Daddy blog

I started this blog when I was following the Life Journal Bible reading plan on YouVersion. (I've since completed that plan.) At that time, YouVersion didn't provide any way for people to respond to my notes, other than to "like" them. So this blog is here to remedy that problem. You may comment on my notes here in the comment section.
I also have a general blog.

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Replacement theology or supersessionism

Replacement theology or supersessionism is the idea that the church, and not the biological nation of Israel, is the Israel of God today. (Galatians 6:16) This belief was also held by early church fathers like Justin Martyr, Ireneus, Origen, Tertulillan and Augustine, and also by major reformation leaders like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli.

Unfortunately, it was abused to justify antisemitism and persecution of Jews. This is in spite of many passages in the Bible against racism, e.g. Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11, Acts 10:34-35, Leviticus 19:34, and Matthew 28:19.

As a result, since the Second World War, replacement theology has fallen out of favour, as Christians realise that antisemitism is unbilical, and as a recoil from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. In fact, there has been quite a backlash, with many (most?) Evangelical Christian preachers teaching explicitly against replacement theology and asserting that there is still a special place for non-believing Jews in the Kingdom of God.

I think this backlash overcompensates for the earlier antisemitism and teaches a wrong theology, going against many clear teachings of scripture that the Israel of God is all people of all races - including Jews - who are saved by Christ:

  • Galatians 3:26-29 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,  for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
  • Galatians 6:16-17 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.
  • Romans 2:28-29 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
  • Romans 9:6-8 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.
  • Ephesians 2:11-22 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

    For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

    Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
  • 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
  • Revelations 21:1-4 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The rejection of replacement theology by Evangelical Christians today has also contributed to an uncritical support of the political nation of Israel by many(most?) Evangelical Chrsitians, even when it clearly goes against Biblical principles of life and anti-racism by its oppression of Palestinians.

Many uncritical Christian supporters of the modern state of Israel cite Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” However, even if you don't accept replacement theology and realise that we, the church - both Jew and Gentile - are the Israel of God and the heirs of Abraham now, there are numerous Bible passages that consistently teach that God is a God of justice and mercy, for example:

  • The Bible consistently emphasises God’s concern for justice and righteousness (Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17). If any nation, including Israel, were to commit human rights violations or atrocities, this would be contrary to God’s character and commands.
  • The prophets in the Old Testament often spoke out against the nations of their time, including Israel, when they committed injustices (Amos 2:6-8, Jeremiah 22:3).
  • Jesus taught his followers to love their neighbors as themselves (Matthew 22:39) and to do to others as they would have them do to them (Matthew 7:12).  
I am totally against racism, and that includes antisemitism.

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Do you ever feel like you're not good enough to be used by God?

Rich Mullins struggled with pornography. One night, on tour in Amsterdam, Mullins lay in bed, waiting for his bandmate in the next bed to start snoring so he could go out and walk through the Red Light district “because sometimes it’s nice to be tempted.” But there was just one problem. His bandmate never did snore that night. And finally, after a long night of tossing and turning, he picked up a notebook and wrote this song.

Aside from porn, he was also addicted to smoking.

Rich Mullins is a very good example of a very flawed human being who was committed to Jesus and greatly used by Jesus in spite of his flaws.

So He can also use you and me, with all our flaws.

Monday, June 7, 2021

Last Exit Before Toll

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

For years, although I said I believed in the Bible, this verse rang hollow to me. So many times, as I felt the strong pull of temptation, I saw no way out, I felt I was sliding on a greased slide with no brakes.

I think the problem is that this promise does not apply to only the end part just before you slide into sin. It applies to the whole process.

In USA, when you see a sign like this

the highway looks similar to the rest of the highway before it. Even though the highway looks the same as before — same lots of lanes, same median divider, etc,  if you go past this exit, you’re stuck. You will have to pay the toll

American highways are nice enough to show you signs like this “last exit before toll”. But here in Malaysia, they don’t do that. The last exit before the toll looks just like any other exit:


Temptation is like that. No warnings. So we need to not entertain the temptation when it first comes. Don't enter the toll road in the first place. The problem about temptation is that it’s only a temptation if you like it in the first place. You can’t be tempted if you don’t desire it in the first place.

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. James 1:13-14

As Proverbs 7:21-23 points out:

So she seduced him with her pretty speech
and enticed him with her flattery.
He followed her at once,
like an ox going to the slaughter.
He was like a stag caught in a trap,
awaiting the arrow that would pierce its heart.
He was like a bird flying into a snare,
little knowing it would cost him his life.

So, there is a way of escape, but you must take the exit early. Before the “last exit before toll”.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

God’s still in control and we can have fellowship even when Christians disagree

Acts 20:22-23 And now I am bound by the spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead.

Acts 21:4 We went ashore, found the local believers, and stayed with them a week. These believers prophesied through the Holy Spirit that Paul should not go on to Jerusalem.


Acts 21:10-11 Several days later a man named Agabus, who also had the gift of prophecy, arrived from Judea. He came over, took Paul’s belt, and bound his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit declarers, ‘So shall the owner of this belt be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles.’”


It is interesting that I am reading these passages around the same time that my church morning devotions online have been going through the same passages. My church pastors interpreted this as the Holy Spirit compelling Paul to go to Jerusalem, which then brings up the problem that in the next chapter, the Holy Spirit sends several people to warn Paul not to go to Jerusalem.


My pastors follow the interpretation that the Holy Spirit may have informed those Christians that Paul would suffer if he goes to Jerusalem, but they jumped the gun and assumed that this was to tell Paul not to go.


However, I agree more with the interpretation that Paul was so burdened by the lostness of the majority of his fellow Jews that he felt compelled by his own spirit to go to Jerusalem, against the advice of the Holy Spirit. Especially since Acts 20:22 is Paul himself saying that he was bound by the spirit to go to Jerusalem, not that the Holy Spirit was actually binding him to go to Jerusalem, and Acts 21:4 says that the Holy Spirit was telling the Syrian Christians to tell Paul not to go to Jerusalem. (For a detailed explanation of this view, see http://www.jrtalks.com/acts/acts21v1to21.html)


God still permitted Paul to be pigheaded and go to Jerusalem, and indeed God still used what happened for the furtherance of the Gospel -- though, not as Paul had hoped, for the Jews of Judea, but for the Gentiles elsewhere, even as his prison epistles were written as a result.


Paul had a diffferent interpretation than Agabus, Luke, and the Syrian Christians. I have a different interpretation than my pastors. But both are still following the Lord, and still united in Christ.


So, regardless of either interpretation, God is in charge, and His plans are not thwarted by human misunderstanding or desires. So we can trust in Him for that.


Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Mundane faithfulness

2 Kings 5:13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, “Go and wash and be cured!”

For me, the application right now is the daily call to daily take up the cross and follow Jesus. The little “mundane” things we have to do every day to stay in His path. Nothing spectacular. But just to keep doing the next right thing.


When I’m weary, father, be my bridge over troubled water. In Jesus’ name, amen.



I know this is not a Christian song, but most of the words seem to fit as if our Father in Heaven is saying this to us.




Monday, April 12, 2021

Wanting to receive something from God is not the same as repentance.

Scripture

The king cried out to the man of God, “Please ask Yahweh your God to restore my hand again!” So the man of God prayed to Yahweh, and the king’s hand was restored and he could move it again.
- 1 Kings 13:6

Observation

Jeroboam only partially repented, and it was momentary. He saw God’s power and feared for himself and his dynasty. But he didn’t really repent, for he didn’t turn back to Yahweh. He continued in his evil practices, and so God made sure to destroy his dynasty.

What a waste! God had promised him that He would give him 10 tribes, and would establish his dynasty if he continued following Yahweh. But he threw it all away, even after God sent a prophet from Judah to warn him and show him miraculous signs.

Wanting to receive something from God is not the same as repentance.

Prayer

I want Your blessings, but I gotta recognize that wanting to receive something from God is not the same as repentance. I need to truly repent, i.e. turn from my wicked ways to Your ways.

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Through the storm

Scripture

Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes

  • Psalm 115:3


Wait

This would be really scary if we didn’t know God was good and loves us.


Observe

I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” Lamentations 3:24


Couple this with the verse from the psalm and we can rest in Him.


Request

Even as we go through this difficult time, You are in control, O Lord. So I trust You to bring us through like You have done so many times before.


Dedicate

I will trust in You.