Friday, March 6, 2015

Love Others: The Second Great Command

LOVE OTHERS: THE SECOND GREAT COMMAND

Justin Steckbauer

Religious Capstone Seminar 489

Liberty University

Second Command in the Gospels

John 13:34 (ESV) says “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” Christianity in it's essence is all about relationship between God and man. This relationship is cultivated through love exchanged between God and man. God is love. Man is not. Man therefore is urged in the first great command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart.” However, the command does not end with love exchange between God and man. A second great command is issued by Jesus Christ in the gospels: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

John 15:13 (ESV) says “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Love is service and sacrifice. Love is action (John 3:16). Implicit in a relationship with God is love, and implicit in relationship with other humans is love and sacrifice for friends. But it doesn't stop there.

The expert in the law in Luke 10 asked Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered by telling the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37 ESV). The expert in the law remarked that the good Samaritan showed mercy to the traveler (Luke 10:37). Jesus told him to go and do like-wise (Luke 10:37). Love is service, sacrifice, and showing mercy. But it doesn't stop there.

Matthew 5:44 (ESV) says “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” The second great command is all about loving other human beings. Does that include enemies? According the scriptures, enemies must be loved and prayed for.

The second great command is present in all four gospels: John 13:34, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, and Luke 10:27. Love is vital to God. The gospels are the love story of God. God's love letters describe his love. God is love. God calls his children to love him and be reconciled to him. Yet God also calls his children to love one another. Neighbor love is vital to the Christian life.

Jesus himself taught and practiced the perfect form of love for neighbor. Jesus loved and showed mercy to the woman at the well when he offered her living water (John 4). Jesus showed love for the Roman official and his son by healing the child of his fever (John 4). Jesus loved his people by feeding them, when he fed the 5,000 (John 6). Jesus loved the woman who was caught committing adultery by forgiving her sin and setting her free from the temple authorities (John 8). Jesus showed his great love for Mary, Martha, and Lazarus at the events described in John 11. Jesus certainly felt great love for his people. But he also showed his love in actions. He showed his love by caring for the lost. He showed his love by feeding people. He showed love by healing the sick. He showed his love by giving mercy, and giving life.

Significance

1 John 4:8 says “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” The second great command is all about loving through action and feeling. God is love in that he sent his one and only son, who is himself God, to die for the sins of his people (John 3:16). From the Old Testament to the New Testament the vital instruction for daily living was simple: love God and love others. But are those principles inexorably linked? How is love practiced? How does one go about loving thy neighbor as thyself? Many of the greatest theologians of history have weighed in on the topic of the two great commands. Specifically love for neighbor was a hotly contested issue and many differing theological views emerged. The great theologian Augustine believed that self love and love for God were co-extensive (Post, 1990, p. 183). Augustine also believed that loving thy neighbor meant elevating neighbor to communion with God (Post, 1990, p. 183). Another theologian, Scheler believed that love for neighbor was an extension of love for God (Post, 1990, p. 187). Scheler believed that loving ones neighbor was a spiritual form of loving God (Post, 1990, p. 187). On the other hand Karl Barth believed that love for God and love for others were distinct and separate (Post, 1990, p. 182). John Passmore believed that love for neighbor was best lived out as a missional love intent on bringing neighbors into fellowship with God (Post, 1990, p. 182). T.S. Eliot, informed by the Anglican church, believed love for neighbor to be a descending to the non-religious in order to help them ascend to God (Post, 1990, p. 184). Similar to Eliot, Scheler believed there was a balance between accepting the sinner as is, and helping the sinner to become who they ought to be, all wrapped up within the idea of loving thy neighbor to help them come to God (Post, 1990, p. 186). As Rivera (2013) indicated in The Half Gospel and Reforming Mercy Ministry, the practice of loving thy neighbor through mercy ministries seems some what lacking in the church. While theologians focus in on sharing the gospel as the means of loving neighbor, it is also important to meet the physical needs of neighbors, as Jesus did. Jesus spent much of his ministry healing the sick and lame, and feeding the poor. Such ministries are vital to fulfilling the instruction to love thy neighbor as thyself.

In the Christian life it's important to live as Christ did (1 John 2:6). Christ lived by serving others, even to the point of washing the feet of his disciples (John 13:1-17). To obey the second great command one must be willing to forsake selfishness and embrace self-giving love (Bracken, 2013, p.859). For Christians self-giving love should come more naturally than selfishness (Bracken, 2013, p.862). The work of the Holy Spirit in the believer helps the believer to live out love for neighbor (Bracken, 2013). Prayer is also vital to living out the second great commandment. If a believer is powered by the Holy Spirit, and determined to live out the second great command through love and service, they will produce much fruit for God and His glory (John 16:12-15).

Practical Application

Love for ones neighbor is truly all about practice and application. There are many ways to serve ones neighbor as thyself. The possibilities are listed in the text by Ted Rivera, Reforming Mercy Ministry. There are many options listed such as feeding the hungry, helping the homeless, prison ministry, and caring for spiritual needs (Rivera, 2013). Love for neighbor is very important to the Christian life (Rivera, 2013). Indeed scripture indicates that if someone does not love his neighbor this can be evidence that they are not really a Christian (1 John 3:15). The Christian is instructed to love even their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). Jesus spent his three year ministry serving the poor and showing mercy to those who needed mercy. In order to live as Christ did, Christians must be willing to get down and dirty with those in the most severe need, both by showing affection through the gospel message and by meeting needs.

There are two primary applications of loving thy neighbor: the first is to show mercy to all people and share the gospel, and the second is to meet the needs of those in need. Such daunting applications are difficult, and are only possible by the Holy Spirit ministering through believers. The only reason that believers are capable of showing love and kindness is because God first loved all believers (1 John 4:19). The Holy Spirit will help believers in the process of learning to love and care for those in need. As long as believers are willing to forsake selfishness and take up their crosses and follow Jesus to love and service, then wherever there are people in need, Christ will be there to serve them (Matthew 16:24, 1 Corinthians 12:21-26).

Bibliography

Bracken, Joseph A., S.J. "The Challenge of Self-Giving Love." Theological Studies 74, no. 4 (12, 2013): 856-71, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1461737361?accountid=12085.

Post, Stephen. "The Purpose of Neighbor-Love." The Journal of Religious Ethics 18, no. 1 (1990): 181-93.

Rivera, Ted. Reforming Mercy Ministry: A Practical Guide to Loving Your Neighbor. IVP Books, 2014.

Sproul, R. C. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version, Containing the Old and New Testaments. Orlando, Fla.: Ligonier Ministries ;, 2005.

Wright, Rebecca Abts. "The Impossible Commandment." Anglican Theological Review 83, no. 3 (Summer, 2001): 579-84, http://search.proquest.com/docview/215265612?accountid=12085.

Friday, February 27, 2015

We are Blessed Beyond Measure in Grace, Peace, and Gratitude

We have a lot to be grateful for as believers, don't you think? The truth is we are truly blessed. We've been selected by the designer of the human soul to spend eternity with him. How marvelous is such a calling as this? What greater purpose could there be?

Science, industry, fame, fortune, even art, music, and philosophy all pale in comparison to the humility of being in the presence of the designer of the rivers, the mountains, the animals, and the human soul.

He is the grand architect. Who can understand such a transcendent being? We see God as our Father, yet he is certainly much more than that. We see God as the architect of the universe, but he is much more than that too. We see him as our savior, yet he is much more than that. We see him as a being of immense power, but he is also much more complicated than that. He is love, yet he is justice. He is strength, yet he is tender care. He is designer, yet he is intimate friend and companion. He is God, yet he is also a man. He is Spirit, yet he walked also as flesh. He is the grand master of science, the inspiration behind art, music, sculptures, and speeches. He dialed the constants of the universe as he designed his universe. He set the Earth in nothingness, and painted the galaxies with stars and gas giants and nebula.

Yet he also crafted the ears on the cat, and the jaw of the dog. He ran his hands along the contours of the horse and the immense dimensions of the whales of the ocean.

Despite his infinite power, and ability and knowledge, he chose of all those about, to love me. And I have begun to learn how to love him. He loves you also. He loves you with a special love, a love designed live a puzzle piece that fits into your soul. He designed humans to love and be with him. You and I are designed in his image.

I can't understand it. I really truly can't. I bump my head on the sealing. It's very real. So real. God reveals a plan and a requirement through the books of the Bible. The haunting thing about the Bible is it reveals something has gone terribly wrong. From the world it becomes clear. Thankfully the solution is offered, a substitute, a savior, God himself, Jesus Christ.

Blessed with grace, as children of God, we've found ourselves returned to our natural state: communion and fellowship with God and other believers.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Sex, Cuisine, and Television: Overcoming the World

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance 1 Peter 1:14

While I was standing by the gas pump, filling up in the below zero weather of north central Wisconsin I found myself being subjected to an audio advertisement through a little round box attached to the pump. I tried to hit the "mute" button, but it had been pressed so many times it no longer functioned. I found myself deeply irritated.

On any given day the average American may be exposed to over 5000 advertisements. Not 50. Not 500. But 5000. (source) It's hard to imagine what kind of impact that has on the human mind. But I'm certain it makes temptation harder and harder to resist. Think about it, almost every advertisement is trying to tempt me into something. Every advertisement is trying to sell me on something. Within those ads is an ideology of selfishness, and self serving motives. A sort of "you can have it all" attitude, that we see time and again failing to satisfy.

That's why we need God. Time and again the material fails to satisfy. In fact, that is a major reason why I am here today, writing in regard to the truth. Because my methods of self satisfaction were ultimately self destructive.

Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Sex, food, and television. Oi vey, what have we gotten ourselves into? What have I gotten myself into by writing on these topics? Hard to say, hard to say. But let's dig in anyway.

What do we believe as human beings on planet Earth about the world around us? I want you to look up from the screen you're staring at, the laptop, desktop, ipad, ipod, or cell phone. And look around you. See what you see. The room. The car even. Maybe the city block, or the woods or the mountains or the ocean. Now connect this reality with this truth: Everything your looking at belongs to Jesus Christ. Now look down at your arms and legs. You belong to Jesus Christ. Not figuratively, not allegorically, but literally. Physically, you belong to a real God. So does everything around you. The coffee table, the computer, the walls, the air, the sky, all of it.

I'm so plugged into the computer, the ipod, the television, the latest product that I forget who I am sometimes. Honestly, I do.

Never-the-less, I am a child of the one true God. And so are you. It's so easy to forget in the age of consumption. Consumer society threatens my connection to my Lord. One and done right? One prayer and I'm eternally saved? Or is there more to it than that? Of course there is. Christianity is real. Not a quick fix. Not a #3 at McDonalds. Sex, food, and television. And so many other things, vying for my attention and my affection. The danger of falling away is very real. The danger of sin, and of falling into it is very real. So what am I to do?

1 John 3:24
Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

Sometimes in modern society, I feel like I pass between different worlds in the span of a day. There is the face I wear at home. There is the face I wear at work. There is the face I wear at the gym. There is the face I wear at church. There is the face I wear on the internet. There is the face I wear in prayer. There is the face I wear with my friends. To a certain extent, one must adapt to situations that require different levels of interaction.

But for me being out in society, sometimes I forget who I am. I see the girl at the gym with the perfect body, and I feel like I'm not quite cool enough. I see the guy with the really nice car. I see the man wearing the expensive suit. I feel the anxiety inside. The shame. But have I forgotten? I am a child of the one true God. In the truest reality, assuming all those people I saw don't have Christ... they have nothing. They are headed to nothingness. They ought to be pitied, because they think they have so much, yet have so little. The pertinent question is: Is my worldview, my Christian belief structure penetrating into all areas of my life? Am I looking in the mirror in my prayers only to forget who I am in public?

1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

It's a journey, truly, truly it is. I became a Christian two years ago. And I've seen my worldview slowly being transformed, from one area to another. From one glorious truth to another. Though it's not all bubble gum and fairies. Sometimes it's downright tough.

Sex.

And so we come to the first of three topics, sex. Sexual desire is a tough one for me. I would love to be married. But I'm not. Temptation is out there. And sometimes it's very difficult to keep my thoughts headed in the right direction. Have you ever experienced the same thing? I think many of us have. It's impossible to go anywhere or do anything, without being exposed to dozens of pictures and images of men and women scantly clad. All of them with perfect bodies of course. Many of those images photoshopped and manipulated to appear perfect. And even when we're not being exposed to those images, there are the people around us. For men especially, it can be very difficult. It seems like over the past 20 years women have begun to wear less and less, and tighter and tighter clothes. It's extremely difficult to deal with on a daily basis. Another issue is how younger and younger women are dressing and being dressed in a sexualized way. Truly troubling. Of course if you mention that to the public you'll quickly be characterized as a backwards religious fool. Yoga pants? Forget about it, yoga pants is only the tip of the iceberg. Yet we're called to discipline. We're called to resist temptation.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

I was listening to a sermon by Pastor James MacDonald the other day. He was saying how he does talks for young adult men's ministries. It was his custom in the past to ask all the young guys in the room to write down on a piece of paper the sin they struggle with the most. He would take all of those papers and do his talk on the top three issues. He said in the sermon that the answer is always the same, so often, he doesn't even ask anymore: sexual sin.

Of course it's not a male only issue. I was reading a book called "Every Man's Battle: Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time" by Fred Stoeker & Stephen Arterburn. Probably one of the most annoying books I've ever read. Yet certainly containing some very powerful insights on the issue of sexual sin. What I found annoying, among other things, was how women were caricatured as not having an issue with sexual sin. And how the wives of these men feel so sorry for their poor sexually depraved husbands, and they "just don't understand it."

Sexual "acting out" is of course in many ways a sin. In the converse, sex within a life-long commitment is a healthy and wonderful thing. Sex is not bad in itself. Sex is good in itself. People unfortunately have a way of taking a good thing and turning it into a bad thing. Sexual problems are a sin before God. Of course they are. But it's also true that sexual addiction is an illness that is treatable. Just like alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, shopping, or internet addiction, it is treatable.

Men certainly come out on top in studies regarding pure sex addiction. But if 88% of men in studies are engaging in sexual sin, who are they sinning with? Themselves? There are women with the same issues, it's just stigmatized much more for women, so it's not discussed as openly. Though women may not struggle with outright sexual addiction, it may be a more relational issue. In my experience, women would come out on top in relationship addiction. The societal norms are very strong in this area, people simply assume women do not have a problem with sex. So much so, that there are very few studies regarding female sex addiction and/or relationship addiction. (source) But in the fall of man in Genesis 2, the sin state was not reserved particularly for men. Women were equal in their participation of that state.

In the past, in the United States and Europe, women have been subjugated and mistreated. Thankfully today women are gaining better treatment in society. In organizations like the Salvation Army, women are treated as equals, as partners in ministry with equal standing and equal rights. That's as it should be.

Unfortunately it seems like today there is a growing war against men. Men find themselves caricatured as dumb sex fiends in the media. Men find themselves minimized and subjugated in the courts during divorce proceedings, child support, and child custody battles. I've seen it first hand. The media is really a major fueler of this problem. The media, the news, and Hollywood. Unfortunately it always seems to go back to the popular media. That's where the filth streams from, into the minds of future generations. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne. The list goes on and on.

What fuels sexual addiction? We can only theorize, but of course pornography, the television, and the internet play into it strongly. Thankfully, there are ways to battle sexual sin. Celebrate Recovery, seeing a Christian counselor, or 12 step fellowships like Sex Addicts Anonymous are some solid options. Do you struggle with masturbation, pornography, or chronic sexual sin? Pray about the issue, and seek resources to gain the upper hand on these problems.

Cuisine.

Ah, such a fascinating topic, the issue of food. This is one that the church of the USA and Europe have been strangely dead silent on.

According to the CDC the leading cause of death in 2013 in the USA was heart disease at 611,105 dead. On the top ten causes of death, heart disease was 1st, cancer 2nd, and 7th was diabetes. (source) These are all preventable problems. What causes diabetes? Poor eating. What causes cancer? Hard to say, but I expect in the future cancer may be linked to diet choices. And what causes heart disease? According to Mayo Clinic "It can be caused by correctable problems, such as an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, being overweight and smoking." (source)

Why has the church been so silent on this issue? Let's just be real, when the number one cause of death in the USA is diet related, the church of Christ needs to speak up. What does scripture say regarding over-eating?

Proverbs 23:20-21 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

The church is very quick to go after sins like homosexuality, drug addiction, alcoholism, sexual sin, but what about gluttony?

It's important to have a healthy diet. The scriptures are clear about that. What did Daniel do when he was stuck in Babylon? The scriptures say he resolved to not defile himself with the delicacies of the Babylonian empire (Daniel 1:8). Instead he ate organic veggies (Daniel 1:11-13). Maybe it's time that the church took a stand on the healthy eating issue.

Did you know 80% of the food Americans consume is genetically modified? (GMO). (source) Now it's not that all genetically modified foods are necessarily bad, but I definitely view them with a high level of skepticism. There are very high amounts of chemicals in American food. The FDA is suppose to monitor food for safety, but unfortunately during the Obama administration the FDA has been headed up by a former Monsanto lawyer; a company notorious for it's gmo products and legal attacks on organic farmers. (source) (source 2)

The bottom line is, it's important to eat healthy. If we don't know, we can't learn. But with knowledge, we can learn and overcome these health problems in modern society. It's important to eat organic foods, and it's important to avoid chemicals that can harm our bodies. God made us to eat healthy; when we eat sugar, carbs, and harmful products our bodies suffer as a result. Our body is the temple of God, it should be honored in our food choices.

Television.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I think about it in this way: What I'm putting into my mind tends to become my reality. If I'm pouring in the scriptures, word of God, prayer, Bible studies, prayer meetings, Christian rock, Christian radio, and weekly church attendance my mindset will slowly be conforming to grace, peace, love, and the mind of Christ Jesus.

If I'm pouring in commercials, advertisements, reality television, sports games, bar life, pornography, disturbing humor, and selfish desires then my mindset will be debased, confused, uncertain, disturbed, irritable, irrational, ugly, and self centered. I will have a worldly attitude.

We have to be very careful with what we put in our minds. The world wants us to think it's all no big deal. It's all just expression and entertainment. But the truth is, a lot of it is downright harmful. Do we assume the sex, violence, and temptations have no effect at all on our minds?

Sometimes I will watch television on the treadmill at the Anytime fitness where I work out. It's amazing in just a few minutes I'll be exposed to a pizza commercial showing me a gewy, dripping, perfect pizza. Then I flip to another channel and I see a Reeces peanut butter cup graphically designed to look perfect and tempting. Then another channel I see a girl in a bikini walking on a beach. Then another commercial I see the perfect beer bash bar scene with girls, and lights, and dancing and oh my. It's all so tempting. And that's the design. It's designed to tempt me. It's designed to induce me to hand over my money for a temporary pleasure. So I need to be cautious. We ought to be cautious, and take off those rose colored glasses and see these things for what they really are: inducements to capture our minds. Very quickly we can have minds captive to pleasures that can never be fully quenched.

Galatians 5:1

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Our blessed savior the Lord Jesus Christ calls us not only to believe in him, and follow him, he calls us to overcome sin in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit whom he gave to us. Victory is through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. Therefore call upon God to support you, and deliver you from temptation, and from willful sin. He answers all prayers within his will. He is good and right to answer us, and deliver us from all sin.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

1 John 3:1-11(NIV) 3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁴Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. ⁵But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. ⁶No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
⁷Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
¹¹For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

What is the matrix?

The most important question of our age may be: What is the matrix? In light of the rise in secular humanism, and the growing concerns over political, economic, and banking corruption worldwide, one must wonder... What is going on here? Why is the depravity so pervasive? What is causing this rise in corruption? Why are so many institutions no longer trusted by the public?

I first began to understand some things when I read a book called 1984 by George Orwell. I understood a bit more after reading another book called Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. These are two books written by atheists, ironically enough. A certain series of movies called the Matrix helped me understand more. Documentaries like Inside Job, Food Inc, Bowling for Columbine, For Liberty, Why We Fight, Endgame, Evolution vs. God, and Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed helped me to further understand more complex issues. And a big book called the Bible helped me put all the pieces together.

Let's go on a little journey. Scope out if you will, and try to look beyond the society. Look beyond the billboards, television screens, the bar grills, the sports fields, the church conferences, and the American dream.

What is really happening here? What is the truth? What is the matrix? Why is there a matrix? And how do we escape this matrix?

To understand how to truly escape the matrix requires an understanding of faith and spirituality. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. This will not be an attempt to logically prove that such a matrix exists. Anyone who investigates the entirety of the evidence, I believe, would have to come to the conclusion that there is a matrix of control. It manufactures consent. It builds the minds of young people to assimilate into the system. This essay will instead be an examination of some of the allegory found within the Matrix movies regarding the system of control and the key to it's defeat. If you've never viewed the Matrix trilogy then don't read any further; spoilers, and you won't be able to follow the ideas very well.

"Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?" -Morpheus

Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—

I've always known, since age four or five, that something was very wrong with planet Earth. It didn't quite make sense. And so began a journey. For me, that was the journey that eventually led to the spiritual seeker mentality. It was the deepest sensation, very real, and based on intense observation, yet also an intuitive response: Something is wrong here.

World wars? Diseases? Those weren't even the first questions. The first question was why does going anywhere, doing anything require money? Why are so many resources directed towards what seem to be foolish pursuits? I remember wondering.. where is the community center? Where do people go to just talk, spend time together, without having to buy something or purchase a product? Well, there is no such place. No "city center" as I thought of it. There are restaurants where you pay, movie theatres where you pay, and many other establishments. No loitering. I found it confusing from a very young age. What's happening here? Is this right?

After reading books like 1984 and Brave New World I began to consider things on a larger scale. Why do nations war? If the nations are all in such debt, who are they in debt to? Why are all my friends so obsessed with trivial pursuits like clothes, sports, games, drugs, and brand names? Why are there television screens everywhere? Why do people have access to such information yet know so little? Even larger issues.. like Genocide. War. Sex slavery. Disease. Corruption. Poverty?

Money, money, money... greed, greed, greed. At the core, most everyone serving themselves and ignoring the needs of others. Enough resources to go around, but the few hoarding to the destruction of so many.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils -1 Timothy 6:10

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender. Proverb 22:7

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. -Isaiah 1:17

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. -Galatians 5:13

"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it." - Morpheus

Matthew 12:30 Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.

Our hero Neo can sense sin all around him. It's a splinter in his mind, and it drives him mad. So he seeks out the truth teller, the rebel in the wilderness, he seeks out the John the baptist character, Morpheus, who is part of an underground truth movement.

The Morpheus character meets with Neo and invites him to join the resistance. Red pill or blue pill. Red pill, he joins, blue pill, he wakes up and believes whatever he wants to believe (kind of like the new spirituality - believe whatever you want.) Neo selects the red pill, but Morpheus offers a warning, "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth." The truth is not always a pretty thing. In fact, I've found it exceedingly difficult to "swallow" at times. But I've found the very grim truth to be best described in the Book. And I'd rather know the difficult truth, than believe a convenient lie like "consciousness evolution" or "all paths to the same place." There is a serious problem on planet Earth. Every person knows it.

After taking the red pill, the main character Neo wakes up from the illusion. He finds himself in a broken wasteland, in a pod suspended in mid air, with millions of others, with plugs in his arms legs and body. The system recognizes he is unplugs and rejects him, down a shoot into a garbage area, and it's there that a hovership piloted by Morpheus picks him up.

As they bring Neo onto the hovership Morpheus says, "Welcome to the real world."

To me, this is an allegory to becoming a Christian. Many would throw up their arms in disgust at that statement. "You mean something so cool as the matrix could have anything to do with that!? "Christian" is sitting in a boring wooden pew every week half asleep with pedophile priests!!" Now now, no. That's the control system caricature. We all know very well that more often than not, the truth is surrounded by a body guard of lies.

But think about it. Really think about it. The Christian leaves the world of convenience and self service to a radical new mission. The modernist "everything is hunky-dory" mentality is shattered. The middle class pursuits, the 9 to 5, bar life, empty existence.. It's all shattered. At least it should be. The Christian wakes up on a very real battlefield. It's a spiritual battlefield of the mind. The Christian finds himself on enemy territory, in the dominion of evil, but freed from the control system by Jesus Christ, the hero who has overcome the world. He invites us to acts of sabotage against the control system. If we will believe, and follow him, everything is possible (Philippians 4:13).

"You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. Free your mind." -Morpheus

But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” Mark 5:36

Phillipians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Morpheus trains Neo as a new member of his hovership the Nebuchadnezzar, a vessel that hacks into the matrix system to "free minds" from the control system and teach them the truth. Much like Christians are called to "free minds" from the dominion of darkness and bring them to the light of Jesus Christ. Neo finds himself as a member of a resistance group defending "the last human city" a place called Zion.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12

So what is the matrix? It could be said that the matrix is a sort of modernity, a modern mindset that keeps a person enslaved. To me it's the lavish lifestyle of the American and European. It's buying, buying, buying. It's being exposed to thousands of advertisements a day. It's an unnatural obsession with sexuality. It's a depraved media. It's a political climate that never changes. It's the curtailing of civil liberties. It's the dominance of industry over people. It's the quiet rule of banking institutions. It's the power of industry and media to manipulate the mindset of entire countries of people. It's slavery to selfishness, greed, and superficial pursuits.

Even after reading Orwell, Huxley, Thoreau, I was still locked in tight. I wasn't necessarily plugged into the full mentality. But I was plugged in through drugs, alcohol, and selfishness. Despite my knowledge, special knowledge was not enough. The matrix wasn't just around me, it was within me.

It was Jesus Christ who set me free from the matrix. He rescued me, and made me a new man. I needed to become a new person to transcend the false reality. Then he gave me a ministry. He put me to work as a maquis, a soldier of the global resistance. Just like Neo, Morpheus, and the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar I now hack into the matrix and free minds from the control system. I write regarding the truth, I attempt to defend the truth and expose "different" folks like myself to the truth. I'm on a hovership, dodging sentinels, fighting a spiritual war for the souls of mankind.

As a Christian, walking through a "super store" with the screens everywhere all on the same channel... or at an Applebees bar with ten different screens on the wall.. or in a waiting room, with a screen on the wall playing a cooking show... or waiting in line to make a purchase at the dollar store... I know that I am the resistance. I know that I've been called out of the matrix, to tell people about how to escape the matrix. And there is only one way to escape the matrix: Jesus Christ as described in the books of the Bible. Those words bring with them His presence. Secular humanism will not solve the problem. New age vague spirituality will not solve the problem. Consciousness evolution, the deification of public education, will not solve the problem. Why? Because they all ignore the fact that the problem is not outside us, or around us, in the wall, or in the institutions, in the technology, the problem is more fundamental than that... the problem is within all of us. Thankfully there is a cure. Jesus Christ. He is freedom from this world, with it's many addictions and slaveries dressed up as delicacies. The Matrix will be toppled by our savior outwardly in the years to come. But it can be toppled today within you, by his indwelling presence. Take a chance, and shimmer.

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed"

John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."