Keep on imitating me, my friends. Pay attention to those who follow the right example that we have set for you. I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ’s death on the cross. They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world. We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. He will change our weak mortal bodies and make them like his own glorious body, using that power by which he is able to bring all things under his rule.
Phil 3:17-21
I must admit this Gem on the passage before us intrigues me even before I write it. How can that be? What am I taking about? Well firstly let me unpack the title for you. Isn’t it interesting that this is Gem 1984. That only entered my mind when I sat down to write this morning’s Gem and my website automatically assigned the Gem number to this Gem. What do the WWJD and WDOS mean? I am sure Christians will recognise immediately the reference to What Would Jesus Do? But I am not sure anyone will know what WDOS refers to until I tell you. The Gem number reminded me of George Orwell’s book 1984, so WDOS refers to What Did Orwell Say? In my first look at what lay ahead in this section of Philippians 3:17-21 I noted several controversial words or phrases.
- enemies of Christ
- Christ’s death on the cross
- hell
- right example / proud of things they should be ashamed of
- The Second Coming of Christ (although those words aren’t used)
All of which have come together in Gem 1984. Oh my goodness! Do I even want to dare to write this Gem? There are some Gems I have written over the years that I knew at the beginning was likely to stir up a storm of protest. I have had a number of Gems rejected or labelled as Spam or offensive over the years because of words included in the title. Even this morning as I woke (late – 6.00 am because I slept in) I had a timely email from the Biblical Archaeological Society announcing an online video stream about Heaven and ‘the Place Below‘ because they didn’t think they could use the H*** word in the title without getting the email blocked or labelled as hate speech. Oh what an interesting world this world has become between 9/11 and a certain worldwide Pandemic. People hardly dare to express an opinion anymore for fear of being labelled or rejected by one side or another.
That got me to thinking “What would Jesus do?” How would He, the One I follow with all my heart, soul, mind and strength unashamedly, handle such a situation or what would He write? Well the truth is He didn’t actually write very much at all, except for a few words in the sand or dirt of Israel. But certainly huge volumes have been written about Him over the centuries. Much of which has been wrongly interpreted. Here is one example:
“But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one! For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’ Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.”
“Look, Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.”
“That’s enough,” he said.
Luke 22:36-38
I am not going to give you a long wordy breakdown of what this means in the Greek. Suffice to say, to interpret this statement by Jesus as being a call to arms is not what was intended. Read what I wrote in Gem 1208 to Gem 1210 if you are at all interested in knowing the truth.
I think we have entered an age when people are no longer interested in knowing the truth. They are too set on believing the lie. These days everything seems to polarise people and drive them to their factions for support while blocking their ears to other opinions. Yes even Christians, well at least those who call themselves Christian, are willing to pick up the sword for a political cause or trending issue that everyone has an opinion on. Anything that comes from the Bible is unthinkingly labelled as bigotry, untruth, dated, anachronistic or just plain wrong because how could such an old, dated, Jewish book contain Truth? And what is Truth anyway?
Well, let me say from the outset I will deal with all of these issues listed above over the following Gems in the context in which Paul dealt with them. But you have to admit this has the potential to raise all sorts of red flags or spam classifications. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. I used this quote once before at the beginning of another controversial passage. How do you know that Ian and even more remember which Gem you wrote it in? I do remember the quote and vaguely where I used it but I did’t remember the Gem number. I just used the <Search> function on my website above the menu bar on each Gem. Try it, you’ll like it. It’s easy. Thanks ©DuoPlus.
Talk about 20/21 vision, the Bible is the most up-to-date book on the planet and always will be. But that is not surprising as it was inspired by God who knows us all so well. The Jews combine history and prophecy as one because when God talks of the future it is as good as done. There is no other book like the Bible. I have thought about Jesus and His likely reaction to our current world:- Covid reactions, protests, violence, road rage, conversion therapy and even NZ’s current proposed ‘birth certificate legislation’. I will comment on such things if and when I think they are appropriate. I hadn’t intended to write what I have ended up writing for today’s Gem. I fully intended to begin the exegesis of this potentially controversial passage. However on looking at the Gem number and the potential topics included I have written what I have written.
- What do you see in the Paul’s statement above that make you want to ask questions or comment?
- Feel free to share them with me and I will attempt to cover the topics you raise in the context of what Paul wrote.
There is one more thing I will add to this Gem which a few of you have asked about lately which concerns the colours I use in the labels for the image for the Gems that I post on Instagram. Is there any significance or symbolism to the colours Ian? I am glad that you asked that. I was wondering if someone would ask but figured if no one did, it would be my little secret. Funny you should ask, yes there is. It is like the colour system that I devised for Deeper Bible when in the early years people asked me for help in knowing which parts of the Bible were difficult and which were easier. This all started when I gathered a group of leaders together to test and develop Deeper Bible. I taught them the basic things they could do to get deeper into the Bible. A short time later one of them said at the meeting that he had tried DB principles with his home group (DATE cell) and it didn’t work. Our conversation in class:
- “What do you mean it didn’t work?”
- “We chose a particular book and started applying the principles and it doesn’t work.”
- “What book did you choose?”
- “Revelation.”
- “Why did you choose the harder book in the Bible to start with?”
- “Oh is that the hardest book is it? We didn’t know that. Can you help us with a schema?”
So here is my new schema for the Gem Categories. Most of the colour choices will be self explanatory but perhaps I should explain the middle category. I started using the Orange for the deeper Gems which contained harder to grasp issues where I explain the Greek, or commentaries and differences of opinion. Deeper Issues that some of you like to know and others by-pass. All to help you know if you should read this Gem or not. I choose orange because of the historical Irish clashes of the past between the Catholics (Green) and the Protestants (William of Orange).
You have to admit that George Orwell’s writings are uncomfortably close to accuracy as well on a more limited scale. I am not going to spend the time adding comments on Orwell’s books: 1984 or Animal Farm nor George Orwell on Truth but I thought it would be appropriate to use some of his quotes.
In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
George Orwell
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George Orwell
You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator; but you are not free to think for yourself.
George Orwell
Intellectual honesty is a crime in any totalitarian country; but even in England it is not exactly profitable to speak and write the truth.
George Orwell
The next stage of downfall consists, as in Orwell’s novel, 1984, in asserting as truth its opposite – darkness is really light, futility is really wisdom. ‘Though claiming to be wise, they became fools…’Romans 1:22 (ISV)