The Book of I John: Chapter 1 verses 5-10

The following passage should give us pause. The apostle John, a disciple of Christ, one of the three closest disciples to Christ (along with James and Peter) and perhaps Christ’s closest companion while He was on earth is telling you “…this is the message that we have heard from him and we declare to you”. There is so much weight in just that one statement. Think about it. This man that traveled with Christ every day for three years, he listened to him preach, he walked where he walked, slept when he slept, ate what he ate and he is about to tell you what he took from that experience. I don’t know about you but I am ready to hear what the man has to say.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. – I John 1:5-10 (New American Standard Bible)

This part of the passage tells us something about God’s nature; that He is light. It also tells us that there is no darkness present in God. He is a pure luminescent light; exposing all sin and filth in the lives of those that are in fellowship with Him. Thus anyone claiming to fellowship with God will display certain characteristics in their life. It isn’t that these characteristics save you; rather they indicate whom you are fellowshipping with. It sort of like telling someone you just got done swimming yet your clothes and hair are not wet. Likewise you cannot claim fellowship with God, who is light, and walk in darkness. The story doesn’t match with what we would see in front of us.

As we study the passage the fruits of fellowshipping with God are plain. Those in Fellowship with God: 1) Do not walk in the darkness. 2) Do walk in the light.3) Enjoy fellowship with other believers. 4) Are cleansed from sin in their lives by the blood of Christ. 5) Are confessing their sins. 6) Are having their sins forgiven. 6) Will acknowledge their sin. This, my friends, is what true fellowship with God looks like. On the other hand those that claim to have fellowship with God yet walk in darkness: 1) Are lying about it. 2) Are not practicing the truth 3) Are deceiving themselves 4) Have no claim to the truth being in them 5) Are making God out to be a liar by claiming they are without sin 6) Have no claim to the Word being in them. These are people claiming to be in fellowship with God without evidence of it in their lives. Our Lord warned us about such people. John’s teaching here echoes what Christ said on the Sermon on the Mount:

"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.” – Mathew 7:15-23 (New American Standard Bible)


Notice the correlations between those in I John who walked in darkness and those in this passage that practice lawlessness. Note their claims of Christ being their Lord, their claims of works done in service to God and in I John their claims of being without sin. They claimed fellowship with God but how they walked told a different story. It seems they believed that since they could perform these great spiritual feats that it was proof enough that they were in fellowship with God. Yet when they finally meet Christ they were told to depart from him because they practiced lawlessness. May these passages cause us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ; being in fellowship with him.

I do want to finish up and say this. Our works does not save us; there are not enough good deeds that you could ever perform that would buy you a ticket into heaven. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone by Christ alone. Do not mistake what John is saying here. He is not teaching salvation by works but rather showing us what fellowshipping with God looks like. You will know a tree by its fruits indeed.

A look at LOTRO Online

Above: Contemplating killing the Sackville-Baggins. Yodrick will teach you to take over Bags end!

If you don't know LOTRO stands for Lord of the Rings Online. This is a subscription Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game that I and Vander (My friend Brandon) have gotten into. You can play as one of four races Human, Dwarf, Hobbit or Elf. There are several classes to choose that you will find fun to play. LOTRO is more focused on Player vs the environment rather than player vs player. Meaning that no one can come up to you in game and attack your character.
Rather it focuses on getting groups of players together (called fellowships in the game) to finish various quests. Yes there is your standard "Yodrick, please go out and kill ten boars and bring the skins to me" type quests. But it quickly gets better from there offering you a wide variety to do. One quest had me turn into a chicken and help a sick chicken find some worms to eat. Hey, it is more fun than it sounds. While you cannot travel with Bilbo and the fellowship you will meet those characters in game. For instance I did some quests for Strider while he decided what to do with the hobbits at the prancing poney. It does make you feel like you are apart of the storyline albiet behind the scenes. I have also ran into Gandalf and Tom Bambadil which was pretty cool.














Above: Looking out over a swamp. Yes you can travel down there


In place of Player vs Player they have an option called monster play that is available to you after your character reaches the 10th level. You will get a 60 level monster that will inhabit one part of the map where you can battle other players characters for control of castles and forts. I have just dabbled into that but what little time I have spent in MP has been fun. You can raise your characters level to 60 wth the new Mines of Moria expansion but I haven't gotten that far yet.

The subscription rate is pretty steep at 15.00 a month but you can get a cheaper price if you buy a several months at a time. ($300 buys you a life time subscription. Sometimes they are known to offer it at $200) I am going to eye the life time option because this game is a lot of fun compared to the other MMO's I have tried out. Most of which are not this good looking graphically. If you have a little extra time and money, consider taking a trip to middle earth.

Below: Overlooking the Shire from Bag's End.

Happy Birthday

I am 35 today. Wow

Awesome discussion

There is a great discussion on love and forgiveness going on at my facebook page. I tend to post both here and there so there you go. Jump into the conversation.

The Book of I John: Chapter 1 verses 1-4

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your[a] joy may be full.

I John 1:1-4

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

The Gospel of John 1:1-3

Several thoughts about this passage: (not exhaustive)

I

There are two sets of credentials presented here. The former gives credence to the later. Without the former the later doesn’t matter. What John has to say here is legitimate because he received it from “That which was from the beginning”. He is not giving us his opinion, which he came up with. Nor is he telling us about someone else’s opinion. If John was spouting his own opinion we could say “Well, that’s a very nice idea John, but there are thousands upon thousands of opinions on how we ought to live our lives and yours isn’t anymore legitimate than the next fellows”. Even if John were presenting an idea from a great teacher our argument would still hold. John, by himself, wouldn’t have the authority to tell us to get out of bed in the morning. At best John could present his case and we could choose to follow it or not follow it.

But if John is repeating what he heard from The Word, who was in the beginning, who was with God and who was God, then what he has to say takes on importance. What John has to say is now legitimate and has basis because he has heard, seen, touched and handled That which was from the beginning. He was there, he has heard and he is now going to communicate to us what The Word has to say to us. .

II

Jesus was not just a great moral teacher. He is much more than that. John tell us in his gospel that Jesus, presented here as The Word, existed in the beginning. He is not a creature that was made by God but that he is God himself. There was never a time where Christ did not exist. So great is this Jesus that He had created all things; without Him nothing was made that was made. John, later in his gospel, tells us that The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. God the creator takes on the flesh and becomes like the created. He becomes the God-man. It is this God-man that John hears, sees and handles. It is this Word that was manifested before John’s eyes.

III

John gives us the purpose of this letter in verse 3. The purpose of the letter is this: that the reader will have fellowship with those whose fellowship is with the Father and the Son. True happiness is found only in fellowship with brethren that are in fellowship with God the Father and God the Son. These are believers joined together by virtue of their faith in Christ. Again, the fellowship with the brethren is important because it is in fellowship with God the Father and God the Son. We will explore this concept later in the book.

I will give you love and hate

My response to a blog post my friend had posted. My wife has convinced me that it was too good to languish in some com box:

Okay I am going to clue you in on something. I know you are a young man and you have to learn things the hard way but here it goes.There are certain things in this world that you just don't do and if you do do them then you deserve what you get. Case in point, if the girl you are dating is the youngest of three or more siblings then you need to run away. You are dating what we call a princess. This girl has been spoiled to death not only by her parents but she has been given a free ride by her older siblings as well. There is no pleasing this girl...ever. She (or he for that matter ladies) is going to expect you to bow down and worship the ground she walks on because that is what mommy and daddy has done her (or his) whole life. Think about it, the oldest child has gotten the snot beat out of him by the parents because they are going to be all super strict on their first born, but by the time princess buttercup comes around they have either chilled out or are just too tired to care anymore. (Can you image what kind of monster that last Duggar kid is going to be? Seriously. At the very least he is going to be an evil dictator of a small central American country.)

But even worse than that is buying the newest Microsoft operating system before it has been on the market for at least 6 years. This is not an operating system, this is a program in beta (at best) and you are there to work out the bugs. You know what the funny thing is? Microsoft isn't paying you to be a beta tester, you have paid them for the privilege losing your data on a nightly basis. FUN! Bill Gates is swimming in a vault full of money life Scrooge McDuck while you are wiping your hard drive clean for the fourth time in a month. (OH! Look! He is rolling back and forth in all that money laughing at you. muahahahahahahahahahaha) You know what operating system I bought when I got my new computer 3 months ago? That's right. Windows XP baby. You know why? Because sorry saps like you finally worked the kinks out of that operating system and have now moved on to Vista. So long losers, here is a picture of me resting in your labors. *Slurps a drink in a coconut husk*

The Book of I John: A Look at the Author

What kind of person was John? We often think of John as the guy laying his head on the Lord’s breast during the last supper. Couple that picture with his emphasizing love for the Christian brethren in I John and you may come away with the idea that John was kind of an effeminate wuss. But that is kind of like describing Anakin Skywalker as a bald, frail old man based upon the removing the helmet scene in “Return of the Jedi”. There is so much more in view here. If you don’t see the whole picture then you are missing a great story of spiritual growth and redemption.

John was a fisherman with his Brother James and Father Zebedee. I am also convinced that John was the unnamed follower (John 1:35-40) of John the Baptist that left with Andrew to follow Jesus seeing how John never mentions himself in his gospel; preferring to conceal his name instead. (See John 13:23 and John 20:3 for example) Andrew, fellow disciple of John the Baptist runs to tell Peter (his brother) after spending the day with Jesus that he and John have found the Messiah. This tells us John, James, the brother of John, Andrew and Peter all knew each other and were possibly disciples (of various degrees) of John the Baptist. Jesus later comes by the Sea of Galilee where all four of them are fishing/mending nets to bid them to follow Him. (Matt 4:21) Also note that John (concealing himself yet again in John 18:15) is able to gain entrance to Jesus’ trial because he was “known to the high priest”. This is a man who has connections in high places. Taking this all into account we can surmise that John was a spiritual man, a good Jew and someone who was actively looking for the Messiah.


John and his brother James, the sons of Zebedee were known as “Sons of Thunder” and rightly so. John is revealed in the gospels as a man of quick temperament who has a rather high opinion of himself. We see this when John asks Jesus for permission to call fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village for rejecting him. In the passage before that one we see John telling Jesus that he and the other disciples had forbade someone from casting out demons in Jesus’ name just because that person “does not follow us”. In the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew we see John and James (through mommy), asking Jesus for thrones at his left and right hand side. In all three instances Jesus rebukes this hot-headed, smug disciple. But something happens to John while he follows Christ; his heart softens. This once boisterous disciple learns humility. He learns that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He learns to love Christ supremely and dearly. (John was the only disciple to stick around after Jesus was arrested and crucified.) In I John we get an intimate look at what John has taken away from the his time with Jesus Christ and it isn’t a call to burn Samaritan villages with fire from heaven. Instead we get a call to love Christ and our Christian brethren.

The book of I John: a prologue

What is my favorite book of the bible? The book of I John. No question about it.

Now let us not get I John confused with the gospel of John, which is a better-known book. No I am talking about the little book in the back of the bible. I John. I John plays “Bleach” to the Gospel of John’s “Nevermind” in the sense that The Gospel of John is mainstream and I John is a book you later stumble upon and say to yourself “Did he put this one out too? How did I miss that?”

What I like about I John is that it gives it to you both barrels; it reloads and gives you both barrels again. I John is plain and simply a punch to the gut, a drop kick to the face, a blaring bugle call in the early morning. I John starts by wrecking your preconceived notions about what it means to walk with Christ and ends with putting to flame the idea that one can walk with the world and God. There is no gray area with I John; there is no “and” and “both”. All there is God who is light and you who may not be walking in the light and that is where I found myself back in 2003 alone in an apartment, reading this little book. *pow*

And that is why I am going to cover this book on my blog in the coming months.

Stay tuned

An overview of abortion

What is that over in the weeds? 2/10

It's an Amish AMBUSH!!!!

1. TV IN CONTACT LENSES! TV IN CONTACT LENSES!

We should do it just to do it of course. But do we really need to watch TV anywhere and everywhere we go? I was ahead of my time about cancer/cell phones while my friends laughed and told me I was full of it. So let me be the first to announce that I won't be getting TV lenses because they will cause cancer of the eyeballs! Let the derision begin

2.Chris Brown: Respecter of women and all around nice guy

3. The Puritan Board discusses the importance of being confessional.

4. My "Beer Advocate" Beer reviews

5. Fly on the wall - Undercover: Working for Walmart

A man goes undercover to discern if all the bad press is true.

Fla. doctor investigated in badly botched abortion

The Department of Health account continues as follows: Just before noon she began to feel ill. The clinic contacted Renelique. Two hours later, he still hadn't shown up. Williams went into labor and delivered the baby.

"She came face to face with a human being," Pennekamp said. "And that changed everything."

The complaint says one of the clinic owners, Belkis Gonzalez came in and cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then placed the baby in a plastic bag, and the bag in a trash can.

Williams' lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor. The baby's umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out. Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

Couple of thoughts

If you are for abortion, then what does it mater if the baby was delivered or not? Why would murdering the child outside the womb be any different morally inside the womb? Answer: There is no difference. It is a person inside and outside the womb. What does it matter if you are tearing apart the baby inside the womb or stuffing it in a plastic bag after it has been delivered? Secondly, If you do not think that this happens every day then you are fooling yourself.

Caution: Zombies Ahead

What is that over in the weeds? 2/2

It's an Amish AMBUSH!!!!!

1. Steve Hayes over at Triablogue asks "saving babies or preaching the gospel?"

2. Abortion decision least popular of president's early actions

3. Carl Trueman's article "The freedom of the christian market" is a great read.

"The credit boom is part and parcel of the con-trick that modern consumer society has played on us, the notion that material acquisition is what makes life meaningful. It has provided the fuel, as untrammeled free market theory has provided the rationale, for the mess in which we now find ourselves. And we are not victims of this; we are all at best hapless and willing dupes, at worst active perpetrators, whether borrowers or lenders; we are all part of a system that is designed simultaneously to satiate greed and exacerbate avarice."

4. Phil Johnson on "teaching your children spiritual truth"

5. Left for Dead Valentines

Chosen Few Brew

I just got into home brewing in the fall of 2008. My first batch "95 Thesis" bock did not turn out as well as I expected. First off I scorched the wort, not good but that is what you get when brewing on an electric stove. Secondly I had forgot to add some dry malt to the wart and had to add it 24 hours after the fact. Third, I fermented the beer at too high a temperature (82 degrees as opposed to 69 degrees) and lastly bock's are lagers and are suppose to be kept in much cooler temperatures while they sit. Needless to say it was a sub par beer. The second times around I brewed a red ale (Chosen Few Brew) in honor of John Calvin's 500th birthday. This time I did everything right (mostly) and just cracked one open this evening. It still is a bit green but already it tastes much better than my previous effort. Maybe I will stick with this after all.

Civilized Man II

Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.
- John Calvin