The Gospel of Mark According to Me

I started a project today translating the Bible be more understandable for the contemporary audience, while also trying to portray more scientific accuracy and provide a more accurate meaning of certain passages.  I also provide some notes in passages I feel need some explanation.  I intend to do this with all of the Gospels at the very least, and will publish the four Gospels from my translation.  I do not pretend that my translation is in any way inspired by God or that my translation is intended to replace more authorized versions of the Gospels.  At best my translation is a paraphrase, intended for purposes of making the Gospels clearer to a contemporary audience.  I hope you enjoy.  Below is the first chapter of Mark according to the translation of Brandon Parks.

1:1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus, the chosen one, the Son of God; 

1:2 As it is written in the prophets, take notice, I send my messenger before you, and he will prepare the world for your arrival.

1:3 The voice of one calling out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

1:4 John baptized in the desert, and preached the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of our failings.

1:5 And everyone from the land of Judaea, and from Jerusalem, travelled to see John, and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their imperfections.

1:6 And John dressed in camel's hair, with underwear of animal skin; and he ate locusts and wild honey; 

1:7 And preached, saying, One is coming after me who is greater than me, whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.

1:8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with his own Spirit. (Meaning Jesus will fill you with his Spirit that will clean you any failings.  See Psalm 51:10-12.).

1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan River.

1:10 And immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: 

1:11 And there came a voice from heaven, saying, You are my beloved Son. I am very proud of You.

1:12 And immediately the Spirit led Jesus to pursue solitude in the desert. 

1:13 And he spent forty days in the desert, struggling with temptation; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels took care of him.

1:14 John was put in prison, and Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the good news of God’s perfect government, 

1:15 And saying, The time has come, and God’s perfect government has arrived: turn to God, and believe the good news.

1:16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishermen.

1:17 And Jesus said to them, Come with me, and I will make you fish for men.

1:18 And immediately they abandoned their nets, and went with him.

1:19 And when he had gone a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship fixing their nets.

1:20 And immediately he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went with him.

1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the sabbath day he entered the synagogue, and taught.

1:22 And they were amazed at his teaching: for he taught them as one with authority and personal knowledge, and not as the teachers of the day.

1:23 And there was a man in their synagogue who was sick and misunderstood (likely someone with paranoid schizophrenia); and he cried out, 

1:24 Saying, Leave us alone; what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be quiet, and leave him.

1:26 And when the illness hurt him, and the man cried with a loud voice, the man was cured of his illness.

1:27 And they were all amazed, and questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? what new doctrine is this? For with authority Jesus commands even sickness, and even ailments obey him.

1:28 And immediately his fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

1:29 And immediately after leaving the synagogue, they went into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.

1:30 But Simon's mother-in-law lay sick of a fever, and soon they told Jesus of her.

1:31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she waited on them.

1:32 And in the evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Jesus everyone who was sick, (the original said “and those possessed of demons.” To reflect our knowledge today, I have removed that phrase as those “possessed with demons” likely had illnesses the people of the time were unfamiliar with).

1:33 And everyone from the city was crowding the door.

1:34 And Jesus healed many that were sick of diverse diseases; and asked that no one speak of him being the Son of God.

1:35 And in the morning, waking up before dawn, Jesus went out, and found a solitary place where he prayed.

1:36 And Simon and they that were with him followed him.

1:37 And when they had found him, they said, Everyone is looking for you.

1:38 And he said to them, Let us go into the next towns, so I may preach there also: for that is why I came here.

1:39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and Healed those who were sick.

1:40 And a leper came to him, begging him, and kneeling down to him, saying, If you want, you are able to heal me.

1:41 And Jesus, feeling immense compassion for this man, put forth his hand, and touched him, saying to him, I will; be clean.  (Note: at this time touching a leper made a person unclean.  This man likely had not experienced a loving human touch for many years.  Jesus showed that a person does not become unclean for touching someone, but that by touching someone who is unclean, we can make that person clean).

1:42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was clean.

1:43 And Jesus immediately charged him, and then sent him away; 

1:44 And said unto him, Make sure to say nothing to any man: but go right away and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

1:45 But he went out, and began to tell everyone who would listen, and to spread everywhere the details of his healing, so much so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside the city in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

End Times, a Marginal Belief: A Series on Christianity's Core Beliefs

Beginning our series on core vs. marginal beliefs, I have decided that I will start by discussing marginal beliefs and end the series by discussing core Christian beliefs. That was the easy part as I planned for this series. The difficult part was deciding what marginal beliefs to discuss. As I discuss the marginal beliefs, I want to pick out the ones that Christians today tend to fight most over. It would do no good to point out marginal beliefs that most Christians already agreed were marginal. What is important is that we establish what marginal beliefs we most argue over with the hope that, knowing they are not part of the core of what we believe, we will no longer view them as worth arguing over. One of the most divisive of all of these marginal doctrines centers around end times theology, or eschatology.

I have seen churches split over end times theology. I have seen members thrown out of churches because of their eschatology. I have seen Christians attack each other in the name of the end times. When the number two commandment in Scripture is to love your neighbor as yourself, defending end times theology to the death is wrong whether it is a core belief or not.

There are several different beliefs regarding the end times that have caused many splits and many different factions within Christianity. There are churches that devote every worship service to preaching the end times. But is end times theology all that important? Does it make a difference in the lives of Christians? Does our salvation depend on having a correct eschatology? The answer to the last question will determine whether eschatology is a core doctrine or a marginal one.

As I read Scripture, though it is important for us to know that Jesus will come again, it is not important for us to know when or how. Matthew 25:1-13 is a parable that many interpret as a parable about the return of Christ at the end of time. Verse 13 is especially insightful: it starts our by telling us to "be on the alert" for his return. So we are asked by him to acknowledge that he will come back and to be aware that it could be anytime. But the second part of the verse warns, "for you do not know the day nor the hour." This verse assumes that even we today do not know when his return will be, or even if we will still be here on this earth. Therefore, to conjecture about when Jesus' return will be is fruitless, and to argue over the details and fight with other Christians about it, is to miss the point of the end times: we do not and cannot know when it will be.

Finally, Jesus' words in Matthew 24:36 are informative: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." If not even Jesus himself knows about the details of the end times, who are we to think we can? If only the Father knows, is it that pertinent for us to attempt to attain such high knowledge? Our eschatology, our knowledge of the end times do nothing for our salvation and say nothing about our position in the Church, within the body of Christ. The Bible is clear on this, end times theology is a marginal belief that should not be defended to our utmost. If there is any core doctrine in Christianity relating to the end times, it is that Jesus is going to return, and I question even if that is core. Whether we believe if Jesus will return or not does not effect our salvation according to Scripture.

So as we interact with other Christians, let us continue to engage each other with an attitude of love and compassion, and when we are debating about the end times, let us be willing, for our edification and theirs, to let go of arguing, knowing that this is a marginal belief.

The Bible and the Will of God: a Series on Christianity's Core Beliefs

From the beginning of Church history, all the way up until today, the most divisive issue for us Christians is doctrine. One person believes in infant baptism and another does not, so you fight. One person believes in having communion every week and another does not, so you fight. One person believes Jesus will return before Christians are taken up another does not, so you fight. I have been staying away from the Christian message boards because instead of being places of love and compassion, acting out Jesus' example, they are more like theological boxing rings where Christians try to knock the other person out with their best argument for their particular theology. But this is not how Jesus intended for Christians to treat each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11 says "[Jesus] died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing." This is the purpose of the body of Christ, the Church, to build one another up in mutual encouragement, not to tear each other down for bad theology.

That does not mean that we are not to beware of false teachings, however. We are taught in 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." The Bible is clear in many places that we are to beware of false teachings. Paul himself wrote many times to defend against false teachings that were being brought into the Church.

During Jesus' ministry, he warned against false teachings that came from the Pharisees called "the tradition of the elders." We find this in Mark 7 where Jesus and his disciples were eating. While they were eating, we are told that the Pharisees came up to Jesus and asked him why his disciples had not washed their hands properly before eating. This had nothing to do with germs, and everything to do with spiritual cleanliness. The Pharisees believed in the traditional teachings from older scribes who interpreted the Old Testament law in such a way that they believed it taught that one had to wash their hands a very specific way before they could eat. There were many such laws that came from the tradition of the elders, that the Pharisees believed in and was much of the reason they went around criticizing Jesus and his disciples, because they were not abiding by such traditional laws, which the Pharisees felt they needed to in order to maintain their Jewish identity against the foreign occupation of Rome.

In much the same way, Christians today hold on to interpretations that come from tradition of men rather than from the Bible, and argue for their beliefs in such a way that if you do not believe in them, you are not a good Christian. The problem is two-fold. First of all, it comes from a lack of distinction between core and marginal beliefs. Core beliefs are those beliefs that one truly must believe in order to consider oneself a part of that world view. For Christians, a core belief is a belief that is necessary for one to believe, in order for that person truly to be a Christian. Marginal beliefs are beliefs held by Christians that one can change, reformulate, or even drop, and still be considered a Christian. What often happens is that marginal beliefs are confused with core beliefs and people argue for these beliefs as if they are the most important belief one can hold. This often happens with end times beliefs. End times beliefs are really a marginal belief that many people count as a core, necessary belief, and they get enraged if you call yourself a Christian and do not believe the doctrine as they do. I will discuss this more later this week as we go through this series on core vs. marginal beliefs.

The second problem for Christians is there argumentative style. We are reminded in 1 Peter 3:15 "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence." It seems like we all too often forget that "with gentleness and reverence" part.

As we argue for our beliefs, we need to match our tenacity with the kind of belief it is. The more core a belief, the more tenacious we can be in how we argue. If it is a marginal belief, give-in if it is obvious the other person is being stubborn. It is not worth the argument. If it is a core belief, you don't have to give-in, but remain loving, gentle, and reverent through the entire debate.

We are supposed to be Christian brothers and sisters in Christ, present for the mutual uplifting of one another. For the next three or four days I will discuss certain core beliefs that we should remain strong on, and certain marginal beliefs that we need to begin being less strong on. Remember as I go through these core and marginal beliefs that what is most important is that we follow the two greatest commandments taught to us by our Lord Jesus Christ: "to love the Lord God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourself." Never lose sight of the greatest commandments: the commandments to love.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Hell: What Is It Good For

I have often been accused of beating a dead horse until it was unrecognizable. For fear of losing this reputation I have decided once again to speak on the topic of hell. The subject of the eternal place of fiery torment for those who haven’t accepted Christ was resurrected (excuse the pun) when Rob Bell wrote his book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. I do not intend to rehash anything here that I have discussed in previous blogs (to see those previous blogs see: Related Posts below). I am writing on the topic again because of the numerous debates I have had with people recently who are so certain the Bible is clear that when unbelievers die, they go to a place of eternal torment. I have decided to do some research on the Christian doctrine of hell and have made some interesting finds. And so I present the findings of this research today.

First off, there was not an official doctrine of hell until 500 years after Jesus’ death in 543 AD at the Council of Constantinople. Before that time, the early Church Fathers were mixed as to what hell was. Geoffrey Bromiley tells us in an article in his International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Concerning [hell’s] nature, many early fathers, including the apologist Justin, and the Latin fathers Tertullian and Jerome, assumed a fiery hell. Origen, on the other hand, gave it a spiritualized sense, in which the emphasis fell on remorse and separation from God…Origen…introduced the possibility of a remedial hell that might form a final stage of reclamation even for demons.” Some of Origen’s (an early church father who lived from 185-254 AD) quotes worth noting are as follows:

“We find in the prophet Isaiah, that the fire with which each one is punished is described as his own; for he says, ‘Walk in the light of your own fire, and in the flame which ye have kindled’ (Is 1:11). By these words it seems to be indicated that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire, and is not plunged into some fire which has been already kindled by another, or was in existence before himself” (De Principiis II, 10, IV).

“And again, if, by means of many severe administrations of punishment, they are able at some future time to recover their senses, and gradually attempt to find healing for their wounds, they may, on ceasing from their wickedness, be restored to a state of goodness” (De Principiis III, 1, XXI).

From the first quote we can see that Origen did not believe in an actual hell, but saw hell as a place we create for ourselves when we engage in sinful behavior, as it makes life difficult for us. From the second quote we can see that Origen believes in a place of purification one who has rejected Jesus goes, where they can be restored because of the punishment they have endured. This is in line with the idea I discussed in Rob Bell, “Love Wins,” and the Universalist in which a punishment must be corrective and therefore cannot be eternal. So as one can tell, the doctrine of hell was not clearly spelled out to the early church fathers, and so there were many different theories to begin with, and it wasn’t until 500 years after Jesus’ death that one theory was picked as orthodox.

But what about the bible itself, doesn’t it say that when people die they will be in eternal torment? The answer to that question is “no.” Hell did not develop as a concept until the intertestamental period after the last book of the Old Testament was written, but before the first book of the New Testament was. When the Old Testament speaks of where the wicked will go after dying, it speaks mainly of Sheol. Sheol, translated from the Hebrew, means “grave” and is the place both the good and the bad go after they die. It was a place void of consciousness, as can be attested from Psalm 6:5, “For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks.” In the Old Testament, there is no hell, only Sheol. And Sheol is a place where consciousness does not exist. As the idea of the afterlife began to evolve, Sheol began taking on some aspects that make it seem like a possible hell, such as Daniel 12:2 which says, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” But any concept of hell such as we have today of a fiery, eternally conscious torment, placed in the Old Testament is wrong as it places a future idea into the minds of those in the past.

There are only a handful of places in the Bible that mention anything resembling an eternal torment: Daniel 12:2 (quoted above) and Matthew 25:46 which says, "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." I know that the phrases “everlasting contempt” and “eternal punishment” seem damning to my argument, but we often read our pre-set beliefs into passages such as these. We have been conditioned to believe in an eternally tormenting hell and so we simply read into passages like these that concept of hell. But notice they do not say “eternal torment.” When it says “eternal punishment” and “everlasting contempt” it is just as likely that these passages mean that the person who chooses to reject God will be eternally separated from him without consciousness. Essentially, they will eternally cease to exist. The punishment is not being aloud to live in God’s kingdom for all of eternity, instead of being sent to a fiery, tormenting hell. An article which discusses the original Greek in the Matthew passage can be found at "Eternal" Punishment (Matthew 25:46) is NOT True to the Greek Language and discusses that this is the only passage that has the two words “eternal” and “punishment” together, making for a compelling case against the idea of an eternal hell. He also mentions how the term translated “eternal” does not always mean eternal, and can simply mean an indefinite period of time. This makes for a more coherent belief in an all-loving God. It also makes for a more accurate reading of the Bible.

When you read in Scripture any of the passages that refer to a punishment for the wicked after death, you will see that not one of those passage indicates it is eternally conscious, leaving open the option that hell is a place where one can be restored, and for those who are passed the point of restoration there is the option of ceasing to exist for all of eternity. Any indication that hell is eternal, is read into the Bible because of tradition, and cannot be read out of Scripture objectively. Below are some passages that you can read on hell, and you can see for yourself that no indication of eternality can be found (Matthew 8:11-12; Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 13:49-50; Matthew 22:12-13; Matthew 24:50-51; Matthew 25:29-30; Luke 13:27-28).

I want to end by explaining why I chose to write about this subject on a blog about engaging our society based on how Jesus engaged his. One of the things Jesus fought the Pharisees on was their strict adherence to certain biblical precepts that in the long run excluded people from the kingdom of God, and did not accord with God’s will (Matthew 23). I believe there are certain doctrines that Christians need to stand strong on without budging: the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, the resurrection of Jesus, and so on. But there are other beliefs from which we do not budge that in the long run will exclude people from the kingdom of God. If the eternity of hell were something that was clearly in Scripture, I would say we need to adhere to the doctrine regardless of how wicked it seems. But the Bible is not clear. It is everything but clear. And since it keeps so many people away from Jesus, I think it is a doctrine we as Christians need to be prepared to scrap. We need to stop fighting people as if this is the sole doctrine on which Christianity rests, and do more to bring the doctrines of love and grace to the forefront. Who knows, maybe in the long run we will bring more people to Christ that way.
Blessings,
-Brandon

Related Posts:
http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/threat-of-punishment-or-promise-of-love.html

http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2011/03/rob-bell-love-wins-and-universalist.html

http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/11/is-christian-god-to-be-feared.html

http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/interacting-with-contemporary-church.html

http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/jesus-and-religious-leaders-in-bible.html

http://whatjesusdiddo.blogspot.com/2010/10/manipulating-scripture.html

Charlie Sheen, the Grace of God, and Compassion of Jesus

Forgive me for riding on the coat tails of the recent spotlight Charlie Sheen was in. I realize that it has been two weeks or more since he held the attention of America as he seemed to spiral more and more out of control. But I thought this would be a great opportunity to illustrate the grace of God and compassion of Jesus in a contemporary setting. I am sure that Christians everywhere who were paying attention to the news looked at the life Charlie was living and in harmony shouted what a sinner he is. I am sure that in certain circles an abundance of condemnation and judgment were heaped upon him for his misdeeds.

But is this the biblical approach to how we should respond to Charlie Sheen? Looking at Scripture, Jesus spent his time with, and gathered his followers from those perceived to be the worst in society. It was scandalous that Jesus spent his time with adulterers and prostitutes. The Pharisees even asked Jesus' disciples why he spent time with such vile people. Jesus' response was classic, "those who are seek need the physician, not those who are well." It would later be understood that no one is truly well enough not to need a physician. Paul wrote, "all have sinned and have fallen short." Jesus spent time with these "wretched" people because they needed him. He did not avoid them because of what they did. Jesus befriended and showed love and compassion to these "worst of sinners" because no one else would.

But these people, you might object, repented of their sins, which is why he spent time with them, right? Actually, the answer is "no." These "sinners" only repented after Jesus showed them love and compassion. Let us look at the story of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:1-10. In this story, it was not until Jesus accepted an invitation from the tax collector to come eat with him, and it was not until Jesus had spent some time with Zacchaeus, that he agreed to give his ill gotten earnings back, and to give some to the poor. It was not a requirement that Zacchaeus repent before Jesus would accept his invitation. It was only when Jesus showed him love and acceptance without ulterior motives that the man repented.

That is interesting because in today's Church, we expect repentence to come before a person is accepted in. But it seems that in Jesus' day, acceptence came first, followed by repentence. Maybe that is why the Church is losing numbers today, we have things backwords. We expect people to change their lives, showing them judgment and condemnation, which does the counter of what we want by preventing them from changing their lives. We see someone like Charlie Sheen and critize and ridicule him, and then are surprised when he gets worse. If Jesus were around today, Charlie Sheen would be the one Jesus would be spending time with, showing love and compassion, even accepting his two "girl friends" into the fold, knowing that by showing him that love and grace, the true medicine of the physician, Charlie would find the healing he so desperately needs for his wounds. Meanwhile, I am sure that Jesus would reprimand many within the Church for being so condemning, and for not providing the much needed medicine of love, mercy, and grace.
Blessings,
-Brandon