Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Sparre Home Page | Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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26 Nov 11
Greetings, dear people.
No time to write. We have to head out to attend a memorial for one of Becki’s cousins who died recently.
Blessings on your day.
Love, Dad/Ray
26 November 2011
Job 36
Focus: “Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.” Job 36:21.
Do you see how cruel this ideology plays out to be? Job, who is already hurting, has to be further tormented by this kind of unrelenting bashing. Do you see any parallels to modern-day preachers who pump out similar flawed reasoning to add affliction to those already afflicted? They will say in their most refined voices of authority, “If you will have the proper quality and quantity of faith, and say these magic faith words, you will be rewarded with healing, perfect health, and prosperity!” Only God knows the scope of additional anguish and suffering inflicted in the wake of that perverse brand of Bible application. I can only imagine the self-defeating and self-depreciating influence that flows out of this. Within this framework, the natural deduction I would have to make when I don’t receive my healing or prosperity is that I must be inferior in faith, rejected by God, and/or punished for what I don’t know—or maybe I’ve committed some obscure unpardonable sin. While attempting to find their way to heaven, victims of this package of thought are bound to an ideological hell.
My late mother-in-law, Kate Collins, related a time when she gave some encouragement to a friend in the church where she attended. This person was struggling with some hurt that had been inflicted upon her by their narrow-minded legalistic pastor who apparently caused a good deal more chaos in that church than any pastor should. Kate, always the witty one, gave her this wise word to expand her friend’s perspective—“Oh, Dorothy, you’re not the first one to be hurt by the jawbone of an ass!”
What if we were to carry this same rigid perspective over into my New Testament reading for today that describes Jesus being condemned, tortured, and crucified by hard-core religious leaders? (John 18-19) In order to be consistent with the thinking of Elihu, with these Jews persecuting Jesus, and with our present-day “Word of faith” preachers, wouldn’t we have to conclude that Jesus was certainly not displaying the right kind of faith—or that he had to be guilty of some kind of big bad sin for which He was being punished by the Father?
It’s pretty obvious that I don’t take very kindly to this kind of flawed theological abuse. I could tell a lot of stories that could be supportive of my view. But one factor that I judge to be most influential in the shaping of my present faith and perspective is my cross-cultural experience. That filter has led me to be critical and selective in screening out the junk food that abounds around us—not only coming from the secular world, but the Christian world as well. I have made a general decision concerning the faith and ideology that I embrace and promote—it must apply to everyone everywhere in all time (Parenthesis: I am aware that some would like to argue here with questions like, “But what about…?” or “But what if…?” I’ll just keep it general.)—not only to a select group within a select culture or society—it must apply equally to a naked people in some remote jungle who are limited to a subsistence lifestyle. It must be a faith that not only supports Corrie ten Boom and her sister in the Nazi prison camp, but also supports Corrie ten Boom in some affluent high rise hotel.
One more comment from John 18 that points out the ugliness of religious bondage over the TRUTH. The narrow distorted hypocrisy we see there is really no different from the thinking displayed by Elihu. “By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover” (John 18:28). What? These guys were eager to murder the spotless sinless innocent Son of God in favor of their stupid “ceremonial uncleanness!” Good grief! They also wanted to be able to observe one of their premiere feasts and “eat the Passover.” So blinded were they by their own religious legalistic bias that they could not see that JESUS WAS THE PASSOVER! They unwittingly performed a sacrifice of “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world!” (John 1:29). Is this an incredible story or what?!?! Are there any lessons here?
“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a stedfast spirit within me.” - David—Psalm 51:10