I have felt myself drifting slowly further and further from the mind-set which has prevailed in me for the last 15 years that I have been a Christian. I have accepted holus bolus what I have heard and not questioned at all. Now I find myself uncomfortable with what I hear in church. Make no mistake, I love the Jesus, and trust Yahweh completely, o I believe I am still technically a Christian, but the mindset has problems for me and I have decided to try and find what it is that alienates me by looking at the Bible. This will no doubt be a long journey. I hope that it will be a thorough one but knowing myself I am unsure of this. Nonetheless I want to try and do it justice for my own sake and the sake of my family and friends.
So I will start at Matthew 3.1 because what goes before is the Christmas story and a whole lot of generational stuff.
John the Baptist appears. In his appearance there is already a whole lot of prophecy and mystery, as his mother allegedly prophesied over Mary when they met and Elizabeth was already pregnant. He was prophetic even in the womb since he “jumped in his mother’s womb” when she saw Mary.
Of course this is all hearsay. It has been retold by others before we even hear it from Matthew, but we either believe it or not based on whether we buy the Bible story. I do believe it. That is what faith is. You believe something when it is said to you. No amount of evidence will convince you if you do not have faith. Or said another way, to come to faith through evidence is a contradiction in term because faith is not based on evidence it is based on an inner conviction
So I conclude i believe that John the baptiser was a prophet. He felt an inner prompting to speak out that things were not right. Whether he knew that from being around people or not, is an open question. He was apparently from the desert where he practised some form of asceticism or withheld himself from worldly pleasures. So he would have been inclined to be quite extreme by ordinary standards. Yet he didn’t fall into the same category as the orthodox Jews because he called them a brood of vipers. So he wasn’t just an ordinary prude. We feel that because he lived in the desert and the desert is often a symbol in the Bible for purity (people go there to fast) that he has some sort of inside track on holiness. So he has credentials.
his is again where faith comes in. I feel it in my bones that he knew what he was talking about. Here is a man who s everything that I am not. I indulge my passions. I drink too much, I get angry with everything and everybody and let my mind wander. But he is a man who has a different focus. My instinct is to believe him, to listen to what he has to say. and what does he say?
REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND. Things have gone along like this for too long. There is a change coming. God is reinstating his rule. If you have bought into the rule of the previous king (who the Hell could that have been?)then your time is up. So make your choice. If you want to be part of the previous reign then you should know that you are being served notice.
The Problem is that we don’t see much of the new reign or ruler around us. Things have gone on like this for so long and there are lots of nice explanations for the fact. The evidence is scanty that there has been a change of rule. So what is the reason? I suppose that is one of the things that I will try to clear up for myself. It’s like a dash of lukewarm water after the cold water of the announcement that John came to make. The kingdom line makes me excited and the other one makes me depressed. Let’s hope that I can work through this in a way that will resolve my doubts or at least leave me invigorated for what I come to believe is the truth. Maybe the answer is not clearcut but rather what allows conviction to arise from within me. Only God knows
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