What is truth? Who is God? What is the meaning of life? On this blog we explore the interactions between Christianity and topics like culture, politics and philosophy. The word says we must love God and love others. Jesus Christ is God come to us; He is alive. God will call all of us to give an explanation of how we lived. Trust in Jesus and receive forgiveness; a new life. Stand for the truth. Glorify Christ in how you live. A new world awaits.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Daybreak: Examining the Problem of Pain / CS Lewis on Grief / The Tree of Life
Genesis 32:24-29 (ESV) And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,[b] for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
C.S. Lewis spent much of his time and pen writing on the struggle to comprehend faith. This is what I have been wrestling with lately. I've been wrestling with the real massive questions of faith, the ones that can make or break the journey. I wouldn't be honest or useful to anyone if I didn't admit my struggles and discuss them. That is the entire purpose of this. So I shall.
Wrestling with the problem of pain and suffering in the world is difficult. There is awful evil at work in the world, and coming to grips with that is essential to my faith in the one true God. I'm faced with several problems in the journey. The first and most difficult and possibly and likely the very end of such a struggle is developing a keen grip on my limitations of comprehension as a person.
C.S. Lewis put it so well in "A Grief Observed" which I just so happen to be reading right now, when he said, "Five senses, an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of pre-conceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them-- never become even conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?"
It just so happens that Father God is giving me a great deal of input on this subject, as I often find myself praying to him about it. Why then am I so surprised and amazed when he answers? I guess that's part of the journey through these questions, which might lead me to the conclusion that it is good to ask such questions, but it's just as likely that it is not good to ask such questions, but God is willing to meet me halfway.
Is there a conclusive answer that my rat trap haphazardly selective brain might be able to get on board with? And if so, for how long? How long until those memories fade off and I ask the question again later under different circumstances?
It's become clear through the process of asking the questions, a very important step is being humble and/or being humbled by Him. That's not a bad thing. It's at those moments when I'm humbled that I realize that my primary points of contention were flawed, in which I was actually using flawed logic as a basis for my argument, which in it's barest form was emotionally biased. And that emotion was pride, primarily, and anger, confusion, as well as resentment. Then humbled, I discover that after all I had been asking the wrong question anyway.
It's just so hard, because it seems so heartless sometimes. It's so heartless at times, the evil and cruelty in the world that it jumps even beyond my ability to consciously handle. And I'm just overwhelmed with utter sadness, pity, followed by anger. Just such a story came in front of me recently, reading of a 14 year old young girl who being pregnant hid the pregnancy from her parents, gave birth in the bathroom with nothing but a pair of scissors, then killed the new born child and hid the body in a shoebox in her closet. The anger and sadness and pity I feel is unquenchable. Looking upon pictures of starving children on the continent of Africa brings to my consciousness similarly awful feelings.
And so many would ask, where is God in these situations? How can God allow such evil?
But what is the real question here? The question seems to me at it's core: "Is God really morally perfect and utterly just?"
The answers from the church don't exactly help the situation. I've been told that even one sin against a Holy God condemns me to eternal torment in hell-fire, unless I am in Jesus Christ. Why? Because God is perfect. This is extremely difficult to fathom, because the logic doesn't line up. The punishment ought to at least fit the crime, do the various sins committed in a human life to death; without Christ; then add up to match the punishment of eternal torment? If yes, then God is just. If not, then God is not just. Correct?
It's usually at this point that I get the speech about the sovereignty of God, and that God made me and he can do anything he wants with me. Well, now you're violating the idea of a just God. You're equivocating because you don't know the answer to my question.
It reminds me of my dad actually. Every morning before school and work we would all eat together and have cereal. Everyone, me, my sister, my mom and him were only allowed 2 spoon fulls of sugar over our cereal. But one morning I heard someone in the kitchen very early, and I snuck forward and saw my dad eating cereal, pouring loads of sugar onto his flakes. I came to him and said, "Dad you can't do that you're only allowed 2!" And he looked at me quickly and angrily replying, "I pay the bills around here, I'm in charge, so I'm allowed to have as much as I want."
C.S. Lewis said that when he was struggling with the death of his wife from cancer, it wasn't so much that he was struggling with "Does God exist or not?" but more that he was struggling with the fear that God was a mean spirited monster.
About midway through "A Grief Observed" C.S. Lewis wrestles with the goodness of God, toying with the idea in his trains of thought that God could just as well be the "Cosmic Sadist" or "Eternal Vivisector." I love how C.S. Lewis worded it. It's interesting how in early chapters he used that phrase to mock and minimize a God he was angry with, but later in the book he owns up to the fact that he had been mocking God because he found it satisfying to his own anger and resentment. This tells that C.S. Lewis was of a towering intellect, in that he was willing to double-check his assumptions and analyze his snap reactions. If only ardent atheists and humanists like Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Richard Dawkins might analyze their mock-filled, mean spirited arguments they might see how shallow and empty they seem to a believer like myself. They might then realize their mockery is a form of protection against walking down the path of faith, as well as a form of satisfaction at mocking a God whom they know exist internally but refuse to follow, at the same time mocking the followers of said God out of a combination of fear, anger, and most probably, suppressed jealousy. A chip on the shoulder is visible from miles away, and the anger and resentment felt by these three men shines through in the many debates I've viewed. Continuing on...
Is God bound by the 10 commandments? If so, is he guilty of murder when he has the power to prevent a murder, like the 14 year old who murdered her newborn child, but allows it to happen? Maybe we're wondering if God is criminally negligent?
As I said, God has been beside me the entire time as I ponder these questions. I received an email from a Bible study I attended once up town, and it just so happened that the Bible study coming up on Friday was on the problem of pain. "Just so happens" is not a proper way to account for such a line up of events, but thats a different topic entirely.
I went and the discussion was powerful. I was so glad to see Highland Church in uptown Wausau getting into deeper topics and rational defense of the faith. There were several guiding topics and quotations from a book by Tim Keller called "The Reason for God." The topics sounded so much like C.S. Lewis I almost wanted to claim infringement by Keller, but I decided against it, instead focusing on the topic. I found one very important point nestled in Keller's book, which was that when addressing the problem of pain, suffering, and evil most are working from a faulty premise. It's a premise very much connected to American life and liberty. Specifically I'm referring to the pursuit of happiness. We as citizens of the USA feel we not only have the privilege but the inherent God given right to the pursuit of happiness. This may be the source of the faulty premise which is that I deserve to be happy and if I'm not happy then something is wrong with the world and with God. Keller suggests there is something wrong with that worldview.
I completely agree, and this is where humility enters the equation. Can I get on board with the idea that this world is broken, and it is not designed to contain a constant state of happiness? The evidence is obvious on that one. Do you know anyone that has been consistently happy their whole life? I can't name any.
Here's an even harder one to swallow given the individualistic nature of western society: Can I accept that the entire creation was perverted many thousands of years ago, and that the sin nature caused by the very first two humans is not only received by the two perpetrators but by every human being born into the world, all the way down the ages, to you and I today? In western culture we believe a person is accountable for their actions, but we don't believe an entire group is responsible for the actions of a few members of the group.
So then the question becomes, is God just to allow the sin nature to pass on to every subsequent human being in the creation?
And still there are other questions, such as the very common hypothetical situation, "if someone is born into a tribe somewhere in the jungle, and never encounters a Bible and never even knows about Jesus Christ, but dies without Jesus, how can it be just that the individual would then burn in hell?"
Still more questions open up from these. What is actual and true justice?
How far does a Christian worldview move me in the right direction?
How much trust/faith can I offer God that he knows and I don't necessarily have to know?
Can I accept that my take on morality is incomplete and inferior compared to an all-knowing being?
One of the most important questions to ask is: What approach does God take on his interaction with the creation?
But perhaps a very powerful question is how much responsibility does God have to a creation that has turned against him? One might assume that God made us, so he is responsible for taking care of us and making us happy. Almost like when we were kids and our parents took care of us. We had one parent who was the authority, the Father, with a low booming voice and a larger physique. He was the sovereignty, the justice giver, and the primary authority. But we also had the mother. She was the care-giver, the loving one, the one that made you feel so special and cared for. Her eyes glowed with love and when we made mistakes she brimmed with forgiveness. I think when we look at the father and mother roles of the family in relation to children, we get a glimpse into the nature of God. Because in the old testament more often we see the God of justice, the God of punishing those who turn against him. In the new testament we see more often the loving God, the God of mercy and forgiveness. The conclusion must be, if the Bible be true; God is both completely loving and completely just.
Back to the question of God's responsibility for his children... well our parents were considered responsible for us until about the age of 18, maybe 21, and then we are responsible entirely for our actions. When the prodigal son left his father to drink, blow all his money, and sleep with hookers did the father chase him around in the world demanding he come back, or even drag him back? Absolutely not. If we think about it, such an effort would have been hopeless, the son would have simply left again, ran away, and continued what he was doing. Instead the father simply stayed home, but when the prodigal son returned begging forgiveness, the father welcomed him back with loving arms, and forgave him, and also threw a banquet in his honor. It seems in this story we can see how God interacts with his children. And if God is to offer us utter and complete free will as grown up humans in the world, he is not at all responsible for protecting us from ourselves, only a foolish parent would do so, because it would only invite weakness and poor character.
Does that mean that some will venture out in stupefied rebellion and never return home alive?
Yes it does.
Why?
Because even though we live in a country and a culture where everyone wants to play the victim of something, we do have free will, choices, and we are in fact accountable for our actions. And when we see injustice, we want justice.
Why?
Because there is a moral law, a conscience within us. If there is a moral law in us, there is a moral law giver, God almighty.
It's important that we understand what exactly Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden at the beginning of time, if we want to understand the fall of mankind and the Christian worldview.
Genesis 2:15 (ESV) The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[d] of it you shall surely die.”
God was not necessarily saying that they would spiritually die, which is what some baptists teach. God is not saying that it was some sort of poisonous fruit that they would instantly physically die either. He was saying death would enter the human race, which was at that time immortal. Remember at that time man was free to eat of any tree in the garden aside from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9 (ESV) And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
So at that time man could eat from the tree of life. Eternal life was ours. It didn't last though. Satan, originally known as Lucifer, which means "light-bearer" was an angel in the service of God, who took the form of a serpent and deceived the humans in the garden.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
Why did Satan, in the form of a serpent, choose to turn against God? If God is all knowing why did he allow for the temptation to occur at all? These are important questions, but not necessary in understanding our current topic. As a short answer one could say that Satan had free will like any other being, angel or human, and perhaps God simply allowed the situation to play out, to see if Adam and Eve would choose to remain loyal to him.
Contemplating the rich words of Genesis leaves me with many bumps on the head, as I find myself reaching the limits of what I can understand as the person I am. One thing is clear, Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. They wanted wisdom. And by doing so they learned knowledge of good and evil, and God was not pleased. I wonder at so many questions, like, what other trees were in the garden? The tree of peace? The tree of love? The tree of joy? Where exactly is the line between metaphor and actual physical history?
It has always seemed like the Bible in it's stories function in teaching in multiple ways. First there is the most literal way to interpret it, and then there are more figurative ways to see the text, both come out as clearly as day. Could it be that God communicates not in one or the other, but in both forms simultaneously?
In Genesis chapter 3 God confronts Adam and Eve, pronounces judgments on the serpent, adam, eve, and mankind itself. But at the end of Genesis chapter 3 it says, "Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” We are given a clue to the future here. The judgments pronounced on man are done, man will die, but man can once again take of the tree of life, eat, and live forever. In the New Testament this comes about. Jesus Christ dies for the sins and evils of man kind, and from that moment to this very day, we can simply reach out and take it. All we have to do is believe on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we live forever. We admit our failings and receive forgiveness of our sins.
The Bible continues from there, with the establishing of the church in the ancient Roman empire by Paul, and the early apostles. Jesus Christ told them to bring the gospel to all nations, and today the Bible has been translated at least partially into over 2,000 languages. Specifically, for your edification,
United Bible Societies reported that translations of at least part of the Bible have been made into more than 2,530 languages, including complete Old or New Testaments in 1,715 languages, including 55 sign languages, and the complete text of the Bible (Protestant canon) in 475 languages, as of December 2011. It is estimated that about 6 billion complete Bibles have been printed to this day, the most of any book ever (source). That process began with twelve men being told to "go" to all nations, the orders given by the son of God, Christ Jesus. The account of the early church is given book by book, with letters written to the early church forming in the Roman empire. The Bible ends with the book of Revelation, and in this book we find the completion of the journey of man kind:
Revelation 22:1-2 (ESV) says, "Then the angel[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month."
That's just amazing and awe inspiring to me. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ provides life giving water to his people. And in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, we see the completion of Genesis, and the prediction in Genesis 3:22 of man eating from the tree of life again. The life giving water is shown as a river in Revelation here, coming from the throne of God, where God himself sits, of the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ, through this incredible city called New Jerusalem, on the New Earth. The living water given by God, through Jesus Christ, flows to the tree of life itself, our path as humans back to the eternal life our ancestors lost at the beginning of time. Jesus Christ provides the way to the tree of life, the new city, where we will eat of the tree of life, and live with God forever.
That's really something. It all comes together perfectly.
There is great wisdom and knowledge required just to comprehend at all, even some of this. God's ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. We can't even properly conceive of God, and we end up sending our prayers out to broken idols, which the actual God is so loving and willing to intercept and receive as the actual God, not my idea of God, but the actual real God that is outside my understanding.
According to C.S. Lewis, "My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence?"
Given how overwhelming these ideas are, I might be tempted to cop out and call God "mysterious." I will not say that and leave it there. Because there is a certain amount of evidence for God. There is a certain amount of evidence for creation. Most of this evidence is minimized, while evolution is taught as fact and the Bible is mocked by some outspoken scientists. There is incredible evidence for God in science, history, culture, and personal experience. But so often, we end up in a situation where we show evidence for the existence of God, and any intellectual can squeak out of it with any number of arguments.
How many of us, if God personally appeared to us and spoke to us, given time, and thought, would not eventually start to wonder, was that really God? Maybe I had food poisoning. Perhaps it was a short manic episode. Oh you know dehydration and processed food can really do a number on the human body. Sometimes people can experience very real feeling dreams. Do you see what I mean? Eventually I've talked myself out of it. Maybe that's why God doesn't just appear, because we'd write it off eventually anyway.
You tell an advocate for the big bang theory that such events happening randomly is not just mathematically impossible, but ridiculously so, they try to find ways to adjust the theory for that problem, like adding more time, billions of years, maybe a few more billion, instead of addressing the issue of the possibility of a designer. So theres just no way to come up with enough evidence. People will always try to find ways around even the clearest evidence. By the requirements for establishing accepted history, for text books, for libraries, there is more than enough evidence to say that Jesus Christ was a real person who actually lived. It's historically proven, yet atheists will even debate that point, claiming vast conspiracies. There's just never enough evidence.
So let's set the issue of evidence aside for a bit. Perhaps we can know what is true, enough to believe it. Anything can be proved with evidence. Any university can fly in a professor from somewhere to argue even the most ridiculous philosophical or intellectual positions. But if we're fair about the evidence for God, for the historical Christ, for the Bible's ability to predict the future, for the empirical evidence, and for our personal experience-based evidence, we reach a point where we can have enough evidence, not to say 100% that God is real, the Bible is real, and it's all fact, but enough to say that faith is justified in this case.
It can be worth the risk. I can be willing to make that leap, given the implications. Perhaps the possibility of such a personal relationship with God almighty, the possibility of such a journey to eternal life, from the river to the tree of life is worth taking, considering the possibility of hell, but more so considering the possibility of heaven. Fear and hell is a factor, sure, but the primary motivator is as always, love. It's connection to our origins and it's the realization of truth.
So then, if we can take some things on faith and accept the humility of not being able to understand certain things, we can grow in trust. But also, if we apply the Christian worldview to our questions, can we see how many are answered by the Bible, the actual history of humanity, the empirical evidence of the evil of our world, and the life and resurrection of Christ?
The Bible says that I am part of a corrupted creation, which is the Earth, the universe itself. It says that I'm a sinner, and that I've sinned against God. It says that humanity is the cause of the evil of the world, and so is Satan, the serpent of Genesis, who garnered authority over humanity with his deception in the garden. It says that I'm a sinner, and that I need a savior. It says a savior was provided, Jesus Christ, and that if I believe in him I'll be born again and justified before God, and then I'll live forever.
Well, let's look at that. The Earth does seem very corrupt. It's corrupt in that even in nature there is little balance, there are seasons where everything dies, then grows again, then dies, autumn, winter, spring, summer, over and over. The Earth is very corrupt in that 10% of the human population hoards all the resources and food while entire continents starve to death. The governments of Earth are hopelessly corrupt, and constantly at war with one another. Seems right so far. Even if you look at the universe and what scientists know about it, scientists know it's expanding, flying apart as it were. Perhaps that's a clue as well.
The Bible says I'm a sinner. If I'm going to be honest with myself, absolutely yes. I've lied many times, I've stolen toys, taken money from my moms purse. I've done drugs, I've used women, cheated people out of money and so on and so forth. So I'm a sinner, fine.
How about humanity itself? Well, humanity does seem to cause a lot of evil on the planet, greedy corporations, corrupt governments, selfishness in people I see everyday. But at the same time, it does seem like something downright insidious takes place on Earth, somethings even humans would be incapable of.. like world wars, and exterminating people in death camps, like there is some evil spirit misleading humanity into unimaginable horrors... Almost like an evil spirit. Like Satan? It seems reasonable to me. And it does seem like Satan has authority over this world, as it says in the New Testament. That well explains why God won't intervene when a 14 year old gives birth, murders the infant and hides the body. Satan has authority here. God allows his people free will to choose. Maybe I should take some responsibility for my actions, for my lack of compassion, for my utter selfishness, and man up a bit.
Maybe, I can even take a bit of responsibility for the evils of humanity itself, instead of blaming God every time something awful happens. Because by the Christian worldview, I live in a dark evil broken universe that will be destroyed and remade. It doesn't sound like a place where I deserve and have a right to be happy. But I will be happy in eternal life.
So I am a sinner, my species is full of them. But why do I need a savior? Well, it does seem like every time I try to clean up my life on my own, it doesn't work out. I slip back into sin, or I end up in some new sin. It seems the same for people around me. But when I called out to Jesus Christ, it changed everything. That's called experiential evidence. I was desperate enough. I had enough evidence to call our to my savior, not knowing, but believing in sad desperation. And now I see that work being done in me on a daily basis.
The problem of pain, suffering, and evil is a difficult one to explain. I could write a book on it, and still questions would remain. But maybe God wants me to trust him in certain areas, and to seek answers in other areas. Perhaps the problem of pain is a direct response to the original sin I'm born with on my spirit, that drives me to sin and do evil. Maybe I'm so prideful as a human, wanting to show God I don't need him, that I can do it myself, that I can make a paradise without him, maybe those desires, all of which I held and fought for earlier in my life needed suffering and pain, in high doses... to be crushed. And they were crushed, so my ego was gone, and I could see the truth: I had been arrogantly lying to myself for idiotic reasons. So seeing the pile of rubble that my hypothetical godless paradise had become, I called out to Jesus Christ. I admitted my sins, that I couldn't live without him, and now I journey the river of the water of life, to one day eat of the tree of life.
C.S. Lewis said in "A Grief Observed" that "Sometimes it is hard not to say, 'God forgive God.' Sometimes it is hard to say so much. But if our faith is true, He didn't. He crucified Him." Lewis asks the primary question later, what reason do we have to believe God is actually good? He asks, "What have we to set against it(the evidence to the contrary)?" He continues, "We set Christ against it." Just before that fateful moment, when darkness fell on the land, Christ had died, just before that moment, Jesus Christ called out to the Father saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He received the justice of God, he received the condemnation owed to me, for my druggy binges and sarcastic mockeries against the Bible and God himself. Indeed at those moments in the book, Chapter two, Lewis had been mocking God and the cross of Jesus Christ as a practical joke played by Father God against his unknowing son. Later he repents of those words and wonders if reality is not some sort of extreme Calvinism where we are also so horribly depraved our idea moral good is actually akin to moral bad. Then at the end of Chapter two, C.S. Lewis makes a statement that I believe defines the entire book. He turns his powerful lens of discernment from the work of God, to his own motives and intentions, and that is usually where we can find answers to many of our questions, by looking at our own motives for asking the question. Lewis asks and concludes: "Aren't all these notes the senseless writhings of a man who won't accept the fact that there is nothing we can do with suffering except to suffer it?"
I'll leave you with that, my wonderful Christian brothers and sisters, as well as the beautiful seekers who often meander these corridors. Consider these things I say, and pray for the answers you seek, that you may one day receive the justification and peaceful joy found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the Messiah. Our celebration of his birth is in two short days, so let me also wish you a very merry Christmas. I am most certain I will see many of you one day in the city of God. That is our great hope and expectation. Together at the foot of the tree of life, we'll eat of the fruit and sit down under the tree in the light of His presence and sing praises to our Father of lights. One day, we will be there together. Until then, may the powerful love of Christ Jesus be with you.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Merry Christmas: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus with Family
Hello there. I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday so far. Can you believe it's only 10 days until Christmas?! I was scarcely aware that it was December until about a week ago. Though I spent the beginning of the month with a rather intense strain of the flu. I'm pretty much recovered now though. I'd like to do some teaching on the book of Revelation soon hopefully, but not today. It's an extremely complicated book and often misinterpreted. I'd hate to add more misinterpretation to the mix by approaching it casually, so perhaps I'll have to wait until I have time to really dig into for months and months before teaching it.
Everyone seems to be in a better mood as Christmas approaches. It's been extremely cold here in Wisconsin, right now it's about -5 F. Being outside hurts, so it's best to remain indoors. It's hard being cooped up inside, but the temperature rose to around 20 F so I was able to take my dog Bella to the dog park and walk a few miles. The fall semester at Liberty University ended on the 13th of December. The Spring semester doesn't start until January 13th so I finally have some time for personal reading. I enjoy the text books for the classes immensely, but I have a growing stack of books that I really have been looking forward to read. Recently I was shopping with my sister at a consignment store and found a literal treasure trove of religious books, mostly Lutheran, and I could've stood there all day going through them. I settled on buying about twenty books, and I got some awesome ones. The first two I've been reading are "A Grief Observed" by C.S. Lewis, on his struggle after losing his wife and "The Passion of Jesus Christ" by John Piper, which is fifty reasons for the crucifixion of Christ put together by Piper. I also listened to an audiobook by Susan Cain called "Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World that can't stop Talking." That was a revolutionary read for me, it really gave me permission in a lot of key areas to be at peace with preferring to spend a lot of time alone, writing.
So, Christmas, wow. What a controversy! Thanksgiving is becoming "Turkey Day" because "thanksgiving" must sound too bible-ish. And now people can't say "Merry Christmas" anymore, it's "Happy Holidays." The atheist world strikes back. It's a push and pull thing over the history of mankind. And sometimes it's important to put out a call to the Christians across the nation to "take to mind" certain troubling trends, and kind of "call to arms" on certain issues. But I'm not going to tell you that this is such a huge surprise that Christmas is under attack, or that it's such a disgrace that Christmas has become a consumer buying frenzy. Because we know that, and we can expect more of the same in the future. So this is not a "call to arms" or a "call to despair" as a sermon I once heard stated. And it's not a call to defeat either. "Oh it's hopeless, here it comes, its rolling over us." No it's not that either. I'm calling us to acceptance of those things we cannot change at this moment.
Nothing happens in God's world by mistake. We must understand this fully. Absolutely nothing happens by mistake on this planet. All is under God's control.
1 Peter 4:12 (NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
I worry when Christians spend too much time dwelling on the problems. Unfortunately we can become defeated as a result. Put all that energy spent complaining toward being the solution to the problem. Be the solution. Be a shining light, telling people about Jesus Christ. And ironically this is where we find the message for today.
On or around Christmas, December 25th this year most of us will be with family and extended family. What a perfect time to tell them about Jesus Christ. What a perfect time to share some good news!
Uh oh, that sounds tough though! It could be rather unpleasant!
“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I
always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to
make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend
Christianity.” - C.S. Lewis
Being a Christian is living outside the comfort zone generally. It's pretty tough. But as Francis Chan says, it's those moments when we take chances and get outside our comfort zone in evangelism that we see the power of the Holy Spirit working.
Well that's all well and good, the desire to do it and wanting to do it and even trying to bring it up with the family, but what about the family and what about common objections?
Let's have a look at some of those issues. So you start talking about the wonderful life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Instant controversy right?
That pothead cousin of yours, Andy the atheist hipster smirks and replies, "Man Christmas is just stupid. Silly Christians, it's a pagan holiday. Paganism got mixed into Christianity when it first started and now it's all corrupted. The council of Nicea rewrote the Bible dude, Jesus is a fraud."
Heres how we can respond: "You know Andy that's a great point, some of the traditions of the Christmas holiday do have their roots in pagan holidays. In 313 AD Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity for the first time in the empire, after some of the most brutal persecutions of Christians. But most of the culture was pagan including the holidays. Christians knew this, and also knew they had to engage the culture, become all things to all people. So to help convert pagans, Christian activities were held on the same days as pagan ones. Slowly but surely many were converted. Thankfully, these rituals and holidays are entirely superficial. Christians don't worship the holiday tree or praise the sun on sundays. We take what was originally used for evil, paganism, and turn it to serve and honor Jesus Christ. As far as the council of Nicea, which took place in 325 AD, the council was not called to rewrite the Bible or throw out certain books, it was mainly called to deal with a controversy in the religious body of the time called Arianism. The canon of Bible books had been generally agreed upon by then, and was simply officially recognized at the council of Nicea. It's also important to note that the church leaders at the council had survived the persecutions as "professors" of the faith before courts and councils of the Roman empire. Many of them wore the marks of their devotion to the true faith."
So now Andy has his answer. But maybe that's not the end of it. Next jaded Uncle Jerry the former Catholic has something to say. "You know I think organized religion has lead to more death and destruction than anything else in the world today."
"You know uncle Jerry, I just don't know exactly what people are referring to when they talk about the horrors of organized religion, at least when applied to Christianity. Islam is scary, absolutely. But Christianity? Maybe the crusades carried out in response to the call of Pope Urban II. But it's important to note that the eastern Roman empire had been invaded and conquered by the Arab Muslims. Urban II was responding as a leader to an invasion. Obviously though it was a mistake as Christians are to love their enemies and turn the other cheek. But I can think of things that have lead to much more death and destruction than organized religion. How about World War II and the nazis? Here you have an army of atheists operating on the philosophies of the atheist writer Nietzsche. Six million people were killed in the holocaust not by organized religion, but by organized atheism. In the end, it's a fallacy of logic to condemn Christianity based on the actions of a few of it's followers. Man is flawed, God is perfect."
He'll love that. Still there are other objections. Aunt Edna the enthusiastic spiritualist can't get on board with the Bible. She doesn't like the Bible because there is so much "judgment" and "condemnation" in it. She thinks everyone should love one another and if humanity could just discover love and light and compassion and spiritual interconnectedness, everything would fall right into place.
"Auntie Edna, first thing to remember is that when we believe on Jesus Christ and are saved by his gift we no longer receive any condemnation or judgment. Love and light is great! But there are also hard truths to face in the world. And the facts on the ground are clear on an empirical level: humanity when put together on a planet is not able to live in peace with love and light and compassion. Those are wonderful principles and great morals. Sadly, simply ignoring the problem of evil does not make it go away. Humanity is wicked, and that's a very hard truth. But when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we start to learn how to love and have compassion. I know it's a hard truth that there is judgment and condemnation, but hun.. if right and wrong are important, and to me they are, there has to be consequences for causing trouble and hurting others. It's easy to hide our own mistakes, addictions and failings and talk about love and light and vague spirituality. But in the end what is the truth? Jesus Christ is the truth of this. And I want to live by the truth."
Then give her a Bible and offer to sit down with her and study it. Immediately after you say this however, opinionated Uncle Ollie has something to say: "The truth? Come on man, are you serious with all this? It's just some old book. The opiote for the masses. Who knows if Jesus even really ever existed? What does it have to do with paying my bills and taking care of my family and working my job? Seriously, you've gotta be kidding with this religious crap."
"Religion has been used in the past to quell people and keep them under control, but not Christianity. Maybe it has been applied in that way in some cases, but the Bible tells a very different story. And if it were just a fantasy to explain away death, invented by the early Christians, why wouldn't they invent something better? Like everyone goes to heaven no matter what? But instead we're all sinners, we need a savior, this world is controlled by the enemy of God, etc. The fact is a man named Jesus Christ existed and there is more than sufficient historical evidence for that fact. If you want to toss that out, you'll have to toss out the rest of human history too. I understand you're a proof and seeing is believing kind of guy Ollie. So I'd like to recommend you take a look at some books. One is called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel and the other is called "The Language of God" by Francis Collins. There is a great documentary called Evolution vs. God I'd like you to see as well. And Ollie I'd have to say the Bible and Jesus Christ are extremely relevant to your everyday life. Paying bills? The Bible has plenty of financial advice. Taking care of your family? Raise them up in the church, and hopefully you'll see them make responsible decisions. Working your job? Well, as a Christian I work for what is ahead of me. I work for eternity. Ollie, we only have 80 or 90 years on this planet. What about the rest of eternity?"
The rest of eternity is a long time. I think so anyway. I don't want to see my family members living defeated and confused about God. I don't want to see them die unsaved and be forever separated from God. That thought horrifies me. I want them with me. This connection with God through Jesus Christ is so wonderful I just have to give it away. I want so desperately for everyone to have it. That's why I dropped everything I was doing with my life (which wasn't much) and got into ministry when Jesus Christ saved me from my disaster and my sins.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me. -Psalm 18:16-19 (NIV)
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me. -Psalm 18:16-19 (NIV)
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. The Lord God Almighty loves us, so he sent his son into the world to save us. When we have faith in his son, God delights in us. And we delight in him. Immanuel, God with us, he came and lived with us. God came. He saw us in the midst of our disaster. He was not willing for us to be lost, so he came. We're celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The birth of our savior, the birth by the Holy Spirit, Immanuel "God with us." The primary purpose of the holiday is honoring our Savior, celebrating his birth. I'm going to make my December 25th about Jesus Christ, and my happiness and gratitude at his life and ministry.
I hope you will too. And I hope you'll talk to your family about Jesus Christ. You don't have to make a speech in front of the whole family, but gift a few Bibles. Or a copy of the movie the Gospel of John. Be creative. Lead a prayer with the family before the meal. Pray for them if you're just too nervous to say a word to anyone. Anything. Just fight for the salvation of your family. Let it not be said we did nothing. This is the front line of the spiritual conflict, and we can get outside ourselves, either by diving in the water or by slowly getting in. Either way, let's get into this fight. Let's share the gospel and see people saved as a result.
I'm sure we'll get to sit down and talk again before Christmas, but all the same, Merry Christmas and thank you so much for taking the time to stop by. I'm honored, and humbled, may Jesus Christ be the center of your life today, forever, and always!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Journey of the Christian through the Forest called Earth
“There is someone I love, even though I don’t approve of what he does. There is someone I accept, though some of his thoughts and actions revolt me. There is someone I forgive, though he hurts the people I love the most. That person is me.” C.S. Lewis
Life could be described as a long and strange journey through a mysterious woods. There is beauty. There is intrigue. There is fear. There is so much confusion and doubt, outmatching at times the moments of happiness and joy. But there is great hope as well.
Sometimes along the journey of life, something very tragic and powerful happens. Sometimes it hits us face on, and smashes us into pieces. And sometimes we get stuck. And instead of moving on, we stop at that place where the moment of pain occurred, and build a house, choosing to live there. We stop maturing, stop growing. We become cripples, as no one can stop on the journey and not crumble in the process. Memories are things to be lived through at the time, and remembered as the moments proceed forward, but we can't pitch a tent in our pain. We can't continue to punish ourselves for our past mistakes. But who will forgive us if we can't forgive ourselves?
There is a savior for forgiveness. There is a way out of the wilderness. This is a journey that can be made, pain after pain, event after event, joy and sorrow, peace and unsettled, despair and ecstasy, knowledge after knowledge, humbled into pieces, reception of Christ Jesus, and reconnection born after, ever burdened by sin after sin, carrying the incredible weight of distance from his presence, but promised something we cannot see, taste, or touch, yet believing and hoping, against all odds, and on the way changing the world, sharing that fountain with others, day after endless day, eyes to the horizon, head in the clouds, feet on the ground, stunning and shaken, screaming in sadness, victorious shout, endless eternity awaiting those who can just hold out to the end. Great happiness to those who finish this journey. That's what it means to me.. being a Christian.
Life is a winding mess full of incredible tribulation and nightmarish trials and testing fields. But there is reason for great joy and great peace in the storm of present Earth, in this opaque infinitely complex, though desperately simple sin infested dark planet. At this moment of twilight for the human race, in this powerfully present Fall, a savior came called Immanuel. As the waters rocked the boat, and the storm clouds blasted the passengers, all hope had been lost aboard ship, but then on the horizon a figure appeared, walking out to us, the embattled, defeated mass of man kind, Christ Jesus, approaching us on the water.. the promised messiah... to save us from our sins, just before they threatened to toss the boat and leave us wiped from all memory of existence, battered and broken, defeated and lost, Christ Jesus walked out into our disaster and saved us from it.
That's what he did for me. He walked out onto the water, and cleared the sky around me, so I could see the truth. And the clear sky showed me that I needed the son, and I received the son, and one who is set free by the son, is free indeed. This I know.
I almost died on this path through the wilderness of Earth. That is no stretch, and I have the memories of emergency rooms and the words of doctors to back up such statements. I gloat in my weakness in these pages endlessly, but more so, gloat in the power of my heavenly Father. His power is perfection intruding into this dark world.
Don't get me wrong, there are so many wonderful experiences in life that remind us just how beautiful life is. There are so many days that are filled with happiness and contentment. And the original purpose of this blog and still a primary purpose was and is, to discover the secrets to having utter peace in the storms of life. And even, to sit quietly without any electrical equipment, no computer, no tv, no cell phone, and no noise, and not have to run and go start something new because there's such a lack of peace in my heart. That being the premise of this blog, and knowing just how little peace is within people's hearts today, naturally the response has been incredible. In the 9 months since I started this blog, just after my baptism into the body of Christ it's been viewed over 16,000 times in over twenty five different countries. I'm honored and greatly humbled by this fact. All the honor goes to Jesus Christ, all the glory goes to our heavenly Father. He is the reason that I still breathe oxygen. He is the reason words are on this page. Jesus Christ is the reason for this season, all together and completely. All things are made by and for him.
If God is for us who can be against us?
What is against us, is our sin nature and the forces of evil. This is a spiritual conflict. This is a war. And we are soldiers for Christ.
“It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there.”
― John Bunyan
And as John Bunyan writes, perhaps we need times of great darkness and cold trial to become people capable of receiving Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, "Whenever God means to make a man great, he always breaks him in pieces first." All of this could be true. Perhaps the sin nature makes us so arrogant that we have to be crushed a bit before we can be humble enough to hear the word. I mean truly hear it.
I won't claim to know every experience. I imagine there are literally millions of different ways to the cross of Christ, from all manner of backgrounds and all manner of trials and tribulations. But it was my experience, that I needed a great deal of pain and suffering to be willing to call on Jesus Christ.
There has been a theme lately, of a certain amount of depression, sadness, and lethargy with friends and acquaintances lately. I think it's really just that time of year. The weather has been frigidly cold here in Wisconsin and across most of the states for about two weeks now, starting out with negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit and tonight it's about 8 degrees. It's a tough adjustment every year, as the grass and trees turn to miserable frozen tundra for six months. We don't get much sunlight in Wisconsin from November to April, so naturally it gets hard during this stretch.
So let's remember endurance. It's not always easy. We need seasons of cold, to then gratefully receive seasons of warmth and splendor. Learn to smile and be pleased when awful stuff happens. I know it sounds strange, but we can know at those moments God is training us up. He is watering our character, so it will grow. We'll change and become better people as a result. We'll become more holy.
James 1:2-4 (NIV) 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Sin is a dangerous adversary as we go about this incredible beautiful adventure to the homeland, which is the winding rocky path of all Christians. We are not heading to heaven, so much as we are heading home. No place has ever felt fully home to me in this life, I do not gather wealth to myself or prized possessions. I actually fully know and am consciously aware that I am only passing through this life, just as Billy Graham said. His journey has almost come to an end, and mine is just kicking off. I hope I can leave a legacy like him. Sin affects every Christian tall and small. Jesus Christ was even tempted, just as we are, in all manner of intensity and power, but he remained perfect. We do not remain perfect. But through the process of sanctification daily, sins are removed.
Do you know what the secret weapon against sin is? Do you know what the secret weapon against every problem is? It's been hidden in plain sight this whole time. But in our keen human intellectual capacity, it just seemed too simple for it to be the answer. We demanded something more complicated. And I've seen people die demanding something more complicated. I've seen people die because they aren't willing to work the 12 steps, because they shrug it off. Like how could it be that simple? Same thing with Christ. People want it to be harder. They want to achieve salvation, through karma, reincarnation, secret illumination, and so on. There is no achievement. It's a free gift. Let's receive it through the secret weapon that can destroy all sin, the secret weapon that brings us to the throne of God no matter where we are or what we're doing.
What is that secret weapon? It's prayer.
“Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.”
― John Bunyan
Be under no illusions. Sin can rip people from ever entering the narrow gate. Ironically we've always looked outside ourselves for the enemy, but the enemy has always been right there. The enemy is us. The enemy is how we act if we don't keep ourselves in check. And sadly many die not knowing this. Many die not caring. Many die consciously or subconsciously choosing to do exactly as they please. And many today will utterly refuse to face themselves alone, without any technology blinking or text messaging or television or movie or internet or party, so that they don't have to face the realizations that flow from such a calmness of the mind.
Realizations like.. What am I doing with myself? Where is this leading me? Wow this needs to stop look at me. I'm not happy. Hes abusing me. Shes using me. I feel guilty about that. How can I change this?
It's incredibly powerful and all consuming, the sin nature. And what I'm about to tell you is completely true from my intensely personal view on my drug and alcohol disaster. As I lay dying in my trashed house, having lost everything I had, month after month, year after year, the realization that I ought to call out to Jesus Christ to save me was not an option I had even considered. So then how did I know to? I couldn't tell you really. It just kind of popped into my head. What I'm saying is that I would have overdosed, been dead with nothing without direct intercession by the Father himself. And it wasn't till later that I read John 6:44 and realized just how true it was. Ever have a "wow" moment? Yeah, me too.
John 6:44 (ESV) "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day."
Be careful of sin. It's deadly to non-believers whether they know it or are willing to accept it or not. It's dangerous to seekers and Christians a like. We go up against the sin nature within us everyday. We as Christians have the Holy Spirit to help us in this. Otherwise we tend to lose much more than win, and get strung out on all manner of addictions whether to food, money, sex, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, attention, shopping, television, pornography, and so on and so forth. Being enslaved to addictions is ugly and strange. It's kind of funny in retrospect I thought I was "so free" the liberated Hunter S. Thompson-esc Gonzo journalist living on the edge not tied down, but my own brain was lying to me. The addictions progressed over time and the chains grew more and more obvious until even me in my deluded alternative reality could tell it was killing me. Avoid that path if you can, and maybe I walked it just to be able to tell people how truly awful and blinding it is, but if you can, avoid the sins. How? Our secret weapon, prayer. Let your knees hit the floor twice a day, morning and night, and simply ask the Father to be with you throughout the day, and then thank him at the end of it. It's so simple, yet so very vital, with such complex implications. There is the hand of God. If you want a biblical model, Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10).
Be careful for the supposedly wise of the world, Mr. worldly-wise, you can always tell them by their fruit, their personality, how they act, and what kind of things they do in the world. Arrogance is so very common in world-wise people. Elitism. I have found after going through all the philosophy, writing, journaling, studying politics, world religions, history, and all the various economic, social, and political mechanisms of the world, no matter how smart or seemingly wise I was, there were three factors that made such wisdom meaningless and fraudulent. For one, I was incapable of correctly interpreting the data because I was utterly biased, seeing all things from a bogus worldview. Two, despite all my wisdom I was greatly self ambitious, and utterly selfish though equal to my selfishness was my own ability to hide it from myself. Thus my interpretations delved deeply into my own desire for the outcomes rather than the facts on the ground. And three, because any wisdom disconnected from loving compassion is repulsive and desperately worthless. No wants to receive it.
Many never escape that. I'm very glad that I did. I truly am. And now I get to write to you wonderful people and share the stories and trials with you. It's all just part of the journey of the Christian isn't it? Every step along the way. I find it to be utterly beautiful, from the nature, to the skies above it, to the ideas within the experiences, to the moments of revelation and the tears of joy as our hearts sing gratitude to the Almighty God of all things. It's just beautiful. Powerful. Ever-present. Painful. Yet so joyful. :)
Let's remember to pray often, and pray for the removal of our sins and the removal of our character defects that generate the sins. God is not deaf. He hears! Prayer itself is so vital and I firmly believe the act of getting on our knees and simply praying, or singing, or just rejoicing and letting our hearts be grateful for all we're given is not simply an act of communication, but an act of submission to God, to the Holy Spirit, to Jesus himself, and by the act, we are slowly transformed from the sin nature to the nature and likeness of God, whose image we were made in. So pray much and pray often. And as you pray, pray not only for yourself. There are so many people that need prayers. We can intercede on the behalf of those who we see struggling in the sin nature. We can step between them and the disaster and call unto God on high, that a light might shine into their disaster. And God is not willing that any should perish. The Father loves us dearly. He listens to our prayers. Prayer is our powerful secret weapon, hidden in plain sight. And a single Christian with the Holy Spirit working in them is more powerful than all the armies of man on the face of the Earth. That is a fact of spiritual existence, that is a fact of Earth existence, get on board with it.
This is a powerful journey we're on. And I'm so very grateful to be a part of it. I did not expect it. I did not want it. But now I can look at it and say I'm learning to love it. I'm learning to start to see beauty in the world again. I'm learning to start to see simile, metaphor, illusion, temptation, and inspiration in the world around me, in the snow banks, in the eyes of strangers and friends, in the words spoken, in the music playing, in the movies, in the pages of the Bible, and in my quiet prayers, my talks with my Maker.
Welcome to the forest of Earth, my dear, greatly beloved and fearfully made Christian brothers and sisters. We all start from different points, on our journey to the home we've never seen. Home is ahead travelers, have hope and you will have perseverance. Our hearts have sung for home since our very earliest memories. Many struggles await us on the winding paths of this epic and powerful adventure. We walk through fallen times, through the very shadow of death. But fear not my family. Lights shine in the dark forests, lights of the Holy Spirit, guiding us on our way. The Father goes with us. And to those who have not begun the journey, our Savior Jesus Christ awaits you at the beginning of the trail, to wash you clean of your sins, and to give you the Holy Spirit to guide you along the way. This is a majestic and beautiful journey my family, and those who soon will be my family. Walk this path bravely, without fear, keep your feet planted on the trail, but keep your head in the clouds, eyes focused on the coming eternity, eyes focused on one coming home to the Father of lights, to live with him in the place we belong. There will be no more death, my brothers and sisters. The heavens and earth will be made anew. These are not legends or myths, but plain and simple truth. These things will happen, and we will be there to see the creation made anew, with the tree of life producing fruit constantly for our eating. Until that day my dear and beloved family, may your journey be one of great growth and all peace in times of struggle. Pray on :)
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