Good Sunday evening. 10/2 and 10/8
I guess the first thing of note is that it's not raining. May not sound like much, but it's been a wet week around here.
But I got up kinda early and had some quiet time before church.
But I wasn't watching the time, so I got there late.
The worship in song had already begun. Last week someone was asking me some questions about the choruses we sing these days in church. That led to several days of my trying to voice concerns concerning why we need to cautious in this area.
Unfortunatley , so many don't see this as an issue which is regrettable.
But if so many chorus lyrics speak of living and praying and walking in the Spirit , and we sing them with tremendous energy ,  why then do so many people ,(myself included) struggle with that daily?
The answer to that is in how healthy our prayer life is as well as , how much of Gods Word do we really know.
I guess its good we attend a church that reads and teaches it ALL.

And that brings us to Chap 2 of Luke. I for one am glad to hear this chapter when it's not the holiday season. We even sang a holiday song before we started and I love that. Why does Luke 2 only get read on Dec 25th? And not even the whole chap at that? We sometimes hear about Simeon , but we rarley hear about Anna.
We only did vrs 1-38 today, but what a chap.

Something that I am constantly amazed at, and that is , how inadequate the english language is when it comes to having the Word of God translated into English .
Time and time again this becomes so clear.
Something that was noted that I caught was that the english language has only 3 "tenses" to it , when other languages have at least nine.
That is actually a HUGE point, and a good one at that.
If anyone doesn't think that's important , they are in big error.
Even the simplest of verses get treated wrong. The best place to see how verses get mishandled would be with John 3 :16. People will use this vrs to evangelize unbelievers by making them think , if they "believe "something , they can be saved ,  and they can do this because not many pay attention to the "tenses" in the verse.
The english language does a good enough job at giving a good overview of the original gospel  message and it is more than good enough at bringing lost people to Christ.
But most heresy comes from the areas inbetween what the english says and what the original message or intent was.
I guess that is why heresy is sold so easily. Most people haven't read the Bible thru , and many who do don't bother to look at th original Geek/Hebrew  meaning of words and names and titles.
My point is not that we all don't  need to be greek and Hebrew scholars. But if we are going to go around saying "the Bible says this or that" than you'd better have a pretty good handle on what it's saying. If we don't bother to check, its best not to say anthing.

The reason the point was made, that v 6 can be read two ways along with considering  the "tenses" between the Hebrew & English language even came up briefly, was a good one. One I want to focus on in this post simply because this entire blog is built upon.

And that was, when we read v6 where it says - "the days were accomplished that she would be delivered " it was implied that this could be read two ways.

Now you can be sure, my radar is up and waiting to see how that will be explained. This will be difficult, but I often enjoy putting abstract notions that many people say, into words that can be understood. This allows me to do just that so I'm up for the challenge :-)

The Bible is not like any other book.
Take for example, any other book that takes place in any other era. Let's say like the 1800's or something like that.
Many books and novels center around whatever time period it's in.
There are many books that center around a plot of some sort.
Books have a beginning, middle and an end. Since most books are written and read in the English language, the developments of the story are more clear.

The Bible is about Jesus, cover to cover.
It wasn't written in English.
It doesn't follow the beginning, middle, end format.
It's a continuous ongoing story. It's very active,

Keep in mind as I try to convey this, I'm addressing two different ways to read v6. I haven't lost my place.

Many people read Luke 2 as a stand alone chapter. Now if the Holy Spirit is drawing a person, a surface reading of Luke 2 is more than enough to reveal its truth to anyone to the point where, the one who reads it will repent of their sins and put their trust in Jesus.

The hope is, that when someone gets to the point where they do confess their a sinner and acknowledge that Jesus died and rose, to forgive their sin, the hope is that they soon would be reading that Bible, starting from the beginning as it was intended.
In doing so, they will be shown, by God, all that's transpired, over time, to get to the birth of Jesus in Luke 2.
But this takes time, lots of time.

If and when, a new believer does read the Bible straight thru, then maybe, by the time they came to v6 in Luke 2, it might be clearer how, yes indeed..  Everything was in place for God's son to be born. The time was right (accomplished) . Not a detail overlooked. From the cultural advancements made, as to spread the gospel around the world, to the language that was needed to spread it.
Most languages are inadequate to convey the true meaning of God's Word but Hebrew & Greek are more  adequate than many others . With its uses of imagery to the many tenses to various words.

That being said. It seems reasonable that when it says, in v6, that "the days were accomplished" can be viewed as simply stated. Her 9 months of pregnancy were finished.
But it also can be read as, everything was in place for God's son, to be born.
But that second view can ONLY be understood, if the entire Bible is read, starting from the beginning, not skipping anything.

Now, does Luke 2:6 speak of the conditions that the world needed to be in  for God's son being born?
That's debatable.

But be sure of this. God's Word is not filled with mysterious hidden messages.
But it is filled with types & shadows, all pointing to Jesus as risen savior & coming King.
If a church points out any types and shadows, THAT DON'T point us to Jesus only, those are hidden messages, best to be avoided.




I cant do justice, in this post , at conveying all that was said this morning in regards to this chapter.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. A clear and precise gauge anyone can use when discerning the church they attend , is how it is presented to any congregation.
If you have a pastor that brings God's Word to you , week after week with tremendous passion, that truly is a blessing.
But let's not get to carried away there.

Passion can be manufactured.
But a phony kind of passion becomes easier to spot as we come to know our (entire) Bible's better.
For example, if a preacher spends more time, telling YOU what the gospel, can DO for YOU, be careful.  Or if he focuses on YOUR problems and Proof texts his way around the Bible to offer it as solutions to YOUR problems, be careful.
Many church's know that all kinds of people come to

The reason this is important, along with why I'm spending so much time with it, as well as why I started this blog is, new believers are not encouraged to read God's Word straight thru.
Instead, they begin to study God's Word in fragments. Fragments of whole thoughts and concepts. Which then are pieced together with other thought fragments. Bits and pieces. And those bits and pieces come chopped up in verse form, dived up in misplaced chapters.
And all this in an abstract inadequate language. And this could last for years, or in my case, decades.

I'm not saying, toss out all your English version Bible's.
God's Word in America has lasted a long time. It's comforted many in troubled times.
God's Word in any language is powerful.
But so few know it.
We form ideas and beliefs based on verses.
We believe things because we heard it somewhere.
What criteria do we use when believing or not believing what we hear?

I can't tell ya how many times I heard someone use Jn 3:16 to say, if you believe, your saved and a minute later remind me that even the demons believed.
I can assure you, the brain has fun with that one.
But that vrs is not, or partial thought was used improperly. But I heard it this way over and over.
Were those that see it that way trying to deceive me?
I don't believe so but sometimes Christians zeal to win unsaved people can be mis leading.

When it comes to God's Word, someone might  say "isn't it the same Bible that's comforted those who lived thru the depression and two world wars?"
The answer is yes, but people must realize when much of the confusion began (which for us, was early to mid 1900's) and consider what we've grown up with..
The consequences from that takes decades and all that's needed is a generation that forgets.
And we have that.
We need a shallow self absorbed younger generation, and we have that.
We need a Bible illiterate generation, and we have that.
True... societies have always had those things but if you add rapid advancement of technology to the mix, there's something new.
Infants weaned on iPads and cyber toys is definitely new.

These kids will have a difficult time believing what their parents, grandparents & great grandparents taught them.
For example, we told them that when they get saved, all their sins (past , present & future) are forgiven , when God's Word doesn't allow for that.

Fragments of bits & pieces of whole thoughts in the Bible allow for it though.
Reading the Bible as a life application book allows for this.

But God's Word is filled with warnings, but we rarely see it this way.

Nothing in all the universe works in the same way evangelicals have taught scripture in the past hundred years.
So why would God's grace & mercy work this way.

Some say it's a choice, then when you make that choice, you then lose the ability to make further choices.
That's done by teaching all sins are forgiven and we will disappear before major trouble begins.

Some say the choice was already made.
Depending on what we've been told will determine how we read God's Word.

Case in point :
We are told nothing can separate us from God's love and PTL, that's true.
But we ignore language that speaks of being "kept" in Christ, or to "remain" in Christ.

The writer of John encourages us to "remain" in Christ.

Paul says :


1Co 15:1 — 1Co 15:2
The Resurrection of Christ
15​ Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Wait a minute!  "if"  we hold fast? 

The only way we can account for such things, is with religion. 

I remember asking once, why do we need to ask forgiveness for sins if there all forgiven. 

God wants us to to show faith, sorrow.  they'd say, but it sounded inadequate.
If we note it's inconsistency we're told this is something new.  

I'm thankful for those who went before me and lived and taught scripture as they did. 

But there comes a time when we need to say, some things wrong. 

From where I sit, what's wrong is a century of influences along with an ignorance of God's total Word delivered in fragments, bits & pieces has given a self absorbed culture exactly what they want to hear.

The only prove we need is, ask anybody where God's Word says all future sin is forgiven, and you know what you'll get?

A verse or two.
It's how we were all raised. Meanwhile, nothing anywhere else gets this kind of treatment. Not in the physical world or in the religious world.
Only the Bible gets fragmented up and delivered.
If one chooses to continue such a discussion, arguing will soon pursue.
Because commenting on clearly seen passages that conflict with influences & experiences won't get a person too far.

At this point, I need to remind you that this two part post began with my hearing a verse (Luke 2:6)can be viewed two ways, of which I agreed.
It's clear, that can't be seen unless we understand how our Bible's work.

This post is not concerning salvation of those in times past. We all grew up under hostile conditions, myself also.

I post this way because of a desire to convey God's message to our kids and grandchildren without influences of the past.
If we're not careful, those influences can effect our understanding when we finally do come to the Bible and read it vrs by vrs.

Challenging those influences along with ridding ourselves of them, isn't easy.
Losing all the language that create excuses is also, not easy.
But it's worth it.


So now more than ever, we need to know what God really said in His Word.
Would it make a difference?
I'm gonna answer that with a, yes.
Let's say you have  a friend you've  never spoke to you in 20 years all because you thought they said something, then it was proven, they never said it.
How would you feel?
You'd probably feel like you just wasted 20 years.