It's been such a long time since we have done any Biblical Parody and since this blog was built on such Sarcasm and Wit I'd like to give it another try. From Luke 16:19-31 I give you:

The Rich Man and Erik Knox*

 19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Erik Knox, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,^[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Erik Knox by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Erik Knox to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

 25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Erik Knox received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

 27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Erik to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'

 29"Abraham replied, 'They have Morton and the Samaritan; let them listen to them.'

 30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

 31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Morton and the Samaritan, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'

*All names mentioned in this parody are imaginary. Any resemblance to actual people is coincidental. Only one animal was hurt in the writing of this blog.

Picking up where we left off… more sowing and more reaping: 

4. In spiritual things there is a correspondence between what is sown and what is reaped.

(a) Sowing to the flesh produces its own natural harvest-corruption. The mere animal life, the life of worldly interests, the life of the lower self, is itself a life of corruptible things. Its soil and nourishment are earthly and cannot outlast death. When the grave opens all is lost. Even before death thieves steal, and moth and rust eat into the treasures. The soul itself, too, is corrupted by such a life. Its faculties are dissipated and decay away. It descends to the evil state of moral rottenness and death. 

(b)Sowing to the Spirit produces its own harvest of eternal life. Spiritual things are eternal things. Treasures in heaven are beyond destroying influences. In proportion as the spiritual within us is cultivated we have what will outlast death and what no grave will ever claim. Already we have an eternal life in living in the things that are spiritual and therefore eternal. Money goes, but faith remains; the pleasures of the senses pall upon us, but the peace of God never fails; self-seeking leads to dissatisfaction, the love of God sustains us with undying interests. 

Again the problem is this: without acknowledging the cross you simply have what the Buddhists and Hindus call "Karma". Do good receive good, do bad receive bad. Thank God there is more to life than "Karma".

Yes, Luke 6:38 (which you quote later) says "Give and it will be given to you", but this context gives only ONE SIDE to divine and human reality… and it isn't talking about finances.

I think Paul understood that when he said, "7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" (Philippians 3:7). Does this sound like someone saying "sow money to reap money"? NO, he considered it all loss.

He goes on to say ‘live according to the pattern we gave you. (v17)" "…many live as enemies of the cross of Christ." (v18) "…Their mind is on earthly things." (v19). What is more earthly than money?

Scriptural Examples of sowing and reaping: the harvesting of grain. The term is used figuratively for the final judgment (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; Rev. 14:15-16), evangelism (Matt. 9:37-38; Luke 10:2; John 4:35-36; Rom. 1:13), and recompense for good (Hos. 10:12; 2 Cor. 9:6; Gal. 6:7-8) or evil (Job 4:8; Prov. 22:8; Hos. 8:7; 10:13; Gal. 6:7-8) 

To me, all these scriptures in the list above help to show why Gen 8:22 cannot be applied as Frank uses it. Sowing/Reaping is used in so many different metaphors; you simply cannot say it always applies to giving and receiving financially or any other single way for that matter.

III. APPLICATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE

5.   As this law applies to all of life, it must also apply to every area specifically, this includes finances. If you plant wheat seed in the ground, you expect an abundance of wheat to be harvested. I know of no farmer that would plant and not expect a return. You invest in a 401k with the complete expectation of seeing a return. You give of your time at a job expecting a paycheck and hopefully a promotion. PLEASE remember that the context of 2 Cor. 9:6 is giving of MONEY, "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." Paul is making it very clear that there should be an expectation to receive directly proportionate to what you give. I don't think you can translate this any other way. This is a great scripture to validate the point that if you give of your money sparingly, you will reap a minimal harvest!

Paul's focus is clearly on the "sowing" and not the "reaping" as you and Frank would suggest. Does God bless those who give? Yes, but we can't and shouldn't say how or when or what.

Is every rich drug dealer or porn star wealthy because they have obeyed this principle? Of course not. Did Jesus say that the widow who gave her last two mites was now going to become rich? Of course not. In my opinion, the problem is that you take the "sometimes" and turn it into an "always" in order to inspire the investors to invest. Everyone likes a guaranteed investment, but as I read the Gospels, I do not find that becoming rich is what following Jesus is all about. The fact is that the majority of texts concerning wealth in the New Testament are warnings about the dangers of having riches - not ways to get more of it by sowing and reaping financial seeds.

I believe we should give because God has blessed you with the only thing you really need, salvation. At the end of 2 Cor. 9, Paul states:

14And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

That gift, of course, is salvation. I believe that should be at the heart of every sermon preached, whether the message is about money or anything else. Verse 15 should help us keep a proper perspective toward money and possessions.

6. Here is another scripture that pertains to reaping and sowing in the financial arena, 1 Cor. 9:10-12, "Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?. If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?" Again context is important. There is both a spiritual and natural context here, and also a financial one as it pertains to material harvest. There is an emphasis here of a hope of receiving something from the sowing of the same kind. You should plow in "hope of sharing" in the harvest… including a material harvest as stated.

This contradicts your previous statements of "what you sow you reap" (need a house, sow a house payment etc.). If the Law of Devine Retribution is always true, how could Paul and the rest of the apostles sow spiritual seed among the Corinthians, and then expect a material harvest?

According to what you said previously, they would need to sow material seed to reap material harvest and it would not be possible any other way.

 My Original response which includes a point by point discussion of this pastors comments were 9 pages long. I don't think anyone wants to read all 9 pages at once (if you do email me and I'll be happy to send it to you). I've decided to break it down into sections to make it easier. Here is part 1.

I. IT IS A LAW OF NATURE THAT THE REAPING SHALL CORRESPOND TO THE SOWING.  

This is part of the general law that, other things being equal, the same cause always produces the same effect. There is no known exception to the law of causation; there is no possible evasion of it. We see it plainly working in human affairs. The eternal constancy of nature assures us that the consequences of which certain conduct is known to be the cause will undoubtedly follow (sin, relationships, health, career, finances).

My initial concern is that you start out by relying on an observation of nature rather than the Bible. I would like to believe that we should start with a Biblical foundation and move on from there. Wouldn't you agree?

Although there are many metaphors we can take out of the Old Testament I do not believe it is proper hermeneutics to form a whole doctrine on them without having Jesus or the Apostles make the point somewhere in the New Testament as well.

The special law of sowing and reaping is that the product of the harvest will be the same in kind as the seed sown. Tares will never produce wheat, nor wheat tares. But each seed reproduces its own kind. This is seen in human affairs. Commercial industry tends to commercial wealth, intellectual study to a state of intellectual culture, etc. It is vain to think that money will buy refinement or that learning is the road to wealth. Each pursuit has its own consequences in accordance with its own nature; finances are included in this principle both naturally and spiritually.

I have to stop and ask a question at this point. What is your definition of grace? I believe you would say it is "unmerited favor", correct me if I am wrong. I bring this up for obvious reasons:

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death…" (i.e. when you "sow" sin "you" reap death), "…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. (i.e. we sow sin yet reap life).

How do you see these verses in relation to the "Law of Causation"?

The way I see it, these two scriptures alone refute that "law" and also show the beauty of Christ's message. We must rely on God to save us, despite what we sow. You can sow all the goodness, kindness, finances, time, love, joy, whatever and in the end you will reap death… unless Christ saves you. Isn't this the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in which we both strongly believe?

II. THIS LAW APPLIES TO SPIRITUAL SOWING AND REAPING.

1. Here the future depends on the past and present by a certain law of causation. No words could more plainly assert that our conduct is shaping our own fate; and these are not the words of James, but of the Apostle Paul, and they occur, of all places, in the Epistle to the Galatians, where the doctrine of justification by, faith is most vehemently asserted! Moreover, they are not addressed to Jews still under the Law, nor to heathen who have not yet availed themselves of the privileges of the gospel, but to Christians who have come into the justification by faith, as it is to Christians that St. Paul says elsewhere, "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God" (Rom. 14:10). We are here reminded that the future consequences of conduct are natural, not adventitious-that they are caused by what we are and do, that they flow of their own accord from our lives, and are not assigned from without by any arbitrary decree. We simply reap what our own sowing has produced for us.

Another scripture to look at:

Romans 3:23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Justified freely, I love to hear those words; they tell me the gift is free. Christ, through his work of grace on the cross, has overcome both the laws of nature and the law of causation.

You can also look at it from the other side. Christ "sowed" a perfect life and yet he "reaped" death, mocking, and torture. This should also show that while the "law of sowing and reaping" may be a natural principle, those that believe in Christ are not necessarily bound by "the natural". Actually, salvation and our walk of faith with Christ is a supernatural life from beginning to end.

Also, look at the lives of the apostles. Many went through all kinds of trials and tribulations, despite sowing all kinds of wonderful seeds… why do you think God put them through this?

These are all exceptions to your Rule of Causation and, in my opinion, this Biblical thinking of God's grace through the cross destroys the seemingly airtight logic of "Tares will never produce wheat or wheat tares but each seed reproduces its own kind". Was the rejected, beaten, and crucified Jesus, therefore, a "tare" because He reaped suffering and death? 

When we look at it closely, the Law of Causation is actually rooted in pagan religious thought that knows nothing of the reality of the grace of God!  It is because the pagan world is under such naturalistic thinking that Christians need to take the Gospel of grace to the ends of the earth.

  I spent some time emailing a CBC pastor about their Faith Harvest time and Frank's use of Scripture during it. When all was said and done we had gathered about 30 pages of emails and failed to change eachothers mind. He did however help me better understand their "case" in defending this line of thinking.

 Here is an article sent to me by a CBC pastor attempting to explain the "Faith Harvest" / "Law of Causation" / "Sowing and Reaping" Doctrine. I may post my response to him later, but for now…

Reaping & Sowing:

I. IT IS A LAW OF NATURE THAT THE REAPING SHALL CORRESPOND TO THE SOWING.

This is part of the general law that, other things being equal, the same cause always produces the same effect. There is no known exception to the law of causation; there is no possible evasion of it. We see it plainly working in human affairs. The eternal constancy of nature assures us that the consequences of which certain conduct is known to be the cause will undoubtedly follow (sin, relationships, health, career, finances).

1. The special law of sowing and reaping is that the product of the harvest will be the same in kind as the seed sown. Tares will never produce wheat, nor wheat tares. But each seed reproduces its own kind. This is seen in human affairs. Commercial industry tends to commercial wealth, intellectual study to a state of intellectual culture, etc. It is vain to think that money will buy refinement or that learning is the road to wealth. Each pursuit has its own consequences in accordance with its own nature, finances are included in this principle both naturally and spiritually.

II. THIS LAW APPLIES TO SPIRITUAL SOWING AND REAPING.

1. Here the future depends on the past and present by a certain law of causation. No words could more plainly assert that our conduct is shaping our own fate; and these are not the words of James, but of the ApostlePaul, and they occur, of all places, in the Epistle to the Galatians, where the doctrine of justification by, faith is most vehemently asserted! Moreover, they are not addressed to Jews still under the Law, nor to heathen who have not yet availed themselves of the privileges of the gospel, but to Christians who have come into the justification by faith, as it is to Christians that St. Paul says elsewhere, "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God" (Rom. 14:10). We are here reminded that the future consequences of conduct are natural, not adventitious-that they are caused by what we are and do, that they flow of their own accord from our lives, and are not assigned from without by any arbitrary decree. We simply reap what our own sowing has produced for us.

1. 2.In spiritual things there is a correspondence between what is sown and what is reaped.

(a) Sowing to the flesh produces its own natural harvest-corruption. The mere animal life, the life of worldly interests, the life of the lower self, is itself a life of corruptible things. Its soil and nourishment are earthly and cannot outlast death. When the grave opens all is lost. Even before death thieves steal, and moth and rust eat into the treasures. The soul itself, too, is corrupted by such a life. Its faculties are dissipated and decay away. It descends to the evil state of moral rottenness and death. 

(b)Sowing to the Spirit produces its own harvest of eternal life. Spiritual things are eternal things. Treasures in heaven are beyond destroying influences. In proportion as the spiritual within us is cultivated we have what will outlast death and what no grave will ever claim. Already we have an eternal life in living in the things that are spiritual and therefore eternal. Money goes, but faith remains; the pleasures of the senses pall upon us, but the peace of God never fails; self-seeking leads to dissatisfaction, the love of God sustains us with undying interests. 

Scriptural Examples of sowing and reaping: the harvesting of grain. The term is used figuratively for the final judgment (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; Rev. 14:15-16), evangelism (Matt. 9:37-38; Luke 10:2; John 4:35-36; Rom. 1:13), and recompense for good (Hos. 10:12; 2 Cor. 9:6; Gal. 6:7-8) or evil (Job 4:8; Prov. 22:8; Hos. 8:7; 10:13; Gal. 6:7-8) 

III. APPLICATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE

1. As this law applies to all of life, it must also apply to every area specifically, this includes finances. If you plant wheat seed in the ground, you expect an abundance of wheat to be harvested. I know of no farmer that would plant and not expect a return. You invest in a 401k with the complete expectation of seeing a return. You give of your time at a job expecting a paycheck and hopefully a promotion. PLEASE remember that the context of 2 Cor. 9:6 is giving of MONEY, "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." Paul is making it very clear that there should be an expectation to receive directly proportinate to what you give. I don't think you can translate this any other way. This is a great scripture to validate the point that if you give of your money sparingly, you will reap a minimal harvest!

1. Here is another scripture that pertains to reaping and sowing in the financial arena, 1 Cor. 9:10-12, "Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?" Again context is important. There is both a spiritual and natural context here, and also a financial one as it pertains to material harvest. There is an emphasis here of a hope of receiving something from the sowing of the same kind. You should plow in "hope of sharing" in the harvest… including a material harvest as stated.

1. Jesus himself said you should expect a return on your giving, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  This would be a tough one to refute. It is plain and simple. If you give, IT WILL COME BACK TO YOU. This applies to all areas of your life as we have discussed in the law of reaping and sowing, and again in context, will also apply to things you give materially.

1. All of the being said, THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT of all of this is to understand the motive of WHY we would want to be blessed. Paul made it clear that our motives should never be for selfish gain, but for blessing the Lord, others and extending the kingdom. AGAIN, please understand our heart and motive is to see people blessed SO THAT they can bless others and see the kingdom of God advanced. There is great honor and noble rewards to those that desire to see others who are need helped. God blesses us so that we can bless others. This truth applies from Genesis to Revelation.  We teach this biblical truth, so that we might have the resources to reach out to the thousands of people monthly that are less fortunate. God fobid that we, you, or any other Christian would teach that God blesses us to build a haven for ourselves on earth, but the kingdom of God. Hence, we are proud of both our teaching and motives in believing God for our finances.

In my humble opinion, God's word is very clear. We are expected to give and give generously and cheerfully. We should expect God to bless us in return. God expects us to invest what He has blessed us with into the lives of others and into the kingdom of God.

I'm not sure what textbook this comes from so if anyone recognizes it I'd love to know.

A Washington Post columnist thinks so.

Evangelical Protestantism in the United States is going through a New Reformation that is disentangling a great religious movement from a partisan political machine. This historic change will require liberals and conservatives alike to abandon their sometimes narrow views of who evangelicals are.

It's about time.

For those of you looking to worship a more masculine God.

God Men

Just a reminder, there's only a couple more hours to fill out your bracket…   …consider this a March Madness open thread!

It's the most wonderful time of the year…

For those of you looking to fill out a March Madness bracket and join a group, here are two groups that I have joined.

The ESPN Bracket, which my college friends and I have been doing for the last 10 years.

(and)

Couv Operator's Yahoo Bracket - where Chris is buying the first round.

Both of these groups are just for fun, no money involved. 

But you can make fun of people's bracket picks, and as we all know on this blog:

Sometimes making fun of people is even better than money.

Here's a nice Oregonian article about a pro-life Evangelical family in Oregon that opposes the Iraq War. Not surprisingly, they face resistance from other Christians.

Although many churchgoers are active against the war, the Brownlows say they still feel self-conscious sharing their views with their Christian friends, or even praying at their Damascus church for their son's platoon. People have told them that freedom isn't free or that they must support the troops.

"As if to say that by allowing our sons and daughters to languish in a vast Iraqi shooting gallery," Dave Brownlow says, "we are somehow supporting them."

"We really don't fit anywhere," Suzanne Brownlow says. "All our friends are pro-war and think we are heretics for talking against the president."

The pro-life comunity loves to quote the Dr. Suess book Horton Hears a Who which states, "A person's a person, no matter how small."

I just hope the pro-life community also learns that "A person's a person, no matter how brown."

Colorado Springs has an annual Purity Ball, where father's take their daughters to a ball and proclaim that together they will lead a life of purity.

One of the most memorable highlights of the ball is when the fathers stand in the middle of the ballroom and form a circle around their daughters standing all aglow in their lovely ball gowns. The fathers place their hands on their daughters, and together we pray for purity of mind, body, and soul for generations to come.

Fundamentalists never cease to entertain me.

Update: I probably should have written how I feel about this. Here's the deal, having a father and daughter dress up, go out on a date to a Ball, dance together and discuss sexual issues is WEIRD! And more than a little creepy. Incest is real thing in this world, and frankly, I feel this type of Purity Ball promotes father/daughter sex.

There. Now. I hope people aren't offended anymore.

My friend Pete sends in this study showing a correlation between sex and delinquency.

A national study of more than 7,000 youth found that adolescents who had sex early showed a 20 percent increase in delinquent acts one year later compared to those whose first sexual experience occurred at the average age for their school.

In contrast, those teens who waited longer than average to have sex had delinquency rates 50 percent lower a year later compared to average teens. And those trends continued up to six years.

The study defines delinquency:

To determine rates of delinquency, students in the survey were asked how often in the past year they participated in a variety of delinquent acts, including painting graffiti, deliberately damaging property, stealing, or selling drugs.

So, sex leads to grafitti. Who knew?