2. Feedbooks, located at www.feedbooks.com Navigation is very simple on the Feedbooks website. On the front page, you have a number of options. You can search for an author, title or subject. On the left side, you will see options to browse by public domain books or by original books. When you have found a book you want to download, you simply click on the “Download” button. From here, you will need to select whichever format you need-Kindle, Epub, etc. From here you will be able to move the book to your Kindle Documents folder via the USB Cable.

3. Manybooks, located at www.manybooks.net Manybooks is very similar in navigation to Feedbooks. One advantage to Manybooks is that they have books available in a large number of languages. Another way Manybooks is unique is that they have a number of book collections, such as “State of the Union Addresses”, “Science Fiction After 1950″ and “How To…” EBooks. The process for downloading is the same as Feedbooks, with one advantage-Manybooks has over 20 different options available for download, including PDF, Kindle, etc.

4. Project Gutenberg, located at www.gutenberg.orgAgain, this site works similarly to Feedbooks and Manybooks. Project Gutenberg, though, has all public domain books. Because of this, they tend to be older. Project Gutenberg has a number of interesting ways to search, including “Top 100 Books” and “Top 100 Authors” downloaded.

5. The Baen Free Library, located at http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm Baen specializes in Science Fiction. When you’ve found a book you want to download, simply click the Mobi/Palm/Kindle option and move it to your Kindle via USB Cable.

Do you know of more sites that provide free Kindle Books that I missed? Let us know in the comments!

Giving money to the government.  It’s not a fun subject.  Most people think we pay too much in taxes.

Imagine how it would be if the we were living in a country that wasn’t ours.  This was the situation for the Jews in the New Testament.  Though they lived in their own land, they paid taxes to Rome and to Caesar.  How frustrating that would be!

Jesus had been stirring the pot for a while and the religious leaders were starting to get fed up with him, so they sought a way to catch him in his words.  They came to Jesus and said, “Hey, we know you’re a good guy, great moral character, and that we can trust what you say.  Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

Jesus says, “Whose image is on this coin?”

“Caesar’s,” they answer.

“Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.”

A bit of a cryptic answer, no?  Keep in mind that Jesus is talking to religious leaders in this story.  Jesus asks them about whose image is on the coin.  Image.  What other religious stories would the religious leaders have known that include the idea of “image”?  It’s the very beginning of the Story, right?  Creation.  God creates all that is, and says that it is good.  But then God creates humans, in his own Image, and says that it is very good.  This is the link that is implicit in the text that Jesus doesn’t make explicitly clear.

“This coin has Caesar’s image on it,” Jesus says, “So give it to Caesar.  But you yourselves have God’s image on you.  Give your lives, your heart, your very selves to God.”

We are made in God’s image.  We belong to God, if only we would give ourselves to him.

One example can be seen in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, specifically in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  The story chronicles the kids’ adventures while aboard a ship, the Dawn Treader.  The ship lands on an island, and as the rest of the children are working, a character named Eustace sneaks away in order to avoid work.  He comes upon a dragon who is guarding its treasure, while in the midst of dying.  After the dragon dies, Eustace explores the dragon’s treasure, eventually stealing for himself a bracelet which he puts on. Afterwords, Eustace falls asleep.

When Eustace awakes, he is horrified to learn that he himself has turned into a dragon.  His friends don’t recognize him–in fact, at first they think he is an enemy.  After some communication, though, his friends realize that this dragon is actually Eustace.  In his dragon form, Eustace is very helpful in fixing the Dawn Treader.  In other words, in his dragon form Eustace does the work that he was trying to get out of in the first place.  Eustace also hears Aslan, the Christ figure, calling to Eustace.  Eustace decides to respond to Aslan’s calling.  Aslan changes Eustace from his dragon form.  The process is painful, but Eustace is a boy once again.

A second example can be found in Ted Dekker’s Circle Trilogy, and related writings.  In Dekker’s world, evil can be seen physically.  Evil is a disease that can be seen by flaking skin, among other symptoms.  The disease can be cleansed/avoided if one washes daily in one of the special pools.  (After the sacrifice of a specific character in the series, this washing only needs to happen once).  If someone is not washed, though, the disease takes over.  After some time, the person is fully turned into a member of the “Horde”, those who have let the disease overtake them.  The disease affects the way a person acts, thinks, the very core of who the person is.  Though the diseased person is alive, their skin flakes, and they stink of rotten flesh.  Though they are alive, they are dead.

Our third example comes from the Harry Potter series.  The ultimate evil in Harry’s world is to commit murder.  When one commits murder, one’s soul tears into pieces.  We find out that this is exactly how Voldemort, the villain, has been staying alive.  Voldemort commits a murder, purposely tearing his soul, and puts a piece of his soul in an object, using it as a sort of anchor to be bound to this world, to achieve a sort of immortality.  Of course, Voldemort looks anything but human.  He is ghost-white, with the face of a snake.  Evil has transformed Voldemort into a hideous creature.

How does all of this effect Christianity?  It makes us look at morality differently.  Morals are not just a random group of laws that we ought to obey.  Morals are important because they help us to turn ourselves into the type of people we were created to be.  C.S. Lewis even applies this idea to Heaven and Hell.  Throughout his non-fiction, and also in The Great Divorce, Lewis basically puts forward the idea that with every (moral) decision we make, we are turning ourselves into beings who are either fit for Heaven or fit for Hell.  So the final judgment isn’t so much about punishment–it’s about God giving us what we’ve asked for.  It’s about God sending us to the only place that our decisions have made us fit for, whether that be Heaven or Hell.

So, the next time you’re dealing with temptation, ask yourself–who do you want to turn into?  What kind of character do you want to be?  With every moral choice, our character changes.  Who will you be?

“From a historical perspective, there is no reason to doubt that some forgeries very well could have made it into the canon.  We have numerous forgeries outside the New Testament.  Why not inside?  I don’t think one can argue that the church fathers, starting at the end of the second century, would have known which books really were written by apostles and which ones were not.  How would they know?  Or perhaps more to the point, how can we ourselves know?  This might sound a little strange, but it is easier for us today to detect ancient forgeries than it was for people in the ancient world.”

Wait…what?

It’s easier for us who are father removed in time from the writings to tell which writings are forgeries than it would have been for people who lived closest to the time they were written?  Huh?  The church fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries couldn’t have known which books were written by the apostles?  Really?

Ok, the 2nd and 3rd centuries span 100-299 AD.  So, let’s explore Ehrman’s statements a bit.  Jesus died in the 30s.  Tradition holds that Paul was beheaded in the mid-60s during Nero’s reign.  Mark probably lived until a similar time.  It’s likely that the Apostle John himself lived until 100-110 AD.  So we have one of the Apostles himself living until the beginning of the 2nd century, which means his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, etc. could have lived well into the 3rd century.  So, Ehrman’s claim that nobody during that time could have known which books were written by the Apostles is a bit hard to swallow simply because relatively close family members of the Apostles would still be alive at that point.

We have more evidence than this, though.  Ehrman’s claims center on the church fathers not knowing which books were written by the Apostles.  There’s one major problem with this.  The church fathers were students of the apostles.  Ignatius of Antioch who lived until 110, was a student of John.  Polycarp of Smyrna, who lived until 155 AD, was also a student of John.  So we have students of the apostles living until the middle of the 2nd century.  Clement of Rome even mentions some of Paul’s writings in his letter to the Corinthians, which is dated around 96 AD, a mere 30 years after Paul died.

Could the church fathers have known which books were actually written by the Apostles?  Yes, they could have.  Relatives and students would still have been around in the time period Ehrman is speaking of.  Not to mention the fact that the non-canonical forgeries Ehrman speaks of (and uses as implicit evidence that New Testament books could have been forged) were not even written until into the 2nd century.

Ehrman does get one thing right, though.  “This might sound a little strange…”  It does, Dr. Ehrman.  A little strange, indeed.

Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors-What stands out about this request is the reciprocal nature of it.  “Forgive us…as we forgive others…”  It is reminiscent of scenes from the Old Testament where God gives the people a command, for instance, to be kind to strangers, because they once were strangers in Egypt.  “Have mercy on slaves, remembering that you were once slaves in Egypt”.  This happens numerous times in the Old Testament.  We ought to be kind to those in chains because we were once in chains.  We ought to be kind to strangers because we have been strangers.  And we ought to forgive others because we ourselves stand in need of forgiveness.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil-Once again, one cannot help but think of the people of Israel in the Wilderness.  “Have you led us out here to die???” the people asked Moses.  Being seemingly trapped by the Red Sea, mountains and Pharoah’s army, the people complain that God & Moses led them out in the wilderness to die.  We understand mentally that God doesn’t tempt us.  And yet, doesn’t it seem like he leads us into evil sometimes?  Of course, he never does, but it feels that way sometimes.  And so in this line of the prayer, we learn to pray our feelings.  We can be honest in prayer, and pray for God to not lead us into temptation, even if we know he never will, because sometimes it feels like he does.

For Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory Forever, Amen-We are reminded of the only way any of this prayer can come to pass.  God is the Creator.  His kingdom, power and glory are eternal.  That is the context of our prayer, and that is the force behind it.  Our only hop eis the Kingdom, Power and Glory of God reigning in our world and lives.

Our Father in Heaven–In this phrase we see that God is our Father.  God created us all.  What an amazing privilege that we can have an intimate relationship with God–that he calls himself our Father.  At the same time, though, he is “in Heaven.”  This is also emphasized in the fact that God is Creator.  God created us, so he is Father and we can have a relationship with him.  God’s being Creator also means he is over and above us, though.  Nearness and farness, immanence and transcendence, all there in the Creation story, reflected in this first phrase of the Lord’s Prayer.

Hallowed Be Your Name–What does “Hallowed” mean, anyway? It means “holy”, which itself means “to be set apart”.  In what way is God’s Name “set apart”?  When we think of God’s Name, our minds should immediately go back to the story of Moses at the burning bush.  It is in this story that God reveals his Name to be “I am that I am”.  God is the God who is. God lives and moves and exists.  We think of the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, where Baal never answers his prophets, and God does.  We think of course of Jesus’ resurrection.  God’s Name is hallowed because God is the only God who actually is, who actually lives and moves and acts in the world and in our lives.

Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done On Earth As In Heaven–God’s Kingdom was something that Jews of the Old Testament looked forward to.  It wasn’t here yet.  Living after the Messiah, though, we are to follow his example to expect the Kingdom of God to start effecting this world.  Why?  Because Jesus is already king, and his kingdom has already been inaugurated.  If we actually live in God’s kingdom, our world cannot help but be effected by that.

Give Us Today Our Daily Bread–When we think of God giving us our daily bread, again, our minds should be reminded of Israel wandering in the desert.  God sent manna to the people, but they could only take what they needed for that day–their daily bread.  This is a prayer for God to give us what we need to sustain us each day.  Parts of the early church linked this phrase with Communion with the understanding that what we actually need every day to sustain us is Jesus himself.

We will continue our study in the next post…

The Question:  What is the Gospel?

Western Christianity’s Answer:  Western Christianity’s answer, McLaren believes, would come mostly if not solely from the Book of Romans.  The Gospel according to Western Christianity is justification by grace through faith.  The Gospel according to Western Christianity is about how to escape earth and get to Heaven.  The Gospel is about avoiding Hell.  Ultimately, the Gospel is about me, me, me.

Brian McLaren’s Answer:  Brian McLaren wants to say that the Gospel is about the Kingdom of God coming to earth.  He emphasizes that what Jesus preached and talked about in the Gospels was the Kingdom of God being at hand.  McLaren then goes through the Book of Romans, which has so often been used to propound the “Gospel is about me” mindset, and he shows how he sees the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in it.  McLaren’s interpretation is as follows:

1. Jews and Gentiles both have the same level of need.  (Romans 1:18-3:20) 
2. A new way forward for everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, is available: the way of faith.  (3:21-4:25)
3. Jews and Gentiles are united in a common story.   Paul uses 4 illustrations to show this: Adam, baptism, slavery and remarriage.  (5:1-7:6)
4. Jews and Gentiles are united in a common struggle and a common victory, illustrated by Paul through the Story of Me and the Story of We.  (7:7-8:39)
5. Jewish and Gentile problems are addressed, showing that God is God over everything and everyone.  (9:1-11:36)
6. Jews and Gentiles are engaged in a common life and mission.  (12:1-13:14)
7. Jews and Gentiles are called to unity in the Kingdom of God.  (14:1-16:27)

For McLaren, then, the Gospel goes from being about “how I get out of Hell” or even “how I get to Heaven” to about “how we can be united in the Kingdom of God”.

Chris’ Answer:  I appreciate very much that Brian McLaren’s interpretation of the Gospel does not leave us on earth, simply biding our time until the Real Thing gets here.  I think he is right to include the idea that we as Jesus-Followers need to be living as though the Kingdom of God were here, because if it was “at hand” and “near” 2000 years ago, how much closer is it now?

Having said that, I think I would want to say that the Gospel is both/and.  I would essentially combine Western Christianity’s answer with McLaren’s to arrive at what I think the Gospel is.  Yes, the Gospel is about living as Kingdom people.  No, the Gospel is not just about me getting to Heaven, or just about me getting out of Hell.  Jesus’ death and resurrection is not simply a “Get Out Of Hell Free” card.  But, unless my relationship with Jesus is restored to what it should be, I can never live as a Kingdom person.  This is, after all, what justification by grace through faith is really about. 

The Gospel doesn’t end with justification by grace through faith.  But it does begin there.  So we can’t define the Gospel solely in terms of the Kingdom of God, but we can’t define it solely in terms of justification by faith.  We need both, if the Good News is going to be as good as it should be.

When we think of a priest, what kinds of things do we picture him doing?  In our current time we may think of a Catholic priest, as that may be our most common understanding.  But the Jewish priest was somewhat different.  A Jewish priest had a few main roles.  First, the priest gave offerings and sacrifices to God for the people.  The people would bring their offerings and sacrifices to the priest and the priest would offer them to God himself, performing different rituals or ceremonies depending on the offering or sacrifice. 

A second role of the priest was to represent the people before God.  Many times the priest would pray for and even plead for the people who were the responsibility of that given priest.

The third role we want to highlight is the simple fact that the priest taught the people.  It was the priest’s job to teach and explain to the people all thing things God wanted of the people–in the way of sacrifices and rituals, in the way of commandments, and in the way of beliefs.

Just as we saw with the role of the prophet, Jesus comes in the New Testament and fulfills the role of the priest.  Let’s look at the roles of the priest again, this time in reverse order, and see how Jesus becomes the ultimate example of each.  Obviously, Jesus teaches and explains to us the things God wants us to know.  Jesus did not simply come to die on the cross.  He lived for 30 years first, and had a ministry for 1-3 years before he died and was resurrected.  Part of the reason for that was so Jesus could teach us by his words as well as his life and actions.  There are many examples of Jesus fulfilling this teaching role of the priest, but one example would be the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus also fulfilled the role of representing the people before God.  Jesus, being God himself, was the perfect mediator for the people.  Again, we see this role coming through in many of the things Jesus did–indeed, arguably everything Jesus did was to bridge the gap between God and man.  One obvious example is one we used for the last post as well.  Jesus’ pastoral prayer in John 17.  Here, Jesus is clearly speaking to the Father on our behalf.

That second role flows right into the third role, as well.  Jesus is our priest in that he offered the necessary sacrifice.  Not only does Jesus offer the sacrifice, though–he becomes the sacrifice himself.  The priest–the only perfect, clean, spotless priest–becomes the sacrifice.  (Interestingly, he doesn’t get rid of all the rituals–he implements a new one–the Last Supper/Communion).

Jesus the prophet is also Jesus the priest.  The Old Testament meets the New Testament, and rather than the Old dying to make way for the New, the Old is fulfilled in the New.  Jesus doesn’t get rid of the Old Testament–he lives in its roles and makes it come alive.

The Question:  Who is Jesus and why is he important?

Western Christianity’s Answer:  Instead of giving us a summary of who western Christians think Jesus is, McLaren takes this time to address two of his critics and their views of Jesus.  The first critic McLaren addresses is Mark Driscoll.  (McLaren never names his critics, but the quotes are widely available online, such that their identity is no secret).  Apparently, Driscoll has made the claim that McLaren wants to “recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes…In Revelation, Jesus is a prize-fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed.  That is the guy I can worship.  I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I cannot beat up.”  Wow.

The second critic McLaren addresses is John MacArthur.  Here’s the quote from MacArthur: “The only reason Jesus came was to save people from hell…Jesus had no social agenda…[He didn't come to eliminate poverty or slavery or]…fix something in somebody’s life for the little moment they live on this earth.”

Brian McLaren’s Answer:  McLaren spends a chapter answering each critic.  For someone raised in church, it should be pretty easy to tear apart Driscoll’s view.  It comes from a terrible misreading of Revelation 19:11-16.  Of course there are some notable differences.  The sword is not in Jesus’ hand, it is coming from Jesus’ mouth.  That changes the symbolism a bit.  And it also seems the blood on his robe isn’t the blood of his enemies–it’s his own blood.  The blood doesn’t come from Jesus tearing his enemies limb from limb, like we would expect any earthly king to do.  The author of Revelation has already said previously that Jesus appears as a lamb that has been slaughtered.  Jesus triumphs not because he has the most strength and can draw the blood of his enemies, but because he allows his own blood to be drawn.  Jesus triumphs not through the blood of his enemies, but through his own blood.  McLaren points all of this and more out very well.

John MacArthur’s criticism can be a much more tricky one in some ways.  I think it is much more accepted in the evangelical western world.  This world is evil.  Flesh is evil.  Creation is evil.  We are simply waiting out our time here on earth until we can get to Heaven.  This is the context in which MacArthur is able to say “The only reason Jesus came was to save people from hell…Jesus had no social agenda…[He didn't come to eliminate poverty or slavery or]…fix something in somebody’s life for the little moment they live on this earth.”  There’s only one problem.  Jesus says the exact opposite.  Then Jesus does the exact opposite. 

Remember when Jesus is in the Temple and he quotes from Isaiah 61 in his first public sermon?  Remember what he says?  Quoting Isaiah, Jesus says “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  (Luke 4:18-19, 21)

Wait.  It seems Jesus says he came to do the exact things that MacArthur says he didn’t come to do.  Who is right, MacArthur or Jesus?  Then of course, Jesus goes on to do many, many miracles that improve people’s lives, both while they are on earth, and eternally.  It is a both/and, not an either/or, like MacArthur makes it.

McLaren goes on to explore the Gospel of John and to see who Jesus is in this Gospel.  He explains that if we follow Jesus through John, we see that Jesus came to begin a New Creation, echoing Genesis.  There are also many mirror images and descriptions between Jesus and Moses, which show that Jesus is bring a new liberation and forming his people, which mirrors Exodus.  Lastly, we see Jesus preaching about the Kingdom of God, which mirrors the peaceable kingdom of Isaiah.

Chris’ Answer:  I agree, in general, with McLaren, especially when it comes to answering his critics.  I am, well, sad for Mark Driscoll, if indeed he cannot believe in a savior who can be beaten up.  Because Jesus was beaten up.  And killed. 

I also wonder how MacArthur can ignore Jesus’ own words when he is quoting Isaiah, and then ignore Jesus’ own actions when he does so much to make the lives of the people better.  Not only this, all throughout history God told his people, first Israel and then followers of Christ, to treat others well.  The two greatest commandments are to love God and love people.  What is the outcome of all of this?  That people’s lives (both here and there, both now and in the future, both temporal and eternal) will be made better.  I’m sad that MacArthur ignores the words and actions of Jesus.

I also really appreciate that McLaren returns to the full narrative in answering the question of who Jesus is.  Having said that, in my answer, I would do the same.  Remember that in a previous post, I told you that I believe the overarching storyline of the Bible is best understood in covenantal terms, represented by various individuals.  As a result, if I were to give you a full definition of how Jesus fulfills these other covenants.  (We are getting too long for me to do that here, but I may do that in a later post.  I will touch on some of the same issues in this post, and in later posts in this series.)

Long story short, I would say that all that happened in the Bible before Jesus’ time on earth was leading to him, and everything that happens afterwards flows from him.  Jesus is he who everything is about.   Jesus is the One who creates, the One who redeems, the One who lives and dies and lives again.  Jesus is the One who calls us to Him, brings us to Him, and enables us to live like Him.  Jesus is the One who has come and the One who will come again.

Jesus is All.  It’s all about Jesus.  Amen.

What is a prophet in the Bible?  A prophet has many “jobs”, but the major job of a prophet is to be a spokesperson for God.  A prophet hears from God, then speaks to the people the words that God told him to speak.  There are numerous examples of this in the Bible.  Think of all the times someone writes “The word of the LORD came to…” (In most translations, if the word LORD is in all caps it refers specifically to the name God gave Moses at the burning bush).  All of those individual speakers are prophets–Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.  So one role of a prophet is to be God’s spokesperson.

Sometimes a prophet does tell the future, although that is not true in many cases.  Other times, a prophet tells what God might do if something doesn’t change.  We think of Jonah preaching to the Ninevites what will happen if they don’t repent.  Still other times, prophets are told specifically to act out certain things, almost as a dramatic parable, as a symbol to the people.  One example of this is Jeremiah 13, where God commands Jeremiah to bury a linen belt, so that it will get ruined.  This was to represent the way God would ruin Judah’s pride.

So the role of the prophet is to be God’s spokesperson.  Sometimes this involves speaking of the future, although this isn’t necessarily the case.  This speaking for God can be literally, in that the prophet speaks the words of the Lord, or this can be symbolically, in the “dramas” the prophet is called to act out.

This role of prophet is ultimately taken up in the New Testament by none other than Jesus Christ.  Jesus in the New Testament becomes what the prophets were in the Old Testament.

Jesus of course becomes a spokesperson for God (not to imply he isn’t God himself).  It is made pretty clear that the local Jews understood Jesus to be a prophet.  In the story of the men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, the men understand Jesus to have been a prophet.

Jesus also speaks the words of the LORD.  There are many examples of this, but if we look to Jesus’ prayer for his people at the end of His life, it is made pretty clear.  In John 17:7 & 8 Jesus prays, ”Now they (Jesus’ followers) know that everything you have given me comes from you.  For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.  They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.”  Jesus says that God gave him words, and that he spoke the words to the people.  What were the words?  All of the sermons Jesus preached.  All of the parables Jesus told.  There were times, too, when Jesus spoke of the future–see Matthew 24.  These were the words of God that Jesus gave to the people.

Not only this, though.  Jesus also performed prophetic signs.  There weren’t a lot of them, mind you, but they were there.  Maybe the most obvious example is when the woman is caught in adultery.  The leaders bring the woman to Jesus to ask if they should stone her, and what does Jesus do?  He bends over and draws in the sand.  Strange!  We don’t know what he drew.  But the leaders did.  And as a result they dropped their stones and walked away.

Another example of a prophetic sign could very well be the way he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  In some ways, of course, this would be reminiscent of a king riding in to the praises of his people.  In other ways, though, it was symbolic, because Jesus wasn’t a king (at least not a king like the people expected–more on that in a future post).

It could very well be that Jesus’ clearing the Temple could be a third prophetic sign.

So while the role of the prophet is most often associated with the Old Testament, it exists throughout the whole Biblical story.  And like many other things, the role of the prophet is ultimately filled in the person of Jesus Christ.