Accept No Substitutes

Steven Weinberg said, “Without religion, good people would do good things and bad people would do bad things.”

“It takes religion,” he said, “to make good people do bad things.”

The late Nobel laureate was a renowned physicist and devout atheist.

I don’t often agree with him. But I agree that religion can make good people do bad things.

Nonbelievers are often kinder toward people with differences than Christians.

They are often accepting of gay folks and advocate for equal rights for women and people of all races and religions.

Give me a gracious atheist over a mean Christian any day.

But what makes some Christians mean?

The Bible.

That is, the Bible read by people who don’t know how to read it.

People who absolutely refuse to put Jesus first.

There are Old Testament passages that say people with disabilities must be kept away from worship.

A blind or a crippled person will defile a holy place. They don’t count as people.

Paul tells women to be submissive to men and to be quiet in church. They have a second-class existence.

The Book of Revelation paints God as warmonger, bloodthirsty, and vengeful.

In reading the Bible, we must always turn to Jesus for the final answer.

If we put Jesus first, we will know when Paul gets off track. We will know when a passage of scripture falls short.

Jesus is the standard.

He tells us that God loves all of us equally and unconditionally.

If Jesus is Lord, let him be lord of the scriptures also. Accept no substitutes.

Max’s Corner

Good Service Last Sunday

Beverly Tye’s parting sermon was fine and gracious. Already we are looking forward to her first visit back after her move.

Lovely duet from Blake and Shannon—but what’s new?

I’m writing this hurriedly on Sunday afternoon just before I leave for the Annual Conference in Round Rock. It’s not so easy a trip, considering my bum knee. But it’s not that hard either.

Get back on Wednesday afternoon.

I will be preaching on Sunday.

Big Event!

Dwayne and Sheila Taylor—in this church for 31 years—will renew their vows in a service this Saturday—June 15—at 2:00 in the afternoon.

You—all of you—are invited.

Light refreshments after.

And lots of joy.

It’s 50 years together.

And we give thanks.

(Shannon will bring the music.)

Breakfast This Sunday

It’s a “Winston Sunday.”

Food and fellowship at 10:30.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday and Sunday.

Hope you are with us for worship.

Don’t make me have to come looking for you.

God Bless—MB

ON MY MIND—the folks we love who are sick and others who have lost loved ones. May God’s grace and comfort be with those who need it most.

Friday’s Word

Beware the Orange Man

Even after the verdict, millions of Christians still cling to the orange man.

How can that be?

Christian conservatives are morally conflicted.

What is a Christian conservative? Anyone who reads the Bible as if it is inerrant.

As if it is a monolith.

As if literature written over one thousand years (and more) speaks with one voice.

As if the images of God from ancient Israel match the image we have in the teachings of Jesus.

As if Moses has the same authority for Christians as their Savior.

As if Deuteronomy is as important to Christians as The Sermon on the Mount.

Inerrancy breaks the first commandment. It makes the Bible an idol. It turns the Bible into God.

And it diminishes the authority of Jesus.

Jesus tells us to love those who don’t love us, even our enemies.

The Old Testament says God ordered the Israelites to kill their enemies.

Who wins out? 

Bible inerrantists take an average. Jesus loses. 

His message of God’s unconditional love for all people is rejected.

For Bible inerrantists, love is not an absolute standard. This puts them on shifting sand.

This is why Conservative Christians are vulnerable to the orange man.

And vulnerable to others who preach vengeance and self-interest.

Someone analyzed the sermons of a well-known inerrantist preacher. Over 90 percent of his scripture references were from the Old Testament.

Yes, the Bible is our authority. But it has within it an even higher authority.

Jesus.   

If you don’t know this—the orange man may get you.

Max’s Corner

Great Service Last Week

But I wasn’t there.

My sister had a blood pressure flare-up and we spent the night before in ER.

I plan to be back this Sunday, but I am not preaching. Rev. Beverly Tye will deliver her “farewell address.”

Bev will be moving soon. We will miss her tremendously. She will have her chance Sunday to share her love with you and we will all have a chance to give thanks for her.

Expect another great Sunday.

Sunday afternoon I will be leaving for Round Rock for our two-day Annual Conference. We will be celebrating the new United Methodist Church—the one that is free to live up to its motto: “open minds, open hearts, open doors.” 

This is the LAST Annual Conference of the “Central Texas Conference.” Due to the loss of churches in the great dispute, we will be combining three conferences under a new name. Bishop Saenz will continue as our bishop.

And Mary and I will be returning to St. Matthew, appointed once again to serve this church. (My 43rd time. Not so many for Mary.)

Announcing where ministers are appointed to serve the coming year is the last order of business at Annual Conference before the closing worship, which includes a sermon from the Bishop. 

Mary and I will report briefly on the conference the Sunday following—June 16th. 

Breakfast This Sunday

It’s a “We-Bring-It” Sunday. At 10:30.

Something strange happened  on our last we-bring breakfast. It was a feast! Lots of food! Still don’t understand it.

Remember—“Beverly Sunday”

I know you will be present if at all possible.

              God Bless—MB

ON MY MIND—the folks we love who are sick and others who have lost loved ones. May God’s grace and comfort be with those who need it most.

Friday’s Word

A note from Jason: Hello, Saint Matthew family. With the storms that blew through our area on Tuesday morning Pastor Max was without Internet and couldn’t upload his article in time for publishing. I hope you’ll indulge me as I share one of my personal favorite Friday’s Word articles with you, published February 18, 2022, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Did you ever notice how reasonable Jesus is?

In fact, he teaches us the principle of consistency.

“A bad tree cannot produce good fruit,” he told us.

“You cannot serve two masters,” he said.

You will end up cleaving to one and letting the other go.

Now let me test your awareness of consistency. Which of these words does not belong with the other words? Dog, Cat, House, Mouse, and Moose.

I know you got that right. The word “house” is not consistent with the words which name animals.

Now another test, just as easy. Scripture passages:

1-God so loved the world that he gave his only son.

2-God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

3-While we were sinners, Christ died for us.

4-God is love.

5- Then God rained sulfur and fire from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now, which of those statements is inconsistent?

Again, the answer is obvious. The last statement does not agree with the other four.

If God is love, if God is kind even to the wicked, then God does not rain fire down on anyone.

If God deals with our sin by dying for us, then God does not seek to destroy us. So, if the first four statements are true, the last one cannot be true.

And here’s the point:

If you are a biblical inerrantist, you must believe that all five statements are equally true.

In other words, you must believe nonsense.

In other words, you cannot accept what Jesus teaches us about the nature of God.

You are a house divided. You are trying to serve two masters, two very different ideas about God’s nature.

You can’t do that, Jesus said. So, stop trying!

Let inerrancy go.