Strobel does not appear to be a Calvinist based on Day 22 of The Unexpected Adventure. This chapter recounts the story of a man who was baptized after a rather dramatic and unexpected acceptance of Jesus Christ. The man's sister came up to Lee crying and repeating the phrase, "nine years, nine years". After Lee was able to calm her down, he found out that she had been consistently praying for her brother's salvation for nine years. It was her brother that had just accepted Christ.
Another story recounts the tale of a man who prayed for his brother "forty-eight years and three hundred and forty eight days". The brother finally accepted Christ after reading one of Strobel's books and being diagnosed with cancer.
In this chapter Strobel uses James 5:16 as a type of proof text to encourage us to continue to pray for the lost. However, the only part he included is the second half of the verse. I have included the whole verse, with the part Strobel included highlighted. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. I think we need to be very cautious about using only portions of verses to support a particular viewpoint. Taken in context, James 5:16 would seem to apply to prayers for healing.
I also noticed that many of the "newer" translations leave out the adjectives "effective, fervent" just before the word prayer in James 5:16. "The
But I digress from the topic; however in the interest of trying to keep this entry as brief as possible, I will end with this:
If there is someone in your life who has been the object of weeks, months, years of prayer, take a moment to offer up a fervent prayer to God right now for that person's salvation. If no one comes to mind, why not?
Thanks again for pertinent thoughts from scripture. James 6:16 has been somewhat of a puzzle for me for a long time. The term "fervent, effectual and righteous" have bothered me, because it seems to say that maybe if one of my prayers is unanswered, it is because I am not righteous enough or because my prayers are not fervent enough.
ReplyDeleteI think we have to be careful about saying that whatever version of the Bible touches us at any particular time is the "best" one. (Or the KJV is the best one because it is the one we grew up with.)
Maybe "fervent" and "effectual" are not there in the newest translations from the oldest manuscripts that have been found since the KJV was written.
What intrigues (bothers) me from this passage is that it seems our confession of sins TO OTHER PEOPLE is necessary for our physical healing.Is there any greater can of worms than the idea that we benefit from telling other people about our sins?
Thanks again