Our hearts go out to those affected by the loss of Columbia Space Shuttle.  Once again we Americans must deal with breath-taking tragedy.  In just two years we've experienced 9-11, war with Afghanistan, a recession, probable war with Iraq and now Columbia.  Please remember our President, his cabinet and Congress as they deal with the dual evils of enemy and tragedy.

          Today we recall the presentation of Jesus.  In the drama of God's plan of salvation, the Holy Family went to the Temple six weeks after the first Christmas.  After the birth of a son, Jewish mothers had to wait 40 days before offering the sacrifice of purification.  The offering of two doves showed they were very poor.  All Jewish firstborn sons were dedicated to God, and because all could not go into full-time temple service, the Levites were designated to serve God full-time in their place.  Fulltime pastors and teachers have done the work of Levites ever since.

          Leaving the temple, Mary and Joseph encountered old Simeon, a Levite who had been awaiting the promised Savior for decades.  The Bible tells us the Holy Spirit gave Simeon insight to recognize the Messiah, and when he saw the Holy Family, he praised God.  Of course, some modern theologians claim Simeon said the same thing when other male babies were brought to the Temple, like an old man's wishful thinking gone overboard.  They have no proof for this, only their skepticism.

          What do you do when people question your Christian faith?  How do you react when you're questioned about the Bible?  One of our members once told me that someone in his office told him the birth of Jesus was not the way the Bible explained it.  Debunking the life of Christ is big stuff these days.  Questions are always brought up by those who don't accept the Bible as God's Word and are threatened by it.  It's a struggle to know how to defend our faith if we aren't sure what the Bible says.  I guess that shows our need to be regular in Bible study.  If you want a great New Year's resolution, get into a regular Bible Study!  It's never too late to start.

          A few years ago a highly visible politician was praised for being an orthodox practitioner of his faith, but later we learned he was following only parts of it while rejecting what disagreed with his party's platform.  We call this a "salad bar" approach to religion, picking and choosing only the parts that justify one's personal point of view.  This approach is all the rage these days, even among many Christians.  You pick the Bible parts you agree with and toss the rest aside.  This results in being 50% Christian, 50% humanist, and 100% confused.  But this sets mankind over God.  Sinful people can't be accurate judges to what is sacred and holy.

          History is full of occasions when God's Word has been bent, shaped, and manipulated for unholy purposes -- to support the Crusades, for example, or justify slavery, or to determine when life begins.  Such approaches always take Bible verses out of context.  So also today's salad-bar approach to Christianity uses the Bible to justify one's own personal prejudices, political views or lifestyle.  A little here, a little there on your plate, and leave the rest.

          Returning from our recent trip I found my body crying out for some way to reduce its weary bulk.  So I have reluctantly turned to the salads, at least once a day.  For years I have considered lettuce as food for small animals with big ears, and have considered salad bars the last refuge of culinary mediocrity, a place to graze at the feed trough.  But last week was time to do something, so now at least once a day I belly up to the bar and munch some greens covered with low-fat no-fat dressing.  Now I know why Dad always put molasses on the cattle silage.  Eventually it will do some good, providing I can refrain from ice cream chasers.  But I draw the line at yogurt!

          Salad bars may be good for the belt-line, but they're deadly for our faith-line.  Picking and choosing as we wish from the Bible and leaving the rest can bring disastrous results, especially if we omit the center of faith, Jesus Christ.  Last week I said we have freedom to choose what we believe, but I didn't say all beliefs are the same.  Only one road leads to heaven, and all the others lead to hell.  This is as certain as death and taxes.

          One example is the effort to remake Jesus to fit a modern, secular perspective.  John Spong, a retired Bishop of some church body, wrote a book called Born of a Woman, in which he suggests that the Virgin Birth was concocted by the church as a cover-up for Mary's being raped.  In her book, Jesus the Man, Barbara Thiering suggests that Jesus didn't die on the cross, but was poisoned, revived and later went on to marry and raise three children.  That woman's been watching too much TV!  Mormons pick up on this and say Jesus married three wives, including Mary and Martha, and that Joseph Smith was one of his direct descendents.  What next?  Jesus is Muhammad's brother?

          Former priest John Dominic Crossant is so radical even the most liberal theologians consider him a heretic.  He rejects nearly all the Bible, and believes the Church over the centuries has added most of its content through its translators.  He believes all the actual words of Jesus could fit on two small pages.  Yet if you watch most any television special about the Bible, there stands Dominic Crossant the expert, airing opinions, as if he's the purveyor of true biblical truth.

          Some so-called theologians even say the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality doesn't apply to homosexuals in so-called "committed relationships."  One even teaches that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah wasn't homosexuality but that they weren't inclusive of other points of view.  Fire and brimstone rained down because of intolerance!  As I said a few weeks ago, when you stop believing in God, you'll start believing in anything.  Ideas like these can create the notion the Bible is merely a collection of fables or mistranslated texts.  The trouble is, it leads many, including Christians to question the whole Bible.  Skepticism like that should help us realize our need to study the Bible!

          Consider old Simeon.  Even after waiting years he had no doubts baby Jesus was the Messiah.  He knew God's Word.  He wasn't fooled by skeptics.  If we know the Bible, we won't stumble when people question our faith.  I can't emphasize enough how important it is for you to read your Bible!  We must learn self-defense before we get mugged!  The Apostle Peter said, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15)   Be ready to give an answer!  Be prepared to share your hope!

          The Bible is very clear about Christ.  He was the promised Son of God, and our Savior.  He was born and He died.  He was the perfect Son of God and He rose from the dead!  If Christ had not died and rose again from the dead, our faith would be a waste of time.  And God warns us not to change the Gospel to suit our own tastes.  We're not called to be biblical surgeons, but biblical witnesses.  Our Orphan Grain Train workers may throw out what they can't use, but we must never do that with the Bible.  We can't cut out certain details and toss them in the dumpster.  We need boxfulls of faith, not bagfuls of doubt.  Praise God that in Jesus we have all the faith and hope we need.

          After waiting so long, Simeon must have been breathless.  You may recognize these words as the "Nunc Dimittis", often sung at the end of traditional evening liturgy.  Mary and Joseph marveled at what he said about the babe.  Simeon also said "this child was destined to cause the falling and rising of many," and that "a sword would pierce [Mary's] soul."  Mary's name is from the Hebrew word for "bitter".  Here again he was prophetic.  She would see her son die, a terrible bitterness for any parent.  The Bible also says old Anna, the prophetess, praised God for the child.  How about that - a woman prophet!  The Bible honors women more than the church does.

          My friends, Holy Scripture is not a beanbag chair:  it cannot be molded to fit every individual taste.  It's best to accept the Bible's whole message if we're going to accept it at all.  It says we're sinful people who need God, and it says God gives us hope in His only Son Jesus.  To pick and choose what we want to believe about the Bible is to mold God into our own image.  Isaiah 29:16 tell us, "You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!"  Sounds like things today!  2,500 year old words aimed right at today's experts!  You see, modern theologians don't really think new thoughts;  they just re-package and re-cycle the old ones.

          We frail humans are poor judges of what's true in God's Word.  We'd best let His Word do the speaking and we do the listening.  When you hear your neighbors, co-workers, family members or some half-baked preacher engage in a salad-bar approach to the Bible, tell them they're wrong!  Tell them you accept Jesus and you believe the Bible.  Don't argue with them, tell them!  You like salad bars, but you don't treat the Bible that way.  With God, there'll be no tolerance of other ways to heaven;  it's Jesus Christ or it's nothing.

          Last Wednesday Carol and I visited Epiphany's newest little child.  Baby Stephenie Ann Barstad will be brought to the baptismal font in about a month and presented to the Lord.  Baby Jesus was presented in the Temple, and as His parents left, they felt the daunting task ahead of them of bringing up another child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  It's a discipline and instruction that never completely ends till the grave.

          As we move past yet another tragedy, let's do so with hope and faith in the "Little Lord Jesus, Asleep On The Hay."  Jesus is the Holy One of God.  He endures the critics!  He is the One who saves us!  Trust in Him for all things.  No agnostic can remove your heaven, and no skeptic can rattle your faith.  Christ died to take our punishment on the cross, and He rose again so that we, too, will rise.  Let's pray what John McFarland wrote in his beloved hymn, "Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever and love me, I pray;  Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, and fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there."  Amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.