Soil from Stone: August 2017

The Nashville Statement

You've probably heard about the Nashville Statement already. I finally got around to reading it yesterday, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why any Christians are upset about it. I reaffirms doctrines that have been commonly held by Christians all over the world for two thousand years. It contains no surprises, nothing revolutionary. I might quibble with a few word choices here and there, but overall, I think it's very Biblical and sound. It's not insulting or hateful in any way. It sets out Biblical principals in a straight forward manner.

What could be so offensive about that? Hmm. Maybe it's actually God and God's Law that people don't like. Do you think?

Yeshua had a word or two about those people who call themselves the people of God (whether Christians or Jews) yet reject everything that God said is right and just. (See Revelation 2:14-16, 2:20-23, & 3:9.)

You can read the Statement here.

For all have sinned...

The things that people get the most emotionally charged about are almost never the things themselves, but what fear the thing inspires (whether rational or not) or what it reveals about themselves. It's not really about slavery, whatever anyone might think. Chattel slavery has been gone from America for 160 years, and barring a complete technological and civil collapse, it isn't coming back. The people who are upset to the point of violence about statues staying up or coming down need to take a good, hard look in the mirror, because that's where the real problem will be found, not in a statue. Sounds like psycho-babble, I know. That doesn't make it wrong.

I'll have more thoughts about this in my newsletter tomorrow (8/22/2017).

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A Chiasm in Psalm 70: Those Who Love Your Yeshua

A chiasm in Psalm 70 contrasts those who hunt after God’s anointed, David, with those who seek after God.

V1 – Prayer for quick deliverance

V2-3 – Those who speak their own triumph in attacking God’s anointed will turn away empty handed because they have been defeated.
V4 – Those who speak glory to God will rejoice in their deliverance (Yeshua).

V5 – Prayer for quick deliverance

The Hebrew word for deliverance (or salvation, depending on your translation) is Yeshua, the Hebrew name of Jesus.

Some implications of this Psalm & chiasm:

Those who act in pride will be shamed and disappointed, while those who act in humility will rejoice and be delivered.
One cannot simultaneously seek God’s glory and one’s own.
One cannot simultaneously love Yeshua and hate Yeshua’s anointed.
Speaking against God’s anointed is the same as speaking against God.
If you love Yeshua & seek God's glory, then those who seek to destroy you make themselves to be enemies of God as well.

A Chiasm on Obedience to All the Words of God

A chiasm in Deuteronomy 9:3-16 highlights the consequences of sinning against the commandments of God, by whatever medium you received them. The nations of Canaan were destroyed because they refused to heed God's Law and Israel was exiled for a time for the same reason. Repentance from sin will bring them back.

A: V3-4 – God is a fire, so don’t sin against him
----B: V5 – God destroys the nations for their wickedness
--------C: V6 – God gave the land to Israel despite their faults & stubbornness
------------D: V7-8 – Israel sinned from when they left Egypt
----------------E: V9 – 40 days & nights to get the stone tablets
--------------------F: V10a – The finger of God
------------------------G: V10b – All the words of God
--------------------F: V10c – The voice of God
----------------E: V11 – 40 days & nights to get the stone tablets
------------D: V12 – Israel, whom Moses brought out of Egypt, sinned
--------C: V13 – God knows Israel’s faults & their stubbornness
----B: V14 – God threatens to destroy Israel for their wickedness
A: V15-16 – God is a fire, yet Israel sinned against him

My Favorite Fairy Tales

These are a few of my favorite things not to believe in:

Anthropogenic climate change
Democracy
Technocracy
Feminism
Flatearth
Sacred-namism
Imaginary Hebrew (Yahusha, Yahawashi, Yahuah, Yashraal, etc.)
KJV-onlyism
Equality
Homeopathy
Medical ex cathedra
Vegetarianism
Chemtrails
Lizard people
Aliens
The Religion of Peace™
The next election is the most importantest election ever
Transgenderism
Big Foot
Every mass shooting is a false flag event
Russians/Jews/Nazis/Masons/Illuminati are controlling everything
Darwinian Evolution
British Israelism
African Israelism
And its corollary, the Black Jesus
Khazars converted to Judaism
Dispensationalism
Hypercalvinism
Progressivism
Socialism
Globalism
Papism
Noahide Laws
Egalitarianism
Teetotalism
Astrology
Spiders are your friends
Pharmacosoteriology
Serpent Seed/Seed of Cain
DidIMissAnIsm

I'm probably wrong about one or two of these. I mean, I can't be right about everything all the time, right? But I could be wrong.

John Didn't Invent Baptism

John's baptism marked a change in status from disobedient to obedient, the meaning of "repent & be baptised". Repentance is necessary for forgiveness. Baptism is a public confession of past sins & a vow of future obedience.

Baptism wasn't a new thing with John. It was an ancient tradition even then & integral to keeping Torah. Immersion was required by Torah for many normal life conditions & before entering the Temple. (See Leviticus 15-17, for example.)

(Mark 1:4-5)