CAUSE OF DEATH

You know that verse, about the people perishing for lack of knowledge?

I'm sure you've quoted it, but have you actually read it?

It's from Hosea 4: 6, and the verse goes on to explain WHY the people are low on knowledge.

It's not because there are no leaders.  It's not because there isn't a fresh package for the vision.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. BECAUSE you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; BECAUSE you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children."

Our people are dying from lack of knowledge because they have rejected the knowledge God has already given us.  (The Bible!  I'm talking about the Bible!)

Our clergy are spiritually dying from lack of knowledge because they have  rejected God's Word as the authoritative source of knowledge.

Our children are ignent [spelling intentional] as all get out, spiritual orphans because WE, their parents and role models, have forgotten that God gave us rules--- on purpose, and that those rules still apply.

When you know better, you do better right?  Well, what happens if you don't know?  What happens if you don't want to?

Oh, that's right.

The people die.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

Blogging through the Article of Religion: ARTICLE 6, THE OLD TESTAMENT

Article VI - Of the Old Testament

The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testaments everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.

You’ve heard of WWJD, “What Would Jesus Do?” but have you heard of WWJQ?  What Would Jesus Quote?

The answer is:  The OLD TESTAMENT.   The more scholarly answer is The Hebrew Bible, but ---- same thing.

Speaking to His detractors, Jesus said: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me” (John 5: 39)

We end the Old Testament with Malachi, but Jesus said that the Old Testament period ended with John the Baptist.

“ For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” (Matthew 11: 13)  

After the John the Baptist died, Jesus still kept the Old Testament law and prophets.  In fact, Jesus maintained that reason religious people didn’t understand Him and His gospel message was that they didn’t accept the relevance and power of the Old Testament.

“But Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.’ “ (Matthew 22: 29)

Jesus believed that even after the Old Testament era ended, the Old Testment doctrines were still true, still relevant, and still powerful. One of the reasons that so many churches are spiritually power-less and unable to stand against the shifting winds of culture and circumstance is that they have ignored all of those OT stories and teachings.  

Plus there’s the logic issue. 

ALL of the New Testament doctrines of the church are based on Old Testament scriptures.   Even some of our most cherished New Testament scriptures are actually just Old Testament quotations.

When Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” He wasn’t overruling angry Old Testament commandments.  He was sustaining Old Testament commandments by quoting from the book of Leviticus.

“You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”  (Leviticus 19: 18)

In Mark 12: 36, to prove the validity of His claims to be the Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus quoted David from Psalm 110.

“The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ ”

There is this beautiful quote from 1 Corinthians 15: 54, 55 that says:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.

O Death, where is your sting?

O Hades, where is your victory?”

That quote is based on Hosea 13: 14.  And the line of reasoning that lead to that quote, beginning in 1 Corithians 15: 45 is based on a literal reading of Genesis chapters 1-3 and a direct correlation of Jesus to Adam.

The Old Testament is the premise on which the conclusions of the New Testament are built.  Toss the Old Testament and you invalidate the New.

But, the New Testament does provide us with a better deal.  As the writer of Hebrews said.  The New Testament brings “ a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” (8: 6)

Jesus fulfilled the ritual and sacrificial requirements of the OT so we don’t have to keep the ritual expectations of the law.  No more sacrifices or dietary restrictions or ethnic isolation.

The cross fulfilled the system of blood sacrifices.

“Every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.    But this Man [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.” (Hebrew 10: 11-13)

God used Peter to reiterate the fulfillment of the dietary part of the sacrificial system.

“What God has cleansed you must not call common.” (Acts 10)

And the inclusion of all nationalities into the new covenant (New Testament)

“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.  But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.” (verses 3-35)

But, let’s be real. 

The real reason we want to throw out the Old Testament under the accusation of “legalism” is because we don’t like God telling us what we can’t do.   We don’t want a bunch of moral thou-shalt-nots, so we claim that Jesus tossed the commandments and left us with nothing but love.

That’s sweet. It’s also wrong. 

Matter of fact, it’s beyond wrong.  It’s a lie, wrapped in a delusion, served on a plate of hypocrisy.

Jesus didn’t throw out the objective moral  standard of the OT commandments.  Jesus clarified that standard, and in clarifying the standard He demonstrated that the moral standard for believers is actually higher than was traditionally thought.

Read Matthew 5 which is almost all direct quotations from Jesus.

Jesus saw the prohibition on being a murderer and raised it to a prohibition on even being a hater. (verses 21-23)

Jesus endorsed the expectation for worship and expanded corporate worship to include going to fix a damaged relationship and then coming back to church to continue worshiping. (verses 23-24)

Jesus was merciful to a woman caught in adultery but He never gave the okay to sexual immorality.  Shoot, Jesus said that not only should you not touch but you also shouldn’t look (verses 27, 28).

Jesus raised the moral bar on divorce (verses 31-32), honest (verses 33-37), forgiveness (38-42), and brotherly love (43-47).

In the Old Testament God demanded holiness.

 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’ “ (Leviticus 19:2)   

Jesus demands PERFECTION.

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 48)

Jesus attacked the Pharisees for their legalistic traditions of supposed moral purity, but not so Christians could live by lesser, more relativistic moral standards. 

So we could live by higher moral standards.

 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness EXCEEDS the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 20)

So any Christian running around telling people that God doesn’t care how you live as long as you praise Him, love people, shout during church, and pay your tithes---- that Christian is not just ignoring the Old Testament, he/she is lying on Jesus.

Cause Jesus said, “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5: 19)

But, Rev. Graves (this is me imagining you arguing about this), they must be telling the truth. The “anointing” is all over them.

I don’t dispute their anointing. 

 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “

The Old Testament still matters to Jesus.  Therefore, the Old Testament should still matter to us.

And seriously, how can we stand in our churches naming and claiming promises about the seed of the righteous never begging for bread (Psalms),  being the generation to receive the blessings of Abraham (Genesis), reciting the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles), and demanding that people stop robbing God of their tithes and offerings (Malachi), while thinking we can conveniently skip over everything else in the first 60% of the Bible when we find it inconvenient to our preferred moral lifestyles?

That is a lie, wrapped in a delusion, served on a plate of hypocrisy.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

A Needful Thing (Article V, continued)

Article V - Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation

The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation;

so that whatsoever is not read therein,

nor may be proved thereby,

is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith,

or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation…

In Romans 3: 2, the Apostle Paul declared the greatest example of Divine favor to the children of Israel was that to them were committed the oracles of God. 

The Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) is not the oracles of ISRAEL.  It is the oracles, i.e., the Word of GOD.

Of the New Testament of the apostles, Paul said:

We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.  (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Was Paul right?

Is the Bible, Old Testament and New, the Word of God ENTRUSTD TO the church? 

Or is the Bible the words of the men CREATED BY the church?

If the Bible is nothing more than the myths, imaginings, and theological musings of men, then the church and church-folks can change it, ignore parts of it, declare certain principles to be irrelevant ----- just because we want to.    If the Bible is just a collection of words that religious people thought up, then it is not inerrant, not eternal, not even necessary; and we can interpret its contents anyway we want. 

But.

If the Bible is the actual Word of God, then we have to handle its contents as God has said they must be handled.  If the Bible is actually the Word of God then the church, and church-folks, and church-thinkers do not own the Bible.  We are only stewards of it.

If the Bible is the oracles of God, then we are subject to it.  It is not subject to us.

Through all the mechanisms of inspiration and revelation the Bible was GIVEN  to the church by God.    

And so the Bible is not just inspirational.  It is necessary.    

Not just poetic.  Necessary.

But, generally speaking, we don’t treat the Bible as necessary.  We treat the Bible ornamental.  We decorate our speech with vaguely scriptural sounding clichés we haven’t actually read for ourselves.

We treat the Bible as inconvenient because it’s too long, too boring, too hard to understand, and/or too demanding and convicting.

We treat the Bible as something optional.  We pick.  We choose.  We selectively ignore or reinterpret into inconsequence.

We treat the Bible as everything except what it is.

The one needful text among all others.

David called Scriptures the only way a man could get his life straight.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.  (Psalm 119: 9)

Isaiah said the Word of God was the only thing in this life that is guaranteed.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40: 8)

Paul called the Bible altogether profitable.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3: 16, 17)

Jesus called the Bible, God’s sanctifying truth.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17: 17)

True, profitable, guaranteed, life changing.

Absolutely NECESSARY.

Not simply a collection of narrative suggestions.  The genuine and NECESSARY Word of God.

Which means that our faith, where it is derived from the Bible (and not from traditions and preferences) is necessary for salvation.

We are stewards of the Truth, which means that   we are accountable to the true Author for how we handle it, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20, 21)

We don’t get to make up stuff about what’s in the Bible and we don’t get to make up stuff and put it in the Bible. 

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)  

We don’t get to demand what the Bible does not require.  We don’t get to toss aside what the Bible demands.

Because the Word of God is NECESSARY.

For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?  Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:

“That You may be justified in Your words,

And may overcome when You are judged.” (Romans 3: 3-4)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

Of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation (Article V)

Article V - Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation

The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation;

so that whatsoever is not read therein,

nor may be proved thereby,

is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith,

or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those

canonical books of the Old and New Testaments of whose authority was never any doubt in the church.

The names of the canonical books are:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles, The Second Book of Chronicles, The Book of Ezra, The Book of Nehemiah, The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the Preacher, Cantica or Songs of Solomon, Four Prophets the Greater, Twelve Prophets the Less.

All the books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive and account canonical.

Strictly speaking, the Bible isn’t A book.  The Bible is an anthology, a collection of (in this case) 66 different books, authored by dozens of different men, and written over the course of anywhere from 700 to 3500 years depending on which scholar you prefer to believe.

Some of the Bible’s authors were highly respected priests and prophets (like Samuel).  Some were seemingly random guys who professed a calling from God, came out of nowhere, did their thing, and then disappeared back into obscurity (like Amos).  Some Biblical writers were highly educated and well-connected (Luke and Paul for examples).  Some were near illiterate members of the 1^st century working class (Peter). 

With the exception of a couple of Paul’s letters in the New Testament, you can find some “expert” who will dispute the authorship and authenticity of every book in the Bible.   Some people sincerely believe that the entire Bible is a conspiracy of fiction put together by a Catholic committee.

But I, and my church, and millions of Christians like us believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God Himself, the Holy Scripture [that]  containeth all things necessary to salvation.

How can we (and you) trust our souls to the words of a disputed ancient anthology?

See what I did there?

I described the Bible in a way that implied that every element was unreliable.  I never offered any evidence for why the testimony of multiple writers would be LESS reliable than the testimony of just one.  But if you were iffy on the topic, you’d think that it was.

Now think for yourself.  Which is MORE reliable, the testimony of one witness or the corroborating testimony of 3 or 4 dozen witnesses?

We trust the Bible.  I stake the fate of my soul and the purpose of my life on the integrity of the Bible because the authors of the books of the Bible present a single, unifying theme.  There is a common mind behind all of their works.  (And some of these writers had never read the works of the others.)

But what about the time lapse between books?  

Yeah.  The dispute over the age of books has been a major source of skepticism.  Critics point out that the oldest fragments of the Old Testament only date back to the 2^nd century B.C. which isn’t that old for a collection that begins “In the beginning….”

Critics also note that the oldest fragment of the New Testament dates 125 A.D., that somewhere around 80-90 years after Jesus was crucified.  The criticism is that these can’t be eyewitness accounts.  The witnesses would’ve be dead.

I have a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.  (No, I’m not rambling. Stay with me.)   My books says that Shakespeare died in 1616, but the earliest copyright on the book is 1980.    How can I believe a book dated 366 years after the supposed author of its plays died?

Because I know that my copy of Shakespeare is just a copy.   All the copyright date tells me is that the original stories were completed and circulating BEFORE 1980.

We don’t have the original manuscript of any of the books of the Bible.  The dates of our COPIES do not tell us when the Bible was written. The dates of the copies do tell us that the New Testament was completed and circulating well before 125 A.D.  The dates of the copies assure us that the Old Testament is OLDER than 2 B.C.

The early leaders of the Church poured over the books, testimonies, and evidence available in the first 300 years after the Resurrection and affirmed what the descendants of eyewitnesses had been affirming for centuries.  The 27 books of the New Testament and the 39 books of the Old Testament are the Word of God, just like the big red volume on my bookshelf is the words of Shakespeare.*

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:   20, 21) 

The arguments against the authenticity of the Bible as God’s Word are based on more assumptions, presumptions, and leaps of logic than even faith requires.   

The Bible on your coffee table may contain errors in translation, after all neither Jesus nor Moses spoke English.  (Actually nobody spoke English during the time the Bible was being written.)  So, in some verses there are legitimate questions about which English term best fits which Greek or Hebrew word.

But those mini-arguments aren’t what drive churches apart.  The big, looming question is:  Did God really deliver His Word through all those different dudes in all those different settings?

No.  No.

The question REALLY is, COULD God do it? 

Is it reasonable, rational, or logical to believe that all those texts by all those people are really the product of ONE supernatural source?

In other words, is the Bible too complicated to be Divinely authored?

In other, other words: Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?  (Jeremiah 32:27)

The answer already given is:  Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. (Jeremiah 32: 17)

If you believe that God is love, then believe the Bible that told you, God is love (1 John 4: 8, 16)

If you believe that Jesus lived, and taught, and defended the powerless, then believe the Bible that told you of Jesus.

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5: 39)

You embrace the parts of the Bible that bring you comfort and hope and make you feel good about yourself and the future.  Well then you don’t get to redact the other parts that make you feel uncomfortable and sinful and concerned about judgment for how you live.  

Same book.  Same God.  Same truth.

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5: 17, 18)

The Bible is the Word of God, the testimony of Jesus Himself.  If you reject the Bible, you turn your back on aspects of Jesus that are non-negotiable.

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? …”

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  (John 6: 60-66)

Don’t do that.  Hold to Jesus.  Hold to the Word made flesh.  Hold to the Word. 

Then Jesus said to the twelve,  “Do you also want to go away?”  But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” (John 6: 67, 68)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

*To my fellow English nerds: I am aware that I open up a possible argument of whether or not Shakespeare claimed some of Bacon’s work as his own.    My point about copies and copyrights still stands.

SEE & HEAR

God is smart.  I mean, really, really smart.  And He’s put His super-intelligent thoughts into this anthology of books we call the Bible.  Divine observations and commentary on science, relationships, politics, finance, psychology, human social behavior, and, most extensively, all aspects of spirituality from the origins of the human soul to the future end of the spiritual struggle against sin.

We’ve got all of this in one collection, and yet we still don’t know what the crap we’re doing in any of the areas above because we don’t read the frickin’ Book!  Or, we read the Bible like it’s a dvr’d 90’s sitcom.  We fast-forward to the same scenes we’ve seen a million times and just repeat the dialogue we already know without paying attention to what’s actually happening. 

(Think about the times you started your Bible time by opening to a random page, but you flipped some more pages because you’d landed on a “boring part,” and you kept flipping until you came to a “good part” that you knew so well that you didn’t really even need to read all the verses.  That’s dvr-ing the Bible.)
That’s why you feel like you’re not getting anything out of your Bible study.

I work with kids and adults who have been unsuccessful academically.  I minister to people who often say they don't get anything out of studying the Bible.    Here's what I've realized.

They have the same BAD study habits.   Whether it's the New Testament or the History of the United States, 1870-1940, I see the same pattern.

Does any of this sound familiar?

- You skip the "boring parts" so you have no context for the parts you do read.

- When you read the parts you like you don't pay attention because you think you already know that.

- You don't listen to the text or think of the names in the book as real people with feelings and individual voices, so it all seems abstract and pointless.

- What you call reading is really just running your eyes across the page.

- You don't put yourself in the text or connect what's happening on the page to your life or your community.

From now on, here’s what you do:  LISTEN & SEE. 

Let the text play a movie in your head and listen to the words on the page like the events on the paper are talking to you.

If you would LISTEN to the Bible when you read it you, if you would open your mind to SEE what Scripture says, then you would hear the Holy Spirit speak, you would EXPERIENCE God’s Word, and you would learn so much more than you opened the Book to find out.

Do that, and you’ll “get it.”  You won’t understand everything, but once you get a taste of how good the Bible really is, you’ll never think of this Book as boring again.

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law. (Psalm 119: 18)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

MODIFIED TO FIT YOUR SCREN

When a Hollywood movie is played on tv, they post a disclaimer: "This film has been modified for television, for your screen, and to run in the time allotted.

In other words, the tv version isn't the full story.  Sometimes they leave out key scenes to make the story fit.

It's sad, but that's what we do with Bible stories.  We trim and edit and unnecessarily simplify Biblical events and principles so to run in the allotted time or to fit what we assume is the screening capacity of our children and even our adults.

For example, the traditional Bible story is that the first time Jesus saw Peter and Andrew, Jesus said, "Follow Me," and the brothers dropped everything and followed Jesus.  It's a beautiful story, clear, simple, easy to present in a short skit. 

Problem is that it's not the whole except that this story has been modified and a key scene is missing. 

John 1: 40-42  tells us that John the Baptist referred Andrew to Jesus.  Jesus met Andrew.  Andrew brought Peter to meet Jesus, and then Peter and Andrew went back to fishing.  While a few other disciples trailed Jesus into Nazareth and Galilee.

In Luke 5: 1-11, Jesus shrewdly commandeered Peter’s boat to use as a floating pulpit, forcing Peter to spend hours literally sitting under Jesus as He preached.  Then Jesus showed His power to be greater than Peter’s professional expertise by providing  a miraculous catch of fish.  Only then did Jesus ask Peter and the other fishing disciples to “Follow Me” an become “fishers of men.”

The difference isn’t that big a deal unless a young Christian first encounters the difference at the hands of an atheist or a heretic who throws out the missing scene as an example of contradictions within the Bible.

It’s not a contradiction.  It’s not a conspiratorial King James mistranslation.  It’s just a missing scene left out to make the story fit in the space allotted.

But it matters. 

Even worse, some people like the tv version better so they fight to make it the official version. 

In Luke 4, Jesus recounted the stories of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (from 1 Kings 17) and of Elisha and Naaman (2 Kings 5).   The traditional version of these stories moralizes that poor church members who pay the preacher with their last dime are guaranteed prosperity and rich church members who do exactly what the preacher says will be healed.  

Jesus, however, pointed out that the full story leaves all the people in the “right” religion out of the blessing and shows God giving favor to pagans who weren’t even members in good standing. (Luke 4: 24-27)

The congregation’s response to Jesus was to drag Him out of town and try to throw Him off a cliff. (Luke 4: 28, 29)

The truth, the whole Biblical truth, does not always make for comfortable clichés or poetic choruses in the mass choir, but we still need to teach the whole truth.

The whole truth will make us some enemies among our own congregations.

But we still have to tell the truth. 

Cause the truth is, the tv version of the gospel is killing the church

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

If this message helps or touches you, please help support this ministry. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116