Sola Fide

I've been reading a book about a couple who grew up solidly on the Word of God, was very against the Catholic church, and eventually through their study in the Word came to the conclusion that the Catholic church was the true church founded by Jesus Christ. While I'll obviously disagree with some of the arguments in the book, it's still an interesting read.

The man did make some good points I never thought about how the different covenants in the Bible (with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David) were connected and how the groups involved grew from a couple to a family to a tribe to a nation to a kingdom -- until at the end you reach the new universal covenant through Jesus Christ. I've never really looked into the different covenants all together before, so that to me was an interesting approach about how the bigger picture went.

But now on to the main two points of this pair of posts -- sola fide and sola scriptura. The man he said that through his studies, these two pillars of the Reformation, which he held as the only pillars, were knocked over for him. Those are what I want to think and talk about here. For today, I'll deal with sola fide. I wanted to deal with both, but this ended up to be a very long post as it is.

Sola Fide

Sola fide means "faith alone". In other words, we're justified, or made right with God, solely by our faith in Christ, not our faith plus works we do. Now I didn't quite follow how the man's logic went as he told his story, but he did quote two verses, James 2:24 (a man is justified by works and not by faith alone) and 1 Corinthians 13:2 (if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing). Well those sound pretty compelling on the surface, but you can make a lot of things compelling when you take them out of context.

First let's look at the James verse. There's a part of the verse missing. It starts "You see, a man is justified...". He is concluding an argument. Go read the rest of James chapter 2 for the full argument. He uses the word faith in two ways. One way is "lip service" which is bogus faith. In other words you say that you believe but that's about it. The Bible has a lot more to say about that kind of non "faith", and it's never anything good. The other ways is "real faith". What kind of faith is real? The kind that produces something -- for there will absolutely be evidence in your life to show that your faith is real. If someone can't look at your life and tell that you have a heart for God, you should be very troubled.

Now let's look at the 1 Corinthians verse -- the argument here seems to be that I am nothing if I have faith but not love -- so to be something, I must have faith plus love, which is shown by my good works. How about the verse just after it too, though? "If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." Those are works, that without love, make him nothing. There's other stuff in that passage too, that, without love, makes him nothing. One might say then "well then, I need faith, and works, and love, and " but read the whole passage and get the context. Paul isn't talking about justification anywhere in the passage -- he's talking about the importance of love and what it looks like. That's it.

Now, to be fair to the man, he's not presenting his full argument in this book -- just telling his story and throwing in some key points. I'm sure these two verses aren't the extent of his supposed discovery, but for a person who writes about himself as a student of the Word, to take them out of context like that to argue an important point is not a good thing.

What his wife said in her explanation resonated with me more: "Justification meant being made a child of God and being called to live a life as a faithful child of God through faith working in love." I read that and thought "duh" but I also don't see how in the world that goes against sola fide. I'm really not quite sure what she understood it to mean before! Absolutely justification means being made a child of God, and after you're justified, you're called to, and will, produce fruit -- with the Spirit in you, you'll have a desire to obey God and live a life that glorifies him.

Look at how it works from my understanding and experience -- you repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ. That in itself is a gift from God, and recognizing it as such glorifies him. We're not talking "I said the sinner's prayer and I'm good to go" nonsense, we're talking "Jesus barged into my life with a wrecking ball and got me" faith. Okay, at that point, you're justified. Born again of the Spirit. A new creation. Adopted into sonship. Bye bye heart of stone, and hello heart of flesh. After that, what are you going to do? Walk the walk without taking away the credit from God -- glorifying him. What about when you fall? Mourn over your sin and thank God for his grace and mercy in forgiving you and picking you up -- glorifying him.

Notice there's a running theme here, and it's not about you.

So however you say the words to understand this mystery of being "right with God" through Jesus Christ, never go down that dangerous road where you think "I NEED to do [whatever] TO BE or STAY in good standing with God." It's evil. The proper response for the Spirit filled believer is "I WANT to do [whatever] BECAUSE I'm ALREADY in good standing with God."

The first takes the focus off God and puts it on you. The second takes the focus off you and puts it on God. Only one of those glorifies him.

God, I Thank You

I've been listening to John Piper the past two days and must say that is one solid dude in Christ. I will not be so foolish as to glorify the messenger, so praise God for working through this man to teach the Word clearly to all who turn their ear to him. Much of what I am saying here comes from greater understanding I have because of this message:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/did-jesus-preach-the-gospel-of-evangelicalism

I listened to a teaching of a story Jesus told today that floored me in a sense. It's short, and I've heard it and read it many times -- so much that I've never really slowed down in it enough to check out the details. There are just some things in the Word that are right in front of my nose sometimes that I don't even see. That's probably a sad pointer that I should get into it more and do more of my own studying.

The story is very short, so let me just put it here, from Luke 18:10-14:

"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Whenever I got to this, I thought "Duh, it's against works righteousness. All this crap I do doesn't earn me anything before God. The point is that it's God who does the saving, not our own efforts."

I missed something that is so small and yet so huge. It lies solidly in four words -- "God, I thank you". The Pharisee was NOT a legalist trying earn his own righteousness with his good works -- he thanked God for making him the way he was. Thus, he gave God the credit for the change inside of him. That's not earning anything.

Let me pause and throw in a side story here. The story is one I've heard of a Sunday school teacher who teaches the story and then blows it at the end by saying "Thank you God, that we're not like the Pharisee." The person telling the story says the teacher blew it because she was acting just like the Pharisee. Now I admit I didn't quite get that. I thought she was okay -- after all, if the Pharisee was trying to earn something, then wasn't it right to say "Thank you that we're not like him" -- not to be superior in anyway, but because we understand that salvation is a gift from God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross -- nothing we earn.

I missed it, but I get it now.

The Sunday school teacher and the Pharisee acted in the same manner, not because they trusted in themselves -- neither did. They both gave God credit for making a change in them; however, despite giving God the credit for the change, they both still looked to themselves and their own righteousness for justification -- even though they acknowledged it was God given.

Let me make that more plain, maybe just for myself -- if we look to our own righteousness as a basis for our standing before God, even if we give God the credit for the change he's made in us, we're looking to the wrong thing. We must ALWAYS point to the cross. It is NEVER our own righteousness that counts for anything -- it is Christ's righteousness given to us by grace that counts before God.

I must admit I have been guilty of this very thing. I don't know to what extent, but I know that I've certainly thanked God for changes he's made in me -- taking bad stuff out and putting good stuff in. I don't think it made me look down on the unsaved in the same way the Pharisee did, as I still remember the old life I came from and know how easily I could have been in much dire straits in life on this earth. But I do know that I've looked down on my own brothers and sisters -- jumping to quick judgment on perceived sin in their lives -- focusing on specks in their eyes without seeing the plank in my own. I know I've been critical of members of my spiritual family and failed to show grace in the same way I've been shown grace.

I think this evil in my mind almost certainly was a result of falling into "moral deism" to some extent and looking inward instead of to the cross, always to the cross. I can't say there wasn't good intent behind any of it. I still think there's a lot of "easy believism" without any move toward holiness and honoring God with our very lives, and I still think there's a lot of knowing what God's Word says and then ignoring it. I want such evil in my life less and less, but I don't want the pursuit toward that end to make me ever, ever, EVER forget that when I stand before God, I don't want him to be looking at anything in me, other than Christ and his righteousness that was freely given to me.

Let us never boast "I was a wretch that God saved and made good!" but rather let us boast "I am a wretch that God saved, isn't he good?" Let us never forget that moral transformation is not the root of our good standing before God -- rather it is the fruit of our good standing before God that came about solely by grace through our faith in Christ.

Would Not or Could Not?

So I've been reading through the Bible straight from Genesis. I'm at 1 Kings now. Things have been up and down for the Israelites. I know what's coming. It's not good. More disobedience. A split kingdom. Kings leading Israel down a moral sewer. Judgment. This is not new. It's been a roller`coaster ride for them ever since the were led out of Egypt.

More interesting is that God knew this kind of madness is what was going to happen. He's not taken by surprise. Yet he still gave them the promises with blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience anyway. He even told them through his servants this is what you're going to do and what's going to go down. He offered choice despite knowing what would be foolishly chosen.

A question came into my mind. Is this a would or a could? Would the Israelites obey? We know the answer, generally, no. But what about could? Could they even obey? I don't mean that from some kind of fatalistic position where God is controlling them like robots. Nothing like that. But, still, could they? I say maybe no. "What, you're nuts! They made their free choice!" Hear me out. Paul's argument about the purpose of the Law came to mind -- to reveal what sin is -- not knowing what coveting was until the Law said not to covet for example.

So here's my argument.

They could not obey God because they were sinners. But God knew this. So why demand it? Perhaps to teach them to depend on him. That seems like the real choice. Not to follow what God says on our own power, but to say "God, I can't do this on my own, I need you to help me do it." I say we can't obey God without trusting in God and depending on God, and neither could they.

Take it a step further. I would also argue that they couldn't fully depend on God either. Sure, they could depend on him some -- some more than others at various times. But sin still got in the way. Big time for many, as most didn't seem to get that whole dependence thing down. Over time, it ruined the nation. What was once a people hand picked by God with him as their king turned into a mess of dead ritual and empty works. Not good.

In comes Jesus. Number one, he came to be a sacrifice for that blasted sin thing, paying the price once and for all. But he also came to be an example. And what an example he was! Here was someone who lived a life completely dependent on God. Both human and divine, he was the only one who could do it. After his ministry, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension back into heaven, he sent -- and continues to send -- another wonderful gift to believers. Those who believe have God's Spirit living in them.

So as believers, we're good to go now, right?

Well, as far as salvation is concerned, yes -- but I argue that we are experience the same kind of very long lesson all over again, with a twist.

Here's my argument to that end.

We can't obey God fully because we are sinners. Period. Even with God's Spirit we are still sinners. We're just not slaves to sin. We don't revel in it. We don't want to sin, but quite often we still do it. Don't believe me? Check it out. If the greatest commandments are boiled down as "love God with everything you've got" and "love your others as yourself" then guess what? Not doing that is a sin. There is no way anyone loves God and loves people that much all the time. Ain't gonna happen. But, still, God told us to do it.

Why?

Same thing. To teach us dependence on him, despite the fact we cannot be fully dependent on him this side of eternity. The ability is not the point, but rather proper perspective -- trusting God and relying on him for the strength to be obedient to him.

With such perspective we pray different prayers. Lord, help us to see our sin and turn from it. Lord, help us not to sin against you. Lord, help us to love you more. Lord, help us to love others more. Lord, help us to keep your Word and never deny your name. Lord help us, Lord help us, Lord help us.

To me, that's what faith is all about.

I might be off in the weeds, but I don't think I am.

Grace and Peace friends.

Blind Obedience?

You know there's a lot of misconceptions about God. One in particular is regarding obedience. There are those who might say that blind obedience is a bad thing. That listening to a bunch of rules because God's Word says to do them is stupid, and that we should think for ourselves.

Well.

First, its not a bad thing. If God says to do something, we ought to do it -- for no other reason than God said to do it. He's the creator of the universe and of all mankind. He made it, he made us, and therefore he gets to make the rules. You can't argue with him. His stuff, his rules.

Now, you can argue that the Bible is not the Word of God, but that is a whole different can of worms. Suffice to say, that the main reason many people deep down reject the Bible as the Word of God is not because of some great logical argument or evidence, but rather that they don't want to be held accountable to God for not listening to what he says. If you can rationalize away the Bible then you can go make up your own god and your own ideas about what this god wants. In effect, you make yourself God. That's a tradgedy.

But back on target, to blind obedience.

Despite the fact that blindly obeying God is a correct thing to do, the Bible doesn't leave us blind anyway! Check it out:

Genesis 4. The Lord asked Cain was he was angry and told him that if he does what is right, he will be accepted, but if he does what is wrong, sin is crouching at the door ready to get him. God doesn't just say "don't be angry" -- he gives Cain a reason. Can just doesn't listen.

Exodus 20. The ten commandments. The Lord gives a command to honor parents so the children may live long in the land they are going to get. Again, God gives a reason.

Leviticus 20. A bunch of laws. The Lord tells the people to keep them so the land will not vomit them out and because the people have been set apart from the other nations. Again, God gives a reason.

Deuteronomy 28. Moses' recap of the events that took place in the past 80 years or so before he died. He tells the people that if they folow the Lord's commands, he will set them high above all the nations on the earth and lists various blessings that will come on them. Again, a reason.

Let's skip to some New Testament stuff.

Matthew 26. "Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Mark 10. "No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present ago and, in the age to come, eternal life."

Luke 12. "Whoever acknowledges me before me, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God."

John 15. "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete."

Revelation 3. The letters to the churches. To those who continue to follow Jesus to the end -- "I will give the right to eat from the tree of life." "He will not be hurt at all by the second death." "I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." "I will give him the morning star." "I will never blot out his name from the book of life." "I will make a pillar in the temple of my God." "I will give the right to sit with me on my throne."

Reason after reason after reason.

No, not every single commandment of God is explained with a reason. That would be silly. We're supposed to TRUST God. Just like our children are supposed to TRUST us as parents. We know better, and there are many things that are way over their heads. Even more so with us and God. But this isn't blind obedience. This is obedience with a purpose behind it. Joy. Peace. Honor. Power. Glory. Eternal life. And yes, avoidance of the wrath to come for those who do not heed God's Word.

We should obey God simply because he is God, and we love him, and we trust him. As a BONUS he throws in all this other awesome stuff too. Yet, somehow, we stiff-necked human beings often thing we know better or that there is a better deal? Shame on us.

Grace and Peace

Complacency

I think I was getting a little too comfortable yesterday evening -- a little too complacent. I was laying in my comfortable big foam bag talking to God with a warm blanket on top of me and a soft pillow under my head. I was safe inside my apartment with no fear of someone breaking in to harm my family or steal our things. I wasn't worried about stray bullets coming through the window or wall. I wasn't worried about whether it would rain tomorrow, how cold it would be, or if I would make it to the food line on time. I wasn't worried about having enough to eat. I wasn't worried about my sick or dying child or wife. I wasn't worried about finding a job before the bank foreclosed. I wasn't worried about getting beaten by my spouse. I wasn't worried about someone sneaking in my room to abuse me. I wasn't worried about a lot of things.

Well, that's good. We shouldn't worry. But more important than what we should or shouldn't do is why. When one's biggest problems are what to eat, what to wear, what to watch, what to read, what to do, and so on -- and not one of those things is a problem, despite what many children and some adults will say -- it seems very easy to get the reason for not worrying wrong.

One with a comfortable life could say "God gave me this great life with many blessings in it. Thank you God!" Rightfully so. We should give thanks to the LORD for all that he gives us. But the question also follows for that person, who or what are you trusting? The gifts or the giver?

Shame on us if we ever trust the gifts more than the giver.

Even if one had to lay on the dirt floor, with no pillow and no blanket, in a bad part of town, in a war-torn and famine-ravished country where the government physically persecutes Christians, with a cancer ridden spouse and child -- that person still needs to put their trust in God.

God reminded me of that this morning through pictures of the earthquaked riddled country of Haiti. So many destroyed buildings. So many people hurt or killed. Pictures of adults covering the crushed bodies of dead children. A father holding his dead daughter in his arms. People wailing because of the loss they are facing. These are hurting people in need of help. What little many had has been taken and thus they must depend wholly on God to see them through this difficult time and provide for their needs.

Thank you God for always providing for your children, but thank you also for opening our eyes to the reality of the broken world in which we live. Thank you for reminding us that when we are greatly blessed, materially, spiritually, or any-other-ally, we also should be a blessing to others.

Its so easy to fail into a pit and let trust in God waiver as our lives move toward either extreme -- either by falling into a pit of despair because of terrible circumstances or by falling into a trap of lukewarm complacency because of comfortable living. We must always remember that the Word says to be content with what we have, not to be content because of what we have.

Grace and Peace brothers and sisters. Please pray for quick and overwhelming relief support, as well as opportunities to open up and be taken to share the gospel with the lost in that country.

Three Bullets

A co-worker posted this:

There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it.

The rabbit ran away. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it.

The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree.

As he went further, he saw a large wild "Tom" turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining.

A voice spoke to him and said, "Pray first, aim high and stay focused."

However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, "I said 'Pray, aim high and stay focused.'"

So, the man decided to listen to God's voice.

He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat for his family. The snake was dead simply because the man listened to God.

The moral of the story:

Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God. Never let others discourage you concerning your past. The past is exactly that, the past. Live every day one day at a time and remember that only God knows our future and that he will not put you through any more than you can bear.

Do not look to man for your blessings, but look to the doors that only He has prepared in advance for you in your favor. Wait, be still and patient. Keep God first and everything else will follow.

Grace and Peace

Dwell In Safety

I was reading through the beginning of the book of Psalms this evening, and this made me think a bit:

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety." (Psalms 4:8)

How interesting to think about that in the context of modern American culture, where we have doors with a gazillion locks on them, alarm systems, gated communities, security guards, cameras, etc. Really the protection most people have on their homes isn't going to stop a whole heck of a lot of someone is determined to do something bad to you. Some people have a ton of security, or perceived security, but really those cheap little locks on just about every door in America isn't going to stop something with a bump key, a lock pick gun, or a heavy foot.

Whatever security we have, or think we have, or don't have, we do have a big gap in how safe and secure we feel -- for certain.

You can go to the richest, safest, most protected neighborhoods on the planet, and you're certain to still find some people who constantly live in fear. Scared someone will break in and take their stuff. Scared someone will come in and do them harm or hold them hostage. Heck, isn't that why these things called "panic rooms" exist in the first place? Probably.

Then you can go to the least protected neighborhoods on the planet where sometimes the cops are even afraid to go, and you're certain to still find some people who doing think twice about it. They walk out of their run down apartment to wherever, passing by a number of folks who would take their life in a heartbeat if there was good reason too.

What's the difference? I don't know in all cases. But in some what else can it besides knowing God and how big he is. One group doesn't know God and/or doesn't trust him to protect them even among their man-provided comfort and safety. The other group knows God very well and recognizes his sovereignty. They are the ones who said "Here am I LORD, send me. Send me to the bad neighborhood. Send me to the jungles. Send me to the remote villages. Send me straight into the lion's den LORD, because I'd rather run a rescue boat up to the gates of hell than stand in the shade of the church steeple."

You know, most of us are somewhere between the two. I know I'm not like the latter, yet that's how we all should feel.

Grace and Peace

What If

Let's play a game called "What if...would we?" The first part is this: What if after our physical bodies died, that was it? I don't mean the atheist version of it, but rather where everything about Christianity remains true, except for any kind of life after death. So what if that was true -- would we still desire to know, love, and serve God? Would we still want to present our lives as a sacrifice to God? Would we still want to be set apart? Would we still desire the things of the Spirit over the things of this world?

That sounds like a tough question.

It has a problem in it at the get-go -- do we who know Christ really want all those things anyway, knowing the wonderful promise of eternal life? Though I would argue that if we don't want all those things now, then we don't really know Christ, or at the very least, we don't know him well. I would argue that if we don't want to give our lives in service to Christ now, then we, or the devil, are just telling us what we want to hear to make ourselves feel better. Maybe that makes us in-name-only Christians. Maybe that makes us lukewarm Christians. Neither is what we could, or should, be.

So we move forward with the assumption that we're genuinely in Christ for the purpose of answering the question.

I know the obvious answer is supposed to be "Yes, of course!" But after thinking about it for a short while the other day, I think my answer to that question at the time was "I don't know." Looking back I see that Satan was throwing a fair number of darts my way that day, because here's where my mind went: So what do you get out of it then? You spend a great deal more of your time focusing on other people and things of the Spirit, and then you're dead and gone. Why bother? Why not just live it up and have as much fun as you can before you're dead?

Then I put the question aside for a while until tonight.

What a stupid line of thinking going through my head. Thank God for the shield of faith.

Our creator gave us so much, including our lives. That alone makes him worthy of praise and worship. He loves us so much that sent his son to die on the cross to pay for our sins and free us from terrible bondage. Faith in his son allows us to live in the presence of God forever. There is nothing greater for us. But, really, even if this life was it, we still gain much through faith in Christ. I can testify to changes in my own heart and life that came through faith in Christ, but really I don't think anything sums it up better than these words of our Lord: "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." (John 15:11)

So if we really think we would not bother with Jesus if there was no promise of eternal life, we need to ask the following about our relationship with God knowing that there IS a promise of eternal life: Is God really first in our lives now? Do we really love Christ, or do we love sin? Do we really want to serve our Lord more than we want to serve ourselves through fulfilling worldly and sinful desires?

It's just a "what if", but its still food for thought, I think. I had a bite either way.

Grace and Peace

Restoration Or Alteration?

I have heard the Mormon phrase "restoration of the gospel" in the past, and again just recently, but I never looked up exactly what that meant. If what I read was true, I am saddened by it. From the LDS website, it is this:

"When Jesus Christ was on the earth, He established His Church among His followers. After His Crucifixion and the deaths of His Apostles, the fulness of the gospel was taken from the earth because of widespread apostasy. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ restored the fulness of the gospel. The true Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth again. Because of the Restoration, the teachings and ordinances necessary for salvation are available to all people."

The phrase "teachings and ordinances necessary for salvation" is very scary already.

Ordinances is further define as:

"In the Church, an ordinance is a sacred, formal act performed by the authority of the priesthood. Some ordinances are essential to our exaltation. These ordinances are called saving ordinances. They include baptism, confirmation, ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood (for men), the temple endowment, and the marriage sealing. With each of these ordinances, we enter into solemn covenants with the Lord."

So "saving ordinances" include all these other things mentioned nowhere as necessary for salvation in the pages of the Bible. Paul makes it quite clear in Romans that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and does not come from ANY kind works we do on our own, including rituals like water baptism.

I had some discussions with one of my Mormon friends in the past, and it seemed clear to me that he believed in salvation by grace through faith, but yet here we have on the LDS website an indication that salvation comes through these other things as well. So I don't know what to think on the subject, but what I have to say is this:

If there is ANYONE out there in ANY organization trusting that their salvation comes something other than faith in Christ, they are dead wrong. It doesn't come from a family line. It doesn't come from affiliation with any certain group. It doesn't come from saying a certain prayer. It doesn't come from some ritual. It doesn't come from doing good works. None of these things will save anyone. All they will do is give people a false sense of security like many Jewish leaders had 2000 years ago. Salvation comes from genuine repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Period.

Grace and Peace

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.