SEED The Bible is like seed in our heart to bring us to new birth (1 Peter 1:23)
MILK It is what a baby needs to begin growing (1 Peter 2:2).
SOLID FOOD It is also strong meat to strengthen us for tough situations (Hebrews 5:12-14)
HONEY is to sweeten the unpalatable experiences of life (Psalm 119:103)
LIGHT The Bible is like a lamp to find the way on a dark night (Psalm 119:105).
FIRE The Bible is like fire that removes the dross from metals (Jeremiah 23:29).
TREASURE TROVE The Bible is full of varied and rich treasures (Matthew 13:52).
HAMMER The human heart can be impenetrable. The Bible breaks it open (Jeremiah 23:29)
TWO-EDGED SWORD The Bible is effective
in spiritual warfare (Hebrew 4:12).
BIBLE, Modern Versions The King
James Version was published in 1611. The first revisions of this were 270
years later with the English Revised Version (1885), the American Standard
Version (1901), the Revised Standard Version (1952), and the New King James
Version (1982). It was J.B.Phillips' translation of St. Paul's Epistles,
titled Letters to Young Churches (1947) that revealed the huge appetite
for God's Word in ordinary simple language. Completely new translations
included the Jerusalem Bible (1966), the New American Bible (1970), the
Living Bible (1971), the Good News Bible (1976), the New International
Version (1979).
BIBLE SOCIETIES
In the year 2002 The whole Bible became available in 405 languages, up 13 from
the previous year. This does not seem much compared with about 6,500 languages
spoken all over the world. But we should note that many of the remaining
languages belong to small groups and tribes, and all the major nations of the
world have the whole Bible available in their own language. The New Testament is
now available in 1,034 languages compared with 1012 languages in the previous
year. And some parts of the Bible have been translated into 2303 language
compared with 2,287 a year ago. In addition to offering them the Word of God,
the existence of the Bible in the tongue of a people "can affirm the identity of
the whole community as a symbol of its status and culture. Among those who
cannot read, it can initiate a literacy movement or add impetus to educational
development." There are two Bible Society deposit libraries: the American Bible
Society in New York and the British and Foreign Bible Society, which is housed
in the Cambridge University Library. (From the United Bible Societies Scripture
Language Report for 2002).
BIBLE TRANSLATION The Hebrew Old
Testament was translated into Greek (the
Septuagint - LXX for the
70 translators) by about 200 BC. The first translation of the Greek New
Testament was into SYRIAC,
the trade language of the area from Damascus to China. By 200 AD a first
versionof the Syriac Peshitta was available to nourish the hundred
of Syrian Christian churches which mushroomed to the east. By the same
time an early Latin translation was available in North Africa. Unfortunately
the New Testament was not translated into Arabic till long after MUHAMMAD
had completed the QUR'AN.
The Vulgate Latin translation used in Europe for fifteen hundred years
was produced by JEROME(c.342-420
AD). Parts of the Bible were translated into Anglo-Saxon, but the
first printed version of the New Testament into English(1525) was
by William Tyndale (c.1494-1536). Ten years later Miles Coverdale (1488-1568)
had completed the English Bible, which made possible the King James Version
(Authorized Version) of 1611. The whole Bible is now available
from the Bible Societies in over 600 languages, and among many tribes the
Bible originated their written language. The Wycliffe Bible Translators
keep producing the New Testament in the hundreds of tribal languages of
the world.
BIBLE, Unity The oneness of the
human body is not found by dissecting its pieces, but by knowing a living
person over a period of years. In the twentieth century Bible scholars
cut up the Bible into fragments, and studied these in detail. With vast
learning they missed what the Divine author was about. Creative Bible study
begins with the assumption that God the Holy Spirit was involved in bringing
the
66 books of the Bible into being as the Word of God. This was
over a long period of time and involved the work of dozens of different
writers using many different styles. Robert Farrar Capon said it perfectly:
"The Bible is not a collection of discrete passages, each of which has
only the single meaning it possesses in its isolated spot; rather it is
the vast and unified work of a genius of an author who is constantly cross-referencing
himself. Like a first-rate novelist, the Holy Spirit 'buries bones' all
over the place" (The Parables of the Kingdom, Zondervan,1985). That
means that we can find any part of the Bible suddenly illumined as the
Spirit connects it for us with another part. Or we could say that the whole
Bible is created as a single explanatory model to introduce us to God and
what he is about.
BIG BANG Most scientists believe
our universe began suddenly from a high ENERGY
source which exploded galaxies out in all directions. Some even call the
source of that energy God. But that is a name without any personal content.
In the first chapter of Genesis our world is viewed as a work of art, and
God (Elohim, Dieu, Allah) is the name we choose to give the creative
Artist. Those who view our world as a chance happening (see CAKE
MAKING) are called Atheists. THEISM
still does not tell us what the Artist is like. Does he care about us,
or are we his
lila (the Sanskrit word for a game). Does God have
a purpose for us beyond death (see
RESURRECTION).
And if so how does he relate to us now? In the Bible God is defined as
LOVE
(1 John 4:16-19). But it is impossible to love as an eternal solitary
being. Which is why God is pictured as a TRINITYof
three persons held together by love. And that means that the immense energy
of the big bang is love, and matter (stars, earth, sea, vegetation) is
only its expression.
BINGO For many people a
couple of hours of bingo with friends is a cheap way to pass the
time. Whether they win or lose makes no great difference. We might
want to suggest more creative activities, but it is important not to rush
into condemnation. What is needed is a line beyond which compulsive GAMBLINGbecomes
addictive and disastrous.
BIRDS Jesus said "Look at the birds
of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your
heavenly Father feeds them" (Matthew 2:26). This is not to suggest
we sit and do nothing waiting for God to provide. Birds are busy finding
food, building nests, caring for their chicks. But having done what they
can, they go to sleep without worry about the next day. Unlike the birds
in his field, a farmer has to plough and sow for a harvest which is still
several months ahead. And every farmer has to face the inevitable hazards
of drought, pests, and market prices. So what did Jesus mean by saying
"Do not worry about your life" (Matthew 6:25)? Having done what
we can, we know that some things will go wrong beyond our control. But
as we go to sleep we remember that God loves us more than any human Father,
and he can bring good out of any disaster in our life. So before we go
to sleep we thank him for providing for us today, and tomorrow we can again
pray "Give us this day our daily bread."
BIRD WATCHING God is the original
bird watcher. "I know all the birds of the air" (Psalm 50:11). Actually
the Hebrew is "I know all the birds of the mountains." Ordinary bird watchers
know the names of the birds in their city, but God knows the names of every
bird in the forests of Lebanon and Hermon. This is not surprising because
the LORDGod
(the eternal Son of God) "formed every animal of the field and every bird
of
the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and
whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name" (Genesis
2:19). As languages developed, the names of birds changed in every
country, so. Ornithologists solved the problem by giving them a Latin nomenclature,
but the LORD can identify both the species and the common or garden name.
But he does not want us to have a merely scientific interest. "Look at
the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than
they?" (Matthew 6:26). Obviously birds get killed and eaten in due
course, but their life is designed to be a joy to us. Birds know how to
migrate over vast distances to find the food they will need, so they don't
need barns to store their harvest, and they don't worry about the next
day. "Give us this day our daily bread."
BISHOP In the New Testament the
terms Bishop and Elder are interchangable. This was proved by the CHURCH
OF ENGLAND Bishop of Durham Archbishop J.B.Lightfoot in his Dissertation
on "The Christian Ministry " (Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians,
London: Macmillan & Co., 1891, pp. 181-269). The Greek term episcopos
was the ordinary word for an overseer, superintendent, and it is used for
the Christian synagogue ELDERS (in
Philippians
1:1; 1 Tomothy 3:2, Titus 1:7). By the second century the elders of
the various congregations were called priests, and one of them became the
Bishop of that city. Ignatius (c.35 - c.107 AD) was the second or third
Bishop of Antioch. On his way to being martyred in Rome he wrote The
Epistles of Ignatius which stress the importance of submitting
to the Bishop in each city. In our day with the development of DENOMINATIONS
each calling themselves a church, there can now be a Roman Catholic Bishop,
an Anglican or Episcopal Bishop, and other Bishops of Orthodox, Methodist,
Lutheran, and other groupings in a city. This appears to divide
the church. But on this website we speak of one church in each city meeting
under different names in many different locations. That means the term
Bishop is now used for the head of a denomination in a city or group of
cities.
BITHYNIA Among the Jews present
on the Day of Pentecost were some from "CAPPADOCIA,
PONTUS,
ASIA
Minor, PHRYGIA,
and PAMPHYLIA"
(Acts 2:9). Some of these must have taken the good news of Jesus
the Messiah back to the Province of Bithynia which was the province next
to Pontus. During his second overseas missionary journey Paul, accompanied
by Silas, and joined by Timothy (Acts 16:1), traveled across present-day
Turkey intending to go straight west on the main road to EPHESUS.
But they were "forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia"
so they turned north to the east of MYSIA,
and "attempted to go into BITHYNIA, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow
them; so passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas." Paul had probably
wanted to make contact with Christians in Bithynia, but God had another
sequence in mind. We do not know if the apostle Peter visited the area,
but he wrote a letter to "the exiles of the Dispersion," and one of these
churches was probably located in
NICEA
the capital city of the Province of Bithynia (1 Peter 1:1).
BLACK DEATH A first form of the
Bubonic Plague began as black swellings the size of an egg in the
armpits or groin, and death occured in five days. It appeared in India(1346),
and a Genoese trading ship brought it by the next year to Messina (Sicily).
It arrived in Marseilles (1348) and ravaged Europe for two years (1348-50).
The second form was a violent infection in the lungs which killed
the person in three days. There was no cure and over 23 million people
died. The population of England was reduced by fifty per cent. In a bull
of September 1348 the Pope called it a "pestilence with which God is afflicting
the Christian people" (1348). Preachers ascribed the cause to the
WRATH
of God. Ordinary people blamed the Jews for infecting the wells, and in
France, Germany, and Switzerland thousands were thrown into bon fires for
causing the plague. When half the population of Paris died, the King demanded
a scientific explanation and the Medical Faculty of the University of Paris"proved"
that it was due to a conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in the 40th.
degree of Aquarius on March 20, 1345. And this became the accepted
scientific explanation. But the plague kept reappearing in Europe
for five hundred years. In England the PLAGUE
devastated London (1665). Eventually it was shown that it was caused by
rats carrying fleas that transmitted the disease. Plague is now controlled
easily by a vaccine.
BLACK Voting Rights see KING,
Martin Luther; POLITICAL
EQUALITY
BLESSED Matthew and Luke offer
us two versions of Jesus' Beatitudes (ways in which God blesses us). Jesus
must have preached this paradoxical approach to life with variations in
many situations. How can the poor, the hungry, those who weep, the hated
and excluded (Luke 6:21-23) ever be called happy? Matthew records
that Jesus qualified the literal meaning of these words by referring to
being "poor in spirit" and "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness"(Matthew
5:3-12). The self-confident and self-satisfied cannot experience the
power of the Spirit. It is the artist who hungers for supernatural inspiration
who creates the masterpiece. And it is turning the other cheek to love
enemies that makes us like God who is "kind to the ungrateful and the wicked"
(Luke 35-36). Paul grasped the paradox when he heard the Lord say
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"
and he concluded "Whenever I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians
12:9-10). It was the weakness of the crucifixion that released the
power of the resurrection. Which is why the Apostle wrote "I want to know
Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings
by becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10). And Paul
was very conscious of being blessed in his ministry.
BLESSING, Aaronic "The LORD bless
you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious
to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers
6:24-26). This was the blessing that the first Jewish high priest Aaron,
and his sons were to use. The capitalized LORD indicates that this is a
translation of the third person of the Hebrew verb to be (yiheyeh,
or Yahweh, transliterated Jehovah). So it clearly refers to the second
Person of the Trinity who called himself I AM when he spoke to Moses (Exodus
3:13-15). As John explained, "No one has ever seen God (the Father).
It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made
him known" (John 1:18). The Son's task is to keep coming into personal
contact with humans to make the Father known. In some cases he was actually
seen physically (Genesis 15:1-5, 17:1, 18:1, Exodus 31:18, Daniel 3:25).
In the fulness of time he came and took birth among us. The name we give
signifies the quality and characteristics of the person, in this case the
LORD. The Aaronic blessing was a prayer that the priests were to use :
"So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them" (Numbers
6:27). This is why ministers and pastors pray that the people they
serve will experience the Son of God's personal protection, grace, and
peace.
BLOOD Long before modern science
discovered this, the Jewish priests knew that "the life of the flesh is
in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11). Medical science can replace more
and more parts of the body, but when our blood stops doing its work we
are dead. This is why we describe murder as bloodshed, there are blood
feuds and blood baths, and wars are fought with blood and sweat and tears.
The Romans devised crucifixion as a slow very painful way to drain away
a person's blood. But in times of persecution we say it is the blood of
the martyrs that is the seed of the church. And these days we give blood
to save the life of others. The night before Jesus died he said "This is
my blood of the covenant, which is poured for many for the forgiveness
of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Which is why the early Christians wrote
and sang about the blood of Jesus being shed for them.
BODY The word "body" is not defined
by what looks like a human body. It can vary as much as the body of a caterpillar
changes when it becomes a butterfly. For any kind of being its body is
defined by the way it impacts its environment and others with which it
communicates. Paul explains "There are both heavenly bodies and
earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of
the earth is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory
of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from
star in glory." But he adds, " If there is a physical body, there is also
a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:40-44). And theRESURRECTION
of the body does not mean the resurrection of the same physical body, but
resurrection into another kind of body that is suited for heaven.
BODY, Church members In three places
Paul pictures the church as a body with a variety of different kinds of
member (Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 27-30; Ephesians 4:11-16,
see CHURCH,
Body). As in the various functions of a human body (bones, muscles,
ears, eyes, nose, mouth, glands, stomach, liver, kidneys) there are men,
women and children functioning in a variety of ways in a church. For each
of these functions Christians are empowered by the Holy Spirit (see HOLY
SPIRIT, Gifts). I used to teach that these gifts were exercised
in one church congregation, and
APOSTLESworked
in the moving bloodstream (see
CHURCH,
Bloodstream) that planted and nourished the world-wide church (The
Church: An Organic Picture, chapter 6-14). More recently we have
seen that for Paul there is only one church in each city (see CITIES).
Working together in hundreds of different ways Christians permeate the
whole life of each city (like yeast Matthew 13:33). This suggests
that in a city God does not differentiate among Christians by the labels
of their DENOMINATIONSbut
by the spiritual gifts that they exercise.
BODY-MIND Gilbert Ryle proved our
essential body-mind oneness in The Concept of Mind, 1949. But that
does not prove that we are extinguished when our present BODY
is destroyed. Obviously we can not hear, talk, think, walk, love, or react
to others in any way without some kind of body. In the Old Testament SHEOL
(abode of the dead) people did not have a functioning body, but they awaited
a resurrection. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus
(Romans 8:11) into a resurrection body. And in the same text
Paul assures us that we also will be resurrected by the Spirit into the
resurrection body which is suited for us to enjoy the life of heaven (see
My
Android Helen). When we die we leave our corpse behind, as Jesus
did. We will not be disembodied spirits (see BODY,
Trinitarian).
BODY, Trinitarian In the section
on BODY-MIND we saw that it is impossible
to hear, talk, think, walk, love, or react to others in any way without
some kind of a body. The Cappadocian Fathers pictured a dance of three
eternal Persons who loved, and shared, and rejoiced together. That
means each Person had a body (as defined under BODY).
The three Persons of the
TRINITY
are not disembodied spirits. When the Father loves us, watches over us,
comforts us, he uses his heavenly eyes and ears, lips and arms. Metaphorically
he runs to welcome the prodigal home. That does not mean he has physical
legs like ours, but it does mean he rejoices when we turn to him.. The
Son of God who appeared and conversed with Abraham, Hagar, Moses, the prophets
and psalm writers, could only do that through a body. And when the Holy
Spirit inspires, empowers, gives wisdom, imparts gifts, speaks to us through
others, he has the means to do that (as is pictured in Proverbs 8:1-31).
The Holy Spirit can be resisted and grieved (Acts 7:51, Ephesians 4:30).
The three Persons decided together to make us in their image (Genesis
1:26, 28). And they decided together that the eternal Son of God would
use a human body to live among us for thirty years (Philippians 2:5-8).
When he was crucified, the Holy Spirit gave him a resurrection body, and
we will receive the same kind of body (Romans 8:11), obviously not
organized by the flesh and blood of organic chemistry.
BOHEMIA The Romans called the land
Boiohaemum
because
it was inhabited by the Boii Celtic tribe. About 450 AD a Slav tribe of
Czechs took over control of the land. As a result of the work of
Irish-Scottish monks the people became Christians. Two Greek monks
were sent to them (863). Partly as a result of the new faith, PRAGUE
Castle was built (870), Saint Vaclav (Wenceslas) was martyred (929), and
a Bishop was appointed by the Pope (973). Vladislav II was crowned King
(1158) of Bohemia. Prague was the capital of the Bohemian Kingdom and the
Holy Roman Empire (1346-78, see John HUSS).
BONNHOEFFER, Dietrich (1906-45)
After a brilliant academic career in theology, Bonhoeffer denounced the
Nazi system when Hitler came to power (1933). For seven years he directed
an underground Church Training College. As he continued to write and preach
against what he saw was going on, he was imprisoned (1943), and was hanged
by the S.S. as a traitor to Germany just before the end of the war (1945).
In addition to being admired for his courage, Bonhoeffer is remembered
for his "religionless Christianity" That did not mean atheism, but a faith
that did not need a reliance on religious practices or theological explanations.
His point was that Christianity does not depend on the premise of religion.
What counted was voluntary simplicity lived totally for others (see Letters
and Papers from Prison, 1953, 2nd. edition, 1956, American
Edition titled Prisoner for God). Bishop John A. T. Robinson's Honest
to God (1963) has many quotations from Bonhoeffer. Others took his
ideas in a direction that Bonhoeffer does not seem to have intended when
they announced a theology of the DEATH
OF GOD.
BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER A first Communion
Service in English (1548) was expanded with other services to form the
First
Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549) which became the first prayer book
of the Church of England. The English Parliament issued the Second Prayer
Book of Edward VI (1552) to take care of some objections by Reformers
on the European continent. It was repealed by Queen Mary (1553) and reissued
by Queen Elizabeth (1559). That book was superseded by the
Directory
for Public Worship (1645) under Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth (1649-60).
The
Book of Common Prayer authorized by the Act of Uniformity (1662) continued
almost unchanged for the next 300 years. A revision was passed by Church
of England Assembly (1927) but it was rejected in the House of Commons
(1928). The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America
accepted (in 1789) the
Book of Common Prayer with minor changes
but included prayers for the President instead of the Queen of England.
Since 1976 the American Episcopal Church has used a combination of the
1928 book proposed in England with some alternatives in modern English.
The Church of England also began using their Alternative Service Book
(1980),
as did the The Anglican Church of Canada with its Book of Alternative
Services (1985). These all authorize the continued use of the Book
of Common Prayer together with many modern forms of service.
BORE Voltaire said the secret of
being boring is to tell everything. And the astonishing power of the Gospels
is that they work with an incredible economy of words. They give us just
us enough to make us look to the Spirit to know more (John 14:26).
Someone else said a bore is someone who talks about himself when you want
to talk about yourself. But what grips me is that everything Jesus said
seems to talk about me. Which is why Dorothy Sayers wrote "The people who
hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore" ('The
Greatest Drama ever staged"). Why then is church going such a pain to most
people? Perhaps we explain too much again and again in too much detail.
Jesus hardly explained his parables, which is why they grab us, make us
think, and we see them in a different light each time we hear them. But
most prayer book liturgies, and the liturgies of those who think they are
praying freely, as well as the great mass of sermons, keep repeating the
obvious. We find it hard to let people explore the unthinkable and ask
the questions that really bother them.
BORN AGAIN Nicodemus needed to
be born (again) into the family of God by experiencing the new life of
the Spirit (John 3:3, 7-8). This is the result of receiving, or
believing in, the Son of God (John 1:12, 1 Peter 1:23-25). The assurance
that we are children of God is not by some physical sign or legal transaction
but by the fact that "God's love has been poured into our hearts through
the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). This means
that the new birth immediately effects a change in heart attitudes. "Everyone
who keeps doing (Greek present continuous) what is righteous has been born
of him" (1 John 2:29). "The person who has been born of God does
not keep sinning" (1 John 3:9 literal translation). But that is
only the beginning. It has not yet been revealed (we cannot yet conceive)
what we will become in God's family (1 John 3:1-2, as in 1 Corinthians
2:9). But as the Spirit begins to create love in us, we know that the
end result is that we will be like the Son of God. As Paul explained, it
is by "seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, that
we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to
another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
BOUNDARIES Jabez prayed "Oh that
you would bless me and enlarge my border" (1 Chronicles 4:10). A
boundary is the limit of our ownership or authority. For a farmer "I own
fifty acres" is too little. He needs two hundred acres to make a living.
A rock group hopes to move from the limit of one bar in town to a world-wide
audience. For Paul the enlargement of his border was planting churches
in all the cities from Jerusalem to Croatia (Romans 15:19). A woman
with a happy marriage and six children might say "The boundary lines have
fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage" (Psalm 16:6).
A boundary can also be a restriction on our freedom. In jail it is the
cell the prisoner occupies, and parole is an enlargement of space to move.
So Jabez' prayer reminds us to see how exactly we long for our border to
be enlarged, and express our longing to God. And when we have received
what we need for our freedom, it is good to recognize it and thank him
(see THANKSGIVING).
As we grow older it is also good to see death, not as a boundary, but a
huge enlargement of our border in HEAVEN.
BRAINWASHING In his Battle for
the Mind; A Physiology of Conversion and Brain-Washing (1957)
William Sargant showed how politicians and preachers have used brainwashing
(thought control) as a means of forcing "the surrender of strongly held
beliefs and the adoption of new beliefs" (pp.14, 79-80). He described the
effect of dancing to the drums in VOODOO
(p.93). Our website commends the investigation of alternative religions
and ideologies and we offer a method for analyzing the explanations that
are given (God of Many Names, chapters
1-4). In CONVERSION there
is always a consideration of at least one of two or more alternatives.
Prayer to Holy Spirit does not force a submission, but it enables the person
to see the issues clearly. So when conversion occurs as a free choice without
manipulation, we cannot fault the change of mind that is involved. It is
only immoral when a person is converted as the result of psychological
pressure (see PROSELYTIZING).
BRAND LOGO When I was a boy I loved
Tate and Lyle's Golden Syrup. It had a picture of a dead lion with bees
making honey from its carcase (Judges 14:8-9). It had the same label
and tasted just as good when I had some last week. Canadians think Marmite
is like axle grease, but I still relish Marmite from exactly the same old
jars. Rolls Royce continues with its logo on the hood. But Morris and Hillman
were unable to provide parts to fix their cars the same day, so they disappeared
from Canada, as did BSA and Matchless motorbikes in competition with the
Japanese. If Maytag cannot retain customer loyalty for washing machines
that last a lifetime, and Colonel Sanders fails to deliver better chicken,
or IBM cannot offer better service than Dell or Hewlett Packard, they will
soon lose out. The Royal bank has a fine regal lion for its logo, but it
explains "we have grown one customer at a time." The point is we need a
brand logo, but we have to deliver what we profess to offer. The Christian
logo is the CROSS,
and our brand is Jesus the Messiah (compare Colonel Sanders) which flourishes
because there are enough of us who are willing to deliver at any hour of
the day or night his quality of the love of God to anyone anywhere. And
we give it for free.
BRAZIL The Treaty of Tordesillas
(1494) allocated a vast area occupied by aboriginal tribes to Portugal.
By the importing of African slaves Brazil provided most of Europe's demand
for sugar, and in 1800 Brazil had become more prosperous than Portugal.
When Portugal was invaded by Napoleon (1808) the Portuguese royal family
ruled the two countries from Brazil. The independent empire of Brazil was
proclaimed (1822). It became a federal republic (1889), and the new constitution
was based on the separation of church and state (1891, see the FIRST
AMENDMENT in the United States). The newly created city of Brazilia
became the capital (1960). In the face of opposition from the landless
poor the big landowners and industrialists backed a miliary coup (1964),
but President Figueiredo (1978-84) reestablished a democracy. There isFREEDOM
OF RELIGION, but everyone is required to list themselves as belonging
to one of the
DENOMINATIONS.
Though the Roman Catholics claim 76% of the population of about 165 million,
other groupings have a far bigger influence, especially among the poor.
The Episcopal Anglicans for example are organized under seven dioceses
in Recife, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegro, Santa Maria,
and Pelotas. They are also growing rapidly up the Amazon valley from the
city of Belem.
BREAD AND WINE In Bible times bread
and wine (safer than polluted water) were the diet of ordinary families.
The cheapest bread was made from barley (e.g. the five barley loaves the
boy offered (John 6:9). It was rolled out flat (like chappatis
or
pita
bread),
and usually served with a small amount of fish for flavor (Luke 24:42
, John 21:9, and as in the feeding of the 5,000 and 4,000). The bread
was leavened (Matthew 13:33), and unleavened bread was only used
in memory of the Passover. Wheat bread was a luxury (choice flour,
Genesis
18:6). New wine came right out of the wine vat (on a hot day fermentation
began immediately) but the best wine (Luke 5:39) was kept in wine
skins for several years. Wine was always served at a wedding (John 2:3,
10). The ceremonial serving of bread and wine goes back at least to
the time of Abraham. "King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine;
he was priest of God Most High" (Genesis14:18). It expressed the
invitation of the Spirit to God's table. "Come, eat of my bread and drink
of the wine I have mixed" (Proverbs 9:5). This is why the Christian
communion meal (called the Breaking of Bread, Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7)
uses bread and wine (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20,
1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-26) to express the ideas of being welcomed
to Jesus's family, remembering his cross and resurrection, and reconciliation
with one another.
BREAD of life When Jesus called
himself the Bread of Life his hearers would picture the pita bread
that they ate every day (John 6:35) . He explained that this was
metaphorical for eating the "living bread that came down from heaven."
And he added that "whoever eats of this bread will live for ever" (John
6:51). This connects with the petition in the Lord's Prayer "Give us
this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). This is both a prayer
looking to God for the physical food we need and the spiritual food that
nourishes our eternal life (John 6:57).
BREAKDOWN The fact that humans
can suffer a nervous breakdown is often described in history. The INQUISITION
knew that under torture even the strongest of humans have a breaking point.
A confession and total admission of guilt can be extracted by
BRAINWASHING.
In his Battle for the Mind; A Physiology of Conversion and Brain-Washing
(1957)
William Sargant compared this with the methods used by some preachers.
He referred, perhaps without understanding what was really going on, to
John WESLEY's Journal of
1739-40 (p.18). We cannot deny that some hell-fire preaching is designed
to effect the submission and conversion of hearers. But we also note that
the results in the lives of early Methodists were very impressive.
BREASTPLATE To protect his
heart, lungs, liver, and spleen, a Roman soldier wore a reinforced breastplate.
The modern equivalent is a bullet proof vest. For Paul this piece of spiritual
armor was "the breastplate of righteousness" (Ephesians 6:14). The
word "righteousness" here is dikaiosune
which does not mean we are
already righteous, or made righteous, but it refers to the righteousness
which the Holy Spirit is willing to work in us. In another epistle Paul
writes about "the breastplate of faith (faithfulness) and love" (1 Thessalonians
5:8), which are two of the fruit which only the Holy Spirit can produce
in us (Galatians 5:22). Obviously "righteousness" did not mean that
Paul was convinced he was better than others. In fact he wrote to his assistant
Timothy "Jesus the Messiah came into the world to save sinners - of whom
I am the foremost" (1 Timothy 1:15). But the assurance that
the Holy Spirit can do in us all that we need, not only to fight, but to
be perfected in faith and love gives us tremendous protection from the
arrows and spear thrusts of those who oppose us.
BRIDLE Horses and mules need a bit
in the mouth and a bridle to steer them in the right direction. Some think
that is the only way to get people to behave. The Psalmist offers us a
quite different way to learn from God. "I will instruct you and teach you
the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not
be like a horse or mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed
with bit and bridle" (Psalm 32:8-9). Similarly in our day we shift
from a legalism enforced by church discipline (see YOKE)
to a free enjoyment of learning from the Messiah by the Holy Spirit. Which
is why Paul was horrified when the Galatians were persuaded to move from
enjoying the freedom of the Spirit back into legalism. "Did you receive
the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?
For freedom the Messiah has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do
not submit again to a yoke (see YOKE)
of slavery (Galatians 3:2 & 5:1). And in a later letter the
apostle went on to explain "Now we are discharged from the law, dead to
that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written
code but in the new life of the Spirit" (Romans 7:6).
BROW, Robert (b.1924)
& Mollie (b.1926)
live at 116 Rideau Street, Kingston, Ontario, K7K 2Z9 (613, 542-9838).
They worked in Allahabad and Varanasi (Benares) in North India for eleven
years, and came to Canada in 1964. They have four children, Rachel Bloomquist
(Ottawa), Peter Brow (Vancouver), Timothy Brow (Toronto), and Susanne Stewart
(Aurora), and ten grandchildren. For more detailed biographical information
see Autobio
2000.Bob and Mollie write Word Thoughts
jointly as a web resource for churches throughout the world, and the material
can be used freely in any form without permission. Their joint book,
Adultery:
An Exploration of Love and Marriage (1993)
still gets more accesses than any of the other materials on this site.
BUBER, Martyn Ich und Du (1923)
was translated into English as I and Thou (1937, new translation
and introduction by Walter Kaufmann, 1970). It has proved to be one of
the most creative influences in both Jewish and Christian theology. Martyn
Buber (1878-1965) was born in Vienna and received his doctorate at the
university there at the age of 22. As a student he took part in the Zionist
movement with Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weizmann. But a deeper interest became
the revival of a mystical movement called the HASIDIM.
After Hitler took over, Buber moved to Israel and taught at Hebrew University
in Jerusalem (1938-1951). His I and Thou
describes the experience
of encountering God in a personal way as a Thou (not an It). That is certainly
the experience of the Psalm writers (e.g. Psalm 3:4;5:1-3; 51:10-12;
77:1-3). The Bible describes sin as emerging from a conversation with
Satan, or with oneself (pride, hate, lust, worry, despair, e.g. Galatians
5:19-21; James 1:14-15). In our Christian TRINITARIAN
model, faith emerges in a conversation with God (thanksgiving, prayer).
As opposed to a
UNITARIAN
model of God we have an "I and Thou" relationship with the LORD
(KING,
MESSIAH,
SON
OF GOD). We also have an "I and Thou" love relationship as a little
child with the Father. And those who know the power of the Spirit (who
was experienced by prophets and artists and leaders in the Old Testament
period) find themselves in a very personal "I and Thou" experience of conversation
with God the Holy Spirit.
BUBONIC PLAGUE see BLACK
DEATH, PLAGUE
BUDAPEST When the Roman armies
took over the CELTS
living in the area later called Hungary, they made Buda the capital of
a Roman province (106 AD). Three hundred years later that Roman civilization
was swept away by the GOTHS
and then (441-43) by Attila the Hun (434-453, see HUNS).
In the confusion that followed a group of MAGYARS
led by Prince Arpad settled in Hungary and set up an empire around the
town of Buda (896). King Geza, the great grandson of Arpad, married a Christian
wife, and sent for missionaries to teach his people (973). Under his son
Istvan (Stephen, reigned 997-1038) Hungary became a Christian nation. His
successors had the right (till 1920) to found episcopal sees, and to administer
the church in Hungary. The Universities of Pecs (1367, and Buda (1395)
nourished the golden age of Hungary under King Matyas (1458-1490). The
Muslim Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566) seized Buda (1541),
and the city came under Turkish control for 150 years till it was again
freed (1686) to grow and flourish. The united city of Buda, Pest, and Obuda
had electric lights (1873) and a subway system (1896) before other cities
in western Europe. Budapest retained some independence through two world
wars till it was finally freed in the DAY
OF THE LORD that toppled the IRON
CURTAIN (November 1989).
BUDDHA Siddharta Gautama (c.560-
c.480 BC) was born in India where his father was the Rajah (king) of the
kingdom of Kapilavastu near the Nepal border. He was raised in royal luxury,
and was married with a harem of beautiful dancers. But he continually felt
dissatisfied with himself and the suffering of the world. At the age of
29 he left his wife and children and became a wandering ascetic in search
of illumination. Finally sitting under a fig tree (bodhi "tree of
enlightenment") he saw a way to escape the cycle of pain and reincarnation.
He belonged to the warrior caste (kshatriya), and now with many
others he rejected the Hindu caste system and the authority of the Brahmin
priesthood (see Religion:
Origins and Ideas chapter 3 on "The Sixth Century Revolt). In Varanasi
(previously Benares) there is a stupa that marks the place where
he preached his first sermon in a deer park. His preaching, based on losing
all desire to attain
NIRVANA,
later became known as BUDDHISM. (from the
name Buddha which meant "the awakened or enlightened one"). His disciples
formed a SANGHA
(community) but this was not a settled monastery, and he quickly sent his
first sixty followers out to make the message known all over India. Later
the residential sangha became an essential part of the new religion.
BUDDHISM Seven new models of religion
emerged in the sixth century BC. They all rejected the need for priests,
temples, idols, and even a Creator God.. Original Buddhism was taught by
Gautama Buddha (c.560-480 BC). He retained the ancient Hindu theory of
REINCARNATION.
But he offered a way of escaping from the round of rebirths by losing the
desires that hold us in the grip of this miserable cycle of suffering..
This could only be done by becoming a monk in a sangha (monastery)
where the rigorous discipline of eradicating desires one by one (like weeds
in a garden) could be practiced in a community with others. With the loss
of every desire there is the experience NIRVANA
when we lose our personality in the peace of the Absolute. Mahayana
(the great vehicle) form of Buddhism was later offered as a popular alternative
to the severe discipline of eradicating desires. Salvation from the round
of rebirths was now by faith in Buddha or one of the Bodhisattva
who
have experienced the freedom of nirvana. In time this reintroduced temple
worship, with Buddhist priests and statues of the Buddha. For a form of
Buddhism popular in the West see ZEN
BUDDHISM.
BUDDHISM, Hinayana As opposed to
the mahayana (great vehicle) Buddhism of North India and China,
the Buddhism of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was called hinayana (little vehicle).
This is more accurately described as Theravada (the teaching of the elders).
The Theravada explanatory model is much closer to the original teaching
of BUDDHA (c.560 -c.480 BC) himself. Its goal
can be analyzed (see God
of Many Names, chapter 3 & 4) as NIRVANA.
What prevents the attainment of that goal is trishna (desire, longing).
And the way salvation is learning the FOUR
TRUTHS in a SANGHA
as a preparation for the tough discipline of losing all desire. Sri Lanka
is still viewed as the centre of pure Hinayana Buddhism, but it also flourished
in BURMA, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. In
those countries Mahayana Buddhism was brought in from China, and the Pagodas
have statues of Buddha, which would not be permitted in strict Hinayana
teaching.
BUDDHISM, Mahayana In Varanasi
(old Benares) very close to the stupa in the deer park where BUDDHA
(c.560 - c.480 BC) preached his first sermon there is a magnificent Buddhist
temple with a statue of Buddha. Buddha himself would have been horrified
at being worshiped in the form of an idol. As opposed to original Buddhism,
which proved too severe for ordinary people, Mahayana (the great vehicle,
which originated about 100 BC) deified Buddha (as Adi Buddha). He
is pictured as taking birth in a series of Bodhisattvas before and after
the incarnation of Buddha himself. The severely ascetic monastic life of
the SANGHA
was usually abandoned in favor of simple faith in Buddha and other Bodhisattvas.
Faith was nourished by contemplation and prayers to a big statue of Buddha
in a temple. Instead of losing all desire to merge in the Absolute, salvation
was by faith and there was a personal heaven to be enjoyed. Mahayana Buddhism
had originated in India, but it mostly disappeared under the influence
of the GITA
and Hindu BHAKTI. It flourished in China before
the Communist revolution, and also in Korea, and Japan before it was weakened
by secularism. Mahayana practices also came into BURMA
from China, and as a result statues of Buddha are found in the Pagodas
(temples) although in theory the country is usually described as committed
to the Theravada (HINAYANA) form
of original Buddhism.
BUDDHISM, Four Noble Truths Based
on the original teachings of BUDDHA (C.560-C.480)
a disciple should first learn that (1) suffering is the universal human
experience. (2) The cause of suffering is desire or craving. (3) Desire
can be systematically eradicated. (4) This can be achieved by the right
DHARMA
(wisdom, ethical conduct, mental discipline) which is best learned in a
SANGHA
(monastery). The result is the attainment of NIRVANA.
By way of contrast we should note that the New Testament does not suggest
the eradication of desire, but rather that it should purified (and intensified)
by the Holy Spirit for the perfect love of heaven.
BUDDHISM, Sangha India had a long
tradition of ascetics who engaged in meditation alone. But those who sought
to attain Buddhist NIRVANA
soon felt the need of a community to support them in this arduous task.
The
sangha
(religious community or monastery) provided a place for
undistracted contemplation. Unlike most Christian MONASTICISMthe
sangha
permitted
men and women to come for shorter or longer visits to learn the DHARMA
(Buddhist disciplines). Conversation was permitted, as long it did not
descend to worldly matters, and everyone joined in the morning and evening
worship. Boys would attend for their schooling. And many young men would
shave their head, put on the saffron robe and spend a year or so in the
monastery before returning to live in the world. .
BUDDHISM, Soka Gakkai see SOKA
GAKKAI
BUDDHISM, Theravada see BUDDHISM,
Hinayana
BUDDHISM, Tibetan see TIBETAN
BUDDHISM
BUDDHISM, Zen seeZEN
BUDDHISM
BUILDER A house builder creates
a home to be lived in, but without a proper foundation it will collapse.
Jesus pointed out that we also need a foundation for building our life
. The impressive externals, fittings, and paintwork do not help when the
storm hits us. It is only the Messiah, the eternal Son of God, who has
the right to say: "Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock" (Matthew 7:24-27)
That is why he said "Go and make DISCIPLES
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything that I have commanded
you" (Matthew 28:19-20). To build a life that will survive the pressures
of our world, we need to mind the specifications that Jesus gave about
our relationship to God as Father, God as Son, and God as Spirit in the
GOSPELS.
That leaves us a huge amount of freedom for creativity, but without the
foundation that he gives us we can have no confidence for this life, and
certainly no assurance for our life after death.
BUILDING In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus stressed our foundation for life. "Everyone then who hears these
words of mine and acts on them will be a wise man who built his house on
the rock" (Matthew 7:24). But the kind of house we build is also
important. As Paul explained, "If anyone builds on the foundation (Jesus
the Messiah) with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - the
work of each builder will be visible, for the Day will disclose it, because
it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each
has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder
will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer
loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire" (1Corinthians
3:12-15). Even spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues, prophetic
powers, understanding mysteries, mountain-moving faith, and willingness
to be burned at the stake, can turn out to be nothing. "Now faith, hope,
and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love: (1 Corinthians
13:1-3, 13).
BULTMANN, Rudolph (1884-1976) Bultmann
was a brilliant New Testament scholar, and he was one of the originators
of the form criticism of the Gospels. After studying and teaching at various
German Universities, he taught at Marburg for 30 years (1921-51). In his
Jesus
(1926,
English translation 1934) he interpreted the Christian good news of Jesus
as a form of EXISTENTIALISM.
That meant the message of the Kingdom a call to authentic living. He then
adopted a model in which "It is impossible to use light and wireless .
. . and at the same time believe in the New Testament world of spirits
and miracles." He therefore asserted that "The cosmology of the New Testament
is essentially mythical in character" (Kerugma and Myth, 1961, p.1-5).
The four GOSPELS
need be "demythologized" to make sense to modern man (see Bishop Robinson's
HONEST
TO GOD). He therefore denied the incarnation, miracles, and resurrection
of Jesus as historical facts. In his model these "myths" call us to faith
which he defined as existential decision. He also assumed that the parousia
(coming
of the Messiah) which Jesus predicted (Mark 13, Matthew 24) did
not occur in AD 70 (we offer another model to understand the
parousia
in
Advent
Comings of the Lord among the Nations). Bultmann's work proved
that there is no such thing as unbiased New Testament commentary. Which
is why Model Theology assumes that the model we adopt will influence our
interpretation at every point. And, having derived our Christian Trinitarian
model (see CREEDS)
from the Bible, we will have no difficulty with any of the facts in the
Gospels which Bultmann declared to be myths.
BUNYAN, John (1628-88) At the age
of sixteen John Bunyan fought with Oliver Comwell in the English civil
war that ended with the execution of Charles I (1649). He later joined
an independent Puritan congregation (1653), and was ordained as a preacher
(1657). With the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II (reigned
1660-85) Bunyan spent the next twelve years in Bedford gaol for refusing
to submit to the Church of England. During that time he wrote his autobiography,
Grace
Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666). During a second six months'
imprisonment (1676) he wrote the first part of Pilgrim's Progress (published
1678). The persons that Christian encountered in the journey, Mr. Worldly
Wiseman, Mr. Legality and his son Civility, Mr. Talkative, Mr. Facing-both-ways,
Mr. Greatheart, and the places he had trouble with, the Slough of Despond,
the Hill of Difficulty, and Vanity Fair, have appealed to millions of Christians.
The book has been translated into over 100 languages.
BURMA After three wars (1824, 1852,
1885) the British were able to make Burma a province of British India (1886-1937).
The main purpose was commercial, and that was why they did not interfere
with the people's popular religion. Where there were tribal people (e.g.
the Karens) who became Christians in large numbers, the British authorities
tried to discourage this.. Burma became a crown colony (1937) till the
Japanese invasion (1942-45). It became an independent country on January
4, 1948, and it opted out of the Commonwealth. A sudden coup (1962) toppled
U Nu's government which had been devoutly Buddhist. The new military leader,
Ne Win, established a socialist state with a program of industrial development
and nationalization. English was dropped and Burmese became the national
language. The official policy (1963) was to make religion a partner in
the state, and Buddhism was made the official state religion. "To be Burmese
is to be Buddhist." As a result every town will have a Pagoda (temple with
one or more statues of BUDDHA, which he would
have abominated) for worship and a SANGHA
where monks not only meditate and pray but teach the DHARMA
(Buddhist disciplines).
BURMA, Modern see MYANMAR,
AUNG
SAN
BUTTERFLIES At a funeral children
love the story of the caterpillar. He lived by crawling and chewing leaves
on the branch of a tree. What worried him was that one by one hisfriends
and members of his family went into a cocoon and died. One day he was sick,
and lay on his back looking up at the sky. He could see strange and beautiful
butterflies flying above him, but he did not know they were the friends
and family members he was missing. Then the day came when he found himself
being gripped by the cocoon of death. When he lost consciousness the next
thing he knew was a different kind of energy, and his wings had grown.
He
shook himself free, took off, found a flower full of delicious nectar,
and there around him were the other butterfly members of his family and
other friends. Satan tries to make us believe death is the end,
but of course it is only the beginning.
BYZANTINE EMPIRE The Roman Emperor
CONSTANTINE
(reigned 306-337) made
BYZANTIUM the eastern
capital of his empire, and renamed it Constantinople (330 AD). This empire
included Greece and the Balkans to the north, the whole of TURKEY,
and the eastern Mediterranean coast, including Jerusalem, down to ALEXANDRIA
in Egypt. The Emperor Justinian (reigned 527-565) built the great Byzantine
cathedral of Santa Sophia. He extended the Eastern Empire to include what
had been the Roman empire in Italy and North Africa. The ARABS
took over Jerusalem (638) and Egypt (640).The churches of western Turkey
virtually disappeared after the Byzantine army was routed (1071) by the
SELJUK
TURKS who were Muslim. But the Greek speaking Byzantine Empire
based on Constantinople continued to control the eastern Balkans, and Greece
and its islands. The influence of the Byzantine empire finally ended with
the fall of Constantinople to the OTTOMAN
Empire (1453)
BYZANTIUM Founded by Greek colonists
(657 BC) Byzantium was chosen by the Roman Emperor CONSTANTINE
to be his eastern capital and he renamed it CONSTANTINOPLE (330
AD). As a result, the Christian churches of TURKEY
were freed from Roman persecution. Constantinople continued as the Christian
capital of the BYZANTINE Empire
for 700 years. But when its army was routed by the SELJUK
TURKS (1071) Christian churches virtually disappeared from Turkey.