The Wisdom of Gamaliel

From the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 5:

34But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.

35And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men.

36"For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.

37"After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered.

38"So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown;

39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God."

Gamaliel wasn't just "some guy". He was a man greatly respected in his time, acknowledged to have a great understanding of the Law and someone who held the highest position in his community. Paul is said to have been a student of his at one point. In his time and place Gamaliel is "establishment" to his core, a solid, orthodox kind of guy. Grandson of Hillel, one of the great Jewish teachers, he also had serious family connections.

In other words he was someone worth listening to back in the day. And I think the same can be said today. In the conflict in TEC and the commentary that is being offered from all sides perhaps we need to simply listen to the words of the Rabbi.

The concept of judging someone or something by their "fruits" is one that we see again in the Gospel of Matthew ("Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter." MT 7:19-21). It gives us an interesting challenge as new ideas bubble up within the church. If it is of God then it will thrive and if it isn't then it can be and will be (and should be) stopped.

There is a challenge in this for both sides. For the conservatives it means allowing at least the possibility that the liberals might be trying to do something good. And giving them the room to do so (Although it's interesting to note that while the Sanhedrin did take Gamaliel's advice not to kill the apostles they still felt the need to flog them and tell them to stop preaching the Gospel. That no doubt made them feel better but did nothing to change the course of what was to come). For the liberals it means we have to acknowledge that we might be wrong. We must be willing to submit ourselves to Gamaliel's standard. This "new thing" needs to result in a positive, God inspired growth in the life of the church. If we truly believe in what we're doing we should be able to accept that standard without flinching. I believe we can easily meet the Rabbi's mark so I have no fear of it.

I also find it interesting that it is Gamaliel, the bastion of the establishment, who offers this thought. Paul the student (and I'm aware there is some dispute about whether he was. Paul says he was and I'll go with that for the moment) clearly breaks with his teacher on this point. The future apostle's actions in hunting down the new church, persecuting them and active involvement in things like the stoning of Stephen show that he rejects this teaching of the Rabbi. The establishment preaches patience and the younger generation preaches action.

Sometimes the older generation DOES know a thing or two.

As we move forward trying to discover God's intent for this corner of his church I think we would be well advised to keep Rabbi Gamaliel in mind.

Peace

(Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version, courtesy of BibleGateway.com)

Resource Review - Bible Gateway.com

BibleGateway.com

OVERALL - A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages. A great easy to use tool.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?I had completely forgotten about doing a review of this site simply because I use it all the time without thinking about what a great resource this has been. When I'm preparing for a class or a study of some sort I like to compare different translations of Scripture. Over the years I've found this to be a great way to dig a little deeper into the meaning of some passages or words. Languages do not translate cleaning from one to the next, no matter how much we want them to do so. Add in things like idiomatic phrases and, as one person once put it to me, "all translations are paraphrases". The problem has been having multiple version open on my desk while I'm trying to write, let alone having lots of different versions sitting close to hand when I need them. BibleGateway.com makes that much easier. You type in the section you're working on (you can also search by keyword or topic too if you're looking for a passage and don't know one off the top of your head). Then it's a quick process to look at it in any of the other versions they have. They have 22 versions in English from the KJV to NIV to Douay-Rheims to The Message and more. There's a button that will bring up some commentary for you, others to move you forward or back through that entire section of the Bible and a quick and easy way to print out what you need. The web page is easy to use and simple to find what you're looking for in either the Bible or web site functions.

RESERVATIONS There are two versions they DON'T have and it's a bit problematic for most Episcopal churches - the Revised Standard Version (RSV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), since these are the most commonly used versions in our churches.. It's annoying. I've found other online sources for the NRSV (here and here) and an online version of the RSV (here). I'm not sure why BibleGateway.com hasn't been able to get the rights to use these versions. It would be great to have them all in one place but in the end I just prop my RSV up on my desk while I scan the online versions.

RECOMMENDATION Again a basic tool that you'll use over and over and over again. It's not perfect as noted (not all useful versions and limited commentary options) but it's hard to beat. Bookmark this one and all of sudden you'll start impressing everyone with your knowledge of the Bible!

Some serious if conflicted thoughts

I am seriously conflicted about this post.

You see I was raised to be a nice Episcopal boy. We don't say bad things about other people. You just put a strained smile on your face and make sure never to invite them over for drinks or dinner again.

It's the Episcopal form of shunning.

At the same time I am just so disturbed by this that I need to comment. And for you to understand you probably need to see at least some of the video. So here it is.

This is a Baptist preacher doing what he believes is right. He believes his congregation needs to hear this word. It is important for him to spend the time to preach on this passage and to share this conclusion. That's clearly what he believes in his heart of hearts. And I'm sure that he believes that the Holy Spirit is moving him to do it.


And I believe he's wrong.

I don't believe this is an important portion of scripture that needs to be brought before the church. Beyond that I believe the conclusion he draws is (sigh, this is SO un-Episcopalian) ridiculous. This is a waste of his skills, his intellect and his faith. I can't believe that his congregation sat there without thinking "Pastor's slipped a cog".

In the end it did get me thinking. It got me thinking that THIS is EXACTLY the reason why we need to spend more time teaching our kids what the Bible is all about.

Because if we don't they'll think that this kind of thinking IS what the Bible's all about. That's there's nothing more important for us as people of faith to worry about than this kind of silly rule making.

I do NOT want our kids thinking that God particularly cares about whether a guy takes a wee standing or sitting.

I do NOT want our kids presented with this kind of preaching and teaching and not have it challenged clearly and compassionately.

I DO want our kids to know and love the Bible for the wonderful gift and resource that it is.

I DO want our kids to be able to think clearly about their faith and its basis. And to know when someone is wasting their time with nonsense.

So I have no choice. I have to write this post. I have to say that I believe this brother in Christ is seriously off base. And I'd like to say the following as well to all my brothers and sisters in faith, young and old:

Spend some time reading your Bible. Do yourself a favor and get more than one translation. Compare how they interpret the ancient languages in which Scripture was originally written. Think about what it says. Be prepared to be challenged by what you read. That means some of it is going to sound wrong, funny, strange, troubling. Some of it is going to say things you don't like. Good. You need to read all of it, not just the bits that you like. Learn it so people can't twist and distort it for their own ends. Some people are trying to con you with the Bible. If you don't know it then you make it easy for them. Ask questions. If the answers aren't clear or don't make sense keep asking questions. Don't let anyone make you feel "dumb". The disciples had to have Jesus repeat things to them too.

The Bible carries God's message to all of us. It's a message about love and hope and caring for one another. It's a message of peace and joy and being welcomed home. If you hear people telling you it's a message of anger and violence of any kind (mental, physical or spiritual) they're leading you astray.

Let me say this in clear, un-Episcopal fashion:

They're wrong. They're lying to you. They're wasting your time. They are dishonoring God.

Peace