The Redemption of Jeff Hardy

Controversy is never far from the famous, whose wealth and social status brings them power and opportunities that many of us will never see or experience. Jeff Hardy began his professional career as part of the highly innovative and successful tag team of the ‘Hardy Boyz’ with his brother Matt; together the Hardy Boyz lit up the tag team division in the WWE and were involved in many – now legendary – TLC matches (tables, ladders & chairs). However, even in the beginning there was a quality about Jeff, the greater risk taker of the partnership. Eventually Jeff broke away from his brother and went on to become one of the most popular faces in the WWE. Jeff’s showmanship, coupled with his penchant for high risk, aerial acrobatics was a recipe for success and popularity. His unique ring attire and face paint earned him the nickname the 'charismatic enigma'. Yet, despite his popularity with the fans behind the scenes, Jeff’s personal life was spiralling out of control. Drug abuse resulted in Jeff parting ways with the WWE and joining the then fledgling TNA promotion, which had high aspirations for its future. Jeff was a major signing for them and he spent three years in the company before finally returning to the WWE.

                

 Jeff’s second run in the WWE saw him propelled back into the spot light and after a string of high profile matches the main event, eventually culminating in him winning the world title at Armageddon 2008, in a triple threat match against Triple H and Edge – two of the most decorated men in the WWE. But Jeff would again leave the WWE in 2009 and once more return to TNA in January 2010. TNA had grown since Jeff’s first run with the company and it had also signed Hulk Hogan to the roster, arguably the most famous man in professional wrestling. Jeff’s popularity and achievements with the WWE put him right back into the main event in TNA and at Bound For Glory 2010 Jeff won his first TNA world title after turning heel and joining the now defunct Immortal heel faction. Jeff’s heel world title reign was rocky to say the least; the self-proclaimed ‘anti-Christ’ of wrestling found it hard to turn the crowd on him after being beloved for so many years. His personal demons also resurfaced, ending in a now infamous match at Victory Road 2011 against Sting in which he lost his world title that resulted in Jeff leaving wrestling.

               

 If this was where Jeff Hardy’s career ended, it would have been the stuff of Shakespearian tragedy – a man with natural born talent, charisma and the ‘IT’ factor that so many wrestlers aspire and work so hard to have, some never even finding it, only to throw his career away because of his inability to control his vices. I must admit that after Victory Road 2011 I had given up on Jeff. He had been a wrestler I had grown up watching and while respected his in-ring ability had never truly got behind him with all his personal issues. This was his curtain call, his final act and the end of his chances. His unprofessionalism had finally become too much for me and I was glad to see him gone.

That was then.

In August 2011, Jeff returned to TNA and begun his ‘redemption’. At first I was dubious; but then it struck me: as a Christian I believe in redemption. I believe in the importance and power of grace and forgiveness. Suddenly, the parallels between the Gospel and Jeff Hardy’s career became apparent to me. It would have been hypocritical of me to write off Jeff Hardy when God had so graciously forgiven me. The Bible teaches that all who come to Christ in faith become adopted children of God (John 1:12). If then I had been given a new life in Christ and forgiveness for my sin; then surely, professionally, Jeff Hardy deserved his chance for redemption. Jesus taught to forgive other people their sins that God may also forgive us (Matthew 6:14, Luke 6:37). This was Jeff’s opportunity to earn the forgiveness from TNA and from his fans.

Jeff’s redemption has been one of the most real things about wrestling in a long time. In an industry known for its larger than life characters and superhuman feats, reality is often suspended. But Jeff’s return to TNA in August 2011 marked a very important turning point in his career. Jeff’s redemption has not just been a story, told and narrated through the way he has been booked and the commentators at ring-side. It is real. Jeff's personal life has changed for the better; having become a father Jeff has cleaned up his life. Professionally, over the last year Jeff has been in some of the best matches on PPV; he has had some excellent performances against former world champion Bobby Roode and Kurt Angle and earlier this year won the prestigious Bound for Glory series at No Surrender guaranteeing him a match against the world champion in the main event at Bound for Glory, TNA’s biggest PPV of the year. Jeff has definitely given back to TNA; his performances have improved dramatically and are arguably on the same level they were at during his peak when he won the WWE world title in 2008.

At Bound for Glory 2012 Jeff Hardy regained the coveted TNA world title from Austin Aries, his first world title win as a face in the company. This victory has the potential to mark a new era in Jeff’s career; one that will see him fulfil his potential as a performer and as a champion. Time will tell whether this world title run will be his Indian summer but come what may, the moral of Jeff Hardy's career is that redemption is an essential part of life. We all are human with our flaws and vices. We all have the potential (being made in the image of God) to become outstanding people of good judgement, wisdom and righteousness. We all deserve a second chance. But more than that, Jeff Hardy's career is testiment to the fact that we all need grace. Grace is undeserved favour. TNA didn't have to take Jeff back onto their roster. But they showed him grace to prove himself once more. Through Jesus Christ God has demonstrated His remarkable grace that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We are saved by grace alone (Ephesians 2:5). 

Fabricating Jesus

In a time of post-modern individualism and moral relativism, the nature and person of the historical Jesus is of critical importance to our understanding and faith (or lack of) in the Jesus Christ of the 4 New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Rather than writing a straight forward book review of 'Fabricating Jesus', I thought I would highlight some of its conclusions. 

The 'Gnostic Gospels' or extracanonical gospels that have been popularized by Dan Brown's the Da Vinci Code have become a very controversial area of scholarly debate. Some scholars believe these extracanonical gospels (not found in the Bible) actually pre-date, or at least their ideas and teachings pre-date those found in the New Testament. Evans looks at five such gospels - the gospel of Thomas, Mary, Peter, the Egerton gospel and the secret gospel of Mark. The dates of these Gnostic Gospels are all firmly placed within the second century. The gospel of Mary is dated to 160 AD, Peter 170 AD, the gospels of Egerton and Thomas 180 AD. In contrast scholars believe the New Testament Gospels were all composed in the first century - Mark is the earliest either between 50-60 AD, potentially only 20 years after the death of Jesus. Matthew and Luke were written a little later as they share similar content, which scholars believe has come from an extant source called 'Q' and were likely to have been written between 75-80 AD; and finally John was written between 90-95 AD.

The gospel of Thomas: The gospel of Thomas was found among the Nag Hammandi Codices in Egypt in 1945. The codices are believed to have been written between 350-380 AD. The codices were all written in Coptic. The teachings found in the gospel of Thomas are very esoteric in nature, in contrast to the teachings of Jesus found in the New Testament. The emphasis in the teachings of Thomas attributed to Jesus is one of knowing (Greek gnosis) rather than repentance and faith. Gnosticism places more emphasis on mysticism than on revelation. There is much evidence to suggest that the teachings found in Thomas do not pre-date the New Testament Gospels: 

1. Thomas knows many of the New Testament writings 2. Thomas contains Gospel material that scholars regard as late 3. Thomas reflects later editing in the Gospels 4. Thomas shows familiarity with distinctive Eastern, Syrian Christianity that did not emerge before the middle of the Second Century. This last point is especially important to understanding how reliable the gospel is as a source of information about the historical Jesus. Syriac language specialist Nicholas Perrin has translated the gospel of Thomas into both Greek and Syriac and has found a remarkable similarity between Thomas and the Syrian Diatessaron written by Tatian, a harmonization of the 4 New Testament Gospels. The Diatessaron was the only version of the New Testament Gospel traditions known to Syrian Christianity of the second century.

The gospel of Peter: Just like in the gospel of Thomas there is evidence in the gospel of Peter of late traditions rather than earlier traditions that pre-date the New Testament Gospels. The Pharisees, priests and elders all lament after the death of Jesus and acknowledge their guilt predicting that the fall of Jerusalem was now imminent. This lacks historical-realism and is evidence of anachronistic embellishment of the later antagonism between Jews and Christians after 70 AD and the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. The gospel also is highly inaccurate when it comes to Jewish customs as the Jewish elders camp out in the cemetery, as part of the guard keeping watch over Jesus' tomb. The fact the in Jewish custom you were ceremonially unclean and defiled for seven days because of corpse impurity not to mention their fear of graveyards at night shows great lack of familiarity and knowledge of the Jewish culture or religion of first century Israel. Further evidence of unreliability and later embellishment can be found in the mythologizing of the resurrection account, complete with talking cross and angels whose heads reach all the way to heaven. It is highly improbable that the gospel of Peter with all its inaccuracies, anachronisms and embellishment represents a more primitive, and therefore more historically reliable source of Jesus. 

The secret gospel of Mark: This supposed gospel is a modern hoax. Little needs to be said here in this blog about the secret gospel of Mark other than the fact that experts in the science of the detection of forgeries have proven this gospel to be a modern hoax, most likely perpetrated by the 'discoverer' of the gospel Morton Smith, who claimed in 1960 to have found it while on sabatical in the Judean wildnerness in 1958. 

Moving away from the scrutiny of the historicity of the Gnostic/extracanonical gospels, the latter part of 'Fabricating Jesus' deals with the issue of pseudo-history and archeology and the rise in popular literature of authors claiming to have discovered the real historical Jesus through decyphering codes and uncovering conspiracies. In 1982 Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln published 'The Holy blood and the Holy Grail', which claimed that Jesus had married Mary Magdalene, had children by her who relocated to France and later married into noble French families. The Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion, a secret society founded in 1099 knew this and were charged with keeping this fact secret. The whole thing was discovered to be a hoax created by Pierre Plantard and his friends, who later admitted to it under oath in a French court of Law leading to Plantard's imprisonment for Fraud. 

It is this book and their other work the Dead Sea Scrolls Deception (another fictitious work, which was disproven by the very Dead Sea Scrolls in question) that inspired Dan Brown to write the Da Vinci Code, who Baigent and Leigh sued for theft of intellectual property. There are also many errors when it comes to Church history and the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Da Vinci Code, which prove lack of historical scholarship or research, such as the content, origin and date of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Emperor Constantine, the language of the gospel of Philip and the nature of the Coptic codices. I want to finish this blog by quoting Evan's conclusion to what he calls 'hokum history':

Common to this hokum history and these bogus findings are eccentric approaches that competent, trained, historians find utterly implausible. Legends, rumours, forged documents, hoaxes and pyschic intuition hardly constitute the stuff from which sober historical truth will be found...They are not based on credible evidence; they do not follow recognized standards of critical investigation; and they do not offer anything approaching genuine history. (Evans, p. 221, 2007)

 Contrary to many people's cynicism and skepticism, rigorous critical criteria for assessment is used when assessing ancient manuscripts, documents and codices relating to antiquity. The Criteria for Authenticity used by New Testament scholars are as follows: 1. Historical Coherence, 2. Multiple Attestation, 3. Embarressment, 4. Dissimilarity, 5. Semitism and Palestinian background and 6. Coherence (or consistency). For further information on this criteria I recommend you read Evan's book 'Fabricating Jesus' for yourself and learn how the extracanonical works mentioned in the book fail under closer examination and scrutiny.

'Fabricating Jesus' deftly and eruditely dispells many myths regarding contemporary Jesus research and exposes the agendas and special pleading of many very liberal and skeptical New Testament scholars. Jesus is not just a myth with which we have the right, intellectually or spiritually to create in our own image, for the satisfaction of our own imagination. Once you ignore and reject the canonical Gospels you find yourself in a land of inaccuracy, anachronism, fantasy and myth. The Jesus of the Gospels and the historical Jesus are one and the same; they are synonymous and interchangeable. 

The Kingdom of God

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” 

Mark 1:15

Is there anything more profound than the personification of the rule, law and deity of God almighty in the person of Jesus Christ? Jesus' words in Mark chapter 1 are pregnant with hope and joy. The Kingdom of God occupied much of Jesus' teaching and was at the centre of his mission. Wonderfully, the kingdom of God is not just some heavenly dream but a temporal reality. When Jesus proclaimed the time is "fulfilled" he was not referring to the end of the world (evidently) but that hundreds of years of messianic prophecy was fulfilled in him:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 

Isaiah 9:6 

Again in allusion to this glorious fulfilment of prophecy Jesus boldly proclaimed to the Pharisees:

"Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

 Luke 17:20-22

What does the kingdom of God mean? How do you define it? The kingdom of God can be understood as the 'rule of God'; in other words God's law having preeminence and power over the world. This rule was inaugurated in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. When asked by John's disciples if Jesus was the messiah, Jesus responded by affirming his fulfilling of messianic promises and the manifestation of the reality of the kingdom of God:

"Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them."

Luke 7:22 

Jesus manifested the very restorative and rehabilitating power of the kingdom of God. Under God's rule and sovereignty there is justice for the oppressed, healing for the lame and life that has overcome the grip of death. In God's kingdom there is also banishment and freedom from the evil that ultimately originates from Satan and his demonic legion:

"But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matthew 12:28

Truly the kingdom of God is the purest, most noble, virtuous and glorious of pursuits. Through faith in Jesus, the power and rule of the kingdom of God is manifested through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost to the Church. The Holy Spirit, the very Spirit that raised Christ from the dead: the very Spirit of Jesus himself (Matthew 28:20). This kingdom is the greatest prize any person can ever conceive to be awarded or earn, as Jesus himself enunciates in his parables:

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Matthew 13:44

Here the kingdom of heaven is synonymous and interchangeable with kingdom of God. Experiencing the glory of the kingdom of God is filled with inexplicable joy and happiness. It is a path - the 'way' as the early Church referred to it (Acts 9:2); it is the "ancient path" that God through Jeremiah instructed Israel to seek out and walk upon:

"Thus says the LORD: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

How does one experience the kingdom of God? Only through Jesus who as mentioned above is the incarnation of God almighty and the personification of the kingdom of God. Jesus is the messiah prophesied thousands of years ago, Israel's true king as Pilate declared as he nailed the sign to Jesus' cross that read in Aramiac, Greek and Latin "King of the Jews" (John 19:19).

How incredible that the God of the universe, creator and sustainer of all life - that this transcendant, holy, pure and all powerful being would manifest His essence, the very Shekinah glory of His being and the authority and sovereignty of His rule in the person of Jesus Christ! 

"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Matthew 6:33

Review: The Dark Knight Rises (contains spoilers)

Don't read this review if you don't want to learn specific details about the plot. You have been warned!

If the Dark Knight redefined the superhero genre then the Dark Knight Rises revolutionises it. This is comic book story telling on an unprecedented scale. The Dark Knight Rises is not just the third film in Christopher Nolan's reboot. This is the final chapter in Nolan's trilogy. A true trilogy is a rare thing nowadays - many movie franchises are protracted in order to generate as much income for Hollywood as they can. But The Dark Knight Rises truly ties together the threads woven in Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. The continuity with the previous two films is one of the strongest features of the Dark Knight Rises and one of its biggest triumphs. 

In Bane you have at last a villain with both a physical and theatrical presence on screen. Every scene Bane is in, like a gravitational pull, his presence is felt and you sense the fear eminating from each character as they tread with trepidation even at the sound of his name. Bane's voice, a point of contention when the prologue was released last year, is to Bane what the facial scars were to the Joker and gives his character added mystery and intrigue. There is something innately sinister about not being able to discern someone's real voice. Bane's distorted dialogue and monologue really helps to establish the uniqueness of the character, which was always going to be a hard act to follow after Heath Ledger's posthumously oscar winning performance as the maniacal Joker.

The supporting cast are an outstanding feature of this film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character John Blake, a precocious police officer turned detective brings a lot of emotional depth to the film as an honest citizen of Gotham who grew up in an Orphanage idolizing Bruce Wayne who he always suspected of being Batman due to his ability to empathise and understand the trauma and pain of losing his parents. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman is sexy and stylish, while her alias Selina Kyle is more vulnerable and conflicted. The chemistry between her and Batman is tantalizing and scintillating as each scene they are in is filled with sexual tension, mutual respect and a deep moral yearning to create a new life in which deception and violence play no part.

Undoubtedly though the star of this film is the Dark Knight himself Bruce Wayne/Batman. Ultimately this is a trilogy about Bruce Wayne, not Batman. The film starts eight years after the Dark Knight and Batman has gone into hiding having taken the blame for Harvey Dent's death and subsequently becoming villified by the Police. Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, keeping himself to the east wing of Wayne Manor heartbroken and bereaved of his lost love Rachel Dawes. His injuries have caught up with him and now he walks with a cane due to lack of cartillage in his knees. Only the theft of his mother's pearl necklace, and his finger prints from the safe in which they were locked, brings him out of Wayne Manor and back into society as he tracks down Catwoman. Over the course of the film Bruce learns to live and love again but he also learns the hard way about physical suffering combined with accute mental torture. Rashly, Batman challenges Bane to a dual but eight years away from crime fighting Batman is no match for the power and aggression of Bane and so succumbs to his latest adversary's remarkable strength (itself born not of a super serum but his own suffering). Literally a broken man, Bruce Wayne must recover and go through the same suffering Bane himself endured as a young man. 

The character progression of Bruce Wayne is awe-inspiring, this is a story in which Bruce Wayne must go on a journey of self-discovery. Rotting in a prison cell, somewhere in the far East Bruce Wayne must truly learn how to survive and regain the will to win and defeat Bane. When he finally returns to Gotham, which has been overrun by Bane and his henchmen and under the threat of nuclear annhilation, as Bane possesses and is in control of a nutron bomb converted from the core of a nuclear generator, created to give Gotham clean, renewable energy; Batman must confront Bane a second time while saving the city from certain exstinction.

This is a stylish, intelligent, dramatic and epic conclusion to the Dark Knight trilogy. The plot is full of emotion, the script is intelligently written with fantastic interplay between all of the lead characters; the action sequences are mesmerizing and the fight scenes are emotively choreographed and charged. The casting is superb and the acting second to none. I sincerely loved everything about this film and it surpassed even my expectations as a Batman fanatic.

New Evidence for the Historical reliability of the Gospels

This is a very interesting lecture given by Dr Peter Williams regarding new evidence to support the Historical reliability and historiocity of the 4 Canonical Gospels found in the New Testament. Dr Williams arguments are lucid and erudite. I was not familiar with some of this 'new' research and so found the study of correlations both inside and outside the Gospels to 1st Century Israeli names very fascinating. This lecture does not seek to completely discredit all skeptical theories about the fabrication of the Gospels, rather put forward a positive and logical argument for their reliabilty and plausibility. Note the lecture is roughly 53 minutes long.

Overview:

1.       The Chinese Whispers analogy to discredit the 4 Gospels is flawed in many ways.

2.       New research over the last 10 years has found a strong correlation between the most common Jewish names in First Century Israel and those found in the 4 Gospels.

3.       The Gnostic Gospels use of the title ‘Christ’ rather than the name Jesus is an indication of later authorship and lack of connection to the events i.e. not eye witness reports but fabrications.

4.       Use of disambiguation (differentiating between people of the same name) in the 4 Gospels supports evidence that the Gospel writers were highly accurate in their narrative.

5.       Jesus’ teachings are very Jewish in nature, which would be audience specific – the early Church, which was more Gentile, did not use parables as a method of teaching. If the 4 Gospels were not based on reliable, eye witness data then they would have contained more Gentile literary and teaching devices to them.

6.       Obscure geographical locations are used in the 4 Gospels that only people with knowledge of the area/region would have known about. Compared to the Gnostic Gospels, which rarely mention any geographical locations (some not at all and others only the capital Jerusalem).

7.       Test of Botany – mention of specific fauna to particular areas supports the plausibility of the 4 Gospels being written based on eye-witness data.

What is Grace?

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13&14

If I had a pound for every time a non-believer made a judgement on what I as a Christian should do or think or say I would be a very rich man by now! Christian stereotypes abound across society, which range from the naïve to the downright offensive. We’re either gullible or foolish for believing in a God that is “not real”; the boring-no fun prudish and inhibited introverts or the ‘Bible bashing’ extremists who are dangerous and a threat to a tolerant society. Our misrepresentation is astonishing but the door swings both ways – it is not only our secular society that paints a distorted picture of us; there are some in the Church itself who are equally guilty of such uninformed misjudgements.

I heard it said once that all other of God’s characteristics we can comprehend because we have experience of them – love, justice, forgiveness, mercy etc. However, holiness is beyond our comprehension because as human beings we are not holy, nor can we experience holiness without first being reborn in the Spirit as we are spiritually dead in our sin. Thus our understanding of holiness is based on our interpretation of Scripture rather than personal experience. This has caused so much controversy throughout the ages and led to so much division in the Church.

Firstly let me defend that statement against those who may counter with the argument we can be sure of our interpretation of Scripture precisely because we now have the indwelling Holy Spirit – the Corinthians were perhaps the most charismatic church in the New Testament, moving in the myriad gifts of the Holy Spirit and yet Paul described them as ‘carnal’ because of their acceptance of sin within their congregation. So it is possible, paradoxically, to have the Holy Spirit at yet be ‘unspiritual’ in certain matters.

Returning to my point, what constitutes a holy and righteous living is a matter of delicate interpretation. This is evident in Paul’s teaching in Romans 14 about causing a brother or sister in Christ to stumble. A generation ago there were denominations that condemned dancing and going to the cinema and women were not meant to attend church with their heads uncovered. Historically the Puritans balked at the degeneration they saw in the moral fabric of society. Famously Oliver Cromwell who became Lord Protector after Charles I’s execution banned ball games on a Sunday and enforced that everyone fast on Christmas day! While many Christians today are well-meaning they can also fail to understand what grace truly means and how it works in practice.

Whether it is views on the death penalty, vegetarianism, animal rights, war, consumerism, alcohol, smoking, tattoos, heavy-metal, swearing there are many subjects and issues that are a grey area Biblically speaking and we as Christians must tread carefully before pronouncing judgement and falling into the trap of legalism and Pharisaicalism. Self-righteousness and pride are two of the most pervasive sins in the Church. Of course in many Christians, especially of the evangelical persuasion alarm bells ring whenever they believe they have detected licentiousness, particularly when it comes to ‘doctrine’. But there is a difference between licentiousness and grace.

Licentiousness is when one flies in the face of Scripture where there is clear instruction and doctrine such as homosexuality, adultery, greed, murder, lying, covetousness, idolatry etc. Pauls warns of such people in 1 Corinthians who he proclaims will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Particularly when it comes to sexual morality Christians are meant to be above reproach and therefore any justification used to condone such behaviour and lifestyles are wholly wrong. Similarly, idolatry is abominable because it is only by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved and therefore if our priority and first love is not for God, or if we believe there are other things or beings in this world that deserve our worship or time as much as God, we are acting offensively to the very Creator who has given us life.

Grace on the other hand is the reality of complete and utter trust in Jesus’ sacrifice for our salvation and righteousness. The Bible teaches that all our self-righteousness is but filthy rags to God. One of the things that offends non-believers the most about the Gospel is that ‘good’ people go to hell while vile and wicked people who are repentant go to heaven. And yet there are many in the church that fundamentally misunderstands grace. I’ve heard people quoting from Leviticus regarding Christians and tattoos, claiming that it is sinful when as Christians fulfilling the Law is not a requirement of our salvation. To begin with the Law in effect saved no-one as the Chief Priest each year would have to offer up animal sacrifices for the atonement of the nation of Israel; secondly the Day of Atonement and the Covenant God made with Moses on Mount Sinai has been superseded by the new Covenant made through Jesus Christ – as the book of Hebrews explains; and thirdly as Paul says in Romans as Christians we have died to the Law, for Christ is the fulfilment of the Law to do what the Law could not do, namely to make us righteous.

Again if you insist on keeping one part of the Law then you are required to keep all of it – including circumcision! But as the New Testament teaches circumcision of the flesh will not help us as we can be circumcised in the flesh but uncircumcised in the heart. If we remain uncircumcised in the heart then our physical circumcision is rendered null and void. Indeed Jesus said “whoever looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in your heart” and again “anyone who calls his brother a fool is worthy of Hell”. It is not enough to remain faithful to your wife while being addicted to pornography; it is not enough to restrain from committing murder while harbouring anger and malice against someone. The greatest deception of self-righteousness is the lie that we can become good enough through our own efforts. We deceive ourselves by believing our intentions and motivations are honourable and God-pleasing but we allow ourselves to then become filled with pride. As Paul says he had more reason than any other to boast in his own righteousness but counted it all as nothing compared to gaining Christ.

What Jesus calls for is disciples who will pick up their cross and follow Him, denying their flesh and dying to their sinful nature that is in perpetual conflict with the Holy Spirit. We must identify ourselves with Christ’s crucifixion and walk by faith and trust that in Christ we have died to our sin and have arisen with Him in His resurrection. Paul describes Jesus as the first-fruit of the new creation. Our bodily resurrection will come on the Day of Judgement but in baptism and following Jesus we believe that the spiritual reality of the resurrection and the salvation into eternal life has already begun.

What is my point? I am driving at the fact that grace is the acceptance of our insignificance and inability to atone for our sin by our own means – even following the Law itself right down to the Letter. Grace is living in a new reality – the reality of the circumcision of the heart, the reality of the spirit of the Law; the reality of knowing the true heart of God for the lost, the vulnerable and the weak. James teaches that true religion is to care for the orphaned and the widow and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Isaiah teaches that true fasting is justice for the poor and the exploited. What does this mean in practice? It means we must be humble at all times. It means we must recognize our state of spiritual poverty and rest in God’s all-encompassing grace.

When we come across a grey area think which covenant are you living under? Where does your faith and trust lay? What is the state of your own heart before you pronounce judgement? This is not an excuse or ticket for some Christians to flaunt what they deem to be acceptable behaviour, which others take issue with. As I mentioned earlier, Paul teaches we should not cause our brothers or sisters to stumble. Getting drunk and justifying your actions on “well even Christ drunk wine” is sinful because the New Testament clearly teaches that drunkenness and debauchery are wrong and that we should be filled not with wine but the Spirit. Watching graphically sexual TV programmes with the excuse “I don’t condone that or do it myself” may cause another to stumble and is not honouring to the Lord whose standard of morality is much greater than that of the worlds’. Moreover, such programmes lead inevitably to temptation and temptation gives birth to sin and the wages of sin is death!

However, giving someone a hard time for smoking when the New Testament says nothing explicitly on it or condemning tattoos when again the New Testament is silent on the issue (although it makes its views on placing trust in the body i.e. circumcision very clear) is something which reveals a short coming in your own understanding of the covenantal relationship we have with God and the grace that comes through Jesus Christ. Thus a careful balance needs to be struck – on the one hand ‘mature’ Christians (for want of a better word) should be mindful of ‘weaker’ Christians seeking to edify their faith, while ‘weaker’ Christians or ‘immature’ Christians should seek to grow in spiritual maturity having a deeper grasp and understanding of the interpretation and application of Scripture and the true nature of Grace.

Album Review: P.O.D. Murdered Love

10 July 2012 18 years after their debut album, P.O.D. release their eighth studio album Murdered Love. Immediately the listener is assaulted with opener Eyez featuring none other than Hatebreed's Jamey Jasta. The song punches its way through the speakers with a musical verocity that is perfectly matched by the dark, apocalyptic lyrical content warning of the imminent coming of the end days. There is no respite as Eyez leads directly into title track Murdered Love, an absolute beast of a song; one which reverberates on every level - musically, artistically, lyrically and spiritually. It really is the jewel in the crown of the entire album and the best song the band have written in a decade.

Murdered Love is the pinnacle of the band's creativity with dark, atmospheric riffs and a unique rhythmic metre used by Sonny as he executes rather than raps the lyrics. Lead single Lost in Forever takes the listener on a philosophical journey of contemplation and speculation as to what comes after this life and lifts the album melodically juxtaposing the heaviness and aggression of Eyez and Murdered Love. Indeed Murdered Love weaves a rich tapestry of musical tones and textures and synthesises nu-metal, hip-hop, hard rock, punk-rock and hardcore.

Some songs like Bad Boy and Panic and Run are almost playful and cheeky in their hip hop and punk-rock persuasions, while the latter transitions into a hardcore breakdown that is off. the. hook. I haven't head banged that hard in a long, long time! Hip-hop/Rock hybrid West Coast Rock Steady, featuring Sen Dog from Cypress Hill, is perhaps the most infectious and addictive song P.O.D. have written and is definitely on a par with fellow So-Cal salute Kaliforn-eye-a, albeit in a different sense.

Conversely, P.O.D. leaves their most controversial musical statement till last as 'I Am' puts a most definite exclamation mark upon the album! Musically I Am is reminiscent of the seminal sounds of platinum selling the Fundamental Elements of Southtown; but it is the lyrical content that really sets this song apart. The song is only featured on mainstream releases of the album due to the inclusion of the infamous F-bomb, something that has caused a scandal amongst Christian retailers. I Am cuts extremely close to the bone and addresses some very dark and poignant social issues that affect society at present - from pornography and drug abuse to self-harming and sex-trafficking.

The justification for the lyrics comes by way of the artistic licence used as Sonny writes from the perspective of a lost teenager, struggling to come to terms with life who is desperately seeking God. The song is in effect the heartfelt cry of the dark night of the soul - something everyone can relate to. Christians will argue over the legitimacy of the use of the F-bomb for years to come, however it is clear they are not the target audience. For me the lyrical and spiritual journey that is evident from the beginning to the end of the song puts it into context. The song finishes with light overcoming the darkness as Sonny quotes from Colossians 1:19-20 about the old passing away and all things being made new.

The collaborations throughout the album work perfectly to compliment the song rather than overshadow or steal the spotlight. The collaborations are more like cameo appearances than full blown collaborations and just give each song that added something special. The sound effects employed also help craft an incredibly rich and diverse soundscape: sound effects are used subtlely to enhance the songs and keep the listener coming back for more to fully assimilate and take in the full impact of the album. There are songs that need time to grow on you but again this is not a shallow and superficial musical experience. Every time you listen to Murdered Love you pick up something new - the lyrics resonate much more profoundly on a poetical and spiritual level. Murdered Love deeply satisfies and will be played for years to come by die-hard warriors as fervently as it was the day it was bought.

Highlights of the album include Murdered Love, West Coast Rock Steady, Babylon the Murderer, On Fire, Panic and Run and I Am. One of the things that makes Murdered Love such a seminal album is its uniqueness in the P.O.D. discography while at the same time sounding very familiar. Fans will recognize allusions and similarities to Brown, F.E.O.S., Satellite and even Snuff the Punk. This is not 'old skool' P.O.D. strictly speaking - this is very much the latest incarnation of the musical hydra that is Payable on Death.

What sets this album apart from P.O.D.'s last few releases is the urgency about the lyrics and music. There is an urgency about the album that makes it an incredibly significant and powerful listening experience. Murdered Love is not an album written purely to please long-time fans who hark back to yester year - Murdered Love was born from a state of moral and spiritual emergency. The music is so dynamic precisely because P.O.D. have arisen to reach the lost and reach into the depravity of this world. The aggression and heaviness that characterised P.O.D.'s first decade of music was the most natural vehicle and medium to communicate their message. In this respect this is a resurgent P.O.D., a P.O.D. that remembers the adrenaline that coursed through its veins as it played its unique style of rap-metal in local garages around San Diego and the passion it began with for heavy music.