Telling Biblical Truth--Love? or Hate? I say loving.

Thought for the Week

If you have been following my ‘to be continued’ series, they have been wrapped up in the idea of the Bible being a good source for a world view and a guide to how to live life. The amazing thing in the context of several statements in the last few weeks has been an almost denial of the Bible as a source for Christian living, a dismissal of all but the four Gospels. In light of the General Assembly a few weeks ago even some ministers gave the idea of; ‘While ministers may read some of the Old Testament, they no longer read the Bible as literal or as the word of God.’ The way it was asked of me was; “You don’t take the Bible literally, do you?” To which my reply was “How else can one take it if it is the source of what you believe?” Of course that raises many issues on the topics to which the Bible speaks.

So, I have been asking about the Bible knowledge of some in our fair City, and though many have great opinions about the Bible, even of some that actually attend church, very few actually read it or know what it says. For while the Bible speaks to great values of love and compassion, it also speaks to great topics like the holiness and righteousness of God, the sinful condition of man and it really does explain why our society is in the shape it is in. It explains that lack of morals on the part of people leads to a price to pay. Look at the challenges in the area of honesty in the Parliament that has lead the news stories lately. Read the papers on crime stats and drug and alcohol abuse. Look at the rise of STD’s in our country and you will see that they are rising despite a ‘safe sex’ secular message. I have seen the late night commercials for avoiding these, as have you. The Bible tells us that we need to be honest, that we need to stay sober, that chastity is a virtue. Violent crime would disappear if the biblical mandate of ‘love God and your neighbour’ was followed. The Bible teaches us to limit sexual relations to a husband and wife married to each other. Teen pregnancy? Tayside has some of the highest rates in the UK, but it can be solved. HIV/Aids? Well, you wipe that out in short order if monogamy in marriage and/or abstinence is taught and practiced.

Are these messages popular in our world today? Not a chance! I have talked to too many even here in our City to think that. I am surprised though at the number of folk who don’t even really understand that this is basic Christian principle. But at the same time I find odd the concept that to take a stance for traditional Christian morality makes me “un-loving”? I have friends who live different than my sense of Christian values suggests they should, but we are still friends. As I was reminded, the doctor who tells the person with cancer that they need surgery or chemo is not unloving. But a doctor who tells a patient they are fine when the patient is sick is unloving.

And thus it should be with a literal Bible message, it must be shared for the truth it is, yet in love with a view to changing the world...

To be continued...

Rev. Jon Bergen, Brechin Baptist Fellowship

Father's Day Thought for the Week...

This was what I put together for the Brechin Advertiser this week. Hope you enjoy.

With Father’s Day this up-coming Sunday, 21 June, I will take a wee break from my ‘to be continued’ series and give a few thoughts on fathers. There are days dads get a rather bad deal and days we only get what we deserve, and then there are times we get better than we deserve. I try to take all three types of days in stride.

The challenge with being a father is that it is easy to get the job of dad, sometimes before one thinks he is really ready, truth is we are never really ready, but as I said it is can be an easy job to get, after all it is just a matter of biology. But really being a DAD and FATHER on the other hand is not so easy and part of the problem with being a dad is that sometimes our dads didn't do such a great job of showing us how to do this big job. Sometimes it is a matter of us not being in the right places at the right times to really be part of our children’s lives. Sometimes we are just lazy and there are a bunch of other factors of course.

As a minister I try to spend a bit of time reading my Bible and in it sadly there are not very many ‘great dads’ to model what it takes to get the job done. Our first father Adam really started the whole mess, couldn’t even obey God to not eat one little piece of fruit for goodness sake, then he blamed Eve... Then over and over we find dads that let their kids down, did the wrong thing for the wrong reason and we wonder why we can’t get it sorted our own selves.

There is a wee story, that I have no idea of the origins, of a dad that is watching his son trying to move a really heavy stone. The lad is grunting and groaning and making hard graft of it and still no joy. The dad asks, “Son, are you sure you are using all your strength to get that stone moved?” The exasperated son says “Of course I am...” To which the father replies, “No you are not, you haven’t asked me to help you.”

Thing is we, as dads, really are that wee lad trying desperately to move the rock of raising our children all by ourselves, when we could so easily ask a heavenly father to help us. God does want to be our heavenly father so that we can call out to him as Jesus did and as Paul encourages us to do; to call out Abba Father, or Daddy Daddy. There is all the help we need if we just ask.

I don’t know how you feel but it warms my heart when my wee lassies come running up to me and tell me they love me or what a good dad I am. I’d tell you it works as well when my big braw lads tell me they love me as well, but goodness knows I’d never want to embarrass them by saying that in public, so we shall leave it to the wee lassies to make a Daddy feel good inside. But God, ‘Our Father which is in Heaven’ also likes to hear from us once in a while as well. And he sets a pretty good example for us to follow. The best line I think starts out; “For God so loved...”

Rev. Jon Bergen

Going well...

Well today I am in St. Andrews with a bunch of ministers. Alister Begg is the speaker and he has so far nailed it exactly with a call to us a pastors to PREACH the GOSPEL! Look out when I get back, you only thought I wanted to preach... Anyway keep me and the others in your prayers as we face the future of Church in the 21st Century... More to come...

Jon