April 22, 2016

When is a Gentile Not a Gentile (or Pagan or Heathen)?

By Clarke Morledge
The purple wildflower, heather, covers much of rural Scotland. In early medieval times, a person living among these heather fields, was considered to be a "heathen," or "from the countryside." However, in Christian usage, the term has taken on a number of meanings, sometimes controversial.

The purple wildflower, heather, covers much of rural Scotland. In early medieval times, a person living among these heather fields, was considered to be a “heathen,” or “from the countryside,” or “from the heath.” However, in Christian usage, the term has taken on a number of meanings, sometimes controversial.

A question came up the other night in a Bible study. When we read Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus is describing the principles of church discipline. If someone who claims to be a Christian, but who acts in a non-Christian manner and will not change their behavior, what is the rest of the community supposed to do?

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (Matt 18:15-17 ESV)

Jesus’ use of the description “Gentile” for someone who is making up their own rules for Christian behavior sounds confusing. Are there not “Gentiles” who are genuine Christians? If someone is already a “Gentile,” that is a non-Jewish person, how can you then be disciplined and treated as a “Gentile?” How do we make sense of this?
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April 20, 2016

Four Views on Hell

By Clarke Morledge
Why are Christians so hesitant about talking about hell? Is it because we question its existence, or is it because we are not really sure what hell really is?

Why are Christians so hesitant about talking about hell? Is it because we are not really sure what hell even is? A new edition of a Zondervan Counterpoints book, Four Views on Hell, provides some help, looking at the Bible for answers.

It is rare when a Christian mega-church pastor winds up somehow on the cover of TIME magazine. But when a story about (now former) pastor Rob Bell was plastered on the front of TIME five years ago in 2011, people took notice.

As the mind behind the popular Nooma series of videos, Rob Bell had written a controversial book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.  In the book, Bell raises a lot of provocative questions about the classic Christian doctrine of hell, but he does not provide very firm answers. In his engaging and winsome way, Bell believes that when people experience rough times in this earthly life, such experiences can be truly hell. Who can argue with that? But as to whether or not hell exists in the next life, Bell is not so sure.

Uh-oh. There are yellow flags here.

As there should be.
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April 10, 2016

Is Everyone a Child of God?

By Clarke Morledge
"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26 NIV):

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26 NIV)”

Sometimes our good intentions as Christians can betray us and take us down the road of bad, confusing theology. For example, consider the sentiment often expressed by some Christians that “everyone is a child of God,” or that “we are all brothers and sisters in God’s Kingdom,” without qualification.

In a sense, there is some Biblical justification for such statements. After all, the Apostle Paul in his evangelistic sermon to the crowd assembled upon Mars Hill in Acts 17:22-33, quotes with approval from Aratus’s poem “Phainomena,” this line: “For we are indeed his offspring (v.28).” By virtue of being created, Christian and non-Christian alike, we all share a common humanity, as brothers and sisters, and children of God. Sounds good. Right?

Think again. Read the passage carefully.

Paul goes on to say that God “commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him (Jesus Christ) from the dead (v.30b-31).” Elsewhere in the Bible, in John 1:12-13, we read, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.“

In other words, faith in Christ is the necessary prerequisite before we can know truly that we are children of God, in the sense of being in right relationship with Him. By virtue of God’s saving work of sending His Son Jesus to die for us and our sins, and raising Him from the dead, are we then adopted as children of God (Romans 8:14-17). Being adopted as a child of God, in terms of salvation, is not a natural born right. It is 100% solely a gift from God (Read all of Romans 8, while you are at it, to get the full picture).

So, while it is true, loosely speaking, that we share a common humanity as God’s offspring as His creatures, we must be careful to maintain the Biblical distinction that only those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior have the right to truly become children of God, and therefore reconciled with their Creator. If we fail to carefully honor this distinction, as sometimes happens, we risk confusing our unbelieving neighbor to think that they are somehow “okay” with God, when in reality they remain alienated and utterly cut off from Him. Such sloppy theology can also lull the believer to think their salvation is due to some sort of natural birthright, something to be taken for granted, instead of causing us to throw ourselves down in humility at the feet of our Lord and King each and every day, and leaning on His tender and gracious mercies.

Let us not be careless with God’s Word. Let us handle it well.

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April 8, 2016

The Fear of Death

By Clarke Morledge
Bruton Parish Church courtyard... where my parents remains are buried.

Bruton Parish Church courtyard… where my parents remains are buried.

There is …a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance (from Ecclesiastes 1:1-8).

Over the past year, I have lost both of my parents to death. Less than a month ago, my dad died. It has been very interesting, watching the reactions of people who hear the news. Cordially, everyone is sorry for my loss. But it is astonishing how many folks will then gloss over the reality of death in their efforts to be nice to me.

For example, I am quite frank in saying that my father died. But most people I run into would rather talk euphemistically about someone’s passing instead. I am sure it is a desire to be polite and not offend a grieving person, but when someone passes, what does that really mean? Does that really tell the truth about death?

Here is a list of some sentiments that have been expressed to me over the past month:

“At least there is an end to your dad’s suffering. There is too much suffering in the world.”

“Your dad is in a better place. He is with your mother now.”

“Your dad is looking down upon you now… and smiling!”

All of these are quite bold statements, if you think about them. How do we know there is no suffering after death? How do we know that a loved-one is in a happier, better place, with others that are also loved… and smiling? Are any of these assertions true?

A curious one is that both my mom and dad are together now, implying that they are still married in the afterlife. But according to classic Bible teaching in Matthew 22:23-33, the bonds of matrimony are terminated upon death. Mormons, however, do believe that marriage goes on into eternity, but my parents were never Mormons, though we did have some Mormon missionaries knock on our door once back in 1978. I think they gave my mom some kind of pamphlet while my dad snuck out the back door to go cut the grass.

So, what then is the basis for the truthfulness of any of these assertions? Is scientific substantiation possible? Is it through some sort of revelation from a divine being, an intervention into human history? Or is it through the speculation offered by one’s own wishful thinking? How reliable is that? Could it be, that such sentimentality is a type of coping mechanism designed to take our minds off of what we fear the most?
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April 4, 2016

A Remembrance of My Dad

By Clarke Morledge
George Alan Morledge (May 28.1930 - March 14, 2016)

George Alan Morledge (May 28.1930 – March 14, 2016)

My dad died a few weeks ago, of pulmonary fibrosis and chronic heart disease. He died exactly one year later, to the day, from when I posted the eulogy for my mother here on Veracity, who died in 2015. Last week, I had family in from Wisconsin, Texas, Colorado, and across Virginia and North Carolina, to celebrate his life. George Alan Morledge was a very accomplished man, a celebrated architect who specialized in 17th and 18th colonial restoration, including 20 years of service at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (check out their recent controversial SuperBowl ad),  a significant project to help restore Blandfield Plantation in Essex County, Virginia, and assisting in researching the origins of the Adam Thoroughgood House, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. More about my dad’s life here.

After I dropped off the last of my cousins at the airport to go home, it was a pretty lonely ride back to my house. Some friends, including our Veracity blogger-in-chief, John Paine, suggested that I post “A Remembrance of My Dad” that I gave at his memorial service. My dad left me an important lesson and a treasure, that pretty well defines the orientation that I have towards the Christian faith, that I hope might come through here on the Veracity blog:

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