Spiritual Paradigm

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Post #8 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis - The Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text If you read through the Preface of several modern English translations, and look at the section that deals with the Old Testament sources and translation approach, you will find a reference to the Masoretic Text (the Biblia Hebraica). It will also clarify that they used other additional sources to help with textual variants, or possible corruptions in the text. These other sources will generally include the Septuagint, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac, the Latin Vulgate, the Targum, and sometimes even Jewish tradition to help with the overall analysis and final translation. Some Prefaces provide more details than others, but by and large this is the standard. Why would they use these other sources along with the Masoretic Text, if the Masoretic Text is the Hebrew text? Why not just translate the Hebrew to English and be done with it? Because the Masoretic Text is a reconstructed text that was put together by the work of Jewish scribes (called Masoretes) between the 6th and 10 centuries A.D. Yes, you read that correctly, A.D., not B.C. The Hebrew source text for your English translation is a reconstructed text pieced together in the medieval period. So the other sources (like the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, etc.) - while they are themselves translations and not in Hebrew - they are much older than the Biblia Hebraica (Masoretic Text). The Masoretes invented a system of vocalization, punctuation, and cantillation marks for the consonantal Hebrew text (since Hebrew had always been written without vowels). Having no vowels inevitably leads to ambiguities and uncertainties when reading the text, as a particular consonantal word can be read in a variety of ways depending on where one might place the vowels. The Masoretes invented a system of vocalization, known today as the Tiberian system of vocalization, which followed with extreme exactitude the pronunciation of Hebrew that they had received in their tradition. Vowels were indicated using a system of dots, bars, and other marks placed around the consonants known as niqqūd “pointing.” In addition, this system of pointing indicated an elaborate scheme of punctuation as well as a system for noting cantillation for chanting the text in the synagogue. The Masoretes kept meticulous notes about the Hebrew text in the margins of the manuscripts, indicating, among other things, where they ran into textual variants and possible corruptions, and how they handled it. There are two of these margins, the large and the small, known respectively as the Masorah Magna and the Masorah Parva. These margins also noted the number of times a particular word occurred in the entire Hebrew Bible. For example, if a word occurred only once in the Hebrew Bible (in the proto-Masoretic sources), the Masoretes would place a circle over the word and note in the margin ֹל, which is an Aramaic abbreviation for לא אית or לית lā ˀīṯ or lēṯ meaning “there is not (any more of this word).” Also, the Masoretes even kept track of the number of words and letters in a particular book. It has long been thought that the Septuagint was likely based on much older manuscripts than the Masoretic Text. Even to this day the Orthodox Church uses the Septuagint as their primary source text for the Old Testament (not the Masoretic Text). However, there is evidence in the Dead Sea Scrolls that there was a proto-Masoretic text that may be based on manuscripts that are just as old as manuscripts used for the Septuagint. Determining which is truly based on older manuscripts is difficult, if not impossible. As such, the Septuagint (as well as the other sources listed) are still consulted in the textual analysis process. There were also other Hebrew and Greek texts floating around in the 2nd Temple period and even the 1st Century, but let's save that for another post. Summarizing: Your modern translation's Old Testament is based primarily on the Masoretic Text put together in the medieval period, but also utilizes other sources in the textual analysis process to help with textual variants and possible errors or corruptions. A lot of work and a lot of scholarship is involved. -Aaron Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible By Emanuel Tov http://bit.ly/2ills5p http://amzn.to/2ywZAIk

Dr. Rolf Schäfer und Dr. Florian Voss Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft https://www.sbl-site.org/…/Intro-ScholarlyEditions-GBS_2.pdf

The Masoretic Hebrew vs. The Septuagint (Part 1) https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/…/masoretic-hebrew-vs-septu…/

The Masoretic Text https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-masoretic-text/

The Masoretic Text http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/masoretic-text

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Post #7 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

More on Oral Traditions

"So what parts of the Hebrew Bible might have originated as oral traditions? 1. Proverbs - short wise sayings about how to live - circulate orally in virtually every culture, even cultures with a high level of literacy (see chapter 37). Many of the sayings that were eventually collected into the book of Proverbs would have been recited orally among friends and families long before they were written down. The same can be said for proverbial sayings that appear elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible (for example, Ezekiel 12:32, 16:44, 18:2). 2. Virtually all of the songs and prayers that fill the book of Psalms are artful literary compositions that were created to be sung or recited orally in the worship of ancient Israel (see Chapter 30). Most appear to have been composed in written form from the start, but some might have originated with the illiterate masses before they were taken up and crafted it into their present form by the literate elites. 3. Most of the sayings in the books of the prophets represent excerpts from speeches that the prophets delivered orally to a public audience. Sometimes they addressed individuals or groups of people who gathered to hear them speak. At other times they simply shouted their message to anyone who happened to pass by on the street. Some of the prophets were consulted by kings and other high officials, While others were rejected and abused by people who felt threatened by their criticisms of the status quo. The biblical books that bear their names are essentially edited collections of snippets from their oral speeches. The process by which these oral sayings were converted into written texts is unclear - some may have been written down at an early date, while others were preserved in oral form by their disciples and others who heard them (see chapter 31). 4. Stories, like proverbs, play a crucial role in sustaining the beliefs and practices of an oral culture from generation to generation. Many scholars believe that the biblical narratives about the early days of the people of Israel (specifically, prior to the establishment of the monarchy around 1020 BCE) were passed on orally for centuries before they were enshrined in books that became part of the Hebrew Bible. Some think that the stories had already been linked together into a grand narrative before they were written down, while others believe that the stories circulated independently until they were combined to form a coherent storyline by the people who composed the biblical texts. Still others insist that most or all of the stories originated as written compositions late in Israel's history, so that there was no period of oral transmission. Scholars are equally divided over the origins of the stories in the so-called Historical Books of the Bible. Many believe that these books were based on official records and other documents that were written close to the time of the events that they described. The authors (or editors) may have exercised literary creativity in the way they told the stories, but their basic information came from written sources, not from oral tradition. Others point to evidence suggesting that the authors made use of both oral and written materials when composing their texts. Still others regard virtually all of the stories as literary fictions that made little use of earlier sources. Scholars who take this position disagree about how to handle outside materials that seem to corroborate the historicity of at least some of the characters and events narrated in these books (see chapter 9). On the whole, scholars are deeply divided over how much of the material in these books goes back to oral or written sources and how much should be credited to the literary creativity of a later author or editor. 5. The literary history of the legal materials in the Torah is largely a matter of conjecture. The Torah is a complex literary work that emerged out of a long history of compilation, revision, and editing (see chapter 22). In its present form it reflects the interests of the educated priestly elites who dominated the temple in Jerusalem. But scholars remain uncertain about how the laws of Torah developed. Most would agree that some of the laws originated among the illiterate masses while others were created and preserved among the priestly elites. Most also assume that members of the priestly class were functionally literate and thus capable of making written collections of laws. Yet evidence from other cultures suggests that most of the priests could have learned the laws that pertained to their duties (for instance, how to performa sacrifices and offerings) through oral instruction. In summary, it seems safe to say that at least some of the laws that were finally incorporated into the Torah were transmitted orally for a lengthy period of time within limited segments of the Israelite populace." - The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach By Dr. Christopher D. Stanley (page 45) http://amzn.to/2r6jOnu

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Post #6 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

This post is an excellent lecture by highly regarded Jewish biblical scholar William Propp on the history of Hebrew manuscripts. He discusses the various reproduced Hebrew texts, manuscript copies, textual variants, how the Hebrew language changed over time, and who may have written the Torah (the first 5 books). He also has a nice sarcastic sense of humor. I enjoyed this one.

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Post #5 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

Oral Traditions A ciip from, “The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach” by Dr. Christopher D. Stanley: “The origins of the Hebrew Bible are shrouded in mystery. Our only evidence for the development of the collection, including the authorship and dating of individual books, comes from the texts themselves. Some of the books contain historical references or allusions that can be checked against the records of Israel's neighbors (the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians) in order to arrive at an estimated date of composition or editing. Others can be dated by correlating their contents with the more dateable books. In the end, however, all that we have are inferences; there are no outside references to the authorship or dating of any of the books in the Hebrew Bible. Because of the limited nature of the evidence, scholars have developed various theories about the origins and history of the biblical text. Some think that the Hebrew Bible contains materials that were composed fairly early in the history of the people of Israel (1000 BCE or earlier), while others would date virtually all of the texts to the last few centuries before the Common Era (400 - 200 BCE)..... Virtually all scholars agree that at least some of what eventually became the Hebrew Bible began as oral tradition, a term that refers to any kind of material that is passed on within a society by word of mouth. For example, people in every culture have a stock of traditional stories that they tell their children (and other adults) in order to keep alive the traditional beliefs and practices of the society. Other types of material that are commonly passed on in oral form include wise sayings about life (often called proverbs), songs, prayers, and rules of conduct. Why do people pass on such important elements of their cultural legacy by word of mouth rather than in writing? The simple answer is that written texts are useless to people who cannot read. The evidence for literacy levels in ancient Palestine is sparse, but materials from similar cultures suggest that not more than 5 to 10% of the population would have been able to read or write at a functional level, and virtually all of these people would have lived in the cities. Public schooling was nonexistent in ancient Israel; most children went to work in the fields or began training for a trade at a very early age in order to help the family survive. Formal education (including literacy training) was a luxury to which only the urban elites could aspire.... In societies where literacy is scarce, a variety of formal and informal institutions and activities work together to preserve the traditional beliefs, values, and practices of the culture. Parents tell their children age-old stories of how the world reached its present form and where people like them fit into this world. Adults remind children about proper standards of conduct. Shepherds and farmers swap stories and songs around the campfire on a cold winter evening. Religious leaders recite stories, sing songs, offer prayers, and oversee the rituals that the group uses to curry favor with the supernatural forces that surround them.” - The Hebrew Bible: A Comparative Approach By Dr. Christopher D. Stanley http://amzn.to/2r6jOnu / http://bit.ly/2pmiBb1 (In that last line, or actually the last paragraph, he's speaking of ancient Near Eastern cultures in general, of which Israel was a part.)

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Post #4 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

by Aaron Logan Bible Prefaces Here are some snippets from the prefaces of several modern English translations, to again shed some light on the sources used for the Old Testament, and how they handled textual variants and issues that arose. (You can learn quite a bit just by reading the prefaces to modern translations. ) Again, "the original" manuscripts (the autographs) didn't survive, so you will see below the source texts utilized. NKJV http://www.bible-researcher.com/nkjv.html

For the New King James Version the text used was the 1967/1977 Stuttgart edition of the Biblia Hebraica, with frequent comparisons being made with the Bomberg edition of 1524-25. The Septuagint (Greek) Version of the Old Testament and the Latin Vulgate also were consulted. In addition to referring to a variety of ancient versions of the Hebrew Scriptures, the New King James Version draws on the resources of relevant manuscripts from the Dead Sea caves. In the few places where the Hebrew was so obscure that the 1611 King James was compelled to follow one of the versions, but where information is now available to resolve the problems, the New King James Version follows the Hebrew text. Significant variations are recorded in footnotes. ESV https://www.esv.org/preface/

The ESV is based on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (5th ed., 1997), and on the Greek text in the 2014 editions of the Greek New Testament (5th corrected ed.), published by the United Bible Societies (UBS), and Novum Testamentum Graece (28th ed., 2012), edited by Nestle and Aland. The currently renewed respect among Old Testament scholars for the Masoretic text is reflected in the ESV’s attempt, wherever possible, to translate difficult Hebrew passages as they stand in the Masoretic text rather than resorting to emendations or to finding an alternative reading in the ancient versions. In exceptional, difficult cases, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac Peshitta, the Latin Vulgate, and other sources were consulted to shed possible light on the text, or, if necessary, to support a divergence from the Masoretic text. Similarly, in a few difficult cases in the New Testament, the ESV has followed a Greek text different from the text given preference in the UBS/Nestle-Aland 28th edition. Throughout, the translation team has benefited greatly from the massive textual resources that have become readily available recently, from new insights into biblical laws and culture, and from current advances in Hebrew and Greek lexicography and grammatical understanding. NASB http://www.bible-researcher.com/nasb-preface.html http://www.lockman.org/nasb/nasbprin.php

HEBREW TEXT: In the present translation the latest edition of Rudolf Kittel's BIBLIA HEBRAICA has been employed together with the most recent light from lexicography, cognate languages, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

ALTERNATIVE READINGS: In addition to the more literal renderings, notations have been made to include alternate translations, reading of variant manuscripts and explanatory equivalents of the text. Only such notations have been used as have been felt justified in assisting the reader's comprehension of the terms used by the original author. KJV http://testimony-magazine.org/back/jun2011/burke.pdf https://bible.org/se…/1-wycliffe-king-james-period-challenge

I didn't include a clip from the KJV Preface [although you can read it here if you like: http://www.bible-researcher.com/kjvpref.html] because it is rather tedious and verbose, and also written in King James English (naturally, haha). But I will still provide a quick snippet of the source texts used by the KJV translators. Like the others, the KJV pulled from multiple sources to derive its translation. For the Old Testament, the Masoretic text, the Vulgate, the Septuagint and the Targums, as well as earlier English translations (*listed below). For the New Testament, the Greek source texts of Erasmus, Stephanus, and Beza, the Latin Vulgate and its English translation the Douai-Rheims Bible, as well as other English translations that came before the KJV (*Wycliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale, the Great Bible, the Geneva Bible, and the Bishops’ Bible). NIV (2011) http://www.bible-researcher.com/niv2011-preface.html

For the Old Testament the standard Hebrew text, the Masoretic Text as published in the latest edition of Biblia Hebraica, has been used throughout. The Masoretic Text tradition contains marginal notations that offer variant readings. These have sometimes been followed instead of the text itself. Because such instances involve variants within the Masoretic tradition, they have not been indicated in the textual notes. In a few cases, words in the basic consonantal text have been divided differently than in the Masoretic Text. Such cases are usually indicated in the textual footnotes. The Dead Sea Scrolls contain biblical texts that represent an earlier stage of the transmission of the Hebrew text. They have been consulted, as have been the Samaritan Pentateuch and the ancient scribal traditions concerning deliberate textual changes. The translators also consulted the more important early versions — the Greek Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Targums, and for the Psalms, the Juxta Hebraica of Jerome. Readings from these versions, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the scribal traditions were occasionally followed where the Masoretic Text seemed doubtful and where accepted principles of textual criticism showed that one or more of these textual witnesses appeared to provide the correct reading. In rare cases, the committee has emended the Hebrew text where it appears to have become corrupted at an even earlier stage of its transmission. These departures from the Masoretic Text are also indicated in the textual footnotes. RSV (preface) http://www.bible-researcher.com/rsvpreface.html

The problem of establishing the correct Hebrew and Aramaic text of the Old Testament is very different from the corresponding problem in the New Testament. For the New Testament we have a large number of Greek manuscripts, preserving many variant forms of the text. Some of them were made only two or three centuries later than the original composition of the books. For the Old Testament, only late manuscripts survive, all (with the exception of the Dead Sea texts of Isaiah and Habakkuk and some fragments of other books) based on a standardized form of the text established many centuries after the books were written.

The present revision is based on the consonantal Hebrew and Aramaic text as fixed early in the Christian era and revised by Jewish scholars (the “Masoretes”) of the sixth to ninth centuries. The vowel-signs, which were added by the Masoretes, are accepted also in the main, but where a more probable and convincing reading can be obtained by assuming different vowels, this has been done. No notes are given in such cases, because the vowel points are less ancient and reliable than the consonants.

Departures from the consonantal text of the best manuscripts have been made only where it seems clear that errors in copying had been made before the text was standardized. Most of the corrections adopted are based on the ancient versions (translations into Greek, Aramaic, Syriac, and Latin), which were made before the time of the Masoretic revision and therefore reflect earlier forms of the text. In every such instance, a footnote specifies the version or versions from which the correction has been derived, and also gives a translation of the Masoretic Text.

Sometimes it is evident that the text has suffered in transmission, but none of the versions provides a satisfactory restoration. Here we can only follow the best judgment of competent scholars as to the most probable reconstruction of the original text. Such corrections are indicated in the footnotes by the abbreviation Cn, and a translation of the Masoretic Text is added.

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Post #3 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

The Purpose of Textual Research "Old Testament textual research sets out to identify accidental errors in, as well as deliberate changes to, the text of the Hebrew Bible that were made over the course of time. It seeks wherever possible to correct these changes by first identifying variations in transmission through a comparison of the existing manuscripts against each other and against the ancient translations, and then reconstructing the original version by means of rigorous scholarly criteria. (See the next section for the procedure used in New Testament textual research.) On the basis of manuscript evidence alone the best attainable wording of the Hebrew Bible is as it was around 200 B.C. Because of the incomplete nature of the text witnesses available to us today, this oldest attainable text form cannot, however, be reconstructed to the same extent in all cases. In order to present a uniform text in a printed edition of the Hebrew Bible, the construction of a text form corrected according to scholarly criteria (as in the case of the New Testament) must thus be dispensed with. Rather, it is expedient to print a copy of the “Masoretic Text” and then to list where necessary the extant textual variants in what is called the critical apparatus at the foot of each page. Also in this location any scholarly suggestions for improvement of the Masoretic text can be noted." - Dr. Rolf Schäfer und Dr. Florian Voss Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft https://www.sbl-site.org/…/Intro-ScholarlyEditions-GBS_2.pdf (Quick clarification: The "critical apparatus" is not something found in your modern English/Spanish/French/etc. translation. It is found in the source text used by translators to then create the modern translation. But they are also made available for anyone who wants to use them. For more on critical apparatuses see here http://bit.ly/2qchqis or here http://bit.ly/2qE74I2 .)

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Post #2 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

"All reliable translations of the Old Testament (OT, frequently called the Hebrew Bible - HB) into any language used today must be based on the ancient manuscripts that have survived to the present day. The important task of determining the Hebrew (most of the OT) and Aramaic (portions of Daniel, Ezra, and a few other verses) text most faithful to the original writings is a complex one because there is no document that dates to its biblical author (the autograph), but only carefully crafted, but not perfect, copies from later periods. Much of the prophetic writings, for instance, date from the 9th to the 6th centuries B.C., but the very oldest fragments of copies in Hebrew and Aramiac that exist come from the 2nd century B.C. It was in the 3rd century B.C. that the Hebrew Bible was first translated into Greek; this so-called Septuagint is the oldest and most important indirect witness from that era for the wording of the Hebrew/ Aramaic text. Further ancient translations were later added, above all the translation into the common (“Vulgata”) Latin, the Syrian “Peshitta” and the Aramaic “Targum”. The oldest direct witnesses for the text of the Hebrew Bible are the manuscripts found in 1947 and thereafter in the Judean Desert that had been hidden in caves near Qumran on the western edge of the Dead Sea. These ancient manuscripts include the remains of some 200 transcriptions of individual books of the Bible from the period between 150 B.C. and A.D. 70. Apart from one single transcription of the Book of Isaiah preserved in its entirety, the biblical texts from Qumran are mere fragments, on which in most cases a very limited number of legible words, often only a few characters, can be made out. The oldest complete copy of the entire Hebrew Bible as we know it today is the Codex Leningradensis from the year A.D. 1008. Another ancient copy, the Aleppo Codex, dating from almost a hundred years earlier (A.D. 930), is unfortunately no longer complete. The Codex Leningradensis and the Aleppo Codex are two prime examples of the so-called Masoretic text." - Dr. Rolf Schäfer und Dr. Florian Voss Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft https://www.sbl-site.org/…/Intro-ScholarlyEditions-GBS_2.pdf

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Post #1 on Old Testament Manuscripts and Textual Analysis

by Aaron Logan It's becoming more and more well known among modern Christians (thankfully) that the Bible was not originally written in King James English. What is still NOT very well known, however, are the sources that translators use to derive our modern translations. The assumption is often that translators simply take "the original" Hebrew manuscripts and translate them to English (or Spanish, or whatever modern language), and they take "the original" Greek manuscripts and do the same. One problem...."the original" manuscripts (called the autographs) didn't survive. We don't have them. Translators don't have them. What they are working with are copies....thousands of copies of manuscripts and manuscript fragments (which contain some variations - hence the need for deep textual analysis and research), and reconstructed texts that were previously compiled through their own process by scholars (also based on manuscript copies). We’ll get into the New Testament Greek sources soon (generally the Nestle Aland/UBS or Textus Receptus being the primary sources), but for now I'll discuss the Old Testament. The Old Testament in modern translations, for example, is generally compiled using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (which was developed through a century of textual research), as well as the Septuagint, The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, and various other sources. There is a tedious process of textual research and analysis (generally called Textual Criticism) that goes far beyond just translating a word or phrase from Hebrew to English. Scholars have to deal with thousands of textual variants, scribal errors, which vowels may be the most appropriate (since ancient Hebrew in general did not have most vowels in its written form....they were inferred by the reader according to tradition, but were added later in the Masoretic text - which is now the base source text), and the overall task of constructing the best possible translation using all the tools, expertise, and research available to them. The Codex Leningradensis was discovered in the 1800's (it is the oldest Masoretic text found in its complete entirety, dated around 1008 A.D.) and included in later editions of the Biblia Hebraica. My point is there are many more layers than just simply translating from Hebrew to English (as if that were simple anyway). There's not simply an "original" Hebrew manuscript to translate from. Multiple sources for the Hebrew text are consulted, some of which went through their own previous process of textual research and compilation. None of this is to discount the Scriptures as something to be thrown out. I just think it helps to know a little bit about what we're reading, and we often don't know much about it. This also helps to explain the rule many of us have probably frequently heard.....that you shouldn't develop an entire doctrine based off of just one verse.  ________________________________________ Some Resources:

Textual Research On The Bible https://www.sbl-site.org/…/Intro-ScholarlyEditions-GBS_2.pdf

Foundations of the Bible http://www.lakesideministries.com/…/Found…/OldTestament.htm…

The Masorah of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Introduction and Annotated ... By Page H. Kelley, Daniel S. Mynatt, Timothy G. Crawford https://books.google.com/books…

Searching for the Original Bible by Randall Price https://books.google.com/books…

Codex Leningradensis http://biblemanuscriptsociety.com/…/Bible-m…/Leningrad-Codex

NKJV (preface) http://www.bible-researcher.com/nkjv.html NRSV (preface) http://www.bible-researcher.com/nrsvpreface.html 

ESV (preface) https://www.esv.org/preface/

NASB (preface) http://www.bible-researcher.com/nasb-preface.html http://www.lockman.org/nasb/nasbprin.php

NIV (2011) (preface) http://www.bible-researcher.com/niv2011-preface.html

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Americanized, Motivational / Self Help Version of Christianity

by Aaron Logan The Americanized, motivational / self help version of Christianity does several things: 1) It makes the purpose of our lives, our "walk with God," etc. all about finding and fulfilling our personal "destiny"..... It's a performance-based, me-centered, personal-success-focused mindset. I HAVE to reach some great level of success, or "change the world," or my life was wasted. Identity is found in dreams, performance, and personal accomplishments, rather than oneness with the Father. 2) It creates an enormous amount of pressure to be "successful"....which then leads to either guilt and shame (when I don't do enough, try hard enough, or simply fail at whatever I'm pursuing), or pride, arrogance, and looking down on others when I "succeed" (or when others don't dream as big as I do.) 3) It separates us from being able to relate to other cultures that don't think or operate this way. 4) It causes us to interpret the Bible through this lens, when the authors of scripture came from cultures that didn't think this way either. 5) It causes us to put talented, driven, successful people on a pedestal, and show less value to those who are not as talented, not as driven, and not as successful. In other words, again, we miss the root of a person's identity and inherent value. Ultimately we miss the big picture. In a practical sense, there's nothing wrong with being driven, having dreams, setting goals, and being successful. Nothing wrong with it at all. It's just important to realize this is a specific cultural mindset that should not be confused with the Gospel, the big picture spiritually, or our identity and worth as human beings.

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Toddlers, Busyness, and What We Can Learn About Relationship and Identity

by Aaron Logan So my 3 year old niece (who is so cute) occassionally comes over to my house with her mom (my sister) to hang out for a while. She gets on these missions, which I’ve also seen many other toddlers do, of bringing random things to me that she picked up, or rearranging things in a room....like it’s this VERY important project. Lol She’ll start picking stuff up on the other side of the room and bringing it to me. A couple times she’s gotten into the pantry, and started bringing all the spices, vitamins and supplements, and anything else she could pick up, over to the dining table. She’ll go back and forth and back and forth, getting everything she can and transporting it, and she is very intent, like this is serious business, and she is being very helpful around the house. Lol It cracks me up. So my approach is to first validate her, and then to gently explain I actually need her to move everything back where she got it. And I’ll even demonstrate for her. Then she starts moving everything back, and I make sure to tell her what a good job she’s doing moving it back. Although one time before I could stop her and redirect her, she had emptied the lower shelves, moving everything to the table, and then quickly moved on to the next project elsewhere! I was a bit late on that one. Lol But here’s what I’m getting at……this basically describes the life of most Christians. Busy busy busy, working very intently on some project (sometimes the project being a task, and sometimes other people, or even themselves), and they go back and forth and back and forth, running in circles, trying to earn their worth and significance. And all the while, Abba is smiling over them, and even chuckling to Himself about how cute they are and how much He wants to hug them. But also, He is gently trying to teach them their true identity and worth, and redirect their effort and “performance” to just enjoying relationship and oneness with Him. If my niece were 20 or 30 years older, she would understand that she could come see me just to have relationship. We could sit out on the patio, drink some coffee, and talk about life. She doesn’t have to run around trying to rearrange and fix everything in my house. She can enjoy relationship. And if, in the course of talking and having relationship, I ask her to help me with something around the house, then she could help me with whatever it is, but from a foundation of relationship and established significance. The reality is, in Christ, He finished the work. It’s done. It’s finished. All our running around trying to do this and do that “for God,” and trying to build something ourselves “for the Kingdom,” so we can feel significant is really just like my niece moving random things back and forth around the room as I watch and chuckle. The things she is so intently focused on are just so small and insignificant. But she doesn’t know that. And I don’t rebuke her or punish her for not knowing. I show her love and validation. I meet her where she’s at, just like her parents do. And Abba meets us where we’re at. We may be running around in circles trying to fix this and fix that, and change this and change that, and rearrange everything, because we need to feel like we’re doing something significant for Him (and we want to feel in control). If we’re not busy we don’t feel like we’re worth anything. He just smiles and loves us. He meets us where we’re at. But as we grow, we can begin to learn that all our “performance” is really just pointless. All our worth and identity are in the Father. We are complete in Him. Just sit down and have some coffee with Him. Enjoy the relationship and the indwelling of His Spirit.

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The Devil and Spiritual Warfare...?? (Part 2)

by Aaron Logan All that battling and "spiritual warfare" with the devil for years and years and years. Ready to get off the hamster wheel yet?? ;) Interesting how every time you "take authority" over "the enemy," it only seems to last a day or so, then it all comes back up and you have to do it again. If you have to keep "taking authority," then you don't really HAVE authority. (Maybe give that a sec. lol) Plus, how can something that was defeated 2,000 years ago keep coming back over and over again?? Maybe that's because what you're fighting is not a cosmic spiritual being (who isn't supposed to be omniscient anyway, but apparently is in these circles.....amazing how he is everywhere all the time, miraculously), but rather you're fighting personal expectations regarding physical circumstances, and internal battles due to conflicting feelings and belief systems within yourself. If you'll track what you're "fighting" to it's root, I mean really follow that rabbit hole all the way....you'll find that it almost always ends up being about circumstances of life (and that things aren't going how you wanted or expected), or internal struggles, where you feel distant, rejected, and disconnected from God (which is a lie, but that feeling can be very real). It's just easier to blame that on something else, especially when that's what we've been taught to do our whole lives. But actually it's coming from an internal paradigm. Change the paradigm and you'll be amazed how everything else changes. Regain your awareness of your true reality in Christ....seated in heavenly places, intimately connected to the Father....no distance or separation....completely loved, favored, and delighted in. Soak in that reality and watch the need for battling a cosmic enemy disappear.  (For Part 1 see http://spiritualparadigm.tumblr.com/post/146264859055/the-devil )

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Why Current Events Are NOT A Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies

by Aaron Logan You’ll find many people today pointing to current events in the news and claiming they are fulfillments of things written in Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, etc. However, Jesus made it essentially impossible to take Old Testament prophecies and throw them out into the future, beyond the 1st century. Note His words in Luke 21...

1) First He prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (”not one stone left upon another” Lk 21:6).

2) Then He gave them signs which would lead up to this day (v8-19). 3) Then He said the following:

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near. 21 Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city; 22 because THESE are days of vengeance, so that ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN will be FULFILLED. (Luke 21:20-22) (bold, caps added)

What were the “all things which were written”? What scriptures were written at the time Jesus made this statement? The Old Testament scriptures. The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. (The Psalms, or Writings, actually included Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, etc.) When was Jerusalem surrounded by armies, and the city and the Temple destroyed? In the Jewish-Roman War of AD66-70 (the ultimate destruction occurring in AD70). That very generation. In fact, we are told by historians that the believers heeded this warning of Jesus (to THEIR generation), and after the Roman army led by Cestius Gallus surrounded Jerusalem, and then packed up and left, the Christians fled the city and went to Pella and various other locations (safe, away from Jerusalem). They remembered Jesus’ warning, and thus they survived the fall of Jerusalem in AD70, which occurred at the hand of the Roman general, Titus.

This is consistent with the time-statement Jesus made further down in the chapter. After continuing to talk about the signs (using apocalyptic language) He then makes the following declaration:

Truly I say to you, THIS generation will not pass away until all things take place. Lk 21:32 (caps added)

So not only was Jesus Himself the fulfillment of the promises to Israel (see Acts 13:32-33 and Gal 3:16), but here we have absolute clarity in Luke 21 that everything which had been written in the Old Testament scriptures would be fulfilled in that generation, by the time Jerusalem faced its destruction. (This also aligns with what we see in Daniel 12....the “time of the end” would be when they finished shattering the power of the holy people . Dan 12:1-7)

And guess what?? It DID happen in that 1st century generation, fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy.

This means we cannot take any Old Testament prophecies and throw them out in the future, or even bring them into our present day. They were fulfilled when Jesus said they would be fulfilled. 

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Worth and Significance

by Aaron Logan The need to feel worth and significance is inherently engrained in us as humans. Different personalities respond to it differently, but it’s still there under the surface. Some of us try to fill it with relationships and co-dependence on other people. Some of us by trying to accomplish something great and “proving” ourselves. If we can “change the world” or impress people we’ll feel more significant. We latch onto things we’re good at, have a natural talent for, or have accomplished to feed that need for value and significance. We seek things like wealth, success, fame, status, and power. Even if we know they don’t ultimately bring fulfillment, our instincts are still drawn to them. Why?? They make us feel valued and significant. We react to humans who challenge, attack, or even just prick at our sense of worth and significance, often by getting defensive, attacking back, or perhaps putting up walls and blocking them out. It affects how we behave, what we pursue, what thoughts we meditate on, and how we interact with other humans…and it affects it every day. We’re often not aware of this driving force behind our behavior though, because it occurs at such a subconscious/heart level. It’s more felt than thought. I’m not sure that this instinct ever really goes away (in the fact that we’re human), but I believe we can grow and mature in how we respond to it, by learning to meditate and soak in the true source and reality of our value and significance. Like water and sunlight that soak into a plant, over and over and over….eventually it grows. It takes time. Getting things down into our heart/subconscious (our internal auto-pilot) takes time…..a lot of soaking and processing. A lot of meditating on our true value and significance, which is an eternal value and significance as a child of Abba, made in His image, inseparably connected to Him, loved, delighted in, and enjoyed by the Father. Us in Him and Him in us. The more we soak in that reality, the more it seeps down into our subconscious (our auto-pilot). Then, even though the human instinct is still there to seek and strive for value and significance, our response can elevate to that of one who knows their true worth in the Father……not needing co-dependence to find value, and not needing to “prove” ourselves in order to feel significant. Thus responding in a healthier way to people and situations, living FROM an identity that is rooted in our true value and significance. 

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A Different Way To Study

by Aaron Logan While I certainly don't agree with them on many things (like their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah), I do think there is something to be learned from orthodox Jews in how they have historically approached the study of Torah and the Talmud. Quite different from the modern, western, evangelical mindset (which only wants to be told the bottom line, black and white answer, with no other possible interpretations), they approach the Torah and Talmud by studying and discussing a wide variety of interpretations and teachings. Rabbi A says such and such about the passage, but Rabbi B says something else. Rabbi C thinks they're both wrong and presents a 3rd view, while Rabbi D thinks each has a partial truth. The idea is NOT to pick one and reject all the others, but to stretch their understanding. The back and forth can go on for hours when they study and discuss these writings, and they may never come to a bottom-line answer....that's not even the point. It's hard for us to grasp in our western culture. To quote the Jewish Virtual Library*: "Regardless of what one chooses to study, the emphasis on questioning and dialogue marks the process of Talmud Torah or sacred Jewish learning..... In approaching a text, one may first try to understand the plain meaning, or the p’shat, of the text: What is the text trying to say in its original context? What do the individual words mean? Why are certain words and phrases used rather than others? One might then ask broader questions about the meaning of the text and about its relation to other texts: What are the hidden meanings of the text? Why does the text speak as it does? How do we relate to the text? In what ways does the text reflect or conflict with our own beliefs and values? What about the text do we find problematic or challenging? Asking these types of questions may RARELY lead to a definitive resolution, but will certainly contribute to a deeper understanding of the texts at hand and of one’s companions in study. Ultimately, it is the PROCESS of study, with its emphasis on questions and dialogue, which distinguishes Talmud Torah from other forms of study." (caps added for emphasis) Because the western evangelical approach is so opposite, many of us grew up in certain church culture bubbles and have never even been presented with a different view of Biblical passages. In fact, we kinda freak out if someone brings up a concept or interpretation we haven't heard before, even if they can back it up pretty thoroughly. This isn't to say ultimate truth does not exist....simply that our understanding and interpretation of what we're reading may very well be limited, and it's helpful to acknowledge that. Also not saying that orthodox Jews are correct in everything they believe. But I do agree with scholar and theologian Peter Enns on this....I think we could learn a great deal from the "approach" and the "process" Jews take in their method of study. For more detail:

*How to Properly Study the Torah http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/…/Juda…/talmudtorah.html

The Talmud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLYDdEPMXWM

Peter Enns - A Journey With Scripture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egiFLFOu_4g&t=728s

[spiritualparadigm]

Prophetic Spiritual Warfare and Politics

by Aaron Logan The blending of the "prophetic" spiritual warfare paradigm with politics may seem good and right from the outskirts (to those in Charismatic circles).....it did to me for many years, because I was in that bubble.....but the fruit of it has turned out to be pretty nasty. When I believe that Republican vs Democrat is no longer about having different practical views on public policy issues, but is now part of a cosmic battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, the forces of light vs the forces of darkness, it allows me to treat people with different political views as if they are now my spiritual enemy. Rather than seeing them as humans that the Father loves and wants to be in relationship with, I now see them as a threat to my spiritual world-view, and I think they are enemies of God. And since I think they are enemies of God, that makes it ok to treat them like my own enemy. I saw a video of one conservative radio host (his show is videoed and streamed) go on an absolute yelling, screaming rant recently about how the liberal Democrats HATE God. He SCREAMED it into the microphone, and the veins in his face were about to pop out. They HATE God?? Because they have different views on public policy issues?? Sure looked like HE was the one with the hate issues. I have seen supposed "spiritual leaders" attack and mock other pastors and leaders who did not share their view of God choosing a certain candidate as the savior of America. This is NOT how we live out the character of Christ. This is what happens when we 1) don't understand the reality of the New Covenant, and that America is NOT Old Covenant Israel, and 2) think that politics are a part of some great spiritual warfare battle going on between angels and demonic forces, and anyone with a different political view has joined the dark side and is now my enemy. [Bad eschatology also comes into play, big time.] Yes there are very real ramifications for having bad policies, and we should vote according to what we believe is wise. Get involved if you want to, promoting a better understand of the issues, donating to your candidate, and volunteering. We need people making wiser decisions in public office. But it's time to stop treating people like they are demons (or like they are on the side of demons), and start treating them like the ones Jesus loves....because He does.

[spiritualparadigm]

No one knows the day or the hour....except John. Wait, what??

by Aaron Logan “No one knows the day or the hour...” A common statement about the final coming of Jesus among people who believe either we are in the last days, or the last days are yet ahead of us. Often, this statement is used to bring some calm and reason whenever people are all worked up over the latest prophecy craze, or “signs” they claim to be seeing in the news. Saying, “No one knows the day or the hour” is kind of a way of reminding people they shouldn’t get all worked up over everything. And that’s definitely a good motive.

The phrase (or variations of it) is found a few times in Matt 24 & 25, and I have compiled them here. However, while Jesus said they did not know the day or the hour, He did tell them (multiple times) which generation everything would occur in......THAT generation. Note the following verses:

When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to YOU, YOU will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Matt 10:23  [spoken to His disciples..... first century audience] [caps/bold added]

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,  that on YOU may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Matt 23:34‭-‬35 [first century audience] [caps/bold added] 

Assuredly, I say to YOU, all these things will come upon THIS generation. Matt 23:36 [first century audience] [caps/bold added]

Assuredly, I say to you, THIS generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Matt 24:34  [first century audience] [caps/bold added]

Jesus said to him (Caiaphas the high priest), "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter YOU will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power , and coming on the clouds of heaven ."Matt 26:64  [first century audience] [caps/bold/parenthesis added]

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.  FOR THESE ARE THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE, THAT ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN MAY BE FULFILLED. Luke 21:20‭-‬22  [first century audience] [caps added]

So while they may not have known the day or the hour, they DID know the generation. 

But wait, it gets more interesting.... John later writes that it was the last hour, and they KNEW it was the last hour:

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we KNOW that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18) [first century audience] [caps/bold added]

How was it possible for John to know it was the last hour, when Jesus said no one knew the day or the hour??  There’s something very important that happened between the two statements. Jesus told them in John 16:

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:13 

So we see a progression in the great story that was unfolding. Jesus said no one knew the day or hour (though He told them which generation). But then He said the Holy Spirit would come, guiding them into all the truth, and disclosing what was to come. The Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost. Then, after all of that, we have John writing (by inspiration of the Holy Spirit) that it was the last hour. Everything occurred in that generation, just as Jesus said.

[spiritualparadigm]

Church Cultures

by Aaron Logan I’ve been thinking a lot about church cultures lately, and decided to write down some thoughts. This is by no means an exhaustive list, especially since there are 33,000+ denominations out there. There’s no way to cover everything. And this is not meant to be an attack on anyone, though I tried to be very honest and direct. I absolutely acknowledge I have my own preferences and opinions on this, and see these through my own lens. All that said, here are some of the cultures that immediately stuck out to me: Motivational / How-To Culture          This culture tends to treat church like a corporation, or a motivational conference. In fact, they pull many of the principles of the corporate world into the way they run the church. The messages to the people are things they need to do in order to be “successful,” to achieve their “destiny,” to “change the world,” etc. If you’re not building something great with your life, then you’re wasting your life. This creates a high performance culture. People feel like they need to be very busy, always doing something, always pursuing something, always reading self-improvement / self-help books, and motivating others to do more, to be better. You’re always trying to get to another “level.” Some are more emotion based than others. Enthusiasm is often a sacred trait. This culture tends to reward and praise people with driven, zealous, passionate personality types. Being “on fire for God,” or passionately pursuing a vision. In many cases, people with different (more laid back or more balanced) personalities are [indirectly] made to feel inferior, and like they need to change their personality in order to become more intense, more zealous, or more enthusiastic…. thus more spiritual. “If you stop moving, you start sinking,” is sort of an underlying message. It can create a lot of hype, a lot of movement, and a lot of busy bees, but it misses the whole point of the New Covenant Reality in Christ.

Self-Analyzing / Self-Improving Culture

         You might also call this a “counseling culture.” Everything is about the heart and your issues. What’s going on in your heart? Are you dealing with your issues? Are you overcoming your issues and your hang ups? What are your greatest fears and insecurities? How are you dealing with them? Do you have any hurt or shame you haven’t faced? Have you gone through inner healing? It’s funny because Brené Brown has become a favorite author in these circles, but I don’t even know if she’s Christian. We definitely need this in society, in order to help people deal with their hurt, their shame, their insecurities, their sense of self, etc. But this is not the crux of the Gospel, or of our spiritual reality in Christ. This deals with the heart and the psyche, not spiritual truths. Not the New Covenant. It’s a good thing, but it’s really a side issue. You can be prolific in this area and know absolutely nothing about scripture, about theology, about New Covenant realities, about the journey of the covenants, etc. Of course, on the flip side, the more you learn about your true spiritual reality in Christ, your oneness with Him in the New Covenant, your place as a son or daughter, the more a lot of these issues end up fading on their own. Brokenness / Repentance (sin focused) Culture          This is a high-conviction culture. The goal of every church service seems to be to make people feel as guilty and convicted as possible. They need to see how terrible they are so they can be broken and repent. Brokenness and repentance is always the ultimate goal in everything. People should constantly be walking in brokenness and repentance. People are led to believe this is the whole point of the Christian walk…..to constantly live in brokenness, self-condemnation, non-stop repenting, regret, weeping over our failures and weaknesses, and apologizing to the Father basically for being alive. The more convicted and broken we are, the more the Father will be pleased with us, and the more everyone else in this culture will be pleased with us. The problem (or one of many) is that “repent” means to change your mind or change the way you think. So constant repentance is actually different than what they think. Really what they mean is constant remorse and conviction. Constant apologies. Constantly reminding yourself how sinful and unworthy you are. It misses the point of your new spiritual reality in Christ. It misses the finished work of Jesus and that we are new creations in Christ, seated in heavenly places. It misses the fact that the sin issue has been dealt with through the blood of Jesus. A fruit of this, is that it creates a very judgmental and controlling culture. Since the end goal [that everyone carries as their paradigm] is brokenness and remorse, people not only put that on themselves, but turn around and put it on everyone else. We size everyone up to see how broken and repentant they are. The more broken they act, the more we pat them on the back. But if someone in the church does not appear “broken” enough or remorseful and convicted enough, they need to be brought down a few notches and humbled. Now you have the church (or people therein) trying to break people down instead of building people up. Another thing it fosters is people becoming very creative, and extra-biblical, about what everyone should be “convicted” of. People in this culture will start looking for the silliest things to get convicted of, and then post it on a blog or social media so everyone in their cultural bubble can pat them on the back for being so creative and thoughtful with their new conviction, and then they can all feel convicted of it together. Again, it completely misses the New Covenant reality in Christ, and the heart of the Father.

Crazy Charismatic Culture          This is the flag waving, tongue-talking, prayer-line falling, tambourine playing, devil fighting, everything is emotional and “spiritual warfare” culture. The weirder it is, the more spiritual it is. Everything is super spiritual. There’s a “spirit” behind every headache, every traffic jam, every miscommunication, every politician, and every circumstance. If your car won’t start, you pray in tongues at it. If your prayer [for anything] hasn’t been answered yet (visibly), it’s because you haven’t found the magic words and need to do more “warfare.” The spirit realm is imagined to be sort of like Lord Of The Rings, with darkness and demons everywhere, always attacking. People in this culture are genuine and mean well, things just get way off in left field. Extroverts and enthusiastic people do very well in this culture, and tend to be seen as more spiritual. They are generally more comfortable waving flags and being loud, so they fit right in. I probably shouldn’t have to say it, but yes, this one also misses the New Covenant reality in Christ. Jewish-Christian Culture / Hebrew Roots Movement          Kind of following the Crazy Charismatic culture, we have the Jewish-Christian culture, also called the Hebrew Roots Movement. Many times these 2 overlap (Charismatic and Hebrew Roots culture), but not always. In this culture, the more Jewish things you incorporate, the more spiritual you are. This culture often includes shofars, Jewish music, observing (although rarely correctly) Jewish feasts, holidays, and sabbaths, following the Jewish calendar, incorporating Hebrew words into prayer, tracking the latest news on the modern nation of Israel and tying it to prophecies in scripture, etc. All these things make you more spiritual, of course. The book of Galatians must be avoided, however, or re-interpreted completely, since it shoots holes in this Jewish-Christian model. Also most of Romans, and parts of Ephesians, Acts, Colossians, and the book of Hebrews. In fact, I have seen ministries in this culture post warnings on their websites about the writings of Paul, trying to discredit or downplay his view. Since so much of Paul’s teachings dealt with the issue of blending Judaism and Christianity (mixing covenants), and not going back to the old Jewish system, you really do have to try to discredit him if you’re going to stick with this belief system. But rather than using scripture to help create church culture, this culture is created first, and then scripture is interpreted through it’s lens. The context and progression of scripture must be ignored in order to stay here. But for some reason people really seem to like this church culture. They’d rather go back to a quasi-Old Covenant than truly embrace the New.

Personal Balance Culture         In some church cultures, being structured and having everything in your life balanced, organized, and in order (spiritually, physically, and emotionally) is highly valued and considered the goal of the Christian life. So people with naturally balanced, structured personalities get put on a spiritual pedestal. Their calendar is balanced and structured. They never forget a commitment. They never miss a “quiet time,” a tithe check, or a worship service. Since they have a level-headed, grounded personality, they are rarely moved by circumstances and challenges. They are steady and consistent. And this of course, makes them the most spiritual, and the most successful at the Christian walk. This is my own personality actually, and I can’t tell you how many times I have been praised and put on a pedestal for being so balanced, structured, and steady. I like my personality. I like the way God made me. Yet it doesn’t make me more or less spiritual than someone with a different personality. But the reason this personality type often gets praised for being so good at the Christian life is because this personality type is often good at performance….or at least at the things we deem to be important. It’s not as hard to stay on top of things like “quiet times,” because that just comes naturally to this personality type. Having a structure and sticking with it. Or analyzing a situation, not being moved emotionally, and making a practical, wise choice. In this church culture, if you keep your health, career, relationships, church involvement, finances, and personal spiritual walk all in balance, you are a rockstar. That’s the goal in this culture. Have it all under control. But if you have a chaotic personality, you kinda feel inferior and less spiritual, like you’re an immature Christian. The problem here is the blending of practical things with spiritual realities.

Knowledge is King Culture         This culture pursues knowledge, research, and learning. People in this culture are often very well read, and generally familiar with various positions of doctrine, as well as the writings and theological views of early church fathers. In some cases, they may also be very familiar with the historical and cultural setting of scriptures, and study the Greek and Hebrew as well. This culture tends to be quite the opposite of emotional. Church services are not about hype and excitement - they are about learning. I have a very high appreciation for this culture and their passion for learning, but like any culture, there can be setbacks. One of the pitfalls can be that knowledge [by itself] puffs up and creates an atmosphere of pride and comparison, if not accompanied by an understanding of the Father’s heart, sonship, and our New Covenant reality in Christ. It’s easy for those who have put so much time and effort into learning to look down on those who have not (guilty of that myself). It’s very easy to fall into that judgmental, comparison state. The use of large, complex vocabulary is often prominent in this culture, and is sometimes used as a method of impressing or earning respect. Arguing and debating doctrine is also pretty common. However, again, I have a huge appreciation for this church culture, because the desire to study and research has been lost in so many modern churches. 

Grace / Kingdom Culture          There are different sub-cultures within [what I would call] the Grace culture. There are some Grace-based church cultures that do not go very deep. Being loved and forgiven is where it starts and stops. There’s not much understanding of the historical and cultural context of scripture. The study of theology, eschatology, soteriology, the atonement, and church history is pretty neglected. But there are others within this culture that go deeper, diving into historical context, teaching the journey of the covenants, the spiritual implications of the New Covenant, the Kingdom, and the fullness of Christ. Jesus is the center, and everything points to Him. Many teachers in this culture have an incredible ability to see the types and shadows of Jesus all through the Old Testament, and they understand the progression of the story in scripture. There is actually a subculture beginning to develop in Grace circles that is being called “Present Truth” by some, or “Kingdom Culture” by others. This culture has a foundation of the historical and cultural context of the Bible, and values theological research. But it also has a focus on the heart and love of the Father, sonship, the finished work of Jesus, and the abundant Grace that we live in as New Covenant creations. It is almost a combination of the Knowledge Culture and the Grace Culture, which excites me. I’m hopeful this subculture will continue to grow, and overtake the more shallow Grace-based cultures, which tend to not care as much for theological research. Conclusion          I’m sure I missed some cultures in this write-up, and probably also missed certain aspects within each one, both positive and negative. Let me just say that, while I have my own personal preference, I believe the Father uses whatever church culture people are involved with and meets us where we’re at. No one has it all completely figured out. We’re all on a journey.