Spring church of Christ Contending for the Faith contentiously
David P. Brown is the preacher for this congregation.
David teaches a lot of error as does his counterparts.This group of men are commonly called the CONTENDING for the FAITH crowd. Each February the Spring church of Christ hosts the Spring Contending For The Faith Lectures.
At a recent lectureship David Brown asked me to give one thing that his group taught wrong. I proceeded to attempt to answer his question and to prove their teachings concerning the " widow's mites " were in error. David interrupted me so many times I was unable, at that time , to fully make my point to the crowd.
The account of this widow is given in both Luke 21 and Mark 12. The latter account is as follows:
Mar 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
Mar 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
Mar 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
David Brown and his group commonly teach legalistically that Jesus uses this account to teach " sacrificial giving." This of course is in error.
The Contending for the Faith crowd teach that Jesus is " lifting her up" as an example for us to follow today. They teach " she had alot of faith" not knowing where her next meal would come from. She " fully trusted in God" they teach. They conclude that Christians today should strive to obtain the faith they claim she exhibited.
David Brown and his associates also teach errors concerning a commanded weekly offering. I will address their sinful teaching concerning a supposed commanded weekly offering in a future blog.
Additionally, David Brown said , at the the lectureship, that the account of this widow's giving teaches us that we have " the authority " to give all that we have above a normal weekly offering . David's errors concerning "authority" will be elaborated on in an upcoming blog.
What David fails to consider is what he teaches others to do. Consider the immediate CONTEXT! To get an accurate understanding of what Jesus is actually teaching here requires we study both the verses before and after the account of the widow's gift. We need to recall that these books were not originally written with chapters nor numbered verses. Right before this account of the widow's giving is written:
Mar 12:40 Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
David and his group do not connect this immediately previous verse with the following verses. They even teach that Jesus changed the topic from what he was teaching concerning the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders to the next topic of "sacrificial giving."
What the Contending for the Faith crowd fails to realize is that the widow's giving " threw in two mites " in verse 42 is parallel to "devouring widow's houses" in verse 40. Also that the " greater damnation" of verse 40 is parallel to the "not one stone " in verse 2 of the next few verses.
Jesus had given a REASON for the " greater damnation" by providing a practical application of showing the widow's giving. The widow's gift was one of the reasons that these Jewish leaders were going to receive the prophetic " greater damnation".
This prophetic " greater damnation"is elaborated in Jesus' statement given in the very next two verses after the account of the widow's giving. Remember CONTEXT. Even though it is recorded in the next chapter it is still INTEGRAL to Jesus teachings concerning the Jewish leaders hypocrisy and their prophetic greater judgement.
Mar 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
Consider that the poor widow had just contributed to the same Temple that Jesus prophesied would shortly be destroyed. This of course occurred in the year 70 A.D. as foretold by Jesus.We can read about it today even in secular history books.
We must consider the greater context of the bible concerning widows. Throughout the O.T. we read about God's warnings not to take advantage of the widows in Jewish society. Just a few verses will suffice.
We can safely conclude that the poor widow's offering was an example of "devouring widow's houses." The poor widow's offering was one of the reasons that " not one stone be left upon another."
In this account alone we are not told everything concerning the abuse of the poor widow and can only speculate as to what all the Jewish leaders may have selfishly taught her concerning her ( false ) obligation to support the Temple. A concise O.T. study of the Temple along with tithes ,offerings and sacrifices would be quite lengthy here.
But, we must note that Jesus clearly identified her as a "poor" widow. And there was a definitive reason for it. This becomes apparent when we also consider that "poor " widows were included in receiving gifts given at the Temple in contrast to them giving gifts to the Temple.
Deu 26:13 Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:
