There is a bit less news from us lately, as, like the rest, we are on lockdown. We do have some new material at the web site, of course. There is a new ten-hour class on Revelation, a nearly complete Old Testament survey class, and an on-going series of sermons from Matthew, all available at the web site. All is free, as usual! Also, videos of all three are available through links at the web site and also at www.bakersfieldchurchofchrist.com
We hope you all are weathering the Covid-19 crisis well. We are doing just fine here. With the lack of news to report, I am sending out a few of the many interesting Q&As which have come through the site recently, including questions about Covid-19. You may want to scroll through to find the questions you find interesting. Enjoy and stay safe.
I have some Biblical Questions for your kind replies. 1. Is the Covid – 19 outbreak human error or God’s anger on mankind? 2. Why did God create harmful bacteria and viruses? Is it to punish mankind or any other purpose? 3. In the Bible God punished Anania and Saphira for lying immediately after their sin. Why? We are lying and doing many sins even after baptism. Why is God not punishing us immediately as Anania and Saphira in Acts5?
Answer:
I believe that I already answered this question in the article below and in the article on the Problem of Pain and Suffering [see below]. However, let me explain one more time. Disease is not evidence of God’s anger. This virus has nothing to do with God being angry with humans. I am not a prophet, so it is really not my place to say why God does the things he does. Therefore, when I say that this is not the result of God’s anger, I am speculating on general principles, which is that disease and death are part of the natural world. I cannot absolutely disprove that God is involved in creating this disease, but I very, very highly doubt that he is.
Covid-19 is also not the result of human error. It is a natural event. Bacteria and viruses naturally evolve over time. For this reason, it is natural that, over time, certain diseases can become more contagious. You are proposing the possibility that the outbreak is a human error, which would mean that it was created in a laboratory and released. This is not absolutely impossible, but there is no evidence this is the case, so I am assuming that this outbreak is the result of natural processes. The last thing we need is people spreading false rumors that this disease was caused by humans. Coronaviruses have been around for a long time, but this particular one happens to be more contagious and more dangerous.
Although the virus is almost certainly not the result of human error, the rapid spread is the result of dense population and globalization. What would have spread only much more slowly one thousand years ago can now spread around the world in just weeks. Humans can spread the disease, but wise human behavior can also help to prevent its spread. I believe that Christians everywhere ought to help efforts to slow the spread of this disease by following guidelines such as social distancing.
This brings me to the next question. Why, then, did God allow bacteria and viruses to exist in the first place? In this world, disease and death are not the issue (although they cause great emotional pain to human beings, which God cares about for example as shown in John 11:35). The issue is not that people get sick or that people die. The issue is sin, rebellion and separation between people and God and between human beings. God’s concern is not to prevent death, which is, after all, natural, but to prevent people from being divided against one another and from going to hell–from being separated from Him for eternity.
This world is not safe, physically. As they say, no one gets out of this life alive. Whether we die of an accident, a natural disaster, an illness or simple old age, all of us will die. The fact that people die does not mean that God does not love us or care for us. As for why bacteria exist, I say that bacteria are a good thing. Without them there would be no oxygen or nitrogen in the atmosphere. Without them, we would have no vitamin K in our systems. I am not a microbiologist, but if I were, I would be able to list dozens of absolutely essential functions that bacteria have. It is true that these otherwise “good” bacteria also cause diseases, but I am not going to fault God for allowing bacteria to exist. In any case, neither bacteria nor viruses exist for God to punish mankind. Like I already said, this life is not eternal. We are not immortal. The bodies we have were not intended to be immortal but God intended us to have a different kind of immortal body (1 Corinthians 15).
What happened to Ananias and Saphyra was what I like to call a one-off thing. This is not by any means whatsoever the “normal” way that God deals with sin. I believe that God allowed this to happen one time and one time only (although I cannot prove this–it is a guess on my part), in order to make a point to the church about the seriousness of sin.. We can still learn from this one-off event even now because it is recorded in the Book of Acts. I believe that what happened to them was to help the church understand the seriousness of sin. However, for the vast majority of us, God does not interfere in natural processes as he did with Ananias and Saphyra. God is not judging us. He is disciplining us, which is a very different thing. If we will be punished, it will be after Judgment Day when our eternal destiny is set. Physical death is not punishment. It happens to “good” people and to “bad” people. The reason God does not punish us immediately for our sin is that he is a patient, merciful and loving God (Jonah 4:2 2 Peter 3:9), who wants us to come to repentance. In this life he disciplines us for our good.
In any case, I believe that the Covid-19 virus is not a judgment or the result of God’s anger, but it is the result of natural processes. Hopefully it will give people an opportunity to pause and to think about what is important, and come to God for mercy and forgiveness, but I do not believe it is the result of God’s wrath.
John Oakes
A Christian Response to Pandemic
All of us are struggling to know how to respond in the present crisis. Some think that governments are overreacting and others feel not enough is being done. What is the Christian response to this crisis? Is this a judgment from God? Why does God cause viruses to happen? Does he not care about human suffering? If God is so loving and so powerful, why does disease exist. I have written an essay on the question of pain and suffering. It is attached here. Problem of Pain and Suffering
Let me give the very brief version. All God created is good. In fact it is very good (Genesis 1:31). Plate tectonics are good because it recycles the minerals in the planet and produces an atmosphere, but it also causes earthquakes. Weather is good because it distributes the energy coming from the sun nearly equally around the spherical planet, but it also causes hurricanes and tornadoes. Bacteria are good because they put oxygen and nitrogen in the air and they support all higher forms of life (for example, putting vitamin K into our bodies), but bacteria also cause disease. Death is good, because, through evolution, it allows change and adaptation over time to a changing environment, but it also means that our pets die and we die as well. Suffering is not evil, but good, but it causes us emotional pain.
As humans, we certainly struggle with disease and death, but these are not the real human problem. The real problem is sin and separation between us and God and between us and our fellow humans. The reason we exist is so that we could love God, God could love us and we could love one another. The thing to fear is not disease and death but separation from God for eternity.
So as Christians, in principle, we do not fear this virus. But, like Jesus, we try to mitigate and minimize suffering, disease and death, not because they are “bad” but because this is what love and compassion demand. So, hopefully, we will not give in to fear and panic at this time (but all of us are subject to fear to some extent, even as Christians). We should take this difficult situation as an opportunity to show Christ. We do this by not panicking, by being submissive to governing authorities (Romans 13:1-4), and by finding opportunities to be a blessing, first to one another, but also to the people we are in contact with (at a social distance, of course). So let us show faithfulness, courage and compassion to our fellow believers, to our neighbors and to our family. A lot of people are asking questions they normally avoid about the ultimate meaning of life. Let us take the opportunity to help them to find the true meaning of life and of disease and death.
Question:
Rabbi Dtovia Singer has a video on youtube saying the church is lying about christology. In this video he says when Isaiah talks about Jesus’ pierced hands it is actually spun by Origen and other church fathers. The Rabbi claims the verse says that King David is like a lion surrounded by dogs with their paws upraised, and that Christian authors spun it to read His hands were pierced. The rabbi claims to know Hebrew. What is your take on this guy? He has a lot of videos on youtube and gets thumbs up on everything he says. He says only Origen and some other church father were fluent in Hebrew and they dealt from the bottom of the card deck to mislead us. He even goes so far as to say the verse Jesus read in the temple was a currupt translation where He says it was fulfilled in their hearing.
Answer:
Rabbi Dtovia Singer is not talking about Isaiah, I assume. He is talking about Psalm 22:16, which was written by David, not by Isaiah. He is calling this “spin” by Origen. I will let you decide. Below is the Hebrew and the literal translation of the words involved:
yaday kaari hiqqipuni mereim adat ketabim sababuni ki weraglay
my hands they pierced has enclosed me of the wicked the congregation dogs have surrounded me for and my feet
This does not sound like spin to me.
Now, it is true that the word kaari “they have pierced” is a Hebrew word very close to the word for lion. In fact, some Masoretic texts have this version of the word. The majority of Masoretic texts have the word for lion, nor for they have pierced.
However, the evidence, overall, strongly supports they have pierced. Here is why:
1. The hebrew in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which predate the Masoretic text by nearly 1000 years have “they have pierced, and this is unmistakable.
2. The old Syriac, the Vulgate and the Ethiopic translations, all of which predate the Masoretic also have “they have pierced”
3. Most importantly of all, the Septuagint–the Greek translation by Jews 200 years before Christ also has “they have pierced.”
Therefore, the normal rules of textual criticism very strongly support the reading “They have pierced my hands and my feet.”
Besides, if the word is lion, then the passage by David really does not make sense. This Rabbi’s translation is awkward at best. Also, look at Psalm 22:17-18 which is a continuation of the prophecy about Jesus, mention that his bones were not broken and his garments were gambled over.
Here is a logical question: Which is more likely, that the Jews altered the Masoretic text slightly in order to deflect the use by Christians of Psalm 22 or that Origen willfully mistranslated Psalm 22 in order to justify belief that Jesus is the Messiah? Remember, that every single piece of evidence we have (Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac, Vulgate, Ethiopic and Septuagint) tells us that they have pierced is the only version available in the third century AD.
It is possible that the change to the Hebrew was accidental. It is also possible that it was on purpose. We cannot be sure, but the chronology all suggests that Origen was faithfully reading from the Hebrew. By the way, it is also possible that he was working from the Greek Septuagint, which was the Old Testament of the early church. If this is the case, then Origen is also not spinning the text.
So, I am sorry, but I am afraid that the one doing the spinning is not Origen, but it is Rabbi Dtovia Singer. He clearly has a bias. It is unfortunate that he almost certainly knows the facts I am listing above, yet he still publishes this highly biased and unjustified material. Why? You will have to ask him.
About the verse Jesus read in the temple, I am not sure what verse that is referring to, so can you please be more specific so I can respond?
John Oakes
Question:
Why should Israel punish heretics with death? in the NT it does not seem to happen in the same way. Should a Christian country tolerate pagan philosophies and religions, or should you pursue for the good of all?
Answer:
First of all, let me acknowledge that the distinction you notice is certainly real. The New Testament approach to heresy and to sin in general is not the same as in the Old Testament. I would like to suggest three reasons for this:
1. The nature of Israel as a theocracy.
2. The nature of progressive revelation.
3. The physical versus spiritual divide between the Old and the New Testaments.
One reason that the way to deal with heresy (and other violations as well) is different in the Old Testament is that with the Jews it was assumed that the entire population, at least nominally, were the people of God. They were governed, whether during the period of judges or the kings, by Jewish leaders. This was a Jewish state. Therefore, one could assume that every citizen was being governed by leaders appointed by Yaweh. In such a situation, God can hold the people in the kingdom to godly laws. Such is not the case for Christians. We do not live in countries where we can assume that all people have voluntarily submitted themselves to the rule of God. Our secular governments cannot be expected to enforce correct doctrine or Christian concepts of morality. In such a situation, the New Testament has teaching about church discipline, such as expelling people from the community for certain gross sins, but there is no legal authority in the church. This will go some ways to answer your question.
Then there is what is sometimes called progressive revelation. As we move from patriarchal times to the Jews under the Law of Moses to the Church under Jesus and the New Testament, God has progressively revealed his will for us. Matthew 5:21-48 is a good example of this. Due to the primitive nature of the earlier Jews and due to the cultural background, God allowed for them to divorce, for example. Jesus tells us not only not to divorce, but also not even to lust, whereas in the Law of Moses the command was not to commit adultery. For harsher times, there were harsher penalties in the Law of Moses. The Old Testament was written in a backdrop in which Jewish leaders were the police, enforcing social order and Jewish armies were defending Jewish territory is a world that was more brutal than ours today. All this is very different for us. Again, this will go some way toward answering your question.
Then there is the general principle that in the Law of Moses, both the blessings and the curses were principally about physical things, whereas, in the New Testament, the equivalent blessings and curses are almost completely of a spiritual nature. The Jews defeated their enemies. We convert our enemies. The Jews were promised homes and land and stability. Our promises are more about spiritual blessings and future blessings. Even the legal system of the Jews involved more physical punishment rather than God’s discipline or even future rewards or punishment. This also explains the physical punishment in the Law of Moses and the lack of any equivalent at all in the New Testament.
By the way, scholars tell us that the Jews very rarely applied capital punishment. Jewish elders almost always found a way around applying the highest penalty. There is no evidence, for example, that a child was ever executed for disrespecting parents or that idolaters were given capital punishment. The proposed punishment seemed good enough to the Jews and they almost never applied it, at least as far as we know from the historical records we have.
Now, let me address the rest of your question. I believe that there is no Christian country. Even when there supposedly was, for example in the late Roman empire or in Europe in the Medieval Period or even in the sixteenth and seventeenth century when Christendom was still in place, there was no truly Christian country. I doubt that any of these nations ever had more than ten or at most twenty percent of real disciples of Jesus. I am not saying this to judge anyone in particular, but we are talking about reality here. As Christians, we are not in charge of our countries. We cannot or at least we should not impose our doctrines on non-Christians. This does not make sense to do so. People who have not committed to being a disciple should not be forced to behave like a disciple by Christians. Only a small proportion of any country will be Christians. The vast majority will either be fully pagan or will be only nominal believers. Christians have no power over these people and it is not clear that we would want to have power over these people even if we could, because our kingdom is not of this world. Here is the key difference. The Jewish kingdom WAS of this world. God’s kingdom is not of this world.
There are countries where Christians can vote. And occasionally, there may even be a Christian in a place of high political power. We can influence the directions our nations go. If we live in democracies, we can vote for policies which are friendly to Christian ethics and morals, but we should never assume that this is our principle means to influence our world. Our churches are “cities on a hill” but they are not the entire culture. Our weapons are not of this world, as Paul said. We can vote against legalized abortion. We can vote to help the poor, to limit the power of the wealthy, to help the immigrant and those who are generally abused by those in power, and we should do those things, but we cannot reasonably expect that the places where we live will ever be “Christian.” As Christians, we do not agree with marriage between two people of the same sex, but we cannot assume that the majority in our culture will agree, and it is not clear that we should impose this morality on those who are atheist, even if we could. That is a matter of opinion, I suppose. Therefore, as disciples of Jesus, we will have to do more than merely “tolerate” pagan and other philosophies, we will have to live in a world immersed in these unchristian ideas. The early church did this and they thrived greatly. We can as well.
John Oakes
Question:
