More Than Humanity: A Higher Perspective

     Society all around us is fractured, some would say failing. Our husbands and fathers have become lazy buffoons ripe for parody and mockery. Our wives and mothers are overworked, cynical and depressed; unwilling to fully trust their men and doubtful that they should at all. Our children and teens are jaded, rebellious, narcissistic, and corrupt; unable or unwilling to see past their smart-phones or the opinions of their peers. And in between them all we have an army of the young and unwed, obsessed with themselves and their desires, oblivious to any higher calling and suspicious of anything that claims to be true. These people, our people, need help. This world needs something more than what we see.

     At the heart of this problem is, of course, sin. Mankind will always desire to do what satisfies the flesh rather than what is truly good; all we need is the chance. Every one of us has the potential to be the abusive husband or the cheating wife or rebellious child or whatever. We sin, not just because we have to, but because we want to. The reason these ills seem “more” prevalent now is that we have simply given people the opportunity to sin in greater amounts and more freely than ever before. The proposal and rapid acceptance of naturalistic evolution and the advent of “higher criticism” have made it easier and easier to reject God and His Word. We have “science” telling us that God didn't create and so we can ignore the arguments the Bible makes without even reading them. Those who do read them, find that the critics tear them apart so much as make them seem to lose all meaning.

     We once lived in a society -in a world- where you had no choice but to at least consider the possibility of God. Creation screamed at you, the preacher spoke to you, the Spirit whispered to you, and all the world tried to be “good people.” Things are different now aren't they? Creation has been muzzled and painted over with a landscape of death and change, the preacher has been compromised and spends more time building his flock than actually teaching them (not to mention that virtually no one goes to listen anymore but those who already believe), and all the world sings to the tune of “just follow your heart.” Never mind that God tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked...” Those who we trust with leadership have put forth an immense amount of effort to drive our view earthward, away from the sky and the Son.

     We need to recapture eternity. Our lack of perspective has given people the means they need to pursue their sins. Their is no 'ever-after' so find all the joy you can today, right? There's no judge to make the rules so you decide how to play the game, it's your game after all isn't it? No one made us this way, so we can be whatever we want to be and be with whoever we want to be with. There is no right and wrong only mine and yours. If all we have to look at is the ground around us, is it any surprise that our worldviews have gotten so muddy? When God is on His throne and in His proper place in our minds, we see things as they should be. Our actions have consequence and meaning because they will echo in eternity, who we are matters because He has fashioned us for a purpose, and what we do matters because reality reflects the very nature of its Creator.

     God is more than just a crutch for hard times. He is more than just a nice thought on holidays or a cultural hold-over. God is the very thing that gives our lives meaning and worth. If there is no God then there is no law-giver for reality. If there is no law-giver then there is no objective law by which to differentiate good and evil. If there is no good and no evil then nothing we do can rightfully be condemned. If we make the rules then every argument is simply a matter of survival of the fittest and our future will be nothing but cannibalism, as we devour each other in our effort to have things our own way.

The Ghost in My Pocket

     Have you ever stopped to wonder what it means to commune with God? Have you pondered how we can have any meaningful relation with a being so far beyond us? Beyond even that, He already knows everything so how can our relationship progress? Aren't our relationships built on shared experiences and a growing knowledge of each other that is built over time? This is true of our earthly relationships but the way in which we interact with our heavenly Father is, shall we say, a bit different.

“I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.”

(Psalms 17:6)

     First off, yes, God does already know everything. This of course includes what we are thinking and feeling and everything we are going to say. The relationship we have with Him grows not by a greater understanding on His part but of one on ours. As we seek the Father in His Word and through prayer it draws us closer to Him. I imagine that God gets much joy in those moments when we see some new and glorious aspect of Him for the first time, or when some biblical truth finally makes sense to us. God's understanding of us is perfect and always has been, but we will never stop learning more about His infinite character; there will always be some new aspect to His personality or some fresh insight into His being to excite us.

“No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and His love has been brought to full expression through us. And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us.”

(1 John 4:12-13)

     More interesting still is the fact that unlike our earthly relationships, God is literally within us. The Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of every Christian, strengthening and guiding us along our journey. The Bible tells us that He communicates to the Father on our behalf, communicating better than we can the things we need from Him. God has placed Himself within us which means -among other things- that God experiences our lives right along with us. This is a wondrous thing because it means that God doesn't understand us simply because He is all knowing, but because He feels what we feel! The Holy Spirit acts not as a helper that pokes us along but as a force from within. He accompanies us and lends us strength through every moment of every day. He is there when we wake and when we sleep, when we pray and when we read, when we face challenges and when we accomplish much, He is there when we rejoice and when we cry. Our relationship with Him is guided by Him from without and within making His understanding perfect in all ways.

     Finally, we come to Jesus; God in flesh who not only died for our sins but lived for us as well. Often overlooked is the fact that Christ lived a perfect life on our behalf just as much as He died on our behalf. He lived through a human life -day by day- just like we have to, in order that it may be known that He fully understands. Beyond that His perfect life is accounted to us, exchanging our sinful lives for His perfect one. In God's plan He has made sure that our relationship with Him will have no gaps, no breaches in the wall.

“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another; to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”

(Romans 7:4)

     It may seem strange to have a real relationship with someone that we never see or hear or touch, but in truth, our relationship with God is the most real thing we will ever experience. He is with us from birth till death, in every moment and every experience. He's more than an invisible friend or a comforting thought; more than something we bring out to impress our friends or sure up our courage during difficult times. He is not a ghost in our pocket, He is the companion of our soul.

Doubting the Script

     Sorry for the lack of post Friday, I have been extremely busy lately.  So much so that I haven't had time to write anything for today either ^^;
     Here's a throwback poem written back in 2006, from the perspective of a Godless world, much like the book of Ecclesiastes (although not nearly as well written,thoughtful,wise,etc!)  See you on Wednesday with a new full post!

Doubting the Script

I am unwanted

unneeded and undone

my mind has gone on holiday

confusions all but won

when you cannot see your future

do you really know your past?

and if it's all a mystery

than can your life still last?

and still you ask the question

"what’s the point and who am I?"

and "will I ever see more than

this bleak forsaken sky?"

in droves we try to carry on

lost children of this age

actors who at once

have lost the will to cross the stage

this painted picture carries on

an image so contrived

lacking heart and soul

and all that makes a thing alive.

By. Jonathan Schaefer

1/27/06

The Devil In Details

      Life is a battle, a war between good and evil; or is it? Humans like things to be organized, separated, and easy to understand but unfortunately life just isn't. This desire for simplicity however, has lead to an erroneous belief that there are two camps at war with each other, with humanity in between. God is cast as the good guy, the champion of light and righteousness, valiantly battling against evil for our souls. Conversely we have Satan placed as the lord of evil, waging eternal battle for dominion. The problem with this idea is that it takes power away from God and gives way more power to Satan than he really has.

“Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.”

(1 Peter 5:8)

     Satan. What do we know about him? Honestly we don't know much. He is not, however, the opposite of God. Often it seems He is portrayed as God's opposite number, the ying to His yang (or yang to His ying depending on how exactly that works). In movies like Constantine (2005) we see this played out as a cosmic battle with both sides fairly equally matched and masters of their own spiritual domain. The truth however is both far simpler and harder to accept.

     Satan is a created being, just like the angels and just like me, you, or anybody. Created as a divine being he is often called the angel of light and, like everything, was created perfect. Angels however, like humans, have a degree of free choice and Satan gave in to pride and a desire for power. He desired to be “like the most High” and coveted the throne and praise of God. Ultimately he convinced a number of other angels to join him in revolt and was summarily cast down.

(This passage is meant for the King of Tyre but is also seen as being said to Satan as well, some of the event referenced are obviously before that king existed.)

"...You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone-red carnelian, chrysolite, white moonstone, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald-all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. "You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride becauszze of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth...”

(Ezekiel 28:12-17)

“Then there was war in heaven. Michael and the angels under his command fought the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle and was forced out of heaven. This great dragon-the ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world-was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, "It has happened at last-the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ! For the Accuser has been thrown down to earth-the one who accused our brothers and sisters before our God day and night. And they have defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of their testimony. And they were not afraid to die. Rejoice, O heavens! And you who live in the heavens, rejoice! But terror will come on the earth and the sea. For the Devil has come down to you in great anger, and he knows that he has little time."

(Revelation 12:7-12)

     God you see, has no problems dealing with Satan. God does not struggle against anything nor does anything interfere with His plans. The treason of Lucifer and the evil that exists today are not an unfortunate and unseen circumstance but a part of the plan. In a way, God created evil, not that He authors it or causes it but because He made what is right. When something is defined as good, something else is automatically made that is correspondingly bad, at least in theory. When God created things outside Himself, He made the possibility of evil. The point here is that nothing is a surprise to God and nothing is out of His control. We do not find ourselves in a metaphysical war against evil, we are simply in a rather uncomfortable portion of God's great plan for eternity. No matter how dark the night may be God (who has perfect judgment) decided that it was worth it.

     Satan has no power apart from what God allows. He is not another god, he is not another power, but he is the enemy of our souls. Imagine him as a great big mean dog on a leash. If he were free he would do all sorts of harm, but he chained, and unable to go further than that chain allows. Satan is not foiling God's plans he is fulfilling them, whether he wants to or not. Also, as a created being, he is limited to his being. He is not all knowing, nor can he be everywhere. We should be wary of him for what he can do but not afraid of him for who he is. God is more powerful than any adversary and nothing -absolutely nothing- happens without His consent. We need not fear some evil shadow when we walk with the light of the world.

“Then the Devil, who betrayed them, was thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

(Revelation 20:10)

The Three Loves

     It's complicated being human. We are a roiling storm of thoughts, emotions, beliefs, information, and intuition. Being a Christian is even more complex as we take the whole confusing mess and throw spirituality and eternity into it! What can we say about ourselves that has any concrete meaning? How can we understand ourselves in light of our short comings and limitations? How can we describe our ever stumbling quest to do what is right? How about with a quote from Augustine?

“There are two kinds of loves within me. There is the love which loves the good, there is the love which loves the evil, and the best thing I can say about myself is that there is a third kind of a passion that looks at both of them. I have a love that loves the love that loves the good and I have a hate that hates the love that loves the evil.”

(This may be paraphrased as I have been unable to find a direct quotation)

     Do you see what He means? In all of us there is a love, a part of our being, that loves good. We desire to be good people and do good things. We desire to do right before God and to follow His will. We spend hours and days and months and years striving for one step closer to perfection. We praise the good in others and do our best to support them. All of this time and energy spent because there is a part of us that years for righteousness. We are a tainted fallen creation but in our blood is the echo of a memory, a shadow of remembrance of a time now lost when God was here with us and all was as it should be. We love that good memory and the pinpoints of light that we see in this life.

     Yet there is a another passion within us. Beyond our desire for the good and the great is a desire for the evil and the base. A man's desire for his wife is muddied by a wandering lust he cannot seem to control or a woman's desire for beauty is tainted by pride. As much as we love and praise the good in this life we truly desire that which we know is wrong. How much of our culture is focused on sex, greed, murder, revenge, covetousness, and more? We cannot deny that we have a desire, an open want, for the shadows and the dark. We like to think that we are all so civilized but we are lions in a cage and on a leash. The walls of our carefully constructed societies are all that keep us from turning on each other.

     Here then is the only really good thing we can say about ourselves: apart from the two base passions that run within us, there is a third perspective. This third part of ourselves looks at the other two and passes judgment. This third part, this part given -I think- by God, cheers for the love that desires good and rails against the love that desires evil. Paul said something similar:

“I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

(Romans 7:15-25 NLT)

     What then do we do? As always, we pray and seek God in this difficult thing. We nurture that passion that loves good and we do our best to starve the passion that loves evil. We will never be free from temptation and sin while we still walk in this world but we can fight and repent when we make the wrong choice. We must never lose ourselves in our sorrow over sin but use our evils as reminders of the glory of the God so good as to forgive us. We may never be perfect until eternity but we can fight and we can pray and we can try.

To See and Believe

You say I haven't faith to see,

the light of God alive in me.

You say I lack a truer heart

and belief that sets a soul apart.

You say if I would only pray,

throw all I think I know away,

and use my heart and not my head,

I'd find myself now Spirit lead!

I'd speak the language angels use,

the Holy Ghost would be my muse!

I could raise the dead and heal the sick,

God's power cutting to the quick.

You say that every sinner's heart

would be redeemed, a brand new start.

If only they could see God's power

they'd all repent this very hour.

and yet,

The Bible tells it differently.

There's evidence for all to see!

In this world created, though torn with strife

and in the power of a new-made life.

I've seen the power of God above,

I've seen His unimaginable love.

It's not in gifts of tounges or health.

It's in the Word and in myself

The power of God is plainly shown

in Christ and how His death alone,

has paid for every sinner's soul,

a sacrifice to make men whole.

If men won't listen to His Word,

if they reject what they have heard,

no cosmic show will bring them down,

to submit themselves to Jesus' crown.

I need no other evidence,

the gospel will suffice.

For my soul was bonded once to hell,

and Jesus paid the price.

by. Jonathan E. Schaefer

10/17/2014

I Believe in Miracles

     I think its safe to say that most everyone's favorite passages in the Bible are the ones concerned with miracles, and why not? We love to hear the old stories of Israel's crossing of the Red Sea and of the Jordan river, of the dead brought to life, the sick healed, of talking donkeys, floating ax heads and a stopped sun. We love to be reminded that God is powerful and has absolute control over the universe. Can this interest go too far though? What does the Bible tell us about the miraculous and how can we apply it today?

     Firstly, and I know I'm not making any friends with some when I say this, miracles are pretty much gone in our modern age. I am well aware that there is a large and active community of people who spend a lot of energy seeking after miracles and believe that they are a part of any legitimate ministry and in the life of the body of Christ. The problem with that idea is that it ignores the fact that miracles were never normative. There was never a period when when every Tom, Dick, and Harry were throwing around sings and wonders. Miracles were always purposeful and specific, never random or whimsical. Look to the Old Testament, miracles were strictly confined to those few men who were designated as prophets sent from God and the miracles they performed were secondary acts meant to attest to the validity of their teaching; serving as a beacon to guide people to the prophet's words (really God's words). Miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea were partly pragmatic and meant to prove God's power to His people (and Egypt for that matter) and to facilitate God's plan of freeing Israel from their bondage as well as -again- serving as evidence that Moses was God's man in that day.

“Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, "See, your son lives!" Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is the truth."

(1 Kings 17:22-24)(emphasis mine)

     Cut to the New Testament. Many years have passed and God is moving His redemptive plan on to the next phase and so this means that miracles now serve the purpose of...attesting to the validity of prophets and teachers. Nothing changed! Jesus' own miracles were there to prove His God-hood, and the apostles were able to perform the miracles they performed to once again prove their status as the chosen teachers of God. If every believer at the time were going around raising the dead or healing the sick don't you think that somewhere in the all the New Testament books we would read about...any of them? Over the course of the book of Acts we see the recounting of miracles dwindle and disappear well before the end of the book. The only miraculous events we see happening to your everyday early church member is speaking in tongues, but those are Red Sea miracles, pragmatic ones that served to prove that those people were indeed saved by God and a part of His church. Especially in the case of the gentile believers as without a sign the Jewish brethren may not have accepted them given their long separation and dislike. We read that signs are not meant for those who believe, but to show proof to those who don't, and that the best gifts are teaching and understanding and prophecy (which is just the taking of God's words to His people, the words we have now of course are found in the Bible).

“Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.”

(1 Corinthians 14:22)

     Modern day “miracles” seem only to work to show how spiritual the person performing them is, to prove they have reached that next plain of spirituality. In fact they have more to do with ancient Gnosticism (where it was believed secret truths would be revealed to the spiritual elite) than Biblical Christianity. The miraculous is never held up as something to be continually desired or searched for, in fact the Bible often praises those who do not require a sign and condemns those who do!

“Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; "and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed.”

(Matthew 16:1-4)

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.”

(Hebrews 11:1-2)

“Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

(John 20:29)

     Let me finish this admittedly brief discussion of miracles by saying that I do believe in them and I even believe that if God wills they can exist in this day. The problem is not that God has changed or that He no longer acts at all, it's that the ones who claim these miracles have so much about them that does not mesh with scripture. Silly 'miracles', wrong use of them, inaccurate prophecy, bad theology, horrible doctrine, and more. Not everyone in this movement is an extreme case, let me be clear that I don't meant to say that. I only mean to refocus our attention on the Bible and remind everyone that the given Word -alone- is our source of truth. Every thought, idea , and experience has to be brought to that measure and cast aside if it does not pass the test. We don't need to be excited and impressed to be faithful, we know ourselves and we ought to know God. We know who we would be without God. The power of that changed life is more than enough.

'The' Original Sin

     Sin. The thing that separates us from God. We were created as perfect beings, way back when.  In the days of Adam and Eve they were without fault and in perfect communion with God and each other. They had no reason to be ashamed of who and what they were and all was right and at peace, until sin. Until the day that Eve was deceived by the serpent and Adam chose what he knew was wrong, all was as it should be. No longer. Now we live separated from God by sin, in this world tainted by sin, in bodies ravaged by sin, and doomed to death caused by sin. We cannot escape it.

     What would you say is the worst of sin? If asked by a stranger which of the many instances and examples of sin was the supreme example of its evil, what would you say? Perhaps murder, with so many lives having been ended by it; millions of people removed from this life and cut down far before their term in life 'should be' complete. How about theft? Every day and in a million different places people take what is not theirs and leave others without. In many instances this leaves the robbed desolate, as what was taken was precious and the one from whom it was taken had little to begin with. Maybe lying, since it's a destruction or a distortion of the truth? How many lives have been hurt or destroyed by a lie believed? You might even think blasphemy, after all what could be worse than spitting in the face of God?

     While all of these are good suggestions, and I am sure you could think of a hundred more, I would personally suggest pride as the true origin of sin. How is pride so awful? How often are we told in scripture to think of others and how often are the selfless held up as examples? How often are we commanded to show deference to God and be thankful for what we have? Pride is what tells us that others matter less than ourselves or that they don't even matter at all. Pride puts self first and others, a distant second. Pride screams ME, when God says others. Pride is the heart of every sin. The murderer puts his desire to kill over the the right of another to live, the thief puts her desire to have over the rightful ownership of another, and the blasphemer puts his own authority in place of God's.

"How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”

(Isaiah 14:12-15)

     When we stop putting others first and especially when we push God out of His proper place, we open ourselves to a whole world of trouble. How difficult is it to love someone when they aren't fulfilling your conditions? How hard is it to forgive someone when all you care about is your own hurt? Pride is relentless. When you think you've beaten it, when you think you've really gotten it licked, that is the moment you'll find that it has appeared again. In my own life I find it so easy for pride to get a foothold. When you scoff at someone for not knowing something, when you're angry at someone for inconveniencing you, don't you see how that's all pride?

“Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.”

(Proverbs 3:34)

“When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.”

(Proverbs 11:2)

     God wants us to love others, even our enemies, and to think of them first. Like the good Samaritan we are to seek the good of those around us even when no one else is willing to help. Let us all pray for a selfless spirit and a heart that fights against destructive pride. If you work on being happy with what you have and remembering that you are just another sinner saved by God's grace alone, you'll find that the faults in others don't bother you as they used to and that your time is worth less to you. Pride is the opposite of humility and the enemy of a righteous soul.

“A man's pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.”

(Proverbs 29:23)

“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: 'God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.'"

(James 4:6)

And Who Am I to Speak?

I am reminded of how little I am. What do I think I'm doing with all these words? Who am I to speak to others and to tell them what truth is? I am no prophet nor am I some great man of God. My imperfections glare at me from the mirror and I know that I am so very little worth. I am no great scholar, I am no enlightened thinker, but what I have is the Word. That is all I or anyone else has to say that has any meaning. 774,746 words that contain anything of any eternal bearing or meaning or purpose. In the end I'm just finding new combinations of words to express ideas that God has already given to us.

In a way I guess I am a prophet. The job of the prophet has always been to take the words of God to the people. In times past those words were new and directly given, now we have them already recorded. Still the job remains the same. In that way, everyone who teaches is a prophet, and like a prophet of old, we all must be very careful not to get in the way. His words truth must not be mixed with my opinion, my thoughts must be shaped by His commands. When I write, when I speak, when I try to explain this text, then I must stay within that text. If I stray into uncharted lands then I am lost and worse than that, I may drag others with me. Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees?

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides...”

(Matthew 23:15-16)

Is that what we do as modern day teachers? Do we go about making disciples, teaching them what we believe, only to make them even more fit for a residence in eternal torment? How often do you examine yourself, how often do I, to make sure we are on the path? Can we check too often? Too much? Why do I never see the experts on TV or the Internet carrying Bibles? Why does the preacher always have one but the pundit does not? Do we really care if people see us as less of an authority because we have to read or look up a text? Wouldn't it be better to be accurate for sure then appear to have great knowledge?

I pray that I'm doing what I should be here. I pray that in taking up this mantle, for trying to teach the truth, that I am in fact doing just that. Dear God let my words reflect Your truth and may I not lead a single soul astray by my thoughts expressed. There is terror here if you understand what is at stake, but there is hope and comfort in Him. Like in all things our understanding of God helps us. I may hamper or hinder some poor soul by some errant teaching, but I will never be responsible for their salvation or damnation. No matter how well written the article I will never save anyone from hell and no matter how poorly I screw up a doctrine I can never damn anyone to it either. We are each of us responsible for our destiny and God will -will- save those who are His.

“And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.'"

(John 6:35-40)

Use my words oh God, if You will. Though I can offer only a pitiful sacrifice. Keep me on a short leash, let me only say your Truth and Your words. Let me never lose sight of how little I am and how big You are; the awesome God who created and keeps all things, who has laid out the plan of creation and carries it out, who has given us the words of life (John 6:67-68). It's not much but all I have is all I can give. Like the song “So Great a Salvation“ from the O.C. Supertones: “I could never thank you enough, but here's my life for whatever it's worth.”

To Love and/or Condone

     Have you ever noticed that we as a people just can't seem to avoid extremes? Have you seen how we swing from one side to the other and nearly never find the happy medium? We spend a few years on one side of the tracks until someone notices a few problems and then we invariably throw the whole thing out and jump to the other side. Take for example the defense of the bullied and the 'oppressed.' The current culture and the internet culture especially seems all too ready to charge into battle and defend anyone we see as being put down or hurt or maligned. To a certain extent this is a good thing as humans have a natural tendency to attack the different and the unknown rather than learn about them. Even Christians have a hard time taking things for what they are and evaluating them in a more level-headed way. So often have we simply attacked sin and destroyed the sinner that the church has rather bad reputation now and many people would never dream of seeking help from the one place they should expect to find it!

     The culture as a whole seems obsessed now with defending the rights of others-or is it? Everywhere you go you'll find posters or .gifs or pithy comments or cute little comics about how we should all just be humans and not label or marginalize others. Although I agree that we should work to respect those around us, I suspect that one of the driving factors behind this movement is not some new found love for others but really a backseat effort to defend ourselves. Race and gender and nationality are all beyond debate but 'lifestyles' are all about the choice we make. We make a case that such and such group should be respected and then this other group and then this other group and pretty soon we have a hard time “judging” anyone and an easy time defending any lifestyle we want! I don't need to defend my sin if I can make a million people on the internet do it for me.

     More importantly I feel that we as a society have made a tragic error in our defense of the victims. We made the right choice at first; those who need help should not be ridiculed. We should foster an environment of love where we seek to help those who are in need of it and no one should have to face a life where they are daily bullied and beaten and accursed. That being said, we got so focused on the defense of these people that we up and forgot to keep in mind that sin is still sin and wrong is still wrong! Laziness, cowardice, homosexuality, “transgender-ism”, teen and unwed pregnancy, and so much more are problems, not lifestyles. God created reality as He intended and our sin has fouled up the works; that does not mean that we now get to define our reality, it means we have to work to keep our reality in line with the truth! We should do everything we can to help people who have made mistakes or who are trapped in sin or who have a condition that screws up their minds and emotions to the point they don't know who they are, but we have to remember that we are treating aberrant conditions and seeking to bring people back from them. If your doctor decided not to tell you about your cancer because he feared it would upset you, he would be considered a bad doctor who is failing in his duty. No one would remark on how caring he is or how much concern he has for the mental well being of his patients!

     In this post-modern world we like to think that everything is relative, even reality. The truth however, is that truth is a solid and unchanging thing not defined by anyone but God. It does not matter how you feel or how you were born because we know that this world is fallen and we cannot expect it to follow the line God has laid out. We must love those around us but to sacrifice truth for the sake of peace is not loving. We will love those in need most when we try to help their needs. The old adage may sound trite but I believe it still stands: hate the sin not the sinner.

Reflections On Waiting

     I have now been married for more than one year. It almost feels odd to say that, almost like it's not the reality I wake to. I've always wanted to get married, since my earliest memories. I remember feeling so depressed and lost as an even younger man because I saw no hope for this future. I would beg God to let me meet my one and only, to show me the way to the love I longed for. He always seemed so silent at those times. Looking back I see that God wasn't silent, He was quietly telling me “wait, wait, wait.” I can see now that it wasn't time yet, I wasn't ready and His plans hadn't come to fruition; but He did have a plan. I'm glad He made me wait. He had someone that He was preparing for me just as He was preparing me for her. Had my desire been answered I would have been with less than His best for me.

     I see this all the time in my life and in the lives of others. We want what we want and we want it now. It's not even just about greed or a lack of patience, I think we simply lack the ability to see or perhaps just ignore the possibility that getting something later can be better. We are convinced that we should have what we want or need at this moment and that any delay is damaging to us. Further, we tend to think of delays as punitive. I would have such and such thing or relationship if only I were a better Christian or read my Bible more or if I were more in line with His will for my life. So often we fail to see that maybe, just maybe, it is simply just not the time or the place for us to have something we desire.

     God often asks us to wait. In fact I think that through waiting we learn most of life's lessons. We learn patience and trust and contentedness and humility through waiting; and we often find other seemingly unrelated lessons being taught while we are waiting for something else to come about. Ultimately we all need to learn to just trust God. He will by no means turn us aside nor neglect our needs. God desires our ultimate good and He will achieve that by the best means and in the best time. Furthermore, as our heavenly Father He desires to give us good gifts. Just as our earthly fathers -if they are good- delight in giving things to their children so God has joy in bringing us joy in the things He gives.

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

(Luke 11:9-13)

     We need to get away from the now mentality. Everything will come in God's time and if in His wisdom it does not come to us then we need to trust His choice. That new job or that girl or that guy may be the worst thing for us or the worst thing for us now, though we may find joy in them. Trust and obey for theirs no other way to be happy in Jesus. His will will bring all good things in time.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

(Matthew 6:33)

What is Choice?

     What is the nature of free will? Are we all on this earth to simply dance to the beat of another's drum or do we make real choices? People have been pondering this question for probably as long as they've pondered at all and I can see why. We don't like to think that our lives our controlled by someone else and if we see that none of our choices matter than it leads to a depressing fatalism. So can we come to any meaningful understanding of this problem? I think we can.

     First off let's look at things from the naturalistic perspective, frankly because it's much simpler. If we are all just animals, meat machines, and more specifically if we are the end result of automatic process working as they have to ultimately culminating in the formation of man, then there is no choice. As Hawking pointed out we cannot avoid determinism if we come at life from this angle. There can be no transcendence in a world that evolved. If we are born of nothing but chemical reactions and the laws of physics and if nothing else exists to interact with this matter than nothing can ever happen but what is programmed into that material (so to speak). Every “choice” that you make is really just what your particular set of chemicals and structures has to do when encountering that situation. In this view all of existence is one big calculation, a series of equations where A + B will always equal C. Your personality, your beliefs, your choice of a job or a spouse, these things are all just illusions of sentience and the reality is that we are all just robots; DNA machines that run on a very complicated set of rules. Depressing isn't it?

You cannot cut the strings

     The problem with this ideology is that we do see glimpses of the transcendent in our lives. We are aware of what we are in a metaphysical, existential sense. This is where Christianity comes in. You see, in the Bible, we are shown to be more than just matter. Made from the dust of the earth God breathed life into us (Genesis 2:7) and made us a living thing. This is important because we see here two huge differences from how He made animals. First we were made 'from' something, unlike animals and the earth which were simply popped into existence by God's own power, we were formed from the “dust of the earth.” I'm sure there are ramifications and reasons for that but it's beyond my abilities to find them. The second and really more important bit is that our life was “breathed” into us by God directly. To me this connects us to God's Word which is described as “God breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), and which is also described as being “alive” (Hebrews 4:12). Also we were made in the “image of God,” (Genesis 1:26) which obviously doesn't mean that we look like Him since God is spirit and has no set physical form (other than the humanity taken unto the Son, ie. Jesus). All of this points to a creation that is more than just the stuff it's made of, we are both physical and spiritual beings and this allows us the ability to look outside ourselves and to rise -just a bit- above our material.

We are more than the sum of our parts.

     It gets a bit more complicated from this point. You see, all of the previous stuff is quite clearly shown in the Bible but we also see that God has total control over His creation (1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Psalm 115:3, Isaiah 46:9-10, etc.). Many people have a hard time reconciling true free will with a being that can simply make you do whatever He pleases. Now I'm not going to get super deep here simply because there isn't time but I've done a lot of thinking on this over the years and I'll simply run you through my current conclusions. The short answer is that no you don't have free will. You do however have free choice, let me define that. Free will is the ability to do whatever you want, to make decisions and plan your life as you see fit. Honestly I don't see that as an option Biblicaly, we do seem to make choices and decisions but the ultimate outcome of those choices is far beyond our control. We can choose to obey or rebel against God but in the end we get heaven or hell and there is nothing we can do at that point to change our destination. I think what we have is what I call “Free Choice.” By that I mean that God has laid out His world and has given us options and we have the freedom to choose from those options. Obey or rebel, love this person or this other person or no one, this job or that job, school or no school, and on and on and on. These choices come to us and some are better than others and some are obviously where God would have us go but He doesn't necessarily force us down these more proper roads. Look at Jonah, God actually TOLD him what to do but he chose instead to run away. This is one way in which our choices can matter and how we can still be responsible for our sins. We chose, in a very real sense, to do that evil. We are always presented with options and we may not like them but they are there.

     When we speak of the big questions of salvation and sanctification, God is just doing what He wants to ultimately, and we can either choose to obey or to rebel. I think that when we move beyond the ultimate questions we have a lot of give and quite a bit of 'wiggle room.' God has plans and purposes but He made them with our personalities and preferences in mind, using us to tell His story so that we are truly involved in the telling; actors not puppets. We may say the wrong line or miss a cue every once and a while but we are right there on the stage. We have to be more than matter for anything we do to matter and our soul gives us that bit of transcendence.   

The Real Me

     How do you know who you are? It seems like a lot of time, money, and energy is spent these days on finding that answer. We seem to think that if we can experience just a few more things or learn a few more things or do a few more things, than we can find that missing piece in the puzzle that is ourselves. I think however, that all this effort is the problem -at least a part of it- and not the solution.

     I have heard quite a few stories of people who have left behind responsibilities or family in order to “find themselves” or “follow their dream.” These people often go to far flung locations on the globe helping others, or seeing whats out there and often leave important things behind. Every one of them is certain that they will come to some revelation about themselves while they are out there. Sadly, the journey tells us more about them than any eureka moment they may have. The only thing you are proving by leaving it all behind is that you are selfish enough to ditch your responsibilities and even abandon those who rely on you. The simple truth of life is that we are often restricted in doing what we want by what we must. It is our willingness to hunker down and simply work that speaks of character.

     

     There is also the often heard excuse that if only all these “things” weren't happening to me, I could be who I really am. The idea being that I am prevented from being the person I would really like to be because I am forced into being the person I must be. This is often said defensively, justifying present actions by insisting that underneath it all is the “real” you. As before, the “real” you is the you that you are right now! You are the one who chose your present course of action, you are the one who acts in a certain way in a given circumstance. Who you are is more about the quality of your character than your social status. How much money you make, or how glamorous your job, or how fancy your lifestyle only speaks of what you do with what you have; more important is how you got there or how you are without all that pomp.

     Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't follow your dreams or be willing to make drastic changes to achieve them. What I'm saying is that if you are the good person you want to be than you will do what's right and not always what makes you happy or even fulfilled. The real you is not some nebulous concept that we must each discover in some arduous search, we are who we choose to be every minute of every day. That man who works two or more jobs to support his family when he'd rather be something else is no less honorable for not living out his fanciful desires. He knows his responsibilities and where his efforts must be focused. That man doesn't have to give up on himself to be honorable, he can pursue his dreams but at a perhaps slower pace. The would be writer, the wanna-be actor, the home chef, or the night school student with a full time job; they all honor their commitments and follow their dreams.

     We should never let our dreams destroy our reality, our maybe tomorrows to bring harm to our todays. Dreams are great but we cannot live in them, we cannot make our home in the clouds. In a world so obsessed with dreams and hopes and big futures we so often look down on the here and now. These day to days are not obstacles in our way but the building stones of our lives. If you cast aside your foundation, how high do you think you can build?