Where do we find real, lasting, joy?
Not in the food we eat. Not in the wine we drink. Not in the work we do. Not in the home the bank owns. Not in the car we drive. Not in the games we play. Not in the books we read. Not in the music we listen to. Not in the movies we watch. Not in the jokes we hear. Not in the places we visit. Not in the friendships we have. Not in anything of this world.
There is not one person, place, or thing on this earth that will not fade away. There is not one person, place, or thing on this earth that can give us joy forevermore.
I'm not saying we shouldn't eat, drink, have a home, drive a car, play games, read books, listen to music, watch movies, hear jokes, travel, have friendships, etc; however, let's keep proper perspective and seek to find joy only in the one who can give us real and lasting joy: God.
Let us find so much pleasure in God that we innately give continual thanks and praise to Him and glorify Him in everything that we do!
Its easier said than done! I won't speak for you, but I think I've spent enough time looking for pleasure in all the wrong places that my capacity for joy got crippled. As C.S. Lewis put it: "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
Thank you God, for a longing for more. Thank you God, for showing me where to fill that longing!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Mouse And The Elephant
I lifted the gist of this story from Pastor Harry.
Once upon a time there was a mouse and an elephant. The mouse would ride around on the elephant everywhere. Most of the the mouse was happy with where the elephant wanted to take him, but one day, the elephant came up to a big canyon that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The only way across the canyon was a narrow, rickety, old rope bridge -- you know, the kind you see in the movies or cartoons right before some bad character plummets to his grisly death. The elephant put one foot on the bridge.
The mouse was a bit concerned.
"No no!" shouted the mouse, "Don't go that way, well find another way!" The elephant continued. The mouse closed his eyes. Step by step he crossed the bridge, against the mouse's constant protests that kept getting louder and more frequent. Then, the mouse and the elephant soon found themselves on solid ground again. The bridge was crossed. They were okay.
"WE DID IT!" shouted the mouse, full of joy.
We?
Well, the mouse didn't do a whole lot on his own. The elephant made the decisions on where to go and how to get there. The mouse did one very important thing though. He chose the right ride.
Choose the right ride through life.
I think I'll take the Jesus train. :-)
Once upon a time there was a mouse and an elephant. The mouse would ride around on the elephant everywhere. Most of the the mouse was happy with where the elephant wanted to take him, but one day, the elephant came up to a big canyon that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The only way across the canyon was a narrow, rickety, old rope bridge -- you know, the kind you see in the movies or cartoons right before some bad character plummets to his grisly death. The elephant put one foot on the bridge.
The mouse was a bit concerned.
"No no!" shouted the mouse, "Don't go that way, well find another way!" The elephant continued. The mouse closed his eyes. Step by step he crossed the bridge, against the mouse's constant protests that kept getting louder and more frequent. Then, the mouse and the elephant soon found themselves on solid ground again. The bridge was crossed. They were okay.
"WE DID IT!" shouted the mouse, full of joy.
We?
Well, the mouse didn't do a whole lot on his own. The elephant made the decisions on where to go and how to get there. The mouse did one very important thing though. He chose the right ride.
Choose the right ride through life.
I think I'll take the Jesus train. :-)
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Neutron Stars
The gravitational field at the surface of a neutron star is 2x10^12 stronger than on Earth. The escape velocity of a neutron star is about 100,000 km/s, which is about 1/3 the speed of light. A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon of its material has a mass of over 5x10^12 kg, which results in a force of gravity so strong that an object falling from one meter above it would hit the surface at 4.3 million miles per hour.
Now that's compact!
You know what is even more compact -- the infinite, eternal, and awesome power and glory of God becoming flesh in a little baby born in a stable to a peasant girl in a tiny town. There is nothing more compact than wrapping God in flesh. Intellectually, we can say it, but can we ever comprehend it? No, not really.
Two centuries years ago, our great, eternal, and infinite God came to us here on earth in the flesh in the most humble of circumstances to reveal Himself to us, to reveal us to ourselves, and to redeem us.
So this Christmas Day, and every other day of our lives, let's remember that God's gift of Himself to all mankind through Jesus Christ on that first Christmas is the most wonderful gift we can receive. Let's not try to take that one back to the store or throw it away! Let's accept this gift and respond properly to it!
Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus.
Now that's compact!
You know what is even more compact -- the infinite, eternal, and awesome power and glory of God becoming flesh in a little baby born in a stable to a peasant girl in a tiny town. There is nothing more compact than wrapping God in flesh. Intellectually, we can say it, but can we ever comprehend it? No, not really.
Two centuries years ago, our great, eternal, and infinite God came to us here on earth in the flesh in the most humble of circumstances to reveal Himself to us, to reveal us to ourselves, and to redeem us.
So this Christmas Day, and every other day of our lives, let's remember that God's gift of Himself to all mankind through Jesus Christ on that first Christmas is the most wonderful gift we can receive. Let's not try to take that one back to the store or throw it away! Let's accept this gift and respond properly to it!
Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Difference
Jamie has this on a table in our home:
I got up early one morning
And rushed right into the day
I had so much to accomplish
That I didn't have time to pray
Problems just tumbled about me
And heavier came each task
"Why doesn't God help me" I wondered
He answered "You didn't ask"
I wanted to see joy and beauty
But the day toiled on gray and bleak
I wondered why God didn't show me
He said "But you didn't seek"
I tried to come into God's presence
I used all my keys at the lock
God gently and lovingly chided
"My child, you didn't knock"
I woke up early this morning
And paused before entering the day
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray
I got up early one morning
And rushed right into the day
I had so much to accomplish
That I didn't have time to pray
Problems just tumbled about me
And heavier came each task
"Why doesn't God help me" I wondered
He answered "You didn't ask"
I wanted to see joy and beauty
But the day toiled on gray and bleak
I wondered why God didn't show me
He said "But you didn't seek"
I tried to come into God's presence
I used all my keys at the lock
God gently and lovingly chided
"My child, you didn't knock"
I woke up early this morning
And paused before entering the day
I had so much to accomplish
That I had to take time to pray
A Lesson From Esau
Remember Esau? He's the guy who sold his birthright to Jacob for some bread and lentil stew. Nevermind the later inheritance. He was hungry and wanted stew, immediately! Then later he said that Jacob cheated him and took his birthright from him (nevermind that he agreed to it).
Born again believers become children of God have an inheritance as well, and a really good one at that! It doesn't come without some strings attached of course, and those strings include turning from sin to Jesus, having faith in Jesus as Savior, and following Jesus as Lord. Living life as a Paul instead of a Saul requires walking a more difficult road.
We live in a world of nearly instant gratification and waning morality. Given that, are we going to reject the value of our eternal inheritance and trade it for a short time of fake happiness through self-indulgence? Or are we going to seek the inheritance, fulfill the duties that come with it, and find real joy at the same time?
I know the obvious choice is the latter; I just need some help to keep making it, and I'm really thankful that God's got my back.
Born again believers become children of God have an inheritance as well, and a really good one at that! It doesn't come without some strings attached of course, and those strings include turning from sin to Jesus, having faith in Jesus as Savior, and following Jesus as Lord. Living life as a Paul instead of a Saul requires walking a more difficult road.
We live in a world of nearly instant gratification and waning morality. Given that, are we going to reject the value of our eternal inheritance and trade it for a short time of fake happiness through self-indulgence? Or are we going to seek the inheritance, fulfill the duties that come with it, and find real joy at the same time?
I know the obvious choice is the latter; I just need some help to keep making it, and I'm really thankful that God's got my back.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
The Authority Of Scripture
One thing on my list of things that bug me is the failure of folks to accept what the Bible says as true and reject it as authoritative and the Word of God just because it says things they don't like.
It seems pretty clear to me that the Bible is a reliable source for learning about the life and teaching of Jesus. It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus was God in the form of a human for a short while and thus could speak with authority. It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus taught Scripture was authoritative.
Therefore, if the Bible says that Daniel was a prophet, then Daniel was a prophet. If the Bible says that trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is our means to salvation, than trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is our means to salvation. If the Bible says there is a hell, then there is a hell. If the Bible says that we are to love our enemies, then we are to love our enemies. If the Bible says that something is sinful -- murder, greed, lust, hypocrisy, dishonesty, sexual immorality, self-righteousness, [insert something here that contradicts the Bible, but that you think is okay anyway, by your own standards], than that something is sinful.
Period.
Just because something isn't popular or palatable, doesn't mean it isn't true. We should never dismiss the Word of God because we don't like what it says. After all, what authority do we have over the creator of the heavens and the earth to say that He is wrong?
None.
Thank you God for your Word; please help me to know it and spread it. Thank you also for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus that covers my failure to live up to the standards you have set by it!
It seems pretty clear to me that the Bible is a reliable source for learning about the life and teaching of Jesus. It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus was God in the form of a human for a short while and thus could speak with authority. It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus taught Scripture was authoritative.
Therefore, if the Bible says that Daniel was a prophet, then Daniel was a prophet. If the Bible says that trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is our means to salvation, than trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is our means to salvation. If the Bible says there is a hell, then there is a hell. If the Bible says that we are to love our enemies, then we are to love our enemies. If the Bible says that something is sinful -- murder, greed, lust, hypocrisy, dishonesty, sexual immorality, self-righteousness, [insert something here that contradicts the Bible, but that you think is okay anyway, by your own standards], than that something is sinful.
Period.
Just because something isn't popular or palatable, doesn't mean it isn't true. We should never dismiss the Word of God because we don't like what it says. After all, what authority do we have over the creator of the heavens and the earth to say that He is wrong?
None.
Thank you God for your Word; please help me to know it and spread it. Thank you also for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus that covers my failure to live up to the standards you have set by it!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Trinity And Jesus
Lots of folks don't get, or don't accept, the Trinity for various reasons. I fear that those reasons sometimes can hurt the understanding of Jesus' nature as well. The truth is none of us limited humans are going to fully understand the nature of God completely, being humans, but we can look to the Word of God and do the best we can. So I thought I'd write up a little bit of the limited understanding I have of the Trinity and Jesus from a Biblical perspective.
1. The Bible says that there is one true sovereign God who created the heavens and the earth.
2. The Bible says that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God.
3. The Bible says that Jesus was also a man.
So far, from this, we can conclude the following:
1. There is one God comprised of three beings, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I.e. three persons in one divine nature. While Jesus is the Son, but He is also eternal and equal in essence with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. There are parts of the Bible where Jesus, while here on the earth as a man, appears subordinate to the Father -- that does NOT take away from the divine nature of Jesus! For example, a human father and child are equally human, but the father holds a higher position than the child. Well, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are equally divine as well; how they operate together in their interactions with each other and with man has no bearing on their nature.
2. Jesus is a being with two natures, divine and human. He is fully God, and was fully man for a short time on this earth. Did Jesus know about His second coming? As God yes, but as man, no. Did Jesus know all things? As God yes, but as man, no. Did Jesus get hungry? As God no, but as man, yes. In His divine nature, Jesus is equal to the Father, but in His human nature, Jesus is subordinate to the Father.
Can we as believers ever really understand this completely? Not during our stay here on earth at least! Does the complicated nature of the Trinity make it illogical? No! Its in line with the Bible. Does the complicated nature of the of the Trinty make it untrue? No! If someone was in the business of inventing religions, then that someone could go make up something a lot easier than this! However, we as believers are not in that business; we must believe what the Bible shows us to be true, even if it is complicated!
Does that mean we've got the nature of God totally right in our understanding of the Trinity? Maybe, but probably not. Does that mean we need to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity to be saved? Hardly, but it sure does help understand who Jesus is and what He did for us! Here we have Almighty God coming down to earth to be born as a human in the most humble of circumstances so He could later die a terrible and humiliating death on the cross as an atoning sacrifices for the sins of the world. Talk about humility! Talk about love!
Thank you Jesus!
1. The Bible says that there is one true sovereign God who created the heavens and the earth.
2. The Bible says that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God.
3. The Bible says that Jesus was also a man.
So far, from this, we can conclude the following:
1. There is one God comprised of three beings, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I.e. three persons in one divine nature. While Jesus is the Son, but He is also eternal and equal in essence with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. There are parts of the Bible where Jesus, while here on the earth as a man, appears subordinate to the Father -- that does NOT take away from the divine nature of Jesus! For example, a human father and child are equally human, but the father holds a higher position than the child. Well, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are equally divine as well; how they operate together in their interactions with each other and with man has no bearing on their nature.
2. Jesus is a being with two natures, divine and human. He is fully God, and was fully man for a short time on this earth. Did Jesus know about His second coming? As God yes, but as man, no. Did Jesus know all things? As God yes, but as man, no. Did Jesus get hungry? As God no, but as man, yes. In His divine nature, Jesus is equal to the Father, but in His human nature, Jesus is subordinate to the Father.
Can we as believers ever really understand this completely? Not during our stay here on earth at least! Does the complicated nature of the Trinity make it illogical? No! Its in line with the Bible. Does the complicated nature of the of the Trinty make it untrue? No! If someone was in the business of inventing religions, then that someone could go make up something a lot easier than this! However, we as believers are not in that business; we must believe what the Bible shows us to be true, even if it is complicated!
Does that mean we've got the nature of God totally right in our understanding of the Trinity? Maybe, but probably not. Does that mean we need to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity to be saved? Hardly, but it sure does help understand who Jesus is and what He did for us! Here we have Almighty God coming down to earth to be born as a human in the most humble of circumstances so He could later die a terrible and humiliating death on the cross as an atoning sacrifices for the sins of the world. Talk about humility! Talk about love!
Thank you Jesus!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The Miracle Of Christmas
My mom put a note with this in it in a letter she sent. I thought it was pretty cool.
It started with Mary, so humble and mild,
With the heart of a woman and the faith of a child.
She rose above anything she might have feared
To answer "Amen" when the angel appeared.
And on that first Christmas, in spite of that cold,
A sweet newborn baby was all hers to hold.
Strangers and shepherds, ignoring their sheep,
Watched while she rocked little Jesus to sleep.
What joys we can known, what a miracle starts,
When we, too, can say yes to God in our hearts!
It started with Mary, so humble and mild,
With the heart of a woman and the faith of a child.
She rose above anything she might have feared
To answer "Amen" when the angel appeared.
And on that first Christmas, in spite of that cold,
A sweet newborn baby was all hers to hold.
Strangers and shepherds, ignoring their sheep,
Watched while she rocked little Jesus to sleep.
What joys we can known, what a miracle starts,
When we, too, can say yes to God in our hearts!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Focus And Love
Focus on the grand big picture of eternity, instead of getting wrapped up in the little problems of day to day life. The Lord has a greater plan than we could possibly imagine.
Focus on how well your needs our met, instead of how your desires are unmet. The Lord provides for the birds of the air, and He certainly will provide for us as well.
Focus on all the joy in your life, instead of the sorrows. The Lord gives us so many ways to find joy in glorifying Him.
Focus on what you have been given, instead of what has been withheld or taken away. The Lord gave us life here on earth and provided a means to eternal life through the atoning sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Focus on who loves you, instead of who hates you -- and with proper focus you will see that God loves you so much. He loves you more than any person on earth could possibly love you. If you doubt this, ask yourself this question: Is there anyone on earth who would allow their child to suffer and die for me? I think not, but God did just that.
In response to "I love you" my youngest daughter once said to her mother "God loves me more". She's pretty smart.
Focus on how well your needs our met, instead of how your desires are unmet. The Lord provides for the birds of the air, and He certainly will provide for us as well.
Focus on all the joy in your life, instead of the sorrows. The Lord gives us so many ways to find joy in glorifying Him.
Focus on what you have been given, instead of what has been withheld or taken away. The Lord gave us life here on earth and provided a means to eternal life through the atoning sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Focus on who loves you, instead of who hates you -- and with proper focus you will see that God loves you so much. He loves you more than any person on earth could possibly love you. If you doubt this, ask yourself this question: Is there anyone on earth who would allow their child to suffer and die for me? I think not, but God did just that.
In response to "I love you" my youngest daughter once said to her mother "God loves me more". She's pretty smart.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Disputable Matters
I did two blog-worthy things tonight that kind of ran into each other.
First, I read through the end of Romans (chapters 13-16).
Second, I had a long argument with someone about various things, including the concept of the Trinity, that Jesus was fully God, and that the Bible is in fact the Word of God.
Needless to say the argument frustrated me very much on multiple fronts.
Its kind of funny that I was reading through Romans 14 and 15 as we started talking about these other things, especially where it says "accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters" and "accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God".
Some notes in Romans 15 said this as well: "Can Christians agree on everything? No. But the goal is not to think alike or avoid all disagreements. The goal is to glorify God. It is very important to carefully distinguish between absolutes, personal convictions, and personal preferences. We can strive for a unity in Christ that supersedes our different preferences and personalities. Our differences need not divide us -- in fact, our diversity can enable us to multiply our praise and service for God."
This all made me wonder what constitutes a "disputable matter" and where the line is between applying acceptance/tolerance and standing firm.
When Paul wrote this part of Romans, he was only talking about whether or not it was okay to eat certain foods. We're talking about something a little more at the core of Christianity here.
The doctrine of the deity of Christ is very core, and so is the doctrine of monotheism. I don't see how it is possible at all to believe in the deity of Christ (i.e. that Jesus is God in the flesh) and in monotheism without accepting the Trinity! You cannot be a created being and still be God.
So I don't think this is a "disputable matter".
The doctrine of Biblical inerrancy is less core, but its still pretty important. Truth does matter. God's revelation does matter. If the Bible is not reliable, then what do we base our beliefs in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit on? Whatever we choose to make up? Whatever we take from the Bible that we like, ignoring the things we don't like? Absolutely not! The Bible's message must be taken as a whole. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ asks for trust, and that includes trust in what He says in His Word. Not liking something in the Bible is a bad reason to say that you don't accept it. God judges us, not the the other way around. The same should go for His Word.
So I don't think this is a "disputable matter" either.
"Disputable matters" today seem to be things more like drinking, smoking, clothing, dancing, acceptable movies, day(s) of worship, birth control, etc, and not key points of Christian doctrine.
Now does that mean that if two people are on opposite sides of this argument, one of them won't be saved because they got part of it wrong? I don't think so, as long as the have truly repented from their sins and have truly accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If that is really true, does that also mean that we should just allow people to continue to hold incorrect opinions about key doctrines without correcting them? I don't think so either.
As Paul says in 2 Timothy "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness". So as I see it from what I have read in the Bible so far, we should correct those who are out of line with key doctrines, but we must do it as an act of love, not an act of condemnation.
This is very difficult for me to do well at times, especially when the Bible itself is the source of the disagreement! I find that I fail so miserably in the area of calmly and graciously presenting the truth at times, especially to those who are already steadfast in opposing beliefs. All I can do is apologize to God for my failure and ask Him to help me do better the next time around.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you reader.
First, I read through the end of Romans (chapters 13-16).
Second, I had a long argument with someone about various things, including the concept of the Trinity, that Jesus was fully God, and that the Bible is in fact the Word of God.
Needless to say the argument frustrated me very much on multiple fronts.
Its kind of funny that I was reading through Romans 14 and 15 as we started talking about these other things, especially where it says "accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters" and "accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God".
Some notes in Romans 15 said this as well: "Can Christians agree on everything? No. But the goal is not to think alike or avoid all disagreements. The goal is to glorify God. It is very important to carefully distinguish between absolutes, personal convictions, and personal preferences. We can strive for a unity in Christ that supersedes our different preferences and personalities. Our differences need not divide us -- in fact, our diversity can enable us to multiply our praise and service for God."
This all made me wonder what constitutes a "disputable matter" and where the line is between applying acceptance/tolerance and standing firm.
When Paul wrote this part of Romans, he was only talking about whether or not it was okay to eat certain foods. We're talking about something a little more at the core of Christianity here.
The doctrine of the deity of Christ is very core, and so is the doctrine of monotheism. I don't see how it is possible at all to believe in the deity of Christ (i.e. that Jesus is God in the flesh) and in monotheism without accepting the Trinity! You cannot be a created being and still be God.
So I don't think this is a "disputable matter".
The doctrine of Biblical inerrancy is less core, but its still pretty important. Truth does matter. God's revelation does matter. If the Bible is not reliable, then what do we base our beliefs in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit on? Whatever we choose to make up? Whatever we take from the Bible that we like, ignoring the things we don't like? Absolutely not! The Bible's message must be taken as a whole. My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ asks for trust, and that includes trust in what He says in His Word. Not liking something in the Bible is a bad reason to say that you don't accept it. God judges us, not the the other way around. The same should go for His Word.
So I don't think this is a "disputable matter" either.
"Disputable matters" today seem to be things more like drinking, smoking, clothing, dancing, acceptable movies, day(s) of worship, birth control, etc, and not key points of Christian doctrine.
Now does that mean that if two people are on opposite sides of this argument, one of them won't be saved because they got part of it wrong? I don't think so, as long as the have truly repented from their sins and have truly accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If that is really true, does that also mean that we should just allow people to continue to hold incorrect opinions about key doctrines without correcting them? I don't think so either.
As Paul says in 2 Timothy "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness". So as I see it from what I have read in the Bible so far, we should correct those who are out of line with key doctrines, but we must do it as an act of love, not an act of condemnation.
This is very difficult for me to do well at times, especially when the Bible itself is the source of the disagreement! I find that I fail so miserably in the area of calmly and graciously presenting the truth at times, especially to those who are already steadfast in opposing beliefs. All I can do is apologize to God for my failure and ask Him to help me do better the next time around.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you reader.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
What's A Christian?
The word "Christian" appears to have lost a lot of significance over the years and is used by people who don't really believe in or trust in Jesus Christ, but consider themselves to be Christian anyway just because they go to church or live in a "Christian" country.
Let's set the record straight.
Going to church does not make someone a Christian. Giving money to a church does not make someone a Christian. Being a "good person" does not make someone a Christian. Serving others does not make someone a Christian. Following a fixed set of rules for moral behavior does not make someone a Christian. Having Christian family members does not make someone a Christian.
A Christian is someone who has repented of his or her sins, has truly put their faith in Jesus Christ alone, and has been born-again by God.
If someone has truly repented, has put their faith in Jesus Christ alone, and has been born-again by God, they will bear good fruit. That good fruit includes going to church, giving money to support their local church, being a "good person", serving others, living a moral lifestyle, and so on. These are the things that come from being a Christian, not the things that make one a Christian.
Let's set the record straight.
Going to church does not make someone a Christian. Giving money to a church does not make someone a Christian. Being a "good person" does not make someone a Christian. Serving others does not make someone a Christian. Following a fixed set of rules for moral behavior does not make someone a Christian. Having Christian family members does not make someone a Christian.
A Christian is someone who has repented of his or her sins, has truly put their faith in Jesus Christ alone, and has been born-again by God.
If someone has truly repented, has put their faith in Jesus Christ alone, and has been born-again by God, they will bear good fruit. That good fruit includes going to church, giving money to support their local church, being a "good person", serving others, living a moral lifestyle, and so on. These are the things that come from being a Christian, not the things that make one a Christian.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Eternal Punishment
I think there are a lot of people these days who have a big problem with the concept of hell and eternal punishment, and don't talk about it, or the seriousness of sin. They choose to pick and choose a more palatable picture of God the Father and the gospel of Jesus Christ, ignoring these very important things.
Watering down or altering what the Word of God says can never be helpful in the end, so let's have a look at what's what.
First, let's talk about the purpose of man. Man was not created just to live out life and enjoy it for no good reason. Man was not created because God was bored or lonely. Man was created to glorify God. God could have created robot-people to glorify Him, or He could have created people with free choice to glorify Him. I think its a no-brainer that He did the latter. Would you feel more love from a robot that did nice things for you because it was programmed to do so, or from a human being that could choose not to do those nice things, but did them anyway? An act of love only has value if there is an option to choose not to do the act!
Second, let's talk about the nature of man. There is a habit of painting man as generally good. Yes, there are a lot of "good people" by the standards of men, but we are still all in the same boat by the standards of God. We are all sinners in His eyes, and without His grace, we rebel against Him and become slaves to sin. Even the good things we would do would be tainted by sin, because they would only be done for some man-centered motive. In short, on our own, we don't do our job to glorify God -- we take our free choice and make choices that glorify ourselves.
That might not seem right to some. Why did God create us but make us sinners? He didn't. He gives us the choice, and we screw it up. He gave Adam and Eve the first choice, and they screwed it up. Is it that hard to believe that sin has tainted us, and we by nature now will choose something against God? Do we actually have to teach our children to be greedy? To not share? To lie? To be ungrateful because of one little thing in the face of all the blessings they have? No, certainly not! They figure that out all on their own, and we (should) teach them the exact opposite.
Third, let's talk about the nature of God. There is a habit of painting God as this loving old guy with a white beard whose love for use overrides all his other attributes. Yes, God is merciful, God is kind, and God loves us; however, God is also holy and righteous, and He will not tolerate sin. He hates it. Wickedness makes God very angry, and there are limits to His patience and mercy.
That might not seem right to some. Why did God create us and then hate a lot of what we do? Is it really so hard to believe? He nearly destroyed the world once because of His hatred for sin. Why would he have a more lax attitude to it now? If He were to be so merciful that people could get to heaven by just by being "a good person" according to man's standards, even while still rejecting Him and not glorifying Him in any way, then Jesus Christ died for nothing.
In short, we have a job to do. We don't do it. Instead, we do what God hates. That makes God angry. Since He is a just God, He must punish us for it; however, since He is also a loving and merciful God, He offers us a way out of this terrible predicament through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we're good. Not just Savior. Lord and Savior.
Let's assume we reject the offer, since that gets us to the point of this post. Why should we expect eternal punishment? Well, given God is an eternal and infinite being, there can be nothing less. He is outside of time, and the sin He hates would be before Him for all eternity. To satisfy His holy justice, our punishment must also be for all eternity.
Now what if people have never heard about the offer? That depends. Are these people seeking God, or not? Jesus said that those who ask will receive and that those who seek will find. I trust that God is a perfect judge of all men, and I also trust that He is big enough to help out those who earnestly seek Him. Depending on the answer, the "what if" question here could prevent people from spreading the gospel message, or it could block people's spiritual growth because its a tough one to get past. Let's not let it do either for us personally, and leave these really difficult answers in God's hands.
You'd think that this eternal punishment thing would be a good deterrent, wouldn't you? Many don't believe it, so the idea is completely rejected or watered down. People can't really do that and still line up with what the Bible says. People can try, but then they're ignoring scripture and just picking and choosing what they like -- with no basis for it other than their own rationalization.
So in the end, don't reject the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, and don't water down the reality of hell or God's complete hatred for sin because its distasteful.
Watering down or altering what the Word of God says can never be helpful in the end, so let's have a look at what's what.
First, let's talk about the purpose of man. Man was not created just to live out life and enjoy it for no good reason. Man was not created because God was bored or lonely. Man was created to glorify God. God could have created robot-people to glorify Him, or He could have created people with free choice to glorify Him. I think its a no-brainer that He did the latter. Would you feel more love from a robot that did nice things for you because it was programmed to do so, or from a human being that could choose not to do those nice things, but did them anyway? An act of love only has value if there is an option to choose not to do the act!
Second, let's talk about the nature of man. There is a habit of painting man as generally good. Yes, there are a lot of "good people" by the standards of men, but we are still all in the same boat by the standards of God. We are all sinners in His eyes, and without His grace, we rebel against Him and become slaves to sin. Even the good things we would do would be tainted by sin, because they would only be done for some man-centered motive. In short, on our own, we don't do our job to glorify God -- we take our free choice and make choices that glorify ourselves.
That might not seem right to some. Why did God create us but make us sinners? He didn't. He gives us the choice, and we screw it up. He gave Adam and Eve the first choice, and they screwed it up. Is it that hard to believe that sin has tainted us, and we by nature now will choose something against God? Do we actually have to teach our children to be greedy? To not share? To lie? To be ungrateful because of one little thing in the face of all the blessings they have? No, certainly not! They figure that out all on their own, and we (should) teach them the exact opposite.
Third, let's talk about the nature of God. There is a habit of painting God as this loving old guy with a white beard whose love for use overrides all his other attributes. Yes, God is merciful, God is kind, and God loves us; however, God is also holy and righteous, and He will not tolerate sin. He hates it. Wickedness makes God very angry, and there are limits to His patience and mercy.
That might not seem right to some. Why did God create us and then hate a lot of what we do? Is it really so hard to believe? He nearly destroyed the world once because of His hatred for sin. Why would he have a more lax attitude to it now? If He were to be so merciful that people could get to heaven by just by being "a good person" according to man's standards, even while still rejecting Him and not glorifying Him in any way, then Jesus Christ died for nothing.
In short, we have a job to do. We don't do it. Instead, we do what God hates. That makes God angry. Since He is a just God, He must punish us for it; however, since He is also a loving and merciful God, He offers us a way out of this terrible predicament through the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we repent and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we're good. Not just Savior. Lord and Savior.
Let's assume we reject the offer, since that gets us to the point of this post. Why should we expect eternal punishment? Well, given God is an eternal and infinite being, there can be nothing less. He is outside of time, and the sin He hates would be before Him for all eternity. To satisfy His holy justice, our punishment must also be for all eternity.
Now what if people have never heard about the offer? That depends. Are these people seeking God, or not? Jesus said that those who ask will receive and that those who seek will find. I trust that God is a perfect judge of all men, and I also trust that He is big enough to help out those who earnestly seek Him. Depending on the answer, the "what if" question here could prevent people from spreading the gospel message, or it could block people's spiritual growth because its a tough one to get past. Let's not let it do either for us personally, and leave these really difficult answers in God's hands.
You'd think that this eternal punishment thing would be a good deterrent, wouldn't you? Many don't believe it, so the idea is completely rejected or watered down. People can't really do that and still line up with what the Bible says. People can try, but then they're ignoring scripture and just picking and choosing what they like -- with no basis for it other than their own rationalization.
So in the end, don't reject the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ, and don't water down the reality of hell or God's complete hatred for sin because its distasteful.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Leviticus 26
We just finished Leviticus. Its quite the read. There was some skimming involved; however, when we got to chapter 26, I had to stop and re-read it. Its all about reward for obedience and punishment for disobedience.
The punishment caught my eye more, because its not some general, vague punishment, but rather a list of ever-increasing curses for the Israelites if they didn't listen to God.
Looking at the big picture from when the Israelites entered the promised land to their exile, its blatantly obvious that those curses that were mentioned happened. I think Daniel specifically points this out, but I haven't read that far yet! :-)
I just think its really cool how much the different books of the Bible really do tie together. Here we have God way back when telling people exactly what's going to happen if they do XYZ (and what's going to happen next if they keep doing it, etc). Then you have a pile of books that show the people not listening, getting into trouble, and eventually being conquered and exiled. Then you have guys later saying "see, God told us that was going to happen".
You would think at some point, these guys would have gotten a clue and changed their tune, yes? Maybe not. I can still remember being a kid. "If you do that, you're going to get your name on the board, then sit out at recess, then go to the office, etc". You know what? We did the same stupid crap anyway -- despite knowing the consequences.
We're not a bright lot sometimes!
The punishment caught my eye more, because its not some general, vague punishment, but rather a list of ever-increasing curses for the Israelites if they didn't listen to God.
Looking at the big picture from when the Israelites entered the promised land to their exile, its blatantly obvious that those curses that were mentioned happened. I think Daniel specifically points this out, but I haven't read that far yet! :-)
I just think its really cool how much the different books of the Bible really do tie together. Here we have God way back when telling people exactly what's going to happen if they do XYZ (and what's going to happen next if they keep doing it, etc). Then you have a pile of books that show the people not listening, getting into trouble, and eventually being conquered and exiled. Then you have guys later saying "see, God told us that was going to happen".
You would think at some point, these guys would have gotten a clue and changed their tune, yes? Maybe not. I can still remember being a kid. "If you do that, you're going to get your name on the board, then sit out at recess, then go to the office, etc". You know what? We did the same stupid crap anyway -- despite knowing the consequences.
We're not a bright lot sometimes!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Thanks Giving
I heard a couple of great talks on thanks recently by David Jeremiah (from his "growing in the grace of gratitude" series) and I wanted to sum up the two major themes I got out of them.
The first major theme is that we really should be in a state of continual thanks giving for all things -- not just when things are going well for us (though it is so much easier to do so during those times) -- but everyday, for everything.
Why should we be in a state of continual thanks giving, especially when it looks like things aren't going so well for us? How about for the many gifts our Father in heaven has given us, especially for the ultimate gift of His Son, Jesus Christ? In the grand scheme of things, what problems in this world are so great that they should overshadow the death and resurrection of Jesus and the promise of eternal life? No matter what, we always have something to be grateful for.
Sometimes I get so focused on myself and my own insignificant problems that I fail to see how much in my life there really is to be thankful for. Jamie. Kids. Life. Health. Job. Friends. Home. Freedom. Church. God. And so much more. There are so many people without a spouse to lean on, or without children to love and nurture, or are dying, or are crippled, or are unemployed, or have no friends, or are homeless, or are persecuted, or have not experienced the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So only by the grace of God do I have so many good things in my life than this to be thankful for, and I really should be thanking Him every second of every day for the rest of my life. Even if somehow I could, it would not be enough.
The second major theme is that it is okay to be thankful for and be happy with what we have been given, in spite of the pain around us.
There are many, myself included at times, who feel miserable because of, instead of thankful for, the blessings in our lives because there are always those who are worse off. We have food, but there are many who are starving. We have shelter, but there are many who are homeless. We have health, but there are many who lay dying. We have freedom, but there are many under an iron fist. We have the truth, but many are blind to it.
What good is it to feel so much guilt and be miserable? What hope can we offer people by reacting this way? Do we say "Here is the gospel, its great! Until you follow it, then you'll be miserable too." No, that is not right. Gratitude is the choice we must make, even in spite of the pain and suffering around us.
Why? Lewis Smedes puts it roughly this way:
If we waited for every beggar in the world to have a horse, we would never be grateful for the ride. If we waited for every person in the world to be fed, we would never be grateful for our daily bread. If we waited for every person in the world to have a roof over their head, we would never be grateful for the one that covers us while we sleep. If we waited for a world where no one died, we would never be grateful for life.
So friends, rejoice and be glad, for this is the day the Lord has made. We should find happiness and joy in it. We should give thanks to God for it. Only then can our minds, hearts, and spirits be in the right shape to share what we have been given with those who are in need -- food, money, or, most importantly, the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first major theme is that we really should be in a state of continual thanks giving for all things -- not just when things are going well for us (though it is so much easier to do so during those times) -- but everyday, for everything.
Why should we be in a state of continual thanks giving, especially when it looks like things aren't going so well for us? How about for the many gifts our Father in heaven has given us, especially for the ultimate gift of His Son, Jesus Christ? In the grand scheme of things, what problems in this world are so great that they should overshadow the death and resurrection of Jesus and the promise of eternal life? No matter what, we always have something to be grateful for.
Sometimes I get so focused on myself and my own insignificant problems that I fail to see how much in my life there really is to be thankful for. Jamie. Kids. Life. Health. Job. Friends. Home. Freedom. Church. God. And so much more. There are so many people without a spouse to lean on, or without children to love and nurture, or are dying, or are crippled, or are unemployed, or have no friends, or are homeless, or are persecuted, or have not experienced the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So only by the grace of God do I have so many good things in my life than this to be thankful for, and I really should be thanking Him every second of every day for the rest of my life. Even if somehow I could, it would not be enough.
The second major theme is that it is okay to be thankful for and be happy with what we have been given, in spite of the pain around us.
There are many, myself included at times, who feel miserable because of, instead of thankful for, the blessings in our lives because there are always those who are worse off. We have food, but there are many who are starving. We have shelter, but there are many who are homeless. We have health, but there are many who lay dying. We have freedom, but there are many under an iron fist. We have the truth, but many are blind to it.
What good is it to feel so much guilt and be miserable? What hope can we offer people by reacting this way? Do we say "Here is the gospel, its great! Until you follow it, then you'll be miserable too." No, that is not right. Gratitude is the choice we must make, even in spite of the pain and suffering around us.
Why? Lewis Smedes puts it roughly this way:
If we waited for every beggar in the world to have a horse, we would never be grateful for the ride. If we waited for every person in the world to be fed, we would never be grateful for our daily bread. If we waited for every person in the world to have a roof over their head, we would never be grateful for the one that covers us while we sleep. If we waited for a world where no one died, we would never be grateful for life.
So friends, rejoice and be glad, for this is the day the Lord has made. We should find happiness and joy in it. We should give thanks to God for it. Only then can our minds, hearts, and spirits be in the right shape to share what we have been given with those who are in need -- food, money, or, most importantly, the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Word Of God
I have run into enough people who are down with Jesus to some degree, but don't accept at all that the Bible can be the Word of God, to warrant a post on the subject.
The point of the post is to present the high level arguments for why the New Testament is authentic.
[Start Rant]
1. We have early testimony from at least 10 non-Christian (including anti-Christian) sources about Jesus that indicates the following: He live during the time of Tiberius Caesar, lived a virtuous life, worked miracles, had a brother named James, was said to be the Messiah, was crucified under Pontius Pilate on the eve of the Jewish Passover, darkness and an earthquake occurred when He died, His disciples believed He rose from the dead and were willing to die for their belief, Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome, and his disciples denied the Roman gods and worshiped Jesus as God.
These all fly with the New Testament.
So, we have early testimony about Jesus that is backed up by secular sources.
2. We have many more, and earlier, copies of New Testament documents than any other ancient document that is not in question. Comparing the New Testament to The Illiad by Homer, we have over 5000 more manuscripts (5686 versus 643) and a much shorter time gap (25 years difference for the earlier New Testament manuscripts versus 500 years). Other pieces of classical literature don't even come close to what we have for Homer.
Reconstruction of the original text is further authenticated by many (thousands) of quotations from early church fathers -- the entire text, save 11 verses, could be recreated just from the quotations of it in other early documents.
So, we have accurate copies of New Testament documents.
3. New Testament documents referenced by other writers by about 100 AD, so they had to have been written before then. In them, the temple and city are still standing at the time of their writing, so most of them had to have been written earlier than 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. Even atheist critics recognize that most of the New Testament books were penned somewhere between 40 AD and 80 AD at the latest.
So, we have early documents.
4. The New Testament writers record the same basic events with diverging details and some unique material, cite at least 30 real historical figures (confirmed by ancient non-Christian writers and discoveries), and include over 100 historically confirmed details.
So, we have real historical events at the heart of the New Testament.
5. The New Testament writers also included embarrassing details about themselves and Jesus, included difficult sayings of Jesus, included very demanding sayings of Jesus, carefully distinguished Jesus' words from their own, included events related to the resurrection that they wouldn't invent (i.e. putting a member of the Sanhedrin in favorable light, using women as the first witnesses to the resurrection, the conversion of the Jewish priests, etc), challenged readers to check out verifiable facts for themselves, and described miracles in the same simple way other events are described.
None of these make any sense if a group of guys was trying to fabricate a story, but the icing on the cake is this:
The New Testament writers abandoned their long-held sacred beliefs and practices, adopted new ones, and did not deny their testimony under persecution or threat of death. They had EVERY reason to DENY New Testament events, but they didn't.
NO ONE is willing to die for something they KNOW is a LIE!
So, we have good reason to believe the events in the New Testament were faithfully recorded.
6. What does the faithfully recorded New Testament say? It says that Jesus claimed to be God and it includes the following information to confirm it:
- His fulfillment of many prophecies about Himself.
- His sinless life and miraculous deeds.
- His prediction and accomplishment of his resurrection.
Given all this information so far, we reach the conclusion that Jesus is God.
Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches must be true.
Jesus taught that scripture (what we now call the Old Testament) was the Word of God and promised that the Holy Spirit would lead the apostles to author what we now call the New Testament.
[End Rant]
That's the general logical argument in a tiny nutshell. Don't take my word on any of these points -- look up the evidence. For each number here, there is definitely more than one large book written about the subject. Or, for a more condensed summary in one book, check out "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek.
The point of the post is to present the high level arguments for why the New Testament is authentic.
[Start Rant]
1. We have early testimony from at least 10 non-Christian (including anti-Christian) sources about Jesus that indicates the following: He live during the time of Tiberius Caesar, lived a virtuous life, worked miracles, had a brother named James, was said to be the Messiah, was crucified under Pontius Pilate on the eve of the Jewish Passover, darkness and an earthquake occurred when He died, His disciples believed He rose from the dead and were willing to die for their belief, Christianity spread rapidly as far as Rome, and his disciples denied the Roman gods and worshiped Jesus as God.
These all fly with the New Testament.
So, we have early testimony about Jesus that is backed up by secular sources.
2. We have many more, and earlier, copies of New Testament documents than any other ancient document that is not in question. Comparing the New Testament to The Illiad by Homer, we have over 5000 more manuscripts (5686 versus 643) and a much shorter time gap (25 years difference for the earlier New Testament manuscripts versus 500 years). Other pieces of classical literature don't even come close to what we have for Homer.
Reconstruction of the original text is further authenticated by many (thousands) of quotations from early church fathers -- the entire text, save 11 verses, could be recreated just from the quotations of it in other early documents.
So, we have accurate copies of New Testament documents.
3. New Testament documents referenced by other writers by about 100 AD, so they had to have been written before then. In them, the temple and city are still standing at the time of their writing, so most of them had to have been written earlier than 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. Even atheist critics recognize that most of the New Testament books were penned somewhere between 40 AD and 80 AD at the latest.
So, we have early documents.
4. The New Testament writers record the same basic events with diverging details and some unique material, cite at least 30 real historical figures (confirmed by ancient non-Christian writers and discoveries), and include over 100 historically confirmed details.
So, we have real historical events at the heart of the New Testament.
5. The New Testament writers also included embarrassing details about themselves and Jesus, included difficult sayings of Jesus, included very demanding sayings of Jesus, carefully distinguished Jesus' words from their own, included events related to the resurrection that they wouldn't invent (i.e. putting a member of the Sanhedrin in favorable light, using women as the first witnesses to the resurrection, the conversion of the Jewish priests, etc), challenged readers to check out verifiable facts for themselves, and described miracles in the same simple way other events are described.
None of these make any sense if a group of guys was trying to fabricate a story, but the icing on the cake is this:
The New Testament writers abandoned their long-held sacred beliefs and practices, adopted new ones, and did not deny their testimony under persecution or threat of death. They had EVERY reason to DENY New Testament events, but they didn't.
NO ONE is willing to die for something they KNOW is a LIE!
So, we have good reason to believe the events in the New Testament were faithfully recorded.
6. What does the faithfully recorded New Testament say? It says that Jesus claimed to be God and it includes the following information to confirm it:
- His fulfillment of many prophecies about Himself.
- His sinless life and miraculous deeds.
- His prediction and accomplishment of his resurrection.
Given all this information so far, we reach the conclusion that Jesus is God.
Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches must be true.
Jesus taught that scripture (what we now call the Old Testament) was the Word of God and promised that the Holy Spirit would lead the apostles to author what we now call the New Testament.
[End Rant]
That's the general logical argument in a tiny nutshell. Don't take my word on any of these points -- look up the evidence. For each number here, there is definitely more than one large book written about the subject. Or, for a more condensed summary in one book, check out "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Legislating Morality And Proposition 8
Legislating Morality
Yesterday I had a more lengthy post up about legislating morality that I have taken down and revised into half of today's post. The gist of it was this:
1) Legislating morality does not change what is in people's hearts.
2) We should not make our country's laws based only on moral/religious grounds -- there should be a secular reason behind it. Note that does not mean that we should fail to make laws because they have a moral/religious aspect to them (for example, one of the ten commandments is "don't murder").
It is difficult for me to say this sometimes, but in the end I must acknowledge the following:
- We do not live in a theocracy and I would have a very big problem with laws based on moral/religious grounds that didn't align with my own views (what if Christianity were outlawed?).
- Even God allows people to reject him and do evil things.
3) We as Christians are called to a higher standard than the non-Christian world in which we live, and we should not delegate the enforcement of that higher standard to the government. God is sovereign no matter what happens and there will be people set apart that He works through.
Proposition 8
Given that rant, I was going to vote an adamant "no on 8".
Then I read about a first grade school field trip to a lesbian wedding under the guise of a "teachable moment".
Then I read about "Coming Out Day" and "Gay Day" in various grade schools.
Then I read about an upcoming "Gay And Lesbian History Month" in one grade school.
Then I changed my mind.
My now adamant vote of "yes on 8" has nothing to do with whether gay couples can get a piece of paper from the state that says they are married or not, nor does it have anything to do with what words are in the California constitution.
It has everything to do with using children and taxpayer money to push an agenda and flaunt a victory in the face of the opposition, at the expense of something that provides actual educational value.
I'll even throw this into a video game analogy (scary): I can't stand the Grand Theft Auto video games. I couldn't stand them before I was a Christian. I think they're stupid. I also think that the company who makes them has every right to make them, and that the people who buy them have every right to buy them. However, if my kids' schools gave them a demo of those games, advertised them heavily for a day, and glorified the dodgy characters in them for a month, I'd have a big problem with that. The idealistic rights the company has to make it just got trumped by others stomping on my rights as a parent.
Ideal or not, I'll selfishly do what's in my best interest and look out for my own rights first.
Yesterday I had a more lengthy post up about legislating morality that I have taken down and revised into half of today's post. The gist of it was this:
1) Legislating morality does not change what is in people's hearts.
2) We should not make our country's laws based only on moral/religious grounds -- there should be a secular reason behind it. Note that does not mean that we should fail to make laws because they have a moral/religious aspect to them (for example, one of the ten commandments is "don't murder").
It is difficult for me to say this sometimes, but in the end I must acknowledge the following:
- We do not live in a theocracy and I would have a very big problem with laws based on moral/religious grounds that didn't align with my own views (what if Christianity were outlawed?).
- Even God allows people to reject him and do evil things.
3) We as Christians are called to a higher standard than the non-Christian world in which we live, and we should not delegate the enforcement of that higher standard to the government. God is sovereign no matter what happens and there will be people set apart that He works through.
Proposition 8
Given that rant, I was going to vote an adamant "no on 8".
Then I read about a first grade school field trip to a lesbian wedding under the guise of a "teachable moment".
Then I read about "Coming Out Day" and "Gay Day" in various grade schools.
Then I read about an upcoming "Gay And Lesbian History Month" in one grade school.
Then I changed my mind.
My now adamant vote of "yes on 8" has nothing to do with whether gay couples can get a piece of paper from the state that says they are married or not, nor does it have anything to do with what words are in the California constitution.
It has everything to do with using children and taxpayer money to push an agenda and flaunt a victory in the face of the opposition, at the expense of something that provides actual educational value.
I'll even throw this into a video game analogy (scary): I can't stand the Grand Theft Auto video games. I couldn't stand them before I was a Christian. I think they're stupid. I also think that the company who makes them has every right to make them, and that the people who buy them have every right to buy them. However, if my kids' schools gave them a demo of those games, advertised them heavily for a day, and glorified the dodgy characters in them for a month, I'd have a big problem with that. The idealistic rights the company has to make it just got trumped by others stomping on my rights as a parent.
Ideal or not, I'll selfishly do what's in my best interest and look out for my own rights first.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Why Do People Believe
In anything?
Because their parents did? Or their friends do? Or their culture does? This happens quite often, and understandably so, but its not really a good reason to believe something. Parents, friends, and every person in a culture can be dead wrong about something.
Because the belief gives them comfort? Or peace of mind? Or hope? Or purpose? Or a sense of identity? This also happens quite often, but its also not really a good reason to believe something. Just because I have a good feeling or positive outlook doesn't prove anything.
Because scripture says so? Or a religious leader says so? This also happens quite often, but its also not really a good reason to believe something. What scripture? The Torah? The Bible? The Book Of Mormon? The Qu'Ran? The Vedas? What leader? A pastor? The Pope? An Imam? A Rabbi? These writings and people will invariably teach completely contradictory things.
What's left here? We want to search for truth, but none of these things lead use objectively to truth.
How about because of logic? And science? And evidence? These are valid reasons to believe something. That logic, science, and evidence may very well lead us to the correct book, the correct leader(s), give us comfort and purpose, and bring friends and family to the same conclusions.
We of course do start a search for truth *somewhere*. Some views have such a clear lack of logic and evidence that they are ruled out almost immediately. What is left is a menagerie of different views that cannot all be true. So we look for evidence for or against their truth claims and see how things stack up, adjust our views, and search again.
On a final note for us Christians, let us not forget (as I do too often) that we can't take credit for the results of our search, by remembering the following words of Jesus: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
Any teaching is worth trusting only if it points to the truth
Because their parents did? Or their friends do? Or their culture does? This happens quite often, and understandably so, but its not really a good reason to believe something. Parents, friends, and every person in a culture can be dead wrong about something.
Because the belief gives them comfort? Or peace of mind? Or hope? Or purpose? Or a sense of identity? This also happens quite often, but its also not really a good reason to believe something. Just because I have a good feeling or positive outlook doesn't prove anything.
Because scripture says so? Or a religious leader says so? This also happens quite often, but its also not really a good reason to believe something. What scripture? The Torah? The Bible? The Book Of Mormon? The Qu'Ran? The Vedas? What leader? A pastor? The Pope? An Imam? A Rabbi? These writings and people will invariably teach completely contradictory things.
What's left here? We want to search for truth, but none of these things lead use objectively to truth.
How about because of logic? And science? And evidence? These are valid reasons to believe something. That logic, science, and evidence may very well lead us to the correct book, the correct leader(s), give us comfort and purpose, and bring friends and family to the same conclusions.
We of course do start a search for truth *somewhere*. Some views have such a clear lack of logic and evidence that they are ruled out almost immediately. What is left is a menagerie of different views that cannot all be true. So we look for evidence for or against their truth claims and see how things stack up, adjust our views, and search again.
On a final note for us Christians, let us not forget (as I do too often) that we can't take credit for the results of our search, by remembering the following words of Jesus: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
Any teaching is worth trusting only if it points to the truth
Monday, October 20, 2008
How We Come To Christ
I was reminded today what state we are in when we come to Christ. I needed that reminder, because for a while I had these thoughts in the back of my brain nagging at me that said "you're not doing enough" and "look at all these ways you're failing God, that's not good enough". Enough for what?
Time for a reality check.
We're only men, and we're sinners, plain and simple. That's not going to change. We don't spend all our lives eliminating the sin in our lives by ourselves so that we can come to Christ. No, that's completely backwards -- we turn to Christ first, admit the terrible state we're in, and ask Him to help us.
I just need to remember what Jesus tells us more often:
Mat 9:12-13: "...The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick. But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Time for a reality check.
We're only men, and we're sinners, plain and simple. That's not going to change. We don't spend all our lives eliminating the sin in our lives by ourselves so that we can come to Christ. No, that's completely backwards -- we turn to Christ first, admit the terrible state we're in, and ask Him to help us.
I just need to remember what Jesus tells us more often:
Mat 9:12-13: "...The ones who are whole do not need a physician, but the ones who are sick. But go and learn what this is, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Sunday, October 19, 2008
We Reap What We Sow
Gal 6:7-8 says it nicely: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
We often just don't pay attention to it enough or believe it enough.
We doubt this when we see someone appear to get away with murder through a loophole in the legal system. We doubt this when we the rich, famous, and powerful appear to do whatever suits them without consequence. We doubt this when punishment for evil does not come swiftly.
We doubt this when good people experience unimaginable suffering. We doubt this when those with a heart of gold barely scrape by with severely limited income. We doubt this when reward for good does not come quickly.
We doubt because we are limited beings and cannot see inside people's minds and hearts. We cannot see the full chain of cause and effect that happens because of someone's actions. We cannot see into the future of anyone's life on this earth, nor can we see beyond this life.
However, we have only to look into our own lives to see how this principle is true.
How often have we wronged someone else without any retaliation on his/her part, or without any guilt/shame on our part? And if we think we actually have been able to wrong someone without any noticeable negative effect, did we move a little more down a bad path? Were we able to wrong someone much more easily the next time? And the next?
How often have we helped someone else with no outward motivation without feeling greater joy for having done so, or without having him/her later do something in return? And if we think we actually have been able to help someone without any noticeable positive effect, did we move a little more down a good path? Were we able to help someone much more easily the next time? And the next?
Never be fooled by appearances; they ARE deceiving. We will ALWAYS reap what we sow, whether it is only a tiny effect felt in this life for some evil act or good deed, eternal punishment for rejecting God, or eternal life for our faith in Him.
We often just don't pay attention to it enough or believe it enough.
We doubt this when we see someone appear to get away with murder through a loophole in the legal system. We doubt this when we the rich, famous, and powerful appear to do whatever suits them without consequence. We doubt this when punishment for evil does not come swiftly.
We doubt this when good people experience unimaginable suffering. We doubt this when those with a heart of gold barely scrape by with severely limited income. We doubt this when reward for good does not come quickly.
We doubt because we are limited beings and cannot see inside people's minds and hearts. We cannot see the full chain of cause and effect that happens because of someone's actions. We cannot see into the future of anyone's life on this earth, nor can we see beyond this life.
However, we have only to look into our own lives to see how this principle is true.
How often have we wronged someone else without any retaliation on his/her part, or without any guilt/shame on our part? And if we think we actually have been able to wrong someone without any noticeable negative effect, did we move a little more down a bad path? Were we able to wrong someone much more easily the next time? And the next?
How often have we helped someone else with no outward motivation without feeling greater joy for having done so, or without having him/her later do something in return? And if we think we actually have been able to help someone without any noticeable positive effect, did we move a little more down a good path? Were we able to help someone much more easily the next time? And the next?
Never be fooled by appearances; they ARE deceiving. We will ALWAYS reap what we sow, whether it is only a tiny effect felt in this life for some evil act or good deed, eternal punishment for rejecting God, or eternal life for our faith in Him.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The Need For Repentance
From what I read here and there on the Internet, people, myself included, don't mention the need for repentance nearly enough when talking about the gospel. However, Jesus makes a solid point about it:
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Mar 6:12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
Luk 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Jesus' disciples made a point about it too:
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
So when we share the good news, let's not forget that repentance is a part of it -- we can't just turn to Jesus without turning from something. What is that something? That something is sin.
We have to admit that we're sinners. We have to hate sin. We have to abandon sin. Jesus will help us do these things as we turn to Him, and that is a whole lot better than being a fake Christian who says with his lips something contrary to what is in his heart.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Mar 6:12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
Luk 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Jesus' disciples made a point about it too:
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
So when we share the good news, let's not forget that repentance is a part of it -- we can't just turn to Jesus without turning from something. What is that something? That something is sin.
We have to admit that we're sinners. We have to hate sin. We have to abandon sin. Jesus will help us do these things as we turn to Him, and that is a whole lot better than being a fake Christian who says with his lips something contrary to what is in his heart.
Monday, October 13, 2008
4 Steps To Lasting Joy
First, Seek And Believe.
God gives us evidence of His existence:
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse
Jesus says we should seek the kingdom of God:
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Jesus says that if we seek, we will find:
Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
We will also be rewarded for seeking:
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Next, Trust.
Jesus says we must trust Him:
Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Joh 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Next, Follow And Do.
Jesus says we must follow Him:
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Mar 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Luk 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Joh 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
In Christ we are a new creation, for good works:
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Works come from trusting Jesus and following Him:
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Finally, Enjoy It.
Jesus says that His commandments, which we keep partially through the works we do, are so our joy may be full:
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Joh 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Now, we must not forget that none of this is because of anything we did.
No one seeks for God on their own:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
It is God the Father who draws us to Jesus:
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Thus, we are saved by God's grace alone, not anything we do:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Thank you!
So, thank you Father; thank you Jesus!
Thank you for the grace that you have given me that allows me to see that Jesus suffered and died for my sins and rose from the dead. Thank you for the grace you have given me that allows me to put my trust in you for everything, including guiding me through my life on earth, providing for me and my family, and, most importantly, my salvation. Thank you for the grace that replaced a slavery to sin with a desire to do good for your glory.
God gives us evidence of His existence:
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse
Jesus says we should seek the kingdom of God:
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Jesus says that if we seek, we will find:
Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
We will also be rewarded for seeking:
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Next, Trust.
Jesus says we must trust Him:
Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Joh 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Next, Follow And Do.
Jesus says we must follow Him:
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Mar 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Luk 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Joh 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
In Christ we are a new creation, for good works:
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Works come from trusting Jesus and following Him:
Jas 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Jas 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Finally, Enjoy It.
Jesus says that His commandments, which we keep partially through the works we do, are so our joy may be full:
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Joh 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Now, we must not forget that none of this is because of anything we did.
No one seeks for God on their own:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
It is God the Father who draws us to Jesus:
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Thus, we are saved by God's grace alone, not anything we do:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Thank you!
So, thank you Father; thank you Jesus!
Thank you for the grace that you have given me that allows me to see that Jesus suffered and died for my sins and rose from the dead. Thank you for the grace you have given me that allows me to put my trust in you for everything, including guiding me through my life on earth, providing for me and my family, and, most importantly, my salvation. Thank you for the grace that replaced a slavery to sin with a desire to do good for your glory.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Conditional Faith Doesn't Work
To God: "God, thank you so much..."
Subconsciously: "...as long as things in my life don't change".
To God: "God, I trust you to take care of me..."
Subconsciously: "...by making sure I don't lose my job".
To God: "God, I trust in you completely..."
Subconsciously: "...as long as my friend doesn't die".
What good is conditional faith? By thinking along the lines above, we're saying to God that we only have faith in Him and praise Him when things are going our way. We put God in a little box and try to make Him fit OUR standards!
What right do we have to do that? Zero. We didn't create the entire universe, nor do we have dominion over it. We can't see God's plan for our lives from beginning to end.
That we exist, that we have people close to us, and that we have things to call our own is a gift -- everything is a gift, as everything, including ourselves, belongs to God.
Given that, we should give God praise, ALWAYS.
Given that, we should trust in God, ALWAYS.
That's a lot easier said than done. I said it, but that doesn't mean I do it -- really, I just REALIZED it. But now that I realize it, I can ask God to help me praise Him and trust in Him in all circumstances, and not allow the storms of this life to push me away from God when I need Him the most.
As usual, here is a related article I found that I thought was very good:
http://www.musings.per.sg/gallery/files/How%20to%20Praise%20God%20in%20All%20Circumstances.pdf
Subconsciously: "...as long as things in my life don't change".
To God: "God, I trust you to take care of me..."
Subconsciously: "...by making sure I don't lose my job".
To God: "God, I trust in you completely..."
Subconsciously: "...as long as my friend doesn't die".
What good is conditional faith? By thinking along the lines above, we're saying to God that we only have faith in Him and praise Him when things are going our way. We put God in a little box and try to make Him fit OUR standards!
What right do we have to do that? Zero. We didn't create the entire universe, nor do we have dominion over it. We can't see God's plan for our lives from beginning to end.
That we exist, that we have people close to us, and that we have things to call our own is a gift -- everything is a gift, as everything, including ourselves, belongs to God.
Given that, we should give God praise, ALWAYS.
Given that, we should trust in God, ALWAYS.
That's a lot easier said than done. I said it, but that doesn't mean I do it -- really, I just REALIZED it. But now that I realize it, I can ask God to help me praise Him and trust in Him in all circumstances, and not allow the storms of this life to push me away from God when I need Him the most.
As usual, here is a related article I found that I thought was very good:
http://www.musings.per.sg/gallery/files/How%20to%20Praise%20God%20in%20All%20Circumstances.pdf
Monday, October 6, 2008
Faith Versus Belief
I've done a lot of searching (and have a lot more to do). I like to look for evidence supporting the existence of God the Father, the reality of Christ's death and resurrection, the accuracy and inerrancy of the Bible, etc. I like that I can look at the evidence and come to a logical and honest conclusion about these things. I thought that doing this served to strengthen my faith.
Then a question ran through my head tonight, wondering how much faith I actually had if I kept looking for this evidence. I.e. does it actually weaken faith to keep looking for evidence like this? It appeared to me as if I was being like Thomas -- who had to see the Lord's pierced hands and side to believe that he rose from the dead, rather than trusting in what the other disciples told him.
Then I realized that faith and belief are two different things, and that part of what I considered to be faith was not, it is belief.
Belief is what we think reality is -- "confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof". I believe in God, and in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I will continue to search for things to strengthen that belief.
That is not enough.
Faith is trust -- "confidence or trust in a person or thing". I have faith in God, but realize now that it is not as big as I thought it to be. It needs to grow. I'd like for it to be at least as big as a mustard seed!
I had the two intertwined for so long, I thought they were the same thing. I pray now that both my faith and belief are strengthened, for they clearly are different.
Then a question ran through my head tonight, wondering how much faith I actually had if I kept looking for this evidence. I.e. does it actually weaken faith to keep looking for evidence like this? It appeared to me as if I was being like Thomas -- who had to see the Lord's pierced hands and side to believe that he rose from the dead, rather than trusting in what the other disciples told him.
Then I realized that faith and belief are two different things, and that part of what I considered to be faith was not, it is belief.
Belief is what we think reality is -- "confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof". I believe in God, and in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I will continue to search for things to strengthen that belief.
That is not enough.
Faith is trust -- "confidence or trust in a person or thing". I have faith in God, but realize now that it is not as big as I thought it to be. It needs to grow. I'd like for it to be at least as big as a mustard seed!
I had the two intertwined for so long, I thought they were the same thing. I pray now that both my faith and belief are strengthened, for they clearly are different.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
In The Beginning
I have been having e-mail discussions with a good friend of mine about the origin and nature of the universe. If I am not misrepresenting him here, his position is that the universe and God are eternal (both have always existed and will exist forever), and that "afterlife places" (this is another discussion between us -- I will just say heaven/hell) exist within what we know as the universe. My position is God is eternal, but the universe is not -- it had a distinct beginning and will eventually end, and that heaven/hell exist outside of it. We both found each others' position hard to understand. :-)
This has little bearing on the point of this post, other than its background that got me thinking a little bit more about the age of the universe, which I consider as a separate argument from the age of the earth. There are three reasonable possibilities in my mind (many more if you want to tie actual numbers to any of these):
1) Young earth, young universe
2) Young earth, old universe
3) Old earth, old universe
There aren't four, because I don't see how you could have an old earth and young universe. Anyone that claims this probably needs to see some kind of doctor.
I did some searching on the Internet and found that there are creationists in all three camps arguing about why their view is correct and non-creationists in the third camp arguing about why their view is correct (I don't know of any non-creationists in the first two camps!). No one was of any particular help, but the arguments were interesting.
I accept that biblical and scientific evidence that points to a young earth, but I'm still curious if that means that the universe is also young.
I opened my Bible up to Genesis 1 and read it again:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
I had a thought that maybe, yes, in the beginning God made the universe, but this formless earth sat around for a long time before God did anything with it -- and then in six days He took this formless earth and made it into the earth we know. I don't know how popular this view is (I didn't see much about it ), but I found at least one other person that thought about it:
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~plaisted/ce/oldyoung.html
Regarding a young earth and young universe, this page gave a good summary of past theories that were pretty weak, and a good summary of a recent cosmological model proposed by Dr. Humphreys:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c005.html
In the end I'm probably more in the "young earth, young universe" camp then the "young earth, old universe" camp. Nailing down the age of the universe is not relevant to my salvation, but it makes for some interesting reading and discussion.
On a final note, in looking up information about the various arguments for the age of the earth and universe, I came across this page that gives a really good explanation of why Christians shouldn't blow off the young-earth versus old-earth discussion as irrelevant:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c026.html
This has little bearing on the point of this post, other than its background that got me thinking a little bit more about the age of the universe, which I consider as a separate argument from the age of the earth. There are three reasonable possibilities in my mind (many more if you want to tie actual numbers to any of these):
1) Young earth, young universe
2) Young earth, old universe
3) Old earth, old universe
There aren't four, because I don't see how you could have an old earth and young universe. Anyone that claims this probably needs to see some kind of doctor.
I did some searching on the Internet and found that there are creationists in all three camps arguing about why their view is correct and non-creationists in the third camp arguing about why their view is correct (I don't know of any non-creationists in the first two camps!). No one was of any particular help, but the arguments were interesting.
I accept that biblical and scientific evidence that points to a young earth, but I'm still curious if that means that the universe is also young.
I opened my Bible up to Genesis 1 and read it again:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
I had a thought that maybe, yes, in the beginning God made the universe, but this formless earth sat around for a long time before God did anything with it -- and then in six days He took this formless earth and made it into the earth we know. I don't know how popular this view is (I didn't see much about it ), but I found at least one other person that thought about it:
http://www.cs.unc.edu/~plaisted/ce/oldyoung.html
Regarding a young earth and young universe, this page gave a good summary of past theories that were pretty weak, and a good summary of a recent cosmological model proposed by Dr. Humphreys:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aig/aig-c005.html
In the end I'm probably more in the "young earth, young universe" camp then the "young earth, old universe" camp. Nailing down the age of the universe is not relevant to my salvation, but it makes for some interesting reading and discussion.
On a final note, in looking up information about the various arguments for the age of the earth and universe, I came across this page that gives a really good explanation of why Christians shouldn't blow off the young-earth versus old-earth discussion as irrelevant:
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c026.html
Representing Jesus
About a month ago, I bought some shirts from http://www.notw.com/ that focus on Christ and wear them fairly regularly. The reason was two-fold. First, I wanted to let other people know I was a Christian and who I (try to) represent. This was my more subtle way of doing it than randomly telling people. Second, I wanted a constant remember to myself who I (am trying to) represent.
Tonight I was exiting a little walkway in a restaurant as a gentleman was entering. He touched my arm briefly and said to me "great shirt, brother". That put a big smile on my face and reminded me how many brothers and sisters in Christ Jamie and I have.
Tonight I was exiting a little walkway in a restaurant as a gentleman was entering. He touched my arm briefly and said to me "great shirt, brother". That put a big smile on my face and reminded me how many brothers and sisters in Christ Jamie and I have.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
I copied this from someone's post on a forum and cleaned up the typos. I heard about it first on Bob Dutko.
Skeptic magazine (Vol. 9, No. 4 2003) claims a theory (rather elaborate) based by research done on laboratory rats. They state the scientific testing shows that if three things happen simultaneously then a death like state occurs. The following is from this issue of Skeptic magazine as written by Michael Persinger...
1) Limbic Epilepsy or Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. The seizures induced by this specific form of epilepsy are described as 'partial complex seizures'. People who have this form of epilepsy are affected primarily by behavioral and personality changes. Most people who have this form of epilepsy are extremely creative and have noticeable altered thought patterns. In fact a few of the changes include: feeling as though they are 'chosen', interpreting events to be from some cosmic source (i.e. God), compulsion to tell others or 'proselytize' their beliefs, obsession with the origins of the universe or world and the purpose of existence, accelerated excellence in oral discourse.
"Many of the individuals who display these electrical transients are very intelligent, creative people who perceive their environment quite differently from the average person. However they may be more prone to periods of depression, irritability and altered sexuality. Perhaps the most defining characteristic of these individuals is their frequent experiences of a sensed presence or Sentient Being, with or without auditory experiences, that are attributed to the cultural deity, such as Yahweh, Allah or to angels"
2) In laboratory testing on rats with Limbic epilepsy, a certain type of drug has been administered, 'acepromazine' and later substituted with 'reserpine'. Reserpine is an alkaloid that comes from a plant called Rauwolfia serpentine (a plant growing naturally in India). This drug was used historically to treat symptoms of insanity, hypertension and insomnia. It depletes the brain of certain neurotransmitters. While we have very little knowledge of Jesus during his teen years, it is potentially possible that he may have had contact with Essene or Eastern philosophies. This would have made him familiar with the "psychotropic traditions of the East regarding consumption of plant extracts, like reserpine, and the subsequent but transient 'death-like' conditions".
3) Physical Restraint. When the rats with limbic epilepsy were injected with Reserpine and physically restrained, they would exhibit symptoms of death. Extreme forms of hypothermia, death like state, which lasted 3 days, and then the rats would recover. They appeared normal but "they developed a type of dishevelment, lowered body weight, alteration in preferred diet, permanent deficits in memory, and a propensity for spontaneous seizures for the rest of their lives".
There are few descriptions of Jesus' actual behavior, it is possible that the ones that do exist could be matched with descriptions of those suffering from limbic epilepsy. Skeptic magazine describes it as "His bouts of rage at the temple, auditory instructions and debates during his wanderings for 40 days in the desert, his emotional liability (such as crying), requirements to be isolated concurrent with marked moodiness, the nascent focus of his philosophies and the compelling feeling that he was 'special and chosen' suggest he displayed markedly elevated temporal lobe experiences".
Wow. You have got to be kidding me.
1) What about brain damage? "Hey Thomas, check out these holes in my hands and feet. Got any fish? I'm hungry. Can you comb my hair for me because I can't do it for myself now?"
2) What about all those wounds, especially on the hands, feet, and the spear to the chest? No big deal, He would have be just fine.
3) What about walking out of the tomb? No big deal, He could have move that stone away and got out with any of the soldiers seeing Him.
4) How exactly does TLE let someone control the weather, turn water into wine, walk on water, heal people, cast out demons, cure leprosy, and raise people from the dead, as was reported by eyewitnesses? I don't think it does!
I see now that I really don't have the kind of faith it takes to be an atheist.
Skeptic magazine (Vol. 9, No. 4 2003) claims a theory (rather elaborate) based by research done on laboratory rats. They state the scientific testing shows that if three things happen simultaneously then a death like state occurs. The following is from this issue of Skeptic magazine as written by Michael Persinger...
1) Limbic Epilepsy or Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. The seizures induced by this specific form of epilepsy are described as 'partial complex seizures'. People who have this form of epilepsy are affected primarily by behavioral and personality changes. Most people who have this form of epilepsy are extremely creative and have noticeable altered thought patterns. In fact a few of the changes include: feeling as though they are 'chosen', interpreting events to be from some cosmic source (i.e. God), compulsion to tell others or 'proselytize' their beliefs, obsession with the origins of the universe or world and the purpose of existence, accelerated excellence in oral discourse.
"Many of the individuals who display these electrical transients are very intelligent, creative people who perceive their environment quite differently from the average person. However they may be more prone to periods of depression, irritability and altered sexuality. Perhaps the most defining characteristic of these individuals is their frequent experiences of a sensed presence or Sentient Being, with or without auditory experiences, that are attributed to the cultural deity, such as Yahweh, Allah or to angels"
2) In laboratory testing on rats with Limbic epilepsy, a certain type of drug has been administered, 'acepromazine' and later substituted with 'reserpine'. Reserpine is an alkaloid that comes from a plant called Rauwolfia serpentine (a plant growing naturally in India). This drug was used historically to treat symptoms of insanity, hypertension and insomnia. It depletes the brain of certain neurotransmitters. While we have very little knowledge of Jesus during his teen years, it is potentially possible that he may have had contact with Essene or Eastern philosophies. This would have made him familiar with the "psychotropic traditions of the East regarding consumption of plant extracts, like reserpine, and the subsequent but transient 'death-like' conditions".
3) Physical Restraint. When the rats with limbic epilepsy were injected with Reserpine and physically restrained, they would exhibit symptoms of death. Extreme forms of hypothermia, death like state, which lasted 3 days, and then the rats would recover. They appeared normal but "they developed a type of dishevelment, lowered body weight, alteration in preferred diet, permanent deficits in memory, and a propensity for spontaneous seizures for the rest of their lives".
There are few descriptions of Jesus' actual behavior, it is possible that the ones that do exist could be matched with descriptions of those suffering from limbic epilepsy. Skeptic magazine describes it as "His bouts of rage at the temple, auditory instructions and debates during his wanderings for 40 days in the desert, his emotional liability (such as crying), requirements to be isolated concurrent with marked moodiness, the nascent focus of his philosophies and the compelling feeling that he was 'special and chosen' suggest he displayed markedly elevated temporal lobe experiences".
Wow. You have got to be kidding me.
1) What about brain damage? "Hey Thomas, check out these holes in my hands and feet. Got any fish? I'm hungry. Can you comb my hair for me because I can't do it for myself now?"
2) What about all those wounds, especially on the hands, feet, and the spear to the chest? No big deal, He would have be just fine.
3) What about walking out of the tomb? No big deal, He could have move that stone away and got out with any of the soldiers seeing Him.
4) How exactly does TLE let someone control the weather, turn water into wine, walk on water, heal people, cast out demons, cure leprosy, and raise people from the dead, as was reported by eyewitnesses? I don't think it does!
I see now that I really don't have the kind of faith it takes to be an atheist.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Road To Life
Props to Pastor Harry from CRB. I'm lifting some ideas from his message last weekend here; like I said before, I'm not that creative.
The road we choose to travel on determines where we end up. Every day we make choices about what road we're going to travel on. We can choose the broad road that leads to destruction or the narrow road that leads to life.
The choice seems pretty easy doesn't it?
But how do we know what road we're on? Sometimes the signs aren't marked so well. Sometimes we think we're lost and we're not. Sometimes we think we're not lost and we are. Sometimes there's a bunch of fog in the way and we can't see where we're going. Sometimes there's crazy turns, idiot drivers, and bad weather, all at once. Traveling sucks.
You know what we need? We need a really great navigation system.
We need a system that can see our entire destination from start to finish. We need a system that can give us accurate directions on where to go, even if we can't see how those directions make sense sometimes. We need a system that will still help us try go get to the correct destination -- even when we mess up, think we're smarter than the system, and try to take shortcuts.
You know what? We have one of those! God's a really great navigation system. A long time ago, He wrote down 10 important directions to follow, in stone -- and if we slow down enough and pay attention, we can hear our navigation system telling us when we're not listening to His directions well enough and are headed off the road into trouble.
Thanks, God.
The road we choose to travel on determines where we end up. Every day we make choices about what road we're going to travel on. We can choose the broad road that leads to destruction or the narrow road that leads to life.
The choice seems pretty easy doesn't it?
But how do we know what road we're on? Sometimes the signs aren't marked so well. Sometimes we think we're lost and we're not. Sometimes we think we're not lost and we are. Sometimes there's a bunch of fog in the way and we can't see where we're going. Sometimes there's crazy turns, idiot drivers, and bad weather, all at once. Traveling sucks.
You know what we need? We need a really great navigation system.
We need a system that can see our entire destination from start to finish. We need a system that can give us accurate directions on where to go, even if we can't see how those directions make sense sometimes. We need a system that will still help us try go get to the correct destination -- even when we mess up, think we're smarter than the system, and try to take shortcuts.
You know what? We have one of those! God's a really great navigation system. A long time ago, He wrote down 10 important directions to follow, in stone -- and if we slow down enough and pay attention, we can hear our navigation system telling us when we're not listening to His directions well enough and are headed off the road into trouble.
Thanks, God.
Lessons From Geese
This is lifted from a video I saw at church on Saturday (I'm not this creative) and is also online here. Its not exclusively Christian by any means, but we would all certainly benefit if we could remember these lessons in our Christian walk. Plus, I thought it was really cool.
1) As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent greater flying range than if one bird flew alone. People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the strength of one another.
2) Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. If we have as much sense as geese, we will stay in formation with those who are ahead of where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.
3) When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position. It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.
4) The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging, and not something else.
5) When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again, or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or they catch up with their flock. If we have as much sense as geese do, we too, will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.
Job 12:7-8 is particularly relevant in light of this: "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you."
If only I had the sense of a goose!
1) As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent greater flying range than if one bird flew alone. People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the strength of one another.
2) Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. If we have as much sense as geese, we will stay in formation with those who are ahead of where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.
3) When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position. It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.
4) The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed. We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging, and not something else.
5) When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again, or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or they catch up with their flock. If we have as much sense as geese do, we too, will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.
Job 12:7-8 is particularly relevant in light of this: "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you."
If only I had the sense of a goose!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Christianity IS The One True Religion
...and logically so!
One could write entire books on some of these points, but here's the basics condensed down to a post.
1) Let's establish the players. Christianity has Jesus Christ. Islam has Muhammad. Buddhism has Buddha. Hinduism I don't think has a central figure. Sikhism has Nanak. A bunch of other religious have a bunch of other guys. We'll sort the players into two groups for this post: Jesus, and the other guys.
2) Let's look at what Jesus claimed about himself. He claimed to be the son of God, fully God, one with the father, and the Messiah. You can choose not to believe this is true if you want, but let's agree that this is what he claimed about himself, whether you believe it or not. I think some folks would be getting into an argument here already, but Biblically, this is what he claimed.
I don't think the other guys claimed any of this.
3) Jesus backed up his claims with miracles that only God could perform. Often he would forgive people of their sins. That was a problem for some folks, because only God can forgive sins. Well, anyone can SAY "your sins are forgiven". That doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. Why should you believe that person? Now what if that person was able to cure leprosy, cast out demons, and raise people from the dead, with eyewitnesses who wrote down what he did? I think that gives him a little more clout.
I don't think the other guys did any of that.
4) Jesus fulfilled prophecy and rose from the dead. There are lots of web sites detailing what prophecies Jesus fulfilled and what the odds are that someone could do so inadvertently, so we won't go into those here. Let's focus on the resurrection here. Now, that makes all the miracles pale in comparison. It also supports that whole Messiah claim pretty well.
I don't think the other guys did any of that.
Now, there are lots of arguments against the resurrection, but lets think about this logically.
Disciples of Jesus wrote down that they and many others saw him after the resurrection. There is no evidence of anyone disproving this and having a field day mocking the early Christians who's Messiah failed. Believers preached the gospel to many people who were converting by the thousands, despite being hated and persecuted by others. Eventually many of them were put to death for it. They had no external motivation for doing this.
So, if Jesus DIDN'T rise from the dead:
1) Why would His followers falsely claim to have seem Him? How would you feel if it happened? Really? I'd be like "Man, I got suckered, I guess he WASN'T the Messiah. Crap." I sure wouldn't be out there risking my neck to perpetuate a lie when there is absolutely no good reason for me to do so.
2) Why did so many convert to Christianity so quickly? Why did PAUL convert?
3) Why was there no one who hated the Christians stepping up to provide evidence that debunks the resurrection?
So if Jesus really DIDN'T rise from the dead, then instead a bunch of ordinary guys got together and pulled the biggest scam in history. They somehow stole his body that was under guard. They wrote books that showed a fake Messiah fulfilled prophecy. They convinced thousands and thousands of people to believe something they knew was a lie. They all suffered torture, and in many cases DEATH, for this movement that they knew was a fraud. They gave a large part of their lives to do this without any kind of external reward for it. Yeah, right! NOBODY is going to be tortured and killing for something they KNOW is a lie. The ONLY LOGICAL conclusion is that Jesus in fact DID rise from the dead.
To quote Sir Lionel Luckhoo who spent three years pouring over the evidence: "The evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”
The only problem for a lot of people when weighing the evidence is that they are already biased in their commitment to explaining everything by natural causes and natural causes only. That's not objectivity, it's blind faith. I instead put my faith in Jesus Christ, and that faith is NOT blind.
One could write entire books on some of these points, but here's the basics condensed down to a post.
1) Let's establish the players. Christianity has Jesus Christ. Islam has Muhammad. Buddhism has Buddha. Hinduism I don't think has a central figure. Sikhism has Nanak. A bunch of other religious have a bunch of other guys. We'll sort the players into two groups for this post: Jesus, and the other guys.
2) Let's look at what Jesus claimed about himself. He claimed to be the son of God, fully God, one with the father, and the Messiah. You can choose not to believe this is true if you want, but let's agree that this is what he claimed about himself, whether you believe it or not. I think some folks would be getting into an argument here already, but Biblically, this is what he claimed.
I don't think the other guys claimed any of this.
3) Jesus backed up his claims with miracles that only God could perform. Often he would forgive people of their sins. That was a problem for some folks, because only God can forgive sins. Well, anyone can SAY "your sins are forgiven". That doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. Why should you believe that person? Now what if that person was able to cure leprosy, cast out demons, and raise people from the dead, with eyewitnesses who wrote down what he did? I think that gives him a little more clout.
I don't think the other guys did any of that.
4) Jesus fulfilled prophecy and rose from the dead. There are lots of web sites detailing what prophecies Jesus fulfilled and what the odds are that someone could do so inadvertently, so we won't go into those here. Let's focus on the resurrection here. Now, that makes all the miracles pale in comparison. It also supports that whole Messiah claim pretty well.
I don't think the other guys did any of that.
Now, there are lots of arguments against the resurrection, but lets think about this logically.
Disciples of Jesus wrote down that they and many others saw him after the resurrection. There is no evidence of anyone disproving this and having a field day mocking the early Christians who's Messiah failed. Believers preached the gospel to many people who were converting by the thousands, despite being hated and persecuted by others. Eventually many of them were put to death for it. They had no external motivation for doing this.
So, if Jesus DIDN'T rise from the dead:
1) Why would His followers falsely claim to have seem Him? How would you feel if it happened? Really? I'd be like "Man, I got suckered, I guess he WASN'T the Messiah. Crap." I sure wouldn't be out there risking my neck to perpetuate a lie when there is absolutely no good reason for me to do so.
2) Why did so many convert to Christianity so quickly? Why did PAUL convert?
3) Why was there no one who hated the Christians stepping up to provide evidence that debunks the resurrection?
So if Jesus really DIDN'T rise from the dead, then instead a bunch of ordinary guys got together and pulled the biggest scam in history. They somehow stole his body that was under guard. They wrote books that showed a fake Messiah fulfilled prophecy. They convinced thousands and thousands of people to believe something they knew was a lie. They all suffered torture, and in many cases DEATH, for this movement that they knew was a fraud. They gave a large part of their lives to do this without any kind of external reward for it. Yeah, right! NOBODY is going to be tortured and killing for something they KNOW is a lie. The ONLY LOGICAL conclusion is that Jesus in fact DID rise from the dead.
To quote Sir Lionel Luckhoo who spent three years pouring over the evidence: "The evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”
The only problem for a lot of people when weighing the evidence is that they are already biased in their commitment to explaining everything by natural causes and natural causes only. That's not objectivity, it's blind faith. I instead put my faith in Jesus Christ, and that faith is NOT blind.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Elderly Woman Witnesses To Robber
I just came across this and was amazed by it.
"A 92-year-old woman from Dyersburg, Tennessee recently turned an attempted robbery into an opportunity to minister to the would-be robber."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDmp967UMds
"A 92-year-old woman from Dyersburg, Tennessee recently turned an attempted robbery into an opportunity to minister to the would-be robber."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDmp967UMds
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Steps To Salvation
Here's a comprehensive program for salvation:
Step 1. Receive Christ as your savior, acknowledging that he paid the price in full for your sins.
Done. You're a new creation, redeemed, justified, and promised eternal life. In fact, here's a list of 37 things that happen when you're saved (interesting to note that the page filename says 39 things):
http://www.momof9splace.com/39things.html
Now, how do you know you really did the 1-step program right? I liked how it was put on this page:
http://www.harborside.com/~ljglazner/q5assrd.htm
Also have a look at this article about repentance and salvation:
http://www.gotquestions.org/repentance.html
It helped me when I thought I came back to this post later thinking I was mispresenting the good news, in that turning from your sin is a requirement from salvation. Yes, you should turn away from you sin, but its through Jesus that you do it -- i.e. turning from sin from sin is evidence of your faith and your salvation, not something you do on your own to earn it.
In the end, good "stuff" comes from salvation, not the other way round!
Step 1. Receive Christ as your savior, acknowledging that he paid the price in full for your sins.
Done. You're a new creation, redeemed, justified, and promised eternal life. In fact, here's a list of 37 things that happen when you're saved (interesting to note that the page filename says 39 things):
http://www.momof9splace.com/39things.html
Now, how do you know you really did the 1-step program right? I liked how it was put on this page:
http://www.harborside.com/~ljglazner/q5assrd.htm
Also have a look at this article about repentance and salvation:
http://www.gotquestions.org/repentance.html
It helped me when I thought I came back to this post later thinking I was mispresenting the good news, in that turning from your sin is a requirement from salvation. Yes, you should turn away from you sin, but its through Jesus that you do it -- i.e. turning from sin from sin is evidence of your faith and your salvation, not something you do on your own to earn it.
In the end, good "stuff" comes from salvation, not the other way round!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Intelligent Design
Today I heard about William Dembski and a work he published called The Design Inference. The basic concept is that if something cannot be explained by a law, and is too statistically unlikely to be explained by chance, then it must have been designed. Dembski says that life itself is such a highly unlikely event that conforms to a discernible pattern, so therefore it, by itself, is evidence of intelligent design.
I completely agree.
Apparently Dembski has been criticized in the past for this by folks who say that if a given event happens with low probability and confroms to a discernible pattern, there are two possible reasons for it: 1) intelligent design or 2) necessity.
That argument does really debunk anything; it just offers another option. Fine, let's roll with it. I'm assuming this argument is for natural selection, but we're not there yet. First of all, I don't see how necessity explains anything about how the universe came from nothing or how life could come from inorganic matter. What necessity could there possibly be here? What about humans specifically then? Necessity could explain our physical bodies and some thought processes, but how could it possibly explain why we have the ability to discover the laws of the universe in which we live and even have this argument?
I am more than star dust, and the evidence for it is that I have the ability to realize it.
I completely agree.
Apparently Dembski has been criticized in the past for this by folks who say that if a given event happens with low probability and confroms to a discernible pattern, there are two possible reasons for it: 1) intelligent design or 2) necessity.
That argument does really debunk anything; it just offers another option. Fine, let's roll with it. I'm assuming this argument is for natural selection, but we're not there yet. First of all, I don't see how necessity explains anything about how the universe came from nothing or how life could come from inorganic matter. What necessity could there possibly be here? What about humans specifically then? Necessity could explain our physical bodies and some thought processes, but how could it possibly explain why we have the ability to discover the laws of the universe in which we live and even have this argument?
I am more than star dust, and the evidence for it is that I have the ability to realize it.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Annoyed
I was annoyed at some people today. I felt that what I said was glossed over without even an "okay, thanks". Proper communications protocols was not followed, I did not get an ACK. It bothered me for a while. I grumbled about it for a while. It was nothing, really, yet it still bothered me.
First, they didn't do anything to deserve me getting annoyed, and second, I was almost certainly trying to manufacture some kind of contribution to selfishly glorify myself, rather than say something for their benefit. So great, I was annoyed for no good reason, it was my own fault, and it had nothing to do with glorifying God at all. Happy day. I guess the first step to being less of an idiot is to recognize you're one, and then ask Jesus to help you.
But it did get me thinking, so there is some silver lining (yes, ME thinking is not always a good thing, but in this case maybe it is):
If I felt this way about something SO trivial, how did Jesus' disciples feel when they went to share the gospel and were persecuted? How do our brothers and sisters in China, Pakistan, Iran, India, etc, feel today? How did/does JESUS feel when he was rejected? These guys all had something IMPORTANT to say, NOT for themselves, and faced, or are currently facing, DEATH for it.
Check this out (we are indeed spoiled in America -- I forget much of the world is NOT so tolerant ):
http://www.christianpersecution.info/
Talk about putting things in proper perspective.
First, they didn't do anything to deserve me getting annoyed, and second, I was almost certainly trying to manufacture some kind of contribution to selfishly glorify myself, rather than say something for their benefit. So great, I was annoyed for no good reason, it was my own fault, and it had nothing to do with glorifying God at all. Happy day. I guess the first step to being less of an idiot is to recognize you're one, and then ask Jesus to help you.
But it did get me thinking, so there is some silver lining (yes, ME thinking is not always a good thing, but in this case maybe it is):
If I felt this way about something SO trivial, how did Jesus' disciples feel when they went to share the gospel and were persecuted? How do our brothers and sisters in China, Pakistan, Iran, India, etc, feel today? How did/does JESUS feel when he was rejected? These guys all had something IMPORTANT to say, NOT for themselves, and faced, or are currently facing, DEATH for it.
Check this out (we are indeed spoiled in America -- I forget much of the world is NOT so tolerant ):
http://www.christianpersecution.info/
Talk about putting things in proper perspective.
Christian Hedonism
A couple times when I was talking with David, the term "Christian Hedonism" (along with John Piper who coined the term) came up. I finally took a cursory look myself at the concept tonight.
John Piper's short and sweet summary is that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. That didn't help me a whole lot, but these did:
"Obeying God is the only route to final and lasting happiness."
"Don't do good deeds for worldly advantage; rather do them for spiritual, heavenly benefits."
That last one just summed up something that has been on my mind as of late, especially after watching one of Duncan's talks on storing up your treasure in heaven. I was wrestling lately with these two approaches to doing good deeds: 1) do good deeds solely to please God without thinking about any future heavenly reward or 2) do good deeds because you're seeking to build up your treasure in heaven. Piper answers this very clearly for me, showing that we are in fact commanded to do #2.
I have yet to read Piper's book (Desiring God) or explore the Bible verses he quotes myself, but this was just the answer to the big question running around in my head tonight -- yes it is definitely okay to seek opportunity to build up my treasure in heaven and find joy in it -- in fact, that's what we're supposed to do!
My big problem now is working on finding the joy more and more often, rather than taking a more duty-driven approach; I suspect it will be easier now. :-)
Here is the great article about Christian Hedonism is:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1797_We_Want_You_to_Be_a_Christian_Hedonist/
John Piper's short and sweet summary is that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. That didn't help me a whole lot, but these did:
"Obeying God is the only route to final and lasting happiness."
"Don't do good deeds for worldly advantage; rather do them for spiritual, heavenly benefits."
That last one just summed up something that has been on my mind as of late, especially after watching one of Duncan's talks on storing up your treasure in heaven. I was wrestling lately with these two approaches to doing good deeds: 1) do good deeds solely to please God without thinking about any future heavenly reward or 2) do good deeds because you're seeking to build up your treasure in heaven. Piper answers this very clearly for me, showing that we are in fact commanded to do #2.
I have yet to read Piper's book (Desiring God) or explore the Bible verses he quotes myself, but this was just the answer to the big question running around in my head tonight -- yes it is definitely okay to seek opportunity to build up my treasure in heaven and find joy in it -- in fact, that's what we're supposed to do!
My big problem now is working on finding the joy more and more often, rather than taking a more duty-driven approach; I suspect it will be easier now. :-)
Here is the great article about Christian Hedonism is:
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1797_We_Want_You_to_Be_a_Christian_Hedonist/
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Become Less
Trinity asked me what the shirt today I was wearing meant. I gave her a halfway okay answer, maybe, I think, but I wasn't sure it was completely correct. I don't even remember what the answer was now. I'll be able to give her a better one next time, because its kind of cool that it was the focus of today's message at church (even though the verse on my shirt wasn't mentioned): "He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:30).
The message today started talking about complacent Christians who lost that hunger to really know God and His will, caring more about what the world thinks than what God thinks. Instead of making God big and us small, we make us big and God small. Then it switched up to a great Biblical example of someone who got it dead on: Noah.
Noah must not have cared much what the world thought. He was building an ark for a crazy long time. The nearest body of water was very far away. It hadn't rained yet, ever. People must have thought he was nuts. A good guy, yeah, but nuts! That must not have mattered to Noah; what mattered to him was what God wanted him to do, and he did it. God was number one to Noah.
I get the meaning of the verse better now. It fits in with the pretty common theme of "you know, its really not all about YOU".
The message today started talking about complacent Christians who lost that hunger to really know God and His will, caring more about what the world thinks than what God thinks. Instead of making God big and us small, we make us big and God small. Then it switched up to a great Biblical example of someone who got it dead on: Noah.
Noah must not have cared much what the world thought. He was building an ark for a crazy long time. The nearest body of water was very far away. It hadn't rained yet, ever. People must have thought he was nuts. A good guy, yeah, but nuts! That must not have mattered to Noah; what mattered to him was what God wanted him to do, and he did it. God was number one to Noah.
I get the meaning of the verse better now. It fits in with the pretty common theme of "you know, its really not all about YOU".
Friday, September 19, 2008
No Charge For Love
My Mom sent this to me in her last letter. I don't know where she got it, but its great.
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the four pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy. "Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies." "Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment. The reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer, and with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up.
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would." With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specailly made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands." With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully, he handed it to the little boy. "How much?" asked the little boy. "No charger," answered the farmer. "There's no charge for love."
The world is full of people who need someone who understands.
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the four pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy. "Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies." "Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment. The reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?" "Sure," said the farmer, and with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called. Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up.
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would." With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specailly made shoe.
Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands." With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully, he handed it to the little boy. "How much?" asked the little boy. "No charger," answered the farmer. "There's no charge for love."
The world is full of people who need someone who understands.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Man And The Monkey
I heard this on Bob Dutko today and thought it was great.
Imagine if you put a man and a monkey in a room with paint and canvas and lock the door. You hire the best security experts in the world to make sure no one goes in and no one comes out. Then you come back 10 hours later and open the door. The man and the monkey are still there, and the canvas has been painted. The painting is a good knock off of the Mona Lisa.
Who painted it? Unless your a nut or messing with me, you would say "the man, of course".
Prove it.
Its not a trick. You can't. All you can really do is look at the evidence before you and come to the most logical conclusion based on that evidence.
The same is true with the existence of God. Many who don't believe in God say that those of us who do are being illogical. I disagree. With the evidence before me, I find that the most logical conclusion based on that evidence is that God exists, and that it takes a much larger leap of faith to believe in a universe that exists without God.
Rom 1:19-20 says "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."
God has indeed given us plenty of evidence for His existence; we just have to open our hearts, open our minds, and pay attention.
Imagine if you put a man and a monkey in a room with paint and canvas and lock the door. You hire the best security experts in the world to make sure no one goes in and no one comes out. Then you come back 10 hours later and open the door. The man and the monkey are still there, and the canvas has been painted. The painting is a good knock off of the Mona Lisa.
Who painted it? Unless your a nut or messing with me, you would say "the man, of course".
Prove it.
Its not a trick. You can't. All you can really do is look at the evidence before you and come to the most logical conclusion based on that evidence.
The same is true with the existence of God. Many who don't believe in God say that those of us who do are being illogical. I disagree. With the evidence before me, I find that the most logical conclusion based on that evidence is that God exists, and that it takes a much larger leap of faith to believe in a universe that exists without God.
Rom 1:19-20 says "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse."
God has indeed given us plenty of evidence for His existence; we just have to open our hearts, open our minds, and pay attention.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Donkeys And Elephants In The Room
My good friend David and I were talking during lunch the other day when some political talk came up. He brought up a good point to think about -- I'm paraphrasing now from my shoddy memory mind you, so these are not direct quotes, and I pray I don't misrepresent him: How much should we as Christians get involved in the political realm? Many spend a great deal of time protesting against, or campaigning for, laws concerning morality, but in doing so, aren't we just pointing out the "elephant in the room" that the world is sinful?
If we spent a great deal of energy fighting for a law to make [insert hot button issue of the day] illegal, what have we accomplished? Sure we've probably stopped something from happening, but have we changed any hearts? Isn't the heart what really needs to change ? If we only change the law and not the hearts of many, how long will the change last (prohibition may be a fair example here)?
If I recall correctly, David said he remembered there is some Biblical guidance for this, but not off the top of his head. I was determined tonight to settle the issue (in my mind anyway) from a Biblical perspective and be done with it. I have most likely failed in that respect, but I did come across this paper I liked (and a lot of other junk I'm not linking to):
http://www.valleybible.net/PositionPapers/Politics.pdf
On a final note, I linked to the article before finishing it completely. It made me smile to see, near the end, the phrase "...change only comes from the heart." Very true.
If we spent a great deal of energy fighting for a law to make [insert hot button issue of the day]
If I recall correctly, David said he remembered there is some Biblical guidance for this, but not off the top of his head. I was determined tonight to settle the issue (in my mind anyway) from a Biblical perspective and be done with it. I have most likely failed in that respect, but I did come across this paper I liked (and a lot of other junk I'm not linking to):
http://www.valleybible.net/PositionPapers/Politics.pdf
On a final note, I linked to the article before finishing it completely. It made me smile to see, near the end, the phrase "...change only comes from the heart." Very true.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Role Playing
I've been watching more of Duncan's series of videos going through Matthew, and its very good. One in particular that ties in with the message from Pastor Harry at CRB last weekend is called "Role-play or Relationship", found here:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4452205795069909664
The message from this weekend was about being sick of religion but hungry for God. I can testify to being sick of "religion" where I'm just going through the motions, doing what's expected, but not really engaging in it, believing it, or enjoying it. I can also testify to getting further and further from a relationship with God as I withdrew from "religion", thinking it was all the same empty junk. Lastly I can testify to how when I started to have a relationship with God, it changed my heart and my perspective. For me this really started to happen when I repented, accepted that Jesus Christ died in payment for my sins, was raised from the dead, and asked Him to take control of my life.
From the message notes: "You need an Abraham in your life because just going through the motions is never enough to satisfy the heart God put in you!"
And on the same note, the study Duncan went through focuses on the first part of Matthew 6, show various actions, their purpose, and the result. Doing good deeds in public so that others see you only glorifies yourself, and you get no reward from God. Telling people about the gifts you've given to look good in front of other people only glorifies yourself, and you get no reward from God. Praying in public to be noticed by other people only glorifies yourself, and you get no reward from God. And so on.
The point is to ask oneself why do I do things? Do I do them for God's glory or my own? Do I do things just to look like a good Christian to the world, or do I have a relationship with God and do things for HIS glory?
I think it was two weeks ago when Pastor Harry asked why he does a lot of the things he does...and promptly answered (paraphrased, as my memory doesn't function too well): "its not for YOU, its for HIM". May I never forget that in my own life.
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4452205795069909664
The message from this weekend was about being sick of religion but hungry for God. I can testify to being sick of "religion" where I'm just going through the motions, doing what's expected, but not really engaging in it, believing it, or enjoying it. I can also testify to getting further and further from a relationship with God as I withdrew from "religion", thinking it was all the same empty junk. Lastly I can testify to how when I started to have a relationship with God, it changed my heart and my perspective. For me this really started to happen when I repented, accepted that Jesus Christ died in payment for my sins, was raised from the dead, and asked Him to take control of my life.
From the message notes: "You need an Abraham in your life because just going through the motions is never enough to satisfy the heart God put in you!"
And on the same note, the study Duncan went through focuses on the first part of Matthew 6, show various actions, their purpose, and the result. Doing good deeds in public so that others see you only glorifies yourself, and you get no reward from God. Telling people about the gifts you've given to look good in front of other people only glorifies yourself, and you get no reward from God. Praying in public to be noticed by other people only glorifies yourself, and you get no reward from God. And so on.
The point is to ask oneself why do I do things? Do I do them for God's glory or my own? Do I do things just to look like a good Christian to the world, or do I have a relationship with God and do things for HIS glory?
I think it was two weeks ago when Pastor Harry asked why he does a lot of the things he does...and promptly answered (paraphrased, as my memory doesn't function too well): "its not for YOU, its for HIM". May I never forget that in my own life.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Tasting Death
I came across “But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.” when reading with Jamie. I thought this was a bit confusing and did some research on it. There is quite an analysis here:
http://precepts.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/contradictions-christ%E2%80%99s-big-mistake-part-2-some-standing-here-shall-not-taste-death/
I think that seems overly complicated. In looking at the many places in which the phrase "kingdom of God" is used, it appears the kingdom of God is what you enter when you are born again by accepting Jesus Christ as your savior. So two things need to be met for the "some standing here": 1) Jesus needs to die and rise from the dead and 2) folks need to accept this sacrifice as their means to salvation.
So despite the above article's claim that I'm most likely incorrect in thinking this, it makes the most sense, to me anyway.
http://precepts.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/contradictions-christ%E2%80%99s-big-mistake-part-2-some-standing-here-shall-not-taste-death/
I think that seems overly complicated. In looking at the many places in which the phrase "kingdom of God" is used, it appears the kingdom of God is what you enter when you are born again by accepting Jesus Christ as your savior. So two things need to be met for the "some standing here": 1) Jesus needs to die and rise from the dead and 2) folks need to accept this sacrifice as their means to salvation.
So despite the above article's claim that I'm most likely incorrect in thinking this, it makes the most sense, to me anyway.
Faith, Works, Paul, and James
I came across an interesting non-existent conflict today, where it appears that Paul claims justification is through faith, and James claims justification is through works. Someone had quoted from James saying that "some religionists today advocate that man is saved by faith only", and I thought "well, yeah, that's right -- and good works come from that -- you're not saved because you do a bunch of good stuff to earn your way into heaven -- if that were true, Christ died for nothing".
As such, I felt compelled to look up the part from James he was talking about. The quoted part is only 2:24 -- "you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone". Well, that by itself didn't sound right. Taken in context its pretty clear that in James 2, good works do come through faith, and James' point appears to be that if you're just claiming "yeah, I have faith"...well, you really are probably just saying that and not backing up your statement with your actions.
2:17-18 sums it up nicely I think -- "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
I still decided to take a further look and came across this link that discusses the (non-)controversy:
http://www.biblicaltheology.com/Research/CarterJ01.html
Worth a read if after reading James you still think there is disagreement.
As such, I felt compelled to look up the part from James he was talking about. The quoted part is only 2:24 -- "you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone". Well, that by itself didn't sound right. Taken in context its pretty clear that in James 2, good works do come through faith, and James' point appears to be that if you're just claiming "yeah, I have faith"...well, you really are probably just saying that and not backing up your statement with your actions.
2:17-18 sums it up nicely I think -- "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."
I still decided to take a further look and came across this link that discusses the (non-)controversy:
http://www.biblicaltheology.com/Research/CarterJ01.html
Worth a read if after reading James you still think there is disagreement.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Faith
Joy brought up something that sounded very bogus that she heard someone say once: "Even those who have never heard about Jesus are condemned to hell". That doesn't sound very fair; however, God IS fair. So either the statement is wrong, or God isn't fair. I'm not about to tell God that He is not fair, so I went to examine what's wrong with the statement. Here's a good answer to the question "What about the person who never heard of Jesus?":
http://www.rapturealert.com/whataboutfaq.html
The gist of it is: If someone has heard the gospel and rejects Jesus, bad news for them. This include skeptics, atheists, etc, who have heard and don't believe. If someone hasn't heard the gospel then God in His fairness judges them according to what they do know. If they were the village murderer, probably not so good for them.
A really good example is Abraham. He didn't have the old testament law (it didn't exist yet!), nor did he have the new testament gospel. He had faith in God.
http://www.rapturealert.com/whataboutfaq.html
The gist of it is: If someone has heard the gospel and rejects Jesus, bad news for them. This include skeptics, atheists, etc, who have heard and don't believe. If someone hasn't heard the gospel then God in His fairness judges them according to what they do know. If they were the village murderer, probably not so good for them.
A really good example is Abraham. He didn't have the old testament law (it didn't exist yet!), nor did he have the new testament gospel. He had faith in God.
Essentials
Thought I would summarize what I got from the first 10 essentials videos Duncan put together:
1. The Purpose Of Life. The purpose of life is to glorify God.
2. What's man's problem? Man's big problem is he always breaks God's moral law and falls short of God's glory. We're all in the same category, lawbreakers, sinners.
3. The Substitute. God does have to punish lawbreakers; He does not have to forgive anyone; however, He loves us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins. Propitiation = a sacrifice that turns away God's anger, and makes him favourable to us.
4. Redemption. Jesus bought slaves [us] on the cross, for we were slaves to sin, the result of which is death. This is an inescapable prison for us. The ransom price is too high for us, but not for Jesus. He gave his life as a ransom for many so that our sins may be forgiven. Our response should be to accept what He did, put our trust in Him, and glorify God!
5. Justification. Justification is a legal delcaration of "not guilty". The opposite is condemnation. If you trust Jesus to save you, then you are justified before the Father. The two parts to justification are 1) the forgiveness of sins (taking away the -s) and 2) imputation of Christ's righteousness (adding on +s). Justification is entirely by grace (unmerited favour -- given something you don't deserve), not by works -- so no one can boast.
6. Adopted. Contrary to myth, we're not all God's children Biblically. We get the right to become children of God when we have faith in Jesus. I.e. faith is the means by which we are adopted. God relates to us as a father by loving us, showing compassion to us, knowing our needs, giving gifts to us, giving us an inheritance, disciplining us, leading us by His spirit, and making us aware of our adoption. We relate to God as His children by praying to Him, asking for forgiveness, imitating our Father, and suffering for God. Remember also that other believers are family.
7. Conversion. Someone becomes a Christian by 1) trusting in Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life and 2) repenting (turn from sin) and turning to God, performing deeds in keeping with his/her repentance. The point isn't to clean things up and then turn to Jesus -- turn to him and ask Him to help you!
8. Unable to come. Man is unable to come to God on his own. Man is spiritually dead, does wrong from birth, has evil thoughts, has a heard heart, is under the power of the devil, suppresses the truth, does not understand God, and does not seek God. Without God's work in a person's life, they will never come to Jesus (you can't manipulate people into being Christians -- God does that, not men -- nor can you boast that you turned to Christ).
9. Drawn by the Father. Man is unable to come (to believe). The Father can draw people to Jesus. Salvation is a work of God. God opens hearts, gives repentance, and gives faith. Its all God. No one can boast about turning to Christ; therefore, no Christian should ever look down on a non-Christian. Also, since its all God, this means everyone should be given the gospel, not just people that WE think might accept it.
10. Chosen by Grace. You did not choose God, He chose you. It was not based on anything good you would do. It was based on grace and mercy. God is free to distribute mercy as He wants. If He did not choose anyone, then no-one would ever turn to Christ. This doctrine should lead to praise.
Note that 9 and 10 deal with the doctrine of election. This is a tough one to get my head around. The following articles helped me understand it better:
http://www.albatrus.org/english/theology/soteriology/salvation_doctrine.htm
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=1551
1. The Purpose Of Life. The purpose of life is to glorify God.
2. What's man's problem? Man's big problem is he always breaks God's moral law and falls short of God's glory. We're all in the same category, lawbreakers, sinners.
3. The Substitute. God does have to punish lawbreakers; He does not have to forgive anyone; however, He loves us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins. Propitiation = a sacrifice that turns away God's anger, and makes him favourable to us.
4. Redemption. Jesus bought slaves [us] on the cross, for we were slaves to sin, the result of which is death. This is an inescapable prison for us. The ransom price is too high for us, but not for Jesus. He gave his life as a ransom for many so that our sins may be forgiven. Our response should be to accept what He did, put our trust in Him, and glorify God!
5. Justification. Justification is a legal delcaration of "not guilty". The opposite is condemnation. If you trust Jesus to save you, then you are justified before the Father. The two parts to justification are 1) the forgiveness of sins (taking away the -s) and 2) imputation of Christ's righteousness (adding on +s). Justification is entirely by grace (unmerited favour -- given something you don't deserve), not by works -- so no one can boast.
6. Adopted. Contrary to myth, we're not all God's children Biblically. We get the right to become children of God when we have faith in Jesus. I.e. faith is the means by which we are adopted. God relates to us as a father by loving us, showing compassion to us, knowing our needs, giving gifts to us, giving us an inheritance, disciplining us, leading us by His spirit, and making us aware of our adoption. We relate to God as His children by praying to Him, asking for forgiveness, imitating our Father, and suffering for God. Remember also that other believers are family.
7. Conversion. Someone becomes a Christian by 1) trusting in Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life and 2) repenting (turn from sin) and turning to God, performing deeds in keeping with his/her repentance. The point isn't to clean things up and then turn to Jesus -- turn to him and ask Him to help you!
8. Unable to come. Man is unable to come to God on his own. Man is spiritually dead, does wrong from birth, has evil thoughts, has a heard heart, is under the power of the devil, suppresses the truth, does not understand God, and does not seek God. Without God's work in a person's life, they will never come to Jesus (you can't manipulate people into being Christians -- God does that, not men -- nor can you boast that you turned to Christ).
9. Drawn by the Father. Man is unable to come (to believe). The Father can draw people to Jesus. Salvation is a work of God. God opens hearts, gives repentance, and gives faith. Its all God. No one can boast about turning to Christ; therefore, no Christian should ever look down on a non-Christian. Also, since its all God, this means everyone should be given the gospel, not just people that WE think might accept it.
10. Chosen by Grace. You did not choose God, He chose you. It was not based on anything good you would do. It was based on grace and mercy. God is free to distribute mercy as He wants. If He did not choose anyone, then no-one would ever turn to Christ. This doctrine should lead to praise.
Note that 9 and 10 deal with the doctrine of election. This is a tough one to get my head around. The following articles helped me understand it better:
http://www.albatrus.org/english/theology/soteriology/salvation_doctrine.htm
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=1551
Friday, September 12, 2008
E-Sword
I must plug this E-Sword application I just downloaded tonight. Its free Bible study software with free modules (different translations, commentaries, graphics (maps), etc). It lets you search. Its lets you take notes. It lets you compare side by side. It lets you sync up the gospel accounts. Its great!
http://www.e-sword.net/
Props to my buddy David for telling me about it.
http://www.e-sword.net/
Props to my buddy David for telling me about it.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Stand Up For Jesus
First I have to throw out some lyrics from the Newsboys:
---
Living for Jesus is the way I will go
I’ll follow Him always, don’t care what men say
I’ve been on both sides and I know where I’ll stay
The light He has shown me will not fade away
Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus
Oh can’t you hear me, He’s the way
Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus
Oh can’t you hear me, He’s the way
Where are you standing if you were to fall
Religion won’t help you if He calls on you now
Stand up and be counted say I’m for the Lord
Don’t keep so quiet, go forth and be bold
---
I think that song is just great. I was listening to Duncan again today and paid some attention when he was talking about preaching the gospel and being the light. Matthew 5:14-15 for example: "You are the world's light; it is impossible to hide a town built on top of a hill. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bucket. They put it on a lampstand, and it gives light for everybody in the house."
The above song came to mind as he was talking.
Later in the day, something else came to mind. There was another Trinity in Trinity's kindergarten class last year. I remember ONE thing that she ever did on work I saw all year long. It was an assignment to write about yourself to the class (I think), and her sentences started something like "My name is Trinity. I'm a Christian. And...".
We sure can learn a lot from kids. This 5 year old girl stood up proudly for Jesus. If she can do it, so can anyone else. I pray that I don't dim or hide my light.
---
Living for Jesus is the way I will go
I’ll follow Him always, don’t care what men say
I’ve been on both sides and I know where I’ll stay
The light He has shown me will not fade away
Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus
Oh can’t you hear me, He’s the way
Stand up, stand up, stand up for Jesus
Oh can’t you hear me, He’s the way
Where are you standing if you were to fall
Religion won’t help you if He calls on you now
Stand up and be counted say I’m for the Lord
Don’t keep so quiet, go forth and be bold
---
I think that song is just great. I was listening to Duncan again today and paid some attention when he was talking about preaching the gospel and being the light. Matthew 5:14-15 for example: "You are the world's light; it is impossible to hide a town built on top of a hill. Men do not light a lamp and put it under a bucket. They put it on a lampstand, and it gives light for everybody in the house."
The above song came to mind as he was talking.
Later in the day, something else came to mind. There was another Trinity in Trinity's kindergarten class last year. I remember ONE thing that she ever did on work I saw all year long. It was an assignment to write about yourself to the class (I think), and her sentences started something like "My name is Trinity. I'm a Christian. And...
We sure can learn a lot from kids. This 5 year old girl stood up proudly for Jesus. If she can do it, so can anyone else. I pray that I don't dim or hide my light.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Heart Disease
I watched some of Duncan's videos going through Matthew and the following stuck enough to prompt a post about it: The pure in heart will enjoy God in their life. Lots of our hearts are hardened, but we can fix that.
First, confess your sins to Jesus.
Second, avoid things that contaminate the heart. This could be places, people, things you watch, things you listen to, etc.
Third, remember that, if you have accepted Him, Jesus paid for your sins on the cross with His blood. He has paid the price in full, so don't doubt Him by letting guilt overwhelm you and take over your life. We are all in the same boat, we just need to trust in Him.
Fourth, pray that God would improve your heart.
If you want the full message (I recommend it, three minutes of my rambling is not as effective), you can check it out through the New Life Church web site. Here's the direct link (as of this post anyway):
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1779473642795303380
First, confess your sins to Jesus.
Second, avoid things that contaminate the heart. This could be places, people, things you watch, things you listen to, etc.
Third, remember that, if you have accepted Him, Jesus paid for your sins on the cross with His blood. He has paid the price in full, so don't doubt Him by letting guilt overwhelm you and take over your life. We are all in the same boat, we just need to trust in Him.
Fourth, pray that God would improve your heart.
If you want the full message (I recommend it, three minutes of my rambling is not as effective), you can check it out through the New Life Church web site. Here's the direct link (as of this post anyway):
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1779473642795303380
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Bob Dutko
I listen to the Bob Dutko show most of the time when I'm driving home between 5 and 6. In fact I listened to his show before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior and considered myself a Christian. His show played some part in my journey I'm sure, and its interesting how I came across it in the first place.
About a year ago, a friend of mine happened to mention the John and Ken show (which I don't listen to much any more) which is at 640AM. About six months ago I started listening to that show fairly regularly; however, there were a lot of commercials, so I found that at 760AM there was another show that was equally interesting. I think it was the Savage Nation, but I'm not 100% on that. Now since these two were so close together, I'd often just hit the seek button to flip between the two when one would go to commercial.
After a bit of time at that, I noticed that on this station between the two, 740AM, there was this guy Bob Dutko who had a show where he would defend Christianity using logic and science, and he would actually have discussions with his guests, many of whom shared completely opposite viewpoints (as opposed to screaming like a lunatic at the guests like...I don't know...politically oriented shows on Fox).
After I while I got tired of the other shows and just left it at 740AM and got a dose of great information -- all starting with a 5 second comment about some loudmouth guys on the radio a year ago. That's pretty cool.
About a year ago, a friend of mine happened to mention the John and Ken show (which I don't listen to much any more) which is at 640AM. About six months ago I started listening to that show fairly regularly; however, there were a lot of commercials, so I found that at 760AM there was another show that was equally interesting. I think it was the Savage Nation, but I'm not 100% on that. Now since these two were so close together, I'd often just hit the seek button to flip between the two when one would go to commercial.
After a bit of time at that, I noticed that on this station between the two, 740AM, there was this guy Bob Dutko who had a show where he would defend Christianity using logic and science, and he would actually have discussions with his guests, many of whom shared completely opposite viewpoints (as opposed to screaming like a lunatic at the guests like...I don't know...politically oriented shows on Fox).
After I while I got tired of the other shows and just left it at 740AM and got a dose of great information -- all starting with a 5 second comment about some loudmouth guys on the radio a year ago. That's pretty cool.
Serving Others
I came across the card ministry link under the volunteer section on our church's website last night. I'll have to admit, I didn't get it, and I thought "What kind of good work is that, putting together cards? That seems pretty trivial."
So on the radio this morning I heard part of a sermon from Pastor Jeremiah at Shadow Mountain where he talked about how at the last supper, Jesus' disciples were arguing about who was to be the greatest when Jesus, their leader, got down and washed their feet, which turns out was one of the most menial tasks in that culture, given to the lowliest of servants.
Jamie mentioned to me later in the day that she was thinking of helping with the card ministry and explained what it was in more detail. In fact, I didn't connect the two events above until she mentioned it.
If Jesus can wash the feet of his disciples, who am I to say that "I'm above"?
So on the radio this morning I heard part of a sermon from Pastor Jeremiah at Shadow Mountain where he talked about how at the last supper, Jesus' disciples were arguing about who was to be the greatest when Jesus, their leader, got down and washed their feet, which turns out was one of the most menial tasks in that culture, given to the lowliest of servants.
Jamie mentioned to me later in the day that she was thinking of helping with the card ministry and explained what it was in more detail. In fact, I didn't connect the two events above until she mentioned it.
If Jesus can wash the feet of his disciples, who am I to say that "I'm above
Monday, September 8, 2008
Creation: Blog and Universe
I have a blog now, scary. So out of the millions things to write about in the first post, I will write about this argument I heard on the Bob Dutko show today that I liked (the gist of it anyway):
You have three options for the creation of the universe:
1) The universe is eternal.
2) The universe was created some time in the past without any supernatural event.
3) The universe was created some time in the past with a supernatural event.
#1 violates the second law of thermodynamics. It cannot have lasted forever or it would have used up all the energy available for work. The universe must have been created with a lot of usable energy and is now running down.
See http://www.answersingenesis.org/Docs/370.asp for more.
#2 violates the first law of thermodynamics. It cannot have been created from nothing.
See http://www.direct.ca/trinity/1law.html for more.
#3 is left, where some supernatural event happened outside the bounds of these laws that caused space-time and matter to be created. In the face of that, I'll say it was God. If you don't want to say it was God, then what do you say caused this supernatural event?
You have three options for the creation of the universe:
1) The universe is eternal.
2) The universe was created some time in the past without any supernatural event.
3) The universe was created some time in the past with a supernatural event.
#1 violates the second law of thermodynamics. It cannot have lasted forever or it would have used up all the energy available for work. The universe must have been created with a lot of usable energy and is now running down.
See http://www.answersingenesis.org/Docs/370.asp for more.
#2 violates the first law of thermodynamics. It cannot have been created from nothing.
See http://www.direct.ca/trinity/1law.html for more.
#3 is left, where some supernatural event happened outside the bounds of these laws that caused space-time and matter to be created. In the face of that, I'll say it was God. If you don't want to say it was God, then what do you say caused this supernatural event?
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