Avoiding Evil

While I was sitting around the house this evening Christopher sent me a link to an article entitled TESTING THE FAITH from World Net Daily.

Apparently there is a new Bible translation out that not only promotes fornication but encourages it. I’ve seen some ridiculous things in my life, but the idea that anyone would take this apparent “translation” seriously is ludicrous. The moral corruption and depravity of the world slips into all aspects of the Christian life and attempts to corrupt it. What better way to lead people away from God than to take the very truth of the gospel and manipulate it to say things it doesn’t. I just wonder how many people will be led astray.

The new Bible entitled “Good as New” is translated by a former Baptist minister John Henson for the “One” organization. This Bible is being called the “new, fresh and adventurous” translation. This Bible no longer condemns fornicators and adulterers but instead changes Paul’s letter to show him advising Christians to not go without sex for to long.

According to this article, “The translation is pioneering in its accessibility, and changes the original Greek and Hebrew nomenclature into modern nicknames. St. Peter becomes “Rocky,” Mary Magdalene becomes “Maggie,” Aaron becomes “Ron,” Andronicus becomes “Andy” and Barabbas becomes “Barry.”
In keeping with the times, translator Henson deftly translates “demon possession” as “mental illness” and “Son of Man,” the expression Jesus frequently used to describe himself, as “the Complete Person.” In addition, parables are rendered as “riddles,” baptize is to “dip” in water, salvation becomes “healing” or “completeness” and Heaven becomes “the world beyond time and space.”

Here, according to the London Times, are a few sample passages:

Mark 1:4

Authorized version: “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”

New: “John, nicknamed ‘The Dipper,’ was ‘The Voice.’ He was in the desert, inviting people to be dipped, to show they were determined to change their ways and wanted to be forgiven.”

Mark 1:10-11

Authorized version: “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from the heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

New: “As he was climbing up the bank again, the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. At the same time a pigeon flew down and perched on him. Jesus took this as a sign that God’s spirit was with him. A voice from overhead was heard saying, ‘That’s my boy! You’re doing fine!’”

Matthew 23:25

Authorized version: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”

New version: “Take a running jump, Holy Joes, humbugs!”

Matthew 26:69-70

Authorized version: “Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, ‘Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.’ But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.”

New: “Meanwhile Rocky was still sitting in the courtyard. A woman came up to him and said: ‘Haven’t I seen you with Jesus, the hero from Galilee?” Rocky shook his head and said: ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!’”

1 Corinthians 7:1-2

KJV: “Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: [It is] good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, [to avoid] fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.”

New: “Some of you think the best way to cope with sex is for men and women to keep right away from each other. That is more likely to lead to sexual offences. My advice is for everyone to have a regular partner.”

1 Corinthians 7:8-7

KJV: “I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.”

New: “If you know you have strong needs, get yourself a partner. Better than being frustrated.”

It isn’t enough for people to simply say, “we do not believe in the Bible.” Instead they want to believe in something, but when they get to the point where they cannot comfortably accept the truth of scripture, instead of denying it as truth those who oppose the Word change scripture in order to make it say what they want so they have something to believe in comfortably. If they Bible says “don’t commit sexual sin” and we want to commit sexual sin then all we have to do is change what the Bible says. However it is no longer the truth we believe in but a lie.

Pressed

“I think it is a disgrace that half the Christians in America aren’t even registered to vote, and of those who are, only half go to the polls. . . . When we withhold our influence and participation, we yield by default to those who promote immoral and destructive policies.” - James Dobson, Psychologist & Author

I read an article written by Dwayne Hastings in SBC Life discussing the issues of Christians and Churches in the Electoral Process. The article points out that the biggest fear of churches getting involved in the election process is the loss of their tax-exempt status. I can certainly understand this and have in fact experienced this same fear as I thought about the upcoming election year and what the church could do. We certainly save thousands of dollars each year in purchasing things for the church that are tax-exempt and it comes down to the question; is it really worth risking the tax exempt status of the church to play a role in the electoral process? The good news is that churches do not have to make this difficult decision because we can play a valuable role in the election process and it is perfectly legal.

“Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote.” - Billy Graham, Evangelist

The law says that tax-exempt organizations cannot be involved in partisan politics; however there is nothing wrong with taking part in the civic processes of our nation. The main difference between a Christian voter and a non-Christian voter is that for the Christian, our faith dictates our decisions. We don’t separate and segregate our faith from our everyday lives which includes politics. As Southern Baptists it would be wrong for us to set aside our beliefs and place God on the backburner when we come to the voting arena. It is that very faith that should dictate how we vote and it is the U.S. Constitution which guarantees all Americans the freedom to vote in such a manner, including Christians.

“Vote your values instead of your political affiliation or pocketbook. Don’t get stuck on a politician’s label. Look for candidates who promote decency, accountability, and responsibility framed within biblical standards.” - Richard Land, President, ERLC

According to the SBC Life article, “The rules for all tax-exempt organizations are simple: No endorsing candidates. No favoring one candidate over another. Any outreach for voter awareness or voter registration must be broad-based; in other words, you have to make your efforts available to anyone who wants to participate. And when you are addressing the issues, you need to address a wide range of issues. That’s it. There is nothing to be concerned about. The law is on your side, despite what some fanatical state-church separations would like you to believe.”

“Ultimately, our loyalty belongs not to any political party or candidate but to God Almighty. And when the time comes, I believe God may ask each of us about how we voted and why.” - Richard Land, President, ERLC

It is important for Christians to register and to vote. Unfortunately the fear that drives churches into silence causes church members to “fail to see the connection between their faith and their role as citizens.” This causes church members to either not vote at all or to miss the importance of voting in the first place. It is the pastor’s job and obligation to help church members understand the process and to encourage members of their respective congregations to vote.

“No arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” - Ronald Reagan, U. S President

“Churches can host nonpartisan voter registration drives, as long as they allow anyone who wants to register to vote to register and those involved in the drive don’t encourage registering so individuals can vote for candidate X over candidate Y. If they chose, churches can distribute a compilation of candidates’ responses to questions on the issues. The compilation, often called a voters’ guide, should contain no editorial opinion, no bias in the reporting of the candidates’ answers or in the questions posed, and cover a wide range of issues.” - Allowing Church members to take a good look at each candidates answers to important questions will help them to make the connection between their own beliefs and faith and the beliefs of each particular candidate. This gives Christian voters the opportunity to vote for the candidate with similar values in life.

“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote . . . that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.” - Samuel Adams, Founding Father

Fear is the biggest enemy to the electoral process. Many people do not want Bible-believing Americans like Southern Baptists to be a part of the electoral process so their agenda is to scare churches and Christians into not voting at all, or they attempt to trick them into voting outside of their own values.

“Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to their country as a part of their duty to God. . . . God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.” - Charles Finney, Evangelist

Our faith and values should not only effect how we live our lives, but it should also effect how we vote. That is what Hastings calls “values-based voting.” We must first evaluate our own values, hopefully derived from the Godly values of scripture and then examine the convictions of the candidates. Christians should vote with purpose for those candidates whose positions square with their own scripturally informed ones.

“In the United States of America, you have a choice. You have the right to sit at home on Election Day, or you can exercise your right to vote. As a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a choice as well. You can turn your back on society and keep the Light of the Gospel to yourself, or you can stand up and step out and engage the culture with the Truth, especially in the voting booth. It’s your decision.”

The Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is striving to help churches and individuals better understand their rights under the law. They have created a website called iVoteValues.com which provides excellent resources for churches that appreciate the role they can play in the civic affairs of our nation.

There comes a time in every bloggers life where they just have to face the music and call it quits. I have been pondering what to do with my blog for the long period of time that I will be away, and I came up with several solutions. My first idea was to write a bunch of posts ahead of time and have a friend post them for me each day, but it’s too late for that now. Then I thought about having a guest blogger come in and write for A.E. however that is quite a long period of time to have a guest blogger. So my final solution is to just call it quits alltogether, for a month anyway . I leave tomorrow morning at 4:00 a.m. and won’t have opportunity to blog for most of the month. It’s possible that I can offer a couple updates between trips, but it won’t be much. So, for those of you who are regular readers of Avoiding Evil, take the month off! I will have plenty of fun stories when I return!

Pressed

I have two days of freedom left before my entire month disappears! I leave on Friday to go on a mission trip which starts a chain reaction of trips, one right after another, until the entire month of June is completely gone. I am sitting here trying to decide how to prepare for this, and really it is all kind of overwhelming.

Friday June 4th, 2004 I will leave my house at 4:00 a.m. to drive four hours to Kansas City in order to take a class at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. That class ends at 5:00 p.m., but I am leaving at 4:00 p.m. so that I can get over to the airport to catch a plane to Casper, WY where I will meet up with my pastor and a few other people who will have arrived ahead of me. The rest of the group will eventually show up on Saturday, 43 in all. We will be conducting two Vacation Bible Schools, opening a camp up in the mountains, and pouring concrete at a church, all simultaneously. I am the VBS Pastor at one of the churches in Casper. This is more of an inner-city mission site than the other VBS, and it’s the first time this church has ever had one, which means we have our work cut out for us. Once we leave Casper we will get home on Saturday, June 12th.

Sunday, June 13th I leave again for the SBC in Indianapolis, IN where I will be staying until Wednesday June 16th. I have to be a microphone monitor for the convention, which means I have to be there for each of the sessions… *sigh*

I will get one day home, June 17th, before I leave again on June 18th to go to Denver, CO with my youth group. We are attending an M-Fuge camp for the 4th year in a row. I have been really impressed with the M-Fuge style and hope that this year will be as top quality as the last few years.

We will arrive home on June 26th, with only a few days left of the month to spend at home. I think I will sufficiently be worn out by the time this month ends.

Pressed

The alarm sounded at approximately 4:45 a.m. as the guys and myself groggily slipped out of a deep sleep. We slowly got up and began fumbling around getting things ready to go fishing. After loading up our fishing vests and brushing our teeth in the kitchen sink we piled into the truck and began our 30 minute adventure to Montauk State Park. When the sun finally decided to rise there were no golden rays flowing down upon us, instead the sky was darkened by dense, black rain clouds; it was not looking good. In fact for the entire trip we discussed the possibility that the river would be way up because of the recent rains, that it would probably rain and storm on us all day, and we would not catch any fish. When the rain began to fall upon the windshield of the truck it only helped to increase our negative outlook on the day that was before us.

We pulled into the park expecting to see a rolling river, flooded beyond it’s banks and yet as we drove over the bridge the river was not up at all. We purchased our tags and drove over to our favorite fishing hole where the sun had blasted through the clouds lighting up the water and causing a dense fog to lift from the river revealing the magnificence of God’s creation. Best of all, no rain, no storm, no clouds, just one heck of a nice day!

I have a new Quantum Energy reel and rod for trout and crappie fishing. It reeled in fish better than any other reel I have ever used, which I expected since it was three times as expensive as any other little spinning reel I have seen. We followed our normal routine, walking up and down the river, in waders, fishing each of our favorite spots. In the trout stream your limit is 5 fish a piece, which I was quickly approaching when suddenly Le Renard saw one of the biggest fish we had seen all day long. It was massive, and would most defiantly earn us a lunker tag back at the lodge! We stood in awe of that fish for awhile before we finally began the process of trying to catch it. We threw on different colored worms and let them float down past him hoping that the fish would grab on to the worm and we could reel in one of the biggest fish he had ever caught. Suddenly the fish grabbed my worm and I yanked, hooking him right in the lip. It fought like a mule as I attempted to wear him out and reel him in. It swam as hard as it could up and down the river and I kept the line tight trying not to lose him. I fought for this fish, working my reel and setting my drag so that there wasn’t much tension on the line, and finally he was close enough to me I reached behind me, grabbed my dip net and scooped him up! Unfortunately the fish was so big that it hung out of my dip net and before I could grab it the thing flopped around and right out of my dip net, broke my line, and swam away. WAIT! That is not what happened at all. Instead, none of us got the chance to catch this fish because Le Renard got hung up on a log right in front of him, and instead of breaking the line he pulled the entire log out and smacked that big fish right in the head, which sent him swimming down the river at the speed of light. *sigh*

We came home with a load of fish, I cleaned them and we had a huge fish fry the next evening. Fresh trout is really good eats!

Pressed