Stand Up For What You Believe!

It was late one afternoon at uni and I’d began to drift off while the tutor explained the meaning of ‘literal’. My ears perked up when I heard, “Now I’m just checking… is anyone in here a fundamental Islamist, or a fundamental Jew or a fundamental Christian?”

Man! Why had I dozed off? This could have been my chance but I had lost track of the context of the question. I hesitated. A mature aged student said quietly, “I’m a Christian.” Good on her!

“Oh so you’re a Christian,” the tutor stood over her with one hand on her hip. She put on her concentration face and asked, “But are you a fundamental Christian?” There was a pause.

“What do you mean?” the lady asked.

The tutor flicked her short hair back from her eyes. “When I say that, I mean, do you take the words in the Bible literally. Do you think it means exactly what it says?”

The lady hesitated. There was a catch. Clearly, this intelligent woman was trying to catch her out. “There are metaphors,” she said quietly.

“Yes. That’s what I mean. You don’t believe the Bible means exactly what it says? You don’t take it literally do you?” The tutor was putting on the pressure.

There was no response.

I was sitting up in the back corner, reclining in my seat observing the situation keenly. As the silence ravaged through the room I shrugged my shoulders. “I do.” I said simply. The whole class turned toward me. “I think that the Bible says exactly what it means”.

“Do you Nicola? You believe that the Bible word for word? You take a literal view on the Bible? You would consider yourself a fundamentalist?” Her eyes were piercing mine as she tossed her head back provokingly with each question.

“Yes.” I said confidently. “I do”.

“So you don’t believe the Bible has metaphors?”

“Yes it does,” I began, “Even Jesus speaks in parables.”

He eyes widened at the name of Jesus and my reference to the term ‘parables’. Clearly I knew more about the Bible than identifying a few figures of speech.

“So then don’t you think these need to be interpreted?” She asked.

“Yes these parables have hidden meanings but we don’t need to interpret them because Jesus explained right after he told them, exactly what they were about”.

I clearly was not backing down or succumbing to the pressure and she could see that I wasn’t intimidated. With that, she turned and played the following clip from West Wing.

(If you are reading this in an email, you may have to go to my blog page or copy the link in order to watch the video above).

Now this was an interesting video clip but in reality it is so flawed. All of the verses he referred to are talking about Old Testament Law, which we know is no longer necessary because of Christ’s sacrifice.  Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them” (Matthew 5:17).

In Romans 10:4 we read, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes”.

I agreed with her that there is more meaning than initially on surface level. I said that when you study the Bible, you look at the original Hebrew or Greek word and see where it has been used in other contexts in the Bible in order to have a deeper understanding of what is being said. I gave the example of how there are multiple words for our single word, ‘love’.

She agreed and then took it on a massive tangent. “You have chosen a very nice word though, how about something like ‘homosexual’…” She paused for the class’ reaction. “Does anyone know the original Hebrew for the word ‘homosexual’?”

There was a long pause and I shook my head. I was kicking myself. Here, she knew she had the upper hand and that there was no one in the room who could correct her opinions disguised as fact. She began to say that the original word for ‘homosexual’ was more closely linked to the word ‘paedophile’ and that all this time, the church has been chasing the wrong group of people. She told this massive story about Paul sailing past the Isle of Capri where apparently children jumped off cliffs to avoid paedophiles. All this time, there had been a wrong translation. That was her argument.

At first I was stumped. I didn’t know how to respond because I wasn’t prepared but really, all it took was an arrow prayer and a bit of common sense logic to rebut her argument.

If this was the case, and the Bible has been translated or interpreted wrong, why was she the only one that knew about it? For endless years, scholars have studied the original transcripts. This would have been found out. This would have been corrected.

And yet, each time I raised my hand she overlooked me and continued telling the class about what she believed.

The way I see it. Fine believe homosexuality is okay. Whatever. Just don’t try to pretend that the Bible says it’s okay. Don’t try to say that the Bible supports your cause, because it doesn’t! Don’t try to put down the Bible.

Now hear me out, I don’t hate homosexuals. Being in the theatre, I have plenty of gay friends, who are wonderful people. If they are not Christians and do not live by the Bible, I don’t expect them to uphold what the Bible teaches, but I won’t let people taint the reliability of God’s word to suit their own interests.

Either way, the Bible and homosexuality are touchy subjects for some people. I’m not sure how appropriate it was to spend 40 minutes talking about it in a tutorial.

On the bright side, it gave me an opportunity to stand up for what I believe and let people see I am serious about being a Christian.

And now have the next four years ahead of me. I’ll admit my respect for her decreased, but I will strive to continue to show her respect and God’s love toward her. If I can’t win her over with words, I will do it with love by my actions.

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” -1 John 3:18.

If the opportunity ever comes up for you, take it! Don’t let it pass you by. Stand up for Jesus. Even if you don’t know the words to say. Shoot up a quick prayer and speak His name. God promises he will never leave our side (Deuteronomy 31:6).

(YOU ARE) The Light Of The World!

“Is Jesus your guest only in a little attic room? Then nobody knows He is there. His strength to protect you in the other rooms is lost. Throw open all the doors!”

-Corrie Ten Boom

My desire is to proclaim Christ. To make Him known. To share his love with everyone that I can.  It might mean striking up conversation with the person waiting next to you at the bus stop. It could be as simple as taking an interest in the life of the person sitting next to you on the bus. It might mean saying a simple ‘thank you’ to the bus driver as you get off the bus. Everywhere we go; there is an opportunity to shine God’s light. To take a step and put ourselves out there and be the odd one out. People will notice the difference.

In loving others as representatives of Christ, we ought to be proud advocates of his love.

I absolutely love the verse in Matthew 5 where we are told that we are the light of the world. Here, Jesus didn’t say, ‘I am the light of the world’, he said, “YOU”. You, my friend are called to shine God’s light. Not to keep his light in your room, but to shine it bright into the darkness. I love that we are told that we are not to keep God a secret. We are not allowed to hide his light. Our love for God should be totally public. We ought to be so on fire that we cannot hide it. 

Today I had my very first day of University. I was scared. There are so many people bigger than me, older than me, smarter than me, wiser than me and braver than me.  At first I felt afraid.  The Atheists unite and debate their views, the Queers display their opinions visually, the Muslims wear their headdress and here I was: plain, little me. I know I have a light but I wondered how much light I could really shine. I felt afraid that my flame might be smothered. That intellectuals would outsmart me. I felt afraid that I would not have all the answers. I felt afraid of facing true opposition and feeling incredibly out numbered. I was dreading my first day of Uni.

At this point I was reminded that ‘If our God is for us, then who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). We have an almighty God on my side! We need not be afraid, but wholly trust in Jesus’ name. Through God, we are more than conquerors.

Remembering God’s truths gave me the courage to stand up and be brave. To reach out to others and to shine his light. I stood out. My confidence outweighed that of any other. It wasn’t me. It was Christ shining his light through me, into the darkness.

God wants to use us. He has chosen us. He has blessed us and loved us, not so that we might secretly treasure it but so that we might share it with others. As we share his love, we feel it more intensely ourselves.

So I encourage you to be brave. Be bold. Read the word and do what it says. Make your life a light that reflects God to those in the darkness around you. You won’t be able to hold back the smile on your face or the spring in your step!

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

-Matthew 5:14-16 (The MSG)