If you disagree …

The information presented on this website is my personal opinion, and mine alone. Many of my opinions and conclusions are highly speculative in nature and are open to many different interpretations. It is your G-d-given right to disagree with my opinions and interpretations of Scripture. But please do not waste your time and mine by emailing me to tell me how wrong I am, or to complain about the content of this web site, or to try to change my mind, or to try to engage me in theological debate, or [as many people do] simply to “tell me off.”

In the first place, my opinions and interpretations are based on more than 50 years of intense personal study of the Scriptures, including over seven years of seminary training culminating in a masters degree in theology (Th.M.) and two doctoral degrees in theology (Th.D.) and ministry (D.Min.). My theological opinions are very difficult to change or influence. You are simply not going to succeed where hundreds — perhaps even thousands — of others of have failed. Do I think I “know it all?” Of course not; far from it. Ruach HaKodesh teaches me something new every single time I open the pages of Scripture! If He didn’t, I probably wouldn’t bother to study the Scriptures at all. What would be the point?

I believe that the Bible — consisting of the 66 books of the so-called “Protestant Canon,” which includes the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, and the B'rit Chadasha, or Apostolic Scriptures — can be proven beyond any possible doubt to be the literal word of G-d as transcribed by men specially equipped by Ruach HaKodesh to accurately record exactly — to the very letter and even the smallest part of the letter — the message that G-d desired to transmit to those who love Him. I believe that since G-d desired to reveal Himself to men, He did so in a language and in a format that men could easily understand if they would simply read what He said and interpret the message using the standard rules of language and grammar that apply to the language in which they were originally written, and in the historical milieu in which they were originally received.

To restate the point in the simplest terms possible, I believe that the Scriptures can only be accurately understood in exactly the same way that they would have been understood by those to whom they were originally written, who originally received them, and for whom they were originally intended.

In the second place, I simply don’t have the time to read the daily deluge of dissent, discontent, and deceit. [Yeah, I thought that was a particularly cleverly-turned alliterative phrase, too!] For more than six years I have received—and continue to receive—well over a hundred email messages every single day, most of which are from people who only want to argue or tell me off! “Truth” [as defined here] offends a lot of people, including some members of my own family! I have therefore been forced by these circumstance to install an email filter program which simply deletes most of the email that I receive, and I scan the survivors as my very limited time permits. If you send me hate mail, the chances are probably far less than 1% that I will ever receive it.

In the third place, I am simply far too busy to read hate-filled email from ignorant (and mostly inarticulate) people who, quite frankly, have no factual basis from which to form any kind of opinion. [Of course, I'm not talking about you! But you almost certainly know the kind of people I mean. You probably have several of them in your congregation.] Most of the people who write the really offensive messages — like the Arabs and American politicians who insist that the Jews have no right to the land that G-d gave them 4,000 years ago, and the anti-Semitic religious bigots who insist that G-d is a liar Who has revoked His irrevocable covenants with Israel and transferred them to “the church” — only want to argue their emotions in total disregard of both historical fact and revealed Biblical Truth!

Since I have never accepted a salary for any part of nearly 40 years of ministry, that means that I must earn a living the old-fashioned way — I work for it! To accomplish that end, in addition to my full-time ministry I have a full-time natural health practice and clinic, an additional part-time job [only 45 hours/week], and I am currently working on my third doctoral degree. Therefore, I spend less than about an hour a week reading the little bit of email that actually manages to get through to me, and I seldom actually read a message until several weeks after it was sent. Your chances of reaching me with hate mail just aren’t very good at all.

If you believe that your opinions are worth voicing and you would like for other people to be able to hear your message, then I most respectfully suggest that you do what I have done. Rent yourself a little corner of the World Wide Web, spend a few hundred hours building your own website, then spend 20 or 30 hours a week keeping it current.

Oh, I almost forgot! If your website actually says something worthwhile, be sure to install an email filter to capture and discard the hundreds of pieces of hate mail that you can expect to receive every day.

And in case you were wondering … our congregation does not pay for any part of my rather significant website expenses. My wife and I pay them directly out of our own pockets, with the help of a few people who believe that what I have to say is worthwhile. You can click this button if you would like to help.

While I am on the subject, this may be a good place to respond to the very infrequently-received charge that I hate or “bash” some religious, ethnic, and/or political groups, particularly Arab Muslims and Catholics. [See the introductory note at the top of this page.] Nothing could be farther from the truth. [I am actually an equal-opportunity bigot. I hate everybody equally!! — Oh, fer cryin’ out loud! That’s a joke! Lighten up!! But you just watch and see; somebody is going to quote that statement out of context!] I’m not really anti-anybody, but I am pro-Truth. Therefore, when I take a firm stand in favor of Truth, the only logical result is that I must stand against those who have taken a stand against Truth. [More about “Truth” here]

So now you have to ask me what is my definition of “Truth” [John 18:38]. Simply stated, “Truth is that which is, as contrasted and opposed to that which is not.” That which actually exists is Truth; all else is then of necessity false. There is, therefore, only one single objective truth in all of our space-time continuum and beyond. There is only one Creator-God Who is the Author of all that is, and He is therefore the Author of Truth. He desires to reveal Himself to His creation, and He has done so through the Jewish Prophets, Whom He specially and supernaturally equipped to receive and record the Truth that He has chosen to reveal.

Does the Bible contain all the Truth that exists? Certainly not. The Bible does not contain all Truth, but all that the Bible does contain is Truth. The Bible is therefore the standard by which all other knowledge is to be measured. Truth is also to be found in G-d’s creation, in the laws of physics, chemistry, and mathematics that He ordained as controls in our multiverse, as well as in the accurate record of history. But when the knowledge that we receive from creation is in disagreement with the Truth contained in the Bible, our understanding of that knowledge must be adjusted to fit the revealed Truth of the Bible. Those who fail to make that adjustment exchange the Truth of G-d for the lies of HaSatan.

For the wrath of G-d is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about G-d is evident within them; for G-d made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew G-d, they did not honor Him as G-d or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible G-d for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore G-d gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of G-d for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

… And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge G-d any longer, G-d gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of G-d, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of G-d, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. [Romans 1:18-32, NAS]

I neither “hate” nor “bash” people who have taken a stand against G-d’s revealed Truth. I simply recognize and acknowledge them for what G-d says they are.

http://familybible.org/About/Disagree.htm
Last revised at 01:17 PM on Saturday, 05 April 2008