About

Johannes Sadeler I (Netherlandish, Brussels 1550–1600 Venice (?)) The sacrifice of Abel (plate 1 from The Story of Cain and Abel), 1576 Netherlandish, Engraving; Sheet: 8 1/8 × 11 3/16 in. (20.7 × 28.4 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953 (53.601.17(62)) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/700567 Approaching God on My Own Terms (with Communion) What Cain and Abel Can Teach Us You know, atheism is not the biggest threat to the survival of the church. Actually it's not even close. In fact, atheism is so innocuous in its effect on the cause of Christ that it's not even mentioned anywhere in Scripture. Among all the thousands of characters in the Bible there is not ONE atheist. Not even Satan is an atheist. The biggest threat to the church is what theologians call apostasy. Nothing got the ancient Israelites in more trouble than apostasy. Nothing riled Jesus up more than apostasy. In case you don't know, apostasy means the rejection or renunciation of a religious (and sometimes political) belief. (Mat 15:6)  ...Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Human attitude toward "religion" is a very funny thing and, frankly, always has been. We are forever changing our view of what is sacred. Of course, there is no doubt that Satan is behind all that changing but, nonetheless, we're not without blame. A brief history of human religion could be mapped thusly: In the beginning everyone believed in the One True God. Adam and his family, at first, knew of no other worship worthy Being than God Himself. Satan stepped in and convinced them that their kind should share in some of that worship worthiness. Before long some people started putting other people in the place of God. After the expulsion from the Garden nature turned hostile toward us. Some people turned to the One True God for help. They probably didn't like how and the speed at which He answered their pleas for protection so they turned to those people that other people were now worshiping. Some were satisfied and added to the ranks of people who worshiped other people. Some were not and decided that the best way to quell the hostility of nature was to try and please it. What's more pleasing than having someone bow down to you? So, some people started worshiping nature and animals. Then mankind started finding shiny metal in the ground and thought, "Hmmm, that's pretty enough to worship", so they started making their people gods and animal gods out of gold and silver and since those ended up prettier and less smelly than the real things they started worshiping the shiny people and animal gods. Eventually Jesus comes along and personifies what the world should be worshiping. He does and says some wonderful worship-generating things and many people decide He's the one to whom all worship should flow. That works out for a little while and, in fact, the number of people agreeing on Jesus as their God actually grows rapidly and significantly but then, slowly, the old pattern returns. This time, however, for the most part, Jesus is the one that is still considered worship-worthy but humans become unsatisfied with HOW to worship the worship-worthy. That's the mess we're in now. Yes, you're right. It's not a new mess but its damage is nonetheless real. When people decide that they don't like the current god and that they would prefer a god they can deal with or use or hide from they tend to change the Truth to fit their fancy. There is no more glaring example of this deviation from Truth than at the Table of the Lord. In this ministry we've joined forces, at least in spirit, with other like-minded ministries around the world who are attempting to return the dignity to this simple and lovely ceremony. The church has decided down through the centuries that simple and lovely is not enough. They have come to the conclusion that ornate and spectacular is more to God's liking...