Growing Through Matthew

Scripture Twisting

Matthew 14:6-12--⁶ But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, ⁷ so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. ⁸ At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” ⁹ Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. ¹⁰ So John was beheaded in the prison, ¹¹ and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹² Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that it is wrong to celebrate birthdays and holidays. They use this passage to mislead people into believing that birthday celebrations are pagan events because Herod killed John the Baptist at such a party. A person can only draw such a conclusion from the text if they employ poor hermeneutics. Jehovah's Witnesses are notorious for twisting Scriptures!

About the only thing we can say regarding this passage is that it's unwise to make rash promises. Absolutely nothing in the context leads us to think that we should not celebrate someone's birthday. (By the way, I turn 50 on August 10th!)

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 8, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach Christians that eating meat offered to idols was not wrong as long as doing so didn't cause another Christian to stumble. We glean from Paul's instructions to the Corinthian Christian Church that Jesus' followers are permitted to participate in birthday parties and holiday festivities as long as no one is harmed (Colossians 2:16).

Growing Together Through the Bible

I'M BACK! 

Due to hip replacement surgery in March and an untimely, painful hip dislocation in May, I have been out-of-commission for a few months. I have had to focus my energy on priority ministry items. Consequently, the Growing Together blog had to be put on the back burner.

Lake Christian Church concludes the journey through the Old Testament on Sunday, June 26th. Hopefully, you have read all the OT books beginning with Genesis and ending with Malachi. It has been an exciting faith-adventure!

LCC's Old Testament sermons are available online.

Before we open the pages of Matthew's gospel, we need to ask an important question:

"What about the four centuries without a prophet?"

The time period between the Old & New Testaments takes place between 430 BC and AD 25. This period without a prophet's message from God permitted the Old Testament to be preserved. Scribes copied the Law and the writings of the major/minor prophets. The office of scribe was valuable because, in addition to copying God's Word, they collected and protected what we now know as the Old Testament.

The writings were studied, applied, and shared (Ezra 7:10) with the people--even people living outside the Jewish community. In addition, synagogues were built throughout the known world to serve as educational centers where people gathered to learn the Word of God.

After Ezra's day, strict regulations were enacted concerning how scribes copied the Law and prophetic writings. Special inks were developed to write God's Word on animal skins. Not only that, scribes were expected to speak the words aloud as they copied them. Without the benefit of today's computers and copiers, God's Word was reproduced with uncanny accuracy!

We can grow together through the Bible because it is God's Word--authoritative and reliable!