The
SUSQUEHANNA SENTINEL
February 21, 1999
Vol. I, No. 43

In This Issue

CAN YOU SPELL BIBLICALLY ILLITERATE?

In one Bible class after another, the diligent quest for authoritative "book, chapter, and verse" on such subjects as Christian fellowship has been replaced by banal discussion of books about the Book or, worse yet, by the latest psycho-babble on everything from marriage and parenting to dieting and co-dependency....(A)dult classes rarely rise above the level of Scripture proficiency once expected in junior high.

Year after plodding year...sixty and seventy year olds answer the same elementary questions about the text that they were asked as teenagers. Everyone knows the questions. Everyone knows the answers. Hardly anyone knows the point. Digging too deeply, or asking hard questions, or making relevant application to our own lives seems almost forbidden. What teacher today dares demand homework,...or even critical thinking during class time?

From top to bottom in congregation after congregation, Sunday fare is milk, not meat. Make that skim milk.

In our time of worship the "music ministry" has invaded space once dedicated to the ministry of the Word.

Lately we're so focused on "praising God" that we don't seem to have the time to listen to what He's telling us. A sermon longer than twenty minutes is an affront to our collective attention deficit disorder. And any congregation with two morning services is a slave to the printed program and the ticking of the clock. We hardly "take time to be holy," or even to be informed.

It's not just a matter of minutes, of course, whether fifteen or ninety. The real problem is a lack of substance in our sermons. Are we taking God's Word seriously, or are we fearful of confronting our comfortable lifestyles? Are we preaching a steady diet of grace and love without due attention to obedience and commitment? Whatever the topic, do we take the time to mine the great depths of God's amazing revelation? The danger is that with each passing year the written Word becomes more and more marginalized by other, seemingly more inviting, forms of worship activities.

Sadly, the illiteracy begins early. Too many "youth ministries," pressured by parents to entertain the troops, have dropped the ball when it comes to training young people in methods of doing serious Bible study. Of course many parents themselves have already dropped the ball at home, where Bible stories and table talk ought to have laid a strong foundation by the time children get old enough to do serious study. It's television, videos, and computer games that grab the kids' attention in the home. When church kids know more about Barney than Barnabas and spend more time with soccer than Scripture, their study habits for a lifetime have already been set as surely as if plastered in a splint.

Our people...have been destroyed for lack of knowledge....When those in the pew are ignorant of the Word, it should not be surprising that those in the pulpit can wander from the Word unchallenged and unchecked.

When the popular young preacher urges us to accept our unbaptized neighbors as brothers and sisters in Christ because the apostle Paul told the saints in Rome that "whosoever confesses Jesus is Lord" is saved, who in the audience will think of Matthew 7:21? How many will greet the preacher as they leave the building with the usual, fawning "fine sermon today," and how many will ask, "How do you reconcile Paul's words with Jesus' own warning that not everyone who says to Him, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven?"

Whatever the issue, a biblically illiterate church is a church perpetually poised on the brink of doctrinal disaster.

--F. LaGard Smith

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."

There would have been more "I love yous".. more "I'm sorrys"... but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it... live it...and never give it back. 

--Erma Bombeck

POWER ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS

In Matt. 9:1-8, Matthew tells us that after Jesus had freed the demoniacs in the region of the Gergesenes, He returned to Capernaum "and behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 'Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.' And at once some of the scribes and Pharisees said within themselves, 'This man blasphemes!' But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, 'Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Arise and walk"? But that you may

know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins' -- then He said to the paralytic, 'Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' And he arose and departed to his house. Now when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men."

As often the case, we learn additional information from Mark's account of this event. Mark tells us that Jesus was teaching and many people "gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them." He informs us the paralytic was carried by four men, who, when they could not get in the door, "uncovered the roof... and let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying" (Mark 2:2-4).

No wonder Matthew tells us Jesus "saw their faith"! They were so certain that Jesus was willing and able to help their paralyzed friend that they went to the trouble to make a hole in the roof and let him down in front of Jesus. And Jesus, perhaps, did even more for their friend than they had suspected He would. They knew Jesus had power to cure him of his paralysis. What they might not have known was that Jesus could also forgive his sins.

It was, of course, Jesus' statement remitting the man's sin that caused the scribes to accuse Him of blasphemy. They recognized that the power to absolve a person of sin rests with God -- and that to claim that power was to claim Deity, Mark 2:7; Luke 5:21. Jesus was claiming to do what only God is able to do. This must have attracted the full attention of everyone in the audience that day. Every eye must have been fixed on Jesus as He reminded those scribes that it was no more difficult to forgive sin than to miraculously, instantly heal a man in the condition of this man. Neither could be done without Divine power.

There are several other passages that show us that the primary reason Jesus worked miracles was to clearly establish His identity as the Son of God. And the reason He passed that power on to His apostles was to prove to those who heard them preach that their message was in reality a message from God. See John 3:2; Heb. 2:4; Mark 16:20.

--CRJ