Avoiding false teachers

 "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies" - 2 Peter 2:1

Whilst looking at a related verse, I can't help but notice that whilst the Bible consistently warns believers to identify and avoid false teachers, the emphasis in modern times in the evangelical church (where indeed there is any such emphasis) is on identifying and avoiding false teaching. 

I think we are indulging the proud conceit that we're kinder to people in general and to Christ's sheep in particular than God is. Let's resolve to repent of this, and follow the ways of the Good Shepherd (who, when on earth, clearly practised the Biblical pattern rather than ours) instead.

The highest favour that heaven confers

"A minister when he comes to die, feels that the highest favour which heaven has conferred on him has been in turning his feet away from the paths of ambition, and the pursuits of ease or gain, and leading him to that holy work to which he has been enabled to consecrate his life." - Barnes' commentary on 1 Timothy 1:12

The Year of Our Lord, 2023

At the end of the year it's natural to look back, take stock, reflect on what has been done, and what has not been done. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why, as we understand as we read in Genesis 1, God divided our lives with years, seasons, months, weeks. They break up our lives, help us to give meaning to and perceive patterns in different phases, and have time to relate it back to our Creator's purposes for us.

But when we do that, we must not stop with only the reflection upon what we have done, and what we have not done. Because that will always be inadequate. At best we will only be able to say "we are unworthy servants; we did no more than it was our duty to do". From there we must proceed to rest in what Jesus has done for us. Our years will have had many inadequacies. But the righteousness of Christ in which we stand clothed in the presence of God, has no lack, no defects - it is perfect and entire. The offering he made for our sins, and the life that he lived to the glory of God - in these we can rest. We can say "it is enough, and much more". We can lay our heads down at the end of another year and say "Jesus is sufficient to lead me out of this year, and into the next, and as many as there shall be, until I see his face."

The Year of Our Lord 2023 dawns. May the glorious name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit be glorified throughout yet more of the earth. Amen.

O Holy Night

 

Lead us not into temptation

“Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” - Luke 22:40.

From this we can infer that the person who thinks lightly of entering into temptation, is a person who thinks lightly of sinning. If we are commanded by Jesus to pray against entering into temptation, then can we then lightly enter into temptation?

Sauron is alive and well, and writing Guardian editorials

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/19/the-guardian-view-on-the-queens-funeral-stirring-emotions-that-transcend-logic

One of the great insights of Tolkien in the "Lord of the Rings" triology is that those who are corrupted by their thirst for power and desire to re-make the world in their own image cannot understand the motives and actions of those who aren't. They misunderstand and misinterpret what's going on, because it is beyond their self-limited way of interacting with the world. They can't foresee the way that others who aren't similarly corrupted will act, and are baffled when they do things that would never enter their own minds.

On which note, the above link is to the Guardian's editorial on the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Sauron is apparently alive and well, and drawing his salary these days from that particular periodical.

Don't "invest" in Bitcoin

Luke Plant does a great job of explaining why nobody, and Christians in particular, should be investing in so-called crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin, which are neither genuinely net-beneficial inventions nor genuine investments, but in practice simply marketing hot-air schemes to profit the early "investors" (i.e. people at the top of the pyramid) at the expense of the later ones (i.e. the suckers at the bottom), with various other intrinsic costs externalised to other people:

• The Christian case against Bitcoin and blockchain
• The technological case against Bitcoin and blockchain

It's too common when something new arises for one set of people to reflexively say "it's bad" without examining it, another set to uncritically say "it's good" because they see opportunity to profit, and another group to then arbitrarily declare the supposedly nuanced wisdom of "we must distinguish the good from the bad, it is a mix". Sometimes, an invention is actually bad (without it being relevant as to whether that badness was intentional or not), and the nuanced position is the one which gives you the explanation of why it's bad. Luke has done a good job of that in the above articles.