I love science

“We are living now, not in the delicious intoxication induced by the early successes of science, but in a rather grisly morning-after, when it has become apparent that what triumphant science has done hitherto is to improve the means for achieving unimproved or actually deteriorated ends.”
Aldous Huxley

Science and God are not at odds.  They never have been.  In fact they fit together quite well.  One could say, they fit together perfectly.  It's the leaders of the science community who pull away from any hint of religious thought and religious leaders who pull away from any hint of scientific truth that create these kinds of divides and polarities.  Just like when nations war, or political parties have it out with each other, or mega-corporations fight for best product at the lowest price. 

Francis Collins, co-founder of the human genome project responsible for mapping the human genome wrote along similar lines in his book The Language of God. 

“Will we turn our backs on science because it is perceived as a threat to God, abandoning all the promise of advancing our understanding of nature and applying that to the alleviation of suffering and the betterment of humankind? Alternatively, will we turn our backs on faith, concluding that science has rendered the spiritual life no longer necessary, and that traditional religious symbols can now be replaced by engravings of the double helix on our alters?

Both of these choices are profoundly dangerous. Both deny truth. Both will diminish the nobility of humankind. Both will be devastating to our future. And both are unnecessary. The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshipped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awesome, intricate and beautiful - and it cannot be at war with itself. Only we imperfect humans can start such battles. And only we can end them.”
― Francis S. Collins, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief

Well, he's getting old you know.  There is a great deal of respect that comes from an atheistic worldview in the realm of the science community.  Often if a scientist is willing to come out as Christian, they will be laughed out of the science community.  And then the New atheists write about them, like Sam Harris' in his piece "The Strange Case of Francis Collins."  As if Francis Collins is somehow so confused and old and weary that he's softened to the idea of religious thought, and so on.

In the same way, the religious community responded to science with hostility and rejection.  What could have been welcomed was turned away.  An unnecessary divide was built between science and faith.  Now we live in the results of that divide.  As science grew, flowered, blossomed, cured diseases, prevented illnesses, religion looked more and more hokey and backwards.  That never had to happen, but it did, and here we are.

But I would like to step out, on behalf of modern Christianity and say to all the scientists out there: I'm sorry.  I'd like to say I'm sorry.  I love your science.  It's awesome.  Religious leaders of the past shunned you and wronged you, put you death, set you on fire and so forth, and I'd just like to say I'm sorry.  I love science.  I love God.  I love both.  I tend to agree with Francis Collins view on God when he said, "God is an excellent mathematician and physicist."

God is an awesome mathematician and physicist.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/francis_collins.html#YQj4c2oQeZQUEORA.99

God is an awesome mathematician and physicist.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/francis_collins.html#YQj4c2oQeZQUEORA.99

Pain/Suffering in the Christian Life & the Solution

Pain and suffering is part of the Christian life. It's in times when the pain is high that confusion follows, and from there it can lead to questioning some of the fundamental beliefs we have as Christians:

Is God really morally perfect?  Does He really care?  Is he really there?  Does he really love me?  Is it all really true?

Pain, depression, anxiety, long-suffering.  They have the ability to call into question some of the very tenets of the faith.  I'm good at this one.  When things get tough, I start to question.  But usually there is something very fundamental as to why I'm upset in the first place. 

Guess what it is?  Yep.  You guessed it.  I'm usually trying to play god.  Sometimes I forget that I don't control the universe.  So I start trying to control everything, and make things happen just the way I want them to.  And then when they don't go how I want them to, and people don't stick to the script I'm thinking in my head, I get pissed off.  I start to romp and stomp and spiral into a bitter morass of self pity and angry depression. 

I'm not God.  More specifically, God isn't my humble servant.  He doesn't exist to give me a better life and get me a new car, better job, or perfect spouse.  I'm his humble servant.  He is God.  He has an awesome, perfect plan for not just my life, but for the life of every single person that belongs to him.  My part in all of this, is searching out God's will for me, and God's will for the world, and then finding out how to get on-board with that plan, and serve him faithfully, helping out whenever I can.

Really that's a wonderful revelation.  I don't enjoy playing god because it never works out.  I just end up angry, annoyed, and upset. So I've got prayers for times like these, the first one goes like this:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen."

or 

"God, grant me the serenity to love their best and never fear their worst. Amen."

or 

"God, help me to understand that I can't change people, places or things.  Help me to accept my situation as being just as it should be at this moment.  Nothing happens in your world by mistake, what needs to be changed is my attitude, not the situation. Amen."

 It's hard though isn't it?  When we fall into pain and suffering.  We don't always stop the process before we get very low.  And sometimes the pain is just entirely overwhelming, like when a long relationship ends or a family member passes away.  For me, often as an active addict I spent time in jails or mental hospitals.  The pain was always very powerful in jail, and I'd often read from the book of Job while within those institutions.  Bible reading does help during those times though, doesn't it?

Job 30:17 (ESV) The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest. 

Romans 8:18 (ESV) says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."  

The things that we go through, that I've gone through and that I go through today are temporary.  80 or 90 years on this broken fallen sin planet will seem like the blink of an eye as we spend eternity with the Lord, face to face.  After say, 10,000 years of peace and incredible joy with God the Father, we'll probably think back on those 80 or 90 years that we had, and be so very thankful that someone told us about Jesus.  We'll probably be so incredibly thankful that our hearts were softened to the message of eternal life.  We'll be so thankful that we chose to plant seeds for eternity.  

And after 10,000 years of life in eternal torment, those who failed to receive the message of eternal life, as they were offered it time and time again in their 80 or 90 years, will probably desperately wish they had just one more day on Earth, just one more day, to drop to their knees and call on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, and the redemption of their souls.  But that memory will be their only consolation, as they endure pain, for all time.  

It will be right that they endure such, because I have seen the folly of the wicked and it is truly terrible.  They lead Christians into sin, they work night and day to confuse and shipwreck the faith of the elect.  They make play things out of vulnerable women and entrap vulnerable men to serve them.  In the meantime they are offered the gospel time and again, welcomed to this church, shown this verse, cared for in their hospital bed, handed a Bible by a stranger, but still they mock and ridicule those who tried to help them, and the people who tried to help them then struggle in the future to help others, because they're afraid of the same lash-out they received from the wicked.  So I'm telling you the truth, that God's judgment is right, true, and just.  He was just and right to offer them mercy, forgiveness, and grace many times throughout their life.  God is so very wonderfully patient, but after so many refusals of his loving mercy, his patience runs out, and so does their time.  

That is the way of things.  People lash out at the idea of hell, eternal torment, and so on.  They talk about it like an average person is just standing their, minding their own business, being good, loving others, but never met Jesus, and then God angrily tosses them into hell.  That's not the way of it.  These people are not innocent.  They are wicked.  And they've made sport of hurting others their entire lives.  They then receive the just deserves for their actions.  Punishment.  

We can't stand the idea of that today, discipline.  Yet it's how our government functions.  We applaud when a pedophile is sent to prison, or when a murderer is caught.  We applaud and cheer when animal abusers are caught and punished.  But somehow that should be different for God?  He needs to be unconditionally loving us no matter what we do.  Can you imagine if your parents were that way with you?  Never disciplined you once?  I've seen kids like that.  They're pretty scary. 

The point here is, there is a solution to the problem of pain.  Especially while in the midst of pain, the solution can seem so very far away.  But the solution is found in 1 Peter 4:19.  It says "Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good."

The solution is to reaffirm, in a powerful manner, utter reliance on God the Creator.  Reaffirm total trust in God, his ways, his plan, his Son, and his book!  Last night in an utterly depressed mood I did this, with prompting from God, by yelling my reliance on him at the sealing.  Loudly.  

Coupled with complete trust, is doing good.  In the program of Alcoholics Anonymous it says, "When all else fails work with another alcoholic."  Why does this tactic so effectively help the alcoholic to stay sober?  Because it gets the alcoholic out of himself.  When you're helping someone else you don't have time to think about how miserable and sad you are.  In addition, when helping someone else you gain a valuable truth perspective on your own suffering.  Most importantly perhaps, you identify and understand you aren't alone.

Psalm 131 (NIV)

¹ My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
² But I have calmed and quieted myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.

³ Israel, put your hope in the Lord
    both now and forevermore.

 

Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jars of Clay, Gay Marriage, Atheism culture, How do we respond?

The world we live in is currently facing some of the most trying dilemmas it has ever faced.  We live in the bloodiest times of humanity, yet often in the United States, in the west we end up feeling like we live in a bubble...  In a place where such backwards things as warfare are far behind us.

Of course that isn't true.  But sometimes our leaders like to pretend we've become superior to our corporate history as humans.  Have we?

One of the things that I've come to deeply appreciate about Christianity is it's uncanny ability to pinpoint the truth.  And it's the very unpopular truth.  Let me tell you a secret: I love being on the side of the undesired truth.  I've always gravitated towards that, whether it was being a libertarian, a political activist, or even an investigative truth seeker.

It reminds me of Steve Turner's poem called "The Modern Thinker's Creed."  Have a look:

We believe in Marx, Freud,and Darwin We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt, and to the best of your knowledge.
We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy’s OK. We believe that taboos are taboo.
We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated And you can prove anything with evidence.
We believe there’s something in horoscopes UFO’s and bent spoons. Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Muhammed, and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.
We believe that all religions are basically the same-at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.
We believe that after death comes the Nothing Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn
We believe in Masters and Johnson What’s selected is average. What’s average is normal. What’s normal is good.
We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors. And the Russians would be sure to follow.
We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.
We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will readjust. History will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.
We believe in the rejection of creeds, And the flowering of individual thought.
If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear
State of Emergency! Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage! Whites go Looting! Bomb Blasts School! It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

You can read through something like that and think yeah, that is how our culture tends to think.  "Man is essentially good, it's just his behavior that lets him down" and that's just how it is.  

Looking back at how I felt, how I thought living in that materialistic psycho-therapeutic materialistic mindset, I realize how oppressive it was.  Everything they were telling me about filling out resumes, working a high paying job, coping mechanisms, anti-depressant medications, as I dealt with increasing depression in my early teens.. everything they were telling me well defined the material American society I lived in.  The oppressiveness was that something utterly and completely essential was missing, there was a giant vaccum in the middle of all of it.  None of the lines were colored in.  There was no way to describe what was missing to them, the doctor, the therapist, the student counselor, or family members.  They had very well placed the various areas and ideas on the consumer man and it all fit together so well, yet it was crumbling and just beneath the surface was the lies, the dead bodies, the suicide attempts, the drug addict world, and the child sex slave industry.  Quietly and conveniently ignored when discussing the essential good of man.

So let's step into today, United States, April 24th 2014.  I read recently that Stone Cold Steve Austin has come out saying gay marriage is ok, because stone cold says so.  The culture applauds, on their feet, cheering.  No surprise there.  The front-man of a Christian band called Jars of Clay has come forward now in support of gay marriage.  No doubt the country will welcome him with record sales and open arms.

Once again hardly anything of interest.  I don't even want to talk about gay marriage.  I really don't.  I mean look at the incredible challenges facing our world.  Entire continents of people starving.  We've got the middle-east on the brink of explosion in the divide between the Arab nations and Israel and her allies.  The sex slave industry, poverty, unemployment, drone wars, the European economies collapsing and we want to talk about tolerance and gay marriage? 

No, we Christians want to talk about how awesome Jesus is.  But they hit us with the question in the mainstream media, time and again, "What do you think about gay marriage?"  And why?  Because once we stand by the conviction of believing the Bible, they've pigeon-holed us as intolerant.  So for the rest of the interview no one can hear anything about how wonderful Jesus is, because they've tainted us first off.

It's important for another reason though.  If culture, people, opinion, even scientists or sociologists can prove that gay marriage is good and right, they've just proved that God, the Bibles, Christians no longer have the moral high ground.  Our ancestors have proven that personally Christians are sinners, but we always point back to our teaching, the Bible, and it's perfection.  They will continue to attack it.  

Ricky Gervais has taken to teaming up with Richard Dawkins to hatefully bash the Bible, and point out that the Bible is full of intolerance, hatred, bigotry, sexism, and misogyny.  I actually feel personally responsible for this one.  I had taken an interest in Ricky Gervais, and I took to tweeting to his twitter account about Jesus Christ, and finding faith, and how it might help him and so forth.  Then I see a month later he's teamed up with Richard Dawkins and the new atheists.  I have no idea if it's just a coincidence, or what, but in any case there it is.  

As many of you know I'm a conservative leaning Libertarian, and so I occasionally check in on the developments as far as civil liberties and government go.  Of interest, Princeton University recently released a study indicating that the United States of America is no longer officially a democracy, but now more closely resembles an oligarchy.  An oligarchy is where an elite group of influential individuals controls the course of the nation.  In our case it's generally bankers, mega-corporation CEOs, industry leaders, and so on.  If you'd like to read the full story click here.   

So Christians friends, seekers and brothers and sisters, that is where we are at in developments today.  What are your thoughts?  How should we respond as Christians in a rapidly atheistic nation?  

Do we fight to reclaim Christendom?  Or is it gone for good?  Should we redefine ourselves or flee the changes?

Resurrection Sunday: Living a life of Worship

Colossians 3:14-17 ESV And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 

Hi everyone :)  How are you all doing?  I hope you're spending some time with family and enjoying a life in constant fellowship with the risen Lord Jesus Christ.  For this resurrection sunday sermon there are several thing I'm not going to do: I'm not going to explain the roots of easter, their pagan connections and so on and so forth.  I'm not going to give an angry cry for the return to Jesus Christ in the foundation of the holiday.  I'm also not going to teach regarding any doctrines or traditions regarding Good Friday or Resurrection Sunday, or any of that.  What I am going to do, is teach on how awesome and cool Jesus is, and how great it is to worship and love him.  Sound good?

Awesome.

Hebrews 13:15 ESV Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 

What is worship?  Is it singing on Sunday at church?  Is it bowing before God on our knees before bed?  Those are definitely examples of personal corporate worship and personal worship in it's simplest form.  But included are many other forms of worship.  In Hebrews 13:15, acknowledge his name.

What does that mean?  Talk about Jesus!  If you don't know what to say about Jesus, read about Jesus.  The Bible, or some good commentaries or some good books on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  There are many.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

 Do you ever read 1 Peter in star-struck awe?  I do.  I love Paul's writings in a different way, but in Peter's work you can just sense a powerful clarity of interpretation of the grace of God.  1 Peter is a powerhouse book, it just blows me away every time I read it.  Romans chapter two and three, same thing, Paul knocks me flat off the chair every time.

But truly, it's not Peter or Paul is it, it is certainly their styles of writing, their understandings of God that speak through the word, but it is the Holy Spirit that is upon me, given to me by Jesus when he saved me, that allows my mind to flower in understanding of the scriptures.

Before Jesus saved me, did I give a crap about the Bible?  Nope.  Some old book?  Why would I?  But once I was saved, I could not put it down.  I was reading, listening, learning, studying, and it's still the same.. I can't put it down.  It's such truth.  It shines like a beacon above the din of lies, consumerism and foolishness that clouds the culture.

Psalm 77:13 ESV Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 

The Psalms are just wonderful aren't they?  I like to listen to Max recite them before bed, on my phone.  By Max I mean the audio NIV Bible.  It's quite well read.  I love the Psalms, and if you read through them you'll notice references to Jesus Christ, all over the place!  Just right here in Psalm 77:13, David writes your way is holy.  What is Jesus referred to as in John?  The way, the truth, and the life.  How does Luke refer to faith in Jesus in the book of Acts?  He calls it "The Way."

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 

Isn't it wonderful to know, totally know that God is with all of us right at this moment?  He's as much with me as I write this, as he is with you as you're reading these words.  He is with the persecuted Christians in Pakistan.  He is with the starving Christians in Gambia.  He is with the luke-warm Christians in Europe.  He is with the backsliding Christians in the United States.  He is with us.  Always with us.  He is not limited by space or time, with you he has all the time in the world, he's not rushing off to deal with something else, he is able to both rush off to deal with something else, and patiently and attentively minister to your heart, your mind, your intellect, and your very soul.

In Zephaniah it was prophesied, "a mighty one who will save."  Well now we may say with certainty and rock-solid assurance, "a mighty on who did save."  Who has saved me.  And you.  And if you don't know him, if you can't seem to muster interest in scriptures or old books, don't worry.  The interest comes after you make your commitment to Jesus.

And in Zephaniah 3:17 we see a good picture of how God ministers to us.  When we know him, he rejoices over us with gladness.  When we please him, which is conditional on loving his son Jesus, he is well pleased in us.  Because he is well pleased by his son Jesus.  And so we are adopted family.  But more than adopted, we are blood family.  We are made new.  Our old selves are dead.

God rejoices over us with gladness.

God quiets us with his love, when we want to cry out in pain.

And God exalts us with singing.

1 Chronicles 16:29 ESV Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

So knowing that God is full of love and expresses it and actively gives it daily, how will we respond?

We ought to respond in worship.  Not because we're suppose to, but because we want to.  Worship is transformative in that way.  When I pray for a few minutes, read the Bible, attend studies, and go to church, my interest and wisdom grows.  As a result I've sown good seeds, and a garden blooms in my heart.  Let the garden bloom in your heart.  Plant seeds, a year later, shorter, longer, see them grow.

God can and will use you, if you know and follow.  A year and a half ago I received the Savior and started this blog.  Today it's reached over 20,000 views worldwide.  That's a blessing.  When I first received Jesus Christ, I had no car, no work, I wasn't in college, I didn't have any friends, and I was bankrupt.  I didn't attend church, or Bible study, I didn't attend support groups, see a counselor, I didn't serve or help those around me.

Today God is doing a work in my life.  Today I write a blog.  Today I have a vehicle.  Today I attend counseling and support groups regularly.  Today I tell people about Jesus.  Today I have a job at a Salvation Army homeless shelter in town.  Today I'm a baptized member of a church, serving on three ministries in the church.  Today I attend Liberty University with a 3.85 grade point average.  Today I have friends.  Today I attend Bible studies.  And today I'm clean and sober from drugs and alcohol.  These are works of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit he gives.  I can take no credit, only that followed directions and found myself with the Holy Spirit within, and new motivations to love wisdom, love holiness, and love helping those around me.  That is the testimony, the rock solid, concrete scientific data that cannot be ignored.  Empirical evidence shows, that a doomed drug addict has new life today.  How can it be..

I was talking with a young man and he compared faith to Jesus Christ in believing in Leprechauns.  I don't know any leprechauns who are worshiped by two billions Christians worldwide.  And I don't know any Leprechauns that can cure hopeless drug addicts and turn them into serving, adoring Christians of powerful faith.

Psalm 103:1-4 ESV Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy

My point here is that Jesus Christ can do the impossible in lives.  For that reason and for so many others, he is deserving of our worship.  Our worship is not simply singing or praising or prostrating before him.  No.  Our worship is a daily song, and it's sung by acts of worship.  You volunteer at a food pantry, you sing before God.  When you share the gospel with a friend, you sing before God. When you play with your kids, you sing before God.  When you give food to a homeless man you sing before God.  When you smile to a stranger.. when you give a hug.. when you share a Bible verse.. when you help those in need.. It's all daily song, throughout the week to your loving Maker. 

Psalm 147:1 ESV Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

 So as we go out and enjoy the holiday, and attend church on Resurrection Sunday, let's remember to have an attitude of daily worship in action and thought to God Almighty. Recall what Jesus Christ did on the cross.  And believe and know that he rose from death, by the power of God, and now sits, alive and well at the right hand of God the Father.

I'll leave you with this powerful description of the life of Jesus Christ to close out today:

"He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men. Yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable, that the children loved to play with him and the little ones nestled in his arms.

His presence at the innocent joy of a village wedding, was like the presence of sunshine. No one was half so kind or compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red-hot scorching words about sin. A bruised reed he would not break. His whole life was love. Yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees, how they were expected to escape the damnation of hell.

He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism, he has all of us self-styled realists soundly beaten. He was the servant of all, washing the disciples’ feet, yet masterfully he strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another to get away in their mad rush from the fire they saw blazing in his eyes. He saved others, yet at the last, he himself did not save.

There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels; the mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality."

James Stewart, Scottish theologian