Jack Pelham

The truest hearts
Are the ones most likely
To discover that the real authority
Rests in the Word,
And not in the Church.

The others never quite seem
To figure this out.

In this beautiful/ugly world,
Where it’s so hard
To get the full attention
Of any crowd,
The big surprise for most
About Christianity
Is that there are indeed
A yoke to be worn,
A burden to be carried,
And a Master to be pleased.

And how do the people
Respond to all this?

Here’s what I see.

I suppose there’s not one among us all
Who would not be surprised
At a million things in Heaven—
Should we ever be so blessed
As to be invited to live there.

And having learned something
Of your inner battle, friend,
I wonder whether the biggest surprise for you
Might be the great peace in the hearts
Of the citizens there—

NOTE: This article was originally published on 14 November, and was substantially added to on 20 November. It is also being recorded very soon on my Rethinking the Bible podcast. Here’s a link: https://rethinkingthebible.com/2022/11/21/episode-45-is-divorce-the-only-thing-that-god-hates/

Let’s talk about divorce.

First of all, I need to point out that our culture tends to be pretty sloppy in our understandings of Bible doctrines. While the Bible has over 1,100 pages of information, we tend to draw on tiny segments of it when developing our beliefs, ignoring the full body of information and deferring to a one-liner passage here and there. And to be even more specific, it’s not the one-liner so much as our interpretation of that one-liner that’s the problem. That is to say, there are many Bible passages that could reasonably taken in more than one way. But when do we ever roll up our sleeves to consider all the reasonable interpretations of a verse before deciding that we know what the author or speaker meant to convey?

The cowboy, full of himself,
Approaches the pretty filly
Whom he has never met.
And seeing her wedding band,
He propositions her,
“So, just how married are you?”

And she answers thus:

Is there any corruption in our governments and companies—or in the popular beliefs of the citizens—that would still be going on if someone weren’t profiting from it?

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Why do so many Christians today live in fear? Who can explain that? Popular belief says that every Christian, upon coming to Jesus, receives the indwelling Holy Spirit. And the verse above seems adamant that the Holy Spirit used to have some sort of transforming effect on those in whom he lived. It seems that it transformed people from their former slavery to a life of fear into the freedom of a life of confidence, as the to-be-adopted children of God.

It may seem to some that
I must have set out at first
To find fault with this world.
But that isn’t the case.

What I set out to find was the truth,
And it was then that it became obvious
That this world is awash
In lie and error alike,
And seems to be stuck in it—
Most of its people being
Blind to the simple fact
That their best hope of
Seeing anything fixed
Is that they should
First fix themselves.

I have observed that it is easier by far
To corrupt the character of people
Than to improve it.

And, perhaps, this is not better evinced
Than in the great popularity
Of ineffective self-improvement programs
That actually serve
By lowering the barre of society,
Rather than raising it.

No one can take in
The full scope of his weaknesses
All at once.