St. John Studies

As John Bevere continues with his list of don’ts that are evident in the New Testament, he touches on the idea that Christians should try to lead pure lives. What he is really writing about is no pornography, no lewd videos or anything that encourages lustful thinking. As I write this post, my wife is watching one of her favorite soap operas on television and if anyone has seen a contemporary soap opera today, you know there is more skin exposed than in the past. Oh well, just a sign of the times…

It seems that near nakedness is everywhere and of course with a mouse click, total nakedness is easily accessible.

Since writing about the “don’ts” in Chapter 12, I realize that Bevere’s list runs headlong into today’s cultural values. Let’s be honest, many people see nothing wrong with material that encourages lust. Bevere has some statistics that reveal the pulse of America today regarding this issue. Over forty million Americans regularly visit porn sites, every second 28,258 users are viewing porn. Porn sites are the second most popular site to visit only surpassed by social media sites.*

Ok, what does that matter? Christians don’t have a problem with this do they?

You know they do. A recent CNN poll reported that fifty percent of evangelical Christian men are addicted to porn, and seventy percent of Christian men struggle with it.
That sounds like a major problem in the church but many don’t think it is. Steve Gallagher, founder of Pure Life Ministries says “The Church’s greatest threat to the church today is not so much the pornography itself, but the lackadaisical attitude many Christians have towards the wrongness of it.

Note the title of this post: “The Problem Most Choose to Ignore.” That is a broad statement. Not everyone ignores the problem but in my years of being in a church and participating in presentations for Christian audiences, I have never seen a stand against pornography in the church. I do have a pastor friend who is leading a seminar to help men with porn in his church right now and he told me that several men have come forward to participate. His bold action is the exception.

Years ago, I had a very talented friend who decided he should leave the United States and continue his work in Brazil. From that point on, it was easier to communicate via emails and we did that over a period of time. As he established his family in his new location, he began to share more private information about his life. It turns out he had an addiction to pornography, an addiction that I found very strange, for my friend was a pastor. I will never forget his admission that he looked at naked women on his church computer and then would go and preach a sermon to his church. It was good that he had me to talk to about his problem and it turns out that he is not alone. Christianity Today magazine did a survey in which pastors were asked if they’d visited a pornographic website in the past year. Fifty-four percent answered “yes.”

Yes, a significant percentage of the leaders in our churches.

What has to happen for this to become a problem we no longer choose to ignore? First of all, we need to admit that men are really affected by this form of visual stimulation and their thoughts can cause guilt, poor relationships with the opposite sex, and an inability to be close with God. This is weakening Christian men from the inside out. Families can be destroyed. I have a friend who revealed that she divorced her husband due to his incessant porn use. He just could not curb his need to see women other than his wife. Secondly, the accessibility of porn is a major problem that must be addressed. Computers are everywhere and to access porn only takes a click and there you are. The attitude about it needs to change. Being alone with your computer, it is easy to think, “I am not hurting anyone; it is just me and my pleasure.” We are never alone. When we sin, God knows but because of the acceptance of porn in our culture, it is easy to try to justify its use. Thirdly, the internet is a wonderful tool which has allowed all of us easy access to information that we never had before, but with the wonderful good comes the bad. Many Christians don’t believe that spiritual warfare is a real thing but I am one who does. Satan does not want us to grow stronger in our love for Christ and I think that the darker aspects of the internet retard our growth in our relationship with God. To ignore the attack that is being levied against many men today is foolish. The attack is real and is designed to weaken men.

Pastor Bevere admits his own use of pornography; he struggled with it until he was twenty-seven. He was married, he was in the early years of his ministry and he expected that he would be able to stop his accessing of porn. But he struggled. He never got the words he needed to stop until he confided in another pastor who put the fear of God in him. The pastor’s words that worked were “stop it.”

Many Christians believe that only New Testament teaching is relevant for us. Fearing God is an Old Testament thing but a little fear can be a good thing. For men who grow beyond porn use, a little New Testament grace is a good thing too, as we use it to experience forgiveness, salvation and empowerment, empowerment over the use of porn.

God doesn’t want us to be locked in a struggle with porn. He wants us to know Him intimately. It is not news to God that we have a powerful anti-God force called sin. He wants us to grow beyond our self-centeredness to have a power to love Him with our heart, mind and strength. Ignoring real problems will not make them go away. Excusing problems because our culture says they are acceptable is not the answer.
Maybe Bevere’s pastor friend was right: “STOP IT!”

*“The Stats on Internet Pornography” from The Daily Infographic.com, 2014.

In Acts 20: 26-27 it says “I am clean and innocent and not responsible for the blood of any of you. For I never shrank or kept back or fell short from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan and counsel of God” [from the Amplified Bible]. This is Paul speaking directly to his church leaders. John Bevere’s book Good or God? is his effort to teach and preach the whole counsel of God to today’s church. Like Paul, he desires to be clean and innocent because he has declared the counsel of God.

In Chapter 12, he writes about the issues of sexual immorality; tough words for today’s Christians to hear: don’t have sex outside of marriage [premarital sex, adultery and “living together”]. As our culture becomes more accepting of these ways, he states that we ignore God and convince ourselves it is ok. When we hear the message of acceptance on television, the internet, books, magazines, movies etc. it becomes something akin to the “bandwagon fallacy,” everyone is doing it, jump on the bandwagon for it must be ok.
Bevere says no, it is not.

Under the topic of sexual immorality, he takes on the idea that homosexuality is “ok”. I venture to say that no cultural issue has been more difficult to work with in the church than this one. In my church denomination we had a woman elevated to the job of Bishop [in the United Methodist Church, women can pastor at all levels]. However, in 2016 Pastor Karen Oliveto lost her bishopric because the highest ruling body in the church [the Judicial Council] removed her from her post, citing “she was in violation of church law, because she is married to another woman”.

This is just one example of how Christians, churches and whole denominations struggle with this issue. It is indeed a complex one.

Years ago, I began to try to understand how I felt about this. I knew that some Christians openly despised homosexuals, citing Leviticus 20:13 “If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense” [New Living Translation]. That is all I knew because I was not a serious reader of Scripture. At the same time I saw homosexuality becoming more open, discussed in all forms of media. As a “Christian” who did not know the Bible, I was bothered by this because I knew the New Testament was filled with Scripture that touted that we should love one another.

Then I read Peter Gomes’ book entitled The Good Book.

Gomes was a professor of Christian morals at Harvard Divinity School and the pastor at Harvard’s Memorial Church. When I read his book, I was not a reader of the Bible but I found time to read Gomes’ book, which attacked the notion that God condemns homosexuals. Gomes passed away in 2011 but in 1991 while he was in his position at Harvard, he declared to the world that he was gay. His defense of his sexual orientation is complex but to put it simply, he felt God was referring to excessive human behaviors in Leviticus, behaviors that were so destructive they threatened the fiber of the community. The gay person who engages in a loving, monogamous relationship is not the person who is condemned in Leviticus.* In his mind, homosexuality is not a threat to the moral order. In fact, homophobia is a horrible form of hatred that is often practiced by Christians who should be professing love for their fellow man.

The book had a profound effect on me because I thought he made a good argument and I did not want to hate others due to their sexual orientation.

Then I started reading the Bible for the first time. Twenty years ago, I had a terrific need for answers so I read the New Testament from beginning to end in about two weeks. It was wonderful. I got some solid answers but as a novice reader of Scripture, I knew I did not understand God’s word in just one quick reading. I felt the need to read it again and again and again.

The more I read the Bible, the more I began to understand the difference between God’s standards and the world’s standards, the push and pull between the Bible and culture. This is something that all Christians have to deal with as they decide how to live out their lives. I began to read passages in the New Testament like Matthew 19:4 “Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate His art” [The Message]. Romans 1 states “This is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway” [verses 26-27].

This is very clear.

Personally, my mind began to change because I could not deny the words from God. I began to realize that Pastor Gomes may be wrong. People may choose to be homosexual** but that choice is going against the Bible.

At the same time I could not do what so many of my Christian friends were doing, openly despising gay people. The same Bible that informed me about God’s thoughts on homosexuality also told me to love my fellow man, and the verses did not say “fellow heterosexual man or heterosexual woman.”

If this is a choice or a predisposition** that people have, I don’t have to choose to hate them and as a Christian, I don’t.

I don’t believe John Bevere hates homosexuals either; he just thinks he must draw a distinction between the acceptance of their sexual orientation in the world and their acceptance of their sexual orientation in the church.

“If we don’t proclaim truth…from our pulpits, people will be unaware of what is godly behavior and will be fooled by the evil one. They will accept what the world identifies as good, thinking God approves” [Bevere, 177].

Reading his book may be of great benefit to Christians who struggle with this issue but one can receive the greatest benefit from reading The Bible…God’s word to all of us.

*My apologies to the memory of Dr. Gomes; his argument is much more than what I can reflect in a blog post.

**due to the constraint of length, this post will not address the debate about genetic predisposition to homosexuality vs. social conditioning of homosexuality.

“Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy” [Proverbs 27:6].

Paul urges Timothy “You as preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong” [2 Timothy 4:2, Amplified Bible].

Citing scripture from Proverbs is of course an example from the Old Testament. Second Timothy is from the New Testament.

As I read the Old Testament I see God, through his messengers, telling the Israelites don’t do this or you will be punished. As I read the New Testament, the approach is different.
What is different about it?

The New Testament has commands but the idea of grace seems to make all the difference in the world. The commands are there to tell us what to do or not to do but grace give us the power to grow as Christians. Commands are not meant to be suggestions.

Too many “New Testament Christians” see “their” testament as less commanding and more forgiving. Therefore the idea of grace is preached in our churches as a way to cover our sins. What is evident in John Bevere’s book Good or God? is that grace is much more than just a Godly covering of our sins. Grace gives us power over our sins as we use it to grow beyond our failings.

Today, pastors would rather communicate to their churches that all will be ok and we don’t have to worry about sinning and repercussions. The list at the end of this post* has commandments that many do not think are in the New Testament.

I have commented on the first four New Testament commandments and now will comment on the fifth one: don’t be sexually immoral. What that means is that as sons and daughters of God, we are not to commit adultery, engage in homosexuality or engage in any sexual activity until we are married.

Pastors who preach against sexual immorality confront a contemporary American culture that is very accepting of various forms of sexual immorality. As a blogger, I feel tense even writing about this subject due to reader objection, but it is truth and sometimes truth is uncomfortable. It is no wonder most pastors don’t want to preach on this topic. You might say they are “swimming against the tide,” the cultural tide.
In my family, I have relatives who are “living together.” My own son did that for three months before he married. We were very clear before he started living with his girlfriend that we did not approve of the living together arrangement [yes, we communicated an uncomfortable truth]. Today many people don’t see any sin in living together out of wedlock. Bevere states “All too often I’ve encountered couples living together who profess Christianity. This is not a rare occurrence—it’s actually rampant in the church. Many of these couples attend evangelical churches, are outspoken in their faith, and are often exuberant over ‘what God is doing’ in their lives. There’s no hint of conviction, remorse or sorrow. They simply don’t believe living together when unmarried is wrong” [Bevere, 173].

What is happening in our churches today is the messages of Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude are being ignored, the idea that we should be living Godly, chaste lives.

Why?

The shrinking numbers of people who are coming to church would be shrinking even more if the message was on chaste Godly living. Statisticians report that only 17.7 percent of the population in America regularly attend church. A “regular attender” is someone who attends worship service three times out of eight Sundays.**

Instead of touching on this hot topic, it is much easier to avoid it all together. What happens is that culture rules the day and contemporary American culture says if you are in love, just live together. It is ok.

Bevere believes if pastors don’t warn believers about their sins, there will be consequences. Churches may be encouraging ungodly behavior by what they are not saying.

What could happen if the message of chaste living could be delivered from the pulpit? What could happen if pastors could find a way to express these ideas with love?
I have my share of sins I commit on a regular basis and if a loving friend finds a way to point them out to me I am not sure I would hate the messenger. It all depends on the words they use and the attitude I feel coming from them. My best friend is someone who cares for me so much that they want to help me. Telling me to make a correction may just be what I need to hear. I can make a mid-course correction and have peace in my life because I know I need to follow my Lord and Savior in a better way. Instead of grace covering my sin, I can pray to The Lord for His grace to help me recover from my sin and pray for His grace to empower me to do better.

Let’s recall the opening words of this post: “Wounds from a sincere friend are better…”

True…

*don’t tell lies, don’t sin by letting anger control you, don’t steal, don’t use foul or abusive language, don’t be sexually immoral, don’t be impure, don’t be greedy, don’t tell obscene stories, don’t talk foolishly, don’t tell rude jokes and don’t be drunk with wine.

** “Seven Startling Facts: An Up-close Look at Attendance in Churches Today” by Kelly Shattuck

In my prayer group, there is someone who says the key to growth in our church is to make it more inviting to people. That is his prayer. I run into a choir member who reports to me that our music is going to change and it is slowly going to be more “praise and worship” music so more people will want to come to church. I hear of a church in our community that dismissed the pastor because he preached too many messages that offended church-goers; the sermons were not very “encouraging.”

What does a church have to do to survive?

I guess a church needs to be upbeat with worship and for goodness sakes, avoid any sermon that is negative. Don’t condemn today’s behavior.

You know what would happen if behavior was condemned?

That would drive people away; they would feel so chastened that they would be uncomfortable.

Pastor John Bevere starts out Chapter 11 in his book Good or God? with a story about a pastor who addressed his church in this manner: “What I’m about to say may be a little negative. I usually don’t speak this way because I don’t convict people with my messages. I leave conviction to the Holy Spirit” [157]. Bevere struggles with the approach this pastor takes. It makes sense because the Holy Spirit does convict but aren’t pastors supposed to show people that the way they live their lives is wrong?

In Chapter 11, Bevere calls out his own vocational group. He cites a pastor and his wife who were interviewed on a news program. The interviewer brought up the topic of sexual immorality and the pastor’s response was “It is not my place to tell anyone how to live.” Bevere got an invitation to preach at another church but as a condition of his preaching, the pastor said “this church only wants to hear good news, speak nothing negative.” In the interest of getting people into the church door, are pastors preaching about good and ignoring God?

Here is my admission. I am not perfect. I also don’t know it all. I need help in order to live a better life and part of that help may be a pastor correcting me, telling me I am going the wrong way. My Bible tells me that telling church members their behavior is wrong is part of a pastor’s job.

Second Timothy says as much:  “preach the word [as an official messenger]; be ready when the time is right and even when it is not [keep your sense of urgency, whether the opportunity seems favorable or unfavorable, whether convenient or inconvenient, whether welcome or unwelcome]; correct [those who err in doctrine or behavior], warn [those who sin], exhort and encourage [those who are growing toward spiritual maturity], with inexhaustible patience and [faithful] teaching”   [from the Amplified Bible].

Yes, sometimes we respond to messages from pastors that say we need to correct ourselves. We need to change and we do.

However, sometimes the attitude is that once we are saved it is ok. We don’t need to hear any negative stuff from that point on. We have made our commitment to Christ and that means our future sins are covered by grace. Maybe we have the attitude of Felix and his wife Drusilla. Paul was preaching to them about a life of believing in Jesus Christ. Drusilla was a Jew. In The Message, the event was characterized in this manner: “Paul continued to insist on right relations with God and His people about a life of moral discipline and the coming Judgement, Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort and dismissed Paul. “That’s enough for today. I’ll call you back when it is convenient” [Acts 24: 24-25]. When we are confronted with correction, it is very inconvenient. It can be downright uncomfortable. Bevere says “There are some church leaders whose primary goal is to get seekers back to the next Sunday’s service.” Paul was not sugar-coating his message. He was speaking truth.

Bevere is not advocating that church be a place where 100% of the worship experience should be negative. He is not advocating that church be a place where 100% of the worship experience be positive. He is advocating for a balance.

Today’s church may be “out of balance” when it comes to helping people grow in their Christian lives. First Corinthians 10:23 says “I am allowed to do anything” but we know that not everything is beneficial for our lives. Maybe all of us need to admit our need for correction. The big question that I would pose is this: would you rather be corrected by a pastor who has concern for your life in Christ or would you rather continue your ways and either be stuck in your growth as a Christian or continue in a lifestyle that is not appropriate for our faith?

Seems to be a “no-brainer” to me…

As humans get more mature [I am trying to be positive about aging], we tend to reminisce. Things were so much better when we were all younger. We love to speak about the “good ole days.” Life was simpler, everyone was much happier and even though we had to “walk miles to school in knee deep snow”, we loved life. After all, all that walking was good for us and we were all much healthier then…

John Bevere is not a pastor who wants to hold to the old ways so much that his current message is not relevant; he is willing to be progressive and he knows we have to look forward in our thinking…

Except when it comes to grace and holiness…

He says that today in the “good new days” we have undersold grace.

As he concludes Chapter 10 in his book Good or God?, he revisits this idea of grace and declares that today we may be compromising the Word of God. Earlier in his book he writes about Adam and Eve and God’s commands of “you shall not eat” of the fruit from the tree of knowledge. In contemporary society, he states that we are selective in responding to God’s commands. “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat” is where we stop paying attention and we conveniently leave off the “you shall not eat” command.

Of course, Jesus is the one who has introduced us to grace but Jesus has also given us commands or expectations. For example, Jesus has told us not to lie, not to be prone to anger, not to steal and not to use foul language [see my October 5 and October 2nd post]. Bevere’s thinking is that we have used grace to rationalize our sins today. God will cover our weaknesses with His understanding of our nature and His forgiveness.

Bevere thinks that grace can do much more than “cover” our sins. Grace can empower us to be better people, better Christians, growing Christians. He turns to Revelation 3:1 to make his point: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.” Jesus is talking to the church at Sardis through a messenger. Besides calling this church dead, He goes further: “Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead, I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God” [3:2]. Then comes the key verse in Revelation 3:3: “Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to Me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”

In other words, it is important to return to the “good ole days.”

Bevere feels that too many Christians have strayed from God’s standard. Paul writes “For God has revealed His grace for the salvation of all people. That grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
Give up worldly passions. godly lives in this world” [Titus 2: 11-12]. Notice that Paul says that grace comes with a few catches.

Give up ungodly living.

Live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.

There is no doubt that God has made us righteous through the offer of His Son Jesus Christ, but He has offered even more than that. He has offered us power to live holier lives. Maybe today we just don’t see grace as a means to help us continue our pursuit of God. Grace is used as an excuse for our weakness; that is the “good new days” interpretation, the partial message of Genesis: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.”

Bevere ends Chapter 10 with these words: “Let’s never stop teaching we can’t earn God’s favor, forgiveness or salvation. Let’s keep shouting that good news. However, let’s quit underselling His grace. Let’s proclaim its entire truth.”

Let’s not be satisfied with the “good.”

Let’s go for God! Let’s tap into the power of grace for better Christian living…