Oprah Heresy

I had the opportunity to see part of the Oprah show recently.  I was waiting for the service being done on my car, and I was absolutely amazed at what I heard.  I know there will be many people who disagree with me for many reasons, after all, Oprah is much more popular that I am.

Oprah’s book club was reading a book called “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle (a new age guru heretic).  I will admit I haven’t read the book, and after what I heard, I may never read it.  There was a short discussion of what they called “Aha” moments.  This is nothing really new to any of us, we all have “Aha” moments when we gain a comprehension of something we have heard.  That something applies to our life and is no longer just something we’ve heard.  No problem so far.

Then the discussion turned to religion.  Oprah was discussing with someone Christ’s purpose on earth.  Margit, the audience member, says “All my life, I thought it was just for him to die on the cross for my sins. But I now recognize that Jesus actually taught me Christ consciousness.”  Oprah commented on how she had come to this “Aha” moment some years before.  This is heresy of the worst kind.

Repeatedly throughout the Scriptures, the truth is clearly presented that Christ did indeed come to earth and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

“I am the Good Shepherd:  the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” - John 10 11

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:13

But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. - I Timothy 1:15

It is difficult to align the comments of Oprah, her heretic guru, and her audience member with the clear and obvious teaching of Scripture.  The Bible is abundantly clear that Christ’s purpose in coming to earth was indeed to die on the cross to save us from our sins, not to reveal some mythical “Christ consciousness” to us.

In searching for the link above, it appears that the heresy from Oprah is nothing new.  I was somewhat surprised at the extent of this, but again, I’m generally working and not privy to what is going on with day time TV hosts.

Not sure who will read this, but before you reply, let me add one thought.  I don’t begrudge Oprah her freedom of choice to believe whatever she wants to believe.  What bothers me is the fact that her statements are directly opposed to the clear teaching of the Bible and are given under a guise of “true Christianity”.  The fact is that the definition of Chrisitanity and its doctrines and beliefs should come from the Scriptures, not from some new age guru.  I don’t have a problem with anything anyone wants to believe, but if it doesn’t line up with the clear teaching of Scripture, don’t call (or even imply) that it is Christianity.

CC

God’s Grace

Sunday, we were able to travel down to Atlanta, Georgia to visit my best friend from my teen years, Scott Kay. Scott and I had fallen out of touch as our lives led us through college and marriage, but recently we were able to get back in contact. We went to church with Scott and his family at the church Scott is now pastoring.

It was a great time of fellowship, and both of our families enjoyed themselves. My kids were all planning and plotting (as kids d0) to get our families back together. We spent the afternoon reminiscing and catching up, then we attended the evening Bible study. As a testimony to how much fun we had, we didn’t leave until 9:00pm (Bible study was over around 7:00pm and we had a 3 hour drive).

Sunday morning, Scott spoke on God’s grace. It was a wonderful message, and I’ve found myself thinking on it several times since Sunday (and isn’t that the purpose of a message). Scott spoke from the first few chapters of Romans. All too often we tend to point to Romans 1 as an indication of how evil the world is when in fact, this chapter refers to us as well. The discussion of how depraved man is culminates in Romans 3:10 and 17

10 - As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.

17 - And the way of peace have they not known:

Following this in the passage is a beautiful explanation of the grace of God, freely given to those who, in faith, place their trust in Jesus Christ. Then in chapter 5, the results of this, the justification of those who have believed, placing us at peace with God, despite our depraved origins. Romans 5:1

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

As Scott pointed out, the natural (as in the “natural” man) response to this is to believe we can sin as we wish because our relationship with God is based on Christ’s work, not on our life. However, God in His infinite wisdom, through the Apostle Paul knew this would be the way our fallen minds work, so the beginning of chapter 6 deals with this very issue:

1 - What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 - God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Having read and even memorized Romans chapter 6, Scott’s message brought a whole new light on a familiar passage. The lesson was two-fold for me. First, a reminder that it is Christ’s shed blood that gives me a position of righteousness before God, not anything I do or don’t do. Second, a reminder to be diligent to study the deeper fuller context of even familiar verses.

Thanks to Scott and his family for a very special day. It was really a blessing to our family and especially to me.

CC

Bible Doctrine

With the start of school, we’ve begun a new phase of our family Bible study. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are for general reading. Currently we are working our way through the “Law” books of the Old Testament. Thursday we review our current memory passage which is Psalm 1. Tuesday we started a study of Bible Doctrines.

Doctrine means teaching. In this case, teaching about Christianity and the Bible. Perhaps the most important reason to study doctrine is simply to know what you believe and why. It is also important to be able to combat error and falsehood. Even a simple study of core doctrines will provide a foundation of belief and a barrier against fallacy.

One important difference to note, especially in the realm of Bible Doctrines is the difference between doctrine and dogma. Doctrine is founded in truth, the truth of the scriptures. Dogma is founded in personal experience or personal preference. Often dogma is pressed upon others as doctrine, and the lack of a foundation of beliefs shackles these unfortunate people to these personal preferences of others.

Christianity includes seven core doctrines that are central to a foundation of belief. Indeed, whether you are a Christian, Atheist, or Agnostic what you believe about these seven categories will affect how you live you life. Despite the belief of many, your belief about core doctrines will affect how you live your life. The seven core categories are:

• Bible – Any study of what you believe must begin with a study of the foundation of those beliefs. Inspiration, inerrancy, canonicity, and preservation are all issues that must be addressed when discussing the Bible.

• God – God is the source of all truth as revealed through the Bible. The nature and characteristics of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all issues addressed by a doctrine of God.

• Creation – The study of the origins of this world, even this entire universe are in hot debate these days.What you believe about how we got here will affect not only your understanding of why we are here, but also how you live.

• Created Beings – While the majority of this doctrine includes a study of man and his nature and characteristics, it will also include a study of angels.

• Salvation – Perhaps the most important of all beliefs, the doctrine of salvation covers the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Necessarily, this study would include the sinful nature of mankind, as well as the experience of salvation.

• Church – The Bible says that Christ loved the church so much that He sacrificed Himself for it. Anything that is that important to our Saviour should also be important to us. We should study what God intended for the church and what our place in the church should be.

• End Times – The Bible says that Jesus Christ will return one day. After this, mankind will be judged, and the unsaved will enter into eternal punishment while the saved enter into a new kingdom established by God.

CC

The All-Important First Post

Wow, talk about stress. The first post of a blog. I know that not many people will read this when it is posted, I mean, after all, no one but my wife and kids even know I have a blog yet. No one is waiting anxiously for their computer to ping them that my blog has a new post. But still, if anyone comes to my blog in the future, if, by some miracle, they like it, they might come back to see how it all started. That puts a lot of pressure on a guy. It means I really have to make a great first post so as not to disappoint my future readers/fans/followers (sorry, not sure what to call you guys). So how to make a great first post…

Well, to be honest, I’ve been thinking about this for a bit already. Truth be told, I created the blog yesterday, but I’ve been thinking about what to do for my first post. I thought about talking about baseball (I really do love baseball). I thought about doing an introduction page, but there is the About page for that. I thought about my family, my work, so many thoughts. Then I realized that there was one thing more important than any of the others. If, indeed, some folks come back here in the future to see what the “first” post was, then I really want them to know what was the most important thing for me to talk about. While there are many important things in my life, the absolute most important is my relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is difficult to explain to someone who doesn’t know, but everything must start with Christ. Without a personal relationship with Christ, life has little meaning. I know some people will disagree with that. The entire message of the Scriptures is about the Gospel. Simply put, the Gospel refers to the fact that we are sinners and Jesus Christ died to pay the price of those sins. Without that payment for sin, we can’t have a personal relationship with Christ, and man was created to have that relationship. I know that is a controversial statement, but it is what I believe.

Probably the biggest argument I’ve heard on the internet revolves around the lack of “Christianity” in people claiming to be Christians. I can’t answer to the acts or attitudes of others. I can say that the Bible’s teaching is consistent. John 13:35 is clear instructions to followers of Christ, “…have love one to another.” This is not far from the teaching all the way back to Exodus. Jesus summarized it in Matthew 23:37-39. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God…. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

The problem here is that many “Christians” do not understand what this “love” is. Many consider it to be the mushy, anything goes love that ignores sin and wrong. Others consider it to be a “tough love” with a hardness an cruelty that blinds many to any love that may be hiding there. Neither is correct. God’s love is tender and compassionate, but doesn’t ignore sin. More than anything, it is sacrificial. Christ, the perfect example of God’s love, left Heaven and came to earth to pay the penalty for sins that He did not commit. He did this for us, because we couldn’t do it ourselves.

So much more could be said about this, but I’ve rambled on long enough. I could easily talk much longer about it, the love of God, as exemplified by Christ is something I try to use as a pattern for my own life. I’m not nearly as successful as I want to be, but I keep trying. I honestly believe that I am better for it.

CC