Response to "Jesus Without Baggage" by George Sinkie [printable PDF] The first “baggage” that he says people have is: The belief that the Father is an angry, capricious, vindictive God. It is true that Jehovah God is not like the god of Romans, that is just waiting for man to mess up so he can zap him, but let’s consider these points. Bible: Numbers 22:22 But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. When God is angry, it is because of things like, man disobeying His will. God is not temperamental like man is but He can be made angry. Anger is one of the emotions man has because we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). But we need to learn to control our anger, like God controls His. Anger that is controlled is not sinful. Bible: Ephesians 4:26 BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger Is God capricious? What is capricious? Capricious means to be fickle, not sure of what you want, changing your mind as to what you want, always wanting something different. God is not capricious. God has given different wills to different people over the course of time. There was the Patriarchal age, where God dealt with man through the fathers. God’s will for father Noah was to build an Ark (Genesis 6-9). God’s will for father Abraham was to leave Ur (Genesis 12). As time passed God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and established what we call the Mosaic Covenant. Under this covenant the Jews, and the Jews alone were called to do certain things. This law is recorded mainly in Exodus - Deuteronomy, with instruction for specific situation given on through the book of Malachi. This is what the Hebrews writer records in … Bible: Hebrews 1:1 GOD, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, The Mosaic Covenant, in God’s plan, brought us to the Cross of Christ. With Jesus’ death on the Cross, we entered into what God calls the “last days.” Peter reveals this in… Bible: Acts 2:16-17a (Peter speaking) but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT UPON ALL MANKIND;’ The Hebrews writer also records this in… Bible: Hebrews 1:2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. This is not God being capricious, all of these things were a part of the plan that God always had for man. Is God vindictive? Oxford Dictionary defines vindictive as: having or showing a strong or unreasoning desire for revenge. Merriam-Webster Dictionary for Kids (just because it gives the simple, basic meaning) says: 1: likely to seek revenge <a vindictive person>. 2: meant to be harmful <vindictive remarks>. This does not describe God, but we must understand that God will repay people for their sin. Bible: Romans 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. Speaking to the Christians in Thessalonica, Paul writes… Bible: 2 Thessalonians 1:6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, So we see that what this writer says has SOME truth, but the way he presents it, it give a false impression of Who God really is. The writer’s second “baggage’ that he says we carry around is: The concept of eternal punishment and torture in hell. This piece of “baggage” is what the Bible teaches. In the end of Matthew 25, after speaking of various things that people do or do not do, Jesus shows that there is a dividing that takes place. Note what Matthew 25:46 says… Bible: Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Note that the punishment and the life are both “eternal.” So, on this point, the writer is outright false teaching. But this is not the first time that Satan taught this kind of error… the first time was in the Garden when he told Eve she would not die. Bible: Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die!” The next “baggage” he lists is: An insistence that the Bible is somehow inerrant in every word. This is a very common approach by false teachers; they have to get you away from the Word of God. First, we need to understand that the Word of God is inspired by when it is understood properly it presents the truth. Paul writes to Timothy,… Bible: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Then Paul goes on to tell Timothy to preach the Word,… Bible: 2 Timothy 4:2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. The “baggage” writer is telling you don’t trust the Word, God tells us to trust it. Who are you going to follow? False teachers want to get you away from the Word, but then what? Then they start to teach you their ideas and their desires, they want to scratch where you itch and they tell you what you want to hear. Don’t give in to this attack by Satan. The fourth piece of “baggage” that the writer says we need to get rid of is: An over-emphasis on rules and doctrinal requirements. Now I agree that there can be an over-emphasis on these but again it depends what he is referring to by “rules and doctrinal requirements.” Some by saying this mean they do not want God telling them what to do, this goes back to the last point of getting away from God’s Word. As we already looked at in 2 Timothy God’s Word is what equips us for good work, in other words the Bible guides us to do the will of God. But we can over-emphasis this guidance to the point that we are trying to “earn” our salvation. We must always remember doing God’s will is simply what we ought to do. Bible: Luke 17:10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” “Bag” number five, that the writer says we need to get rid of is: Commitment to a literal approach to the creation stories in Genesis. Since Moses, by inspiration of God, wrote Genesis 1 as a literal account of the creation, why would anyone want to understand it any other way? Most who want to attack Genesis 1 in this way, have to do it to support their belief in Evolution. They need to get TIME. They cannot have Genesis 1 set in literal 24 hour days, because they need millions of years for Evolution to work. Another point is if you can destroy the fact that Genesis 1 is telling the truth, then that makes it acceptable to question whether any of the Bible means what it says. This is not the most sneaky attack by Satan, but it is actually a pretty successful attack by him. The final piece of “baggage” that he mentions is: Disapproval and rejection of gay people. Not sure why he singles out gay people here. What about the Disapproval and rejection of pedophile? Or the Disapproval and rejection of rapists? Or the Disapproval and rejection of murders? Or the Disapproval and rejection of bank robbers? Why does he single out gay people? Should gay people get special treatment among all other sinners? Perhaps this explains why he tries to tear down accepting and believing the Bible so much. Now we should not be against gay people as people, but we have to be against the sin of homosexuality. God in numerous places tells us what is sin. As Paul wrote to Timothy, we need to preach the Word when it is in season and out of season. Right now preaching against homosexuality is out of season, but if we are going to be people of God, we have got to do it anyway. Look at the sins that Paul says will keep one from inheriting the kingdom of heaven. Bible: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. The word Paul uses for effeminate refers to the subordinate partner in homosexual relationships. The word he uses for homosexuals refers to the dominate partner. Now some may try to argue this only refers to men, but the same thing holds true for women. Note what Paul writes in… Bible: Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. So we see that there is some “baggage” that he talks about that we need to get rid of, but we also need to be very careful with some of the other things that he calls “baggage.” Some of his bags are actually things that we need to have if we are going to travel with God. We need to keep the Word of God and example everything in the light of its teaching. I have given Bible verse after Bible verse for what I have taught, now I encourage you to get out your Bible and check it out. I hope that this has helped you to draw closer to God. To God be the Glory. [printable PDF] |