This post isn’t really so much about Open Theology as much as it is about something that Steve Sensenig said regarding 1 John 5:14. Here is a transcription from about 22 minutes into the podcast.

Ray: If you think about it, in classical theology, have you ever wondered, “why the heck am I praying?” If God is going to do what God is going to do; or if God already knows the outcome, then what is the point of me praying?

Steve: Is it John that says, in one of his epistles, “if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”?

Ray: “And if he hears us, then we know we have whatever [we ask]“, yeah.

Steve: Right, and so the interpretation is that, as long as whatever you are praying lines up with with what God has already determined will happen, then you’re going to get it — you’re going to get what you prayed for. Which to me seems like nonsense. I have said, and I think I have shared this on the podcast before, because of the lack of punctuation in Greek, I have a hunch that you could (and this would make more sense to me) say (putting the coma in a different place), “if you ask anything [in my name], according to his will, he hears us.

Steve: God has willed and determined that he wants to listen to us when we pray. That puts prayer in a whole different light, because it really can make a difference. I heard a well known preacher one time talk about the verse in James were it says, “If anyone is sick among you let him call for the elders and they will pray for him” and it talks about if he has any sins let him confess them, and basically he will be healed. And this particular preacher said that really what James means is “if it’s the Lord’s will he will be healed.” We’re going to put that [sub-text] in there and say that this is really you’re praying and if it’s God’s will then he’ll heal. Well again you’re left with, “what’s really the point of praying?”

Basically, Steve is suggesting that it is God’s will to hear us when we pray. And that 1 John 5:14 should not be interpreted in a such a way that makes it seem like we need to pray only for things that are “God willed”.

So I jumped into the Greek to see if there was any sort of way to get to this interpretation. This is the last half of 1 John 5:14 in Greek…

εαν τι αιτωμεθα κατα το θελημα αυτου ακουει ημων

Which roughly translates to:

If (εαν) we ask (τι αιτωμα) according to (κατα) the will (το θελημα) of him (αυτου) he hears (ακουει) us (ημων).

“we ask” is a subjunctive verb.

“according to the will of him” is a prepositional phrase.

“he hears” is an indicative verb.

So the question is, does “according to the will of him” apply to the verb “we ask” or the verb “he hears”. I believe the prepositional phrase should be applied to the subjunctive verb. But I wanted to see what other similar verses teach, a lot of them are just as ambiguous, but James actually spoke to this issue in a pretty straight forward manner.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

James seems to indicated that we do not always receive what we ask for, and it has to do with our motives for asking.

In 1 John 3:21-22, John writes,

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.

Just a few chapters before the verse mentioned by Steve, John writes a conditional for what we receive from God. We only receive those things that we ask for if our hearts do not condemn us. If our hearts do not condemn us, then we receive anything we ask for… but if that condition is met, I think most would say that we would only ask God for things that are within God’s desires.

So, Steve could be correct in his interpretation of 1 John 5:14, the preposition phrase could describe “he hears” instead of “we ask”. However, there are at least a couple places in Scripture that shows us that God does not grant any and every prayer. There are conditionals attached to prayer, even if the conditionals are not explicit. I’m not saying Steve believes that God grants every prayer request, but I wanted to take an opportunity to expand on what Steve had said and find out what scripture is teaching.

By the way, Steve / Ray, if you read this and you’re ever looking for a “guest” I’d love to join in :).

(Yeah, that’s right, I just invited myself, I have no shame)

Let’s talk about you. You are a “good” Christian. You read your Bible every morning and every evening before bed. Your pray before each meal asking God to bless the food. You talk about Jesus to the lost several times a week and try through Jesus to live a holy and pure life. You attend a regular church meeting a few times a week and even find time to minister and disciple people outside of the walls of the building. Your marriage is in great shape, your spouse loves and supports you. Your children are well discipline, get good grades and are all followers of Christ. You pray with your family daily and have weekly bible studies with them and your neighbors.

One night, you go to bed. Before bed you are burdened to pray. You pray extra long this night, making sure to pray for God’s will in your life. You pray for the health of your family, friends, neighbors, and enemies. You talk to God as if he were in front of you and were responding. As you are praying you fall asleep and have the most amazing and vivid dream. In this dream a man, who you recognize as Jesus (but looks nothing like the pictures) is standing before you. He is talking to you but his lips aren’t moving. You wake up the next morning to your alarm and feel completely rested. You are also overjoyed about your dream. Y try to remember everything that Jesus relayed to you but can only remember one thing – he told you that the book of Revelation is not Scripture.

Do you believe the dream? Why or why not?

She said, “WOW! I’ve gotta stop cussing in front of you…”

I explained to her that I didn’t want her to censor herself in front of me. Then we started talking about “church” life. She and her husband aren’t really church people. They both went to Methodist churches from time-to-time growing up though. Recently her husband expressed interest in going to a local Methodist church. He wants to go somewhere that he can hear the word preached without feeling pressured into anything weird. She said that she wasn’t really into the idea, but wanted to go with her husband anyway.

Up to this point in our conversation, I had already explained that I am a heretic and defined the word for her, as “a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.” I explained a little bit about my history, what I believe, what I don’t believe, etc. Basically just enough to let her know what I am all about.

Knowing this, and having her recent church experience, she had some questions/concerns for me. This is what they were (in her words).

1) During one songs, they sang about Immanuel… who is Immanuel? I thought they were suppose to worship God?

2) When it was time for prayer, everyone bowed really low with their heads down. Why did they do that?

3) After the community prayer, instead of everyone saying “Amen” they all started to say their own little personal prayers – is that normal?

4) After the service a couple cornered us and asked if we were saved, it was really ackward.

5) The husband of the other couple convinced her husband to fill out a vistor’s card. Then they received a call that afternoon asking if they were going to visit that night.

6) They had “children’s church” during which they took up an offering/tithe. Our little girl felt bad because they were trying to build a new church building and gave 10.00$ to the offering. I feel like that’s wrong, that should be up to the parents, not pressured little kids.

Hearing some of these questions and concerns, I had the feeling that I knew exactly what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthins 14, “Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?” Granted, this is about “tongues” not about Christian Music, Childrens Church, Prayer Stance, etc. I think it still relates though.

We hang out with unbelievers when they come to our meetings and programs.
Jesus hung out with unbelievers.

We develop programs to attract the world.
Jesus developed relationships with the world.

We raise funds to build buildings and additions.
Jesus didn’t have a place to lay his head.

We believe that true fellowship with God happens once a week.
Jesus expects true fellowship every day.

We make the gospel attractive.
Jesus made the gospel unattractive.

We create religious systems, doctrines, polity, rules, and more; in the name of being right.
Jesus tore down all those; showing that he was right.

We expect non-followers to act like his followers.
Jesus expected his followers to act like his followers.

We believe that classes equates to discipleship.
Jesus walked with his disciples.

We believe that we cannot perform miraculous things.
Jesus told us that we could perform greater miracles than he did.

The past two weeks have been hectic for us. As many of you know we have been in the process of moving to Athens. Well, I was finally able to close on our house August 29th. My wife and I moved from Dublin to Athens August 30th after a horrible experience with UHaul (I will never use them again). To make a long story short, if you reserve a 17′ truck at 8AM in your town, you should expect to get a 14′ truck at 10AM in a town an hour away. We expected to have everything loaded up and be in Athens in the afternoon. Instead, I found myself unloading our truck at 11PM to get our mattress out so we could sleep that night. By the way, I’ve never had this issue with Penske or Budget. But, we’re moved in, we still have tons of boxes to unpack, furniture to move around, and all sorts of things to get situated.

WOODY

Last Tuesday we took Woody to the Vet Hospital for an overnight. He had to have an MRI Wednesday morning. The good news is that the MRI came back positive. His brain is fine, his spine is fine. The bad news is that Woody is still broken and no one knows why. The doctor said that it is probably a genetic condition – pretty much uncurable. They took a urine sample and discovered a high keytone level (which is usually found in diabetics). But he doesn’t have diabetes. So they are sending the sample to California to find out if there are any oddities. We started to change his diet a little to up his protein and we’ll have to probably put him on a multi-vitamin. But basically, unless California finds anything, Woody will remain the same. Of course God could always do something miraculous. I know you’ll all probably laugh at me, but the night I closed I went home and put some oil on Woody and prayed over him. It hasn’t really changed anything with Woody, but I felt like I should at least do it, since we are told to have Elders come and anoint us with oil and pray over us if we are sick (James 5:14). We’ve also been looking into getting Woody some booties so he can grip the wood floors in our house better.

I think that’s all for updates.

Your prayers are always welcome.

We’ll have to take him to a neurologist to see what they can do. Luckily for me I work for UGA which has one of the best Vetrinary facilities and their own Pet Hospital section with three Neurologists on staff. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this soon and get Woody some help.

One of our Beagles, Woody, is a little special. I always thought he was a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Ever since he was a wee one he just acted a little weirder than our other beagle, Gus. He’s always ran kinda weird… kinda like a horse galloping, but add a little “fairy” to it. Lately he’s even been having a hard time just standing up. It seems like he keeps losing his balance with his back legs. So, being the bad parents that we are, we waited until this past Friday to bring him to the vet. They said that there is nothing wrong with this legs or hips, which is good. However, they did an x-ray and found a piece of metal in his stomach. The doctor thought it might be a hunk of lead and that he might be suffering from lead poisoning. We brought him back on Saturday morning for another x-ray, to see if the metal object had moved – it hadn’t. So, tomorrow, Woody is going in for surgery to have the metal removed. We are also waiting for blood test results to see what his lead-levels are (if it is in fact lead poisoning). So they’ll do another x-ray tomorrow and if the metal hasn’t passed then they will proceed with surgery.

In a way, we are hoping that it is lead poisoning, if not, then it is a neurological issue. I’m not sure what we could/would do if it was neurological. He’s going to be 2 years old this December, so he’s still a pretty young dog and otherwise healthy.

Our pets mean alot to us, so if you’d pray, we’d appreciate it.

Charlie will forever remain one of my heroes. There are only a few men in my life who have influenced me the way that Charlie has influenced me. My childhood memory often fails me, but those fond memories I do have usually include Charlie and Rachel. He was a collector, some might even call him a hoarder. Always being afraid to throw something away because of its sentimental value or even its potential use in the future, Charlie’s house was filled with stuff. I think some of this might be an after effect of living in the depression era. I remember once, in his cabin, we found a locked lock, but no key. After going home he opened a tin with at least 100 keys inside. We searched through trying any key that might fit until we eventually found the right one. The sound of the lock popping was reward enough for our time spent. Charlie was also a keen business man. A postman by profession, but also dealt in antiques (along with his collecting). He would spend his weekends at the Flea market, selling and buying, dealing and trading. He also had a few rented tables throughout some local antique shops. His house was filled with wonderful collectables. But they didn’t mind if you picked them up, looked at them, or even played with them.

Some of my favorite memories of Charlie was the weeks that I would spend at his house. They would let me sleep in their big bed. Charlie and I would get up early in the morning and catch the early horror films on TV. We might go to the playground or we would walk the beach to collect sand dollars and unique shells. Of course, the best part for me was that the day usually ended with a trinket or two for me to play with when we got back. Even the hand buzzer that I would wind up and trick Rachel with… I think she saw it coming each time.

These are the memories that I behold, the love that he and Rachel shared with me will never be forgotten. I thank God for their relationship with me. And I thank you, Charlie, for treating me so kindly and loving me like your own.

Until we meet again.

Love,
Lew

You are so Holy, I hope for the day when you make the Earth like Heaven. I desire so much to do your will and I ask that you feed us and protect me, my family, and The Family from the temptations of the devil. Help us all forgive, just as you forgave us, are forgiving us, and will forgive us.

As you know, I have a problem – I just don’t believe, period. I don’t believe that Sundays are any more important than Tuesdays or Fridays. I don’t believe that Worship Services are the same as Worship. I don’t believe that G.R.O.W. is worth a hoot or A.W.A.N.A. or any other program for that matter. Sure they’re not bad, they even have good things about them, but I just don’t care for them. I don’t believe that the church’s buildings are important. In fact, I’ve come to find them to be a waste of money, even laughable. Please, help me understand, why don’t I believe like the others?

Lord, you know that I believe in your people. You know that I love them, that I want to grow with them, in you. How can I do this, if I don’t believe in these other things? They don’t understand me… they don’t want to understand me. Why can’t you make me want to be in the Building? Why can’t you teach me to love Sunday more than Tuesday or Friday? What should I do? What can I do? I ask that you help me understand, please.

This is taken with Alan’s permission from here.

Developing a Biblical Ecclesiology Lecture
This is a lecture that I delivered concerning how my ecclesiology – my understanding of the church – has changed over the last few years.

Click here to download a pdf version of my PowerPoint presentation.

Click here to download the entire file (52 MB). Or, click the play button below to play the file online.

Click here to read Alan’s post regarding his lecture.

They asked me if I believed that God would do that. I think my answer was somewhat unexpected. I said that I do not think that God really cares about traditional-type invitations or extending them to allow people to make a “decision”. I readily admit that I could be wrong, but here are some reasons why I think I am right. By the way, I am not saying that we should not invite people to follow Jesus – I am merely questioning the end of sermon, spend 5 minutes begging people to come to the stage (and that was the point of the strip).

First, Jesus did not give people extra time to make decisions.

Another of the disciples said to Him, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead.” – Matthew 8:21-22

The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go {and} sell your possessions and give to {the} poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. – Matthew 19:20-22

Second, it does not take a walk down an aisle and a prayer at a stage to accept the free gift of God.

that if you confess with your mouth Jesus {as} Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved – Romans 10:9

He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. – Mark 16:16

Third, there is no encouragement in the New Testament to “pray a prayer”, “walk and aisle”, or “make a decision”. However, there is an emphasis for all believer to make disciples, teach, and share the gospel.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – Matthew 28:19

The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. – Acts 6:7

and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds – Hebrews 10:24

What do you think?

Apparently this was all started become a young Christian woman was accused of blaspheming Muhammad. A young man who was 20 died, the article does not say if he was a Christian or not. Here are the other reported losses in this article:

• On the following morning the youth attacked her house accompanied by a crowd
• triggering a rampage in which police and Christians were attacked and their homes and churches destroyed.
• Elsewhere, a Baptist church and a Deeper Life church were set ablaze
• A car owned by a local Christian that was parked close to the churches was also destroyed in the blaze.
• six Christian-owned houses had been razed to the ground

Although it is devastating to lose your buildings, cars, sense of security, etc. to senseless violence, I ask, “What was Lost?”

01. “what’s a handbasket and why do we got to hell in one?” – Isn’t it obvious?

02. should christians believe in santa claus – Yes.

03. muslim vs. baptist – The fight of the century!

04. i need molds of the ten commandments – Don’t we all.

05. how to have church without programs book – I recommend the Bible.

06. help, i don’t want to go to church – Help?

07. thigs to be thankful to god for – Google, peanut butter, and two-ply toliet paper.

08. notes on how to have to be a good pastor wife – Amen.

09. is it biblical to pay church volunteers? – Volunteer?

10. god bless me just a little – Me too.

11. churches say they will forgive if you pay us money – Me too!

Consider the situation where you are sitting among a group of believers, listening to someone teach. The teaching is very inspiring and challenging. You are really enjoying it. Beside you, a baby starts crying. Can the crying baby distract you from worshiping God? If we assume that you can only worship by listening to the teacher, then the baby would be a distraction. If we assume instead that the way you respond to the crying baby and the baby’s mother reveals your obedience to God, then you can continue to worship – even if you cannot hear the teacher.

This started to make me think about how we handle “distractions.” In Alan’s example, the baby becomes the distraction. Often times we remove distractions from us when we meet. We have children’s church, we have the nursery, we have contemporary services vs. traditional services, and the list could go on. None of these things are bad, or evil, or anything, but often they are created to remove distraction. We have children’s church because children get bored in real church, so we deal with the children by removing them from the situation. Babies tend to poop and cry and make all sorts of noises, so we send them to the nursery. Older people don’t really like contemporary music, so we have singing time with hymns and a separate singing time with newer music for the younger generations.

As I said, none of these things are wrong, in and of themselves. However, is it possible that these things tend to hide our sin? When your children get rambunctious, you’ll get an evil eye or two. Someone will surely gossip about how they could not hear the sermon, how misbehaved your children are, etc. By removing the children, the people do not have to deal with their sins because they can act like perfect little people. The same goes for the other examples I listed above.

As I have been contemplating these issues, I started to wonder what else we use to hide our sins. It occurred to me that legalism is the biggest thing, I think we also use doctrine to hide our sins, man-made rules and regulations, even our buildings can be used to hide our sins.

I suggest you ask yourself how you are hiding your sins.

I pray that God would reveal to us our sins and the devices we use to try to hide them from others. I pray that we would be more transparent before his Church and before Him, that we would confess our sins instead of hide them. I pray that He would strengthen us and those who we encounter to be more open to forgiving, guiding, and urging each other to love and good works. Most of all, I thank Him for all that He has done in our lives through His sons work on the cross and escape from Death.

I recently wrote a post over at Life… in the Journey about prayer called What About Prayer? hopefully I will not regurgitate the same stuff, but I am sure I will touch on a few of the same ideas. This post will be more geared towards what I do when I pray.

When I was taking classes as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary I had a professor read Mark 1:35 to us, which says, “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” The class was told that, as future pastors, we should be doing the same. We need to be getting up early in the morning and praying then.

This is NOT how I pray.

What I mean is, I do not have a rigid “God Schedule.” I understand Jesus prayed at this time because he wanted to, not as a prescription for us today, but as a description of what Jesus did in this situation. I do not believe in a legalistic pattern for speaking to God. I see my prayer life as a continuing conversation with God. So, with all that out of the way, this is how I pray.

• I pray when I am hurt, when I am happy, and when I am indifferent.
• I pray with my eyes closed, I pray with my eyes wide open.
• Sometimes I watch others as they pray and consider the words they are saying.
• I pray with my head bowed, I pray with my head straight, and I pray facing up.
• I pray over my food or I don’t.
• I pray in my head, I pray speaking out loud.
• I pray in groups, with groups, and in solitude.
• I pray when something important has happened, is happening, or is about to happen.
• I pray early in the morning, I pray in the middle of the day, and I pray right before bed.
• I pray when I feel urged to do so.
• I pray when someone asks me to do so.
• I pray when I desire to do so.

Most importantly, when I pray, I ask that God’s will be done and I pray that he would glorify his name regardless of me.

This is how I pray.