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It's Saturday, March 2, 2024.

Today’s edition covers recent updates on Christians in Gaza, the historical practice of “tonsure,” the meaning of “repentance from dead works,” and more.

“The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps” (Proverbs 14:15). Christians, of all people, must not be gullible, but must think critically. In part, that means… you’ve got to know stuff. Here’s hoping this helps.

Of Christian Concern

GAZA BAPTIST BUILDING DAMAGED — FOOD DISTRIBUTION ONGOING

As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, Christians in Gaza are wading losses and serving their neighbors.

Photos of the damage sustained by the Gaza Baptist building. (Christian Mission to Gaza)

In a mid-February update, Christian Mission to Gaza shared the “heartbreaking news” that “the Gaza Baptist building has suffered significant damage.” Israeli soldiers used the building, which sustained damage inside and out, including from a fire set inside.

Another update on Tuesday shared photos of some of the damage. On the exterior walls, dark stains left from the fire stream upward from third, fourth, and fifth floor windows. Inside, a room that looks like it may have been a gathering place for worship is littered with rubble, debris scattered around the floor and loose pieces hanging from the ceiling. Other photos show Hebrew script scribbled both on a door (translating in part to “sniper room”) and on the walls, where the soldiers apparently played games of hangman.

Between the two updates, the mission’s founder and president Pastor Hanna Massad also provides some insight into the difficulties Gazans are facing, and how Christians are trying to serve their neighbors. “Before the war, a 25 kg bag of flour cost $8; now, it’s almost $200, if you can even find it. The devastation is palpable, with countless homes destroyed and many left homeless. . . . But amidst these trials, we have seen God’s hand at work.”

Photos of Christian Mission to Gaza’s food preparation and distribution. (Christian Mission to Gaza)

Most recently, “last Sunday,” the mission “conduct[ed] a food distribution in the middle of Gaza,” distributing “more than 1000 hot meals to those in the church and the civilians in the neighborhood who are helping protect the churches.” The churches (there are only three in Gaza: Latin Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Baptist) provide two meals a week to those in the church.

“Though we may struggle to comprehend the full extent of what is happening, we find solace in knowing that God sees and knows all. Even amid our inability to fully understand, we trust in His goodness and sovereignty. It is crucial, especially now, to continue seeking the Lord through prayer and to extend His love to all, regardless of background or ethnicity, for we are all created in His image.

“As Micah 6:8 says, ‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’”

Get on Christian Mission to Gaza’s email list here.

Also Noteworthy

→ Kentucky Republican Sen. Ken Fleming has filed a bill to expand abortion in the state. HB 711 would allow the murder of preborn children in cases of rape, incest, and “a lethal fetal anomaly.”

→ A Southern Baptist Convention task force will introduce a new curriculum aimed at educating Southern Baptists on sex abuse prevention and response in June, Baptist Press reports.

→ Tennessee public officials can refuse to perform same-sex “marriages” for religious reasons, according to a new state law.

→ A Texas professor fired after teaching that “human sex is determined by chromosomes” has been reinstated. | A UK teacher fired in 2019 for opposing sex education and transgender ideology has been granted the right to appeal.

→ Eighty percent (80%) of “entertainment consumers” in the world want “more accurate” “portrayals of faith” from “the entertainment industry,” according to a new study.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators, or of Christian interest.*

→ The Price of Principle: Conservative commentator Matt Walsh interviews pro-life activist Paul Vaughn, who faces up to ten years in prison after being convicted of civil rights conspiracy and FACE Act offenses for an abortion clinic blockade in March 2021. (Video / Podcast)

→ Quran Verses That Will Change Your Mind About the Conflict: Christian apologist David Wood, filming with the Old City of Jerusalem in the background, argues that the Quran destroys the narrative that Palestinians have a right to the land of Israel. (Video)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

Church History Tidbit

Tonsure

St Bartholomew by Carlo Crivelli, 1473, in the Ascoli Piceno Cathedral. (Public Domain)

Have you ever wondered what’s up with that hairstyle worn by monks? You probably won’t be surprised (though the men reading this may be relieved) to learn it’s not male pattern hair loss. It’s called tonsure.

Tonsure is “the act of shaving the head or part of the head, especially as a preliminary to becoming a priest or a member of a monastic order.” There are different versions of this practice across multiple religions, and across different sects of Christendom. What’s the purpose? According to an excerpt from Victoria Sherron’s Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History, “Such hairstyles thus would show that a person entering religious life intends to subordinate his own will to the will of God.”

Where’s the practice come from? Britannica explains, “The origins of the Christian use of this rite are not clear, but early Christian ascetics may have imitated the ancient religious practice among the Greeks and Semites that involved the cutting of some of the hair and offering it to a deity as a sign of dedication.”

It has been suggested that the circular crown-like tonsure “may have originated as a symbol of the crown of thorns Christ wore during the passion.” On the other hand, a quote from St. Germanus I, an 8th-century Eastern Orthodox patriarch, seems to trace it to an apocryphal story about the apostle Peter:

“The double crown inscribed on the head of the priest through tonsure represents the precious head of the chief-apostle Peter. When he was sent out in the teaching and preaching of the Lord, his head was shaved by those who did not believe his word, as if in mockery. The Teacher Christ blessed this head, changed dishonour into honour, ridicule into praise.”

In Roman Catholicism, the hairstyle “was indicative of a religious lifestyle or observance for nearly 1,500 years,” but the practice “has largely fallen out of practice” since Pope Paul VI abolished the rite (with a few exceptions) in 1972.

Learn more here.

The Bible, Briefly

Milk: Repentance From Dead Works

Photo: Raphael Brasileiro

In Hebrews 6:1-2, the author lists three pairs of topics which together make up what he calls “milk”—the most basic truths of Christian doctrine, which form the foundation for everything else. The first pair is “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God” (6:1).

What is “repentance from dead works”? 

To begin with, in the words of Bible commentator Warren W. Wiersbe, “To repent means to change one’s mind. It’s not simply a ‘bad feeling about sin,’ because that could be regret or remorse. It is changing one’s mind about sin to the point of turning from it.”*

Importantly, when you turn from sin, there’s only one thing to turn toward. As Acts 20:21 plainly puts it, it’s “repentance toward God.” Also importantly, Wiersbe points out that this repentance (changing one’s mind) is itself a gift from God: Acts 5:31 says God exalted Christ “to give repentance” to Jews, and Acts 11:18 says He “has granted repentance” to Gentiles as well (emphases added).

So, if the divine gift of repentance is a changed mind, what are the “dead works” that we’re supposed to change our minds about?

Theologian Charles Caldwell Ryrie offers this definition: dead works are “all that an unsaved person does, whether good or evil, since one who is dead in sin can only do dead works that can never gain saving merit before God.”**

Coming to Christ involves not only repentance from obvious moral failures (lying, stealing, blaspheming, etc.) but also from the misguided notion that our moral victories could ever win God’s favor. No matter how hard an unbeliever tries, he cannot attain salvation by what he does. (A believer can’t either, of course, but he’s given up trying! That’s the point.)

The idea of trying to work for salvation is probably particularly relevant here since the book of Hebrews was written to Jews (i.e., Hebrews), who before coming to Christ would have been striving to follow strict religious rules thinking that was the way to God. It’s not—and repenting of religiosity is just as necessary as repenting of impiety. 

“For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin,” Paul writes in Romans 14:23. Commenting on that verse, Pastor John Piper says to unbelievers: “everything you do is sin.” 

An unbeliever, by definition, doesn’t have faith—not true faith, anyway. So, nothing he does proceeds from faith, which means everything he does is sin. He must repent of it all, of everything he’s ever done his entire life, and trust instead in Christ. That leads us to the next point, “faith toward God.”

To be continued…

_______

*Warren W. Wiersbe, The Warren Weirsbe Bible Commentary: New Testament (Colorado Springs: David Cook, 2007), 817.

**Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2011), 1499.

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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