What's Wrong with
Christian History for Everyman?

I originally purchased a site with Site Build It! (SBI!) so that I could have a side business making money on the internet.

The more I've used SBI!, the more I've been convinced that it's an excellent way to make money online. It certainly is bringing way more traffic than any previous web site I've had.

But I keep doing things wrong.

Doing a Web Site for Money Right

Today I saw an SBI! site that's doing it right. It's even a Christian site.

He has brief pages with basic information, and he has lots of them. Each page is what SBI! calls "keyword-focused." In other words, it's written to cover a specific word or phrase that's commonly typed into search engines.

SBI! tells you exactly how to find the excellent "keywords." It also tells you how to use that keyword on your page.

Now, I'm not complaining about SBI! (or the Basic Bible Knowledge site). Their way of doing web sites is excellent … very excellent.

SBI! makes it easy for search engines to find exactly what YOU are looking for. Since SBI! also exhorts, encourages, and instructs us in how to give you the information you want in the format you want it in, it's a perfect combination. The search engines find our sites, and you get exactly what you're looking for.

The problem is, I can't seem to focus on making money.

I have too many other things that matter to me.

Pages That Are Just Too Long

The one piece of advice I consistently get from fellow SBIers is that my pages are too long.

So they are.

The problem is, I'm pretty passionate about Christian history. I can't just tell you some basic information about, for example, the Council of Nicea. I have to tell you why it matters.

A Church Council That's Interesting

The Council of Nicea is an awesome story. First of all, wouldn't you think it's interesting that thousands, perhaps millions, of churches quote the Nicene Creed (or the Apostles Creed, which is a version of it) every week, but pretty much none of them believe what it says?

Don't get me wrong. It's not a big difference. It won't keep you out of heaven or anything like that.

However, the Nicene Creed in its original form is important. It accurately represents the view of the Father and Son held by the churches before Nicea. And those churches claimed to have received their view from the apostles.

As a result, it's so Scriptural that it's breathtaking.

The relationship of the Father and the Son is difficult for humans to comprehend. The Bible talks about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as separate persons. In different places it refers to each of them as God.

No problem there. Modern mainline Christians all believe in the Trinity, and thus they believe in three persons in the Godhead. (Shoot, most of us don't even know what Godhead means!)

If you want to know, you have to use the "contact me" button to the left and ask .

The problem is, the Bible also says, repeatedly, that the Father is the one God (e.g., Jn. 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:6). Modern Christians don't believe that, nor can they explain how that could be true if all three persons of the Trinity are called God.

The early churches could explain it.

In fact, they do explain it in the Nicene Creed, but everyone has forgotten what it means. (Everyone in the West, that is. The Eastern Orthodox Churches still remember.)

In fact, I couldn't resist explaining myself even here.

Thank God for editing. I moved my explanation to a sidebar. You should read it; it's utterly fascinating, I'm telling you!

More Than Interesting

But that's just the fun, interesting stuff. I enjoy that, but there are two things I'm passionate about that are much more important than what's interesting.

Honesty and holiness.

It's obvious that Christians are divided in our age. They're divided, and they're a terrible example of the Gospel Jesus preached. (Which is why people write books like How to Stop Making Jesus Look Bad and The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience.)

Jesus said that our unity would prove that he was sent by God (Jn. 17:20-23) and our love for each other would prove that we are Christians.

Christians in the west are not exactly known for their love and unity.

We need help, but we're not going to get it if we don't admit there's a problem.

We're also not going to get help if we're not willing to change. It's said that the definition of insanity is to do the same things over and over but expect different results. By that standard, there's a lot of insanity in modern Christianity.

We simply have a lot of doctrines we're not willing to change.

Honesty

From my study of Christian history, I feel confident saying that one doctrine that is not the problem is baptism. We'll be fine, I believe, even if we don't correct our doctrine of baptism.

However, baptism is an excellent example of where we're lacking in honesty.

And if we don't become honest, we don't have a chance of glorifying Christ as his body.

Most evangelical Christians today believe that baptism is a purely symbolic event. Evangelicals rarely baptize upon conversion. It's common to wait weeks before a converted person is baptized.

As I said, my study of Christian history leaves me believing that we can survive a problem like that. Lots of powerful, effective Christian groups have. However, there is nothing Biblical about our belief or our practice.

Evangelicals claim to use the Bible as "the sole rule for faith and practice," but that's not true of baptism.

Oh, yes, it's true that we argue Scripture, and we present teachings suggesting that baptism is symbolic even in the Bible, but there's nothing honest about that. Baptism is clearly not a symbolic act in the Bible.

Peter says it saves us (1 Pet. 3:21). Acts 22:16 says that Paul's sins were washed away in baptism. Peter told the Jews on the day of Pentecost that they should be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Paul says that we die and are raised with Christ in baptism (Rom 6:3-4). He also says that it is those who are baptized into Christ who have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27).

The testimony of the Scriptures is absolutely consistent on the subject of baptism. When Evangelicals argue that baptism is symbolic, they use verses that talk about faith. The Scriptures on baptism are ignored or explained away because they all disagree with us.

Baptism is supposed to be our entrance into Christ.

As I said, I don't think the problem lies there. God has been extremely gracious with us, and he has let many receive Christ with a profession of faith or a sinner's prayer.

There's nothing Biblical about a sinner's prayer, but it is true that God is much more concerned about faith in Christ than he is about the method of our profession of faith (which is supposed to be baptism).

However, because the Scriptures on baptism are so clear, and because it's so obvious that we ignore them, baptism is an excellent example of our lack of honesty.

And that lack of honesty affects us in areas that do matter.

Holiness

Jesus doesn't want disciples that aren't willing to give up everything (Luke 14:26-33). In fact you cannot be his disciple without forsaking all that you have.

Oh, the excuses that we make! We wail and howl, "What are we supposed to do, run around naked? We have to have something! We can't give up everything!"

Take that up with Jesus. At least be honest enough to admit he said it! He must have meant something by what he said.

Of course I don't think we are supposed to run around naked, but that's not the point. The point is that we western Christians keep our own lives all the time. We work where we want; we live where we want; we eat what we want; we go to college if we want; we save for the future; we pursue riches; etc., etc., etc.

What's important to us is dictated far more by western culture than by Christ. We don't need to talk about how thorough Christ wanted us to be in giving up everything until we begin giving up everything.

Jesus said not to worry about what we will eat or wear. Instead, we are to pursue the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Baptism is a great revealer of our dishonesy with the Scriptures and our disinterest in what they say. Our lack of commitment and lack of denying ourselves is where that dishonesty matters.

We will never honor Christ until we become his disciples.

This Web Site

So I suspect until I get less interested in this message and more interested in making money, this won't be a very profitable web site.

That's alright, I suppose. I can't serve God and money.

At least, that's what Jesus said.

I hope as you read this site, you'll forgive the long pages and any lack I may have in writing or web designing. I hope you'll hear the heart behind the site.

Mostly, I hope you'll follow Christ.

I hope you'll fall in love with him and examine everything you can in order to know how to serve him better.

Christian History

We are really, really bad at serving him here in America. At many times in the past, however, we've had dear brothers and sisters who have served him well.

They have obtained his grace. They have borne testimony to him with their lives … and with their blood.

They have lived in unity and caused the world to cry out, "Behold, how they love one another!" (Tertullian, Apology 50, c. A.D. 200). They have taken care of the weak, the sick, the poor, the orphans, and the widows.

They have overcome the world and themselves.

And they left us messages. We can learn from them.

We can be different than we are.

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