{"id":1688,"date":"2021-08-02T00:43:33","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T00:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2024-10-04T09:23:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T09:23:52","slug":"why-are-we-still-talking-about-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesimpleanswers.com\/articles\/2021\/08\/02\/why-are-we-still-talking-about-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are we still talking about this?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/p>\n

The most divisive subject in the world is religion.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, this makes sense – none of us can really see God, so the idea that He exists at all takes a bit of effort to believe.<\/p>\n

Yet on the other, it doesn\u2019t make sense – since most of us claim to worship the same God and all base our beliefs on the same set of holy scriptures.<\/p>\n

So since all Christians pretty much have just the one book\u2026 how can we possibly have so many differing opinions about what it says?<\/p>\n

Easy: because we keep talking about it.<\/p>\n

Every time one of us shares an opinion, it creates a new viewpoint, a new argument, a new belief which clouds over the actually quite clear<\/em> original statement in the Bible.<\/p>\n

And it is answering these opinions,<\/em> and referencing each other\u2019s ideas, leveraging them to prove the point our church believes in, which prevents people from seeing the often very<\/em> clear answer in the Bible.<\/p>\n

My job is to cut through all that.<\/strong> Take tithing; just the other day someone said to me \u201cI\u2019m worried I don\u2019t tithe enough.\u201d But you see\u2026 it\u2019s literally impossible to tithe too little or<\/em> too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cTithe\u201d is an archaic English word which means \u201ctenth.\u201d Generally translated from the Hebrew word ma\u2019aser<\/em> which means \u201ctenth.\u201d So you cannot tenth<\/em> more than\u2026 well\u2026 1\/10th<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you give more than one tenth of your yearly net income (your \u201cincrease,\u201d in most Bible translations), it\u2019s not a tenth<\/em> anymore! (<\/span>Deuteronomy 14:22<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you give less, it\u2019s not a tenth! If you tithe a tenth one week, but skip the next week, then you\u2019re not giving ten percent of your total net income,<\/strong> and you\u2019re still not tithing!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Giving more than is required is called an offering,<\/em> which is fine\u2026 but has nothing to do with tithing! (<\/span>Malachi 3:8<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. And an offering is, by definition, up to you –<\/em> that\u2019s why it\u2019s a \u201cfree will\u201d<\/strong> offering! (<\/span>Ezra 8:28<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You cannot offer God too much – nor can you not offer Him enough. You give what feels right to you. You cannot over – or under – offer!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nor can you over – or under – tithe. Because you\u2019re either giving a tenth\u2026 or you\u2019re not tithing at all!<\/strong> <\/em>You either tithe or you don\u2019t!<\/strong><\/p>\n

So why would so many people think they are \u201cnot tithing enough?\u201d Because the act<\/em> of tithing has become separate from the meaning<\/em> of tithing.<\/p>\n

The idea<\/em> of tithing has taken on a life of its own in the Christian religion; it\u2019s no longer a word, it\u2019s a doctrine, a dogma.<\/em><\/p>\n

And by endlessly discussing, debating, and debunking the idea<\/em> of tithing, Christians forgot what a tithe even is: one tenth.<\/p>\n

The word tithe means one tenth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why are we still talking about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you see how simple the Bible is, if you just shut up and let it talk? We could go on to discuss where and when to tithe, which is equally simple; but the definition of a tithe stands firm, never forget it: tithe is a tenth.<\/p>\n

What else do you suppose is that simple in the Bible?<\/p>\n

One of the most divisive things in the Christian religion is baptism.<\/p>\n

Dip, dunk, pour, sprinkle, air, fire, water, spirit\u2026 who knows what the right<\/em> form of baptism is? Certainly no two religions can agree!<\/p>\n

Millions of pages have been spent debating and attempting to prove which is the one true form of baptism – or if baptism even needs to be done at all!<\/p>\n

But here again, stop talking. Stop arguing. Stop reading what men wrote and listen to what God wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaptize\u201d comes from the Greek word baptizo;<\/em> and \u201cbaptism\u201d from the Greek baptisma.<\/em> As you can see, these words were never translated. They were borrowed directly from Greek into English.<\/p>\n

Now when Jesus or John used those words, they weren\u2019t referring to the doctrine<\/em> or dogma<\/em> of baptism – no such thing existed at the time!<\/p>\n

They simply used a commonly used Greek verb, used by pagans and Christians alike, with a very common, very simple meaning. Look it up in any ancient Greek dictionary; they\u2019ll all say something like this\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201c[baptism means] to dip, to immerse, to sink<\/strong>\u2026 There is no evidence that Luke or Paul and the other writers of the New Testament put upon this verb meanings not recognized by the Greeks.\u201d<\/em> (Greek and English Lexicon, \u201cbaptism.\u201d Sophocles)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you immerse someone by sprinkling them? Can you immerse them by pouring water over them? Can they survive being immersed in fire? Of course not.<\/p>\n

And if you hadn\u2019t had thousands of years of people discussing the doctrine<\/em> of baptism apart from the meaning of the word itself,<\/em> it would never occur to you to think it meant anything but full and complete immersion!<\/p>\n

The word baptize<\/strong> means<\/strong> <\/em>to immerse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why are we still talking about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are still other questions about baptism; who should be baptized, and by whom; when, where, and why; and all of these questions are just about as easy.<\/p>\n

But for now, the point is clear: don\u2019t let people distract you from the simple meaning of the Bible\u2019s ideas by a flood of arguments about doctrines<\/strong>which didn\u2019t exist<\/strong> as such<\/strong><\/u>until centuries after the Bible was written!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Because the Bible was written in simple words to the common man (<\/span>1 Corinthians 1:17-29<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. And to understand it, you only have to ask yourself what did these words mean in the language of regular people like me?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today we think of the ancient world in our own terms, and we forget that what are, to us special, religious-sounding words are nothing more than simple Greek verbs and nouns that meant nothing but their literal meaning<\/em> to the speaker.<\/p>\n

Take prayer. We think of prayer as a special thing, reserved for God. It isn\u2019t. It\u2019s simply an English word meaning \u201cto ask.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Shakespeare\u2019s day, \u201cI pray thee, give it me\u201d didn\u2019t have any special meaning reserved for God. It just meant\u2026 I\u2019m asking<\/em> you, politely, to give me something (<\/span>Genesis 13:8<\/span>,<\/span> 25:30<\/span><\/strong>, etc.).<\/p>\n

Now if you simply update the English word used 400 years ago to the translation we would use today, if prayer were not a dogma, but a simple word\u2026<\/em> it would be hard to misunderstand prayer.<\/p>\n

Prayer means asking.<\/em> We can ask<\/em> each other for things, we can ask God<\/em> for things. That\u2019s why the Bible doesn\u2019t have specific prayers<\/em> for us to recite; because the doctrine of a prayer<\/em> didn\u2019t exist apart from the idea of asking God for something.<\/em><\/p>\n

No one in the Bible ever recited someone else\u2019s prayer; because what person has a list of asks<\/em> that they write down and repeat every day, or in certain circumstances??<\/p>\n

The Lord\u2019s prayer was not a prayer we were meant to memorize and recite like robots. That\u2019s why Jesus said after this manner pray,<\/em> or pray in this way<\/strong> – He never said recite this exact prayer!<\/em> (<\/span>Matthew 6:9<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. It was a template, a guideline – that\u2019s why no one in the Bible ever copied it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you saw your brother ask your father for something, using an eloquent heartfelt plea, and saw your father grant it\u2026 would you try and recite the same exact words? And if you did, would it work?<\/p>\n

Probably not; it wouldn\u2019t ring true to him because the words didn\u2019t come from your own heart!<\/em> (<\/span>Matthew 7:7<\/span>,<\/span> Romans 10:1<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. God doesn\u2019t want a canned speech any more than your own father does (<\/span>Matthew 6:7<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>; just be straight with Him, and ask Him what you want (<\/span>Matthew 7:7-11<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Treat God like a good Father (<\/span>2 Corinthians 6:18<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>, not like a medieval dictator being approached by a serf (<\/span>Hebrews 4:16<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. Because if you\u2019re formal and distant with Him, that\u2019s how He\u2019ll be with you (<\/span>James 4:8<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And like when you ask your own dad for something, do so in your own words, not in an archaic or dead language! None of that \u201cI thank thee,<\/em> O Lord\u201d stuff. Just say whatever sounds normal to you, because God hates pretentiousness! (<\/span>Matthew 23:14<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As for how often we should pray, that\u2019s even easier: as often as we have something to ask for\u2026<\/em> Or as rarely. If you have nothing to say, then don\u2019t say anything. Just like you would your human father<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you have a lot to say,<\/em> then spend all night saying it (<\/span>Luke 6:12<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. If you\u2019re an important person with a lot of things to go over, do it three times a day (<\/span>Daniel 6:10-11<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>, or seven (<\/span>Psalm 119:164<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>; if you\u2019ve got nothing to say\u2026 then say nothing. See how easy all this is?<\/p>\n

Prayer means \u201cask\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why are we still talking about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you truly understand what these words meant to the men who wrote them down – if prayer really means ask<\/em> to you – then it\u2019s hard not<\/em> to understand how to use it, or what it means! Because the Bible is really that simple if you just let it be\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or take apostles. Holy men, anointed by God in a special ceremony? Of which God only appointed the original twelve, and never any more since?<\/p>\n

We could debate this all day; many books have been written on what an apostle is, usually concluding that there aren\u2019t any today (or that the guy writing the book is one) – full of many, many, many words.<\/p>\n

But we only need the one word: apostle.<\/p>\n

Apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos.<\/em> As before, it was copied directly into English and means \u201cone who is sent off.\u201d That\u2019s all. And that\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n

Once again, this is an ordinary Greek noun with no special meaning until organized religion gave it one.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you had said this word to a contemporary Greek, they would have known it meant an emissary<\/em> – which is just a word English borrowed from Latin meaning\u2026 \u201cone sent.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in hindsight, this simple meaning makes perfect sense; for God\u2019s Kingdom is in heaven (<\/span>Hebrews 11:16<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. And God sends emissaries or ambassadors<\/em> to speak things He wants other men to hear (<\/span>2 Corinthians 5:20<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But that also means that anyone<\/em> whom God sends is an apostle. Anyone.<\/em> Take John the Baptist. Not one of the twelve, nor ever mentioned as an apostle\u2026 and yet, called<\/em> an apostle in the Bible, though few know it!<\/p>\n

\n

John 1:6<\/span><\/strong> There was a man sent from God<\/strong>, whose name was John.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the original Greek, the word used there is apostello;<\/em> in other words, this says there was an apostle<\/em> whose name was John (the Baptist)! They didn\u2019t translate it as a title<\/strong> because it isn\u2019t a title – it\u2019s simply a description of the job!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This John died before Jesus, long before the other \u201capostles\u201d were sent out<\/em> in Matthew 28:19<\/span><\/strong>. Because that particular<\/strong> group<\/strong> <\/em>of apostles were never intended to be the only ones in the world.<\/strong> They were just the first after Jesus died!<\/em><\/p>\n

Everyone God sent was, by definition<\/strong>, an apostle. Because that\u2019s what the word means!<\/strong> <\/em>Not just the twelve; for Jesus promised He would send many different kinds of teachers (<\/span>Matthew 23:34<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>\u2026 and if He sent them, they were apostles of His!<\/em> (<\/span>Mark 12:1-9<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This means Jeremiah was an apostle (<\/span>Jeremiah 26:12<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>; Jesus was an apostle (<\/span>Hebrews 3:1<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>; Samuel was an apostle (<\/span>1 Samuel 15:1<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>; Barnabas, though not one of the twelve, was explicitly called an apostle just as much as Paul was (<\/span>Acts 14:14<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>; and so on.<\/p>\n

Of course, not everyone who says \u201cGod sent me!\u201d is in fact an apostle of God; many are liars (<\/span>Revelation 2:2<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. When someone claims to be sent from God, we are supposed to test themand see, by their works, whether they are one or not (<\/span>1 Corinthians 9:1<\/span>,<\/span> 2 Corinthians 12:11-12<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Just as we should test every<\/em> spirit, and every so-called prophet! (<\/span>1 John 4:1-3<\/span>)<\/span><\/strong>. But the fact that we are supposed to test them, means there must have been apostles out there to test!<\/em> Apostles who were not one of the original twelve!<\/p>\n

But all this just goes back to the point: an apostle is not a holy office, ordained by a great church, with holy oil and robes and prayers in a dead language; an apostle is someone God sent to do something.<\/em><\/p>\n

Apostle means \u201cone sent\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why are we still talking about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So much of what we read in the Bible is what we put there. When the Bible said something simple and plain, we complicate it by projecting our assumptions onto the very simple words it said.<\/p>\n

The Bible had no sooner said \u201cbaptize\u201d before religions started bickering over what that means; but if people stopped telling the Bible what it meant for a few seconds, and just listened to what it said, the answer is easy; the word means \u201cimmersed.\u201d Why are we still talking about this?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if I said \u201cthe dead must be buried!\u201d and then 2,000 years later, people were to argue about whether I meant \u201cyou must have dirt sprinkled on you,\u201d \u201cyou must have dirt poured over you,\u201d or \u201cyou must be covered up with dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which one of these did I SAY? So why are we still talking about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could go on about this for dozens of pages. Words like angel, church, ordination, hell, heaven, trinity, beast, mercy, love, faith, cross, Sabbath, temple, spirit, bread, rock, wind\u2026 all of these words, and so many more.<\/p>\n

All these must be understood not as doctrines\u2026 but as words God used to mean something.<\/em> And if you want to know what that was, all you have to do is listen.<\/p>\n

Christians today think they know too much to listen to what God said. They\u2019re so sure they already know what He\u2019s about to say, they say it for Him; so sure they know what a verse means to their dogma<\/em> that they can\u2019t hear what it actually says.<\/em><\/p>\n

But if you are willing to sweep your arm across the cluttered desk that is religion, and go back to the basics of what did it actually say\u2026<\/em> these things cease to be confusing.<\/p>\n

\n

Matthew 11:25<\/span> (BBE)<\/strong>At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise<\/strong> and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They cease to be a question worth discussing; they become easy, and obvious, so that every child can see the plain answer God gave us. Because that\u2019s who God wrote them for.<\/p>\n

He wrote them for people who would look at His words, see them for what they say, and then look at what other people say, and quizzically say\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what it says at all. Why are we still talking about this?\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to learn how to cut through the clutter of religion and leave the centuries\u2019 worth of accumulated traditions and opinions of men behind, enroll in the free Bible Study Course below.<\/p>\n

If what you read in those lessons isn\u2019t what the Bible says, don\u2019t believe it. If it is, then do what the Bible says.<\/p>\n