Yes, Jesus Is Still Lord.

Apparently not only the lost have a problem with truth, so do some Christians, as evidenced by a post on Pried Loose.

The post in question is titled “jesus is still lord? really?” I find it easy enough to read that one of two ways: Either sarcastically (i.e., “Of course Jesus is still Lord.”) or doubtfully (“Jesus? Lord? Huh??”).

Either way, no follower of Jesus who has been born anew by His Spirit would question (even sarcastically) that He is Lord. We are told to fear Him who can destroy the soul (i.e., Jesus), and His sovereignty is not something which anyone should make fun of, even lightly. He is not the King of Id, unwittingly being made the butt of many jokes; He is Sovereign, and one day all will give account for every word spoken against Him. (And no, I don’t mean this to be a critique of the title or article in question; but I’m sure someone will take time to criticize me for speaking up for my Lord. Such is life, I suppose.)

“homosexuality is sin. islam is a lie. abortion is murder. and Jesus is still Lord.”

wow.

i would like to make an ammendment to the above statement – “Jesus loves homosexuals, Jesus loves islamics (yes, even the militant ones), Jesus holds the mother and the unborn child close in His arms of tender mercy, and Jesus is still the Lord who loves his followers despite how wrong we are 90% of the time.”

That is how this article in response to my blog’s (unoriginal, I might add) tagline begins.

Jesus loves homosexuals. And that is why He burned Sodom and Gomorrah to the ground, no? The Bible overwhelmingly declares that the willfully sinful are abhorrent–despised, hated–in God’s eyes. Yes, it may be true that He loved them enough to die for them. Yes, it may be true that He wants to welcome them home into His glory. But while they are willfully sinful, the wrath of God abides upon them, and they are hated in His eyes. That is Bible. That is truth.

Jesus loves islamics (yes, even the militant ones). And yet none come to the Father but by Jesus; and since what Jesus taught and what Islam teaches are diametrically opposed, those who hold fast to Islamic faith will have their part in the Lake of Fire. I have no problem saying God loves them–He died for them. I fully accept that. However, if Christians stop declaring truth and simply say “God loves you,” who in their right mind will want to give up sin? Did not Jesus speak a great deal on sin? Did not Moses? Did not the prophets of God? Did not the Apostles? God is a God of love and a God of hate, and Scripture declares that He abhors sinners.

Jesus holds the mother and the unborn child close in His arms of tender mercy. That may well be so (provided the mother has accepted Jesus in faith–until then, the wrath of God abides on her); it does not change the fact that hands which shed innocent blood are despised by God (Proverbs 6:17). Notice that: the Spirit doesn’t declare that the act of abortion of the shedding of innocent blood is hated by God. Rather, it is the hands which perform the act which are an abomination.

Jesus is still the Lord who loves his followers despite how wrong we are 90% of the time. I’d say that those within Christendom are wrong quite a bit more often than not, especially considering when the vast majority of churches within Christendom (Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Protestant, etc. all included) have a difficult time getting the bare minimum beliefs right. If the simple milk of the Word is so difficult for men to digest, is it any wonder the deeper teachings of the Word are missed by so many?

how on earth do we expect people to ever know the love of jesus if all we do is shout hate statements at them and each other?

I’m not shouting statements to them. I write for Christians, for myself, for my friends. If I wanted to appeal to a Muslim about the love of Christ, it’d be a far different appeal than a blog tagline. However, the simple phrases of my tagline are quite soft compared to some of the declarations made by God Himself in Scripture. If you have a problem with those simple phrases, what in Scripture irks you, and can you really say you believe it? Read Jude, for example, for one of the most scathing rebukes for false teachers (who God also loved enough to die for, yet hesitates not to declare the truth–harsh as it may be–to them). Revelation is almost entirely God’s wrath being poured out on the lost, with statements of love and mercy few by comparison.

God is a God of wrath, and to teach the whole counsel of God, that teaching must include quite a bit on wrath and the hatred of sin. I would hate to be a homosexual who believed on Jesus and one day had to stand before Him and explain why he never repented:

I’d hate to be the author of a blog that someone someday uses as an excuse to sin or to remain in past sin.

jesus, may your love and truth ring out louder than our judgements.

“Truth” by its very nature requires a judgment, a declaration that something somewhere is false. To say “Jesus is the only way to Heaven” (a wonderful, loving thing to say to the lost and dying who need Him) is simply the positive form of “Islam is a lie and will lead to Hell.” Some people are won by love, others by warning. God has used both.

10 thoughts on “Yes, Jesus Is Still Lord.”

  1. I read both posts, yours and this pried loose person… I think you need to sit down and read the bible,
    read it over again, Then read it a third time. After that read it again. Then maybe, just maybe the Lord will
    begin to open your eyes… I believe you are really wrong here sir. There is no doubt that Jesus is Lord.
    King of all. Prince of peace and Lion of Juda. There is no doubt, that the King is master of the whole
    Real(m). the more opposites you can hold together, the more of a king you are. The more enemies you can love,
    the more you are in his Kingdom. The more outsiders you can include in your world, the greater your victory.
    The true king is even big enough to let the warrior do his thing for a while, knowing that their relationship
    will draw him back. jesus is the King of Kings. His realm is big enough to hold together EVERYTHING – and
    without fear. When I see such larger-than-life men, I know that Jesus is, in fact, their King and not just
    the mascot for their own small kingdoms. When I see men still creating new victims and excluding others, I
    know that Jesus’ Kingdom has not yet come; it is just more of the same old thing. Take for instance the
    warriors who tried to defend Jesus from his enemies in the garden “Lord, shall we strike with a sword?” Jesus
    answered, “Stop! No more of this.” (see Luke 22:50-51)

    I believe you’re in need of some Amazing grace… willing to take up the sword are you, when Jesus calls us to
    stop, listen and love… please hold your judgements to yourself, you make yourself look bad… stop using
    Jesus and the Bible as mascots for your small wars. They matter nothing to the King. The King does not rule
    fear. Many have tried to rule by fear and all have failed. I’m not talking about the “Fear of God”… thats a
    whole other subject, that you will surely bring up and twist to your way of thinking… but I’m afraid you
    just might not get it… pray for amazing grace brother… pray that Jesus teaches you about his Kingdom… and
    maybe the warrior (you) might just start playing a part in His Kingdom, cuz as for now… you are not. We are
    not to judge, HE IS. NOT us… we’re called to LOVE the Lord God with all our heart hearts, and love our neighbor
    as ourself.

    cheers

    frank

  2. Hmm, a few things:

    There is no command to a Christian to not judge. You made that law up yourself so your comments concerning that don’t mean much to me.

    Second, we are specifically told to judge. Try the spirits, whether they are of God. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.

    To try something or to prove something are both expressions meaning “to judge.” If you’ve ever been grocery shopping, you’ve like done some judging–bad tomato, good tomato, squishy melon, ripe melon, etc. In like manner, Christians make spiritual judgments all the time–truth is good, idolatry is bad, avoid lust, watch out for this false teacher, etc.

    These are biblical commands, as is the mandate to teach the whole counsel of God. Did God not declare that anyone teaching a plan of salvation contrary to the Bible’s plan is to be declared anathema (accursed)? That is up to us to do–determine whether something aligns with the truth, and if not, we are to denounce it as accursed and move on.

    Islam has been tried by the Bible and has failed. It is a lie. Abortion has been tried by the Bible and has failed. It is murder. Homosexuality has been tried by the Bible and is sin.

    I hate Islam. I hate abortion. And I hate homosexuality. (I also hate lies, adultery, rumormongering, and much more). Why? Because God does.

    You’ll notice that I’m not saying, “I hate homosexuals” or “I hate Muslims.” That is what I have been accused of, but it is not my fault someone cannot distinguish sin from the sinner. I’ll let God hate the sinner and the sin (as the Old Testament often declares). I’m told to hate no man (though avoid a great many).

    You’re focused on love, which is great, but don’t neglect the “negative” aspects of the faith. Christianity is far from a “feel good” religion. It is a judging faith, a discriminate faith, a pure faith.

  3. Hmmm, hate the sin, not the sinner … so if someone says that he hates Christianity and wants to outlaw it, you wouldn’t take that personally at all, right? You wouldn’t consider that unreaonable, or hateful in any way? After all, he only hates Christianity, not Christians.

  4. Actually, I wouldn’t mind it. It happens quite often. Many do hate Christianity, and it is illegal in several places, but that only makes it thrive. Jesus said do not be amazed if the world hates or persecutes us. So as it happens, amazed I will not be.

    To take a page out of your book, I wonder if you’d be like this if you’d actually had a real Bible education? You seem to rehash all the age-old arguments against Scripture (few of which take any effort to dismiss), yet are quick to rail on those who rehash repeated anti-evolutionary teaching…

  5. Actually, I wouldn’t mind it. It happens quite often. Many do hate Christianity, and it is illegal in several places, but that only makes it thrive. Jesus said do not be amazed if the world hates or persecutes us. So as it happens, amazed I will not be.

    LOL, that’s funny. Yeah, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind at all, and you wouldn’t say anything bad about the people doing it. Who would mind being thrown in prison, after all? You should try being more honest with yourself rather than saying things that aren’t true just because you think they’re necessary in order to win an argument. Anyone who seriously “wouldn’t mind” being in prison is certifiable.

    To take a page out of your book, I wonder if you’d be like this if you’d actually had a real Bible education?

    I’ve read the entire Bible and I took Old Testament theology electives in university. Your turn. How much scientific education do you have?

    You seem to rehash all the age-old arguments against Scripture (few of which take any effort to dismiss),

    Very well, please feel free to show exactly how you would “dismiss” them.

    yet are quick to rail on those who rehash repeated anti-evolutionary teaching…

    Of course, because only a fanatic can possibly think that creationism has any scientific merit. We’re talking about a “scientific theory” which utterly failed in the scientific arena, so its proponents go straight to laypeople in order to make their case; this doesn’t say something to you?

  6. Tell you what: if you want to argue the validity of Scripture against science or history or the validity of creationism against science, feel free to use the Contact link on my CreationTheory.Org website so we can do this via E-mail. Smashing fundamentalist arguments is a hobby of mine, and this format is not particularly good for lengthy exchanges.

  7. Yes, because a repeat of phpbb.com is really what I have time for… Hmmm, start a family, maintain a job, find and get involved in a church, continue to maintain a healthy web community, find time for family visits and activities, study for A+ Cert., and while I’m at it, let’s hook back up with the arch-nemesis for the exact same arguments.

    I don’t know how much time you have, but it isn’t a luxury I feel like spending on those debates again. I’m sure there are plenty of people–quite a few who are more qualified than me–who would be more than willing to volunteer hours to inflating your ego. And I know for a fact CARM.org’s board would have quite a few of them (not to mention the founder of that site).

    Tell me… Do you pick on the professional Creationists or life-long preachers or whoever else who have done more to propogate our beliefs than I have, or do you get your jollies picking on those with little (if any) training in debate, science, etc.?

    Sounds like bully-tactics to me, but I do gotta thank you for the nearly 80 referrals I’ve had from your site, and no, I haven’t blocked a single comment from anyone at Pried Loose, your site, or anywhere else that wasn’t legitimate spam (casinos, drugs, etc.); thanks for the false accusations on my character on your board, though. Noble of you.

  8. I don’t know how much time you have, but it isn’t a luxury I feel like spending on those debates again. I’m sure there are plenty of people—quite a few who are more qualified than me—who would be more than willing to volunteer hours to inflating your ego. And I know for a fact CARM.org’s board would have quite a few of them (not to mention the founder of that site).

    I’ve dealt with CARMers before; you are greatly mistaken in your belief that they are more or less of a difficulty than anyone else. CARM itself makes some rather laughable arguments too.

    Tell me… Do you pick on the professional Creationists or life-long preachers or whoever else who have done more to propogate our beliefs than I have, or do you get your jollies picking on those with little (if any) training in debate, science, etc.?

    Sounds like bully-tactics to me

    What is a “professional creationist?” I’ll take on anybody who contacts me at my website and takes the time to construct a serious argument rather than a one-liner, and I’ve tried to get people like Hovind to respond to me, to no avail. There is no such thing as a creationist out there who makes scientifically valid arguments, because there are no scientifically valid creationist arguments. That’s why the most “professional” creationists like the icr.org people actually admit that most creationist arguments are wrong, and they actually admit that evolutionary speciation is possible! They just look for gaps in our knowledge to claim that this speciation is limited to large families, without admitting that the recognition of natural speciation utterly devastates their entire case.

    But here’s a more pertinent question: why is it “bully tactics” to point out to people who have no scientific training that they have no business telling scientists that they’re wrong? That’s an incredible level of arrogance when people like you spout about evolution and other things you clearly don’t understand, and when someone calls you on it, you accuse them of being bullies. If you have the chutzpah to post in a public forum accusing the entire scientific community of being wrong about the definition of a scientific theory, then you should be prepared to go head to head with people who actually know what they’re talking about.

    no, I haven’t blocked a single comment from anyone at Pried Loose, your site, or anywhere else that wasn’t legitimate spam (casinos, drugs, etc.); thanks for the false accusations on my character on your board, though. Noble of you.

    If that’s true, then go complain to the guy on my board who said he made a post and never saw it appear. In any case, it is clear that you don’t know how to handle a discussion with someone who doesn’t agree with you. You either fall back on reciting Scripture or you get upset and complain. This is precisely the problem I described earlier to you; you are so accustomed to speaking only with like-minded people that you get flustered and don’t know how to respond when confronted by someone who doesn’t already think the same way you do. That might be all well and good if you kept to yourself, but you make public posts attacking the entire scientific community and then you act surprised when someone challenges you on your misconceptions. What do you expect, when you have a tagline like that on your blog and you make posts about evolution, condemning others, etc? I have an inflammatory website too, but I don’t act surprised when people try to argue with me about it.

  9. I still haven’t censored anything but legit spam; I’m sorry your pal’s post got lost, but it wasn’t ’cause of me. I’d rather let a comment go unnoticed or ignored than have it deleted. I enjoy getting comments as much as the next guy, regardless of how antagonistic they are. So in that respect, boy am I glad you showed up here. :P

    Okay, so you’ve tried to contact the “pros”; I wasn’t aware. Had I a college level education (or masters, as do you?) and had training in logic and stuff, I’d be more than happy to have more serious dialogues with you. I know Scripture, and I admit to knowing little about science. I greatly enjoy science, math, and logic, but enjoyment does not an expert make, nor do I wish to spend the time to become such.

    As I said, Scripture is what I love, it’s what I know, and if I were arguing the finer points of free will, Calvinism, predestination, and the security of salvation, I wouldn’t have any problems at all, even if I were inadequately defending my positions.

    Call science football and Scripture baseball; out on the diamond, I can pitch a pretty good game, but on the football field, I’d probably never be off the bench (though I “talk tough”, as it were).

  10. Okay, so you’ve tried to contact the “prosâ€?; I wasn’t aware. Had I a college level education (or masters, as do you?) and had training in logic and stuff, I’d be more than happy to have more serious dialogues with you. I know Scripture, and I admit to knowing little about science. I greatly enjoy science, math, and logic, but enjoyment does not an expert make, nor do I wish to spend the time to become such.

    Then why did you make a post earlier on this blog accusing scientists of being wrong about their own fields of specialization, when by your own admission you don’t know anything about science?

    Call science football and Scripture baseball; out on the diamond, I can pitch a pretty good game, but on the football field, I’d probably never be off the bench (though I “talk toughâ€?, as it were).

    If you “talk tough” about games you can’t actually play, don’t be surprised when somebody challenges you to put your money where your mouth is.

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