Bob Young has been my friend for nearly 35 years. He’s been the kind of friend that I have never felt compelled to agree wih 100% just so that he will remain my friend. In plainer words, ours is the kind of friendship where openness and honesty are the elements used as the “iron sharpens iron.” He challenges me and stretches me mentally and spiritually. He shared the following with me, and I’m sharing it with you with his permission.<\/p>\n
GUEST BLOGGER: Bob Young<\/a><\/p>\n He was born in the summer of his 27th year For me it was the autumn of my 46th year. It was a culmination of decades of learning and unlearning, a new beginning of sorts. A portal was opened to a new dimension of living, like walking into an ordinarywardrobe, clawing past the fur coats, and finding myself in Narnia. Shivering in the Narnian winter, clueless, alone, afraid, yet very much alive and very much full of wonder.<\/p>\n I was only part way through Rob Bell\u2019s book \u201cVelvet Elvis\u201d when this shift started and this doorway opened before me. So much of what I had been taught for decades, entire schools and systems of biblical understanding, were being shown for the inadequate, inaccurate, man-made things they were.<\/p>\n And it all resonated deep within my heart \u2013 what I was reading was making so much more sense than the empty explanations I had heard all my life. It clicked with reality.<\/p>\n It started with simple things like \u201cbinding\u201d and \u201cloosing\u201d. Rob discussed how scripture by its very nature had to be interpreted (something the rabbis knew for quite a long time). Some rabbis had very strict interpretations for passages in the Torah, while other rabbis were more lenient in how to apply it. In the end, however, the goal was to actually DO what the scriptures commanded, and the question was how.<\/p>\n When a rabbi forbid an activity, he was said to \u201cbind\u201d it; when he allowed the activity, he \u201cloosed\u201d it. The collection of the rabbi\u2019s interpretations of what is \u201cbound\u201d and what is \u201cloosed\u201d in scripture was called the rabbi\u2019s \u201cyoke\u201d. For anyone familiar with the book of Matthew in the New Testament, bells should start going off in your head, because the rabbi Jesus used these very terms with his apprentices.<\/p>\n He talked about how his \u201cyoke\u201d was easy, and later told his apprentices that they had the power to \u201cbind\u201d and \u201cloose\u201d (which they exercised in the book of Acts).<\/p>\n In some mysterious way, the apostles\u2019 interpretation of scripture (which at that time consisted of Genesis to Malachi) had authority on earth AND in heaven. They partnered with God to determine what is allowed and what is not allowed. And if you look at their determinations in Acts, there were only a few things they bothered to \u201cbind\u201d or \u201cloose\u201d (though these days there are many who love to bind).<\/p>\n Anyway, that simple explanation from a Jewish historical context was mind-blowing to me. It made me wonder what else I had been taught wrongly simply because my teachers did not know (for one reason or another) the actual context of the passage, what the terms really meant to the speakers and hearers.<\/p>\n Rob included a number of concepts that he had learned from Ray Vander Laan, Dallas Willard, and other teachers \u2013 many that I had been exposed to for years \u2013 and brought out new perspectives and angles I had never heard before. I felt ashamed and excited, dumb and enlightened at the same time.<\/p>\n But the most devastating blow to my old way of thinking came as he gently addressed a common, glaring error in interpretation that is one of the key stops along the old \u201cRomans Road\u201d. I originally memorized the verse in the King James Version, and it went like this:<\/p>\n \u201cThat if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe The English Standard Version of the scriptures translates that passage as follows:<\/p>\n “\u2026 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in Which, of course, meant that if I ask Jesus into my heart (perhaps confessing that I\u2019m a sinner), and believe deep down inside that He as second person of the Trinity died for my sins and rose again, I have done a transaction that guarantees me an afterlife in heaven and an escape from the lake of fire. Right? But does it really mean that? Is that what the text really says?<\/p>\n When Paul wrote to the followers of Jesus in Rome, he was writing to a group of individuals who lived in the capital city of the civilized world. The military headquarters was there. The emperor was there\u2026 and he was considered to be a god. One of the requirements of Rome\u2019s citizens was to honor him in ways that we\u2019ve seen in the 20th century; where in Nazi Germany the people were required to shout with outstretched arm \u201cHeil Hitler\u201d, in Paul\u2019s day Roman citizens were required to say \u201cCaesar is Lord!\u201d (whether you bought the whole emperor-god thing or not). If you wanted to survive, you said it.<\/p>\n Paul encouraged the followers of Jesus to participate in a dangerous and subversive activity \u2013 to go against the grain (at the risk of punishment or death) and say that Jesus, not Caesar, is the ruler. In other letters Paul reminds his readers that we are citizens of the kingdom of Heaven, not of the Roman Empire (though Paul gladly used his Roman citizenship to his advantage when appropriate). And the further you study the anti-Roman implications in Paul\u2019s writings, the more you understand the subversive nature of his teachings and how he encouraged such a counter-cultural stand for God\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n And what does the word \u201csaved\u201d mean in the context of Romans 10:9 if it doesn\u2019t mean saved from hell and guaranteed access into an afterlife of bliss? Pretty much what it means in many other places in scripture when we use the synonyms \u201cdelivered\u201d, \u201crescued\u201d, and \u201cprotected\u201d. Scan the Old Testament and you will see that over and over God delighted to rescue his people from danger. It\u2019s the big story that his people get to gratefully recount to others \u2013 the various ways God came through for them in their time of need. Paul appears to be telling his readers don\u2019t worry about taking a counter-cultural stand for Jesus as the king who rules over Caesar because Jesus will rescue them one way or another (either in this life so they can share their story, or they will be resurrected one day just like Him).<\/p>\n Wow. So what else have I gotten wrong? What else did my teachers not know, did not interpret (binding or loosing) correctly and accurately? And if it\u2019s not about securing a good spot in the afterlife, what IS it about? For that, I had to go back to the teachings of Jesus himself\u2026<\/p>\n Studying Jesus\u2019 teachings led me back to the writings of Dallas Willard and his landmark book \u201cThe Divine Conspiracy\u201d. Though I\u2019ve read it twice before, I had completely missed the implications; perhaps I wasn\u2019t ready yet. But as he discussed the failure of \u201cgospel of sin management\u201d to really foster Christlikeness and as he expanded on the brilliance of Jesus\u2019 teachings that we call \u201cthe sermon on the mount\u201d, my eyes were opened and my heart humbled and my spirit was shaken by the possibilities. And that led me to others who have been influenced by his writings, including Scot McKnight, Rick Don\u2019t forget to bring kindness That\u2019s me \u2013 just another beginner, just another humbled, desperate soul trying to follow the way of Jesus. I hesitate to even call myself a Christian anymore because the term is so over-used that it can mean just about anything, which in the end indicates that it means nothing. And if it is supposed to mean \u201cChrist-like\u201d or \u201clittle Christ\u201d, well, that ain\u2019t me. But I\u2019m trying\u2026<\/p>\n Honesty is a hard attribute to find It\u2019s a world filled with doubts and questions. But I guess I\u2019m not afraid of that anymore, because the God who created all of this and who has rescued (saved!) me time and time again \u2013 well, he\u2019s not afraid of the questions either. And questions are exactly what inquisitive children are supposed to bring to their father. And it\u2019s not that I don\u2019t look forward to an afterlife with him \u2013 I do \u2013 but more importantly I look forward to his presence in my here and now every single day as I see his wishes become my reality. And I think puts me in a better position to be humble, perhaps like a child, as I seek to follow him in faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bob Young has been my friend for nearly 35 years. He’s been the kind of friend that I have never felt compelled to agree wih 100% just so that he will remain my friend. In plainer words, ours is the … Continue reading
\nComin\u2019 home to a place he\u2019d never been before.
\nHe left yesterday behind him,
\nYou might say he was born again,
\nYou might say he found a key for every door.
\nJohn Denver
\n\u201cRocky Mountain High\u201d<\/p>\n
\nin thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.\u201d
\nRomans 10:9<\/p>\n
\nyour heart that God raised him from the dead,
\nyou will be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMcKinley, and Brian McLaren. It also led me back to John Eldredge who was an influence on me several years ago as his writings prepared me to live authentically and stop being a \u201cposer\u201d, in spite of the resistance. And that led me back to the songwriters I\u2019ve come to love for their honesty and integrity\u2026<\/p>\n
\nDon\u2019t forget to say “thanks!”
\nDon\u2019t forget to spend your love
\nHoney, you will not break the bank
\nDon\u2019t forget to bring some empathy
\nFor the saints and the sinners
\nDon\u2019t forget to bring encouragement
\nYeah, we\u2019re all just beginners.
\nBill Mallonee
\n\u201cBank\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWhen we all want to seem like
\nwe’ve got it all figured out
\nWell let me be the first to say that I
\ndon’t have a clue
\nI don’t have all the answers
\nain’t gonna’ pretend like I do
\nJust trying to find my way
\ntrying to find my way the best that I know how
\nJason Wade \/ Lifehouse
\n\u201cTrying\u201d<\/p>\n