Parallelism: The Nexus

Parallelism in Hebrew poetry points to similar qualities or sameness in meaning between two or more lines of poetry. There is no better place to show this example than in Genesis and the Bible's first use of it.

Genesis 1:27

(line 1) So God created man in his own image,
(line 2) In the image of God he created him;
(line 3) Male and female he created them.

Line one (1) introduces the the poem (lines 2 & 3).
The word "them" (line 3) defines "him" (line 2)
The word "created" is essentially the same in (line 1 & 3)

The latter defines the former and makes it meaningful because they run in parallel. In other words, humanness is corporate in the human species both male and female. It is not the male alone that is referred to when it is said God created man in His own image. The image of God is shared corporately between man and woman (Williams 92).

Man and woman compliment one another they do not supplement one another. Its kind of like two parallel lines...hmmmm

I do not believe it is any accident that this is the first use of Hebrew poetry in the Bible. A passage about the parallelism of male/female human existence in relation to God's image. Considering that a marriage between a man and a woman is an inkling of what it is like between Jesus Christ and the Church and between the persons of the Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). It is an extremely appropriate nexus for the first usage.

Tamquam Alter Idem: As if another/second self.

Reference:
Williams, William C. . "Chapter 2: In The Beginning." They Spoke from God: A Survey of the Old Testament. Springfield: Logion Press/Gospel Pub. House, 2003. 92. Print.

Pondering God XVI: The Divine Transcendence

As is the case in all my Pondering God synopses I like to include at least a portion of Scripture. In the case of the transcendence of God, the verse I’ve chosen is the primary focus of this synopsis rather than an enhancement to my main point.

“…one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” ~Ephesians 4:6

The words “over”, “through” and “in” all in the above verse are the Greek words “epi”, “dia” and “en” respectively. They are all primary prepositions. They define relationships of direction, time, location between nouns and pronouns. In the case of this verse the noun is God and His relative direction from the pronoun “all” meaning His creation or more specifically us, the readers. It is locating us in relative terms from God, we are under Him because He is over or above us. What is our relation to Him in terms of time? He is eternal. Currently our physical being is finite but our souls are immortal. We had a defined starting point; God did not start he has no beginning and no end.

The use of “διά” or “through; of place” is very interesting. It is indeed “dia” as in diameter or the distance across (a circle). The use of “through” is the location of God relative to the pronoun which is the believer/us. The location described here is not static. When you say “through” something you are implying a simultaneous and infinite multiplicity of locations within a defined area (man, human race, universe, etc). God is through “all” which means He is simultaneously through all the infinite number of points between Points “A” and “B” in a finite universe. He is omnipresent, all places at once, in all believers/church (if taken in context of Ephesians 4) in the form of the Holy Spirit. Not to be confused with the idea of Pantheism or that God is the creation.

Yet this verse also tells us that He is also “over” or superimposed over all. This verse also denotes a multiple but statically defined position ”in all”. This verse even gives Him an anthropomorphic quality “father” to denote a “human relationship” that is more intellectual and spiritual not just a physical/corporeal relationship. Ironically (or should I say intentionally), the entire unit in Ephesians 4:1-8 is talking about unity of the body (church) and unity of the Godhead. The Church is constituted of a multitude separate lives yet we are one in Spirit as mentioned in verse 3 and function as a whole when we are all in tune simultaneously with Jesus Christ. He is personable and with us yet he is infinitely beyond us.

Mortaring The Foundations

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared..." ~ 1 Timothy 4:1-2

The doctrines of demons are infiltrating our churches and the enemy is beginning to push back the barriers and front line of an ongoing battle that was hard won by Christians (or at least should've been and appeared to be). They are lobbing mortars (incendiaries; explosives) over the walls that they have erected between Truth and this world's culture and mindset. Besides the infighting of non-essential interdenominational squabbles we now have the enemy heading right for one of the support beams of our faith. The postmodernists have figured out that if they can undermine and toss mortars into the rudimentary and foundational facts and doctrine of the Christian faith, they have unraveled the entire faith. Some of the case-in-points: The claim that the Bible is not correct or it is contradictory(inerrancy) and the Bible is not clear (perspicuity).

I have heard people recently saying that the idea of the inerrancy of the Bible is something new. Created by evangelicals over the last century or so. This is nonsense. Some extra biblical texts that totally blow this statement out of the water are as follows.

Thomas Aquinas: "Nothing false can underlie the literal sense of Scripture" -Summa Theologica, 1, 1, 10 ad 3.

Martin Luther: The Scriptures have never erred", "The Scriptures cannot err" -Works of Luther, XV:1481; XIX:1073.

John Calvin: In his Institutes "Error never can be eradicated from the heart of man until true knowledge or God (through Scripture) has been implanted in it" -Book I, Chapter 6.

John Wesley: "Nay, if there be any mistakes in the Bible there may as well be a thousand. If there is one falsehood in that book it did not come from the God of truth (Journal VI, 117).

Inerrancy is not a recent invention of the post-reformation period or by theologians of the 19th or 20th century.

"Inerrancy is not in the Bible", is the next claim. By name, no, it is not. Neither is the Trinity but the concept is, just like the Trinity. Not named but the truths that lead to this concept are clear.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness ~2 Timothy 3:16

The Bible emphasizes that everything God has uttered through His prophets, kings and through His Son is true.

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ~John 17:17

New? Not a chance. Errant? Only if you misinterpret deliberately in an effort to find fake faults or enter into the text without the Holy Spirit. These types of people often enter into the text with twisted presuppositions and mean to degrade and deconstruct in an effort to create faults that don't exist. Only if you come in with a presupposition that is contradictory to the truths in the Bible to destroy can you walk away doubting its clarity and inerrancy. Only if you hold to faulty doctrine or try to contemporize or modernize (revisionism) the text by fraudulently removing the Word from its context and make the Scripture fit into a 21st Century worldview when it was clearly written 2000 years ago or more.

I originally came into the faith to find the contradictions and faults by actually reading the Scripture with an honest evaluation...to prove it wrong. Instead I found it so accurate it was uncanny and it revolutionized the way I thought and saw the world. The more I read it the more I find just the opposite of error and contradiction. I find a solidifying continuous whole that could only be divinely inspired. Those that say it is antiquated, incorrect, or contradictory are being disingenuous in their assessment of themselves assessing the Bible. There is no way a rational intelligent human being that goes into the Bible and interprets it correctly and honestly can come away making a statement such as, "It is full of errors" or "it's an old fictional book that doesn't apply anymore".

The only reasons the Bible would be unclear or imperspicuous to people is because either they've made no honest effort to read it and understand its contents or they are being disingenuous when they say they have tried to understand (i.e.: they are not making and honest effort because they view it from a worldview that is non-biblical). Worst of all, as is the case with many charlatans and false prophets, they have misinterpreted or taken things out of context.

Some of the root of the belief that the Bible is errant lies in the fact that it is claimed that it is not clear, if it is not clear how can someone be expected to understand it correctly. This is a fallacy of logic called "begging the question" or circular reasoning [petitio principii]. The fallacy is committed "when a proposition which requires proof is assumed without proof." In other words, "begging the question" [petitio principii] refers to arguing for a conclusion that has already been assumed in the premise. The fallacy may be committed in various ways. The argument then ends up being an argument based solely on the arguers assumptions about the Bible that are untrue, not based in facts or proofs based in unbiased and honest observations of the Bible. I have found that once you present the person in error with their error they then begin to argue based solely on emotions and unfounded opinions which is usually all a postmodernist has left to argue with because they have already denied "truths". They will then attack you directly which is an "ad hominem" argument and "take it to the man" or create a "straw man". Often times I have noticed they do this without even realizing it because they are trying to win the debate between their ideas and your ideas. What they fail to realize (and Christians need to take note of this), it is possible to win the argument...but lose the person.

We in the faith should be applying more mortar (concrete) to strengthen the foundation stones of our faith by applying truth to those that try to destroy it. We should do this to build up others and do it for ourselves. Applying mortar to help repel mortars.

"Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." ~Jude 3-4

We need to refute these deceptive practices of the enemy that are not only on our doorsteps, they have entered right through the front doors. Most do not even realize they are deceived when carrying this false doctrine. They are infected with the false teaching and are contagious to others that do not have a strong immune system to this spiritual disease. They need to be identified, quarantined and cured of this malady based in confusion. We need to also live as an example of what people should be in Christ. To say the Bible is unclear or worse, to say it is wrong undermines the entire faith. For the enemy, it is the easiest way to gain the upper-hand in the battle of truth. The modern world has gotten real good at doing this by denying that there is even absolute truths. To say the foundation of our faith (the Bible) is subject to question, makes everything else subject to question. We need to shore up the foundations and stop the attack by refuting it with the truth wherever and whenever the enemy shows up. If we continue to allow them an "open season" on our faith, sooner or later they will end up causing damage to someone by causing them to doubt.

Ironically, this confusion is not caused by the Bible that they claim is wrong but it is caused by the worlds postmodern philosophy which is wrong. Sadly, they would not even allow me to claim that something is wrong...because its a truth claim. Nobody is wrong, nobody is right, everyone is the same. Everyone's identity is the same. Moral ambiguity. In an attempt to not make a correct absolute "truth" claim they end up making an absolute incorrect "wrong" claim. A philosophy that says we cannot know anything for sure and that all absolute truth claims are subject to questioning means that nothing can be wrong, even mass slaughters of human beings. If we cannot make them realize that the exact thing they are claiming is wrong is actually the cure they will wander as carriers of this contagion of confusion infecting others.

The only cure for an untruth is absolute truth (Jesus Christ). The only cure for error is fact. The only cure for ambiguity and confusion is clarity and perspicuity. All of which we find IN the Bible and IN Christ. The world doesn't allow either in society anymore. It is no wonder we are so lost in an engulfing darkness that becomes more pervasive daily. Society no longer accepts absolute truth and rarely if ever accepted Christ. We need to assure both remain in society. How? Living as true Christians exhorting truth. Walking the Walk and talking the talk while we carry, read and proclaim the truth from Christ in the Bible.

To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. ~Luke 1:78-80

Pondering God XV: God’s Omnipresence

The Bible tells us that there is no place we can hide from God. Most would think that this is a scary proposition. The truth is that the only reason you should be scared is if you have a reason to be. Why would you have to a fear a loving and just God…unless you are doing something wrong or something you shouldn’t be? There is a reason you have a guilty conscience or are weighted down with shame. They are warning signs in a carefully crafted warning system that God made intrinsic to our nature to let us know what is morally correct. When we have a reason to fear an omnipresent God it is because of sin. Sin adds a monkey wrench to the relationship with a Holy God. If we are scared it is because we are in a situation similar to the time in the Garden when Adam was scared of God after he sinned.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." ~ Genesis 3:8-10

So why was Adam scared? He had turned to his own ways and turned his back on God. He (and Eve) disobeyed God and subsequently fled from His presence. Why is this so tragic? They were filled with shame and were conscious of their own guilt, and dread of judgment, instead of running to God in mercy begging for His grace, they foolishly attempted to run away from him, who is impossible to avoid since He is omnipresent. The evangelist Billy Sunday once said that a sinner can't find God for the same reason criminals can't find policemen.

If you love God you will obey His commandments. The natural state of man’s mind is enmity against God. God created us in order that we might have a relationship with Him. The reason some feel so empty without God is because we were created for this relationship in particular. When this relationship with the Lord doesn’t materialize it leaves us spiritually empty of in a spiritual vacuum. If this vacuum is not filled with God something else fills His place, usually and idol or evil. Evil works best and roams free in the absence of things that are ontologically good. If you are going to flee something, flee evil. At least you’ll have a chance of getting away by residing in Christ. If you try to flee the Lord the chance of getting away from Him is 0%.

Pondering God XIV: God's Goodness

Good and God in my mind and in many people’s minds are synonymous. Goodness of God seems to be a sum of all the positive attributes of God (not that there are negatives). It is the first attribute that comes to the mind of many believers such as me when contemplating God. It would be more proper to say the God IS Good not that goodness is just one of His infinite attributes. God IS goodness and this is why more often than not, when people are at their bottom they want something better. One of the first places they intuitively look is skyward or towards God.

Everything about God is good even His wrath. His wrath is based in His perfect timing and and perfect justice so what else could it be? Bad? Hardly. His anger is perfect anger based in righteousness and perfect knowledge. Only a human that doesn’t understand the truths about God could make a claim like, “He is an unjust angry God” or the comments like, “the God of the Old Testament is vengeful and mean God. What we have here isn’t a mean God but rather foolish man trying to quantify God again. In this case man is trying to explain God’s actions based on misunderstandings or just flat out ignorance of the truth. The truth is that God only does things that are good because anything else would be against His nature. Why were things done the way they were in the Old Testament such as the giving of the Law and punishment for not obeying it?

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good? ~Deuteronomy 10:12-13

This was the essence of the Law: Israel was to fear the Lord, walk in His ways, to love Him, to serve Him with all their heart and soul and keep His commandments and statutes… for their own good. Man is not capable of good works apart from God.

"…as it is written, none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." ~Romans 3:10-11

Pondering God XIII: God's Unmerited Favor

God's Unmerited Favor for a quite flawed and very sinful creation...man

The Mercy of God

The mercy and the grace of God are tied together. Because He has mercy on flawed beings such as us He offers us grace. The mercy God gives is for those in distress or are suffering. Mercy is emphasized more often in situations of suffering though. I also imagine mercy sometimes comes in forms we wouldn’t expect. In the case of the terminally ill it may be more merciful to take them from the world to be with the Lord rather than miraculously cure the person who is suffering. God in these situations has His reasons. Many times the suffering may be suffering because of their own sinful nature (sometimes not).

"Now we know that if the earthly home we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this home, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." ~2 Corinthians 15:1-8

We have a better chance of God being merciful to us if we are repentant. We know that an unrepentant heart will have God store up wrath against us in judgment. The following verse also tells us that people are careless with God’s mercy and grace also because of the word “storing”.

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. Romans 2:5

We also know that man is sometimes not given mercy because it is a form of judgment, discipline, testing or rebuke by God. Ultimately, God is a just God and does things in His own time for His own reasons.

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. Romans 9:14-16

The amazing thing is that God’s mercy and grace is, well, it’s amazing! As sinners we are walking dead men without it. Our sin merits only condemnation and death. God did not decree that this was to be all of humanity’s final destination. As a matter of fact He decreed just the opposite. He predestined that some would be saved and that we would not be condemned to separation from Him for eternity. Merciful indeed is our amazing God!

____________

God's Amazing Grace

It is only through God’s grace that we are saved. The Bible is quite clear here that you can only be saved by grace through a faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. It is nothing that we do lest a man boast of his own deeds.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ~Ephesians 2:8-9

God did not have to do this, He chose to. He didn’t give the angels this same chance when they sinned and rebelled.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment…~2 Peter 4:2

It was His choice to do what he wanted. He is sovereign and this universe, heaven, angels and man are His creation, and He can do what He pleases with it. Grace on our behalf is undeserved favor from God. This is amazing considering that we are worthy only of death as sinners. Without grace, without God’s official pardon we are condemned to death and eternal separation from Him. Hell…our deserved punishment.
As it turns out grace can and often is taken for granted and abused. Christians are called to a higher expectation. Jesus made this quite clear in His beatitudes. He upped the stakes and expected people to be vigilant with their behavior even requiring us to control our thoughts not just actions.

Unfortunately, some do not make the effort to go the extra mile and rely too much on God’s mercy and grace when they really should be living a more righteous life and making an attempt to move forward with their sanctification, not backward. Paul asks this rhetorical question in Romans 6:1, “…Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” His immediate response is, “by no means.” Why? We walk in a newness of life in Christ and because we are dead to sin. If we are dead to sin it should have no power over us because we…

“…are not under the law but under grace”. Romans 6:14

God didn’t have to give us any grace, He chose to. The best environment for God’s grace to operate is in righteousness. When there is righteousness, which is a product of obeying God and man being humble, it will not cancel out God’s grace. When man sins it negates the grace we are given.

Pondering God XII: God Is Love [ אָהַב ]

The love that we have for our children is a reflection of God’s love. Our love we have for our spouse is a reflection of God’s love. When I say love I am not talking about sexual intercourse either, that is the world’s definition of love. It is just another post-modern twisting of God’s true intent. I am talking about God’s definition of love as outlined in the Bible. A child’s love for their parent(s) is a reflection of God’s love. In all these relationships we begin to see glimpses of the fullness and absoluteness of God’s love for us.

God's love for us is unconditional like a parents love for their child (at least that is the way it should be). We love our children even when they make us angry because we want the best for them as does God's love towards us. Like our children though we often need rebuke or punishment or we go off on tangents unaware we have done wrong or aware of it and emboldened. This fact troubles many because by the time they become adults they feel they've paid their dues and feel they need answer to no one. As we all understand as we get older and smarter, we actually know very little and are better off biting our tongues much of the time. Those that do not bite their tongue are quite often the ones that learned very little about life but have the most to say.

God's love is uninfluenced. He chose to love us. There was nothing we did to warrant that love. I certainly wasn't because we merited it. There was nothing in particular that attracted God to use that was of our doing. Like a spouse attracts a mate. No no no.

God is Himself eternal and God is love. The obvious deduction is that God's love like everything else about Him is eternal. His love for you is eternal. The other obvious reasoning is that He predestined you so He loved you before you were created. His love is infinite and because of this I could never do full justice to describing it in limited words and language of a finite creature such as myself. The depth of His love is beyond that of the love from a human parent to a human child or a beloved spouse. Because of this we begin to realize just how much Jesus loves His bride the Church.The Church in reality is Jesus' compliment the bride for the bridegroom. He is the vine, we the branches.He the Good Shepherd, we the sheep. He is the head, we the body. HE WANTS US TO BE WITH HIM, inseparable for eternity. HE completes the picture that is us. God's plan may be a mystery to us and look like a puzzle but it certainly is not a puzzle to Him. What we need to accept and try to grasp is that God's infinite and eternal love is also in a unified whole with all His other infinite and eternal attributes.

The fact of God’s love is no more evident than in the gift given to man. He sent His son to stand in our stead and be the propitiation/expiation for our sins at the “Place of the Skull”. He forfeited His life so that we may live. The ultimate role reversal in that Jesus was the last Adam. Jesus was the last sacrifice that would ever be needed for atonement for the sins of the world. In Adam, God breathed life into the human race and in Jesus we have a servant leader that had His life squeezed out of him by the removal of breath from His lungs. A death by suffocation nailed to a wooden cross. A morbid irony looking in hindsight and it was all part of the plan since before the foundations of the world. If God is love than God is at the root of all of these statements in 1 Corinthians 13 written by Paul (I’ve paraphrased below).

Love is eternal - Love is patient - Love is kind - Love does not envy or boast
Love is not arrogant or rude - Love does not insist on its own way
Love is not irritable or resentful - Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing
Love rejoices with the truth - Love bears all things - Love believes all things
Love hopes all things - Loves endures all things. Love never ends

...So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The only reason man is even capable of loving God is because He first loved us. He has drawn His children to Himself.

"We love because he first loved us" ~1 John 4:19

Who's Going To Help?

A believer’s strength isn’t just the fact that their faith can be proclaimed by speaking words but the fact that it can be proclaimed by acting it out. We have the potential to convert as many people through our actions as we will through our words.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. ~Philippians 2:12-18

When we convert, Christ does with us the same as He did with the the Apostles and the people that came before us in the faith. He changes us so that we become beacons for the Kingdom of God. He makes us fishers of men. He changes our hearts. It is then that He can use us to go out and change the world into His image. He doesn't need us perfect, as a mtter of fact it probably is better that we are messy. People of the world want tangible evidences and it is often staring them straight in the eyes telling them that they need to have faith and to accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and goes by the name Andy, Todd, James, Mike. The physical evidence of the Kingdom of God probably passes them on the street everyday or in the supermarket, at the Wawa, in school, at work and at the gym slowly working their way through their own process of sanctification. Those people born anew with many of their flaws still intact waiting to be wrenched free from their bodys of sin. One by one being disgarded as we work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12-13). Unfortunately, many are looking for a fish in in the sky when they should be looking for birds. They don't even know what someone homegrown for the Kingdom would look like so they look in all the wrong directs right past all the evidence they'll ever need telling them, "Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life".

Their retort is usually: "Get out of my way Biblethumper, I'm looking for the truth! A real god! Not your hateful demanding one!"

We, the beleivers in the body of Christ are to be the embodiment of the message now that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father waiting for His perfect timing for His return. We are also to take the message to the world (Matthew 28:19-20), not only as words but also as actions.

"...and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him." ~Luke 5:10-11

I am adlibbing here but...Jesus is essentially saying He is going to take back the world and turn very thing on its head while simultaneously reclaiming it for the Kingdom of God. He then goes on to redefine what the Jews of his day understood the Law to be, especially the Pharisees and Sadducee's. It was divisive and certainly didn't sit well with others of His day. Hence the need to silence Him and the eventual crucifixion. God knew He was going to change the world and He knew the effect He would have on certain men controlled by the world.

"They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." ~Luke 12:53

These are obviously not Jesus' exact words but He could've said something like, "I will turn everything you know upside-down while bringing the Kingdom here..and guess who's going to help me do it?" A statement like this would've just about said the same thing that Luke 5:10-11 & 12:53 does. He was and still does change our worlds and uses us as the vehicle to do it. The people we affect in a positive manner go out and affect others in a similar manner and this process continues on continually until God says enough is enough. At the same time some respond to the Gospel...and others hide from it even when they know it to be true.

Obviously change provokes resistance. In modern times we are asked to do nothing less than the Apostles did and we don't get nearly as much resistance or persecution as they did. Sometimes most of the resistance we get comes form internal stop lights. As we grow in the Lord the internal traffic lights begin to stay green longer and the externals tend to stay red. Regardless, it is not us they hate it is Christ, His message. It forces them to take responibility. It makes them realize that there is absolute measure of right and wrong. Along with this type of measure you also need justice...penalty for violation. The world can't have that because the world is the ultimate judge of its own destiny, or so it thinks. If they accept Christ it will force a do-over for them and they are too comfortable in their own sin.

Believers on the other hand need to live out our faith. Walk the walk so that in the event one of the world decides to turn from their ways, they at least will have a support system to help them out in their new journey. To be a steadying force for good...in a world gone bad.