Scot McKnight is an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, theologian, and author who has written widely on the historical Jesus, early Christianity and Christian living. He is currently Professor of New Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, IL. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily represent those of BCNN1.

Seniors in our churches today are not valued as they should be. There are plenty of them in most of our churches as their numbers are growing. We value creativity of youth today more than the wisdom of age. So a reminder from the Bible and a rather noticeable demographic shift occurring in our churches that may call for us to form councils of wisdom in our churches.

The apostle Paul, in Titus 1, says this:

Titus 1:5 I left you behind in Crete for this reason, so that you should put in order what remained to be done, and should appoint elders in every town, as I directed you: 6 someone who is blameless, married only once, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery and not rebellious. 7 For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; 8 but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. 9 He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. [NRSV]

Not all old people were wise and not all young people were fools, but the Bible’s valuing of age is largely neglected today. But a remind of valuing age: the term “elders” meant “older people” and it would not completely off base to translate the term “elderly.” It was about the seniors of that society. Always.

Notice just a few texts from the Old Testament:

Ex. 3:18 They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’

Num. 11:24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.

Josh. 24:1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.

1Sam. 8:4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah

Prov. 31:23 Her husband is known in the city gates, taking his seat among the elders of the land.

Ezek. 8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.

Acts 15:6 The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter.

James 5:14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.

1Pet. 5:1 Now as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you

1Pet. 5:5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

You can ask the older folks in your church if they are valued, and they may tell you the truth. At least ask. A side note: “older” is a relative term now as it was in the Old and then also in the New Testament times. There isn’t and wasn’t a specific age when one turned into an elder.

A growing demographic today, as described in a recent report, is the “yolds.” The young olds.

Source: Christianity Today

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Over three dozen faculty members of a Catholic college in Canada are calling for an apology after a film about a former abortion worker’s departure from the industry was screened on campus. 

Forty-three faculty members of the King’s University College at Western University in Ontario signed onto a letter criticizing the Catholic liberal arts university for allowing the pro-life film “Unplanned” to be shown to students.

“Unplanned” is based on the life of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic manager who created an organization to support those who decide to leave the abortion industry.

Johnson has become one of the United States’ most well-known activists advocating for restrictions on abortion. The film depicts violent abortions, women bleeding and complications after taking an abortion pill.

The film was screened on Jan. 9 free of cost to King’s University College students by the college’s Campus Ministry, which seeks to facilitate campus life “rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition.”

The screening is part of the ministry’s “Veritas series for Faith and Culture,” which in the past has also featured events highlighting left-leaning causes and speakers such as Father James Martin.

The college’s events calendar labeled the film as an “inspiring true story” that provides an “eye-opening look inside the abortion industry from a woman who was once its most passionate advocate.” In response to the event, pro-choice students and activists held a protest on campus.

Last week, a group of professors that spans across disciplines signed onto a letter sent to Principal David Malloy, claiming that the screening of the film created “furor and fear” throughout campus.

They claimed that the university’s handling of the screening was “inappropriate.” The faculty argued that the screening of the film did not meet the standards of the university’s mission to uphold “respectful and critical dialogue of difficult subjects in a scholarly, just and ethical manner.”

“The ‘Unplanned’ event did not meet the threshold of those elements within the Catholic intellectual tradition,” the letter states.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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The Year of the Bible is underway as missions organizations, churches and other ministries are seeking to usher in a grassroots “Bible revival.” One evangelist believes many, including Christians, have yet to learn to love the Word of God.

“I just think we’ve taught a generation how to love good preaching and how to love good worship, but we’ve never learned how to love the Bible,” said Nick Hall, who some have referred to as the “Billy Graham of the next generation.”

“I think in a lot of our churches and ministries, the majority of the people just aren’t reading the Bible for themselves. And so as biblical literacy has gone down, it has had a domino effect on a million things in our church and in our culture. We find that when people read the Bible more, they love their neighbors more, they’re more involved in compassion and justice initiatives and they’re more involved in evangelism.”

The Year of the Bible movement was established by a coalition of international ministry networks called The Table Coalition, formerly known as the Mission America Coalition. It hopes to be the largest digital next-generation biblical marketing campaign in history. The aim of the movement is to inspire people to make 2020 the year they make the Bible a “foundational part of their lives.”

“It’s one of those deals where a lot of us have these understandings that the Bible is boring or the Bible is judgmental or the Bible is archaic,” Hall told The Christian Post. “We just want to help people see that there’s a different narrative.”

The goal, he said, is to inspire as many people as possible to dedicate their year to God’s word and listen to what He has to say in their life.

As the movement aims to end Bible poverty worldwide, one of the problems in Western cultures today, organizers say, is that the Bible is becoming less significant as more children are growing up without exposure to the Gospel or a biblical worldview.

Barna research suggests that while almost half of Americans identify as Christian, only a small fraction of Americans hold a biblical worldview.

Hall explained that the aim is to inspire people to form a biblical foundation for themselves at a time in history when it is “so easy to be led by feelings and emotion.” He said it is important for the next generation to be “anchored on the rock and not on the shifting sands of culture.”

“The story of King Josiah has kind of been our biblical framework,” Hall, the founder of PULSE and the visionary behind the Together ecumenical Christian events, said.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

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More than 40 world leaders gathered in Jerusalem last week to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious Nazi death camp on January 27, 1945. They came to say, “never again,” but German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued an ominous warning.

“The spirits of evil are emerging in a new guise, presenting their anti-Semitic, racist, authoritarian thinking as an answer for the future, a new solution to the problems of our age. And I wish I could say that we Germans have learned from history once and for all. But I cannot say that when hatred is spreading,” Steinmeier said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also addressed the gathering, saying, “The Jewish people have learned the lessons of the Holocaust: to take, always to take seriously the threats of those who seek our destruction; to confront threats when they are small.”

Ahead of the event, a special European delegation visited the site where the Nazis perpetrated so much evil and hatred. Born in Poland, former Israeli Chief Rabbi, Yisrael Meir Lau, is a Holocaust survivor. “Anti-Semitism you can explain but you cannot find a reason for it,” he said. “It’s against dialogue. It’s against logic. It’s a spiritual madness.”

Yet throughout Europe and even in the US, this spiritual madness is on the rise.

On Monday’s 700 Club broadcast, host Pat Robertson spoke with Rabbi Ariel Burger, a lifelong student of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. He’s also the author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom.

[Anti-Semitism] is a kind of madness that reoccurs throughout history,” Burger said. “And just as the Jew is eternal, anti-Semitism seems to be eternal as well. We find it in pagan times, we find it all through history in Europe and elsewhere, and now on the right and the left. And of course, it’s rising again.” 

Burger said so much of anti-Semitism, both past and present, comes from false conspiracy theories that persist. 

“Anti-Semites give all kinds of reasons for what the Jews are doing wrong or why they are evil. But ultimately it’s a kind of conspiracy theory. It’s a belief that Jews run the world secretly,” he said. 

“It’s very mysterious,” he continued. “It’s a form of madness and most important of all is for those who are not Jews, it’s a harbinger. What happens to the Jews happens to others as well.”

Rabbi Ariel Burger is the founding director and senior scholar of The Witness Institute, a new project to empower emerging leaders, inspired by the life and legacy of Elie Wiesel.

To see Pat Robertson’s entire interview with Rabbi Burger, click on the box above.
 

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A special task force in Malaysia that was set up to act upon findings that Pastor Raymond Koh, who had been accused of proselytizing to Muslims, was abducted by police has asked for more time to prepare its report, the Southeast Asian country’s Ministry of Home Affairs said.

The task force headed by retired high court judge Abd Rahim Uda requires more time, Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said last week, according to International Christian Concern. “I hope the report can be ready in a month and submitted to the ministry,” Yassin was quoted as telling reporters.

The task force was formed last June after Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission, locally known as Suhakam, found that a Special Branch of the police was likely behind the disappearances of Koh and Amri Che, a Muslim social activist.

Koh was abducted near his home in Petaling Jaya, West Malaysia, on Feb. 13, 2017. Koh’s car was surrounded by three black SUVs while he was driving in Petaling Jaya, and forced to a sudden stop. Since that day, Koh has not been seen or heard from and his car was never found.

His abduction was called a “well-organized, military-style operation.” Based on CCTV footage, the abduction was swiftly executed in just two minutes — in broad daylight and with someone even recording the entire process on video while another person is seen casually redirecting traffic.

At a public forum on “Waiting for Justice in 2020,” held earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur, Koh’s wife, Susanna, said her family members were “frozen in grief.” “Because we did not have a funeral, everyday is a funeral,” she said, according to Free Malaysia Today.

After the abduction, police initially began investigating if the pastor preached Christianity to Muslims, rather than focusing on catching his captors.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Anugrah Kumar

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Congress has only been back in session for a few days, yet our leaders already have an overwhelming amount on their plates. Between addressing the conflict with Iran and ending the fraudulent impeachment proceedings against President Trump, it will be easy for representatives and senators to turn their eyes away from the many issues Americans face. But this is precisely what they cannot afford to do. As we begin the new year and the new legislative session, our leaders must renew their commitment to ending human trafficking in the United States.

The arrest and death of Jeffrey Epstein last summer drew media attention to the greatest human rights violation occurring within our borders: the sale of human beings for sex. But Epstein was far from the only American who committed this crime. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 individuals are trafficked into the United States each year – but given the hidden nature of the crime, it’s possible that these numbers are low and there are far more victims than we currently realize.

Worse, the number of successful prosecutions that occur is also shockingly low. According to the State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, only 501 convictions occurred at the federal level in 2018. While this number doesn’t account for successful prosecutions at the state level, it does indicate just how difficult it is to bring these criminals to justice – and how much we must redouble our efforts to end this scourge on our nation.

And there’s no time like the present. January is National Human Trafficking Awareness month – an opportunity for us all to recommit ourselves to eliminating trafficking. And though this issue should be of great importance to every American, it should be of particular importance to conservatives. Our faith-based values teach us that sex belongs in the sacred intimacy of a covenant marriage and that all human beings – regardless of where they come from or what they believe in – have a right to personal liberty. Human trafficking violates both of these convictions, forcing innocent men, women and children to give away their privacy and bodily autonomy against their will.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Timothy Head

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Biblical scholar N.T. Wright believes that failing to read the New Testament in its proper context has a devastating effect on both the unity of the Christian church and the theological understanding of God and the world. 

“When we fail to care about or recognize the history, literature, and theology of the early Christians, we tend to make them in our own image,” Wright told The Christian Post. “We imagine that they’re just like us with our sorts of concerns, yet very often they’re not.”

The early Christians, particularly those from the Jewish background, were “celebrating the fact that in and through Jesus, something had just happened, and as result, the world was a different place,” he continued.

“In other words, this was news. Something had happened, something would therefore happen and they were caught up in this new movement. For us, Christianity has collapsed into being a set of good advice about how to go to Heaven when you die. We forget that it started off as news and about something that happened concerning Jesus. If we could reemphasize that, we would all be a lot healthier for it.”

Wright, a retired Anglican bishop and now chair of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, is seeking to combat biblical illiteracy through his new book, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians, co-authored with Michael F. Bird.

Complete with maps, diagrams, and a series of lectures, the book is intended for both students needing an introduction to the New Testament and any Christian feeling stuck reading Scripture, according to Wright.

“It’s an invitation to walk in the Jewish world, the Greek world, the Roman world of the New Testament,” he said. “What it was like living in those days, why people thought the way they did, why they looked at things the way they did. And then particularly, what can we actually say about Jesus himself, about the Gospels, about the early Christians, about Paul, about the resurrection?”

His goal, Wright said, is to “transform the way that the next generation learns and studies the new Testament, both in seminaries and colleges and in churches more broadly.”

“It’s user-friendly enough for the absolute beginner, but then it’ll take people on a long way from there into all sorts of exciting stuff, more than they’d ever imagined,” he said.

The theologian stressed that the ultimate truth in the New Testament is deeply personal, not a mere “how-to” guide when it comes to living a good, moral life. He expressed hope that The New Testament in Its World will help modern-day believers study and apply the New Testament with a clarified focus and mission.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett

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The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of BCNN1.

An incredible rescue took place a couple weeks ago in Bellevue, Nebraska. Photographer Terry Ingram was out taking photos of eagles when a car flew past him and lost control while crossing railroad tracks. It struck a fire hydrant and flipped upside down in an icy pond. Terry courageously ran into the freezing water and was able to get one of the car doors open. He heard a young man say, “Get me out, it’s filling full of water.” Terry pulled all three men from that vehicle and helped drag them to shore, heroically saving their lives.

Terry said, “God puts people in places for a reason.” These men, two of whom are 19, were in desperate need when they were rescued. Similarly, God intervened when you and I were helpless to save ourselves from sin and death.

The apostle Paul wrote, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

Jesus entered an “ice-cold pond” at the cross and took the punishment that you and I deserve to pay for our sins. “The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him.” (Isaiah 53:5) It was by far the most dramatic rescue of all time! Our great and awesome God came after us because He loves us so much and wanted to save us from an eternity without Him.

The critical question is this: Will you rely upon Christ’s payment for your transgressions? Simply turn away from sin and trust Jesus to forgive you. Oswald Chambers stated, “The reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much.”

SOURCE: Christian Post, Dan Delzell

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