Same Old Same Old

In the modern world, there is a tendency to get bored with things very quickly, especially anything stale or old. It is more tempting than ever before to give up on anything traditional or "tried and true" because we have access to so many new things all the time.

In the business world, there is a constant trend toward innovation and change. There is a whole field of work to manage that concept - called "Change Management", which helps ease a company through all of the impact of any new changes that come along. It can be quite challenging.

I am one who sees that change is good. I like variety and diversity! However, in our spiritual lives there is no "Change Manager" following along behind us to help us mitigate the impacts of change. And so in the modern world we are seeing tremendously negative impact as people are forever altering the course of their lives, their communities and their world by making constant changes.

Today, there are more people leaving their homes and cultures to move to entirely different continents than ever before in all of history. Many times they make these changes without a good base of support and so they are often adrift in a chaotic world. We see that massive tide of immigration to western countries is actually bringing cultural clashes and societal frustration to a boiling point in many places.

In the United States, it is very common for families to live in three or four completely different cities or states in the span of the lives of their children. In past generations this was only experienced by military families. Now, it is very common for a huge percentage of the population. Many children now grow up hundreds or even thousands of miles from their grandparents; which leaves them with a "geneological gap" that severs them from all sense of their own family story; and that doesn't even mention the children that grow up with only one parent. People work in increasing isolation and live in fear of experiencing public life - because we live among strangers in a world of dangers.

We have customer service and technical support coming through the phone wires, being given by a person who lives on the other side of the world. We have automated reminders for every possible circumstance and every opportunity to shop, do our banking and study for college through the increasing isolation of the internet. People are talking more and communicating less.

There is a breakdown occurring and it is happening across the entire world. There is change taking place at a phenomenal pace and it's impacts are not even fully being measured, much less understood. Furthermore, while all of this is happening, age-old institutions are breaking apart. Religious institutions around the world are leaving historical belief systems and there is a fragmentation of their communities happening as one group is unwilling to depart from historical beliefs while another group is running away from it without looking back.

Into this chaos of societal fragmentation, there are many false belief systems and cultic teachings that are flooding our minds with all manner of false promises and supposed "new insights" that sound good, but are actually dangerous poison to our souls. It is very tempting to follow these new and profound beliefs. The old stuff just seems so... old and worn out.

I am one who likes to take a new look at the old stuff as well. I am one who is always looking to see if there is something I am missing; something that others have overlooked. Something that can be understood better, or that maybe a new discovery can shed new light to clarify an old belief. I think it is healthy to do so, as long as we are proving the case with truth.

Truth is the only thing that "sets you free". Falsehood only keeps us in the dark. What I have found is that most of the new and exciting stuff that people are peddling, in terms of religion, is usually a new make-over of an old and ugly lie. Conversely, I am finding that the "same old" story of the scriptures is ever more powerful as I understand it in it's context. The same principles apply that have always applied; but many were unwilling to really believe them before - so of course they didn't satisfy the hungry souls and many went looking for "spiritual manna" elsewhere.

Consider this: for centuries and even more than a thousand years, people have been unwilling to believe some of the most incredible stories in the Bible were true. The miraculous events just seemed too far fetched and unrealistic. Yet, in modern times, particularly in the last decade, some of the most exciting things have been discovered that prove the original stories were actually accurate.

Moses actually did cross the Red Sea, not the "Reed Sea" as was taught for hundreds of years. Evidences have been found across the region that show there were in fact multitudes of people who walked from the middle of the Red Sea to a mountain in Arabia. There are archeological artifacts galore to be found, including circular coral formations across a specific narrow stretch of the Red Sea about the size of Egyptian Chariot wheels. Nowhere else in the oceans of the world have such formations been discovered.

Jericho did actually exist, in the area the Bible speaks about; and yes there is evidence that the massive stone walls fell outward, not inward as you would have from a typical siege of a city.

Saul's Garrison has been found in Jerusalem and a stone pillar that refer's to King David has been located. Such things were not seen in times past and so it was considered that the Bible stories were "myth". Yet, today we find that every time an archeologist explores somewhere in the Israeli-Palestine region of the world, there is another find of significant value.

One of the most significant is the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. This discovery has yielded a phenomenal amount of data that tells us - yes you guessed it - the Bible has been passed down to us without error or alteration over more than 2,000 years. What this means is that we can trust the word of God and we can hold on to something of history that is "real".

What was old is new again.
In the same way, there are new insights to be gained about ancient Biblical history and culture that sometimes give us a better understanding of the times. For instance, it is pretty clear that there were three languages spoken in the 1st Century Roman province of Israel. Aramaic, Greek and Latin. That's not big news. But, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Jesus and many of his disciples were at least bilingual. Some, such as Matthew and Paul, were probably trilingual. Paul was probably a master of the ancient Hebrew also, which was not common in his times. Many people spoke different dialects, and there were many foreigners who passed through the land, who may have only spoke a little of one of the common languages in Israel.

What is new is that the complexities of these cultures and their challenges was not fully understood in past times, when an "English only" world was commonplace. However, as we see the same types of cultural shifts happening and the inevitable culture clashes taking place, some of the events are more understandable than in previous times. It also becomes more apparent why Jesus would have said things one way to a Hebrew-Aramaic speaking audience, while the Apostles spoke in somewhat different terms to a Greek and Latin speaking audience at later times.

For a Western Roman Jew, or a Hellenist Jew, it may have been very difficult to understand customs and traditions of the Israeli Jews. Much in the same way as a Texan with an Anglo-Saxon ancestry would struggle to understand that customs and traditions of Englishmen in the United Kingdom today. Never mind the challenges an actual Roman would have to understand these things. This is why the insights given to us by Luke, in his Gospel and the book of Acts, are so key in helping us understand the scriptures. It is also why we must look back at the scriptures and diligently try to understand these things in the context of THEIR times, their world, more than ours. Reading some of Jesus teachings in the book of Matthew only make sense if you see them from a Hebrew mind-set.

Have you ever noticed that Luke, the Hellenist from the Greek part of the empire, doesn't cover many of the details that Matthew does? Have you ever noticed that John takes an entirely different tach in his Gospel, which was probably written 8-10 years after the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem? Of course, why would John give details on Jesus' discourse on the destruction of the temple, when it was already destroyed? Yet Matthew, who wrote his Gospel to Jews IN Israel, probably before the destruction of the temple, includes details of what will happen, with warnings about what to do "when armies surround Jerusalem".

For this reason, I encourage everyone to take a look at the evidence; learn something about the archeology; learn something about the culture and the politics of the day. Doing so will give you much greater understanding and insight to the meaning of the sayings of Jesus Christ and what he wants YOU and I to learn from it. For one thing, by looking back and realizing the reality of the issues of their day, it gives us insight to what God is doing now in our complex times.

It also helps us, in this time of great change and upheaval, to understand why the Apostles admonished us to "not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:25)

I am convinced that this is the Holy Spirit’s way of warning us that one thing we need to keep as a constant in our lives during these times of change is the regular gathering together as believers. The other conviction I have is that we must be diligent to continue searching out the truth of scripture and learning to depend on God’s promises in these very challenging times. We must remain anchored, in these very deceptive and chaotic times. Since so much of what Jesus really taught has been lost in modern religion, that we must be very diligent to discover and live by his sayings.

What was old is new again. As Jesus said, "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks”. It is apparent from the final writings of each of the Apostles that there will be a departure from the truth in the last days. I think we are seeing that happen now.

2 Timothy 3:1-8 “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days…. People will be lovers of themselves loaded down with sins ...swayed by all kinds of evil desires, …always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

2 Timothy 4:3 “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

2 Peter 2:1-3 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.”

2 Peter 3:3-4 “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."

Jude 1:3-4 “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.”

It seems to me that since these are the last writings of these Apostles, and they each are speaking about the last days, that there is a warning for us all in these days - our times. We need to strive to keep seeking God in the Truth of His word and be very careful not to stray from the essential truths of the true historic Christian faith. It is incumbent on us, especially since it is so much easier now than ever before, to check ourselves and see whether we are in “the faith”; are we walking in the truth as Jesus and his chosen Apostles have revealed it? Or, are we following “cleverly devised fables of men who have changed the truth of God into a lie”.

Be your own spiritual "change manager" and be certain of the things you believe and their impact on your life. Bad doctrine hurts people. Truth sets you free.

Blessings,

~Your friendly neighborhood New Covenant Scribe