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| Steve and his wife Kelsea:) |
My good friend Steve Sherer is good at three things: running, making cute babies, and writing! Author of "Spiked Up: Ready to Run", Steve ran his way to the Olympic Trial Finals and became the 2nd fastest runner in Michigan History. Here is his essay:
"Why I'm Glad I Didn't Become a Pastor"
Most people hear 10 Commandments and immediately think of Charlton Heston and his famous Hollywood movie. But do people today really understand them? I didn’t understand a lot of them until recently, and I have been raised in the ‘church’. Recently, I discovered a very scary one that has been misrepresented for years! The third commandment says:
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain Exodus 20:7
Which I and maybe you took as, don't just throw around the name in common talk. Luckily, most people do not know the correct, original Name of the Messiah and the Creator! So it’s difficult to actually break this law in the way we translate it today. But here's a different translation of the verse based on the Hebrew words:
nasa' (do not take up) shem ( the name) Yĕhovah (the LORD) elohiym (God) shav' (emptiness in speech: Lying, vanity, falsehood) for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that nasa' (take up) his name in shav' (emptiness in speech: Lying, vanity, falsehood)
So to put it together it may be more accurately represented as, " Do not take up the name of Yĕhovah Elohim to spread lies; for Yĕhovah will not hold him guiltless that uses HIS name to spread lies."
This verse becomes scary to me to think back all the times I or others I know might have used, “Well God said….” Or “God doesn’t care if…” or anything like that referring to what the scriptures say! I truly repent of that action and encourage others to do likewise.
It’s also scary for teachers of the scriptures. If you are teaching others how to walk with Yahovah, you’d BETTER know what HE is telling HIS people. The Scriptures are closed for interpretation; they should be deciphered. This is probably a common problem for speakers that can talk an hour about one or two verses. Is it really possible to NOT move from the original meaning if you talk about all the different ways a single verse or two can apply to us? Instead of interpretations, teachers should strive for deciphering EXACTLY what the scriptures/Yah’s Word says in the original intent. This could entail all of the following:
- Who was it spoken to? And why was he saying it them?
- In the original Language, what did it say?
- How does the one verse match with the WHOLE LETTER! They didn’t write these books in chapters and verses, it was one big letter. To get the meaning of a single verse; one must put it in context of the entire chapter or could be in error.
- Is the verse a quote from the only scriptures they had at the time? If so, you then need to go back and find out what point was being made in the book the quoted verse was taken from.
- Perhaps the biggest mistake people make today is found in 2 Peter 3:15-16 – “…and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” Does this mean we have to have a post graduate degree to understand the scriptures? Of course not! He was a fisherman, so I doubt he was talking IQ smack; he is clearly talking about people being unlearned and unstable in the Scriptures here (no offense to fishermen, I am a big time fisher, but it’s more skill than head knowledge). And again, the only Scriptures he could have been talking about here was the first 39, the last 27 were not out yet. Most people hove no foundation in the Tanakh (first 39) so they twist the scriptures to their own destruction. Peter also says, We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:19-20)
We do not have a strong base in the Tanakh, but yet we dive into a books and letters about them. This is like having a map, without any idea of where you are going or where you are to begin with. What is the VERY first word the Messiah said to everybody once HE returned from the Desert? REPENT or Shüv in Hebrew. Repent means literally to turn back, to return, and to restore. When the Israelites heard this, they would have no question as to what it meant: turn back to The Creator’s ways, stop adding to it or taking away from it, and GO BACK to the Torah/Covenant. The religious leaders of the day had added so much to the Word that some probably just gave up trying. (I’m guessing they chose one law and had long talks about them in all different ways it could mean to them) The Messiah had some choice words for them…
Today, does anybody have any idea how many denominations of Christianity there are currently around the world? 1000? 3000? 5000?? Not even close. Ten years ago we had 33,820 denominations in Christianity alone; not including ones with less followers than a hundred. We probably have many more by now. This statistic should scare ANY Christian to wonder, “HOW?! WHY?!” I think Peter said it best that “the unlearned people twist Paul’s difficult writings to their own destruction” when they break the 3rd commandment.
So that being said, I admire the courage pastors have taking on this responsibility. I strongly considered becoming a pastor a while back in College. But am very glad I do not have to consider losing my lively hood if I do not speak biblical truth to itching ears.
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing [dabar.(word, speech)]: but the honor of kings to search out[chaqar(examine thouroughly)] a matter [dabar.(word, speech)] Pr 25:2
