The Bible: What You May Think It Says, but Doesn't

By R. Thomas Vosburgh

OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO FAITH

EXPOSING and DISPOSING
MISLEADING CLICHE'S and WEAK DOCTRINE So we can be EMBRACING the WORD of GOD
RECONNECTING TO ITS POWERFUL MESSAGE RECLAIMING ITS INSPIRATIONAL WORDS

Mr. Vosburgh has faced severe health issues including being paralyzed from the neck down. He has also faced more than one personal crisis. So he knows what it takes and how faith and prayer can see one through the most tragic of circumstances.

Unbelievers and skeptics alike will find in this book compelling information and inspiring insights that will enable them to crush their doubts and claim the faith for themselves.

Mr. Vosburgh comes to the study of the Bible with experiences of faith that inform his intensive academic study of the scriptures and finds answers to some of the dilemmas that have turned off unbelievers and tripped up searchers of faith.

Whatever your Christian background or doctrine you will find that a fresh look at your faith will release the Holy Spirit to inform, energize, and inspire you too, as well as refresh and empower your witness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbott Press
• Release date: Jun 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781458210081

R. Thomas Vosburgh

Mr. Vosburgh has faced severe health issues including being paralyzed from the neck down. He has also faced more than one personal crisis. So he knows what it takes and how faith and prayer can see one through the most tragic of circumstances.

Book preview

THE BIBLE

WHAT YOU MAY THINK IT

SAYS, BUT DOESN’T

R. Thomas Vosburgh

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Copyright © 2013 R. Thomas Vosburgh.

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ISBN: 978-1-4582-1010-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4582-1009-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4582-1008-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013911008

Abbott Press rev. date: 6/20/2013

CONTENTS

CONNECTING THE DOTS between the BIBLE…….and…….LIFE

LET’S GET STARTED

I   THE WORD OF GOD:IS IT THE BIBLE?

II   WHY YOUR PRAYERS AREN’T WORKING THE WAY YOU THINK THEY SHOULD

III   JESUS AND THE CONTEMPORARY CHURCH: THE INSTITUTION, ITS LEADERS, AND ITS MEMBERS

IV   CHRISTMAS, THE INCARNATION, AND THE TRINITY REVISITED

V   CREATIONISM VERSUS EVOLUTION, AN UNNECESSARY ARGUMENT

VI   WHAT THE HELL?

VII   CONFUSING HOLINESS CREATES COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WITNESSING

VIII   TITHING: IS IT REALLY THE STANDARD?

IX   DID JESUS SEE HIMSELF AS GOD?

X   BITS AND PIECES

Wine:

Baptism:

Holy Communion:

And They Said:

XI   A LAST WORD

This book is dedicated to:

FOREMOST

My LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST

and

FORTUNATELY

My mother, Virginia Vosburgh who nurtured me in the Christian faith.

My grandfather, J. Thomas Wilton who provided me with the best example of what a man of God is like.

My first pastor, Reverend Merle Billhorn who gave me a solid foundation upon which to build my faith.

My exceptional friends and children who have been there for me throughout my life, those who have supported me during times of illness / confused thinking, and especially those who were willing at age 64 to be recruited to be my brothers and sisters.

My closest pastoral friend, Reverend James Pemble and his wife Muriel

and

UNFORTUNATELY

All of those who have been turned off by the things churches and Christians say and do which would even confound and upset my Lord Jesus. As an example, there was the woman who recently confided in me her unhappiness with some of the Christians she knows and her reading of some of the church’s’ history. She said, I don’t understand the fuss about freedom of religion when what I want is freedom from religion.

Those of us who are Christian often have only ourselves to blame when we say and do things that turn people off. When we as Christians are more in love with our traditions, opinions, and bigotry than we are in love with the scriptures, the movement of the Holy Spirit, and the life of Jesus then we can become the face of evil. When we practice intolerance of others who love Jesus just because they may think differently about some of the doctrine than we do, then we have abused our faith and people have a right to question our motivations and sincerity. Closed minded Christians have only themselves to blame when people want to escape from their religious dogmas and practices. And those who abuse the faith for their own ego satisfaction and monetary reward have done immeasurable harm in discrediting the Christian faith. Hopefully this book will set a whole different tone, help redeem us from our mistakes, and create an atmosphere where people won’t want to run from religion, but will find the Christian faith so appealing that they will want to embrace it.

PREFACE

Various issues plague the writing of this book. They are:

1.   I am not attempting to address every possible problem the church faces nor every misunderstanding there is about the Bible that may render a church practice questionable. That task would be impossible to do, so I will select those that are of interest to me or seem particularly annoying.

If you want an exhaustive understanding of why I wrote this book you can go to the last chapter of it.

The title is, A Last Word..

2.   This is not a study of the whole Bible. I am concentrating on New Testament issues primarily found in the way Christians view or practice their faith.

3.   Translations: To understand correctly the meaning of a text or theological concept we have to try to get to the original meaning. In some cases the meaning of a text has resulted in academic fights that have already gone on for years. I am at a disadvantage here, in that I don’t speak or write Aramaic, Greek, or Hebrew. I did take Latin when in high school but I make no claim to be proficient at it. When I went to seminary, I purposely didn’t take classes in those languages because I believed that I would never be an expert in them, so I would have to rely on the translations of others anyway. That is what I’ll be doing in writing this book.

4.   The meaning of the translated words: Even if the translation is on target we still have to deal with the confusion caused by trying to understand what is meant because sometimes a superficial reading of the verses may appear to be saying one thing when the context means something else.

5.   Often I will paraphrase a scripture to avoid getting into copyright issues. I do that where I can express the meaning of the verses by paraphrasing them while still being true to the text.

6.   Every inch of this book will attract criticism by those who don’t really take the Bible seriously or maybe by some who will question my motives. I have found that there are plenty of people who prefer to offer clichés about the Bible and what is in it, because it is easier and more comfortable to go along with tradition and our cultural religiosity. When people are devoted to the Bible it can be quite uncomfortable to look at different views of the Bible or its content because they may be afraid to do that, fearing that they would jeopardize their salvation. I would suggest: My salvation is not dependent upon my being correct about every minute belief I hold. It is grounded in the belief that Jesus came as the Messiah and that it is through him that I am saved. The rest of it may not be so critical, and alternate ways of viewing things may bring enlightenment, more faith, and less conflict with those who may see things differently. It seems to me that open mindedness may bring us together and result in a stronger witness to the core of our faith.

I have to also give thanks to several friendly pastors and numerous others who contributed to this work, sometimes without their knowledge. I hesitate to name any of them as they are in no way responsible for the content of this book and may in certain instances want to vigorously disagree with my remarks and conclusions. In some cases, their contribution goes unseen in that they persuaded me that my perspective was misguided and thus I removed the questionable comments. I am completely and solely responsible for all of the content or omissions, unless I had what seems to be a divine revelation as in the chapter on Christmas and the conclusions reached in the chapter on what Jesus might say about the church if he walked the earth again today.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

between the

BIBLE…….and…….LIFE

Although I am introducing myself to you, this book is not really about me. Even my life story is the story of God’s Spirit who has been faithful to me even when I slipped and fell, literally and figuratively. However, I am going to share my life experiences as a way for you to understand how I was able to connect the Bible to life.

I know that there is power in prayer based on faith in Jesus Christ who is my Lord and Savior. I also know he welcomes one back even when they have become confused about their faith or become nominal in its practice.

In my youth I claimed Jesus as Lord of my life, however I was unaware of the tragedies, struggles and the crises I would face over and over again that would test it. Being naive, I thought that when I decided later on to become an ordained clergyman that I would be shielded from these struggles and the way before me would be easy because my Lord would watch out for me. Others who have become Christians may have thought the same thing, but that is not the way that it works. Go to my chapter on prayer and learn what has been revealed to me.

What I know now is that the Lord knew what I needed before I ever knew it and provided the resources that I needed through his Holy Spirit, long before I knew that I desperately needed them.

Here goes. In 1987 I was paralyzed from the neck down due to a complication from the flu. I am a bit claustrophobic, so nothing would have been more frightening to me than being locked in one’s own body and not to be able to move as I wanted. I not only knew I was gravely ill, but I felt like I was in prison. In addition, I have never found it easy to be patient. Now I saw months of rehabilitation before me, when what I wanted was for it to be over quickly. So I needed the resources He had already provided to not only endure but to conquer, because today I can walk without any kind of assistance, not even a cane.

Other health issues that are not unique to me were much more difficult because of what I had already experienced. I broke several bones in my body, at least 8 to 10 times, trying to recover from the paralysis. Later I was stricken with heart trouble that was not only difficult but resulted in evil working behind my back so that I lost my job of 25 years. That wasn’t the end of my troubles, nor my joy. Because I was single I connected with a Christian who helped me reconnect deeper to the promises I saw coming to me through faith and prayer. Thank God for this angel who was a source of divine love that is far beyond human love.

The saga doesn’t end there. In 2007 I ended up in the hospital with a stroke. It was almost like the previous tragedy of my paralysis had returned. Again, I found myself reaching for the power that comes through the words of scripture and the hymns of faith. They sustained me, as I fought to regain my life. During this time I was also in a coma for three weeks. After three months, I returned home and was close to being fully healed physically. Thank God it was a very short time to full physical recovery. While I worked on physical rehabilitation I found that my mind was affected and that I was like Paul who stated that the good he wanted to do he could not do and the evil he didn’t want to do was what he did. (Rom 7:14-20) But even then, the Spirit of God through Christ kept working on me, redeeming, restoring and renewing. I live now in happiness knowing that he never gives up on me, nor takes away the resources I need to prevail. I held onto the promise found in the scriptures. (II Corinthians 4:8-9). I know that even though I may be afflicted in every way, I will not be crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair. I may also be persecuted, but I will never be abandoned. Yes, I could be struck down but not destroyed. I also found that there were ways for me to serve and witness that came to me in ways I never expected. In fact, this book is one of them. I never considered myself a writer and got Ds in my Freshman English classes. In fact, I thought at the time, that they were mercy grades. Now God works through me with a stream of consciousness that can only be seen as divinely inspired and divinely delivered.

Now, I can say that I have truly been blessed with miracles. I walk without assistance, my heart function is almost like new, my mind is clear, and my heart is even more open than ever before. In fact, I am often blessed with divine revelations. Even this morning, it was revealed to me that my singleness may have become tiresome and at times seemed pointless, but God is using that craziness to allow me to witness to people I would not meet otherwise.

Now, I ask you to hold back and not judge me. I have been married more than once as was the woman at the well. I don’t know about her, but even though all of my marriages ended in divorce, there was death and two betrayals. One divorce was as much or more my fault than hers. Before you judge me, condemn me, and reject me, go to my chapter about holiness, because to do those things would be to do the work of evil. I know now that it was evil at work in my life trying to destroy me. Don’t assume that any of these situations presented an easy way out. All of them were tragedies and gut wrenching. I have spent more time in tears than any person should be required to face.

Each time I faced a crisis or tragedy I found refuge in the scriptures that I memorized as a youth. I was encouraged, inspired and strengthened as the Holy Spirit of God given to us through Jesus the Christ provided me with the resources I needed to redeem, restore, and renew and turn what was evil into something good, way beyond anything that I had expected. Jesus told us and now I saw it. He told us in (Luke 6:37-29) that when we receive the power of his Spirit and live his way what we receive can be beyond our wildest dreams, not because of the homes where we live, the cars we drive or the money in our bank accounts. What is received is more important. The refreshing renewing Holy Spirit who brought healing and connection is far more amazing than any of that.

I came to realize, that when I was being delivered, in so many ways, by faith and grace, that it has been like being set free from prison over and over again. I’ll tell you more about that shortly.

What follows now is more detail about who I am and what I went through.

I served in leadership positions in the United Methodist Church from 1964 through 1981. In 1967 I married my first wife and took a field work position as a pastor in Chicago while finishing my seminary training and was fully ordained in 1969. In 1969 I took my first full time pastoral position in Rockford, Illinois. In 1976, because of a very dysfunctional marriage, my wife and I chose to get divorced. I remarried in 1978 to a woman who had two children of her own. Life was very complicated with a blended family, visitation times with my children, and maintaining my work as a pastor. Then in 1981, to the dismay of my District Superintendent and the church I was serving, I chose to take an Honorary Leave of Absence because it was difficult to pursue my pastoral work and at the same time maintain my visitation rights with my children, and because I was not on the same page as my church regarding some of the things it was doing. I considered this to be similar to taking a Sabbatical, so I could continue to do what I needed to do as a father and what I needed to do to clear my mind and reset my path. As time went on, I wasn’t sure I would ever want to work as a pastor again because of the differences I had with the church on a few matters regarding the direction it was taking. While on my leave of absence, I was offered a position with EF Hutton as a stockbroker. Although I took the position, I thought it might be just temporary until I would decide to go back and rejoin the itinerancy of the United Methodist Church.   

In thinking about my divorce I remember that I never expected to or wanted to ever be divorced. In addition, there was the high level of guilt that I felt because I did not handle it maturely, and as a result I even felt some shame. I have also learned over time, God forgives us so thoroughly that the shame disappears.

Let me explain now, in more depth the struggles I faced when paralyzed from the neck down as well as the other tragedies and challenges that followed it..

In April of 1987 I had the flu one weekend and thought I had gotten over it by Sunday evening. However, on the following Friday when climbing some steps early in the morning I noticed that it took a lot more effort than normal. I was suspicious that I had suffered a stroke during the night, so I called a psychiatrist who was a client of mine. He told me to go to the emergency room and that he would call a Neurologist who would meet me there. The Neurologist met me there and after examining me ordered an MRI. At that point, I didn’t believe that I had a stroke, as I was only 42 years old, and no one in the hospital disagreed with that conclusion. I was, however, admitted into the hospital and given a room in Critical Care. My family gathered around me in my hospital room. I got up once to use the bathroom but had difficulty standing up. My GP showed up and when he asked me to stand he caught me as I slumped towards the floor. I was still oblivious to the tragic events that were to follow.

About three o’clock in the morning I became aware that something terrible had happened and asked the nurse to call my wife who came up to my room to be with me. At that point, I was paralyzed from the neck down. The doctors came to my room the next morning to say they were going to run some tests, including a spinal tap, to find out what had happened. They came back with the results and diagnosed me as having Guillain Barre’ Syndrome. I was now in the fight of my life and spent the next six weeks in either Intensive Care or Critical Care. My sensory nerves were not affected and I could feel every pain, but could not move or