It’s All True

He came into my office. I was the district superintendent of a United Methodist district in South Carolina Conference. He was the Lay Leader. He started in. He said that he was disappointed in the direction of the United Methodist Church. I asked him what he meant. He said he was afraid that we were getting more conservative. So, he asked me what I thought about the Bible. I said: “It’s the Word of God…” He said: “You don’t believe that literally, do you?”

Well, that’s a loaded question. You see in our culture there is truth (facts) and then there is faith. Facts are what matter; faith is a guess at best, according to the modern mind.

I said: “The Bible is the Word of God…” However you look at it, some of it is to be taken literally, some of it is not. There is myth and legend and history. But, the Bible is God’s Word. God still speaks to his people through Holy Scripture. We may not like it, but we may not dismiss it. Our main conversation in church is with this ancient book.

The Lay Leader looked at me as if he couldn’t believe what I had said. And, he left. I saw him rarely after that.

So, I heard the other day that Bishop Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the the Episcopal Church said that personal salvation is a heresy and idolatry. Just before this General Conference, a number of the members of the Episcopal Church left and went with the Anglican Church. In response to their leaving, all the bishop could say was that the ones left were the true church and those who left were heretics.

I see it all the time in the United Methodist Church. There are those who say that we should all just love each other- as long as we agree with them. And, if you believe the scriptures are God’s Word, then you’re written off as a fundamentalist.

I am not a fundamentalist, though I believe that there are some fundamental things that are the foundation of Christian faith, like salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I believe that the story of our faith is true. Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to save us from our sins. John 3:16 is true.

Richard Lischer asked in a sermon: “When did you know that it was all true?” He was talking about conversion. He told about a friend for whom faith was a distant thing until one day it came to her. It was a beautiful New England day; everything was covered with snow. As she walked in the snow, she said it came to her: “It’s all true.”

People who believe that the Bible is the primary guide to our faith believe that no other story can be read and studied and accepted as more important than this story.

The bishop may not be happy that so many left her church, but she can’t call them heretics. A heretic is someone who doesn’t accept the orthodox faith passed down to us by the Saints. Salvation in Jesus Christ is personal and social.  In the company of Jesus you are asked to believe all sorts of things. In the church, we get to believe and live out something as impossible as resurrection.

Everything that Jesus said. Everything that he did. Everything that he was. Everything that he promised. It’s all true and we know it from Holy Scripture.

It’s all true. And, those who believe it are the ones who are the true church.

Blessings!
Dave Nichols

Is it Simple Really?

This Sunday, July 12, in the heat of summer, with a lot of people on vacation and 78 people on a mission trip to Louisiana, we will be working with Reuben Job’s book “Three Simple Rules” in Sunday School and Church. And, over the next three Sundays we will be doing John Wesley’s three rules: 1. Do no harm. 2. Do Good. 3. Stay in love with God.

Job says in his book that if we, United Methodist Christians, lived by these three rules we could change the world. I guess it could be said that if we Christians lived fully what we believed that we could change the world. As one of the earlier church leaders said: “The Christian faith has been tried and found wanting; it’s never been tried.”

Now that’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? And yet, let’s admit that as Christians we are prone to take the easy way out, just like a lot of the culture. Most of our lives and time are spent merging with the culture rather than enlarging the distance by giving witness to the radical nature of Jesus’ Gospel.

I just heard that on television this morning someone from another denomination, a leader, said that personal salvation was a heresy and idolatry. Oh well. This may be a great time for us to look again at the basics of our faith.

John Wesley gives us three rules. Whether they are simple or not is another question. Done right, the Christian faith is hard work. That means that we are saved not just to sit down. It’s not over then; it’s just beginning. We are called to get into the game then, to move out in love and service, all of us, in the hope of tranforming the world; individual and corporate salvation is still in style.

I have some 90 books that have just arrived. I will have them Sunday. If you want one, they are $5 or if you can’t do that, you may just have one.

I am excited about the possibilities as we pray and study and worship our way through these rules as followers of Jesus Christ. In a few weeks, I will begin another series of sermons on the core values of our church, Bethel that is. Pray for us as we seek more and more to do God’s will around here and in the world.

Blessings!
Dave Nichols

An Open Letter to the Governor of SC

Dear Governor Sanford,

Our prayers are with you and your family. We deeply regret for you and your family and the state of South Carolina the storm that is swirling. I am compelled to write you at this time to express for me and, I hope, for others what I am thinking and feeling at this time, to speak the truth in love, and to encourage you to move forward in a redemptive way.

First, I know that you’re a sinner. As a Christian pastor, and a human being, I know that we are all sinners. I knew this when President Clinton had an indiscretion. So, we believe that when we confess, we are candidates for forgiveness. I believe that you, in your mind, have confessed, but I’m not convinced that you’ve repented (actually turned).

Second, we are all responsible for what we do or don’t do. Or else, what else is there. In part, this is why many hate Christians right now. We talk publicly about our moral superiority and then we act and live just like everybody else. I know we’re all guilty of this to some extent. I certainly preach more than I do. You have to take responsibility for your actions and the hurt you’ve caused, particularly to your family, your boys.

Third, please stop acting like a hormone-soaked teenager. Soul mate? Please. Fall in love with your wife again? Please. You were in power and you took advantage of the situation. A grown man of your age ought to know that our hearts are deceptive. Martin Luther says the heart is a factory of idols. And, the chief idol is the self. So, any talk of falling in love, soul mate, etc., is nothing more than giving in to the world’s definition of love. Love is not just feeling. It’s a commitment in marriage to be together “for better, for worse.” You get the picture.

Fourth, please stop talking about it in public. You need to take the conversation to your wife and family. No excuses. You did wrong. You hurt others. Now, admit it. Let go the talk of your teen years, and get on with the hard work of forgiveness and redemption. Several years ago, I heard a young man say, after his girl friend tested positive for pregnancy: “It just happened.” Things like sex and adultery don’t just happen. They happen after careful fantasizing and planning and scheming and hiding and deception and temptation. They happen when we do them. We are responsible. Or else, what is there?

Blessings!

David E. Nichols