PACIFISM Jesus said "Do not resist
an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other
also" and "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew
5:38, 44). Based on this some denominations of Christians are Pacifist
in that they refuse to fight in a war (e.g. Quakers and MENNONITES),
and some will even refuse the protection of the police if their family
is attacked. NON-VIOLENCE
as a method of political force was used by Mahatma GANDHI
to
free India from British control, and by Martin Luther King to gain basic
civil rights for Black people in the United States. This method is effective
if the oppressors have some human decency and compassion, but it obviously
does not work if an army is willing to mow down all who oppose them.
PAKISTAN When Britain had decided
to divest itself of its Indian Empire (1947) Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader
of the Moslem League insisted that the only way Muslims could survive was
by a partition to provide a country where Muslims were in the majority
(the word Pakistan comes from the Urdu pak meaning holy and sthan
meaning place). The solution was to give districts with a Muslim majority
(including the districts to the east that became Bangla Desh,1971) to Pakistan
and others to India. The result was that several million Hindu refugees
moved to India and thousands of Muslims moved from areas where they were
in a minority. And thousands were killed on the way. There was immediately
a war (1947-49, again in 1965 and 1971) between India and Pakistan over
the area of Kashmir which had a Muslim majority, but was viewed as a necessary
part of India. Pakistan became a republic within the British Commonwealth
(1956), then there was rule by Presidents (Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, General Ziaul Haq, Bhutto's daughter Benazir Bhutto,
and now General Musharraf (1999). Currently there is strong pressure from
the Mullahs (CLERICS)
for Pakistan to adopt SHARIAH
LAW see CHURCH
AND STATE).
PALESTINE Abraham moved south into
an area occupied by CANAANITES..
Soon the land had to be divided, and Abraham's nephew Lot took the fertile
Jordan valley (Genesis 13:11). Lot's sons fathered the Moabite and
Ammonite tribes who occupied the area to the east now called Jordan (Genesis
19:36-38). They were joined by other tribes under the leadership of
the descendants of
ISHMAEL
in the vast area to the east now called Arabia. After theEXODUS
from Egypt the twelve tribes descended from Abraham's grandson Jacob (renamed
Israel) took over the land of Canaan and spoke Hebrew the language of the
CANAANITES.They
remained there for 800 years till the first EXILE
(597 BC). After their return, they remained in the land for another 500
years till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (AD 70). The area
now called Palestine continued as part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires
till the ARABS
captured Jerusalem (638 AD). They defended it against the CRUSADES,
and. ruled it till the area became part of the Ottoman Turkish empire (1516).
The British drove out the Turks (1918) and remained till they gave up their
mandate over Palestine thirty years later. After 1800 years of exile, Jews
proclaimed the state of Israel (1948) and adopted HEBREW
as their language. Since then Arabs have fought for a Palestinian state
with Jerusalem as its capital and Arabic as the national language of Palestine.
PAMPHYLIA Among the Jews present
on the Day of Pentecost were some from "CAPPADOCIA,
PONTUS,
ASIA
MINOR,
PHRYGIA, and PAMPHYLIA (Acts 2:9).
This Province was on the south coast of present-day Turkey. Its capital
was
PERGA a short distance inland from the
main port of Attalia. During the first overseas missionary journey "Paul
and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia.
John (Mark), however left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they (Paul
and Barnabas) went on from Perga and came to ANTIOCH
in Pisidia" (Acts 13:13-14). After planting churches in
the Galatian cities, they returned through Pamphylia, and "When they had
spoken the word in Perga, they came down to Attalia. From there they sailed
back to Antioch" (Acts 14:24-26). .
PANENTHEISM One of the four forms
of MONISM
is Pantheism which means that everything that there is is God (see Religion:
Origins and Ideas chapter 9). Matthew Fox distinguished his model
of Panentheism as "God is in everything, and everything is in God" (Original
Blessing, Santa Fe, New Mexico: Bear & Co. 1983, p.90). He rejected
the idea of God "out there" (THEISM),
as Bishop John Robinson had done twenty years before (Honest to God,
London: SCM Press, 1963, chapter 2). Since God is in everything, this means
that Jesus is not the second Person of the TRINITY
who said "Let us make humankind in our image" (Genesis 1:26), and
there can be no RESURRECTION
to a HEAVEN
apart from this present world. Rather Jesus is a mystic and a teacher of
mysticism, the expression or sacrament of the Wisdom of God (Matthew Fox,
The
Coming of the Cosmic Christ, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988,
chapters 14-18).
PANENTHEISTIC RELIGION The view
that our world is created by God (Elohim) as the artist (Genesis
1) is called THEISM.
A variant of this HENOTHEISM
(Greek enos is the genitive of one) where there is only one God,
but he is known under many names. In India
PANTHEISMuses
a terminology in which all there is in the universe is God (see
Religion:
Origins and Ideas, chapter 9). But the Panentheism of MATTHEW
FOX rejects both Theism and Pantheism for a model in which "God
is in everything and everything is in God" (Matthew Fox, Original Blessing:
A
Primer in Creation Spirituality, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1983, theme
6, pp. 88-92). Fox then went on to view the Cosmic Christ as the "immanent
presence of divinity in Jesus and in the world" The Coming of the Cosmic
Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance,
San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988, p.69. By then he had defined resurrection
as "aliveness, wakefulness, awareness, and rebirth - in short mysticism"
(p.38, 141). Instead of a bodily resurrection there is "Jesus as Mother
Earth crucified yet rising daily" (p.145). That means there is no life
after death. At the most we survive as part of Mother Earth.
PANTAENUS Eusebius reported that
Pantaenus of ALEXANDRIA
was said to have visited North India (c.180 AD), and found the Gospel of
Matthew in Hebrew left there by the Apostle Bartholomew (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History, 4.10). Perhaps as a result of that journey, when he came into
contact with Hindu MONISM,
he
founded the Catechetical School (c. 180 AD) in Alexandria. He left no books,
but after his death (c. 190 AD) he was succeeded as head of that school
his disciple Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) and then in 202 AD by
ORIGEN
(c.185-c.254) who both gave us a rich tradition of Alexandrian writings
in Greek.
PAPHOS At the western end ofCYPRUS,
Paphos was the Roman capital with a pro-consul, Sergius Paulus, in Paul's
day (see Acts 13:7-12). To the south of Paphos was the great temple
of Aphrodite which housed a black METEORITE
stone that fell from the sky. The line of priest-kings of Paphos went back
to Kinyras who introduced sacred prostitution (a valuable tourist attraction)
and in Paul's day all the women of Paphos still had to serve as temple
prostitutes for one day every year. By tradition the first Bishop of Paphos
was Epaphras (Colossians 1:7, 4:12). The present Greek Orthodox
Bishop of Paphos allows the Anglican Chaplaincy community and the Roman
Catholics to use the ancient church of Agia Kyriaki (the third church building
on the site) for their Sunday services. .
PARABLES Jesus' main method of
speaking to ordinary people was to use parables. "With many such parables
he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; but he did not
speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he
explained everything" (Mark 4:33-34). Jesus' parables use a minimum
of words that grab us before we know what is happening. Parables are not
meant to be read like novels. They are encountered to shock us and make
us think. Nor are parables to be interpreted like allegories in which every
detail is designed to have a meaning. The Good Samaritan offers a model
to tell us what a neighbor is. We are not to fasten on the oil and the
wine, the donkey and the two pence for the inn keeper (Luke 10:29-37).
The parable of the Prodigal Son tells us what God's parental love is like.
We confuse the model if we try to guess at the spiritual meaning of the
ring and the shoes (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus' parables usually have
an irony, sarcasm, or sudden twist in them. That is the lever that undermines
our previous model of what we think God must be like (see Creative
Love).
PARADIGM CHANGE see KUHN,
Thomas,
Model Theology (We use the term MODELS
instead of paradigms)
PARADISE This was originally a
Persian word meaning an enclosed garden. It was used by the Greek translators
of the Old Testament for the Garden of Delights (Genesis 2:15, 3:8,
23-24, 13:10). The word became metaphorical of heaven (2 Corinthians
12:4, Revelation 2:7), and Jesus told the believing thief that he would
be joining Jesus there that very day. (Luke 23:43). This is denied
by some who introduce a model of going into cold storage when we die until
a future resurrection. But, even while his corpse was still hanging on
the cross, Jesus was already bringing up the faithful dead out of sheol
(see
Matthew
27:52-53,
John 5:28-29, as explained in
1 Peter 3:18-19).
That means that sheol (Hades, the abode of the dead) was
terminated for ever, and the penitent thief would never spend time there.
Similarly Paul is quite clear that the moment we die we receive our resurrection
body (2 Corinthians 5:1-8, Philippians 1:23). The resurrection trumpet
is not after a long wait, but it welcomes us immediately we die into the
garden (one metaphor) of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
PARADOX When the Bible uses metaphors
to describe the Son of God we have what seem to be paradoxical opposites.
He is King and Servant (Isaiah 42:1, 49:3, Philippians 2:7); Lion
(Isaiah 31:4, 50:44, Amos 3:8, Revelation 5:5) and Lamb; Father
(Isaiah 32:6) and Little Child, Shepherd and Sacrifice, Rock and
Tender plant (Isaiah 53:2). As with all metaphors, we need to grasp
what the truth is pointing to without focusing on aspects which contradict
the truth of other metaphors. The success of the Narnia stories was due
to C.S.Lewis'ability to picture Aslan as both dangerous lion and lamb willing
to be sacrificed, and make both believable at once. At first sight the
idea of God's Love and Wrath seem absurdly opposite. The paradox is illuminated
in a family setting where parents are totally loving, but also need to
assign wrath consequences for dangerous or unacceptable behavior. A father
who allowed his son to run across a busy highway, or poke his sister in
the eye with his pocket knife, would not be loving. The freedom to prefer
the light and love of God requires the possibility of choosing the darkness
of eternal death (John 3:19).
PARENTS The fifth of the ten commandments
was "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in
the land that the Lord your God is giving you." In some cultures this requires
elaborate funeral ceremonies. Others try to submit to a lifetime of subservience
to parental control. This is certainly not what God had in mind when "a
man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become
one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). A happy marriage requires a decisive
leaving of a previous family to begin a new family with its own identity
and lifestyle. How then do we honor our parents? At least it requires a
recognition that every gene in our body comes from either one's father
or mother. And during our first seven years most of our language, life
skills, and personality were built into us by those who raised us. Failing
to honor what God has given us through our parents does all sorts of psychological
damage. Miserable people are usually those who cannot come to terms with
their parents. We do not have to approve of all that our parents said and
did, and failed to do. But a thankful recognition of who we are is a foundation
of health and healing. "That your days may be long in the land that the
Lord gives you" (Exodus 20:12).
PAROUSIA Tne New Testament uses
the Greek word parousia (coming, presence, advent) to refer to Jesus's
COMING
to destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem. That DAY
OF THE LORD would happen in the generation of Jesus' hearers (Matthew
23:36, 24:34, Mark 13:30, Luke 9:27, 21:32).The suicide of Nero (68
AD) was followed all over the empire by terrible wars, confusion, persecution
(Matthew 24:6-7, 21-22, Mark 13:7-8, 18-20). Having tried to take
Jerusalem in AD 68, Vespasian was made emperor, and had to go back to Rome
(see ROMAN
EMPERORS). Two years later he sent his general Titus with a huge
army to finish off the rebellious city (AD 70). That would mark the end
of the Jerusalem religious establishment, and begin the second very long
exile of the Jewish nation (AD 70 to 1948). There had been church growth
through Paul (Matthew 24:14), but now Gentile churches would be
freed to mushroom under their own leadership all over the world (Matthew
24:31). Paul's epistles make clear that the early Christians expected
this world-changing ADVENTto
happen shortly (1 Corinthians 1:7-8, 3:13, 4:5, 5:5, 7:26, 29, 31, Philippians
4:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 5:2-4, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8, 2:1-3, 7-8, 2
Timothy 4:1, see Hebrews 8:13, 10:25). This New Testament expectation
cannot refer to our time two thousand years later (as in PREMILLENIANISM).
PAROUSIA, Coming When Jesus wept
over the city of Jerusalem he said "They will not leave within you one
stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation
from God" (Luke 19:44, as in 9:26-27). This makes clear that
the imminent destruction of the city was the result of the city's rejection
of Jesus' coming among them. He also pictured this in parables. "When the
owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" And they
answered "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the
vineyard to other tenants" (Matthew 21:40-41). Similarly in the
city's rejection of the wedding banquet, "The king was enraged. He sent
his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned the city" (Matthew
22:7). Having exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, he said the blood
of those they had martyred would come upon them. And he added "Truly I
tell you , all this will come upon this generation" (Matthew 23:36).
Earlier he had said "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who
will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom"
(Matthew 16:28). This means that the imminent Day of the Lord would
be the evidence of his coming. When the metaphorical portents of the Day
of the Lord in the fall of Babylon (Isaiah 13:9-10) were going to
be repeated he said "They will see 'the Son of Man' coming with power and
great glory" (Matthew 24:29-30). And he added "This generation will
not pass away until all these things have taken place" (Matthew 24:34).
And we know that his coming in the destruction of the temple took place
as he predicted in AD 70.
PARSEES (Parsis or Persians) see
ZOROASTER
PARSIS (PARSEES) A group of ZOROASTRIANS
emigrated from
IRAN,
and
in a terrible storm they promised Ahura Mazda that if they were preserved
they would build a magnificent fire temple. They did this in what became
Bombay (Mumbai). They became very wealthy under the administration of the
British East India Company. Parsi worship is by the person alone in a Fire
Temple, where the only decoration is the sacred fire (symbolizing the light
of Ahura Mazda) burning continuously. The most striking aspect of Parsi
religion is the death ritual when the body is laid in a walled enclosure
called a dakhma
(the British called it a tower of silence) where
the vultures and crows can devour the flesh. The purpose of this is so
that the death caused by the evil one will not pollute the earth (the bones
are eventually cast into a pit).
PASCAL, Blaise (1623-62) From his
earliest days he suffered from terrible convulsions, and had to walk on
crutches, but he soon became a mathematical and scientific genius. By the
age of sixteen he had developed a precursor of the first computers, and
written a "Treatise on Conic Sections" (1639). His other works included
books on hydraulics, pure geometry, and the theory of probability. His
"first conversion" (1646) was through contact with the JANSENISTS,
and his sister, Jasqueline, entered the Jansenist convent of Port Royal
(1651). His "definitive conversion" is dated exactly as 23 November 1654.
This seems to have been the time when he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
He said he had an ecstatic experience of God's grace which lasted for two
hours, and he carried the record of what happened in the lining of his
waistcoat the rest of his life. He wrote
Lettres Provinciales (1656-7)
against the JESUITS
in defense of the Jansenists.His last eight years were spent in strict
retreat near Port Royal. His famous work, Pensees, was published
after his death from hundreds of disorganized fragments of his writings.
The famous wager about the leap of faith remains unanswerable. If you win
you win all, if you lose you have nothing to lose.
PASSOVER The freeing of slaves
from Egypt (the EXODUS)
began with a simple meal (Exodus 12:1-11) which is still celebrated
every year in Jewish families (Luke 2:41). Jesus had a last supper
with his disciples on the Day of Preparation for Passover (Matthew 26:5,
17, 27:62, John 19:14, 31, 42). John the Baptist said Jesus was the
eternal LAMB
of God who keeps taking away the sin of the world (John 1:29,
a present continuous). And he experienced this lambness physically on the
CROSS
when he died on the Day of Preparation (among Jews the day began from the
previous evening). This was exactly at the time lambs were being sacrificed
in the temple area for the Passover celebration that night (beginning after
sundown). That is why Paul said "Our paschal lamb, the Messiah, has been
sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the festival"
(1 Corinthians 5:7, see 10:1-4, 16-17). The Passover
is a Jewish festival, but its symbolism is very important to Christians,
and it is at the root of much LIBERATION
theology. When I was Rector of St. James, Kingston, Ontario, we
used to celebrate a Seder (Hebrew for order) supper on Good Friday
evening, which is when the apostles would have celebrated Passover (Hebrew
pesakh,
Greek pascha) the evening of the crucifixion.
PASTOR In the Psalms the LORD is
our shepherd (pastor, Psalm 23) but King David was also described
as the one who "tended them, and guided them with skilful hand" (78:72).
And the religious leaders in Israel were meant to be shepherds of their
people (Jeremiah 23:1-2) but they were rebuked for failing to do
this (Jeremiah 23:1-2). Ezekiel reported God's complaint "Should
not shepherds feed the sheep . . . You have not strengthened the weak,
you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have
not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force
and harshness you have ruled them" (Ezekiel 34:2-4). In contrast
Jesus could say "I am the good shepherd . . . My sheep know my voice, I
know them, and they follow me" (John 10:11, 27). The chief shepherd
has under-shepherds (1 Peter 5:1-4). That is why the gift of shepherding
is listed among the ministerial gifts, "The gifts he gave were that some
would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers
to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11-12,
see MINISTER,
PRIESTS).
PATIENCE We are never impatient
when we are working long hours at something that we enjoy. Impatience sets
in when we feel our rights are being infringed, we are overworked, unappreciated,
being made to wait, others get ahead of us unfairly, our sickness is not
being treated. We also feel impatient when God is not answering prayer
for our family. The problem is that patience is not something we can work
up by gritting our teeth and trying harder. It is one of the fruits of
the Holy Spirit that emerges from a changed heart (Galatians 5:22-23).
What is the heart attitude that needs changing? From Jesus we learn that
it is OK to be treated unjustly. But the Spirit can also show us that he
is in control, and he will in due course work out our VINDICATION.
That gives us faith to WAIT.
PATRIARCHY The Old Testament family
system was based on total male domination in marriage. A man could have
more than one wife, keep
CONCUBINES,
and divorce his wife merely by giving her a bill of divorcement to prove
she was free to go with another man (Matthew 5:31-32). A woman had
no rights of inheritance except through the sons that she bore (an exception
was in Numbers 26:33, 27:1-8). "Thank you, O God, that you did not
make me a woman" was prayed by devout Rabbis. But Jesus brought from heaven
a completely new vision of marriage based on mutuality and mutual submission.
And when Paul the patriarchal Rabbi was converted he was soon teaching
the new model of MARRIAGE,
Mutuality (see 1 Corinthians 7:1-16)
which would have been
unthinkable in patriarchal culture.
PATRIPASSIANISM The term (Greek
patyr
meaning
father, and pascho the verb meaning to experience, be treated, suffer,
endure) was used to describe a UNITARIAN
view of God in which it was God the Father who was born, suffered, and
died as Jesus on the cross (see
MONARCHIANISM).
Tertullian (c.160-c.220) wrote Adversus Praxea (c.217) against a
heretic called Praxeaswho appeared in Rome (c.200) and proclaimed himself
leader of the Patripassian Monarchians. But Praxeas apparently recanted
this strange doctrine. The model taught by Sabellius (perhaps c.230, see
SABELLIANSM)
seems to have been another variant of
MODALISM.
in which God appears in different forms as Father, Son, or Holy Spirit
PAUL Saul (also named Paul, which
is a Roman surname) belonged to a Greek speaking family in Tarsus (18 miles
inland on the Cydnus river of south-east Turkey). He was a Roman citizen
by birth (Acts 22:25-28). But he was sent to Jerusalem to train
as a rabbi under the famous Pharisee teacher, Gamaliel (Acts 5:34, 22:3).
We don't know if he ever met Jesus, but when a Greek speaking Messiah-believing
synagogue was formed in Jerusalem (Acts 6:5), he realized this development
would transform Judaism all over the Roman world. The Jesus movement had
to be stamped out (Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-2, 1 Corinthians 15:9). But he
had a sudden
CONVERSION
on the road to Damascus. He went on three missionary journeys (see Acts
Commentary chapters 13-20) during which he often had to support
himself by tent making (Acts 18:1-3). He was often beaten and imprisoned
(2 Corinthians 11:23-25), and suffered a serious medical condition
(2 Corinthians 12:7-10). He was often accompanied by the "beloved
physician" (Colossians 4:14), who also wrote the Gospel of Luke
and the book of Acts. Paul was arrested and sent to appeal his case to
Rome, where he was probably martyred under Nero in 62 AD.
PAUL, Imprisonment The Apostle
reported that he had suffered many short term imprisonments (2 Corinthians
11:23) including the night in jail with Silas in Philippi (Acts
16:23-30). He was jailed in Jerusalem for his own protection (Acts
22:30), and then again in Caesarea (Acts 23:35, 24:23, 27),
though he was not guilty of any crime (Acts 26:30-32). He was under
house arrest in Rome for two years (Acts 28:16, 30-31), and probably
brought out to be beheaded on Nero's orders. In what are called the prison
epistles (Philippians 1:12-14, 17, Colossians 4:10,18, 2 Timothy 1:16-18,
4:16-17, Philemon 1, 23) commentators assume that they refer to an
imprisonment in Rome. But the chronology of all the members of Paul's team
(Romans 16:3-15, Colossians 4:7-16, 2 Timothy 4:19-21) point to
this imprisonment being in Ephesus at the instigation of the makers of
silver shrines to Diana (Artemis) and Alexander the coppersmith (Acts
19:23, 33, 2 Timothy 3:14). A very minor emendation of a scribe's mistake
who wrote en romy- (in Rome) instead of en ropy (in the nick of
time) would explain how Onesiphorus arrived to save Paul from certain death
in Ephesus (2 Timothy 1:16-18. There is no textual evidence for
this, but it explains everything else). And Luke would not have recorded
this imprisonment in his book of Acts in case it prejudiced Paul's case
before Nero in Rome.
PAUL in Crete Paul's mission to
CRETE
is not reported in the Book of Acts, so commentators have guessed that
Paul went on a missionary journey to Crete after being under house arrest
in Rome (Acts 28:16, 30). But it is much easier to fit a mission
to Crete after Paul "set sail from Ephesus" (Acts 18:21) at the
end of the second missionary journey. Paul would have visited the main
synagogues in the island and left TITUS
with the help of local Christians to organize church congregations in each
town (Titus 1:5). Then from Salmone there were frequent ships to
Caesarea (Acts 18:22) from where it was a three day walk up to Jerusalem.
Then sailing back north to Antioch he traveled back across present day
Turkey strengthening churches along the way to Ephesus (Acts 18:23).
If this itinerary is correct then Paul might have written the Epistle to
Titus from Asia minor before going on to winter in Nicopolis (in Dalmatia,
the southern part of Illyricum in present day Croatia, Romans 15:19)
where Titus had begun church planting (2 Timothy 4:10, Titus 3:12).
PAVLOV, Ivan Petrovich (1849-1936)
By working with dogs Pavlov was able to show how a conditioned reflex (like
salivating) is produced by association with a repeated stimulus (like ringing
a bell). He also showed that humans, like dogs, will suffer a nervous BREAKDOWN
if subjected to long and severe stress which their nervous system cannot
cope with. Raised in the old regime of the Czars, Pavlov continued to work
under
LENIN and STALIN
who recognized his work as a useful contribution for making changes under
COMMUNISM.
There are conditioned reflexes in any kind of church life, but this kind
of manipulation has no place in Christian faith.
PEACE There is not much evidence
that the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) is active preventing wars
all over the globe. Actually most men rather enjoy a war until he sees
a friend shredded by shrapnel. Wars and rumors of wars are likely to continue
to the end. Instead of intervening to end war between nations, God seems
more interested in love between individual men and women, between friends,
parents and children, employers and employees. That means moving our focus
from the macro problems of the whole world to the micro situations we are
involved in. Peace begins in the heart when you know you are loved and
accepted by the Prince of Peace, and then learning to love one other person,
and then another. Eventually the ripple moves out in all directions.
PEACE MAKING Some wars end when
one or both sides are too exhausted to go on fighting. But Jesus said "Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God" (Matthew
5:9). We are not children of God by procreation but by a change in
character effected by the Holy Spirit (see John 3:6-8). And one
of the first evidences that this change has begun to happen is that we
find ourselves having God's kind of love for those who don't deserve it.
Jesus said "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so
that you may be the children of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:44-45).
Impartial love and prayer for both parties in a war or a quarrel is the
basic qualification for Jesus' kind of peacemaking. This is especially
true when we are one of the parties in a family quarrel. Jesus is not suggesting
we allow ourselves to get walked over. A woman being cruelly divorced needs
a good lawyer. We have a right to begin with prayer for our own protection
(see VINDICATION).
But we accept the fact that God the Father loves the other party impartially,
and longs to be the peacemaker for the good of both of us. God the Son
also reminds us that he made peace - at his own cost. And that prepares
us to let God the Holy Spirit guide us to take creative steps into peace
making.
PELLA Just 2 miles (3 km) east
of the Jordan river (modern Tabquat Fahil 50 miles, 80 km north
of Jericho and 18 miles south of the Sea of Galilee) was the ancient city
of Pella. It was settled by Macedonian colonists, destroyed in the Maccabean
period, and rebuilt by the Roman general Pompey (Consul 70-48 BC) as one
of the ten cities of the Decapolis. Jesus had warned his disciples to leave
Jerusalem as soon as they saw it being surrounded (Matthew 24:15-18,
Mark 13:14-16. Luke 21:20-22 and made clear that the signal
would be when the Roman legions were on their doorstep, 69 AD). Eusebius
recorded that the Christians of Judea, "having been commanded by a divine
revelation removed from the city, and dwelt in a certain town beyond the
Jordan, called Pella" (Ecclesiastical History 3.5). The Church of
Pella flourished from the second century till the Arab armies came in to
take Jerusalem (638 AD).
PELAGIANISM Soon after the year
400 AD a British monk named Pelagius came to Rome and wrote commentaries
on the Epistles of Paul. He denied that the sin of Adam was transmitted
by procreation, and so made infected and guilty the whole of humanity (as
set out by St. Augustine in 397 AD, see ORIGINAL
SIN). Pelagianism was condemned by several Popes of Rome and at
least seven councils, but we do not even know the dates of his birth or
death, and what he actually believed is all second hand through the writings
of his enemies. In our day when a doctrine is called Pelagian it is usually
because it suggests that a person can be saved by good works. Our model
of Creative Love Theism denies that we can attain perfection by our own
unaided efforts. Paul explained that the bondage of our will (Romans
7:14, 23) has its origin, not in Adam's original sin, but in our fleshly
instincts which have no desire to do the good that is required for us to
be perfected in love (Romans 7:18-19). The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians
5:22-23, see John 15:1-5) are not within our power to produce.
They can only appear by setting our mind on the creative power of the Spirit
(Romans 8:4-6).
PENTECOSTALISM recovered the basic
truth that it is impossible to function as a Christian without the power
of the Holy Spirit (Romans 1:4,16, 8:5-7,15:13). Their gatherings
were able to begin with music that appeals to a younger generation. When
a person first experiences the infilling of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians
5:18-19) there may be strong emotions and manifestations such quaking,
shaking, groaning, crying, laughing, falling to the ground, speaking in
tongues. Things only go badly wrong when people imagine it is producing
the signs that counts, and they feel the need to experience these manifestations
again and again to be sure of their faith. In gatherings like the Toronto
Airport Christian Fellowship people are allowed to express these emotions
(as in a hockey match or football game), and the leaders recognize that
some excitable people may get carried away. A problem is that the attempt
to control them can easily move into legalism (Galatians 3:3-5)
with an emphasis on obeying cultural rules and submitting to authoritarian
leaders. Rather than risk quenching the Spirit (Ephesians 5:19-20)
better let the Holy Spirit channel this enthusiasm in creative directions
through regular teaching of the Word of God.
PERFECTIONISM There is the healthy
pursuit of perfection in a cabinet maker, pianist, writer, or accountant.
But people who demand perfection from others cause immense misery, and
eventually destroy themselves. So why does the first chapter of the Sermon
on the Mount end with "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect" (Matthew 5:48)? The word "therefore" refers to the perfection
in love that Jesus has outlined in terms of anger, adultery, divorce, making
promises, retaliation, relating to enemies. How can we possibly hope to
be perfect in any of these areas? Evidently we are being given a vision
of God's kind of perfect love. This is what God has in mind for us. But
we know that it is not attained by LEGALISM
and self-effort. It is more like a syllabus of what the Holy Spirit will
be working on as we learn each according to our own pace, sequence and
ability. We certainly cannot demand perfection in another. And if we demand
it of ourselves we will live riddled with guilt. What we can do is pray
"Holy Spirit I am angry with so and so" (tempted with lust, living a lie,
determined to retaliate viciously, hating an enemy) and I need you to create
your kind of love in my heart for this situation.
PERFUME We are still shocked by
the price of perfume. And Judas calculated that this flask of pure nard
(nalda from India) could have been sold for the equivalent of a
year's wages. It could have been used to feed the poor. Mary probably had
it set aside for her wedding day, but she did not say anything. She just
broke off the stopper, poured the ointment on Jesus' feet and wiped them
with her hair so that "the house was filled with the fragrance" (John
12:3-4). But Jesus knew that Mary was the only one at the party who
grasped what was about to happen to him. Then he made a strange statement
that does not fit our usual Christian activism. "You always have the poor
with you, but you do not always have me." There are occasions for meeting
physical needs, but there is also a time for extravagant devotion. Spiritual
discernment is to know the difference.
PERGA see PAMPHYLIA
PERGAMUM When the Apostle John
wrote to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1:4). The one that
was the furthest north in the Province of Asia was Pergamum (modern Bergama
Revelation
1:4, 2:12). Its library was the second largest in the world after ALEXANDRIA.
In Paul's day this was the capital of the province, and "Satan's throne"
(Revelation 2:13) may refer to the imperial cult with its demand
that the emperor be worshiped. It was furthest city in the north of the
Province of Asia Minor a hundred miles (160 km) as the crow flies due north
of Ephesus, and there is no evidence that Paul visited there. But as a
result of his teaching in the hall of Tyrannus for two years "all the residents
of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord" (Acts 19:10).
PERSECUTION In a Toronto Globe
and Mail article (March 1, 2003) Martin Levin wonders why massive injustice
against Christians is less newsworthy than "Tantric Sex for your Pet."
As evidence for the fact that "Christians are not only discriminated against
but actively oppressed," Levin refers to the Dutch historian J. Gyula Orban's
Violence
Against Christians in the Year 2001. It is a vast "catalogue of outrage
and injustice," and that is only a sample of what happened just in a single
year. Levin wonders "why there is no outcry in the Christian West?" One
reason is that Jesus made it clear that there are rewards for Christian
service but persecution is inevitable (Mark 10:30). Having viciously
persecuted the followers of Jesus before his conversion, Paul later wrote,
"all who want to live a godly life in Jesus the Messiah will be persecuted"
(2 Timothy 3:11-12). As evidence of his work as apostle he listed
"Imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five time
I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I
was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning" (2 Corinthians 11:23-25).
We take it for granted that when you take up the cross of love, you are
going to get hurt. That is why Paul said "I am content with weaknesses,
insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of the Messiah;
for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). He
did not expect sympathy for the persecutions he endured, and we do not
agitate or expect the press to fight for us. But we are glad that Levin
was surprised.
PERSIA see IRAN
- The original inhabitants were Elamites (see ELAM)
who are listed as Shemites (not Semites) under SHEM.
As a result of the Aryan invasion (c.1500-1000 BC) of Medes (Madai in
Genesis
10:2) and Persians the language became Persian, which belongs to the
INDO-EUROPEAN
group listed under JAPHETH in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10:2-5).
After Nebuchadnezzar II (King of Babylon 605-562 BC) had destroyed Jerusalem
(586 BC), The Persian King Cyrus II (c.559-530) was able to topple Babylon
(539 BC) as predicted by Isaiah (Isaiah 13:1-22). He then ordered
some Jewish exiles to return (538 BC) to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36:22-23)
to rebuild the temple (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah).
But many Jews remained in Persia (see the book of Esther). Persia
engaged in a long war (499-449 BC) against the Greeks which ended when
the Persian navy was defeated in the battle of Salamis (480 BC). Persia
fell to Alexander the Great at the battle if Issus (331 BC). It had many
Christian churches (see EDESSA)
before Ctesiphon the capital was taken by the ARABS (c.641 BC). In recent
times the name was changed to
IRAN
(1935). There was a brief monarchy till the Shah was exiled (1979) and
an Islamic republic was established. As a result Christian influence almost
disappeared. There was a terrible bloody war against IRAQ
(1980-88).
PETER The fisherman, who was chosen
as the first LEADER
of the Christian church is described as an impetuous imperfect man. But
Jesus said "I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew
16:19). As
CEO
his task was to free others to enter what could have been a sect, and invite
them to engage in the work of the MESSIAH.
He used this unexpected authority to welcome 3,000 orthodox Jews into the
church in Jerusalem, then he formed a synagogue of easy-going Greek speaking
Jews, he let the despised Samaritans have a
CHURCH
in their city, and he even welcomed the family of a Roman officer to form
a congregation in CAESAREA
(see
KEYS).
That is what leadership is all about.
PETER THE GREAT The interference
of the Russian Othodox Church in politics was broken by Peter 1 (the Great)
who reigned (1672-1725) and took over absolute power as Czar of RUSSIA(1689).
He founded St. Petersburg (later called LENINGRAD),
moved the capital from Moscow (1713), and soon transformed Russia into
a European nation from the Black Sea to the Baltic. He abolished the Moscow
Patriarchate and made the RUSSIAN
ORTHODOX CHURCH a department of the state. By paying the clergy
(see CLERICS)
he brought them under state control. The Church gained a huge amount of
security, but lost its freedom and spiritual authority for two hundred
years. With the revolution of 1917 (see LENIN)
the church lost its security and the prestige it had under the Czars, but
regained its spiritual freedom. And with the toppling of the Communists
in 1989 Christian churches were welcomed to their rightful place as servants
of God engaging in spiritual service (see SERVANT
LEADERSHIP). .
PHARISEES In all religions, there
are tiresome people with a huge zeal for God, but they imagine that faith
is making rules for oneself and for others. By studying the Old Testament
the Pharisees of Jesus' day listed the 613 commandments required to obey
the law (torah). 248 of these were positive and 365 were negative.
Among these negatives there were 39 things prohibited on the sabbath day.
Obviously it was impossible to keep these burdensome rules, and Jesus gave
people the freedom to be free of them. That is why the Pharisees hounded
him to the kill. As Jesus predicted, the whole Pharisee establishment in
Jerusalem would be destroyed in the events of AD 70, which would "come
upon this generation" (Matthew 23:36). The problem is that a legalistic,
judgmental mentality is the weed that Satan continues to sow as a perennial
in all our churches. Paul wrote, "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched
you? Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing
what you heard? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with
the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1-3. Here the flesh is living by rules).
PHILADELPHIA The Apostle John wrote
to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1:4). One of them was
Philadelphia (The Greek word
Philadelphia means city of brotherly
love, Revelation 3:7). It was located ninety miles as the crow flies
east-north-east from Ephesus (modern
Alasehir) There is no evidence
that Paul visited there, but as a result of teaching in the hall of Tyrannus
for two years "all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the
word of the Lord" (Acts 19:10).
PHILIP, the Evangelist There was
a Philip who was one of the twelve apostles (Matthew 10:3). This
Philip was one of the seven elders of the first Greek-speaking synagogue
in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 6:1-6). After the martyrdom of
Stephen, Philip was moved by the Spirit to take the good news to the Samaritans.
As a result a church of the Spirit was formed in the city of Samaria (Acts
8:4-17). His next task was to baptize a senior official of the Queen
of Ethiopia (Acts 8:26-39). The Spirit then guided him to work (probably
planting a church in each city) all the way north along the Mediterranean
coast to CAESAREA
(Acts 8:40). He decided to make that city his home base, and we
later find his four daughters functioning as prophets (Acts 21:8-16)
in the congregations of that big cosmopolitan church. He probably supported
Paul when he was imprisoned in that city. In our day any ordinary Christian,
who have the gift of persuading others to learn from Jesus the Messiah
(Matthew 11:22-29) should be honored as an
EVANGELIST
as Philip was.
PHILIPPI Macedonia stretched from
the Aegean port cities of Neapolis, Amphipolis, and Apollonia (Acts
16:11; 17:1) west across the area north of Achaia (Greece) to the Adriatic.
When Paul had his vision of a man of Macedonia inviting him over to help
them Silas and Luke joined him (probably leaving Timothy in Troas, Acts
16:11) to plant the church in the city of Philippi (as described in
Acts
16:10-40). Philippi had become a Roman colony (42 BC), and it was populated
by army veterans, and business people from far and wide (Acts 16:14).
His Epistle to the Church of Philippi was written when Paul was in prison
(Philippians 1:12-13) Many have assumed (based on Philippians
4:22) that the Epistle was written from Rome, but the movements
of Paul's team (e.g. Philippians 2:25-30, 2 Timothy 4:9-21) make
it almost certain that Paul wrote from Ephesus. (There seems to be a scribal
error in 2 Timothy 1:16-17 reading
en romy meaning in Rome
as opposed to Paul's en ropy meaning in the nick of time). From
the Epistle we know that the church in Philippi sent support for Paul's
team (Philippians 1:5; 4:10, 14-18). Paul revisited the church and
used it as a base for the outreach to Dalmatia and
ILLYRICUM
(Acts 20:1-6, Romans 15:19, 2 Timothy 4:10). The Epistle is best
known for its hymn of the
INCARNATION
(Philippians 2:5-11).
PHILLIPS, J. B. The year I was
converted from atheism to Christian faith J. B. Phillips (born 1906) published
a translation of Paul's Epistles titled Letters to Young Churches (1947).
They were an instant success, and they have spawned his own and many other
translations of the New Testament into simple readable English. I was also
helped by his book titled Your God is Too Small (London: Epworth
Press, 1952, with a dozen reprints in 20 years). When I wondered what denomination
to join, I was helped out of confusion by his observation that "Churches
give the outsider the impression that God works almost exclusively through
the machinery they have erected and, what is worse damns all other machinery
which does not bear their label" (Your God is Too Small p.36).
That insight has influenced much of what I have written on this website
about the one church in each city and the DENOMINATIONS
that support a wide variety of Christian expressions. See Phillips' comments
on HURRY
and RESPONSIBILITY.
PHILISTINES According to the Table
of Nations the Philistines belonged to the same language group as the Egyptians
and the Minoans who settled Crete (Genesis 10:13). That means they
would have spoken a similar HAMITIC
form of language (wrongly named Semitic) as the Canaanites. One group of
them, known as Sea Peoples, established a colony in Palestine, and for
300 years they fought constant battles against the invading Israelites.
They were organized under the five cities (Joshua 13:2-3) of Ashdod
(1 Samuel 5:1-7) and Ekron (1 Samuel 5:10) in the north,
Gath in the foothills (1 Samuel 5:8, 21:10-14), Ashkelon on the
coast (Judges 1:18), and Gaza (Judges 16:1, 21-30) now known
as the Gaza strip. Each of these cities had a temple where Dagon (see 1
Samuel 5:2-7) was worshiped. The Philistines defeated the Israelite
army led by Saul and his son Jonathan (1 Samuel 31:1-7). Kind David
had previously killed their champion Goliath (1 Samuel 17:41-54),
but when he became king he finally decimated them (2 Samuel 5:17-25,
8:1), and they disappeared from history. But the Philistines (Hebrew
pelistim)
gave their name to what is now known as Palestine.
PHILO (c.10 BC to 45 AD) was a
wealthy Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria. That was the city where
the Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint LXX version).
He wrote many books which attempted to interpret the Old Testament in the
light of Greek philosophy by using the allegorical method (of which he
seems to have been the originator). Some suggest that the Epistle to the
Hebrews was influenced by this approach, and was perhaps written in Alexandria.
We can certainly assume that Apollos of Alexandria (Acts 18:24-25)
had been influenced by Philo's philosophy. The Logos was a key part of
his philosophical system, but Philo was not consistent in incorporating
this into his theological model. His insights and methods were however
adopted in the development of Christian apologetics and theology in the
next three centuries, for example by Clement of Alexandria and Origen of
Alexandria. But he also commended the experience of ecstasy as a way of
knowing the presence of God in the human heart (compare 2 Corinthians
12:1-7).
PHILOSOPHY Sophia means wisdom
(as in Proverbs 1:2, 20, 8:1, 9:1). So the Greek word philosophia
means
the love of wisdom. That seems to have been true of Socrates (c.470-399
BC), and he is remembered for the "Socratic Method" of asking questions
to expose a person's basic assumptions. A philosophical system is a particular
person's explanation of the meaning of the world and our life in it. As
taught in our universities, philosophy is the discussion of what can be
known with absolute certainty (see LOGIC).
And one of the key questions has focused on the proofs for the existence
of God. But you cannot prove the existence of beauty, justice, love, energy,
least of all God - you can only describe your experience of them. Paul
said that "in the sophia of God, the world did not know God through
sophia"
which is why he avoided philosophical discussion (see 1 Corinthians
1:21, 2:1). Like Jesus, he never made any attempt to prove that the
creator (Artist) of our world exists. We can see his handiwork (Genesis
1). For Paul's encounter with some philosophers see ATHENS.
PHOENICIANS The CANAANITES
were driven out of CANAAN,
but continued to the north as the Phoenicians based on the cities of Tyre
and Sidon. They quickly began using the alphabetic language developed at
the time of Abraham (see ALPHABET).
Their Hamitic (see
HAM)
language went with them to their colonies around Carthage in North Africa.
The Greek alphabet was probably taken over from the Phoenicians. The woman
whose daughter Jesus healed was "of Syrophoenician origin" (Mark 7:26),
and Paul was later welcomed by the church in Tyre (Acts 21:3-7).
PHRYGIA 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 area of Phrygia to the west of ANTIOCH
in Pisidia. In Paul's day the area straddled the Provinces of Galatia
and ASIA
Minor. During the second overseas missionary Paul, Silas, joined
by Timothy (Acts 16:1), traveled across present-day Turkey intending
to go straight on the main road west to Ephesus. But they were "forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia" so they went "through the
region of Phrygia" (Acts 16:6). From the area of Phrygia they went
north through the western part of the large Province of Galatia, and tried
to go into BITHYNIA.
PIETISTS A hundred and fifty years
after Martin LUTHER,
Herbert Spener (1635-1705) felt the need to bring Lutheran congregationsback
to life from the formality and control of their ministers. In 1666 at Frankfurthe
began devotional meetings for prayer and Bible study twice weekly in his
own house. He encouraged lay people without theological training to share
their thoughts from the Bible, and this very much displeased the professional
theologians. Such gatherings grew into a great movement of renewal across
Germany, and resulted in the foundation of the University of Halle (1694).
But the theological faculty in Wittenberg counterattacked with the publication
of a list of 383 errors in his teaching. As often happens, this movement
of the Spirit soon fell back into legalism, but it also flourished in the
missionary spirit of the Moravian colony at Herrnhut. John WESLEYcame
to personal faith (1738) through the Moravians. He adopted the pietist
model of small groups (class meetings) of his converts from open air preaching
to revive the Church of England. We could view the Pietist movement as
the origin of the house groups which have mushroomed in our day. For many
they have replaced regular denominational gatherings.
PIGS Among Jews the pig was viewed
as an unclean animal (Leviticus 11:7-8 see PORK).
This suggests that the 2000 pigs that drowned like lemmings near the city
of Gadara were owned by people who did not want to be viewed as Jews (Mark
5:1-17).
PILGRIM'S PROGRESS see BUNYAN,
John
PLAGUE A recurrence of the Bubonic
Plague (1348-50 seeBLACK
DEATH) carried off 70,000 victims in London (1665), and it was
followed by the fire of London (1666). It is now known that the main form
of plague is transmitted by the bite of flees carried by infected rats.
Two other forms infect the lungs and the blood. All forms of the plague
are now controlled by immunization with a vaccine. That does not contradict
an unseen divine origin, as in the plagues before the Exodus from Egypt.
There is an account of a pestilence sent by the LORD when 70,000 people
died before the LORD heard prayer and averted it (2 Samuel 24:15, 25).
185,000 soldiers of Sennacherib's army died overnight (2 Kings 1935). And
the pale green horse of death killed by sword, famine, and pestilence (Revelation
6:8). Based on such references some blamed the plague of London
on the
WRATH
of God due to the restoration of Charles II (1660-85) and the Act of Uniformity
(1662) when 2,000 ministers were ejected from the Church of England, and
both Protestant Independents and Roman Catholics were severely persecuted
by the Conventicle Act (1664). For an account of how other scourges have
devastated populations, including the native peoples of America, see William
H. McNeill, Peoples and Plagues, New York: Random House 1976, Anchor
paperback 1998.
PLYMOUTH BRETHREN J.N.Darby (1800-82)
was an Anglican priest who wanted to retrieve the New Testament pattern
of assemblies governed by elders without a paid professional ministry.
He began in Ireland with believers (led by A. N. Groves) who joined in
a simple communion service (the Breaking of Bread). In 1830 he began the
first assembly in England at Plymouth (hence the name Plymouth Brethren).
A very influential member was George
MULLER,
who began a huge orphanage near Bristol. The aim was to gather a church
of true believers as opposed to the inclusiveness of the Anglicans, Methodists,
and Presbyterians. But the Brethren soon became a loosely connected denomination,
who only welcomed into fellowship those that they viewed as born-again
genuine believers. Their important contribution was to recover the idea
of the variety of spiritual gifts in each congregation. They included elders,
evangelists, and teachers, but they assumed that other more CHARISMATIC
gifts such as apostles, prophets, and speaking in tongues, died out in
the New Testament period (see The
Church: An Organic Picture). There was a basic division (which
began in 1845, and became final in 1849) between the Open Brethren and
the Exclusive Brethren. The latter, at first called Darbyites, to this
day keep themselves separate by refusing to eat with others (even family
members) who do not join with them.
POET The word comes from the Greek
poietes
which means someone who makes or does something (Greek verb
poieo to
make, create, perform). A poet is a creator by using words to name things.
This reminds us that God is the original CREATOR
by the power of his words. "God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was
light" (Genesis 1:3). "In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being
through him, and without him not one thing came into being" (John 1:1-3).
"By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared (katartizo means
put in order, put into proper condition, create) by the Word of God" (Hebrews
11:3). That means our world is God's poem for us to enjoy and gain
insight into reality. When our eyes are opened we see nature as full of
metaphors and imagery. But God also gave us the CREATIVITY
to be poets in his image. Ordinary poems are constructed by human ingenuity.
Lovers write love letters. And great poetry is given by the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. But all of us function as poets (creators) by the use
of words. When we adopt a cat, name it, and treat it as a pet by our use
of words, we have made it into something different from an alley cat. And
with children and adults "I love you," "I welcome you," "I forgive you,"
"I pray for you" are all creative acts.
POLITICAL EQUALITY In mathematics
it makes sense to say that 2 + 3 + 4 is equal to the product of 3 x 3.
That is a certainty built into Base 10 maths. But the only place where
mathematics works in politics is in the slogan of "one man one vote." But
even this has to be interpreted. Ancient Athens was a democracy, but slaves
were not allowed to vote. In Russia women were given the right to vote
in the Revolution (1917). In Germany women were enfranchised (1919), but
under the Nazis (1933-45) Jews were excluded. In the United States white
women began voting in1920, but in France (see FRENCH
REVOLUTION, Slogan) this was delayed till the end of the war in
1945. In the United States Black people had to fight against the unfair
restriction of the vote to poll tax payers, and property owners. Where
a religion is
PATRIARCHAL by definition
the right of women to vote is impossible until there is a separation of
CHURCH and State. In the
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES,
where locally born
ARABS are only
one tenth of the working population, there is no way the vote could be
extended to all residents.
POLITICS In our discussion of SYMBOLIC
WORLDS we note that individual commitments to different religions
and ideologies yield different perceptions of what is real and unreal.
In an absolute MONARCHY,
as in Saudi Arabia, or the previous dictatorship in IRAQ
under
SADDAM
HUSSEIN, religious and ideological differences can be suppressed.
But a DEMOCRACY
can only work if these differences are respected and allowed as much freedom
as possible. The solution in the United States was to allow total FREEDOM
OF RELIGION (by the first Amendment to the Constitution). America
still maintains the same (free) public school system for all citizens.
Many propose a voucher system to allow a variety of religious schools.
But if say ISLAM
is the religion of the majority (as in Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia) democratic
elections can result in parties coming to power that are intent on curtailing
the freedom of other religions. Christians live by Jesus' words "Give to
the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that
are God's" (Mark 12:17, see Romans 13:1-7). And they have
proved that as long as they have Bibles to read they can survive under
persecution (see CAPPADOCIA,
Underground churches).
POLITICS, Language In addition
to differences due to citizens living by a variety of religions and ideologies
(see SYMBOLIC
WORLDS) mutual understanding is hard if there is more than one
language of government (as in Canada with English and French). In India
where half a dozen major languages are spoken, a solution was to use English
as the common language among politicians. This is also a solution for the
problem of tribal languages of Africa, and increasingly so in a united
Europe. Where one language dominates a whole culture, as does Mandarin
in China, or Arabic in the Middle East, or in Indonesia, mutual understanding
with the rest of the world is very difficult. With the break up of the
U.S.S.R. Russian is being abandoned in the new republics, and we should
expect further disintegration. The Christian solution has been to translate
the Bible into hundreds of languages, and make sure that these Scriptures
are made available in every home wherever possible. Every language will
offer different insights into the character of Jesus the Messiah. But he
is free to reign through his Word in every place. For the choice of moral
alternatives see LANGUAGE,
Reality.
POLITICS, Machiavelli see MACHIAVELLI,
LEADER,
Political
POLAND, Early The Christianization
of Europe took 900 years. The origins of Poland as a nation can be said
to begin with the marriage of a Christian Princess, Dobrawa, sister of
Boleslav II of Bohemia, to the Polish Duke Mieszka. He was baptized (966
or 967), and the first Bishop of Poznan was appointed (968). As a result
Mieszka's son, Chrobry the Brave (ruled 992-1025) led Poland to become
the largest kingdom in eastern Europe. He was crowned King of Poland by
the Pope (1024). As a result of the REFORMATION
some parts of Poland became Protestant for fifty years, and the arts and
sciences flourished. With the incorporation of Lithuania (1569) Poland
stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. This prosperity only lasted
a hundred years till the monarchy was taken over by Saxony (1697), and
the country was divided between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. A century
later Poland became a Protectorate of Russia (1795). NAPOLEON(1769-1821)
came through Poland on his way to the rout of his army at the gates of
Moscow. As a result Poland reverted to Russian and Prussian control. After
World War I Poland was finally granted its independence as a country and
became a republic. Since the baptism of Mieszka (967), and the defeat of
Protestantism (1572), the Polish bishops have been solidly under the authority
of the Bishop of Rome.
POLAND, Modern Hitler's armies
invaded Poland (September 1, 1939), and this provoked World War II.. The
country was partitioned between Germany and Russia, and thousands of Jews
died in the Warsaw uprising. Only half a million Polish Jews out of the
previous three million survived the gas chambers of the Holocaust. The
German army was expelled by the advancing Russians (1945), and Poland became
a Soviet state as Communists (see MARXISM)
took over the government. Gomulka came to power (1956-70) and put down
strikes and serious unrest. Lech Walesa founded Solidarity in the port
city of Gdansk, which was banned till 1987 and after the collapse of Communism
in Russia he was elected President (1990-93). He made friendship treaties
with the newly united Germany, France and Russia (the last Russian troops
did not leave Poland till 1994). The election of Karol Wojtyla as Pope
John Paul II (1987) firmly established Roman Catholicism as the religion
of Poland.
POLYGAMY In patriarchal cultures
it was acceptable for a man to have more than one wife (Genesis 4:19,
29:21-27, 1 Samuel 1:2, 25:42-44). Solomon was not faulted for having
wives for political reasons, but for having too many of them and adopting
their idolatry (1 Kings 11:1-8). Early missionaries in Africa foolishly
forced converts to keep one wife, and dismiss the others. But the early
church was much wiser. Monogamy was not required for baptism, or church
membership, but polygamy was forbidden in the choice of elders (1 Timothy
3:2, Titus 1:6). Why did polygamy end so quickly in the first generation
of the church? Paul must have learned from Jesus and the first apostles
the total mutuality he set out in his instructions for Christian marriage
(1 Corinthians 7:1-16). The mutual submission of a couple is incompatible
with having more than one wife. "The wife does not have authority over
her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have
authority over his own body, but the wife does . . . the unbelieving husband
is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through
her husband" (1 Corinthians 7:4, 14).
POLYTHEISM In the Bible the Artist
or Creator of our world (Genesis 1) is in due course given many
names to describe his work and character. There can only be one God, but
nations soon got the idea that their tribal or national god was more powerful
than others. Baal was worshiped among the Canaanites, Dagon was the god
of the Philistines, the Ammonites served Milcom, Rimmon was the god of
Syria, and Egypt had many gods. Among the ancient Indo-Europeans, instead
of looking to the Creator (Greek Zeus, Latin Deus, Sanskrit
Deva,
French Dieu) people imagined that there are different gods fighting
and lusting against one another. And each of these gods expected to be
honored and bribed for various favors. Polytheism inevitably has a weakening
and fragmenting effect in a nation. Muhammad managed to wean the various
Arabian tribes from polytheism into the worship of ALLAH
(Elohim or El in Hebrew), and the resultant ISLAM
became a powerful force and it flowered in a great Arab civilization. The
growth and power of America was derived from the idea of "One nation under
God," but one wonders how any civilization can survive by throwing God
out of our schools.
PONTUS Among the Jews present on
the Day of Pentecost were some from "CAPPADOCIA,
PONTUS, ASIA
MINOR, PHRYGIA, and PAMPHYLIA
(Acts 2:9). Pontus was the province next to Bithynia, so some of
these must have taken the good news of Jesus the Messiah back to that area.
The apostle Peter wrote a letter to "the exiles of the Dispersion," one
of which was the Province of Pontus (1 Peter 1:1). Sinope was the
port for Pontus on the north shore of Turkey, and it was the capital of
the Province. So there was certainly a church there by the time Peter wrote
to them.
POOR Together with widows, orphans,
and strangers, Moses gave strict instructions that the poor should be protected
and cared for (Exodus 22:22-25, Proverbs 14:31, Psalm 41:1, 82:3-4).
They were in danger due to the perversion of justice (Exodus 23:6, Amos
2:6, 5:12). Every seventh year the land must be left fallow, and only
the poor should eat its fruits (Exodus 23:10-11). No one should
be tight-fisted with the poor (Deuteronomy 15:7-10, Psalm 112:9).
Job claimed he was "a father to the needy" (Job 29:16). And when
the poor cry out, God takes note of their plight (1 Samuel 2:8, Psalm
69:33, 107:41, 109:31, 140:12). The early Christians were expected
to welcome poor people to a banquet (Luke 14:13, 21). And in a church
gathering they must not honor the rich as more important than the poor
(James 2:1-6). See POVERTY.
POOR, Liberation A month before
the opening of the Second Vatican Council Pope John XXIII expressed his
hopes for "the Church of all the people and, in particular, of the poor"
(Vatican Radio, September 11, 1962). One result of this in South
America was the emergence of LIBERATION
THEOLOGY (see Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation:
Politics and Salvation, in Spanish1971, New York: Orbis Books, 1973).
This was a movement of middle-class people writing about and working for
the poor. But it was the BASECOMMUNITIES
that empowered poor people to see the implications of the Bible for their
own liberation and freed them to organize themselves for an EXODUS
out of poverty. We might compare the impact of John WESLEY
among the miners, and the early METHODIST
movement which effected the social changes which saved Britain from the
horrors of the French Revolution. Similar changes took place through the
group movements that brought millions into churches in India and other
parts of the world (see The
Church: An Organic Picture, chapter 4 and Go
Make Learners
chapter 8).
POPE The more people are impressed
by a great leader's energy, love, and dedication, the harder it is to question
details of what he or she has insisted on. But no human leader (whether
LUTHER,
CALVIN,
WESLEY,
William Booth, or the Archbishop of Canterbury) is infallible. Some Popes
ordered CRUSADES
to crush the infidels, and other Popes allowed the Inquisition to torture
people into faith. As a Protestant with great respect for the current Pope
(John Paul II, elected 1978), I suggest five areas in which I hope another
Pope will lead the Vatican in new directions. It is time to distinguish
the missionary orders, who can encourage celibacy for some kinds of service,
from parish clergy who would often be more effective married. We now recognize
that Jesus' church is to function as an organic body with many members
(1 Corinthians 12:4-13). That is not compatible with hierarchy,
enthronement, and human lordship. Nor does it allow us to divide the CHURCH,
Body to exclude women from ordination for certain functions. Roman
Catholics should not be forced to deny the faith if they practice birth
control. I also object to rules that exclude other Christians from the
Lord's Table.
POPE JOHN XXIII (Pope 1958-63)
The first sign of a powerful wind of change among Roman Catholics was the
fact that Pope John refused to be "enthroned" (that would be taking the
Messiah's place). Within a year (1959) he had called the second VATICAN
COUNCIL (it met 1962-65), which received collegial input from bishops,
theologians, and lay people all over the world. For a brief, heady time
the power and rigid conservatism of the Roman Curia seemed to be contained.
The communion cup was offered to the laity, and married men were ordained
to the diaconate. Soon after the Council Christians in every country were
encouraged to read the Bible and worship in their national language rather
than in Latin. As a Protestant I remember finding myself welcomed as a
brother in God's family. I did not need to submit to the Roman Catholic
denomination to make it to heaven. But sadly the windows that Pope John
had so courageously opened were soon closed to maintain the tight control
of the Vatican.
POPE JOHN PAUL II(born in Poland
1920, elected Pope 1978) As a contrast to POPE
JOHN XXIII, who looked forward to change, John Paul II was formed
by "the Church's singularly successful, no-nonsense resistance to communism
in Poland: a combination of old-fashioned pieties, unquestioned doctrinal
certainties, down to earth preoccupation with basic human rights, and a
dose of sheer populism" (Adrian Hastings, Modern Catholicism: Vatican
II and After, London SPCK, 1991). With tremendous energy John Paul
has presented himself as an impressive figure-head in many countries. But
he has backtracked on the collegiality of the second
VATICAN
COUNCIL, and refused to move an inch in the direction of giving
up hierarchical control. He has not allowed priests to marry, or opened
the door for women to be ordained. He does not admit members of other denominations
to communion, and he condemns birth control (other than abstinence). He
has also tried to make sure by his appointment of Cardinals and Bishops
that the next Pope will remain as immutable as he is.
PORK (French porc meaning
meat from a pig used for food). The eating of pork was forbidden among
Jews (Leviticus 11:7-8), as it is still forbidden for a MUSLIM
of any nation. But Jesus "declared all foods clean" (Mark 7:19),
and as a result of the revelation to Peter the old kosher rules
were completely dismantled among Christians. (Acts 10:14-15).
PORNEIA The Greek word porne
means a prostitute, so porneia is prostitution type behavior. The
word is unhelpfully translated FORNICATION
(as in Matthew 5:32, 19:9; 1 Corinthians 6:13, 18; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians
3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Acts 15:20). In some cases it is translated
sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1, 7:2; 2 Corinthians 12:21).
In our day porneia
includes sleeping around and the sex for fun
that is practiced by many young people. Paul lists it as one of the works
of the flesh in the sense that casual sex is instinctive behavior that
can be engaged in without help from God and with a modicum of human effort
(Galatians 5:19). God's kind of love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians5:22).
In PATRIARCHY it is assumed that a woman
must be faithful, but a man can engage in as many affairs before and after
marriage as he chooses. Only sex with a married woman is forbidden (see
Adultery
: An Exploration of Love and Marriage). In total contrast, for
Paul the purpose of sex is to express our worship (worthship) in a committed
relationship based on mutual submission (as in 1 Corinthians 7:1-16).
In our day sleeping around may teach some sexual techniques (like playing
golf to improve one's handicap) but it is not a good preparation for a
faithful love marriage. When porneia
has been engaged in, there
can be forgiveness, real heart cleansing (Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21),
and a miraculous change (Romans 7:14-8:8) effected by the power
of the Holy Spirit. But without that change, the prognosis for marriage
is dismal.
PORTENTS We expect the sun and
moon, planets and stars to continue in their normal courses. So a portent
is something in the heavens which is totally unexpected. But the word portent
can also be used metaphorically. Babylon was the capital of the empire
that force-marched the people of Israel into exile. But Isaiah announced
the day of the Lord that would topple that ruthless empire: "The stars
of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the
sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light . .
. I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of
its place" (Isaiah 13:10, 13). Here the sun was the emperor, the
moon was the queen, the stars were the generals, the nobility, and the
rich merchants. And Jesus quoted the same portents from Isaiah to predict
the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem in AD 70 (Matthew
24:29, 34). As Mary sang, God brings down "the powerful from their
thrones" (Luke 1:52) throughout human history.
PORT ROYAL was founded (1204) as
a convent of CISTERCIAN
nuns on a marshy site 18 miles south-west of Paris. It suddenly came into
the public eye when the Abbess Angelique Arnauld (1591-1661) had an experience
of deep conversion (1608). She and her sister Agnes came under the influence
(1633) of the JANSENISTS.
The scientist and philosopher PASCAL
(1632-62) spent his last eight years in strict retreat near the Port Royal
convent.
POVERTY Some religions say that
it is impossible to make progress in the right direction until you divest
yourself of all your possessions. That makes poverty a good in itself.
But when artists, actors, and activists put up with poverty for a time,
they are not ascetics. They hope for better days when they will be recognized
and enjoy plenty. Even the Messiah's voluntary poverty was only temporary
for the purpose of his work. "For the sake of the joy that was set before
him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat
at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2, see Philippians
2:8-9). Paul was willing to suffer extreme deprivation on his missionary
journeys, but he was not an ascetic. "I know what it is to have little,
and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have
learned the secret of having plenty and of being in need" (Philippians
4:12). There is no merit in poverty for its own sake. It is often the
cost of certain kinds of Christian service, but the preaching of austerity
does not commend our good news.
POWER , Gospel Paul said "I am
not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
who has faith" (Romans 1:16). Many interpret faith as accepting
the power of God to forgive us on the basis of the sacrifice of his Son.
On this website we view forgiveness as part of the eternal love of God
(already known in Psalm 103:1-13). Forgiveness does not need to
be paid for by a law court transaction (see ONCE
FOR ALL, JUSTIFICATION).
The cross is the visible expression in our space-time world of the heart
of God (see LAMB).
The good news that Paul preached was the power of the Holy Spirit to transform
us. "My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of Spirit and of power (1 Corinthians 2:4).
This is the thrust of the Epistle to the Romans, which builds up to Chapter
8 on the power of the Spirit (as set out in our
Romans
Commentary). It concludes with the prayer "that you may abound
in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13). Similarly
"Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly
far more than all we can ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20) and "May
you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power"
(Colossians 1:11, see Acts 1:8). This power is what Jesus
had in mind for his disciples at the Last Supper (John 14:12-17, 26;
15:26; 16:7-15). In our day people know that God loves and forgives,
but what they desperately need is the power of the Spirit to transform
their shabby lives.
POWER, of the Holy Spirit The key
to Paul's effectiveness was "My speech and my proclamation were not with
plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and of power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God"
(1 Corinthians 2:4-5). A sermon can be based on human logic offering
propositions and arguments ending with a conclusion. But faith based on
such "plausible words of wisdom" is easily shaken by other arguments. That
is why he said "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus and him
crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). There is the totally unexpected
simplicity and power of the "old, old story." It focuses on Jesus' coming
into our world, his love for ordinary people, his willingness to die, his
resurrection, and his release of the power of the Holy Spirit in our churches.
Faith is based on what God has done, not on the logic of our reason. Then
as the power of the Spirit is experienced we begin to "understand the gifts
bestowed on us by God" (1 Corinthians 2:12). Those gifts include
God's love for us as individual persons, our forgiveness and total acceptance
as children in his family, our freedom to let the Spirit pray in us, produce
his fruit in us, and empower us with spiritual gifts. Paul expresses the
result in his blessing "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Spirit"
(Romans 15:13).
POWER, Holy Spirit see POWER,
Gospel and Romans
Commentary,
Introduction
POWER, World The Greeks used triremes.
Romans built roads for their legions. Arabs had camels to give them power
in the desert. The Spanish built galleons for their colonies. Britannia
defeated their Armada (1588) and ruled the waves with warships. The Germans
used tanks and submarines. Stalin used the KGB. Americans wrested air power
from the Japanese. Except for a few years under Solomon (c.971-931 BC),
the Jews never had a great empire, and they should have known that God's
Kingdom does not work by military power. "Not my might, nor by power, but
by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). This is why
the MESSIAH
decided to have his churches of the Spirit in every city scattered throughout
the world.. They are never to depend on political power to do their work
as leaven in society. Depending on the power of the Roman Empire did not
help. The CRUSADESwere
a disaster. Russian Orthodox churches were muzzled by the Czars. Christians
have always been at their best when they are persecuted and rely only on
the power of the Spirit. That is why Paul wanted us to "abound in hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13, 19, 1 Corinthians 2:4,
4:20). "We do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons
of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy
strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4).
PRAGUE Prague Castle was built
(870), a Bishop was appointed (973), and the city became the residence
of the first Bohemian King Vratislav I. It was the capital of the Bohemian
Kingdom and Holy Roman Empire (1346-78). A hundred years before the REFORMATION
John HUSS
became the Rector of Prague University (1402) and preached the pre-Protestant
ideas ofJohn
WYCLIFFE.
Huss
was excommunicated (1411) and burned at the stake. After the first world-war
Prague became the capital of an independent Czechoslovakia (1918). The
city was occupied by Nazi Germany (1939-45), and later forced back under
Communist control (1948). With the separation of Slovakia (1993) Prague
has remained the capital of the Czech Republic. There is FREEDOM
OF RELIGION and slowly through various
DENOMINATIONS
and house gatherings Christian life is reappearing in the church of Prague.
PRAYERS The best prayers are given
to us by the HOLY
SPIRIT (Romans 8:26). We know they will be answered because
they come from the very heart of God. The first prayer I prayed the day
of my conversion (October 7, 1947) was "if you can do anything with me,
please get on with it." The prayer I was soon taught was "Open my eyes,
so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law" (Psalm 119:18,
and some of what I have seen is on this website). During five years in
the army I used to touch wood whenever something good happened (having
time to throw a grenade out of the pit when a recruit had pulled the pin
and let go). Now I say "Thank you, Lord" a hundred times a day for all
sorts of things. When the work is overwhelming, Jesus told me to pray "please
send more laborers" (Matthew 9:37). My first prayer every morning
is "Father, I am glad you are watching over me like a loving parent. Jesus,
as you reign all over the world, is there anything I can do for you today?
Holy Spirit, I need inspiration as I write, and I could do with some love,
joy, peace, and especially patience" (Galatians 5:22). Last week
I was given a new prayer "Lord help me to enjoy others and be a joy to
them today." When faced with three serious medical conditions, I have prayed
"Lord, touch me," and he did. But the apostle Paul got another answer (2
Corinthians 12:7-10).
PRAYER, Directness In many of the
Psalms God is addressed without any elaborate introduction. In Hebrew there
is often just one word "Yahweh" (LORD as in Psalms 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15,
etc.). In Greek the Lord's prayer begins with Father (Pater). Jesus
used the word Abba (equivalent to our Daddy), and Paul says this
is the natural cry of a Christian moved by the Spirit (Romans 8:15,
Galatians 4:6). Loving parents expect their children to blurt out what
is on their mind. There is no need to prepare an elaborate introduction
to inform God how great he is. God is not niggly. A common problem is that
Christians agonize in prayer week after week trying to find out the will
of the Lord for their lives. Better decide what we really long for, mention
that to God, discuss it with him, and wait to see him "accomplish abundantly
far more than all we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).
PRAYER for Government How do we
pray "for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity"? (1 Timothy
2:2). If we want to be involved in influencing the course of our world,
a good way is first to ask the Holy Spirit to help us picture the outcome
we long for. That may take time to clarify. Then we pray for that to happen.
The advantage of this is that, if we have got it wrong, God can correct
our perception, and in due course reveal to us what was his better purpose.
That enables us to learn in prayer. But if things work out as we prayed,
we then gain confidence in prayer the next time.
Right now (September 18, 2001 one week after the attack on Manhattan)
I am praying that world leaders will abandon the unattainable objectives
of bringing Bin Laden to justice and smoking out terrorism. Better give
the military the simple task of toppling the Taliban (who have consistently
supported Bin Laden's terrorism for years) by destroying their tanks and
guns and command posts (avoiding civilian casualties as far as possible).
When that is done the people of Afghanistan who long for freedom can take
over, Afghan women will be freed from terrible oppression, and aid agencies
and missions can feed the starving and help rebuild the country. Ben Laden
can be left to stew in his own juice till one of his own people kills him
as he has just murdered the leader of the Afghan opposition. That is an
outcome many people, including freedom loving Muslims would applaud. If
this plan and my prayer is wrong-headed I can trust God to do justice with
great love and compassion.
PRAISE On holiday in the Rockies,
we were looking at a magnificent glacier among spruce trees with a waterfall
into a crystal blue lake. Just in front of us a woman was enthusing about
the scene, but her husband said "It's just a pile of rocks with water at
the bottom." When you praise a superb winning goal in hockey, what if your
friend sneers and says "that's what he is paid for, isn't he!" C. S. Lewis
said that "Praise is inner health made audible" which means that a person
is spiritually sick if he or she cannot praise God. But we need to distinguish
praise from flattery. Flattery is buttering up someone to get what we want.
We do that with other humans, and some think you can do that with God.
But obviously God cannot be bribed. When we say "Look at that beautiful
sunset," C. S. Lewis pointed out that we are not looking for some advantage
from the sunset. The Presbyterian Shorter CATECHISM
asks "What is the chief end of man" and the answer is "Man's chief end
is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever." We glorify God by praising
him. And a good way to start is to praise the Father for his continuing
love for us, then praise the Son for his victory on the cross and his delight
in our friendship. Thirdly we praise the Holy Spirit's willingness to inspire
and empower us for every challenge we face. A daily diet of that kind of
appropriate praise is the most healing thing in the world.
PREACHING Some sermons entertain
by a string of stories. Others offer a pablum of trivialities that make
no difference to our life. And some preachers work hard at giving elaborate
explanations of Christian doctrine. The hardest to sit under are those
who nag us every week about what we should do (give more money, be kind,
serve others, love the world, save souls, save the environment). At an
anniversary gathering for the Diocese of Ontario, June 2, 2002, Canon Harold
Percy told us to change our preaching from OUGHT
TO in the direction of HOW TO.
Most of us have a pretty good idea of what we would like to be and do.
The problem is how to do it. Paul said "I can will what is right, but I
cannot do it" (Romans 7:18). But he immediately went on to give
us the HOW TO of life in the Spirit
(Romans 8:2-27). How do I love my wife, my kids, my parents, my
friends, my enemies, my fellow church members? How do I deal with my sex
life, anger, depression, failure, sickness, discouragement, loneliness?
How do I pray, read the Bible, talk to friends about faith? Alcoholics
Anonymous would be a disaster if they just preached "You OUGHT
TO be sober." They give the HOW TO
of freedom from guilt, brotherly love, and drawing on the higher power
that will change us.
PREDESTINATION In a
model called double-predestination our eternal destiny is settled already
in the mind of God. Only God has the right to choose us (as in the weighty
and very influential works of Benjamin Warfield, 1851-1921). Faced with
this fatalistic "decree" what do we make of references to being predestined
in the New Testament? "As many as had been destined for eternal life became
believers" (Acts 13:48). "Those whom he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29). These verses
refer back to the original purpose when the three Persons of the Trinity
said "Let us make humankind in our image" (Genesis 1:26). Since
God is love, we can only be made in the image of God by being perfected
in love. As Paul explains, "He chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love" (Ephesians
1:4-5, 9-11). On the one hand the Lamb of God keeps taking away the
sin of the world (John 1:29), and the extent of this became visible
on the cross, so nobody is excluded from heaven. But love can be welcomed
or rejected. So in John's Gospel we need to hold together the fact that
the Father gives us to the Son, and nobody can be perfected for the love
of heaven apart from him (John 6:37, 39, 44, 65, 17:2, 6, 9, 12, 24),
but we are given the awesome freedom to welcome or reject him (John
1:12,3:16-19, 36, 9:41, 12:46). "This is the judgment (Greek krisis)
that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather
than light" (John 3:19), and God does not settle that preference
for us (see ARMINIANISM).
For the different problem of the Jewish family line (Romans 9:7-21)
see Romans
Commentary.
PREDESTINATION Parable Clark
Pinnock illustrated predestination from the experience of many immigrants.
"When my father decided to emigrate to Canada he 'predetermined' me to
be a Canadian, and 'decreed' that Canada should be the locale in which
my own life and freedom should develop. This 'predestination' of course
did not nullify my own freedom; rather it provided for me certain prior
conditions for its exercise" (Grace Unlimited, Minneapolis:
Bethany Fellowship, 1975, p.102. But how do we answer the objection
that some are given the advantages of a Christian home, and others are
born in areas where there is no access to the love of God? Paul said "From
one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted
the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they
would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him
and find him - though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For in
him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:26-28).
This suggests that God has predestined every person to be born into an
environment, however bad, in which he or she has the basic human freedom
to grope for the light of God's love. It seems that little children and
retarded individuals do this naturally. It is only later that love can
be rejected and eternal darkness preferred (John 3:19-21).
PREJUDICE Philip Yancey was raised
in a Fundamentalist church in the old south with an intense hatred of black
people. He remembers the day when people clapped at the news of the murder
of Martin Luther King. He was asked (CBC Tapestry June 10, 2001)
how he managed to escape from racial prejudice? He explained that as a
Junior in college he was given an award to work for a brilliant research
scientist. To his horror when he walked into the laboratory he found he
was black. I know two or three who ranted viciously against homosexuals
until the day they discovered their son was gay. And some men who viewed
women as inferior got liberated when they married to a woman who obviously
wasn't. Protestants used to think Catholics were not Christians, and the
feeling is still mutual in some circles. Saul of Tarsus was "breathing
threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1)
as he was approaching Damascus the very day his mind was going to be changed.
And it is a fact that good strong atheists make even stronger believers.
Which means we should not view prejudice as if it was a permanent part
of a person's personality. We are to watch, and pray with thankfulness
that our loving God has the matter in hand. It might even be wise to ask
myself which people I despise most, and what would it take to change my
mind?
PREMILLENIALISM Jesus spoke of
COMINGseven
times in one chapter of the Gospels. There would be "the coming of the
Son of Man" (Matthew 24:27), "the Son of Man coming on the clouds
of heaven" (Matthew 24:30), and five references to his coming unexpectedly
(Matthew 24:37, 42. 44, 46, 50). Jesus also defined the portents
that would accompany his coming (in the sun, moon, stars, the powers, Matthew
24:29). Albert Schweitzer concluded that Jesus had these expectations
of his coming, but Jesus was deluded and proved wrong. The Pre-Millenial
model agrees that this coming did not take place in that generation, and
therefore we are still in the generation (Matthew 23:36, 24, 34)
that awaits his coming. On this site we explain that Jesus announced the
destruction of the temple in his generation (Matthew 24:1-2), and
that took place when Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70. He compared that
destruction of the city to the fall of Babylon (539 BC) by quoting Isaiah's
portents (Isaiah 13:10, 13) exactly. That implied that, just as
Babylon had its "Day of the Lord" (Isaiah 13:6, 9), he himself was
the Messiah Lord who would come to topple Jerusalem. The many references
to the parousia in the Epistles give evidence that the early church
expected that coming to occur in their lifetime. This model avoids the
term "second coming." The Lord King Messiah Son of God kept coming again
and again in the Old Testament period, he came again in AD 70, but he continues
coming in Days of the Lord throughout history.
PRESBYTERIAN The essence of the
Presbyterian model of church government is the rule of presbyters (see
ELDERS).
An original component of the Presbyterian system in Scotland and Holland
was the Calvinistic model of strict predestination, but this has largely
lost its importance. The minister of a church congregation is called the
Ruling Elder, but he shares his authority with the other Session Elders.
The government of a group of church congregations is called the Presbytery.
As opposed to the appointment of ministers by Bishops in an Episcopal model
of government, Presbyterian ministers are elected by the congregation that
receives them, but ordination to that congregation is done by Presbytery.
At the next level several presbyteries are grouped under a Synod. The final
court of appeal is the General Assembly, which consists of minister and
other elders, usually in equal numbers, who are appointed by the Presbyteries.
John Calvin originally believed that Holy Communion was celebrated weekly
in the New Testament period, but the people of Geneva viewed this as too
solemn an occasion requiring serious preparation, and as a result most
Presbyterian congregations celebrate Communion four times a year.
PRIDE We don't need the Bible or
the church to tell us that pride is an abomination. We may not notice it
in ourselves, but we are disgusted when we see it in another person. The
pride we hate involves cutting down others and humiliating them to bolster
our self-importance. Why is pride so dangerous? "When pride comes, then
comes disgrace, but wisdom is with
the HUMBLE"
(Proverbs 11:2). Why does pride eat away at human wisdom? It prevents
us learning anything from others. We don't listen to advice or reproof
when we are going off course. Because others feel humiliated they resist
the best of our plans. Worst of all "those who are arrogant are an abomination
to the Lord; be assured they will not go unpunished" (Proverbs 16:5).
How does one cure this deadly cancer? It is good to laugh at our pompous
self-importance (other people certainly do). Then we could recognize that
all we have to use in our life and work is given to us. We did not invent
our brain. Anytime it could addle us into incompetence. If God is the Creator,
then the most insignificant person is as important as we are. Which is
nicely summed up as "God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may
exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:5-6).
PRIDE, National The importance
of HUMILITY
also applies to nations. As Paul explained in Athens, "The God who made
the world and everything in it . . . made all nations to inhabit the whole
earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries
of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God
and perhaps grope for him and find him" (Acts 17:26-27). But when
they become powerful nations soon begin to despise and humiliate others.
The prophets noted this again and again. "We have heard of the pride of
Moab, his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness
of his heart" (Jeremiah 48:29, see 50:31). "This was the
guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of
food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were
haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed her when
I saw it" (Ezekiel 16:49-50). Concerning Tyre the LORD said "By
your great wisdom in trade you have increased your wealth, and your heart
has become proud in your wealth." (Ezekiel 28:5). Assyria towered
high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height"
(Ezekiel 31:10). Is there any antidote for the arrogance that God
will surely topple? A nation is made up of individuals, and both arrogance
and humility are contagious. We can train our children, rebuke the media
for prejudice, and vote against racial bigots. If all else fails we can
look to God, as Mary did, to topple the pride of nations (Luke 1:51-52).
.
PRIESTS We believe in the priesthood
of all believers, and we are priests in the Messiah's royal priesthood
(1 Peter 2:5,9). But what are priests meant to do? There are some
ceremonial functions like taking part in the worship of the temple. But
in all cultures everywhere priests are also expected to have a five-fold
ministry to individuals. The hardest part is being able to listen patiently
with great attention and without being judgmental. Having heard the worst,
a priest then pronounces absolution, "Jesus says you are forgiven." There
should be a prayer to express to God that person's particular heart concerns.
And we can teach something appropriate from the Scriptures. Finally the
person must receive God's blessing, "All is well. God loves you." Every
Christian should be able and willing to perform those five priestly functions.
And when we do function as priests it is very greatly appreciated. It costs
nothing except the time needed to listen.
PROBATION In Model Theology probation
refers to a model of baptism in which no one is baptized until they have
been proved to be faithful over a period of time. This model was adopted
in the second century, and it resulted in long periods of preparation before
baptism. In some missionary situations there was a three year period of
probation. But in the Book of Acts baptisms are pictured as taking place
immediately (Acts 2:41, 8:12, 38, 9:18, 16:33). Anyone could
be enrolled as a disciple in the school of the Holy Spirit to begin
learning. Inevitably this meant that some failed to go on and produce fruit,
as pictured in the parable of the Sower. This explains why so many of Jesus'
baptized disciples (John 4:1) later got miffed (John 6:60),
and "many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him"
(John 6:66). The attempt to keep out undesirables by a long period
of probation denies the power of the Holy Spirit to teach and change them
in due course, and in his own way.
PROMISES of God A covenant is an
agreement between two or more parties outlining mutual rights
and responsibilities. . That means a covenant is conditional. And when
the agreement is made between God and humans, the human side of the covenant
can be broken (see
COVENANT
with ABRAHAM). But God's promises can never be broken (see Galatians
3:16-17). In some cases God made promises which have no human conditions,
as in the case of God's promise to Hagar concerning the ARABS
(Genesis 16:10, 17:20, 21:13, 18). Similarly when Paul spoke
of the promise of restoration for the Jewish people, he said "the gifts
and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). God the Father
also made unconditional promises relating to his Son. As Paul explained,
"in him every one of God's promises is a 'yes.' For this reason it is through
him we say the 'Amen,' to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 1:20).
The Great Commission included "Remember, I am with you always, to the end
of the world" (Matthew 28:20), and that is true even though we often
fail to do our part. The Christian faith is based on the fact that
"God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God" (1 John 4:16).
God promises never to stop loving us, but there are bad consequences (WRATH)
as in the case of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-16) for not abidingin
his love.
PROOF Absolute proof is only
possible in what philosophers call the Analytic, which includes mathematics,
geometry, logic, and language (including scientific models where certainty
is built into the system). In geometry there is no way Pythagoras' theorem
could be wrong. Relativity is now part of scientific certainty, but there
is no absolute proof that the sun will rise again tomorrow. On this web
site we work with the alternative explanations (models) which individuals
give for their faith such as Original Buddhism, Nazism, Marxism, Existentialism,
Islam, Taoism, Trinitarian Theism . Within each kind of explanation proof
is possible. For example heaven and hell are absolute certainties in Islam,
but it is equally certain there is nothing after death in Marxism. There
is no scientific proof of our model of Creative Love Theism in which we
assume that God is love, that he forgives sin, and the Holy Spirit can
perfect us for heaven. It is only when we decide to live as if love is
the supreme value of life that we enjoy the certainty of faith. And say
we were wrong, and God is really a monster, what would we lose by loving
and enjoying love in this life? (That is called Pascal's wager). It is
when you commit yourself to love and loving regardless of any absolute
proof that God is love that you can begin to do something worthwhile.
PROPAGANDA At it's best, advertising
in business is merely to inform customers about a product. But these days
it is no different from propaganda in war. The use of the media and spin-doctors
by politicians, is more subtle but just as manipulative. It can also occur
in propagating a religion (see
PROSELYTINGin
the bad sense) when the aim is to change people's minds without their informed
consent. The methods that William Sargant called BRAINWASHINGare
much more violent and intrusive. They involve causing a mental
BREAKDOWN
(Battle of the Mind,
1957). But when people go to hear an evangelist,
or watch a religious program, or attend a church service, they voluntarily
choose to be persuaded.
PROPHETIC IMAGINATION The term
was used as the title of Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination,
Fortress Press, 1978. In the face of Solomon's absolute MONARCHY
the Old Testament prophets were charged with keeping alive "the ministry
of imagination." They dared to "keep on conjuring and proposing alternative
futures to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable
one" (p.45). Prophets "engage the promise of newness that is at work in
our history with God" (p.63). Their ministry is "to bring to public expression
those very hopes and yearnings that have been denied so long" (p.67). Most
dictators would like their sons to continue as absolute monarchs, which
is why for every totalitarian regime imagination is a danger. Prophets,
artists, creative writers and poets must be suppressed. In IRAQ
in the spring of 2003 a first sign that SADDAM
HUSSEIN had been toppled was that the prophetic imagination was
freed and artists and writers began to picture what their hopes and longings.
(see
DEFINITIONS,
Created). A problem is that, together with true prophets, FALSE
PROPHETS will also take opportunities to ply their trade. The continuing
importance of the Old Testament prophets was that they created the language
to describe the Son of God reigning as sovereign Lord, King, Messiah, intervening
in WRATH,
VINDICATION,
and LOVE.
PROPHETS There were two ways in
which the Old Testament prophets received their message. Some received
a vision, which they described and interpreted to the people they served.
Others received a tongue which seemed garbled till they could put the message
into words (as explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:6-13). But
they did not do this in vacuum. The books of Samuel and Kings were written
by a school of prophets who carefully recorded their national history,
and noted what kind of behavior resulted in God's wrath (bad consequences).
Individual prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets,
wrote down the messages and visions of hope which they received. In our
day there are prophets who watch what God is doing in our world. It should
be obvious that historical events do not happen by chance, though most
people prefer to ignore this. But if we can watch and listen and pray,
we may be able to see hope for the future , and save our nation from disaster.
PROPHECY When a baby is born loving
parents hug, kiss, smile, provide milk, change diapers, bath, walk, settle
to sleep, keep warm, and constantly talk, sing, pray. In a few years the
child will know the language of their love. The Old Testament prophets
also knew that God is continually communicating with us. He speaks through
nature. "The heavens are telling the glory of God . . . their voice goes
out through all the earth" (Psalm 19:1-4, see Romans 1:19-20).
The PROPHETS wrote the historical books,
and continually tried to understand how God assigns consequences (WRATH)
and intervenes in our world. They also studied the written Word of God
(SCRIPTURE)
and commented on it. When they had VISIONS
they would seek the meaning of what they had been given (as in Zechariah
1:7-9, 18; 2:1) so they could declare it to the people. A fifth method
was when they received unintelligible words (called TONGUES
in the New Testament) which they then interpreted in plain language. There
were occasions when God revealed the future to a prophets, but Paul explained
the main purpose as "those who prophesy speak to other people for their
upbuilding and encouragement and consolation" (1 Corinthians 14:3).
He went on to say that though he himself received communications in tongues,
"in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct
others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1 Corinthians 14:19).
PROSELYTE In Paul's day a prosylutos
was someone who converted from paganism to Judaism (e.g. Acts 2:10;
6:5; 13:43). Some of these conversions were obviously a genuine desire
to learn more about God as revealed in the SEPTUAGINT
Greek version of the Old Testament. But in his rebuke of the theologians
and Pharisees, Jesus complained "You cross sea and land to make a single
convert (prosylutos), and you make the new convert twice as much
a child of hell (GEHENNA) as you
yourselves" (Matthew 23:15). Their high pressure converting zeal
obviously had very bad results (see PROSELYTIZING)
PROSELYTIZING Hindu Nationalists
have complained of low caste people (see DALITS)
being bribed and pressured into conversion as Christians. There is certainly
some truth in the fact that some of the early converts a hundred years
ago were "Rice Christians." When they were baptized, they were fed and
given jobs. There are also evident advantages when untouchables are welcomed
to communion as brothers and sisters in the family of God. The very impressive
changes in lifestyle, social status, and new opportunities for work are
documented in J.W.Pickett,
Christian Mass Movements in India, Nashville:
Abingdon, 1953 (see the discussion of Group Movements in Go
Make Learners chapter 8 and the bibliography that follows). At
their best Christian Missions give people the opportunity to evaluate the
theology and social outcome of Trinitarian Theism in comparison with the
religious model they inherited from their parents. And there is every evidence
that after conversion Christians are loyal citizens, and make a huge contribution
to the life of India, Africa, China, and every other country where churches
have been planted.
PROSPERING "The Lord was with Joseph,
and he became a successful man. He was in the house of his Egyptian master,
and the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; the blessing
of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field " (Genesis 39:2-3,
see 30:27, 30, 43). But Jesus reminded us that prospering has its hazards.
"The land of a rich man produced abundantly, and he thought to himself,
'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said,
'I will do this; I will pull down my barns and build larger ones.' But
God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded
of you.' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves, but
are not rich towards God" (Luke 12:16-21). There is nothing like
a heart attack to bring us to our senses. John Wesley used to complain
that when the Holy Spirit had lifted his early Methodists out of the gutter,
they soon forgot and despised those they had left behind. Wisdom is to
view all our prospering (house, car, cottage, health, income) as entrusted
to us by the Messiah to be invested in the work of his Kingdom.
PROSTITUTION In every culture women
have allowed men to use their bodies for money. The seventh of the ten
commandments prohibits ADULTERY,
but sex for money is not against the moral law (see the contrast in Proverbs
6:26). There were social and health consequences, and selling one's
daughter into prostitution was forbidden. Rahab the Canaanite harlot of
Jericho was welcomed into the congregation of Israel (Joshua 2:1-15,
6:22-25). She is also listed in the Messiah's genealogy (Matthew
1:5) and honored among the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:31, James
2:25). In the Old Testament what was viewed as abhorrent was the use
of male and female prostitutes as part of temple worship (Deuteronomy
23:17-18, 1 Kings 14:24, 15:12, 22:46, 2 Kings 23:7, Hosea 4:13). There
is no mention of these in the Gospels, but they may be referred to among
Paul's Greek converts (1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10). In the
New Testament the word porneia is used both for sleeping around
and prostitution. In both cases the object is to "get sex" without any
continuing love or commitment. Paul points out that half an hour with a
prostitute is a rudimentary marriage. "Do you not know that he who is united
with a prostitute becomes one body with her?" He then quotes the marriage
text "The two shall become one flesh." (1 Corinthians 6:16, Genesis
2:24). He also teaches a tenfold marriage mutuality (1 Corinthians
7:1-16) which has no room for casual sex.
PROTESTANTS In Europe all who protested
against the teachings and authority of the Roman Catholic Pope were called
Protestants. The term is not used for the Eastern Orthodox denominations.
It was the watchword of the Orange Order in Ireland with the battle-cry
of the Battle of the Boyne (1690). It is no longer a useful word since
we should all be committed to studying the Bible and correcting the errors
of emphasis in the past. Paul certainly protested against LEGALISM
in his Epistle to the Galatians, but we do not call him a Protestant. Martin
Luther protested against the offering of indulgences to buy places in heaven.
And Martin Luther King was right to protest against the denial of civilrights
as Americans to his Black brothers and sisters. In that sense, Pope
John XXIII (1858-63) rightly protested against some of the exclusive
ideas of his predecessors, and freed Roman Catholics to read the
Bible in their own languages.
PROVERBS Before his wives and concubines
led him into idolatry, "God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment,
and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore" (1
Kings 4:29, 10:23). Among his many other interests, he "spoke 3000
proverbs" (1 Kings 4:32-34), and no doubt some of these formed
the basis of the Bible's Book of Proverbs (Proverbs 1:1). Later
other collections were included in the book (The Wise Men, 22:17-24:34),
Agur,
30:1-33, the mother of King Lemuel, 31:1-9). Proverbs
are common in every country of the world. In English for example we have
"a stitch in time saves nine; a fool and his money are soon parted; penny
wise and pound foolish; a bird in the hand is worth ten in the bush, the
road to hell is paved with good intentions; a bad workman blames his tools
- the Hindi equivalent is
natch na jane angan terha which means
that if you can't dance you complain the floor isn't level. The way a proverb
works is that we store it in our subconscious where it is ready to come
up to give insight at the appropriate moment. Some object that Solomon's
proverbs are not particularly "spiritual." Evidently God does not want
his children to be so heavenly minded that they neglect the practical duties
of life (see Proverbs
Commentary)
PSALMS Three thousand years ago
God inspired David, a shepherd boy who became a much loved King, to sing
songs. These were written down, sung in the temple services, and added
to over time (as in any modern hymn book). The zabur (Psalms) are
viewed as inspired by the
QUR'AN.
The poetry is full of metaphor and imagery. "Let the sea roar, and all
that fills it; the world and those who live in it. Let the floods clap
their hands; let the hills sing together for joy at the presence of the
Lord" (Psalm 98:7-9). Our emotions are expressed including depression
(42:5, 11) and despair (69:1-3; 88:3-8), terror (6:2)
and helplessness (17:9-12, 22:1-7), sickness (38:3-8) and
old age (71:9, 18; 92:14), penitence (103:8-14) and confession
(51:1-4), but these are all constantly laced with awe, wonder, joy,
gratitude, praise (33:1-3; 116:1-6; 150), and enthusiastic
love for the LORD (23:1; 27:1-4). The term "steadfast love" comes
again and again (5:7; 6:4; 13:5;17:7; 18:50; 21:7, etc.) and there
is a psalm of 26 verses about the love of God (136:1-26). Psalm
119 has 8 verses for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet about the riches
of the Word of God. We are uneasy with the calls for vengeance (58:6-8,
109:7-15
see IMPRECATORY
PSALMS) and VINDICATION(9:12,
18:47, 26:1) but these are also human emotions. Obviously God wants
us to be free to express our feelings to him, but happily he is not bound
to do what we expect.
PSEUDO-EVENTS Daniel Boorstin wrote
a satyrical account of American life in which he coined the term "pseudo-events."
He described these as events which are created for the media to be propagated
as facts (The Image, New York: Atheneum, 1961, p.21). The problem
is that in our modern world this is less satire than reality. Dictators
can reconstruct a nation's history to suit their purposes. But even in
a DEMOCRACY
elections can be manipulated by carefully planting pseudo-events, which
people then swallow as truth based on a minimum of historical reality.
Spin doctors are paid to put a spin on what would otherwise be embarrassing
situations. Their art is to work with symbols which the gullible are glad
to adopt (see SYMBOLIC
WORLDS). How do we escape from being brainwashed by the media that
impact us? Christians begin with REVELATION.
We prefer to believe what God has chosen to give us as a framework for
our thinking. God has created our world. He has designed us as moral beings
in his image. He is love, and wants us to be perfected in love (see Creative
Love). Each person is important to him, and therefore deserves
our respect. The life and RESURRECTION
of Jesus the Son of God assures us that DEATHis
not the end, only the beginning of the life that God has prepared for us.
None of these facts can be proved by logic, but if we adopt this framework
for our thinking we are freed from many of the lies that are invented and
propagated to confuse us.
PTOLEMAIS The ancient Phoenician
port of Akko was just north of Mount Carmel. It was renamed Ptolemais by
Ptolemy II (285-246). It became a Roman colony under Claudius (Emperor
41-54). A church was probably organized there by refugees from the persecution
at the time of Stephen (Acts 11:19). Just after that time Paul stopped
and visited with the church there in Ptolemais for a day at the end of
his third overseas missionary journey (Acts 21:7). Acre (modern
Akko) was occupied during the CRUSADES.
After the city was lost and retaken (1290) the Crusaders deceived, and
then slaughtered thousands of the Muslim garrison. By way of retaliation
Akko was raised to the ground by the Muslims (1291). It was rebuilt 300
years later, and it became a British citadel (1918). It was taken by the
Israelis (1948), and there is now a large residential area north-east of
the old city.
PUB SONGS At its best the traditional
English village pub was a place where strangers and the lonely could meet
and find a welcome. At its worst men got each other drunk and sang bawdy
songs abut seducing women. By contrast Paul said about a Christian gathering
"Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery (Greek asotia
meaning dissipation, losing control); but be filled with the Spirit, as
you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody
to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times
and for everything" (Ephesians 5:18-20). The contrast suggests that
we are most under control when our hearts are full of THANKSGIVING.
PUBLISHING Adele Wiseman's "Thumb-nose
Law" is that "the excellence of a truly original work of art is equal to
the product of the initial recoil of most editors and of most critics."
The
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S
ELIOT (1888-1965) has proved to be by far the greatest influence
on modern poetry. It was written in 1910, but only gained acceptance in
1915 when Ezra Pound recognized its importance. Animal Farm by George
Orwell was rejected by more than a dozen publishers in England and the
United States. When it was finally published in 1945 it was translated
into many languages as an exposure of the inner corruption of the Communist
system. Irving Stone's story of the life of Van Gogh,
Lust for Life,
was rejected by the sales department of Doubleday & Co. who commented
"There is no way to sell a book about an unknown Dutch painter." Lust
for Life was put out by another publisher in 1934, and it is still
a best seller. In 1950 Tolkien offered the Lord of the Rings to
Collins, and it was returned in 1952. Allen & Unwin took two years
to accept it, but the second volume was published in 1954, and the third
volume a year later. Now the trilogy has gone through dozens of printings.
We might wonder if any of the 66 books of the Bible would have been accepted
by a publisher, though the Bible as a whole is printed in over 600 languages,
and every year it sells more than any other book ever printed.
PURGATORY Although all Christians
believe in the ultimate forgiveness of sins for true believers (as in the
Apostles Creed) some think that we have to be absolved for our failures
in this life. Roman Catholics are taught that absolution is granted after
confession to a priest in the sacrament of penance. But at death some unconfessed
sins remain, and we will suffer and pay for these in purgatory (as taught
by Augustine, City of God, 21:13, 24). In the model commended on
this web site, God is like a loving parent who assigns consequences for
unacceptable behavior on earth (see
WRATH).
But at death we are immediately accepted into HEAVENwith
our perfected
RESURRECTION
body (2 Corinthians 5:1-5, Philippians 1:21-23). That leaves no
room for purgatory. Only those who prefer the darkness away from the love
of God exclude themselves (John 3:19-21). But whether we choose
heaven or eternal death there is nothing to pay. Love does not work by
demanding payment.
PUT In the Table of Nations the
people of Put are listed with
CUSH,
MIZRAIM
(Egypt) and
CANAAN
(Genesis 10:6). They probably settled in North Africa and some of
them became the
MINOANSof
CRETEwho
probably spoke a Hamitic language (see HAM).
PUTEOLI On his final journey as
a prisoner going to face trial in Rome, Paul was able to stay seven days
with the church in Puteoli (Acts 28:13-14). This port (modern Puzzeoli)
was on the Gulf of Naples 110 miles (176 km) south of Rome .
PYRAMIDS The great pyramids of
Egypt were built during the period of the Old Kingdom (c.2700-2150 BC).
ABRAHAM
went down into Egypt (c.1870 BC) to escape a famine (Genesis 12:10-13:1),
and must have admired these astonishing tombs of previous Pharaohs. His
geat-grandson Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt (c.1685), and when
he was eventually promoted to supreme power under the Pharaoh he built
storehouses of grain within sight of those already very ancient pyramids
(Genesis 41:45-49). These huge structures were over a thousand years
old when the children of Israel were enslaved and forced to make bricks
for other building projects (Exodus 1:8-14). When Joseph and Mary
escaped to Egypt to save their son from being killed by Herod (Matthew
2:13-16) Jesus may have been taken to see the pyramids when he was
only two years old. There is no record in the Book of Acts that Paul ever
went into Egypt. When he was a theological student in Jerusalem it would
have needed a ten day journey each way to make a trip there. But Apollos,
the eloquent preacher, came from Alexandria (Acts 18:24-26) which
was on the coast 150 miles north of the pyramids, which he must have seen
and probably mentioned in his sermons.
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