“My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

I used to be puzzled by John’s first epistle abruptly ending with a warning about idolatry. Idol worship seems such a “primitive” issue. Yet, in mankind’s technological tower of Babel, we can already observe almost every pedestrian walking head down in obeisance to man-made objects of precious metals and absorbed in the glowing information displayed on its screen.

If we spend excessive time listening and talking to an object of man’s making that displaces the time we would have otherwise been listening to God’s Word, or talking to Him in prayer, that’s idolatry.

Our previous article showed that AI is based on human thinking. We considered some of its dangers, particularly for the vulnerable. In this article, we wish to show its dangers in its use for Bible study, and the effects it could have on our vulnerable ecclesias.

A list of things to be aware of

Here are the key things we should be aware of in using AI tools, and how it could affect our spiritual lives, particularly in Bible study:

Bible presentations

Bible presentations should never be primarily about finding “some new thing” in an Athenian way (Acts 17v21). Nor should it be used to impress others with our material. The point of Bible study is to spiritually nourish ourselves first (Psa. 19:7–14), then share what is meaningful and helpful with others (Heb. 5:12-14). It’s not a performance (2 Tim. 4:3–4). Our preparation should include as part of our diligent Bible study, time for meditation and thinking through the things we uncover from God’s Word (Psa. 119:27).

We should be wary about outsourcing our thinking, to get a quick result from an algorithm that may, in fact, not be correct. Presenting an entirely AI-generated talk would be a disservice to our audience and our own spiritual development.

Renewing of our minds

After baptism, we are transformed by the “renewing of our mind” (Rom. 12:2) daily. How can our mind be renewed with Godly information and thought processes, developing new neurons and thoughts and ideas, if we outsource our Bible study—and thinking—to an algorithm? Doing so has the likelihood of ending up being “conformed to this world”—or at least, being conformed to the same algorithm answers as everyone else.

Relationship with God

Prayer and meditation—a mindful way of living, where we constantly try to have the things of God wash over our minds and refresh us as we live day-by-day in His presence—should be the object of every child of God. How debilitating to spiritual growth if we can’t be bothered to read and think about the Word of our Heavenly Father and just ask an algorithm for the most probable answer to a Bible query. Although it could be a helpful tool on occasion, if we begin to rely on it, we are really only doing so to the detriment of our relationship with God.

We would question someone who developed a personal relationship with an imaginary AI girlfriend. But we would be guilty of similar foolishness if we replace the time invested in developing a relationship with our Heavenly Father in His Son with a quicker “response” that has less fulfilment and less enrichment.

We must not remove the “helmet of salvation” (Eph. 6:17), that should be a spiritual guard to our thinking, and replace it with an artificial woolly beanie of convenience. The Bible recommends meditating on—or turning over—God’s Word in our minds “day and night” (Josh 1:8). We must be careful about turning to a clever chatbot in order to “free up our minds”. Free them for what?

Friendships

As iron sharpens iron, so is a man sharpened in the countenance of his friends (Prov. 27:17). How can there be any sharpening, or even a rebuke from a faithful friend (Prov. 27:6) if we cultivate a relationship with an obsequious digital algorithm that is trained to tell us what we would like to hear, not what is best for us?

Our Father has our best interest and eternal wellbeing at heart. Hebrews 12 says He will even chasten us as His legitimate children. Sometimes that chastening is from His Word. Algorithms do not have our interest at heart; they have “at heart” the interest of the corporations that programmed them. AI will tell you what it thinks you want to hear in order to gain a happy customer that will continue to use them.

Our friends will also often have our best interest at heart; a sycophantic friend-replacement algorithm does not.

Finding truth

‘What is truth?’ mused Pilate to our Lord (John 18:38). The answer is that God is truth, and truth is objectively contained in His Word (“thy word is truth” John 17:17). An algorithm that “hallucinates” an answer—albeit confidently asserted—in order to keep you happy is not, and never will be, a source of truth.

AI is increasingly being turned to as an impartial fact-checker. However, it only produces answers that have the highest probability of being the correctly extrapolated result based on its training data. The answers are not necessarily true; they are, by their programming, “best guesses”.

Honesty

One of the most concerning areas of AI development is the production of so-called “deepfakes”. These are artificially generated images or video clips that are entirely unreal. It is possible to upload an image to social media and generate an entire video clip of a “personal memory” that didn’t happen. As impressive as these clips are, they are not true. This may be harmless. But using the same technology to generate false images that unclothes a real person and deepfakes, is harmful. It is concerning, to me, that there seems to be a lack of safeguards or recourse with this technology.

Videos will soon be so easy to fake so that the default response from viewers will be to be sceptical about them all. Consider the effect of this. Scepticism about anything presented to the masses will become ubiquitous, even our Gospel proclamation. And consider the likely effect on mankind believing the truth concerning Christ’s return when he comes, even though “every eye shall see him” (Rev. 1:7).

Morality

Moral reasoning is entirely from God. His holiness becomes our aspirational mindset (1 Pet. 1:16); His Word a light to our feet and lamp to our path (Psa. 119:105). We must be cautious about illuminating our life and decisions with a false fire that has no holiness within. We must heed the warning against the shortcut of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. By this, I mean the amoral algorithm with a literary training that has the appearance of detecting and using thematic writing but does not think spiritually or have understanding of right from wrong. For AI, everything is a probability or compromise.

Spiritual exercise

In the same way physical exercise builds muscle and fitness, the Bible advocates for the “spiritual exercise” (1 Tim. 4:7-8) of our minds that produces Godly ways of thinking. We need to not only source our moral training from God, we should continually be “exercised thereby”. That we may develop and mature in our moral understanding, we must train our minds what to think, and so develop the associated neurons and thinking pathways required to “have this mind in you” (Phil. 2v5)—not outsourcing to an electronic “mind” in our pocket or on our computer.

Consequences

While we all need to think carefully about this matter, it is probably the younger ones who are the most susceptible to using AI.

I hope this note of caution is heeded by every young brother preparing talks. Even the slow and laborious process of generating power point slides has value. AI can be a great tool for generating conceptual illustrations or summary slides, but the actual task of developing a set of slides as we think through our material is often a great way to process our message, internalise it, and grow ourselves spiritually, before we in turn seek to spiritually provide for others.

We should want to provide genuine spiritual nourishment and encouragement that has been carefully considered and thought through, not rushed sugary AI snacks with no real underlying substance.

God’s wisdom, says Proverbs, is more precious than rubies (Prov. 8:11). Wisdom cries out in the marketplace (Prov. 1:20–23) yet is often ignored by simpletons seeking simple answers. What a very prescient message about putting in the effort required to gain Godly wisdom in our day and age. Let us make sure we do not inadvertently and without thinking join the headlong rush down the doomed broad way of humanity (Matt 7:13–14). The more difficult way to study God’s Word is to spend time thinking about the information we uncover in it. God’s Word is the only true source of wisdom for our lives.

More than this: we don’t need an artificial construct. Why turn to an artificial mind when we have the real thing? “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). To have the mind of Christ involves effort: We must take up his easy yoke and light burden (Matt. 11:30) and follow in his steps (1 Pet. 2:21), particularly in training ourselves to follow his thinking. Even though it is comparatively light, there is a burden in reading the Word and spending time thinking things through. We should not forsake this light yoke by turning to AI for quick and easy answers for no spiritual benefit.

We should be expecting the Kingdom of men to be expanding digitally as well as literally in these last days, and for men to reach up by uniting in one language. That seems to me to be a “large language model” (or LLM) in a long-delayed continuation of Babel. The reversal back to an amoral creature of pure probability (AKA, the serpent) is also an intellectually and interesting concept. Let us all clearly see it for what it is: a liar from the beginning (John 8:44); despite its ease of use and attractiveness, at its heart it is in opposition to God.

Let us in these last days be wise to serpent thinking, but live like the dove, relying on the care of God.

Let us also resolve to safeguard our sometimes laborious cognitive and spiritual thinking processes instead of outsourcing them for convenience. We are God’s workmanship and should renew our minds to be like His holiness (Eph. 4:23-24), rather than default to answers from the futility of human reasoning (Eph. 4:17).

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
 Philippians 4v7

Previous article in this series on Family Life:

1. AI: an artificial human-thinking algorithm

Feature image: Robot praying before downloading Bible produced by AI by Copilot.

“My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

What is this “AI” we keep hearing about? Is it a passing fad? Is it something we can use, or should we be scared of it?

What is AI?

The full name for AI is “artificial intelligence”.

Although artificial, AI is not actually intelligent. It’s just an algorithm based on maths, probability, and logic. For example, “large language models” (LLMs) powered by databases containing every word we use, indexed to a number (like Strong’s numbering we are familiar with), which are programmed to create association links of words that typically come next in a phrase or sentence to give some meaning. AI is like a “supercharged search engine” that quickly generates a response that is the most likely answer based on its “understanding” of your inputted query. Using an amalgamation of information, AI will produce a specific result tailored for you, rather than return a list of web pages that may contain part of the information you are looking for. It seems “intelligent” because it gives you the information you asked for in a concise summary and seems to understand your natural language instructions given in a conversational format.

The power of AI lies in its probabilistic algorithms and the quality of the material it has been “trained” on. These AI models are becoming more universal, more powerful, and develop logically reasoned answers by extrapolating from data, rather than just regurgitating the data itself.

Potential for good or evil

We may find AI a useful shortcut that has legitimate uses in our employment, or our general research and administrative or scheduling tasks. However, just as its use by students is currently debated or banned, it would also be wise for us to be very cautious when it comes to Bible study. Although it may have its uses, it also comes with drawbacks.

The main issue is that AI is trained on the abundance of “man’s wisdom”, which, as Paul reminds us in Corinthians, is “foolishness with God” (1 Cor. 3v:19).

It strikes me that we are looking at a digital approximation of the original serpent. Just as the serpent in the garden of Eden in Genesis 3 was without morals, and confidently gave assertions that were wrong (e.g. “you will not surely die” verse 4), AI produces lies so regularly that the industry term used is that it “hallucinates” an answer, because it answers so forthrightly.

One notorious example is the American lawyer who was disbarred as a result of using Chat GPT to create a legal brief. Because the algorithm knew the form of a brief, it invented one for him, including fictional court cases to back up the line of argument it was requested to follow. Deloitte’s, embarrassingly, had to refund the cost of a report to the Australian government for similar reasons.

A second famous example was Google’s Gemini advising the use of glue to keep cheese on pizza. In this case it was not hallucinating; instead, it regurgitated a satirical answer from an Internet forum not perceiving that it was a joke.

The potential problems with an algorithm trained on human knowledge, having no morals or awareness of God, should be immediately obvious to Bible students. Having a shortcut to thinking things through, its efficiency and expedience, is tempting because it is so accessible on our devices.

Are there cases for using AI? Certainly. Generating video timestamps or transcripts, creating images of past events, summarising key themes, testing illogical arguments, and more. One tool I find useful is NotebookLM, which is part of everyone’s Google account. You can create a “notebook” of curated material by either uploading documents or linking individual web pages, and then you can query the specific material you have curated and even generate a podcast summary of it. Rather than getting answers from anywhere, you have, in effect, constrained the algorithm to your own sandbox of information. Even so, the summarisation and its theme identification are what I would call “rudimentary”—high school level. NotebookLM is not good at identifying anything nuanced and cannot bring to light any overarching spiritual themes or general Bible principles.

The danger to children

Being aware of AI’s limitations, are there any other reasons to be concerned? Yes. Particularly for those easily influenced, the lonely, those with mental health concerns, and especially our children.

Children need to develop their cognitive abilities at a young age, unhindered by developmental obstacles. There seems to be a political willingness to ban children from accessing social media until their mid-to-late teens due to its potential impacts. I would advocate the same caution for the use of AI tools.

In the same way we would supervise and instruct our young in the use of power tools, we need to apply the same care in the use of AI tools.

We can’t expect our children to develop their own moral and reasoning capacity, to carefully think through scenarios, and learn to make wise choices if they are accustomed to a computational shortcut that provides an answer with a high probability of being correct, whether for school assignments and learning, or asking for advice in daily life. Young children cannot distinguish between a real person behind the screen and an algorithm.

We now have AI that will converse with you as a rational “personality”, and people are starting to listen to the algorithm.

AI generated friends

Once a fantastical sci-fi premise only a decade ago, there is now a growing trend of AI Companions. Mark Zuckerberg, having trashed the true meaning of the concept of a “friend” with Facebook, and realising that people are now lonelier than ever, announced that Meta will develop digital companions to fill the void they have inadvertently helped to create. A young man on social media is now likely to be inundated with ads for scantily clad so-called “digital assistants” that will supposedly share revealing AI-generated images of themselves and will talk to him in alluring and explicit language.

We now find reports and growing concerns about those suffering with mania, having their delusions of grandeur reinforced by sycophantic chatbots. Having AI speak to them deferentially as if they are an all-wise god-like person once it’s instructed to do so, is already creating cases where those individuals are spiralling into severe “AI psychosis” and are unable to be reached by their family or practitioners as their chat companion is reinforcing their delusions or encouraging them in suicide.

AI is taking over

Internet searches are in decline. Instead of “googling” for pages of possible results, users are now turning to AI for the most likely best answer to their query.

It is estimated that more than 50% of all new online content is generated with the help of AI tools, with expectations it will be 90% within a year. This is why AI pops up offering to help everywhere.

We can see change and upheaval coming. In seeking for knowledge, men have algorithms “running to and fro” throughout the earth, using so much electrical power that Google, Microsoft, and Meta are setting up their own private nuclear power plants to serve the increased processing requirements for this technology.

Imagine the change, though, on humanity. Imagine the effects of AI—its habitual use and intellectual and moral influences upon humankind in a few years.

This is mind-boggling stuff! But I’m not trying to scaremonger. My intention is to caution and encourage us all to think clearly before we outsource our rational thinking to an algorithm. This caution needs to be considered in the light of Bible study and the effects AI can have upon God’s ecclesia. This, God willing, we hope to cover in the next article.

 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
 Philippians 4v7

Feature image: Robot praying before downloading Bible produced by AI by Copilot.

We considered the principle of obedience in our last article, where we were encouraged to be Godly parents, who show God to our children when we teach them obedience.
We can set up a list of arbitrary rules and expect blind obedience to those rules, but Paul calls this parenting “after the flesh” when he says that those parents discipline “as seems best to them” (Heb 12:9-10). If we are Godly parents, we expect obedience to God’s rules and not our own.

For a toddler we will just expect obedience, because they are learning the meaning of a definite yes and no. And that no means no, without tantrums or other misbehaviour. However, we have an obligation to not teach obedience to our word, but to reach our child’s heart.

Consider carefully these words in Deuteronomy 6:6–7, which is another key instruction to Godly parents.

And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

So God’s Word is in our heart and we need to get God’s Word into our children’s hearts, not just when sitting down at the Readings, but along the way in life. The way we do this, while teaching obedience, is to provide our young children the “moral reason why” behind our instruction.

Most times this will be some form of thinking about others, such as, "Don’t poke holes in the watermelon on display; other people want to buy and eat that."

The benefit of making our children think of others is we start to orient them in life as thoughtful and helpful and not just automatons to a word or command. Also, it prevents us from being “parents after the flesh” and giving arbitrary commands. If we can’t think of a command from God that relates, such as loving our neighbour, respecting other people’s property, respecting elders and those in authority, we will give a capricious and futile command.  In this way we stay true to showing God to our children by passing on His instruction when we give a command.

Of course, when a child is too young to understand the reason behind a command, and we can command because “I am your parent and I said so”. But the older our children get this approach should be used less and less.

Scripture teaches that God expected commands to be given with instruction, and in many places He provides both. Think of the Passover meal, which almost enshrines the children’s questions of why we do things, and gives parents the answers to tell them. Also, at the crossing of the River Jordan, God made them construct two piles of stones with the explicit intention that it would prompt children in years to come to ask questions, to which He provided the ready answer.

Of course, this is not an opportunity to encourage debate or negotiation from our younger children. Although we are giving a reason, we are not inviting discussion, as they, of necessity at their young age, need to learn obedience.

However, it behooves us as parents to be diligent in providing practical and age-appropriate reasons for many of our commands.

Perhaps as husbands we could make a project with our wives as part of the ‘washing of the word’ that we are responsible for, to help in providing sensible, understandable, and good reasons for the common commands we give our children.

This instructing our child’s heart is not just a biblical inference, but we also have an insight into Godly instruction from Paul when he tells Timothy that Godly instruction has the goal of love from a pure heart, and what’s more the additional objectives of a good conscience and sincere faith (1 Tim 1:5).There is a practical benefit outlined here that far outweighs any inconvenience of having to come up with reasons for our instructions.That is, by doing this, we are developing our child’s conscience.

We are filling their internal moral warehouse with practical principles of why we do things.

Our children, if they have a reservoir of values, will be well equipped for whatever they encounter in life.If they have a store of Godly wisdom nourished in their hearts by dedicated parents, it will prompt them with right and wrong, and provide principles of right behaviour. They will encounter temptation and be confronted with the opportunity to make choices in life, when they will not have either you or a Bible to look up chapter and verse.

We cannot pack a conscience in our child’s lunchbox when they head off to high school for the first day. We have to diligently develop it day by day as they grow from young children, by providing the moral reason why along the way, in our house, and when we sit or rise.

There is an additional blessing integrated with teaching or children obedience by providing the moral reason for our instructions. It is every Godly parent’s wish that one day their children may grow up and enter a relationship with God through baptism. We cannot choose baptism for our children, but we can be a big influence on them for good by teaching them to obey us, so that they can transition to obeying their Heavenly Father. But crucially, if we can develop their heart and train their conscience, we have a far bigger influence, because, as we know, baptism is “the answer of a good conscience” (1 Pet 3:21).

May God bless us as we seek to put His Word in our heart and so we can with diligence break small and teach what is in our heart to our children as we rise up, along the way or at home.May God be glorified in all that we do, as we seek to show His character and to develop a conscience based on his word in our children.

Previous articles in this series on Family Life:

1. Family foundations
2. Loving fathers
3. Caring mothers
4. Obedient children

This article was previously published in The Lampstand magazine.

Feature image: Woman showing heart gesture .

When we think of the teaching of our Lord, vulnerability may not be the first idea that comes to mind. But it is there:  being vulnerable to each other and being vulnerable to our God.

What do we mean by vulnerability? Well, it’s the idea of being open and not hardened. It’s the idea of being open to attack. The dictionary definition of the word is: “the quality of being exposed to the possibility of harm”.

 Psychology researchers have identified vulnerability as essential for all relationships. It is essential for a true connection with others. Being vulnerable allows intimacy; it allows a deeper connection than just acquaintance. And while modern researchers have discovered this, there is nothing new under the sun. In this article, we want to consider the importance of vulnerability in our relationship firstly with our Father, and secondly, with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

We all want relationships, don’t we? We want a relationship with our Maker—our heavenly Father. We want a relationship with our brothers and sisters. And we want a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our captain, our ruler, our master, our bridegroom. And we don’t just want these relationships to be hollow, shallow, cold, and distant. We want to feel that closeness, that intimacy, that warmth and love that comes from those special connections.

Matthew 18 opens with the idea of vulnerability. In the opening verses, Christ takes a little child and sits him in the middle of his disciples. Now, one of the things about little children is that they are vulnerable. Whether they like it or not they are ‘open or exposed to the possibility of harm’. In fact, offence or harm is not only possible, but likely. As verse 7 says, “it must needs be that offenses come”. The NASB has, “it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come”. If we are to “be converted”, and “become as little children”, then we become vulnerable and offence is inevitable in our lives. We are not encouraged by Scripture to become tough and hardened, or callous. Instead, we are encouraged to become humble and remain mouldable to our God working in our lives, like a little child.

This vulnerability is why, in Matthew 18, our Lord emphasises the need to “receive” one such little child in Christ’s name as verse 5 says, and through verses 6–14, he warns against causing offence and highlights the need to ensure that none of these little ones gets offended or lost. He continues in verses 15-20  to deal with conflict, and how to resolve conflict in the spirit of not offending a little one. If you like, verses 15-20 are about the responsibility to avoid offending a little one who has trespassed.

The reality is that we all offend each other:

“For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”
– James 3:2

If we are honest, we offend others just as often as we are offended. And this can be in things big or small, depending on the circumstance. It’s one of the awful things about human nature, that we are extremely capable of hurting those around us.

In this article, though, we want to focus on our response to being offended and our own vulnerability to offence. Because, throughout the rest of Matthew 18, Christ’s focus shifts from not offending, to the responsibility of the offended, and in particular, forgiving from their hearts those who have offended them.

What is our response when our brothers and sisters, our family or our friends let us down? It’s inevitable that they will because they have human nature as well. But how do we respond?

Well, one way we could respond is by allowing ourselves to become hardened, which is the natural human response. When someone has hurt us, we want to avoid being vulnerable to them again. In extreme cases, we want to stop the relationship altogether, but in less extreme cases we tend to close up and withdraw from being in such a close relationship with them. We cut off our emotions because it is too painful to deal with them. It is too painful to open up to that person again and we don’t trust that we can, because we might get hurt.

Worse still, we might talk to others about their offence, not in an effort to help them, but in an effort to justify ourselves or convince ourselves and others of their wrong and how right we are to maintain our distance. As the proverb says:

‘A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.’
– Proverbs 18:19

But, is this the answer? How should we respond?

Our Lord told us in Matthew 5 that when we are smitten on the right cheek, we should turn to that person the other cheek as well. There is no resistance in this response , no pulling away, no striking back. It is to remain vulnerable to  further attack.

But how do we do this? How do we find the strength to remain vulnerable to our brothers and sisters and to those in the world around us when they have hurt or  offended us? We know cutting them off can’t be the answer. There is no love in that. There is no forgiveness.

This brings us to the root of the issue, because it’s about forgiveness. It is full forgiveness, from our heart, in love, that creates or maintains that vulnerability. They go hand in hand. Without forgiveness, there is no vulnerability, and without this willingness to be vulnerable, there is no forgiveness from the heart.

If you are anything like me, I think we sometimes tell ourselves we have forgiven our brothers and sisters when perhaps we haven’t. Oh yes, if someone asks us to our face whether we have forgiven them we would say yes, and we may feel that in some sense we have. But we don’t mix with them much anymore. We have a lot less to do with them and we don’t express our love to them anymore. We might smile and be polite and have pleasant conversations with them, but we know, the relationship is not as it was before.

And we use all sorts of justifications  for this. We can’t trust that they won’t do it again. Or perhaps we put a label on their character and say they are an  ‘X’ sort of brother, or ‘Y’ sort of sister,  i.e., ‘that’s just them’.

This is not full forgiveness. Our Lord taught us to ask God to  ‘forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us’. In other words, how we would like God to forgive us, should be the way in which we forgive others.

So what does that look like?

When we are forgiven by God, would  we be happy for him to hold us at a distance from then on? To no longer work in our lives or to be a little bit disinterested in our salvation from that point? If we withhold full forgiveness with the excuse that our brother or sister might do the same again, then how much more could God use this as an excuse! He knows for certain we will keep offending him, we will keep sinning until the day that, by His grace we are made immortal!

No. We wouldn’t  want him to keep us at a distance from that point on! We want the relationship to be as it was before we sinned, as though the sin had never happened! As David says, we want him to restore to us the joy of His salvation.

Is that how we forgive our brothers and sisters? Can we be that vulnerable?

Think of the benefits of being vulnerable. When we are vulnerable, we encourage others to be vulnerable. We encourage a culture of vulnerability. What are the implications for ecclesial life? A number of implications, though not a complete list, are:

1. A culture of vulnerability goes hand in hand with a culture of humility. Where is pride and status in this type of culture? Where is keeping up appearances? You can’t have this at the same time as having vulnerability.
2. A culture of vulnerability encourages honesty and openness, with no deception. James 5v16 tells us to confess our faults one to another and pray for one another. It is about bringing our faults to the surface so that we can assist each other.
3.  Vulnerability, as we said before, is about intimacy, and deepening our relationships with each other.

We want a culture of vulnerability in our ecclesia, don’t we?

How do we find the strength to forgive like this—o to remain vulnerable like this, to love like this?

In Matthew 18:21, Peter also has this dilemma and comes to Christ and says “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”. Christ gives him an answer that is tied strongly to the ‘Seventy week’ prophecy from Daniel nine:  until seventy  times seven. In the ‘Seventy week’ prophecy in Daniel 9 God unveils the period of time until He would provide Messiah for the nation. In referencing this, Christ guides his listeners to think about the lengths the Father Himself has gone to patiently work with His people Israel, despite their rejection of Him, to reconcile not just them, but the whole world to Himself.

To add weight to the idea that the seventy times seven is referencing the love and patience of the Father to provide forgiveness for us, Christ gives a parable about a servant who, despite the forgiveness he had experienced from his master, is unable to forgive their fellow servant the smallest debt (verses 23–34). Christ’s parable tells us that our forgiveness of others must be a reflection of the forgiveness that we have received from God! As God has opened Himself to us and shown love, we must in turn reflect this to others! 1 John 4:10–11 says:

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

This great love of the Father in sending his Son was about sacrifice; it involved vulnerability. There was immense exposure to hurt. Not only for the Father, but also for the Son.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul shows the Corinthians the impact that the sacrifice of Christ should have on us. For example, v14–15 reads,  “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And [that] he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” Paul goes on to show through the chapter  that the work of Christ was actually the work of the Father in reconciling the world to Himself. Following this, Paul issues an appeal to the Corinthians at the start of chapter 6:

“We then, [as] workers together [with him], beseech [you] also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.)”
– 2 Cor 6v1-2

Paul’s appeal is that we  receive not the Grace of God in vain. God has reached out to to us all through that great act of grace:  His Son. But would it be in vain? Following this question, in verse 2, Paul quotes Isaiah 49.

Isaiah 49 is about the work of God in Christ. For context, verse 1 reads:

“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.”
–Isa 49:1.

God called Christ from the womb for this ministry, this purpose of reconciling the world to Himself. But it wasn’t easy for Christ. Verse 4 reads:

“Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain….”

This is what Paul asks in 2 Corinthians 6. Would Messiah’s work be in vain? Would Christ’s life and work, his sacrifice on the cross, all be wasted? Would the love of the Father and the love of the Son be expended  on this world in vain? This is vulnerability, isn’t it? This is about the greatest act of vulnerability this world has ever seen. It was the Father’s vulnerability, and the Son’s. Isaiah 49 continues with the words  Paul quoted in 2 Cor 6:2:

“Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages”
– Isa 49:8

This was the response of the Father to the Son, reassuring him that his work would not be in vain. Their work together would result in a covenant of the people that would establish the earth!

And this is where Paul’s mind was as he appealed to the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 6: 3-10, Paul points out the lengths the apostles had gone as ministers with Christ to extend the grace of God to the Corinthians! Then we read Paul’s appeal:

“O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.”
– 2 Corinthians 6: 11-13

The apostles’ hearts were enlarged, or ‘made open’ as the word means. They had made themselves vulnerable to the Corinthians just as God and Christ had in their sacrifice in Isaiah 49. And Paul pleads with them, “Don’t be straitened”. Don’t be ‘constricted’ or ‘contained’ as the word “straitened” means. In other words, don’t shut off your heart from us, Corinthians! Allow yourself to be affected by our Love! Allow yourself to be vulnerable and feel the love of the Father in the Son, which we are extending to you!

Can you see the need for your own heart to not be “straitened”, or  restricted? We need to be vulnerable to receive God’s grace into our hearts, and then be willing to extend that to others.

Remember, our Lord wasn’t hardened. He continued to pour out his life despising the shame, the mockery, and the constant hurt from his own people.  He wept. He wept at the hardness of the Jews’ hearts over Lazarus. He wept over Jerusalem in Luke 19. But his trust was in the Father, who he knew would not let him down. And so he hid not his face from shame and spitting. He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to those that plucked off the hair.

How do we respond to this great act of vulnerability?

I was blessed to spend a weekend with some young people some months ago talking about Freedom in Christ, based on John 8:32, where Christ says, "The Truth shall set you free". Someone asked that, although Christ was talking about "The Truth" in this instance, was there a sense in which just telling the truth, in general, could also set us free?

My off-the-cuff response at the time was that there was a sense in which this was the case. On the occasions when we might fail to tell the truth, we can end up becoming prisoners of our lies. One lie can lead to another, and suddenly, we are ensnared. But it got me thinking about telling the truth or lies and what the Scriptures say.

What the Scriptures say about lying

"Honesty is the best policy", even when it might hurt us, is something that used to be acknowledged even by those in the world. But society has forgotten this policy in our modern humanistic age. US President Thomas Jefferson said in a previous era, "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." Our concern, however, is not with the world’s thoughts on this subject, as we see just how fickle the world can be on even a topic such as this. So, let’s come to Scripture and see what God thinks about it.

If I was to ask you, "Where is the first reference to lying in the Bible?" I am sure it wouldn’t take you long to think of Genesis 3:4. Interestingly, Christ alludes to this in the same chapter in John, where he talks about ‘the Truth’ setting you free. He alludes to the serpent’s words in this way:

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
John 8:44

Pretty harsh words here from Christ about the serpent’s words in Genesis 3, but let’s take a quick look at Scripture. First, we see it isn’t just the lying words of the serpent that God judges harshly.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exodus 20:16

If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: Then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.
Leviticus 6: 1-5

Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:11-12

These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Prov 6:16-19

A righteous man hateth lying.
Prov 13:5

A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it.
Prov 26:28

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour.
Eph 4:25

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.
Col 3:9

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Rev 22:15

It is pretty straightforward, isn’t it, that lying is not something we should be doing as disciples of Christ. Moreover, the above list doesn’t include all the passages on this subject. We also haven’t looked at other examples that don’t outrightly mention lies but highlight the issues of dishonest behaviour, like Jacob’s deception of his father.

How easy it is to lie

Having read through all those passages, I imagine we would agree that we shouldn’t lie. It is easy to imagine that we would never tell an out-and-out lie. But how sure are we that we can claim to always do our best to be 100% honest?

It is so easy to deceive ourselves and think that deliberately failing to mention something, or maybe glossing over some facts, isn’t a lie as such, particularly if declaring the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth might cost us dearly. How often do we get ourselves into trouble thinking that a half-truth isn’t so bad, especially if it gets us out of a bind? That is our serpent nature at work. There is a Yiddish Proverb that says, "A half-truth is a whole lie". It isn’t scriptural, but still worth remembering, I think.

Let me put this into a concrete example to show how easy it can be to deceive ourselves. Every year, the government asks us to put in a tax return. We must declare that what we have submitted is our total earnings for the year. When you hit the submit button, it is essentially the same as saying, "I solemnly swear that this is all the money I have been paid for services rendered in the past year". But it is so easy for us to overlook the little we were paid for that small job we did for a friend, and the extra amount that so and so paid me on the side while I was between jobs, and to justify the reason for doing so. "I pay my fair share of taxes", "It was just a little bit; not worth worrying about", or "I can’t really afford to declare it because then I won’t get the full refund on my donations that I have already spent".

Aiming to be 100% honest in this small matter can be costly, particularly if you are in business. I know one brother who regularly loses work as a contractor because he won’t do cash jobs for people. He will give a quote, and the person will ask for a discount for cash, expecting to at least have the Goods and Services Tax removed. When he explains that he can’t give that sort of discount because he pays his tax on every job, they will often move on to a different contractor who doesn’t mind dodging tax payments. But, no matter how difficult it might make things financially or how we twist the half-truths around in our heads, is there any way that we can honestly say that not declaring all of our income to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is anything other than a lie and a false declaration? And we are not just making that declaration to the government; we are making it before God. The IRD may not catch up with us, but our Heavenly Father will hold us to account.

Here are a couple of relevant passages:

 “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.”
(Prov 21:6)

“But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?”
(Acts 5:3)

I am sure we can all think of circumstances in our own life where we might find it easy to justify bending the truth a little to make our life easier. Scripture is quite clear, though, God hates a lying tongue. Of course, none of us will be 100% truthful 100% of the time, but we need to make it our aim. The key is to recognise when we have been dishonest and seek our Father’s forgiveness instead of trying to justify our transgressions in our own eyes.

Is it that black and white, though?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was all just black and white? But there are some shades of grey between that black and white. For instance, husbands, when your wife comes out of the bedroom in a dress she hasn’t worn for a while and asks, "Darling, do you think I look overweight in this now?" How do you reply if you feel it isn’t entirely flattering? Sometimes discretion, empathy, and loving understanding must temper how we deal with each other and what we might say. Wisdom knows the difference between an objective truth and a subjective opinion. Wisdom knows when we must speak absolute honesty and when those brutally honest thoughts may be just our opinion, which could be hurtful and upsetting. I am sure you have all encountered brethren that still need to learn this.

And this is fantastic because it highlights the depth of the Scriptures and the wisdom of God in how He has revealed His Truth to us. When we first come to the Scriptures, we expect to find a simple list of things we can and can’t do. We think everything will be fine if we work out that list and stick closely to it. When we come to lying and honesty, that certainly seems to be the case, doesn’t it? But look at this little gem over in Joshua:

“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.”
Joshua 2: 1-5

We cannot deny that what Rahab did was lie to the soldiers. Isn’t that wonderful? God hates a lie, but Rahab, a faithful woman in the line of Christ, tells an out-and-out lie. God has given us lists of commandments that He wants us to know and do our best to keep. Yet He wants us to go deeper than that and come to know and understand His character so that we can reason for ourselves about what we might do when two principles appear to collide.

This story is the subject of much debate. Some think such a lie is still a sin, but it is the lesser of two evils. They would say if faced with a choice of someone being murdered or telling a lie, it is okay to tell a lie to preserve life. Others think a lie is unacceptable under any circumstances, given how clearly Scripture speaks out against it. So you should tell the truth at all costs, even if it means loss of life now, as God will give you eternal life in the future, anyway. Theorists often use the hiding of Jews from the Nazis by Christian families in debates about this subject. They ask whether it was a sin against God for them to lie to the soldiers, demanding if they were hiding any Jews.

I think they are both wrong. God did not see Rahab’s words as a sin. I think motives and circumstances are critical here. James 2:25 commends Rahab’s actions in deceiving the soldiers and sending the men out a different as an act of faith. Just as Christ intimated that saving your donkey out of a pit on the Sabbath is not a sin—even though it breaks the law of the Sabbath to do no work—so Rahab’s action was not a sin. Wisdom is in weighing up our motives in any circumstance against scriptural principles. For example, I think we could all easily see the difference in God’s eyes between a believer lying to a Nazi soldier to preserve the life of a helpless Jewish family and a saint lying to the inquisitor at the door and saying they were not an Anabaptist to save their own life—the motive of one being the love of their neighbour, and the motive of the other, self-preservation.

How can we live the Truth truthfully? Look at God and His Son

I just want to finish with some thoughts about how we might make it easier for ourselves to pursue the path of honesty.

No matter how simple and obvious a matter may appear, it can still be hard to put it into practice. A brother said in a recent Bible class talk that the motives in our hearts are the critical thing. He pointed out that all Christ asks us to do in the Discourse on the Mount is that we might "therefore be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect". So often, we can have the mindset, "I can’t do that because it is against my religion", or "I have to pay all my taxes because it is the law, and I am not allowed to break the law". But Christ exhorts us to do things, not because we are compelled to by law, but instead, to do them because we want to be like our heavenly Father because we are inspired by His love. Look at the following verses:

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
Titus 1:2

That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.
Hebrews 6:18

Wanting to be like our Father was really the point that Christ was trying to make in John chapter 8:

Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
John 8:43-47.

The Jews could not hear the truth that Jesus spoke because they were carnally minded, just like the serpent. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, and neither can it be, as it says in Romans 8. If we want to hear the truth that Christ and his Father have to speak, then we need to be spiritually minded like them, and part of that is being truthful at all times. Next time we are faced with the opportunity to lie and get away with something or be honest and take the consequences, let’s ask ourselves, "I really want to manifest the character of my heavenly Father; what would He do in this situation?"

We partake of the emblems each week in order to examine ourselves (1 Cor. 11:28). What better time to be completely and openly honest and truthful than as we examine ourselves before our God? And yet, how often is this the time when we are most prone to only telling half-truths? God knows the unsaid things anyway, so let’s be honest and confess the whole truth.

We see in Christ a man who had done no violence; neither was any deceit in his mouth. When we see the wonder of what God has done for us through him each day when we are faced with the opportunity to either lie or to be truthful, let us choose to be truthful because our Father, who is in heaven, is truthful.

After my baptism I was presented with a copy of Elpis Israel written by Brother John Thomas in 1849. Seven years later I attended an Elpis Israel Class in the centre of Birmingham. The Bible was presented in a way that I had not heard before. It came alive. It was a thrilling rediscovery of the Truth.

Oh yes, I asked a lot of questions at first, but after 12 months I surrendered. Brother John Thomas had won. He became my teacher, and I never looked back.

Sixty years later, having led a series of Elpis Israel classes and a variety of others including Eureka classes, I am still learning from the doctor.

Doctor? Yes, Dr Thomas. Since the very beginning of the Christadelphian movement, this title has been used as a term of affection in addition to the more normal Brother John Thomas. As one 92-year-old brother in England said to me many years ago, “Dr Thomas was the last of the sealing angels” (Revelation 17:2,3). And I agree with him.

Need for a teacher

I’ve heard some say that the Bible is the only book we need. Not true. We all need a teacher. If not, why do we have speakers at our meetings? Why do we need magazines and books to help us? Or the Web?

Forty years ago, I was with Brother Dennis Gillett at a Bible School in South Africa. After I had given a talk on how Brother Thomas had raised up the Truth again, Brother Gillett said to me, “I don’t see how that if God used Brother Thomas to raise up the Truth — and as a Christadelphian, you have to believe that — God could have left him widely astray on prophecy, can you?” A very good point indeed.

Brother H P Mansfield once told me that after he had spoken to a large gathering of Christadelphians in Glasgow, an old brother stood up and asked, “Do you believe that Brother Thomas was inspired?” H P Mansfield said, No, not inspired, but that God used him to raise up the Truth again in the last days. At which point the old brother exclaimed, “Well I do!”

Of course, we do not believe brother Thomas was inspired as the prophets of Israel were. If he had been inspired then what he wrote would be God’s Word, a 67th book of the Bible. But there is no doubt that God did specially use him for the task of bringing out the truth of the Bible from the errors of the churches. We are the beneficiaries.

The benefit of reading this book

Amazingly Brother Thomas wrote Elpis Israel only two years after his baptism. He did so at the request of Scottish friends who, having heard his lectures in Glasgow, wanted a permanent record of what he had said. That he did leave this record is a great blessing for which we all should be most grateful to God.

The book is titled Elpis Israel, meaning, ‘The Hope of Israel’. The title is taken from Romans 8:24, “we are saved by the hope”, and Acts 28:20. It was these two passages that were the last link in the chain that confirmed to Brother Thomas that he had now discovered the Truth of the Scriptures. It resulted in his baptism into the name of Jesus Christ and his final separation from the Campbellite church.

To my mind, Elpis Israel is the best overall exposition of the Bible ever written. No one else since has written, or could have written, such a magnificent exposition of the Bible. In Elpis Israel, Brother Thomas covers a remarkably broad range of topics with exceptional clarity. As the careful reader follows the doctor’s analytical reasoning from the Scriptures, he learns how to study God’s Word for himself. The reader’s mind is lifted to new spiritual heights. In fact, Elpis Israel by Brother Thomas, together with Christendom Astray by Brother Robert Roberts, became the foundation by which the Christadelphian brotherhood, based so soundly upon the truth of the Bible, came into being.

Brother John Carter made it a practice to read Elpis Israel every year. As a result, he became the most respected brother in the Christadelphian community as editor of The Christadelphian magazine and author of several outstanding books on the Scriptures.

Following Brother Carter’s example, Brother Harry Tennant set out to do the same, but admitted that, although he had not managed to read Elpis Israel every year, he did read it very regularly.

Finally

As I mentioned at the beginning of this brief review, I was presented with a copy of Elpis Israel at my baptism. Written on the flyleaf are the following words which were originally written by the apostle Paul to the young man Timothy:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” 2 Timothy 2:15.

I know of no better book to help a young man — or older man for that matter — to fulfill this task of rightly dividing and becoming powerful in the Word of God

Teaching our children obedience is one of the most explicit parenting instructions in the Bible.

Paul, in both Ephesians 6v1 and Colossians 3v20 commands children to obey their parents. This same command from God is also embedded in the Ten Commandments and stamped with God’s Name and a promise. The reason for its emphasis is fairly obvious when thinking about the importance of this command: How can a child ever grow up to obey a God they can’t see, if they do not first learn to obey a parent they can see?

Following this line of thinking further, parents are purposely put in a position where they establish the reality of God to a young child. A child’s first understanding of their Heavenly Father will be shaped by how they view the authority and love of their natural parents.

Faithful parents have a unique privilege — to make God real to our children. In a sense, we are God to a very small child. Think of it from their perspective. We have all the responsibility and care for them like God does. Furthermore, we make the rules about what is applicable in our house, we tell them that God is pleased when they obey, and they see we are also pleased by their obedience. We tell them God loves truth and hates lies, and they see we also love it when they tell the truth. As parents, we tell them God loves and cares for them, and they see we love and care for them. We tell them God’s word is in the Bible, they cannot even read it, so we say phrases out loud for them to repeat when reading the Bible together; we tell them it is God’s Word, but they are hearing it as our words they are repeating.

We make God real to our children and by obeying us, they learn to obey God.

Obedience is not a natural part of our makeup, it has to be taught, and no one finds it easy to learn.

As adults, we still struggle with obedience to God’s commands, but we have a God-given opportunity that we can teach our children obedience early, and in so doing provide a natural transition to obeying God as they grow older and more mature.

A challenging thing to think about is that even the Lord Jesus Christ had to learn obedience. Our Lord was never disobedient, but because of human nature, obedience did not come naturally and so he ‘learned obedience through the things he suffered’ (Hebrews 5:8).

God, as a Father, taught His only beloved son, and expects us, as godly parents, to teach obedience to all His children, as well as be obedient children ourselves and be holy like Him (1 Peter 1:14-15).

The fact that obedience to a parent is linked with the promise of life in the Ten Commandments stayed with me once I learned the very serious lesson that obedience can be a matter of life and death to a young child. The horror of a child running toward the road and ignoring the command to stop is a heart-stopping moment. The somber reflection later, when an incident is averted, is the realisation that the fault is not that of the child, but that the parents are entirely responsible for not teaching obedience to their commands.

If Christ struggled to learn obedience—and remember he struggled till he ran with sweat like blood—our children will naturally struggle too. There are, however, some simple things we can do to help our children to learn to be obedient.

Sometimes we can fall into the trap of wanting to sound like nice people in our own ears and so will ask for compliance when we really mean to command. We might say, “Would you like to pick up your toys now please?” This approach sounds very polite, but really the answer to that question could be “No”, and we would have no right to get angry at such a legitimate answer.

If we want to help our children, we are welcome to give options on occasions, but we should be clear when we are giving a command that requires obedience and carries consequences.

A key thing to help children is to have a set way of asking for obedience, so that the child is prompted that this is one of the times I am being asked for obedience, rather than being confused as to whether this is a time that they get an option. Also included in the set way of asking is a requirement for a response from the child so they hear themselves take responsibility for carrying out the command.

Very simply, a recommended way to give instruction is:

1. Call the child and establish eye contact
2. Maintain eye contact and give clear instructions in one or two sentences
3. Expect a ‘Yes Mummy’ or ‘Yes Daddy’ verbal response
4. Encourage or hug them when the command is carried out

As well as the set formula helping young children learn and realise they are being called to obedience, the eye contact and their verbal acknowledgement means that there are no excuses possible about not hearing your instruction.

The other positive effect of this instruction routine is that when children hear themselves acknowledging the command, they have a greater tendency to follow through with the instruction because they have said they would. Sometimes you see their visible struggle via their body language in not wanting to say ‘Yes mummy’ to the command, but once they make the acknowledgement, often it is as though the struggle has been won in their mind because they have now agreed to comply and so they carry out the instructions with no further hesitation.

In this way we can tangibly see that we are helping our children to learn to submit to the commands of a higher authority over their own wishes.

Another practical point to note is that delayed obedience is disobedience. Don’t fall into the trap of giving a ‘one-two-three’, or cajoling, or bribing our children into obeying us.
A far better way to gain compliance without compromising on the principle of obedience but being seen by our children as helpful, fair, and just is to give them a five-minute warning where possible.

If our children are invested in a game at a friend’s place and we wish to leave, or they are playing in the backyard and we want them in for dinner immediately, we have not allowed any satisfying way for all their investment and involvement in the game being played to dissipate. If we provide a five-minute warning, however, they have the opportunity to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion, with everyone knowing this is the last round, perhaps with more points or penalties, and then they will be prepared to comply.

Obedience is a difficult lesson to learn, and if we characteristically make obedience attractive to our children by giving a warning when we need compliance to leave the park or beach ahead of time, then on those occasions when, for some reason, we are unable to provide a warning but require instant obedience anyway, then our child is more likely to give it to us, as they will see us as a fair and reasonable parent who tries to help them as much as possible.

Let us as parents take the responsibility of teaching obedience seriously, but we must do so in such a way that our children are drawn towards the concept of a loving and caring Heavenly Father by the role that we play in representing Him to them, demonstrating His character, and making it easy for them to obey His Word, because they have grown up obeying us.

Previous articles in this series on Family Life:

1. Family foundations
2. Loving fathers
3. Caring mothers

This article was previously published in The Lampstand magazine.

Feature image: Parents walking with child Photo by Caleb Oquendo on Pexels.

So far, we have seen our problems with polarisation and bias and that we must not assume that God is on our side. God is on His own side. Our responsibility is to seek to know Him and His will in honesty and humility. And that takes a lifetime.

So, how do we handle division within the ecclesia? While I will use one of the main issues currently under dispute—vaccination—the principles govern any similar division.

The conscience and the Word of God

The Bible says nothing about vaccination. We can’t assume God’s view on it either way. As Brother Roberts would say when there is no commandment:

“Therefore, let every man be persuaded in his own mind”.

It’s not a case of mere opinion; brethren do have a conscience on the matter. Ah, this tricky thing called conscience. I often hear brethren challenge whether an issue is actually one of conscience or simply opinion and question if the person has a conscience of convenience.

A conscience doesn’t require the Bible

We don’t have to believe in God to have a conscience. Atheists can have a conscience. A conscience is that “inner policeman” made up of our own standards, rules, and goals along with self-evaluative emotions, plus thought. This begins forming in early childhood and shapes our values and how we view life—our “worldview”. To each of us, this is unshakable truth.

As servants of God, we want the Bible to be the major influence upon our conscience, but it’s often not the only influence upon our moral values. Sensitivities to other people, to animals, to our environment, to other’s property, to law, to authority, to life are often established within us long before the Bible may have an influence upon us. Of course, we may find Bible principles that support those already-established views, but people will vary in their sensitivities towards such matters with or without the influence of the Bible.

A strong and a weak conscience

In the ecclesia, both sides of any moral argument believe that their values honour God. For example, long before COVID, some argue that we shouldn’t meddle with God’s creation. I’ve heard this argument used in matters of diet, genetic modification, abortion, IVF, blood transfusions, chemotherapy, radiation treatment, organ transplants, vaccination, smoking, drinking alcohol, eating black pudding, eating pork, and so on.

Other brothers and sisters argue God has allowed medical advancements to enable and save life. Many of us wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t so—just think of premature babies or medication for asthmatics and diabetics alone. As a community, we have left these matters to each other’s conscience.

Life’s challenges to conscience

Some years ago, a brother approached me with a moral dilemma. His pregnant wife, who was not in the Truth, was critically ill, and they were confronted with the decision: her life or the child’s. They had to operate soon, or both would likely die. Each of us will probably have a view. In decisions like this, we “play God” for there is no commandment. It’s true, in times past, both would die, but given the option to save at least one life, isn’t that God’s desire, too?

I was young and felt incapable of providing the answer, so I sought help from an older brother who I respected for his biblical wisdom. His advice was that the brother put the matter to prayer, assess the matter as best they could from the Word, come to a decision, then commit that to God. If the decision was wrong, God is merciful and knows the intentions prayerfully arrived at. It had to be a personal decision.

I found the advice very helpful and passed it on to the thankful brother.

The challenge of conviction

Conflict causes us to feel the need to convince others to our point of view. It seems so clear to us. It also causes us to be defensive.

Just consider the current trials. Because the vaccine-hesitant and anti-vax groups are in the minority and governments and many of the vaccinated are pointing a finger at them, they feel the need to justify their stand. That’s what Job did and ended up justifying himself at the expense of God! While it’s good to test our own position and “prove all things”, if we nevertheless come to the same conclusion and have a conscience about it, we don’t need to justify it.

Those on the other side of the argument have to be careful, too. God does not command us to vaccinate, either. And, while we may feel that there are biblical arguments to support our view, they are just arguments that support our view. There is no moral high ground on this. There is no commandment, nor has God spelt out the answer in plain language.

As we’ve managed in the past to accommodate each other’s views and conscience on such matters without them coming to the forefront of what life in the Truth is about, so we shouldn’t allow pressures the world puts upon us to change our practice now. Paul’s assessment is:

“He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”
(Rom. 14:6)

Unity in the face of differences

But what should we do when we have a conflict between strongly convicted disciples within the ecclesia? Paul has some wonderful advice in dealing with conflict in Philippians.

A conflict between faithful disciples

The conflict involved two sisters: Euodias and Syntyche. Although Paul refers to the situation in just two verses (Phil. 4:2–3), he devotes the whole epistle to dealing with the problem! Why would he go to these lengths? He was concerned that his beloved Philippian ecclesia would fall into a polarisation spiral.

What was the issue? Internal evidence suggests the issue was one of approach to the Truth. He outlines the problem on either side of his reference to the conflict between the two sisters. One leant towards Jewish law-keeping (hence Paul’s outburst against Judaism in Philippians 3), the other leant towards Greek philosophy, particularly Stoicism (hence the constant undoing of Stoic principles in Philippians 4).

Paul showed them that, while there were elements of truth in both approaches, both were deficient and misleading because both had Self at the centre, not God.

The antidote: be of one mind

Throughout the epistle, Paul appeals for all to be of one mind:

• “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ… that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil. 1:27)
• “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” (Phil. 2:2)
• And finally,
• “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.” (Phil. 4:2)

How can they accomplish this, especially when both parties—dedicated disciples of Christ—so passionately hold to their own views on how to serve God? Following his appeal in chapter 2:2 to be of one mind, Paul says:

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”.
(Philippians 2:3–4)

This is how we can be of one mind despite our differences. The mind of Christ is to humble ourselves and elevate others’ needs above our own. That’s not saying we have to change our beliefs (although, we may). Notice how humility is key, and humility requires honesty.

Our problem is that we are biased and selfish, “for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Phil. 2:21). We expect others to do this for us, but Paul says it’s we that must humble ourselves for them. How? Paul expounds on how Christ accomplished this.

The example of Christ to be one with his brethren

The fact is that Christ was the Son of God! His views on everything were exactly the same as his Father’s, and therefore he was right. Yet he could still, for the sake of others, humble himself and become a servant for us all sharing our plight (Phil. 2:7–9). If we have any doubts about whether this is the correct approach, Paul says, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that IN the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” (Phil. 2:10)¹. In Christ, we are subservient to God but also to each other. It’s another way of saying we must love God and our neighbour. In Christ, we “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (v.11). We are subservient to him and all in him.

Christ, our focus

Christ should be our focus and example.

He is our all. We must be “apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12), pressing “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14), being prepared to “suffer for his sake” (Phil. 1:29), so that “Christ should be magnified in [our] body” (Phil. 1:20), that we may “win Christ” and “know him and the power of his resurrection” (Phil. 3:10), looking for the saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil. 3:20–21). All God’s answers are IN Christ. We “can do all things IN Christ which strengtheneth” us (Phil. 4:13).

How do we handle the current trial?

So, in the current trial, how can we esteem others better (more important) than ourselves, not thinking upon our own things but on the needs of others? It’s obvious, isn’t it? We must do whatever we can to protect and care for others. God’s law to Moses shows how important it is that we “love one another”. An Israelite was to:

• Build a barrier around the top of their flat-roofed houses so someone doesn’t fall off (Deut. 22:8)
• Give back a coat used for surety before sundown (Deut. 24:10; Ex. 22:26)
• Not take a person’s upper or lower millstone (Deut. 24:6)
• Never take a widow or poor person’s raiment to pledge (Deut. 24:17)
• If a leper, cover the upper lip and cry “unclean” to warn others (Lev. 13:45)
• Relieve themselves outside the camp (Deut. 23:12–14)

While each of these commands had its own purpose, the overall was that each person had to think about the needs of others, not self. As Paul says, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10).

What love means

It means, in the present trial, that each of us should do whatever it takes to help each brother or sister, and “lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). It means respecting the conscience of each brother and sister. It may mean, for example, despite the inconvenience or our own beliefs about masks, wearing one for the sake of others’ beliefs. We must do everything we can for their sake, not our own.

Isn’t this what our Lord asked us to do?

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”

(John 13:34–35).

The world will see that we are not bickering children like them; they’ll see we are Christ’s disciples, because we are just like him.

In our previous article we saw how trial exposes us and how easily we sink into childish behaviour that results in “them and us”. It would be good, wouldn’t it, if we could all agree? But, by agree we usually mean, they must agree with Me.

The problem of bias

We all think that our own views are correct. It’s very hard not to think that way because we can only view the world through the lens of our own experiences and knowledge. And, we are all biased. Proverbs regularly points this out:

• “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” (Prov. 12:15)
• “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov. 14:12)
• “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.” (Prov. 16:2)
• “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (Prov. 16:9)
• “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.”
  (Prov. 21:2)

 

 
Sadly, our bias has an unfortunate consequence. We almost invariably look for evidence, no matter how flimsy, that bolsters our already-formed opinions. Likewise, any contrary evidence submitted against our beliefs is either discounted for the flimsiest of reasons or minimised because it could undermine the security we have built around our belief. This is a well-recognised phenomenon that has been given a name: “confirmation bias”.

Can you see the problem? If we are wrong in our understanding, then we are in danger of never being able to find the truth. People who grow up believing that we have an immortal soul find it hard to shake that belief, no matter what the Bible says.

After Christ gave the parable of the sower, the disciples asked why he spoke in parables, and he answered, “because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:13). They are able to hear the message, but they can’t accept it. Why? Christ continued, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (v.15). In other words, they didn’t like what they heard because it didn’t fit in with their view, so they closed their ears, eyes, and minds. The good ground, Christ said, is “an honest and good heart” (Luke 8:15).

We are not honest, even with ourselves—especially with ourselves. The problem is that we view ourselves through the same biased lens.

Dangers of elevating personal views above the Word of God

Unfortunately, we can also be dishonest with God’s Word! We are adept at being blind to what the Word says and misapplying it to support our views. We look at God’s Word through the lens of our own values, assumptions, biases—even our conscience—and impose these upon God’s Word.
 

 
I have heard brothers and sisters in the current trial, who, in an attempt to bolster their personal stand, have taken up ideas promulgated by Christians. They point out that the word translated “witchcraft” or “sorceries” in Revelation 9:21 and 18:23 is the word pharmakeia, from which we get the English words pharmacy and pharmaceutical. And, by some jump in logic, they purport that these passages prophecy that the world will be deceived by “pharmakeia”, that is, pharmaceutical drugs and their makers.

This is not “honest and good” Bible study. The Bible’s use of a Greek word cannot take on the meaning of a modern English word simply because its etymological root is the same! In German, the word pharmacy is apotheke, in Dutch, apotheek, in Polish, apteka, all of which comes from the Greek apothēke, meaning “to put away, store, storehouse” ¹. If we were to follow this kind of leap in logic we would translate Matthew 6:26 as, “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into pharmacies” (instead of barns) and we would be able to turn the Greek word morphe in such passages as “he took upon him the form of a servant” (Phil.2:7) to mean, “he took upon him the hallucination of a servant”².

Such loose logic in translating pharmakeia is either dishonesty or ignorance. This reasoning is borrowed from Christian sources who are ready to sensationalise anything in order to boost their own beliefs—or, sadly, to seek support or money from their sensationalism. Let not our desire for scriptural support for our views succumb to such false interpretation, for it casts doubt upon the validity of both our views and our ability to reason—and our honesty.

The assumption that God is on our side

Allied to bias is our belief that we are on God’s side, and therefore, God is on our side. We must always stand for what we believe, but we must be very careful when we claim to speak on God’s behalf.

Look at these examples.

Job’s three friends

Job’s three friends assumed that because Job suffered, God had brought this upon him (which He had) because Job had done something wicked (which he had not). Their persistent claims drove Job to defend himself and ultimately justify himself rather than God. They all assumed to know and defend God; eventually, Job concluded that he didn’t know and couldn’t defend Him. God pronounced that they all were wrong.

Joshua

When it was discovered that two men other than the chosen seventy prophecied, Joshua protested to Moses, “My lord Moses, forbid them.” And Moses said to Joshua, “Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:24–29). Joshua was protecting a view he held about Moses. But it wasn’t the same as Moses’ view, or God’s.

Miriam and Aaron

“Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?” challenged Miriam and Aaron. God had spoken by them as well as Moses, but they were assuming a position equal to Moses, which they did not have. It was an assumption built upon their own assessment, not on God’s, as testified by the leprosy that rose up in Miriam’s body.

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram similarly arrogated to themselves a position equal to Moses and Aaron. They charged Moses and Aaron, that “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” (Num. 16:3). Again, their view had a certain amount of truth, but their extended assumptions weren’t how God saw it, as testified by the earth swallowing up these rebels and their families.

David’s men

David’s men couldn’t believe their eyes when Saul walked alone into the cave in which they were hiding! They said to David, “Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee!” (1 Sam. 24:4). God had never said this at all, but God’s intention was “obvious”. God is telling you, David, here’s your opportunity to slay him. But David said unto his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD” (v.6). David was right. While it was obvious to everyone, even Saul (v.18) that God had given Saul into David’s hands, God had not commanded David to slay Saul. It was purely an assumption based upon their interpretation of what God meant by events. God still expects His commandments and principles to be kept.

David’s courtiers

After his sin with Bathsheba, David was often ill and calamity frequent. His courts were filled with intrigue and treason, and he was despised and the butt of jokes. They thought that God was no longer with David and that his sin was unforgiven (Psalms 3:2; 22:6–8,12,13,16; 31:11,18; 69:7–12; 38:11; 25:2–3,15–21; 41:6–8; 64:1–6; 70:1–3; 71:4,7,10–11; 86:14,17). But they were wrong. While David was deeply troubled, he did not doubt God’s forgiveness, or that God was still with him (2 Sam. 12:13). Again, these people looked at how things appeared and used their understanding of the Word and God to support their assessment and felt assured that they were in the right. But their self-assurance was not rooted in God’s actual point of view.

Uzziah

Uzziah presumed he had a place higher than he actually held. He felt very close to God, for God had been with him (2 Chron. 26:5, 7,15). He had a view of his own relationship with God and he assumed that God would think it wonderful that Uzziah entered the holy place in the temple to offer incense himself. His intentions were no doubt noble, but they broke God’s commandments and he suffered the consequences (verses 17–19).

Our bias assumes

In all of these examples (and there are many more), assumption is the issue, and the assumption is that we have a better knowledge of God than our fellow, and, at times, than God Himself! Our problem is self. Paul says it this way: “their god is their belly”. In other words, they serve themselves.

Have no doubt about it, brothers and sisters, we are just the same, and must beware that we do not assume to know God better than our fellow over issues that arise, including vaccination, masks, lockdowns and so on.

Honestly, we can’t trust ourselves

Really, we can’t trust ourselves.

Solomon said, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil” (Prov. 3:5–7). Paul says, “Be not wise in your own conceits”, or opinions (Rom. 12:16). Bluntly put, Paul says, “Let God be true, but every man a lier” (Rom. 3:4).

Honesty requires humility to accept our own untrustworthiness. Honesty also requires humility to accept that God can be trusted:

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:7–8)

Unless we’re prepared to humble ourselves and acknowledge our own biases and values as being weak, faulty, and inadequate, we will invariably view God’s Word through our own distorted lenses. Honesty and humility are required to:

“Prove all things” (1 Thess. 5:21), by which it means,
“Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:10), or even more fully,
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2).

Honesty and humility never fears to open and discuss God’s Word so we can come to a genuine understanding while showing care and respect for others. When we disagree over matters where there is no direct command from God, let us humbly acknowledge that we can’t assume to know God’s view, for He hasn’t said it outrightly.

To the Law and to the testimony…
 

 

“He broke my house!” shouted the child, shattering the peace and looking desperately for me to right the wrong done to him, rivulets of tears glistening his distorted face. “See! He kicked over the chair! He always spoils everything!”

“No, I didn’t. He did it himself when I was straightening the chair, and he pulled the blanket, so it came off and pulled the chair over. He’s just trying to get me into trouble again!”, responded the older child, also crying, and equally adamant.

Each had to find blame for their shattered world. Each had to grasp at evidence to support their claim to being right. And, it didn’t matter what efforts I made to show that fault lay with both, both were just as vehement, just as upset at the other, just as convinced that justice was on their own side, and justice needed to be met upon his brother.

So common, isn’t it? And it’s not always children that play out this scenario.

Just look at what an interruption to the status quo a tiny virus labelled COVID-19 has imposed upon the world we knew.

A world turned upside down

I remember in those early days seeing this catastrophe as the finger of God and marvelling at how quickly God can bring this arrogant world to its knees. Is this a softening up of the world for things to come?

Like dye in water the virus dispersed across the global village with ease producing horrendous statistics and evoking images of bodies lying in the streets in some countries, ambulances grid-locked at hospitals in other countries, stacks of giant refrigerated containers storing bodies, body bags stacked up in stadiums, and mass graves in yet other countries, feeding fear.

With wave after wave, mutation after mutation, the troubles increased. Relentless lockdowns. Domestic violence. Long COVID. Thousands stuck in other countries unable to get home. Cancelled weddings. Phoned goodbyes. Family-less funerals. Job losses, business collapses, stretched health systems, and over 150,000 health workers worldwide dead. Cracks appeared in the resilience of people, families, and nations.

Finally—I mean, it seemed like forever, but it was in less than a year—the vaccine. Oh, the vaccines—the “panacea” governments and nations were hanging out for. Then started the squabbling. The E U family fought and finger-pointed among themselves about the fairness of distribution. That finger also pointed at the self-interest of the developed nations, who gave no consideration to the developing nations. They even wildly pointed at each other for introducing the virus. Really, the families of the earth only see from their own point of view like those children building their playhouse.

Conspiracy theories abound, and downright lies promulgated by those who know better but use misinformation to their own advantage no matter the damage it causes others. Even Christians have exploited the pandemic, and playing on people’s fears claim that COVID vaccines are “the mark of the beast” of Revelation devised by a cabal of manipulators under the power of the devil, thus consigning the litany of previous versions of this “mark” such as Bankcard and barcodes to the trashcan of disuse and forgetfulness, albeit an archive of evidence of their own sorry superstitious and corrupt minds.

Now we have the Omicron variant sending governments and experts and populations into spasms of fear and speculation. How many more mutations and boosters and masks and social distancing and lockdowns and government announcements and expert opinions and scientific solutions? People are tired of COVID. People are frustrated that they can’t get their lives back to where they were before. People are angry that their rights have been denied. People are indignant at being told what to do. So, they point fingers, blame the government, blame the experts, blame the pharmaceutical companies, the vaccinated, the unvaccinated, the maskers, the non-maskers, or the Jews. “You broke my house!” they cry…

A test for the Brotherhood, too

But it isn’t just a crisis for the world. It seems that the Father has intended this to be a trial for His ecclesia as well.

While we have the Truth, a hope, and the guidance of the Word of God, we are seeing and hearing about brothers and sisters around the world caught up in the same issues and in the same spirit we’re witnessing in the world. Brothers and sisters argue about mask wearing, vaccination, restriction of rights, being told what to do. Respected brothers and sisters are caught up with non-biblical conspiracy theories and promulgating the lies and dubious “reports” of those who have an axe to grind. Some have taken to publicly expressing these things on social media. Some have joined with unbelievers to protest their rights. Some openly character-assassinate government leaders; some have declared that opponents deserve to die—such a spirit and language ought not enter the mind let alone come off the tongue of one who follows Christ. I hear of divided ecclesias; brothers and sisters demanding their rights and demanding that others comply with their rights, because right is on their side. Oh, how much like those squabbling children—and the world—we can be!

All of a sudden, ecclesial life is all about vaccination and masks, statistics and updates, government advisories and mandates, and them and us. And brethren are getting heated in an un-Christlike manner about these things. I mean, how could any become so blinded that they feel compelled to join with unrighteousness, with darkness, with Belial, to protest publicly against the government—something we as a community don’t do for solid biblical reasons. How could we become so distracted from the things we’ve been called to!

The virus and its consequences have been an interruption to our lives, too. Like Job, when the pressure is on, when our previous lifestyle is interrupted, when we are under the pump and being accused, or insinuations made about us, we feel besieged, and rise to our own defence. No one likes unfairness. And, like Job, we end up justifying ourselves and not the God we thought we were honouring.

While these issues within the Brotherhood are not yet “pandemic” we need to stop and refocus.

Polarisation spiral

How fast can building our house together become fraught with division, accusation, self-justification. Just as God knew how to touch Job and bring out in him not only his faithfulness but also his weaknesses—weaknesses that Job didn’t realise he had—so God has touched us. And like Job’s three friends, the world has caught us up in arguments that distract us from the Truth, and bring out in us our true values, our true faith, our true love—Self.

While we are claiming the higher ground — “I am of Pro-Vax”, and, “I am of Anti-Vax”, or, “I am of Pro-Mask”, and “I am of No-Mask”—are we not yet carnal and walking according to man (1 Cor.3:1–4)? Are we not like squabbling children incapable of feeding upon the meat of God’s Word, but are babes needing the milk of first principles?

When such contentions occur, we end up in an ever-intensifying polarisation spiral. As social scientists have commented about how this phenomenon occurs within societies, particularly aided by social media:

“The polarization spiral, which is fed and accelerated by social media, is making extremists on both right and left more extreme, more powerful, and more intimidating. Both sides feed off of each other. Both sides are essential for a polarization spiral. And that means that neither side can win by attacking or humiliating the other side. Such tactics only serve to energize the other side.” (Jonathan Haidt, Greg Lukianoff)⁠1

We can see why Paul constantly exhorted Timothy to walk away from foolish controversies that have nothing to do with the Bible and saving Truth:

• “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith.” (1 Tim 1:4)
• “But refuse profane and old wives fables” (1 Tim. 4: 8)
•  “… charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.” (2 Tim. 2:14)
• “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” (2 Tim. 2:16)
• “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.” (2 Tim. 2:23)

It may be hard to believe, but there is no command in the Bible to either vaccinate or not to vaccinate.²   It is unequivocal. Such things can fast become foolish and unlearned questions, even profane and vain babblings. Certainly, conspiracy theories have no place in the Bible. The trouble is, these issues dominate and become to the protagonists what life and the Truth is all about. They are not.

Paul concludes after a series of these appeals in 2 Timothy,

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim.2: 24–26).

Paul wants to stop polarisation spirals. He advises that the best way is to sit down quietly with the brother or sister so caught up in such wrangling and let the Word of God do the teaching, and hopefully, the erring saint may see.

The test of true love

This is a test alright. We, too, are being exposed for who we are. But it’s not a test of the doctrines of the Truth. It’s a test of our faith in the most fundamental of all commandments:

“Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy heart, and the second like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matt.22:39)

Paul warned the Galatians, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another” (Gal. 5:13–14). In the same place, Paul lists the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. It’s interesting that nine of the seventeen works of the flesh have to do with contention between people (Gal. 5:19–21), of which “they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God”. But in the fruit of the spirit, all eight items are summed up in “love” and are each required for our dealings with one another (Gal. 5:22–23).

As for the first commandment, we are to Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Luke 10:27). We should be consumed with God; there is no room for anything else. Love of God and our neighbour leaves no room for being consumed by COVID.

We are being caught up and swept along in a tide of obsession with COVID, and no wonder, for we’re being fed it constantly. It’s being imposed upon us by governments and people who are at their wits’ end. We must not allow our attention, though, to drift from God to self-centred and self-preserving anxiety.

If, as we believe, God has brought this upon the world, then let our focus remain on God and on our responsibilities to one another. Sure, we need to comply with government regulations (Rom.13), but “let our citizenship be as it becometh the gospel of Christ … that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of [its] destruction, but to you of salvation, and that of God” (Phil.1:27–28). After all, it’s just a makeshift house that God is preparing for destruction.

Image acknowledgements

Feature image: children on suitcase by Vicki-B on Pixabay
Globe stay home by BRUNO EMMANUELLE on Unsplash
Polarisation image on iStock