POSTED 31 MAY, 2009

Hats, T-Shirts, Bumper Stickers, Praise Songs—and Now Blogs!

by J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net

reproduced from the McHuey Blog

One of the most significant weaknesses of today’s contemporary Christianity is the fact that too many people do not read the Bible. While many will memorize a verse or two of Scripture, here or there—a disciplined reading of the Scriptures is often not encouraged to the degree that it should, especially among today’s youth. On the contrary, while people often avoid reading a complete book of the Bible in a single sitting, many of today’s Christians get their theology from: hats, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and praise songs.

Just consider what many people think about the Second Coming. How far does their actual engagement with basic passages like Matthew 24:29-31; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; and Revelation 11:15 actually go? Have your Christian friends even read these verses before? What if all they know is what they see when driving on the road? You know:

In case of rapture this car will be unmanned.

I could give more examples, but this should be enough to make my point.

It is easy for a lot of today’s Messianics to look on their Christian brothers and sisters with some discord. Ha! They don’t read their Bibles. We know Torah. Yet, when we are honest with ourselves, we really don’t, either. There are entire sections of the weekly parashah we jump over in every cycle, not to mention most of the Tanach and Apostolic Scriptures that we should be examining—but do not. While we may have a little more information in our brains than do some of our Christian colleagues, and some knowledge of Judaism, it could be much, much greater. Our ability to join into the conversation definitely needs to improve.

Like too many religious people, a great deal of today’s Messianics—even those in leadership—desire easy and simplistic solutions to complicated problems. We do not want to have to sort through the intricacies of Hebrew or Greek grammar, or consult technical commentaries. We do not want to read the thoughts of scholars and theologians who have preceded us. We do not want to spend any money on getting the right books and tools for our library. We, rather, want a canned one-line answer to give people for what we believe. How is this any different than the bumper sticker?

One of the most offensive things I have ever seen produced by a Messianic person was a t-shirt that actually said:

Keep the Feasts or Be a Feast!

I’ll keep my further comments to myself, to protect the innocent who would ever wear such an inflammatory thing.

But there’s more… In the past week or so, I read with interest a variety of Messianic blogs, each trying to determine what the future of the Messianic, or Messianic Jewish, or Jewish Messianic Jewish movement should be. I will not burden you with any more than this. All I did for most of these blogs was just read, and for some read a whole slew of comments with a wide variety of perspectives. While reading through the opinions was interesting, how much Scripture was actually engaged with? Little, if any. It was all about who could talk the loudest, who could sound the most obnoxious, and/or who could have the last word. Finding a fair-minded, Biblical solution for the subjects discussed was the last thing on most participants’ minds.

While I will from time to time get an idea from reading another blog, the fact of the matter remains that I am principally a writer and not a blogger. If I am going to write an op/ed piece, it goes on the McHuey Blog (as of 2008-2009).[1] If I am going to write something much more theological and detailed, it goes on the TNN Online website. Most goes on my website, and if it is longer, in a printed publication.

My friends, many people are now getting their theology from blogs. In their favor, blogs are certainly better than the t-shirt which says “It can never be lost,” a reflection on a popular form of “once saved, always saved.” Blogs are a good place to be a bit more personal with people, where you can express more of who you are. But to their (significant) disfavor, blogs are not the place where you should get your theology. Your theology needs to come from the text of Scripture, and in seeing well-tempered teachers and leaders teach the Bible, demonstrating a fair and reasonable level of engagement with the ongoing conversation in research and study. Blogs are simply not setup to do this.

I am not down on blogs at all, but I do urge you to be cautious. If the only thing that a purported leader or teacher can offer you is a blog, and there is no other website or resource available with more technical writing, please be careful. Some people only have blogs not to teach, but to network with other Believers. Some people have blogs to rant on the ills of the Christian Church, the Jewish Synagogue, or the Messianic movement as they see them.

He or she who talks the loudest does not have the last word according to the Scriptures. James the Just is clear, “prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22)—meaning those who might hear the Scriptures, but then in religious conversation not really discuss what they mean. It is he or she who can study adequately and convey knowledge and useful insight properly from the Scriptures who has the last word. As Sirach 39:1-3 from the Apocrypha advises each one of us,

“[H]e who devotes himself to the study of the law of the Most High will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be concerned with prophecies; he will preserve the discourse of notable men and penetrate the subtleties of parables; he will seek out the hidden meanings of proverbs and be at home with the obscurities of parables” (RSV).

J.K. McKee (B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic apologist. He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan Biblical Languages Award for Greek. He is author of numerous books, dealing with a wide range of topics that are important for today’s Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on theological issues, and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries of various books of the Bible.

NOTES