1 John 2: Faith without works is a lie

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Christ Our Advocate (v. 1-6)

I am writing this so that you won't sin, but even if you do Jesus is a great advocate for you if you know him. If you say you know him but do not keep his commandments you are a liar. But if you do know him and keep the commandments then the love of God is working in you.

This actually seems to settle the faith versus works discussion we had before. Some versus seem to say that faith is all that matter, others say that works are important. This one ties them together saying that if you truly have faith then you would do the works, and if someone doesn't do works it is evidence to us that they don't really have faith. This is essentially the argument I have heard come from various religious people, but this is the first time I recall seeing it actually in the bible.

The New Commandment (v. 7-14)

I'm not writing you a new commandment, but and old commandment that you already had from the beginning. Also, I am writing a new commandment. The darkness is passing away and the light is shining.

What? I guess the idea is that it is the same old ideas but a new twist on it?

Guzik says that the sense that is is old is that it has been preached to these people during their whole lives. That seems like a pretty crappy explanation to me. Gill seems to say it has been written on people's hearts all along (even Adam) and therefore isn't new. This makes a little more sense, but I still don't think it's great. Seems like they are just trying to have it both ways.

Do Not Love the World (v. 15-17)

 Do not love the world or the things in the world, because God isn't in that stuff. Do not love the desires of the flesh or take pride in possessions, they will pass away with the world. But whoever loves God will abide forever.

Same old message, bad things come from the world. Again, the problem here is that God created the world, so ultimately God is responsible for the evil things as well. The other thing that is interesting here, is that it says not to love the world or the things in the world. On the surface this would seem to be saying that we should only love God and not love anything in the world, although I suppose we could also love "godly" things in the world, such as the church. At any rate, it seems quite open to interpretation, and I think it is poorly written at best.

Guzik spends quite a bit of time talking about this, but basically it comes down to "the world" being bad things. Specifically, he says "it is the community of sinful humanity that is united in rebellion against God." Is this a reasonable interpretation of "the world"? I suppose if you must carve things up as "things for God" and "things against God" then one might call the things against God "the world", except that plenty of things that are for God are in the world, so it seems somewhat silly to me.


Oh, and one last thing, it is talking about things that are bad, so of course one of two examples given is sexuality "desires of the flesh". 

Warning Concerning Antichrists (v. 18-27)

There are many antichrists, anyone who denies the father and the son is an antichrist. We know it is the last hour because so many antichrists have come.

They seem to be equating antichrist with nonbeliever, or perhaps apostate, but at any rate, they have said that many antichrists have come, and therefore we know the end is near.

The fact that the Christians seem to have no good answer to this is telling. Guzik says that "we should regard ourselves as being in the last few minutes", which is absolutely absurd thousands of years later. Gill at least tries a little harder. He first discusses what is doesn't mean (the last hour of the Jewish state, the last hour of the gospel dispensation, or the last hour of the actual world itself). But if it isn't the last hour of those thing, what is it the last hour of? Clearly it is "the last hour of the apostolic age. All the apostles were now dead, John was the last of them". At least this is an answer, unlike what Guzik had to offer, but seriously? Is the compelling to anyone? I think it is much more likely that they thought the end of the world was near.

If you deny the son, you also deny the father.

This is a direct challenge to Jews if I am reading it correctly. It seems to be saying that not accepting Jesus means you are rejecting God as well.

This last bit I didn't notice until I recorded the podcast, but verse 27 is pretty anti-intellectual.

v27 "...you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie..."

Basically the message here seems to be that you get everything you need from the bible, and you have no need to learn anything from anyone else. I can't help but think of evolution.

Guzik tries to whitewash this by saying that the holy spirit has given us what we need to learn the truth. But he goes on to say "This is not to say that teachers are unnecessary, because one of the resources for knowing the truth is the reminder given by teachers like John." If teachers are still good, then why does the bible say "no need that anyone should teach you" and "his anointing teaches you about everything"?

Children of God (v. 28-29)

You should follow Jesus, so that when he returns you can be confident in your righteousness and not shrink away.

This message sure does seem to lose some punch a few thousand years later.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 2:4 If you really have faith you will do works

"Whoever says "I know him" but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him"

Bad:

1 John 2:16 the world is evil, sex is bad

"For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world."

1 John 2:18 It is the last hour

"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour."

1 John 2:23 You can't worship God without Jesus

"No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also."

1 John 2:27 You don't need teachers, you get everything you need to know from Jesus

"But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie--just as it has taught you, abide in him."

1 John 1: We are all Sinners

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As usual, with a new book let's take a look at the wikipedia page. Apparently this book was written to counter the idea that Jesus came in spirit only, and not in the flesh. It seems pretty highly agreed upon by scholars that this book was written by the same person who wr['ote the gospel of John and 2&3 John. It also seems pretty highly agreed upon that it was written at the end of the first century.

The Word of Life (v. 1-4)

"the life" was made manifest to us by God. We have seen it, heard it, touched it, and now we are telling everyone about it so that they can have fellowship with us.

I'm not exactly sure what "the life" is, but my best guess is Jesus himself. At any rate, what is being said here, is that John and his friends have seen this thing that they are excited about. They are telling everyone about it so they can worship along with them. Although I would argue that this is misguided, I think their intentions are quite good here. These people have seen something that they think is miraculous and makes them very happy, and they are trying to share that with everyone.

Walking in the Light (v. 5-10)

God is light, so we should walk in the light to be with God and have fellowship with one another. To do this we must confess our sins. If we claim to have no sin, we are liars and we walk in the dark, we also make Jesus a liar and his words are not in us.

This message is basically that we are all sinners, this is a big message for Christianity and as far as I am concerned is completely toxic. The very idea that claiming to be without sins automatically makes us a liar is terrible. What a horrible view of humanity must be necessary to believe such a statement. Also, I don't understand how us lying leads to Jesus also being a liar.

According to Guzik, if we confess our sins then we can be in the light and have fellowship, but we are not sin free, this avoids a potential apparent contradiction where it says confession cleanses us of sins but if we say we are sin free we are lying. You would think "being cleansed of sin" and "having no sin" would be the same, but apparently not.


For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

1 John 1:3 You should share good things in life with other people

"that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."

Bad:

1 John 1:8 We are all sinners

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

James and Peter Overview

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As I have explained in the past, one of the reasons I am doing this blog is I am curious to see what kind of messages one might get from reading the bible. What might one learn as a take-away. Here is my quick summary of the good and bad from James and 1 & 2 Peter.

I'm continuing my efforts to organize and categorize the items here. Coming up with the right categories is more difficult than I had expected, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I will start with the categories that have all good items, next show categories with some good and some bad items, then finish with categories with all bad items.

Good

--Anger and Communication--

J 1:19 Be a good listener and be slow to anger

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;"

--Authority--

1P 2:13 Follow all rules of earthly government

"Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution..."

1P 5:2-3 Leaders should lead by example, and shouldn't be in it for personal gain.

"shepherd the flock of God...not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock."

--Interpersonal Conflict--

1P 2:1 malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are all bad things.

"So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander."

1P 2:12 Act in an honorable manner even in the face of slander.

"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."

--Lies, Selfishness and Jealousy--

J 3:14 Lying, selfishness, boasting, and jealousy are bad

"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth."

--Love--

J 2:8 Love your neighbor

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well."

1P 4:8 Love has the power to repair rifts caused by sin

"Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins."

--Meekness, Pride and Humility--

J 3:13 Show your works through meekness

"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom."

J 4:6 pride is bad, humility is good.

"Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"

--Patience--

J 5:7-8 patience is a virtue

"Be patient, therefore, brothers...8 You also, be patient..."

--Thoughtfulness--

J 3:10 Be careful what you say, you can do a lot of damage with a thoughtless word

"From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so."

--Values--

1P 3:3-4 spend time developing a good personality and not just outer beauty

"Do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear-- 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."

1P 3:8-9 sympathy, love, humility, turn the other cheek

"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling...

1P 4:9-10 Help each other out

"Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another..."

2P 3:14 Be good and at peace at all times

"Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Good and Bad

--Faith--

J 1:6 Skepticism is bad

"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."

J 2:14 Do good works, faith is not enough

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?"

J 5:16 Prayer is powerful if you are righteous enough

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

1P 1:8 believe in Jesus despite a lack of evidence

"Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him..."

--Prejudice--

J 2:3-4 Don't treat poor people worse than you treat rich people.

"if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place,"while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?"

J 2:7 Rich people are blasphemers

"Are [rich people] not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?"

1P 4:3 Sex is bad, drinking is bad, and all non-Christians do it

"For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry."

--Suffering--

1P 3:17 Do good, even if you risk personal suffering

"For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil."

1P 4:1,13 suffering (for Christ?) makes you sin free

"...for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin"

"But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings..."

1P 5:9 If you are suffering, you are not alone

"...knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world."

Bad

--Apocalypse-- 

J 5:3,8 the end is near!

"...You have laid up treasure in the last days."

"...Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."

1P 4:7 the end is near!

"The end of all things is at hand..."

--Fear--

1P 1:17 You should be ruled by fear

"conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile"

--Justice--

J 2:10 All crimes are equal

"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."

1P 2:18 Slaves, respect your masters even if they are unjust to you

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust."

--Knowledge--

2P 3:8 God can't tell a day from a millenium

"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

--Marriage--

1P 3:1,5 wives submit to your husband no matter what they do

"Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands..."

"For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands"

--Obedience--

1P 1:14,22 Obedience is of supreme importance

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance"

"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth..."

2P 2:9-10 lust and lacking obedience are the worst offenses of the unrighteous

"...and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority..."

--Sexuality--

J 4:4 You are evil people (probably should reference whole section)

"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

1P 4:3 Sex is bad, drinking is bad, and all non-Christians do it

"For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry."

2P 2:2 sensuality leads to blasphemy

"And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed."

2P 2:9-10 lust and lacking obedience are the worst offenses of the unrighteous

"...and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority..."

2P 2:18 bad people use sex to trick believers away from the faith

"...they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error."

--Slavery--

1P 2:18 Slaves, respect your masters even if they are unjust to you

"Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust."

--Stacking the Deck--

J 1:13,17 God takes credit for good and distances himself from bad

"Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one."

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

J 3:15 God gets credit for good things, absolved from bad things

"This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."

2P 1:3-4 God is the source of good stuff, bad stuff is from earth

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness...escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire"

--Wealth--

J 5:4-6 All rich people are evil

"the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud... You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence...You have condemned and murdered the righteous person..."

2 Peter 3

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The Day of the Lord Will Come (v. 1-13)

You should remember the prophecies that said that heaven and earth would perish and be replaced by a new heaven and new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This type of thing I find interesting, I'm not really even sure what to make of it. I remember hearing this as a kid and just being confused, and never really getting a good answer to what it means. Heaven is eternal, so why do we need a new heaven? Is the new earth where we go when we go to "heaven"? Does heaven have it's own sky and that is the new heaven of the new earth? Perhaps the confusion comes from the double use of the word heaven, for the place we go when we die and also for the sky. That's the best explanation I can come up with, but I really don't get this. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Christian commentaries have to say here.

Well, I'm disappointed, Guzik basically says nothing here. Gill just talks about things dissolving away and being replaced with something that isn't corrupted like our earth, but what about heaven? Matthew Henry similarly doesn't really explain this. Maybe I'm just missing something.

Scoffers will come in the last days and ask why Jesus hasn't returned yet. But for the lord 1000 years is like a day.

This is an answer I have seen a few times out in 'the wild' and also it has come up at least once before in the bible itself as well. It is a defense for the fact that the return of Jesus is talked about in the bible as if it was about to happen, and yet it has been 2000 years and nothing. It seems like some pretty obvious patchwork trying to cover up an obvious problem, but apart from that, I would argue that if it is correct it is still a problem.

Think about their claim, the argument is that it was the bible does indeed say that Jesus is going to come back soon, but for the lord a thousand years and a day are basically the same thing, so soon for him might be a long time for us. This demonstrates a pretty huge communication failure. Jesus was trying to tell people that he was coming back in thousands of years, and he gave them the impression that he was returning in their lifetimes. How can we trust anything else that is written in this book if such a basic thing cannot be communicated properly? You might come back at me with "He wasn't trying to tell them he was coming back in thousands of years, he wanted them to think he was coming back sooner", in that case, he was lying to them and my question still stands.

These scoffers also had something else to say that interested me, "For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation"

I'm not completely sure what this means, but I'm guessing the claim is that no miracles happen any more. If that is correct I think it is a very good question. Also, who are those fathers?

Gill says that these fathers are the first men to walk on the earth. If I'm understanding correctly, he is saying that before that time, things were different as God was creating the world, but after that things settled into business as usual which is what we see now.

Final Words (v. 14-18)

As you wait for Jesus, make sure that when he finds you, you will be without blemish and at peace.

I like the idea of being at peace, and always trying to be "without blemish" is good, sort of a catch all "be good all the time" command. Not particularly instructive but good nonetheless.

Consider the fact that he is taking so long to come back as patience on his part to let more people be saved.

I suppose there might be some logic to this idea, still hard to imagine the immense amount of time that has passed for this to still hold.

The letter of Paul, as well as the other scriptures, are sometimes hard to understand, and so the lawless can twist them to their own ends, be careful not to be swept up with those people.

This is a defense mechanism for the religion. I would also argue that it is an admission that the book is not perfect and divinely inspired. If it were, I would expect it to be constructed in such a way that it can't be used for nefarious ends.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Good:

3:14 Be good and at peace at all times

"Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."

Bad:

3:8 God can't tell a day from a millenium

"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

Start with a calm conversation

I was recently browsing twitter and I saw someone make the all too common statement that atheists need as much faith to believe God doesn't exist as theists have that he does. Of course such a thing bugs me, so I figure I'd engage and started a conversation with her. The conversation seemed to me to be fairly calm but after a quick back and forth she defended herself by saying it was just a tweet and not a big deal, she just had a thought and was throwing it out there. I told her I meant no anger, but tone is hard to express in text, especially with the character limit on twitter. She then said that a ton of atheists insulted her for her original tweet.

This got me thinking about how we atheists interact with the general public. Suppose you see someone make a common argument against atheism, such as the one here. The way I see it, there are two possibilities, first is that they are die hard Christians who hate atheists and are trying to make a point. The second is that they haven't really thought about it much but it seems reasonable to them. Perhaps they are even just repeating something they heard somewhere else.

If we are in the first case, chances are any conversation will get heated pretty quickly. That's fine, I don't like having these ridiculous ideas stated without challenge, and a little yelling isn't necessarily a bad thing when appropriate. However, if we are in the second case perhaps it will be an opportunity to correct a misconception. If they have only heard the theists stupid argument and you explain the counter-argument perhaps they will come away with a new idea to think about.

So how do you know which case you are in? Well, you don't right away, I think the best strategy is to begin by assuming you are in the second case and start off with a friendly conversation. If you are wrong and you are talking to a fundamentalist, they will show their true colors with a hostile comment soon enough and you can respond in kind when it is appropriate. On the other hand if you are talking to someone unfamiliar with the argument you could actually teach them something.

If you instead assume you are talking to a stubborn jackass and start calling them a moron, you might have saved yourself a few minutes if you are correct. However, if you are wrong you have missed an opportunity to spread some good information, and the person will probably walk away thinking that atheists are a bunch of assholes. I know it is easy to get worked up after we talk to some many stubborn theists, but make sure your ire is aimed at the right people.

Straw Men, Straw Men Everywhere!

This comic was inspired by the ridiculous arguments put forth in the comments of my blog and others during the boy scout blogging event last weekend.

2 Peter 2

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False Prophets and Teachers (v. 1-22)

Just as there were false prophets, there will be false teachers who bring destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality and blaspheme the truth. In their greed they will try to exploit you with false words.

I wonder how you are supposed to tell a false prophet from a real one. Apparently they are sensual, that is one clue given here. Also they will try to exploit you, I wonder how much of their money they could extract out of you, maybe 10% of everything you make?

God knows how to rescue the godly from trials and punish the wicked until judgement, especially those who "indulge in the lust of defiling passions and despise authority". As evidence of this, Peter cites the angels who were cast down, the flood of Noah, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

I think it is interesting that these stories have been chosen as examples of how great God is, they are terrible and in I can't believe they are taught to children. Also, I think it is interesting that the two examples of wickedness that are given are related to sex and obedience.

These wicked people have done a lot of bad things, and therefore "the gloom of utter darkness" is in their future.

A lot of time was spent describing what they do that is wrong, but this seems to be the punchline, their afterlife will be utter darkness. Is this a precursor to our concept of hell? For the record, let's look at the things that these people have done.

v10,12 blasphemy
v13 revel in deception and feast with you
v14 eyes full of adultery.
v14 they entice unsteady souls
v14 greedy
v18 they entice the sensual passions of those who are barely escaping

So basically, they talk bad about God, they trick people, they like sex, and they are greedy. Tricking people is mentioned 3 times, the concern seems to be having people tricked away from their religion. It makes sense from the perspective of the religion itself, but you would think once a member notices this kind of tactic a red flag would go up. Why are they so concerned about losing members? Is this a problem they are having? If I stop a minute and think about leaving will it seem obvious that I should? Why are they setting up such strong barriers here? Which actually leads pretty well into the next item.

If a believer goes back to his sinful ways after coming to Jesus Christ, it is worse for him than if he had never known Jesus.

More of what I was talking about, trying to keep people from leaving the church through fear.

For the overview post (If you think I should add or remove stuff from this list please let me know, I think it would make good conversation)

Bad:

2:2 sensuality leads to blasphemy

"And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed."

2:9-10 lust and lacking obedience are the worst offenses of the unrighteous

"...and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority..."

2:18 bad people use sex to trick believers away from the faith

"...they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error."