What is the gospel? - a little look at the Apostle Paul's definitions in 2 Corinthians and 1 Timothy

What is the gospel?

We talk a lot about the importance of the gospel. But what exactly is the gospel?  

I am not trying to pose a trick question, and others before me have sensed a need to define what we are talking about when we use the word 'gospel'. Some have been book-length answers such as 'What is the Gospel' by Greg Gilbert.

The simplest answer to that simple question is that, it is the 'good news' ….as that literally translates the meaning of the actual word 'gospel'.

But in Scriptural context, what is this good news about?  What is this news which we are told is good? 

How would you describe the 'good news' of the gospel?

In this 21st century when you want an answer to a question, (and in particular what people might give as a definition of the 'gospel')…what do we do?

… a 'google' search of course!

So I typed in 'What is the gospel' to Google, and here are some examples of short answers that came up:

GotQuestions

The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.

Desiring God

The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. That's the gospel.

RC Sproul

In New Testament terms, the gospel is the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ plus how the benefits of that work can be appropriated to us by faith and by faith alone.

So the gospel has a narrow definition: it's the message about Jesus. Now, there are other good tidings: the kingdom of God, all of that. But, specifically, if you look at what we call in the New Testament the kerygma, the apostolic proclamation of the gospel, it focuses on Christ: who He is, what He did, and how we receive His benefits.

Sinclair Ferguson

If a student asked me that question I would say, "Paul has told us in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 15." He says, "These are the things that are of first importance." And he states facts with an interpretation: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; the third day He rose again" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). And that is, in the New Testament, or at least in Paul's letters, the simplest foundation.

Evangelism group CRU 

It is the news about who Jesus Christ is, what He has done, and how that changes everything for all of us.

Greg Gilbert - author of the book 'What is the Gospel?'

It's a message from God saying, "Good news! Here is how you can be saved from my judgment!"

Answers in Genesis

The word 'gospel' means 'good news.' When Christians talk about the gospel, they are presenting the good news of Christ's death and resurrection.

9Marks

The gospel is the good news about what Jesus Christ has done to reconcile sinners to God.

Most of the above answers are essentially fairly similar, and most went on to explain it further after their initial short answers. And, these short answers are all excellent succinct answers and definitions. 

However, these answers all may nicely agree, and give us a neat 'spear-head' kind of consolidated and sharp definition. But do they clearly help us see what the real 'point' of the gospel spear-head is?

The gospel in 2 Corinthians 4

Recently I read 2 Corinthians 4 in the course of once again working through the Bible in a year, and one particular verse 'jumped' out at me, in a way I guess I hadn't 'seen' quite so clearly before.

Maybe 2 Corinthians 4:4 gives us the simplest and most profound answer to the 'gospel' question…and one we might easily overlook in weight and meaning…

It says:

'In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, 

to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.'

So, if we ask re the gospel, 'it is the good news of what?' ….the answer from this verse is: 'the glory of Christ'.

Now this might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about what could be a definition of the gospel….it certainly wasn't the way any of the above Christian leaders or groups defined it. At least not in those specific terms.

Maybe as you are reading you are grabbing your bible to check out that verse in 2 Corinthians which I just quoted, and your bible says it a bit differently:

The NIV says the 'gospel that displays the glory of God'

The NLT says 'the glorious light of the good news'

The KJV and NET say ' the glorious gospel of Christ' (although the NKJV changes it to 'the gospel of the glory of Christ')

The CEV says 'the good news about our glorious Christ'

So some translations of this verse adjust it slightly and turn the noun 'glory' into an adjective. But this seems to lessen its impact and importance.

Here is what a couple of commentators say as they pick up on  these words and the way some translations switch a noun for an adjective (emphases mine):

Ellicotts

Lest the light of the glorious gospel.—…. The English version "glorious," though a partial equivalent for the Greek idiom of the genitive of a characteristic attribute, lacks the vigour and emphasis of the original, which expresses the thought that the gospel is not only glorious itself, but shares in the glory of Christ, and has that for its theme and object.

Jamison-Faucet-Brown

light of the glorious gospel of Christ—Translate, "The illumination (enlightening: the propagation from those already enlightened, to others of the light) of the Gospel of the glory of Christ." "The glory of Christ" is not a mere quality (as "glorious" would express) of the Gospel; it is its very essence and subject matter.

The gospel is not just something glorious in that it is wonderful news, but it is news about glory that has come, like bringing light into darkness.

So here we have a definition of what the gospel good news is….in three words….'glory of Christ'. 

Now, let's look at another passage to see a bit more about this gospel of glory.

The Gospel in 1 Timothy 1

Some years after Paul the Apostle wrote the words to the Corinthian church and further toward the end of his life, he once again wrote a similar explanation and definition again to Timothy, his son in the faith. His understanding of the core essence of the gospel had not changed. Paul, in verse 1 of this passage is in the midst of warning about false teaching, and reiterates to Timothy that sound doctrine has to be:

in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

So this way of describing the gospel, was no 'accident' or insignificant definition, but obviously one that Paul felt was important and was in the forefront of his mind when he thought about the core essence of the gospel he proclaimed.

He knew it was the good news about a glory that was supreme of which he did not need to be ashamed of (Romans 1:16).

This verse is also 'adjusted' in some translations to turn a noun into an adjective (glorious gospel) and I once again feel that slightly conceals the weight of the word and context of glory and honour.

But once again the Commentators explain that the turning of 'glory' into an adjective is not the intent of the text.

MacLaren's Expositions

the proper rendering is that which is given in the Revised Version--'the gospel of the glory,' not the 'glorious gospel.' The Apostle is not telling us what kind of thing the Gospel is, but what it is about. He is dealing not with its quality, but with its contents. It is a Gospel which reveals, has to do with, is the manifestation of, the glory of God.

Vincent's Word Studies

The glorious gospel of the blessed God (τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς δόξης τοῦ μακαρίου θεοῦ). More correctly, the gospel of the glory, etc.

The Gospel of Glory

The 'gospel of glory' almost seems too simple a way to describe the gospel….and yet it is maybe the most weighty and clear definition we have, and maybe we don't recognise its significance and importance because we have 'missed' the core of the gospel, because we have missed the core of Scripture being a story about glory - glory present, glory given, glory lost, glory won, and glory re-given.

Greg Gilbert's book above talks about how that to understand the gospel we have to understand the reality of sin, since the gospel is the good news coming to address the bad news about sin. Yet it is remarkably easy for us to miss the true nature or identity of sin…and thus miss the true nature of the gospel.

Remember Romans 3:23….'all have sinned', and what does it say next?….and 'come short of the glory of God'. In other words our sin is a 'lack of glory' problem. Therefore it makes perfect sense that the gospel is then the 'gift of glory' solution.

And what does Paul say in Colossians 1:27 about the mystery finally being revealed?

…'Christ in you the hope of glory'. 

If 'lack of glory' is the sin problem, then to be given the opportunity to have 'the glory restored' is the needed answer. 

How does that happen?  Christ.  He bears our 'lack of glory', ie shame, and if we repent of our own self-efforts of glory (our prideful seeking and desire for significance, acknowledgement, importance, value, worth, status, honour, acceptance, approval) for ourselves from others and our own efforts, and believe in Christ's provision of glory, God gives us the favour of the undeserved gift of His glory…and that's called grace. The chasm and separation between us and God is bridged and our relationship with Him is restored, and through His gift of glory He brings peace. Both the turmoil in our own hearts and the enmity with our Creator is resolved. The King of glory becomes to us, the Prince of Peace.

This is also thus a message to overcome shame - that sense at many levels that we feel we are not enough or accepted, or feel excluded or rejected in some way, or feel we are in 'imposter' in our success, or fear exposure of past or present sin and failures, or have been violated by the abuse of another and so feel worthless. All of these are just windows into awakening our awareness of the issue of shame, and then recognising the reality of our greater shame before a holy God. But the gospel is the good news because the whole of Scripture is about God making a way to bring us out of shame and estrangement that began in Genesis 3, and into glory and peace through Jesus.

In our 21st century world which is drowning in shame and desperately seeking honour and wanting to escape shame…and discovering that options to find true peace on the banquet table of the world are empty…the gospel truly is the best 'good news of glory' there could ever be both for now and eternity!

In this Christmas season, let's not forget this is the good news

 which begins with a baby entering the world in Bethlehem about 2000 years ago, 

when God became flesh

 in order to become our shame-bearing Saviour, 

so as to be the 'gift of glory' solution to our 'short of glory' problem.

The Boy at the Gate - Grass roots honour-shame renewing of the mind.

Our study and research is all about an end-goal of practical teaching that transforms lives as we seek to help others around us learn God's ways of how honour-shame dynamics should function. Sometimes that practical application is in situations we have thought about and worked through deeply before confronting. Many other times it turns up in unexpected impromptu daily-life ways. Today's story was not only a reminder that sin is not just about disobedience but about disrespect, but was another situation of the unexpected….

It was a sunny afternoon in the village, and about the time the local children were walking home after school. 

Without any warning God landed me another situation to help others out of cultural mis-placed honour-shame dynamics and to begin to see and experience honour-shame dynamics as God desires. This time it was a group of village children.

Suddenly I had heard our gate bell ring (its a cow-bell tied to the inside of our gate that you don't even know is there unless you have been inside our yard, or seen someone else ring it.)

I was brought a message that some girls from my Saturday village girls' bible study were at the gate.  

However when I got to the gate, I discovered only one of the girls there, but she was with 2 other boys I had actually not seen before. They were all on their way home from school. The girl immediately pointed with a stick she was playing with, to the older boy, indicating it was him who had rung the bell.

But when I asked what they wanted, there was silence. 

No-one wanted to say why they were there. 

After a few more questions and the older boy particularly continuing to be sheepishly silent, I figured out that they were pulling  a prank... but for some reason they didn't actually run away when I had come to the gate….maybe because the girl knew it would be disrespectful to do that and she would be 'shamed' next bible study time if what she did was exposed.

I asked a few more times, in various ways, just to be sure if there really was a real reason for ringing the bell. Each time I asked, I just got silence, and then a hint of a smirk from the older boy. When I tried to ask the other young boy and the girl about it, they also just kept silent and pointed to the older boy.

But rather than just reprimand them for wasting my time, and then telling them to go, I thought momentarily about using it as an opportunity. I had never specifically told them previously to not ring the bell for no reason, so it wasn't a situation of saying 'why are you ringing the bell for no reason when we have told you not to do that?'

So, I firstly responded to the boy using honour-shame language, saying that if he is ringing the bell for no reason, he is being 'disrespectful'.

Well that immediately got a different response. His head dropped and he wouldn't look at me. 

When, culturally, the one major sin to avoid is 'disrespect' or 'dishonour' or 'shame', then without linking the wrong act to the wrong attitude of disrespect/dishonour, there is no conscience prod. But when sin is brought back to the dynamic of honour/respect, then the conscience starts to kick-in. And often here, especially with kids, the English honour word used is most often is 'respect/disrespect'. So the cultural context of sin that envelops the word 'disrespect' sunk in to his heart.

I talked a bit longer to the boy and the two others about how his 'playing' just for 'fun' also means I am less likely to believe him to have a genuine need next time he rings the bell, because this time was not an honest need. So ringing the bell for a joke is like not telling the truth and is making him to be seen as less trustworthy. I asked him if he wanted to be known as someone who was trustworthy? He nodded, 'yes'.

So that was progress…at least he was responding even if not verbally yet!

So then I asked again if he had a reason for ringing the bell. And, with head down again, I suddenly heard a quiet 'no' emerge from his lips. 

I thanked him for being honest, and explained that it is always honourable and never shameful in God's eyes to speak the truth.

But before they went, I said that what he needed to then do was say 'sorry Mma …. for ringing the gate without a reason...'

Well that was just too much, and he went quiet again. So I repeated myself. 

Quiet.

His head was down with eyes looking at the dirt.

The problem is that confession is self-shaming, and if culturally, shame is the big something to be avoided at all costs, he was in a difficult situation.  To respect me, he has to shame himself. He may want to restore respect but he doesn't want to self-shame (in front of me or his friends). To speak the truth meant he self-shamed. To complicate it even further, a child learns that often culturally to speak the truth is also seen as shameful if it might dishonour an elder. So a child learns that culturally it is not always acceptable to others and can be a 'wrongdoing' to speak the truth, let alone it also destroying personal honour.

So I then explained that if he said sorry, there was the offer of forgiveness, and instead of going away shamed, he could go away with the shame removed and back in a position of respect and honour.

I then further explained that God says, that to say the truth and admit (confess) wrongdoing is always respectful and honourable in His eyes, and thus also it's the same for me in this situation.

Wow! Then I heard him break his silence again with, 'I'm sorry' …and he then continued to say fully what he was sorry for.

So then I said 'I forgive you'. 

He looked sincerely a mixture of relief and confusion and puzzlement and wonder. He had probably not ever had such an interaction or experience of forgiveness and shame-removal in that way before.

I then explained again that his disrespectful bell-ringing shamed him, but now his truth-telling and admitting/confessing his sin was honourable and respectful again…so now with my forgiveness he could leave and continue on his way with respect (honour) in the relationship again instead of shame. I re-iterated that is how it is with God…telling the truth and admitting and confessing sin is never shameful in God's eyes, it restores honour in the relationship.

As he left, and walked with his friends toward home, he still seemed a bit bewildered by the whole event…but his head wasn't down, and although as he left I heard some interaction indicating that he seemed to want to brush over the embarrassment of the incident with his friends, I pray God would etch that experience and conversation into his memory, and even if I never see him again, that he will one day remember that God's way of honour is different from his culture's way, and God's way is the only way that truly sets us free from the bondage and shame of our sin.

Sin is more than law-breaking: Lessons about honour and shame from a Blue Crayon

Being grandparents is one of those special joys in life I will always treasure. 

One of the opportunities it brings is being involved in the teaching and training of precious young lives and watching them learn and grow. 

Recently discovering artistic blue crayon 'swirls' drawn on one of our white walls provided another of those teaching and training opportunities.

But as I thought about the 'crayon' event afterwards, I realised it not only taught a little four year old something about telling the truth, and being found out for her wrong doing, and confession of sin, and forgiveness, and how her efforts of cleaning it off were useless (she offered to get a cloth and wash it off and tried for all her worth) and only Grand-pa's Sugar-soap was able to scrub the wall clean…

…..but…..she also brought me the blessing of teaching and growing my alertness once again to the honour-shame dynamics of the nature of sin.

 

Blue Crayon Lesson 1 

- There is a non-disobedience, 'shame' kind of wrongdoing

I have lost count of how many times I have read that sin is defined as 'breaking the law' or 'disobedience'.

However, my little grand-daughter's artwork on the wall was not disobedience. No adult had specifically issued her with a command or instruction not to draw on walls in our house. 

However, as soon as I called her and pointed at the wall and asked in a very particular serious tone of disapproval 'who did this?', she went instantly silent and turned her head away and wouldn't look at me. 

She instantly knew she had done something wrong and unacceptable, just from my tone.

But what kind of wrong was it?

If it wasn't disobedience, what was it?

It was primarily dishonour and disrespect.

Eventually after I assured her that although Grandma (me) was not happy with what she had done and it was a bad thing to do that I would not be cross at her for telling the truth, she did honestly confess and tell me that she did it and we had a conversation about drawing on paper only and not walls. She also had a lesson on confession and forgiveness, but that there were still consequences to deal with. Like many situations in parenting, what appeared to be first a 'bad' situation was actually a 'good' opportunity for God to use as a teaching moment in which we thought about what God would want us to learn from it, and be prompted to turn our hearts to him…and thus glorify him.

Blue Crayon Lesson 2 

- Looking for what we can easily miss about shame

But also, what seemed a 'mundane' and 'normal' parenting (or grand-parenting ) event was yet another occasion where I am learning to see and consider 'with new eyes', and be more alert to, the honour-shame dynamics which were 'shouting' out at me, but where I could have easily missed their reality.

As the 'crayon artist' was questioned about the situation, she acknowledged and agreed that it is paper that she should be drawing on (and later I further explained to her only her paper not just any paper she finds in the house!). But there had been no direct disobedience to a previously defined house 'rule'.

But I noticed some further dynamics play out….

• She came to the very real awareness that amidst her behaviour that was unacceptable, she felt unacceptable. 

• Her normal desire to face me and tell me some new discovery or run and hug me had suddenly changed. 

• She went totally silent and seemed to withdraw instantly into herself (even holding her arms close to her body as she stood in front of me as I crouched in front of her). 

• Her head was turned away and even when I moved her and told her to look at me, her face was toward me but her eyes were looking off to the side.

All honour of close relationship with her Grandma had suddenly been destroyed. And though she knew I wasn't happy, even with my arm around her, she still couldn't bring herself to face me.

Blue Crayon Lesson 3 

- Learn from what we observe and interpret it from more than just a guilt-law-disobedience lens

Some of what this event highlighted to me was:

• Wrongdoing is more than disobedience and law-breaking.

• Wrongdoing is rooted in an awareness of not measuring up, and thus not being acceptable to the one you meant to please. Because the word in Scripture translated as 'sin' means to miss the mark, the real meaning and reality of sin is more related to unacceptability than to specifically disobedience and lawbreaking.

• Behaviour exposed as unacceptable is felt as personal unacceptability and is instinctively felt and intrinsically linked to a sense of shame.

• Shame brings an automatic and untaught response. Guilt from disobedience only comes about as a result of transgressing a known itemised, explained and taught law. Shame comes about with no teaching, training or even with no transgression, but by simply 'feeling' a short-coming in the expectations and 'eyes' of the one we desire to please.

• Shame brings separation and a break in relationship. Joy in closeness and togetherness is gone, peace and relaxedness and freedom to converse is also destroyed.

• Shame brings an instinctive desire to withdraw and pull away, to hide, especially from the gaze of the one we have dishonoured.

• Shame brings a fear to even look upon the one who we should otherwise love, and should otherwise enjoy the eyes of joy and approval of.

Blue Crayon Lesson 4 

- Understanding the shame context of sin helps us bring the rightly explained biblical solutions to the problem

The good news was that when she confessed and was forgiven suddenly the reconciliation was instantaneous. Separation and hiding ceased, fear disappeared, the experience of love and closeness and joy returned. Honour of relationship as it was meant to be was restored. 

As we bring others the good news of how Jesus deals with our sin, we need to understand how sin works, not just in the context of guilt but in the context of shame. We need to be careful not to only see and understand wrongdoing in the context of law-breaking and disobedience. We need to recognise how sin is far more deeply and intrinsically tied to shame and how it causes a person to respond in relation to shame, right from a very small child.

As you and I learn more of the dynamics of sin in relation to shame, there comes the opportunity and need to bring the message of the gospel into such situations. We don't need to wait till disobedience occurs to lead someone to recognise wrongdoing or sin…we should not only use the context of disobedience to teach about sin. Jesus didn't come just to deal with the guilt of our disobeying but with the shame of our dishonouring. We need to not overlook the context and opportunities that shame brings to teach us about sin and how Jesus conquers sin and brings reconciliation and restored honour to shame shattered hearts.

Blue Crayon Lesson 5 

- We need to parent and disciple more from a base first of instinctive and inherent honour-shame realities and not skip this only teaching sin in relation to guilt-law-disobedience.

Foundations are built from physical birth and from spiritual birth and habits and perspectives and understandings are formed. Life is full of observation, interpretation and application. We take in what we are exposed to, we then try to make sense of it (consciously or unconsciously) and then we try to fit it into how we see and what we believe about life and thus it emerges in how we then live.

I would like to suggest that we miss the most foundational parts of the human soul when we overlook shame or over-emphasise guilt to the neglect or mis-understanding about shame.

To conclude…

Let's be gospel-honour hope bringers 

to a world deep in the mire 

of sin-shame hopelessness.

Whether you are a parent or a friend or in ministry or looking at your own life, the shame-roots of how sin is and how it functions, is imperative to understand and understand well. In reality it is nothing new, and it doesn't become less important just because we fail to prioritise its importance in our thinking. Right from a very young age a child is responding to awareness of unrighteousness through a lens of honour or the loss of honour (shame). 

While the law was given to taught about what we should do, living in honour is how we were made to be. Before the law, there was honour. Under any law-breaking issue is a more foundational honour-loss issue. Before a person, including children learn about law-breaking they already know that honour-losing is a place of fear, anxiety, separation, ruined relationship, isolation, unacceptability and shame. Our world is filled with awareness and fear of honour-losing, so let us maximise that awareness and bring the good news of how Jesus made a way to overcome that very thing that we have feared from before we ever learnt about laws and law-breaking. Let's be gospel-honour hope bringers to a world deep in the mire of sin-shame hopelessness.

Christ is Coming! The Cradle, Cross... and Crown of Christmas

Christmas is Coming!

with its season of traditions of Trees, tinsel, songs, food and presents.

But we could also say 

Christmas has Come

 - 2000 years ago Jesus entered this world as a baby in a manger cradle as - Immanuel - God with us.

- we remember that first Advent of Jesus when we celebrate Christmas each year (although sadly our world thinks little of the fact that Christmas is about Christ!)

- and yes, the Cradle led to the Cross, Jesus was born to die, for us and thus Christmas is also about Easter, and then about the Ascension of Christ too.

Yet there is a Coming we can often forget, that is truly still to come, a Coming that is the whole purpose of Christmas….

But I rarely hear this talked about at Christmas … this is the 'Coming' spoken about at the end of the last chapter of the last book of the bible - Revelation 22...and I would encourage you to read the whole of the book of Revelation in the lead-up to Christmas Day.

(it is interesting that Handel's 'Messiah' links the gospels to words from Revelation, and is sung at Christmas)....

It's the second Advent, the Coming of Jesus again, his second Coming, not as a baby to die, but as a King to reign.

So maybe we should be saying….Christ mas is Coming

Interestingly enough, for anyone who uses a 'read the bible through in a year' bible reading plan, Christmas lands right at the last book of the Bible. Yet we rarely, if ever, pause to make the connection.

But the cradle and the cross were not the end of the story. The end of the story is yet to come. The purpose of the cradle that led to the cross is yet to come. A shame story is yet to end in full glory.

The Garden of Eden began in glory and quickly descended into shame after only a couple of chapters. From there, until the last couple of chapters in Scripture, that shame of sin stays present in our human story. In the midst of that, from Adam and Eve's sin that ushered in shame for this world - to the shame filled birth of our Saviour laid in a manger - to the shame filled cross on which our Saviour died, it is the  mess that fills the story of humanity's hopeless state. 

But alongside this was another story, one of hope in the midst of hopelessness. 

Jesus let go of his heavenly honour to be born into an honour-less situation in the eyes of people of the world. 

But God gave a glimpse, for those who cared to think and see,

that the road to restored honour had begun. 

For though laid in a manger for a cradle, 

Jesus' birth was announced to the lowly shepherds with a huge angelic choir from heaven, and    

     surrounding them with the glory of the Lord, 

and then he was brought highly valuable gifts from kings. 

Joseph and Mary were willing to endure a life of shame in the eyes of their community 

in order to glorify the Lord and say, 'be it unto me according to your word'.

Then after the most shameful death after a shaming lead-up to death, 

Jesus was given the tomb of a wealthy man from which death could not hold him and he rose again on the third day as he had said

and then he was received back into heaven to the place of honour at the right hand of the Father's throne.

Yet, we who follow Christ, and are found 'in Him' and belong to God's Kingdom family, still endure the shame and suffering as servants of the Master who endured for us.

But we are told that though we experience sin in this world, we have already been given the positional place of glory in Christ, seated with him in heaven.

And the story hasn't yet ended…..

It is the end of the story and the ultimate glory yet to come which delivers our true dignity, defines our lives on earth, drives our perseverance, and determines our destiny. 

It is in the last chapters of Revelation that we see the hope fulfilled of the glory that flows through the story of Scripture, where Satan is defeated to suffer and be shamed forever along with his workers and followers on earth and his demonic forces, and where the saints that make up the church are adorned, and rewarded with crowns, as the full glorification of Christ's body is completed and brought into the presence of God forever and ever.

Immanuel - God with us isn't only a Christmas cradle story, and doesn't even end with the cross, 

but culminates with God's purpose to dwell with man forever (Revelation 21:3) in unhindered glory. 

And yes that is only possible as the holy glory of man, lost at the Fall, is restored in the holy glory of Christ 'in whom we live and move and have our being', so that man and God can dwell together in eternal glory and honour. 

The purpose of the manger-cradle and the cross is not just to have our sins forgiven as an end in itself, but so that the purpose of God's glory story can be fulfilled. 

The shameful cross is only filled with glory and honour for the Christian because the resurrection and ascension leads us to look to the ultimate second Coming of Christ, with his Crowns of honour as King of Kings….where we are not just going to attend a Christmas day roast turkey and ham, but we are called to an eternal marriage supper of the Lamb, as his bride the church, and with the example of the 24 elders, honouring him by laying our crowns at his feet. 

It is as the true glory of man is restored - through being 'in' the glory of the Son and his glory lived out through us, and brought to completion (all to God's glory and honour), that God's glory plan is fulfilled.  Christ's crown of thorns is yet to become the multiple crowns of Revelation 19  (not just in victory over all the kingdoms of the earth, but from the saints crowns given back to him our King).

As the coming year is set to be the crowning of the new King Charles III and media has just announced the late Queen's crown has already been taken to begin alterations to make it fit for the new king, maybe we need to turn our thoughts to much greater crowns and the King of Kings!

Jesus is yet to return to this world with the golden crown of honour as King. We are yet to receive our reward crowns. He is yet to ride and rule with his multiple crowns as King of Kings. We are yet to have the true Christ-celebration feast. We are yet to leave suffering and pain and sin's presence behind. Satan is yet to be judged. Full glory is yet to be known and full honour is yet be given to our God.

But that day is coming!

But also, let us also remember that while we are still on this earth, the Christmas trees and tinsel, songs and presents, must remind us that Jesus is coming again. It means hope for those of us who are found in the glory of Christ. But it also means there is an urgent message to bring to those still in shame and without hope. Let us be spurred on in motivation to share Christ and to more eagerly look toward His Coming again.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus!

The Problem of Forgiving Yourself

Have you ever felt like you need to forgive yourself?  Have you had someone else suggest you just need to forgive yourself?  Even after confessing your sin to God and knowing he promises he forgives you (1 John 1:9), do you sometimes feel like its not enough?

Why do we sometimes feel this way?

Randy Alcorn recently wrote a really helpful article on this and challenged his readers to think through a few issues. Let me quickly summarise them as they are important. But then I want to look at something which I think may additionally be feeding this self-forgiveness desire.

Alcorn raises four main considerations:

• Talk Back to the Devil - he is a liar and accuser and he will want you to feel that God's forgiveness is not enough, but you can refuse to listen to his deceptions
• God is not a liar - His forgiveness is enough and to not accept his forgiveness as sufficient is to say that Christ's sacrifice wasn't enough, and that absolution from ourselves is of greater importance in our lives than forgiveness from God 
• Trust God's Word not your Feelings - we have to learn to trust God more than our feelings. When God's promises and our feelings don't match up, faith is about choosing to trust the one who is more trustworthy - God, not us.
• It's all about Christ - his work on the cross is sufficient and is enough. Forgiveness is about Christ's righteousness imputed to us, not our righteousness. We don't have the righteous position to be able to offer anyone full eternal forgiveness not even to ourselves. Only God in Christ provides that.

Alcorn also related a poignant quote on the topic, from Tim Keller in his Counterfeit Gods book, 

"When people say, 'I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself,' they mean that they have failed an idol, whose approval is more important to them than God's."

When we say we need to forgive ourselves, we are setting ourselves above God, as more vital than God and more capable and authoritative than God. When we do that, we then need forgiveness not only from God for whatever sin we have committed, but for the additional sin of thinking we have any capacity at all to truly forgive ourselves.

HOWEVER…..

having said all this, do we dismiss our feelings altogether in such situations?

Feelings are vital signposts

Maybe we need to think a bit more about the role and place of feelings in our lives…

Feelings are not irrelevant, and to just say 'ignore your feelings, they are lying to you' may not help much.

Feelings are signposts to beliefs, because they are the fruit of beliefs. Feelings to a great degree are a reaction to something. We fear because we think something is a threat or bigger than or contrary to our ability to cope. We get angry when something challenges our autonomy or we see injustice. We feel loved when we feel valuable and blessed by others. We feel happy when we are surrounded by good, by what is pleasing and refreshing and we believe to be beneficial. We hurt when we believe we are harmed in some way. 

Sometimes feelings can be an alert system. Since they respond almost intuitively and 'automatically' in response to when something does or does not sit well, or comfortably, sometimes we will say before making a decision: 'I just don't feel right about it although I can't yet explain it'. This should be what then triggers us to pause on making the decision, but also prompts us to find out more of maybe why we didn't feel comfortable. So we do some more research, or dig into God's word more, or pray about it further, or wait till we can know more contributing data etc.

Now these feelings can lie to us - they can deceive us. Not so much because the feelings themselves are bad, but because what we believe to be good, beneficial, just, pleasing or valuable, might be not based on God's truth about such things, but might be based on Satan's temptations to trust in a false 'good' - ie what appears to be good but is in fact against God's perfect design and thus is bad.  That is what happened to Eve in the Garden of Eden.  And since we are now sinners by nature, even as Christians, we still fight the presence of the old nature in these unresurrected bodies as we live on this sin-infected earth on which the great deceiver is still busy prowling about.

So we are very easily tempted to believe and be guided by false or mis-placed ideas about what is good for us and the world. When that false ideal of 'good' is not met we can feel sad or mad!

So instead of feeling sad and mad about sin, 

we can easily feel sad and mad about 

our own sinful desires not being met!

So yes, we can get 'feelings' all mixed up and upside-down to how God created us to have them.  

But those same feelings can be 'shout-outs' to us about what is going on in our hearts which we are often not so alert to. Remember the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9), and when we listen to our heart's desires and follow our heart's desires without submitting them to God through the standard of His Word, we can be misled by the desires of our hearts. We could say that feelings are like symptoms of a deeper cause. 

If we are seeking to follow God's directives through the truth of His Word, but we continue to struggle with feelings that his Word tell us are not honouring him, then its the signal to stop, think and examine our hearts to see where we have mis-placed and false beliefs, and thus expectations, that are feeding these mis-placed feelings.

Feelings for the need of self-forgiveness are therefore signposts to what?

And if there is a continued nagging of a need for self-forgiveness even after you have studied, accepted and embrace the 4 points Alcorn raises, what then?

Maybe we need to ask what is understood by forgiveness?

Forgiveness is linked to a need for cleansed guilt. It is a primarily guilt/innocence issue. It is a need for wiping the slate clean, to have no accusation standing against us. From such a forgiven state, we then hope for a re-opening of the relationship. In seeking forgiveness from God we acknowledge that he has the power to set the rules, declare guilt and thus give punishment, and he has an accusation against us for something that we did that was a violation of his desires (law/command) for us, and which has thus broken the joy of the relationship we are meant to have with him. 

Forgiveness from God is his promise/word to us that he will not count that violation against us. This thus allows the fullness of relationship with him to be enjoyed. When we wrong another person, and seek their forgiveness it is a similar situation - we have done something they don't approve of and so we believe they are accusing us of contravening their requirements/instructions/rules and their good, and thus we are cut off from the full harmony of relationship with them.

So when we say we seek forgiveness from ourselves, we are saying we have set a law for ourselves, and then broken it, and so now have accused ourselves and stand guilty according to our own law. We feel we have violated or broken our own rules and we want restored relationship with ourselves.

Now that last phrase might sound peculiar - how can we lose relationship with ourselves in the first place…after all, are we two people? No. But it is helpful to realise that this is the logic underlying what is hoped to be achieved by 'forgiving yourself'.

Muddied Waters

Interestingly I don't notice Africans worrying about self-forgiveness, they seem to be more worried about forgiveness from others because traditionally it is believed that harmony with others gives them right standing with God - albeit a distant God and via the ancestors who they believe to be God's representatives/intermediaries on earth.

I believe this idea of self-forgiveness has come about because our 'modern' world thought itself 'clever' enough to live apart from God. 

But in doing so, we not only set ourselves on the path of eternal destruction, but we find ourselves living the way we were never designed to live. 

We were not created to be 

autonomous individuals 

only accountable to ourselves. 

We were not designed to live only according to 'our own truth' and to only be true to ourselves. 

In Western culture we might have been told to not be directed by other people's wishes, but we failed to realise that this was originally rooted in a Judeo-Christian context that permeated much of Western thinking, of being directed by God's wishes above people. But if we cut God out, and cut people out, and live only according to our own law, we get ourselves in a fix. If we are only accountable to ourselves as makers of our own laws. Then we have, by default, appointed only ourselves to be in the position of authority to forgive.  We suddenly train ourselves to 'need' to forgive ourselves in order to find absolution.  

Sadly, if we still believe that when we have wronged others we need to seek their forgiveness, but find we then find that forgiveness insufficient, our world does not tell us that we more importantly need God's forgiveness (since it believes God is unecessary or doesn't exist). Instead our 21st Century Western world tells us that the 'gap' we feel in the forgiveness process is because we need to forgive ourselves…. since afterall 'self' is the only final authority we have committed allegiance to.

Added to this, is the fact that we often confuse guilt and shame in how we feel. We might say we feel guilty for transgressing our own law/rules, but we might also feel ashamed for failing to meet our own standard and failing 'in our own eyes' to 'make the grade' and be who we hoped or wanted to be. In seeking forgiveness for our transgression we might be trying to restore our sense of honour - our value, worth, and significance. 

But whether we assess ourselves on the basis of guilt or shame, if we have set ourselves up as our own lawmaker (what laws and boundaries we set ourselves) and our own honour-bestower (what credit we gain for meeting the standards/expectations we set ourselves), we also set ourselves up to be the ones we look to for guilt-forgiveness and shame-covering when we over-step our self-made boundaries and when we under-meet our self-made expectations.

God has made us to find honour and forgiveness from the one who sets the laws and standards in the first place. So, when we replace God with ourselves as the authority/law-maker, we may find a slight sense of 'feeling ok' once we 'forgive ourselves'. But it will leave us still 'lacking' something. It's won't satisfy the deepest realities of our lives and it will keep us from the One who can fully satisfy and the One who promises to fully forgive, cleanse,  justify and sanctify.

The Big Lie

The big lie in the 'forgive yourself' mantra, is that we think we can be in the place of God and all will be well.  All will not be well on earth, and all will definitely not be well in eternity. 

Maybe you are busy forgiving yourself and not seeking God's forgiveness at all and have never accepted his forgiveness for all your sin for eternity.  If so, I encourage you to come to God to find his ultimate forgiveness for your sins through the death of his Son Jesus on the cross.

But its more likely if you are reading this you have accepted his eternal forgiveness and have no doubt that only God can provide such forgiveness and you certainly cannot…but maybe you are still living with the legacy of the world's modern but mis-informed understanding and influence that has trained you to believe you need self-forgiveness and that without it you can't live well on this earth. 

But the God who can forgive you for all eternity is the same God who forgives you now. 

It is a lie and bondage of the devil that you need to forgive yourself. It is subtle idolatry that entraps you and blasphemes God.  

We are not our own law, 

or our own truth, 

or the bestowers of our own honour. 

We have been made not to find fulfilment and peace through relationship with ourself, but through relationship with God. We are not bound by laws/rules or standards of our own making, but by God's laws and standards which are not only different from ours but higher than ours. God the ultimate law maker is also the ultimate forgiver. If you have ultimate forgiveness from him, forgiveness from human beings (others or yourself) is not the measure of whether you are forgiven or not.

So….Let the truth of who God is, and that he is the ultimate law maker, and honour bestower, transform you and release you from mis-placed feelings that make you think you need to forgive yourself. Let God transform your feelings by soaking in his truth about forgiveness, so that your feelings can be changed from ones that Satan uses to condemn you and paralyse you, to ones of praise and joy to your Maker and Saviour which release you to serve him with fervour and delight!  

Is Guilt the answer to Shame?...or is there something GREATER!

When I first read the last couple of chapters of Shame and Vulnerability Researcher Brene Brown's (PhD) book 'Daring Greatly' I was disappointed to read that she felt the answer to shame and its negative impact was to emphasise guilt more heavily.

She said on p 224  "...we need to separate our children from their behaviours.  As it turns out, there's a significant difference between you are bad and you did something bad.  And, no, its not just semantics.  Shame corrodes the part of us that believes we can do and be better.  When we shame and label our children, we take away their opportunity to grow and try on new behaviours.  If a child tells a lie, she can change that behaviour.  If she is a liar--where the potential for change in that?

Cultivating more guilt self-talk and less shame self-talk requires rethinking how we discipline and talk to our children."

She went on to use terms such as a child is 'good' but just makes bad choices.  Now, we know that from a Biblical perspective we are not inherently 'good' and just make bad choices.  We are sinfully bad and thus we make bad choices.  We lie not because we accidentally made a bad choice but because sin hates the truth.  We lie because at heart level we are liars.....so much so, that in saying we are 'good' is actually a lie in itself!

BUT separate of the false 'good' premise she promotes, she actually has a very good point that I failed to realise at the time of that first read.

She is right, guilt is imperative.  Or should I say an awareness of the reality of guilt and its place and function is imperative.  Without it, we have a lop-sided and detrimental perspective on our wrong-doing.

Living, as I do, in a culture that according to The Culture Test results has some of  the highest honour/shame emphasis levels in the world, I see more and more the problems of a lack of guilt emphasis.

You see, Brene Brown is right.  As she and so many others point out that shame is about who I am, and guilt is about what I do.  And if we leave off half the story we create a problem for ourselves.

But you see, I suggest Brene Brown is also wrong. God offers an answer to 'who I am' as well as 'what I do'.  If we only emphasise the 'what I do' we will miss out in offering people an answer for 'who I am'.  

Psychology has for years said that telling people about guilt is a bad thing,  Brene Brown is right in saying that perspective is destructive, because it has left us with only the 'shame' side of the picture.

We may not think so, but God blessed us with guilt in addition to shame.  It gives us balance.  It gives opportunity to hope and start again.  You see, we can see what we do more than who we are.

So when we see what we do, its easier to believe we 'are' something different. When we see what others do, its easier to believe they might be becoming something different.

This is where, if you are managing to follow me, her argument actually contradicts itself.

There is a reason that seeing what we do can give us hope that we 'are' becoming someone different.  And that is because what we do, does come from who we are.  If we are Christians, new creatures in Christ, the 'who we are' changes and thus the 'what we do' changes. ('by their fruit you shall know them' Matthew 7:20).  

What we do comes from who we are

But on the other hand, in our sinful nature, we lie because we are liars.  We sin because we are sinners.  Even our 'good works' outside of Christ are for our own honour and pleasure apart from God, and come from a heart that is self-focused. (Although it is true there is a vague marred image of God's character in our world and a knowledge of 'good' and 'evil' as well as the living example of Christians as salt and light that draws people to desire the benefits of 'good' and to avoid the realities of 'bad'.  And there are certain God ordained 'cause and effect' realities in our world of what happens when 'good' is done as opposed to 'evil' that the world enjoys as part of 'common grace'.)

The problem with her argument comes when a person for whatever reason does something 'bad' again.  At some point they will inevitably still feel that they are becoming 'bad' again.  So they will hide it because to 'become bad' is a  shame issue.

So Brene hopes that teaching kids to emphasise the guilt factor will help them focus on the 'bad thing' and not feel a 'bad person' and thus be more willing to even admit wrong in the first place and learn from it. She believes this will help to create 'shame resilience'.  But its an argument that is built on a false foundation that won't stand the tests she hopes it will.  Focusing on guilt may reduce the impact of shame, but it won't eliminate it.

Focusing on guilt may reduce the impact of shame, but it won't eliminate it.

Now, lets take a leap from this point, as I want to use what we have just talked about to talk further about the place and importance of guilt.  You see Brene Brown is on the right track, she just got a bit diverted by another aspect of psychology (that we are all inherently 'good') along the way.

When there is no or little emphasis on guilt, if a person does wrong, as we have said, there is no room for any interpretation except that the person is bad.  There is no distance between the act and the one committing the act.  There is no space or hope for change.  

But as we interact person to person, God has given a design that includes both guilt and shame.  When we focus on shame alone, and someone does something wrong, we have only two options.  1. ignore it.  2. have full on shame/rejection.  There is no middle ground.   Shame is a 'being' related function whereas guilt is a 'behaviour' related function.  

Shame severs relationship and if we only have 'shame' as a means for dealing with wrong, and emphasise the 'being' without the 'behaviour', we have no means for acknowledging the wrong but still offering relationship in which the person can bring new behaviour and rebuild the honour.  Forgiven guilt is the bridge one has to cross to properly move from shame to restored honour.  Without that bridge, the only answer to shame is a total separation of the relationship....or an ignoring of the behaviour so as to avoid the separation of the relationship.

Forgiven guilt is the bridge one has to cross to properly move from shame to restored honour. 

Aussies are seeing a form of this possibly playing out when the Speaker in Federal Parliament was 'found guilty' for claiming some transport allowance that when 'exposed' was beyond what the Australian public and other parlimentarians thought was acceptable even though it was within the 'rules'.  The Speaker explained it was not done as a deliberate breaking of any rule and she immediately offered to pay it back and did promptly pay it back with penalty.  She also made a significant statement of apology exhibiting remorse.  

Now I am not here to judge the sincerity or accusations surrounding this incident but....it reveals some interesting dynamics.

There were many (especially in the opposition) who demanded the Speaker step down and that she has totally lost their respect over the incident.  They say they cannot respect the position she holds in the Parliament while she fills it.  Interestingly a poll (31 July 2015) taken by THE AGE newspaper had about 2/3 agreeing she should step down because people have lost trust in her, and 1/3 who said she should stay otherwise the punishment would be greater than the crime.  

Here we have a situation that is like big flashing lights to me of a guilt-shame culture collision of a Western culture that is in tension, and dare I say transition, between a once guilt emphasis and a growing shame emphasis - although neither side would be aware of what is going on.

The Speaker (age 72) did all the 'right' things expected in a guilt emphasis culture - she confessed (didn't deny it), she gave an apology showing remorse, and she paid back the amount even with additional 25% penalty.  Not only that but she voluntarily asked the Finance committee to check all her other past expenses so if there is anything else that is felt she should pay back she will. I think she expected forgiveness and permission to 'start again' and show she would not do the same thing again.

Those accusing her, however have little room for forgiveness of guilt, it seems.  In their framework, she has broken the trust that they believed was necessary to hold the relationship of respect together.  So now the relationship is broken and the only way for the Parliament to move on is for her to be removed.  In their minds, the relationship has ended.  Behaviour is inseparable from the person, in their thinking, and opportunity for behaviour change is not permissible.  There is not the slightest hope for forgiveness and in fact the word hasn't even been mentioned in anything I've read. This is considered enough to ruin her reputation with no room for reparation.  From their perspective what she is guilty of, is that she lost their respect.

While details may differ, the elements of this scenario are so common in situations I've observed in the culture around me.  There is nothing positive about losing a right emphasis on guilt.  The West has been blessed for many years to benefit from a 'guilt factor' reality.  Brene Brown is right to be concerned about its fading from the scene and the need to make sure it comes back.

Lest I be thought to be simplistic in this, I am not saying an over-emphasis on guilt is the answer.  Part of the reason I was originally in disagreement with Brene Brown's statement was that if we just keep ignoring shame and emphasising guilt, it won't just go away.  Shame is not a human construct that we can eliminate.  Focusing on behaviour alone will not remove the reality of our 'being'.  We cannot detach 'what we do' from 'who we are'. 

Our world in its broken sinful state, and the West with its post-Judeo-Christian legacy, is grasping at ways to solve its problems.  It sees some blurred images of truth, that are fast fading in the Western world, but neither understands their source nor seeks the fullness of their truth.  Our world wants the blessings of godliness without God.

God has an answer for 'who we are

What our world fails to realise is that God has an answer for 'who we are'.  We do not have to declare ourselves 'good' in order to escape a knowledge 'we are bad'.  In fact when we do, we keep ourselves estranged from the very One who is good, and who wants to give us a new 'good' nature, in Himself.  

We can't rename a bad thing 'good' in the hope it will change.  But God doesn't just re-name us (although that's included since we go from sinner to saint!), but He remakes us and redeems us!  We get to change who we 'are'. 

We don't just have to learn shame resilience, but we receive shame replacement. We gain a new identity - one of honour instead of shame.  Not only are our sins forgiven, but the old 'me' goes and a new 'me' comes....a new 'me' is born!  

We can be born again when the One who cannot sin and does not sin is born into us and give us His new life!  Then since we behave from a base of who we are, our behaviour also begins to change.  

We won't be perfect in behaviour in this life as we battle the reality of this sinful world and our 'old' sinful nature in our flesh, but as we submit to Christ, we are being transformed from one degree of glory (honour) to another.

This is the good news of the gospel!

Scorpions, Snakes and Cultural Sight: Seeing into Culture - Observing Deeper Differences

Did you know that not all Scorpions are the same?

I knew absolutely nothing about scorpions before moving to Botswana and almost nothing until 2 years ago when we moved to live in the bush.

There are actually two main categories of Scorpion (according to danger levels) - a thin pincered but fat tailed deadly type, and a fat pincered but thin tailed almost harmless type.

But up until last week, I had basically only had experience with the dangerous fat tailed version.  Then one morning my husband suddenly and urgently called for help in dealing with a large scorpion that had scurried in the front door when he opened it.  However after capturing it and looking more closely, we realised it was an almost harmless thin tailed-fat pincer version....the first of this type we had seen.

We also live with snakes in the bush around us.  Some are deadly (I haven't seen them yet and they haven't been near our house but others on the property have seen them), but the ones we have found are relatively harmless.

It is easy to assume something about a situation or object because it looks similar to something already experienced in another context.  If I had only ever seen harmless scorpions it could be easy to see yet another scorpion and assume it is the same as others without looking more closely and noticing it is one that should be attended to very differently.  I could fail to 'fear' what I should fear or end up in a 'panic' over something that I didn't need to be.  A closer look could either save me some 'fright or flight' energy in the case of a harmless scorpion , or save me my life or hospitalisation in the case of a deadly version.

This reminds me of looking deeper in cross-cultural situations.  

Especially in an urban missions situation that can have many 'familiar' Western factors evident, it is easy to be in a frame of mind that is 'lulled' into assuming, projecting and expecting Western responses, attitudes, actions and worldview.  I have found that it hasn't been until I've trained myself (and continue to do so) to gain more knowledge and look more deeply into circumstances around me, that I notice more about a situation so as to properly assess and respond.  

It's so easy to miss what is obviously there if you don't know what to look for.  Some things that might be high on my radar due to my own birth culture may not be priorities to be noticed in the 'new' culture around me, and other things that were low or not even on my previous radar, need to be if I am going to respond appropriately and effectively with gospel truth.

Here are a couple of examples.......

If you are a Westerner reading this, what would be your first thoughts if you read about a cemetery having problems from underground water, so much so that when graves are dug they don't take long to have water in them and the ground is waterlogged for those walking on it at funerals?

Maybe you would start to wonder about contamination of the water table (especially if the bore hole on your property was nearby).  Or maybe you would be concerned people would slip on the wet ground and injure themselves, or the difficulty in mowing the grass around the graves.

Here is an excerpt from a local paper where the Assistant Minister for Local Government and Rural Development commented on the issue:

"...I will talk to my officers to always make a survey before allocating plots for cemeteries because it is not proper for the body of our leaders to be on the grave that has underground water,"

The priority is related to honouring community elders whether they are alive or 'late' (as is said here).

This is not so different from a situation where a man was charged after embezzling funds from a charity.  The detective's first comment was 'how could he do this to his people and his country' and second comment was 'now overseas donors will cease sending funds to Botswana because of the reputation this will give us'.  No comment was made that stealing was wrong or that the charity would have bills to pay but no funds to pay them now etc etc.

The priority is related to the shame this brought upon the wider group.

Part of our 'research' is simply 'living' here, making the effort and taking the time to 'see' further than the surface of life around us. This is not just about noticing donkey carts or ladies carrying babies on their backs, its about noticing issues of differing worldview.  It is so easy to not see what is right in front of our eyes, if we are not actually looking for it.  Once upon a time I would have read the newspaper article and just thought "Mmm that's a bit of a health hazard with dead bodies rotting in the water table and muddy ground where people could slip and hurt themselves".  But that would be looking at the situation with 'Western eyes'.

Rather such situations alert me once again to how pervasive the 'honour of elders' and 'shame on the group' is, and the great need to ensure that in discipleship these issues are addressed biblically.

If we are going to help people understand God's word and come to know transformed lives in Christ resulting in doing business better, being better parents, better spouses, better church members, better citizens etc etc we have to understand how they think - what are the primary values and perspectives......and its most likely they won't be what a Westerner thinks they are. But if we don't take time to see into culture at a deeper level than the surface of life around us, we will miss what is really going on and also miss being able to properly interpret, communicate and apply God's truth within the realities of daily life.....and that could result in someone not just having earthly 'scorpion' consequences, but eternal 'salvation' consequences.

As Jackson Wu says in his book 'Saving God's Face' about areas of culture that don't get properly addressed/corrected biblically.... 

'Silence then becomes the Trojan horse where culture imports meaning, values and practice.  Human beings demand answers to life questions.  A myriad of life experiences push a person towards one conclusion over another, whether consciously or unconsciously.  Inevitably, if not informed by a holistic biblical theology, many will simply default to the prevailing cultural norms."

'Seeing into culture' more deeply, really matters!