My Thoughts

Celebrating Christ at Christmas

/ Christopher Terry / Leave a comment

My wife and I have been doing a lot of thinking about how we as born again Christians celebrate Christmas.  Our son is turning five this May and our daughter is turning three this May, so we have been teaching them why we celebrate Christmas.  We celebrate Christmas because we are so happy that Jesus was born.  This is the true meaning for Christians, that God the Son took on flesh for the purpose of providing substitutionary atonement for mankind’s sins.  But, we still give presents to each other.  We buy things for people who don’t really need anything.

What does this have to do with celebrating the birth of Christ?  Initially we said that we give presents to each other because we are so happy that Jesus was born.  It has gotten harder and harder to say that this is the genuine reason for why we do what we do.  If we celebrate Christmas because we are so happy that Jesus was born to save us from our sins, Christmas should be about worshiping God through Jesus Christ.  My wife and I discussed how we as a family can best do this in the coming years.

We are going to show the love of Christ to others:

  1. We want to invite others over to our house for a special Christmas dinner, people who don’t have anywhere else to go.
  2. We want to serve at a soup kitchen or shelter
  3. We want to do things “unto the least of these” as though we were doing them for Jesus Himself
  4. We want to take time to worship Jesus through – praises, testimonies, singing
  5. We don’t want to buy presents for our family, friends, etc… at Christmas anymore.  We want to give “gifts” to Jesus since we are celebrating Him, like the aforementioned items.
  6. We will buy presents for people on their birthdays because that is when we celebrate them as people.
  7. We want to keep Christmas all about Jesus.

This is a rough sketch of what we are thinking about doing.  Anyone else ever think about this?  Even in the Christian world, Christmas seems to be more about us than it does about Jesus.  I know we say differently but our actions to the contrary show otherwise.  Any thoughts?

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Philosophy of Translation

/ Christopher Terry / Leave a comment

I have been considering the varying philosophies of translation that biblical scholars are employing to produce the most recent versions of the Bible and have begun to wonder about the shift in focus.  The translations that come from the Tyndale line followed a formal-equivalence philosophy of translation.  The reason for this seems to be a respect for the nature of the task.  The Scriptures are not just some ordinary letter being translated for just any people.  The Scriptures are God-breathed.  This led the translators to be very cautious in their renderings of the original languages into English.  They were reluctant to over-translate or paraphrase the text because it is God’s Word.

Today, it seems that translators have learned so much that they are more inclined to put more of their interpretive ideas into the translation of the original languages of Scripture.  The thought that keeps coming to my mind is that the modern translators are not nearly as cautious about using a dynamic-equivalence translation philosophy because they do not seem to be as awestruck about the task they are undertaking.  The thought of translating the inspired Word of God for a contemporary audience is a huge and scary responsibility.  In my opinion, I think there needs to be more awe in the hearts and minds of some translators.  I believe that this would cause the translators to not be so free in their renderings but reverently translating the text as clearly as possible without sacrificing the accuracy of the original languages.

These are just some thoughts.  Does this seem to make any sense to anyone else?

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The Theological Foundations are Crumbling in Evangelical Churches

/ Christopher Terry / Leave a comment

It seems that among evangelical Christians Theology is out of style.  It is too irrelevant and boring.  The self-centered question of the century is raised, “what does it have to do with me?”  This arrogant and erroneous thought has led to the existential interpretation of Scripture.  Every promise in the book is not mine!  Nor are they all yours!

Never have evangelical Christians had so many resources for studying the Word of God and yet neglected them so.  Christians for the first time are crossing denominational lines for more entertaining services and youth groups which are more activity-centered.  Theological beliefs do not enter the thought process of the consumer-minded evangelical Christian.  The only thing on the Christian’s mind is:  what does this church do to meet my needs?  This is a sad state of affairs.  Read through the pages of the N.T. to find any instance where Scripture instructs believers to make decisions based on such self-centered carnal reasoning.  The reason that Theology is not considered is that to the average Christian the study of God really is not important!  What did you say?  Theology is the study of God and to the average evangelical Christian it is irrelevant.  They are much more concerned about learning and studying themselves, not God!  This is why the Theological foundations are crumbling in evangelical churches.  The Word of God is used as a proof-texting, self-help manual.  May God have mercy on us.

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The Human Element of Preaching

/ Christopher Terry / Leave a comment

I am taking a preaching class this Spring for fulfillment of my M.Div. degree.  I am not so excited at the prospect.  I took two homiletics classes in Bible College.  I am sure that there are beneficial things that I may learn in this upcoming class but I am admittedly frustrated over the “performance-driven” event that preaching has become.  I understand that someone may preach the truth of Scripture accurately and yet bore people to tears.  This is an unfortunate and unnecessary event.

My view of the matter is that the man of God must study the text thoroughly for the correct understanding of the passage.  After he arrives at this correct understanding of the text he must passionately proclaim this truth to his hearers, urging them to act upon the truth contained in the passage.  I have come to the point where I am generally unconcerned with providing stories for the entertainment of the hearers.  The duty of the preacher is to accurately and passionately communicate the truth of God’s Word to his hearers, urging/pleading for them to act upon God’s instruction.

I personally feel that there is too much emphasis on the performance oriented tools and tricks.  God seems unconcerned about how entertaining his spokesmen were during their ministries.  I want to proclaim the Word of God accurately and passionately to those who are listening.  I want others to proclaim the Word of God accurately and passionately to me.  Just some suggestions.

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Disciple or Disinterested?

/ Christopher Terry / Leave a comment

– Are we prepared for the life altering path that Almighty God has prepared for us? For those that have placed their trust in the cross-work of Christ they have been adopted into the family of God. Those individuals together make up the body of Christ. This is a unique privilege for those known as Christ-followers to be a part of the universal body of Christ. But the question remains, are we prepared for the life altering path that Almighty God has prepared for us?
Those Christ followers in Acts 2 lived out the instructions of Jesus through the enablement of the Holy Spirit. The community of believers garnered a great deal of attentioni, though none of them pursued it. The body as a whole prioritized: learning God’s teaching through the apostles, fellowship (mutual encouragement), communion (Christ’s command being honored), and prayer (communication, which is the life line between God’s people and Himself). They continually devoted themselves to these very important matters. The social classes faded away (or at least poverty did for the time) because of the love of God being shared among the Christ followers. They maintained the unity of the Spirit (with one mind). They practiced hospitality (from house to house). They worshiped (praising God). They also multiplied because these believers exemplified Christ and shared the good news about Him (day by day).
– Do we desire Acts 2 living? It sounds pretty simplistic! Will we “buy in” if we can complicate it? It also sounds very outwardly focused. Will we want to “emulate it” if we can benefit more from it personally? It also sounds very successful. This we want to have. We want the numbers and the attention without all the other stuff that actually made it happen.
1) We don’t want God’s teaching – At least not if it will take a lot of time or effort on my part. Oh, and I don’t want to have to adjust my life to it. Give me something that will make me feel good (not something that will make me holy).
2) We don’t want fellowship – At least not the biblical kind. It takes a lot of timeand walking in the Spirit to fellowship. Also it really takes away from my time to gossip and criticize others (if I am practicing biblical fellowship).
3) We don’t want communion – It isn’t that exciting and to tell you the truth it kind of makes me fell bad. So why would I want to be a part of that, when it doesn’t help me? Oh, and another thing, usually they do it on Sunday night and I am too tired to go to church at that time of night.

4) We don’t want prayer – Prayer really takes a lot of time and I don’t really like anyone at church anway (at least not enough to pray for them). And the pastor is always asking us to pray for lost people! I don’t know any lost people and why should I care anyway, I’m going to heaven. And the pastor usually asks us to pray for spiritual growth. Are you kidding? That stuff usually hurts and I’m happy where I am at anyway.

This is the usual sentiment of most people claiming to be Christ followers. Anyone who is acquainted with the biblical text recognizes that this is not a biblical mindset. The church in America is possibly affected more by its culture, than the church has been affected since the Day of Pentecost. This is not for its benefit that this has happened. How can a church be separate from the world in its doctrinal statement, and yet be a clone in practice?

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