Friends: On that podcast last week, I should have been quicker listing the things George taught me, several noted here.  Next week in Part 3 we’ll review the actual “Finding Genius” podcast (see link below, all the way at the bottom). Your thoughts are welcome, but I already know I talk too fast. - Bob

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Spirituality Column #865

June 13, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Bread Upon the Waters, Part 2

By Bob Walters

“Bob … it’s a story!” – How Dr. George Bebawi once explained the Bible’s book of Genesis to me.

Whenever I’m asked about my Christian writing, as I was on a podcast last week, there are two names that come to mind immediately: friend and minister Russ Blowers, and mentor George Bebawi.

Russ encouraged my writing and shepherded my first six years of faith before he passed in 2007. George, from 2004-2017, taught a weekly Bible class at our E91 church and provided many “head-spinners,” blow-your-mind type observations and enough material for a lifetime of reflection and recitation.  George died in February 2021 and never is my writing not impacted by his teaching or Russ’s love.

Continuing last week’s thoughts about my guest slot on the podcast, “Finding Genius,” I woefully under-performed on a softball question about “other” memorable things I learned from George.  I neglected …

“Bob, it’s a story.” – This was George’s response when I once asked him why God allowed evil to enter the Garden of Eden.  Accompanied by his friendly laugh, it was George’s unique way of saying the question doesn’t matter.  In time I figured it out; “Jesus is what matters.” And God’s love is what matters.

Literal in what way? – Until the latter 1800s, nobody thought to try to prove the literal truth of the Bible.  The Bible was just accepted, faithfully, as the truth of God. Then as academia’s paradigm shifted away from theology to the more physically provable and applicable spheres of engineering and science, theologians attempted to follow suit.  Tough sell; faith can be seen and felt, but not calculated or proven.

We’re no angels. – When we die to this life, George vigorously reminded, we do not become angels; in Christ we become fully human.  We were/are created human in the image of God as heirs and friends, not as servants like the angels. Do angels, demons, and spirits exist? Unquestionably, but our goal must be to develop our humanity, as best we can, in humanity’s perfect example of Jesus.

Three’s a crowd? – No, three is the smallest number of a community, and that’s why there are three in the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, Spirit – for love. This is among the first surprising and stop-the-presses things I remember George teaching.  Humans want to assign the three persons of the Trinity unique functions and identities, and are disturbed by the three-as-one arithmetic.  Love can only exist in community, and “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In Jesus we are heirs of that community, God’s Kingdom.

“Forgiveness: Number 15 or 20 on the list.” – Perhaps the most common Christian error, or miscalculation, George asserted, is thinking the most important thing Jesus did on the cross was forgive our sins. Forgiveness is a big deal, no doubt, but Jesus died on the cross to defeat death and restore our relationship within God’s Kingdom; forgiveness is merely a precondition. Christ’s purpose was restoration, healing, hope, revelation (Yes, God is real!), love, obedience, grace, truth, and knowing God. Our joy is to focus on Jesus, love, and others going forward; not remain mired in the “me” of past success or suffering.

The New Testament explains the Old. – Jesus Christ completes the unfinished story of the Old Testament.  Do not jam the OT of the Law into the NT of grace and faith.  Same God, different covenants.

Whose covenant is it? – God’s Old Testament covenants were between God and men (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, Moses); the new covenant is between God and Jesus, not man. George was clear on this: our only way to God is through Jesus (John 14:6). We want our own covenant to hold God responsible, but God’s deal is with Jesus. God demanded a perfect sacrifice? He trusts Jesus, not us.

Punishing truth. – Better sit down. Though we say it all the time, nothing in the Bible says Jesus was punished for our sins. (Go ahead, look for it; we’ll wait.) Jesus was punished by the Jews for saying He was God, and Pilate played along with the threat that Jesus was a king.  But, Jesus “punished for our sin”? No, the Bible doesn’t say that.  I found out later Anselm put forth the now-popular notion of “Penal Substitutionary Atonement” (i.e., Jesus punished for our sins to satisfy God) in the 11^th century.  This idea was unknown for the first thousand years of Christianity, and grossly popularized in the past 200.

Cost free. – Like punishment, the Bible does not say Jesus paid anybody for our sins.  His death on the cross was about love, grace, humility, and obedience.  Besides, who would Jesus, i.e., God, pay?

What do I get? – “An eternal seat with the living God” (Rev. 3:20). No other faith promises that.

Think like a Christian! (I did mention this on the podcast.) – George was quick to notice Christians clinging to Old Testament law, not love. You can’t be a Christian, he’d say, and think like a Jew. Shalom.

As I miss Russ, I miss George every day.  I always had questions; they always had answers.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) invites you to listen to his “Finding Genius” podcast interview, HERE (approx. 48 minutes). For more info on George, see GeorgeBebawi.com, with thanks to great friend Stan Naraine for continuing to maintain this wonderful written and audio repository of George’s work.