host, and redeemed people, exist eternally
  
• outside of time and space
  

...Hell is:

• the final and real destination of unrepentant people
  
• where Satan and his demonic host exist eternally
  
• outside of time and space
  

Starting off with a question:

How can a false teacher, or at least a false teaching, be spotted?

The answer is simple, but the process is not. Simple answer, ask one or more of the following questions:

• What does the Bible say about what the person or teaching is saying?
• Does it violate core doctrine that is vital to solid theology and sound Christianity?
• Does it look at things from a mortal, psychological, or humanistic perspective?
• Does it take away from the power and sovereignty of God?
• Does it rob Jesus of his deity?

We need to focus on the essentials...major in the majors, if you will; and not let the minors divide us.

Now for the not so simple process: All of this needs to be viewed through the lens of - God's truth is absolute. Our understanding of God's truth is, however, finite (Isaiah 55:8). In other words, being human, we can not possibly comprehend the absoluteness of truth insomuch as we can understand it.

Yet, the Bible is complete and sufficient for testing of truth, and the Bible is all we need in order to know the truth that sets us free (John 8:31-32). We don't need psychiatrists, psychologists, self-help books, etc. We need only the truth of the Scripture.

We have been given the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of Truth) to ask for wisdom and discernment with regard to the teaching and understanding of Scripture (John 14:26; John 16:12-15; 1 Cor 2:9-14). The Holy Spirit will give us a check in our own spirit if we hear teaching that is not in line with the truth that we know.

It is this knowing of the truth that is the key...

...that is why it is critical to be in the Word every day so that the Holy Spirit has something with which to bear witness. If we don't know the truth, (I mean beyond basic moral values, which everyone has), how can the Holy Spirit bear witness or give us a check in our spirit when it comes to discerning good or bad teaching? I'm not doubting that God can't scream out to you that a teaching is right or wrong, but that is not an excuse to know the truth that is completely and absolutely documented for us in Scripture.