When the Father Calls Your Name

Let me take you somewhere. Jesus has died, and three days later, you, a disciple of Jesus, head to the tomb early in the morning to mourn over the body of your lost Lord. When you arrive at the tomb, you see that his body is gone. You assume someone must have stolen his body and you began to weep because you will never be able to see the body of your Lord again. As your weeping, you turn around and see a man behind all of your tears whom you think is the gardener. He says "Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" and you respond "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." The man responds with one word: Your name. Then it clicks. You realize this man who you thought was the gardener is actually your risen Lord. What made you realize this? Jesus saying your name. When your heavenly Father simply says your name, you will recognize his voice and cry out "Father!" 

After you realize this man is not a gardener but your risen Savior, you embrace him with arms squeezing and joy in your heart. But Jesus says "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 

What would you do? Would you continue to embrace Jesus in fear that this might be the last time you see him? Would you began to weep because you feel as though Jesus didn't want you to simply be with him, but to be with others and proclaim him? Would you actually listen to Jesus and head out shouting to people you know that Jesus has risen? 

This is the story of Mary in John 20:11-18. This story paints an amazing picture of our walk with God. The first thing a Christian usually does as they come to Christ is weep, mourn, and wish they could see their savior. There is a sadness because we realize how rotten we are and how that caused a perfect man to be killed in the most gruesome of ways. After the Christian has mourned over the death of Jesus, they will hear God call to them much like Mary did. "Mary" Jesus said. It will most likely not be audible but you will understand and you will not know why you understand. Once you hear the Father say your name, you will be overwhelmed with joy and love for this man who died for you and you will want to cling to him for eternity. You will just want to be in his presence, no matter what that means. The Christian often says "if I must die to be with you than so be it, may it come swiftly." But don't forget Child of God that for a short while, we must proclaim his name to others. Jesus will say to us after we cling to him "Do not cling to me...but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 

All Christians, though excited to fully embrace Christ in the heavenly kingdom must attempt to remain focused on the life at hand and how it should be lived for God. Christians must start worrying about others souls just as much as their own. Keep eternity in view, but realize where your at now. 

We are the Branches, He is the Vine

The Bible says that a "good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit". By saying this, Jesus is expressing the concept that a child of God will look like a Child of God, while someone who isn't a child of God won't look like a child of God. Makes sense, right? Someone who has accepted the gift of salvation will be changed by the holy spirit continuously throughout their life. Someone who hasn't accepted the gift only has the hope of being changed by the world's morals and their own sense of what is right and wrong. Now someone is saying "but there are non-Christians who are better than some Christians". Well, there are two things that must be examined in this situation. Firstly, is the Christian your thinking of actually a Christian? Many people say they are Christian's but the Bible says many people will be self-decieved. Now you ask "How do I know if they are a true Christian?" Because they will look like a true Christian; they will know what they believe, they will be continually trying to improve, they will be talking to others about their faith, their primary goal in life will be to know God and to make him known. 

The second question you must ask is where did this Christian come from? Did they just become a Christian and were they living like hell prior to that commitment, and now they are struggling to get out? It is always important to see where someone is improving from, not just where someone is improving to. Did the non-Christian grow up in a place that was fairly easy to live with very few bad influences, and the Christian grew up in an abusive home where all his morals were torn to pieces? As people examine Christians, may they not only acknowledge our desire to be different, but our effort to do so as well. 

In John, Jesus says:

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." - John 15:4-6

Jesus says "the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." What does that mean? The first interpretation that comes to mind is that Jesus is saying we cannot do good things unless we abide in Christ. Now we have gone back to an original objection. "But non-Christians do good things!" you say. Yeah? By whose standard? By yours? Too bad your standard isn't objective. God's standard of good is what matters and everything should be judged according to it. Listen to me carefully. No one can do any good thing unless that thing is pleasing to God.  The only way to make what you do pleasing to God is to do it according to His will and for his will. We can all give money to a charity, but only a Christian can give money to a charity and please God through it. You cannot please God unless you abide in him for the good that you do. And only once you please God, is your work actually good. 

You see, the non-Christian cannot do good works because nothing is good unless it is done for God. What a lonely and sad life. The unbeliever tries to satisfy themselves with things of this world and tries to do good for the very purpose of doing good. But the believer is able to truly be satisfied in doing good because they do it for the sake of the Father, therefore it truly is a good work. 

The Bible says "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." (Ephesians 2:10). Quit trying to do good works for no purpose other than being called a good person. Truly be satisfied and do everything you do to the glory of the one who made you. Then, and only then, will your good works be satisfying and worthy of the goodness of God. 

The Second Greatest Commandment

Christian's are known as judgmental to many people. I don't need to give statistics to show Christian's or non-Christians that this is how American Christianity is viewed, it's become common knowledge. But there is more to Christianity's Judgmental attitude than meets the eye. Now before I make my point,  I don't want people thinking I agree with the way arrogant and prideful false-Christians pursue making everyone feel as though they are worthless and always in the wrong. As I talk about this subject, I want to make clear that when I say Christian, I'm talking about genuine Christian's; Christian's who have the fruit of the spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control". I'm talking about Christian's who desire to make a difference, Christian's who are truly children of God and still sin and are thankful for the grace God has given.

Keeping that definition of Christian in mind, let me now tell you something: All these Christians are trying to love other Christians and unbelievers. All of these Christians truly are trying to follow Jesus' commandment to love others. The problem isn't in the Christian's motive (again, remember the strict definition of Christian), it is in how the Christian perceives love. The problem isn't with who the Christian is, but what the Christian knows. For that reason, I want to humbly do my best to create a more correct view of how we are to treat others.

Some Christians go about loving others by being judgmental and blunt about telling them the truth, so to them, that is love. This view though, taken too far, can become destructive. Some Christians go about loving others by being tolerant. In other words, they don't disagree or really even tell people about their faith, they just "love" people. However, this view can be equally destructive to the Christian faith.

Christians have taken up some pretty destructive views that were arrived at on a road with good intentions. Fortunately, Jesus said more than just "love your neighbor"; that would have allowed for different definitions of love to be applied. He said "love your neighbor as yourself". This is what must be examined when the Christian is looking at how to love others.

Christians are not to only love others with their own petty definition of love, but to love others as they love themselves. So in order to arrive at a conclusion of how to love others, we must first figure out how we love ourselves. When you make a mistake, do you still love and forgive yourself? After you told your parents that lie, did you still love and forgive yourself? After you looked at that pornographic site, did you still love and forgive yourself? After, for a short while, you became numb to sin, did you still love and forgive yourself? When you were overweight and insecure, did you still love yourself? Humans in general have a tendency to have an easier time forgiving themselves for sins committed than forgiving others, but Jesus calls us to be equally forgiving. Here is another question for the Christian: when you sin, do you try to gently correct your sin? I know I do. And that is how we should love others; we should not be tolerant of their sin, but we should not be hateful towards them either. We should tell them the truth, but we should listen to what they have to say. We should correct their sin, but with gentleness and respect. We should tell them of their depravity while realizing our own. We should tell them of Jesus remembering we don't change people, God does.

The point is not to become too tolerant, nor too judgmental, but to find a healthy balance. But why correct at all if God changes people? Because God tells us to change, and as Christians, let's do our best.  We will fall, and when we do, may we be humble enough to apologize and help others realize that what was done was not a Christian action, but rather a poor mis-representation of Christ. The Christian must start and continue correcting his/her life for the sake of Christ. After-all, that is the evidence of a Christian's salvation.

The Sovereignty of God and The Depravity of Man

"Why did God make all these rules if he knew we were going to sin?" asked a student last night at a small fellowship-based youth group. That's a good question, isn't it? How would you answer that? I have heard many responses to this question, but few that are satisfying. One response I've heard is that "All of life is a test, and God is testing us by putting these rules in place".  Although this response does have some weight to it, it only deals with how a Christian could apply this to their life, it doesn't deal with the intellectual side of things, in fact, it raises more objections. Here are a few that come to mind: Why would God give us a test he knew we were going to fail? A test for what, I thought we were saved by grace? This answer doesn't get to the heart of the question because it doesn't deal with the ability of God to control everything (omnipotence) by his nature. In other words, it doesn't deal with the question of why God didn't prevent us from sinning if he had the power to do so. God is all-powerful. God can't choose not to control because if something else had control, God wouldn't, and therefore he isn't really a soveriegn God. People will say "so He can't choose to give us free will? Doesn't that limit God's sovereignty?" Let me ask that person a question: can God make a stone too big for him to lift? No, because no matter the size of the stone, God would be able to lift it. He would, by definition, have to be infinitely bigger than the stone. Therefore there are things God cannot do because he can't not do something. Sorry for the double negative. One of those things he can't not do is control everything, including us. That is not to say we don't have free will, it is to say God has control over our free will.

My goal is to answer this question while remembering the sovereignty of God. So let's go back to the beginning. Only God exists. Now it's important to remember at this point that God is omniscient (all-knowing). 

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:9

In the ability to know everything exists not only the ability to know the outcome of a created world, but the outcome of every possible world. In other words, God doesn't just know what is, but would could be. Before God created man, he wanted to create for the soul purpose of glorifying himself through us. Therefore, as he looked at all possible worlds he could create, he instantaneously knew the one that would bring him the most glory: the world we live in today. He chose to create this world because he would be most glorified by the people on it, the outcomes of their lives, the fall of man and the gift of God, and the grace of God shown to man because of man's depravity. It's important to realize God created not for us, but for him.

"Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'"

- Isaiah 46: 8-10

Getting back to the original question with the idea that we are created for God in mind, I would answer something like this: God did not create the rules for us. You say 'Why did God create the rules if he knew WE were going to sin?'. That makes the subject of the sentence more focused on us, not God. A better question would be 'Why did God decide to use sin in order to fulfill his purpose?' The question is not why did God create rules, for he did not create rules, his nature requires that if something be in his presence (as man was in the beginning) they must be perfect, and perfection has boundaries. If God is perfect, he can't look on imperfection. Furthermore, if God is perfect, than imperfection is possible. For example, if  people can get in an airplane, than not getting in the airplane is possible. However, if people can't get in an airplane, than getting in an airplane is impossible. Imperfection exists partly because God is perfect. But it mainly exists because God's character requires it to. 

God made rules in order to remain as God. We didn't follow those rules because God's purpose was to show us his grace and love through our depravity and therefore be further glorified through our better understanding of who He is. He didn't create the rules so that we would sin, he created us as who we are, knowing we would 'fall short of the glory of God'. 

To Lay Down Your Life

The amount of love God has for his children is immense. We go about our lives and we love many people, but not in God's sense of the word, in our sense of it. Our love does not last; we love someone one day and next they are on our nerves. We all have people in our lives that it seems our patience cannot handle. I can even think of specific people that I dread to see at school and in life in general. These feeling's don't please me, but they are there. That is undeniable.

There is something about Jesus that never ceases to amaze me: his patience. He is patient towards people who want to be healed, people who want salvation, and even people who persecute him, and eventually, nail him to the cross. He is patient as he gets lashed, as he is mocked, and as he dying on the cross. Could you pull that off? Could you sit there dying on the cross and not throw out a few curse words to the people who are doing it? Could you let the people lash at your back until you don't even look like a human anymore, in patience? One of my friends loves to ask a question to other Christians. She first asks "Would you die for Christ?" to which nearly every Christian says "yes". Then she asks "would you suffer ten years for Christ?" Yeah, they usually pause for a moment.

Jesus says this:

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no on than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." -- John 15:12-13

First, Jesus says that we have to love others as he has loved us. Then he tells us how he loved us, by laying down his life for us. Does God really expect us to go around dying for our buddies? No, than every Christian would be dead. Could you imagine a world where if your buddy said "Go jump off a bridge", you headed off to kill yourself? Ridiculous. God doesn't expect that every Christian go out and search for opportunities to die for friends, but he expects you to be willing when, and if, that opportunity comes along. If there is a situation where you have the power to take a bullet from your friend, whether that be an insult, a persecution, a physical beating, or death, God expects you to take it.

Some of you might be saying to yourself that you have already decided that you would be willing to die for your friends and family, well I got news for you, you have to be willing to lay down your life for Christ firstly, enemies secondly, and friends thirdly. Christ deserves first because he should already have first in your life, if he doesn't, you should examine your faith. Because he is number one, if you were to die for someone, it should be him. You may be looking at the other two and thinking I got them backwards. Nope. Think about it, if a man runs up to you and aims a gun at your head, the chances are that that guy isn't a Christian. If you were to pull out your pistol and shoot him before he could get to you, you just ended that guys life, which means he is headed straight to hell for eternal punishment. But if you die, you head to eternal joy, so you are obviously the better option, perhaps this guy will learn something from your willingness to die and come to salvation in the end. God would definitely be proud. Your friends are last because they aren't necessarily even hard to die for because you like them anyways. That may simply be instinct.

Fortunately for you, the chances are pretty slim that you will be put in a situation where you have to sacrifice your physical body for Christ, enemies, or friends. However, you must sacrifice yourself to Christ on a daily basis. Every morning waking up, dropping to your knees, and praying for mercy upon the iniquities and depravity of your flesh. Jesus expects us to "lose our life that we may find it". He expects us to walk every day in the spirit and not in the flesh and ask for forgiveness for the times we haven't. We are to have a higher love for others and Christ than we have for ourselves. We must learn to love others and Christ as Christ loved us; that is his commandment. Worldly love doesn't include sacrifice, a love for God requires daily sacrifice.

True Christianity

What if I told you that all Christians are going to heaven?  What if I told you when someone becomes a Christian, their whole life changes? Not for a week or a year, but for a life-time. What If I told you that Christianity isn't just a belief, but a transformation done in man by God? What would you say? Would you deny it? Would you claim I'm lying? Check out these verses:

"because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." -- Romans 10:9

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." -- 2 Corinthians 5:17

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." -- 2 Corinthians 3:18

There you have it. It is the truth. Every christian who has believed in their heart and confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead, that person shall be saved. In being saved, God will transform them from who they are to who he wants them to be. It really is quite simple, but there is a problem.

Why is it sometime hard for me to tell who is a Christian and who isn't? In many situations, I don't notice a difference between the way of life of a believer and the way of life of a unbeliever. The Bible clearly says throughout that believers will bear fruit of their salvation. That means that believers will show evidence of their salvation in how they live, so what if there is no evidence? Don't just think about me though, can you tell who is and isn't a Christian if you had never talked to them before in your life? Even more importantly, can people who don't know you tell that you are a Christian? Do even your closest friends know your a Christian? Does anyone? Or are you the only one?

So where does the problem lie? The Bible is true, and that must be accepted by anyone who is a Christian anyways, so it can't be that. What about me, maybe I'm interpreting it poorly. In that case, have a look for yourself and feel free to form your own opinion. But if we assume that the Bible is correct and that I am not trying to lead astray but am speaking the truth, we have to conclude that many people who think they are Christian's really aren't. If you truly called upon God, if you seriously wanted to be changed, if you said "I'm all in", God will transform your life. If you didn't, he won't. It's that straight-forward. If you are saying to yourself "I did give my life to God! I said the prayer and I have given to charity but I haven't been changed. That must mean it's God's fault!" Jesus says "Ask and you shall receive". Therefore, if you didn't receive transformation from God, you didn't really ask with all of yourself. God is faithful to transform you if you truly call upon him. If your the only one who knows your a Christian, your not.

Fortunately, there is some good news for you who have been self-decieved about Christianity. That is, if your reading this, your not dead yet. If your not dead yet, you still have a chance to start over with Christ. Don't just sit there and continue to deceive yourself, you will regret it for eternity. First, pray passionately and humbly to our Father in heaven who will forgive you your sins and deception, and will transform you if your heart is in the right place. Then stand up, pick up your Bible and head out into the world with a Holy world-view, a salvation that no one can shake, and a love that no one can remove. It will not be a sudden transformation, but a life-long fight of getting closer and closer to God until finally you take your last breathe on this earth and experience paradise and perfection with your next breathe. It will be hard, but don't worry, we get to celebrate for the rest of eternity.

Wide-Spread Consequences

I hate it when I make mistakes. I know it is inevitable in life that I'm going to, but I still can't seem to get used to it. Do you know what I'm talking about? When there is a sin in your life that your can't seem to kick out, or when you are doing everything right and you think you have everything under control, and then you slip up? Go ahead and think of a time this has happened for you. Maybe it is a sin that has haunted you for a long time, maybe it was a one-time sin that still haunts you. All of us have these sins though, and for one moment, dwell on that.

Now that you've dwelt on your own sins, I want to take you to a different setting. Imagine you are put in control of city. You are now king (or queen) and you make all the decisions. It's all up to you. Cool, right? You have a buddy who is very close to God and you are aware of his devotion to the Lord, because of your friendship with him, you have put him over all your other advisors. You have been friends with him for a while and you have seen beautiful things happen from the God he serves, you have even gone so far as to make a plan for setting him over the whole Kingdom when you are all done.

It's just a normal day, your making all your king-like decisions and sitting on your thrown, just doing your thing; staying busy, when one hundred and twenty two of your advisors come to you and say "Oh King, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions." This offer sounds pretty appealing to you. Why wouldn't you want people to worship you, right? You are the king after all, but there is a catch. Your advisors continue "Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked." If you sign the document saying that for thirty days, no one can worship anyone but you or they are thrown into the lions den, you have to follow through. There is no going back. However, you can't think of any reason to not sign it, so you sign away and watch people bow down at your feet.

The next day, your advisors come back to you with some news. They tell you that your buddy who worships God refuses to bow down to you. You think to yourself "Oh no, I didn't see that one coming". You realize it was a plot by your advisors to get rid of who you planned to crown next as King but there is nothing you can do. You can't revoke it, that power is not in your hands. You do the only thing you can do. First, fight for him, when that doesn't work, you cry for him as he is being taken to the lion's den, when your crying ceases, you fast, pray, and hope that God will deliver him.

You wake up in the morning, and run to the lion's den, yelling "are you alive, has your God delivered you?" You here your friend cry back, "yes! He has shut the lion's mouths." You rejoice and are glad.

You may recognize this story. It is commonly called Daniel in the Lion's Den. The King made a poor choice that had consequences for his best friend, but none for him. We have the same potential in our lives. Our choices in life can hurt others, not just ourselves. So what do we do when we have made that choice that we cannot control but has hurt someone else? We cannot just ignore it. First, we fight for them, we do what we can to change the mistake we've made. If our fighting fails and reconciliation has still not been delivered, let us mourn with them, let us show them that we hurt with them. Let us not simply let them sit in sadness alone. Once all has failed, may we have the humility and faith to run to God screaming Help! I have hurt my brother in Christ! Do not let him suffer from my mistakes, but deliver him. I am sorry. When we come to God with this, he will turn to us and say "I will take the piercings of transgression upon myself, be forgiven and run to your brother who rests in my arms."

God is faithful to forgive us for when we hurt ourselves and others. These times are going to come in life. When we make a mistake and it seems the consequences outweigh what has been committed. When these times come, remember God. Remember his hands, remember the blood, the sacrifice, the death, the love, the grace, the mercy. The consequence of His choice is the forgiveness of ours.

The Great Commission

I have a friend who works at RadioShack and the other night, me and some other friends went to visit him for some pizza and conversation. I ended up having to leave in the middle to grab something from home for one of my friends. Once I returned, I went into RadioShack and only my friend who was working was still there, so I asked him where everyone else had gone, and he said they had went to buy him a water from the store just next door. Me and Him talked for about fifteen minutes before I realized that the other friends were still gone.

Now before I continue my story, it's important to realize the kind of person I am. Firstly, I am a skeptic. I have trouble believing things that I don't have evidence for. Secondly, I was raised as a Baptist and therefore am not in the least Charismatic--that is, I don't heal or speak in tongues, that sort of stuff. I have always admitted that those kind of miracles are possible, I just never had seen or felt it done.

When I realized that the other friends were still gone, I asked my friend why he thought they were taking so long. I figured it would be a somewhat pointless question. How was he supposed to know anyways? He replied "They are praying for someone". I thought he was crazy, there was no possible way for him to know that they were praying for someone. Ridiculous. I said "what?" and he said "at this moment, they are praying for someone". Being able to see the skepticism in my eyes, he prompted me to "go look". What did I do? I looked. I felt this would be an opportunity to prove him wrong, not only that, but there was something inside me saying "prepare to be amazed" but I just kept ignoring it. That is why I went. There was no way that right at the moment I had asked him what was taking them so long, they had been praying for someone and my RadioShack friend had known. I ran over to the store to test what was happening. As I looked around, I looked down several different aisles, not being able to find them. I kept expecting to see them just browsing about the store and then I could say "hah! you were wrong!" As I looked down the next aisle though, my reality shattered. There were my friends talking to some woman that I didn't know. I walked up and before my friends could say anything, the lady, while pointing at my friends, said "hey, they just prayed for and healed me". My jaw dropped and I didn't think I would ever get words out. I felt speechless.

"And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.'" -- Mark 16:15-18

The Bible says that the signs in this verse will accompany those who believe. Do you believe? Than you have the power to do these signs. It's right there in the Bible. Jesus said that he gave us the power to do them; those who believe. Not just the disciples, not just the people from back then. But believers in Christ today. Do we not serve the same God now that the disciples did than? Our faith is small, smaller than a mustard seed.

Not only are we called to preach, teach, and disciple, but we are called to heal and cast our demons. Not for our own sake, but for the sake of God's glory and Jesus' kingdom. Not so that we look cool, but so that people realize the power of God. People will see signs, and wonder how? They will see our love, and wonder why? They will see our faith, and say wow! They will feel God and proclaim YES! 

Dying to Yourself

Looking at our past is not always a fun experience. However, it is often times a humbling one. I remember times in my life where I was lead astray, where I lead myself astray, and where I lead others astray. Such experiences are haunting to look back at; specifically, the experiences where I lead others astray. "I could have ministered to them" I say to myself, "I could have changed them but I missed my opportunity." Do you have these thoughts as well? The times when you look at your past and it makes you feel as though you don't deserve to be who you are today? Maybe you look at your past and ignore it. Maybe you look at your past and live it. Or maybe you look at your past and learn from it. We all have lessons to learn from our past, from our mistakes, from our short-comings. We are often shaped by God through our failures.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." -- Galatians 1:4

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." -- 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." -- Romans 7:24-25

Many of us, before we came to Christ (or perhaps you haven't yet come to Christ) lead sinful lives. Whether  those lives were sinful by drunkenness and sexual immorality, or whether they were sinful by cussing and not serving the will of God, it was still sinful because our eyes were not set on God. It is one thing to not be capable to serve God at a certain point in your life, and lead others away from him, but it is another thing to have your eyes set on God and openly lead others away from him. As I told my testimony to a group of friends today, I talked of the shame I carried for leading people away from Christ in my days of serving a lukewarm Christianity. One friend said in response to me "you can't be ashamed for not talking to them about Christ and not leading them towards Christ because at that point in your life, you were not capable of helping them in there relationship with Christ." I couldn't help them because I hadn't been helped. I first needed to get over my sickness before I could help someone else who was sick.

So how do we get over our sickness? How do we go from sin to Christ? How do we change from depravity to perfection? The answer is Jesus. By the blood of Christ, we are changed. Once we have been changed by the blood of our savior, then we can focus our energy on helping others to understand how we were saved from ourselves and how they can be as well. However, never do we save anyone, only the Holy Spirit does that by entering into their life. We are called to tell our story, we are not called to save people. God will take care of that through our words. Only once I'm a new creation, will I be able to adequately share Christ with others.

It took me a long time to realize that I am literally not the same person I was, the Bible says I am a "new creation" in Christ! That's right, that person who committed those sins, who lead those people astray in their insecurity, depravity, and sickness, is not me, that person no longer exists. They are dead, and I am joyous that they are. I have been reborn, I have changed, "the old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Once we have come to the point where we serve Christ whole-heartedly, we than have not only an obligation, but a desire and privilege, to tell others that we were saved by Jesus. If someone jumped in front of a bullet to save your life, would you tell their story? Would you proclaim it to the ends of the earth? Would you fulfill whatever that savior wanted from you? By the death of Jesus, we have been saved; by the blood of Jesus, we have been redeemed; by the grace of God, others will too.

Judging Others

It is not a rare occurrence that I find myself in the presence of  those who curse, and I would venture to guess that this is the case for many of us. Perhaps there is a different situation which irritates your soul such as drinking, smoking, hateful words, laziness, violence, blaspheme, perversity, lust, irrationality, idolatry, adultery, or sexual immorality. I am sure that every devout Christian hears, see's, or feels others' sins. If you claim to be a Christian and do not notice other's obvious transgressions, you may seriously want to examine your faith, for that must mean that your soul is not in the moral position it should be (or you have isolated yourself from the world in which case a psychiatrist may need to be considered).

The fact is that this world is full of sin. On a daily basis, every human see's others pierce Christ's hands with what they do. All Christians have experienced that awkward and uncomfortable moment where someone blatantly sins in front of them and they are faced with a choice: say something or remain quiet. What are we to do? Doesn't the Bible say we shouldn't rebuke others while we are imperfect beings? We say to ourselves "so if I say something, I disobey the Bible, and if I don't say something, well, my conscience is heavy but it makes life easier" and we continue to rest in our ignorance. Once, I heard a Christian youth pastor say "I always think it's funny when I'm around my non-Christian friends and one of them curses. They always look at me and say 'Oh! Sorry man! I forgot your a Christian." to what the Christian replied "Oh, no, really, don't worry about it. Your not a Christian so you don't have to follow that."

Let's take a look at the passage where Jesus talks about judging another person.

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do you not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
-- Matthew 7:1-6

Jesus says that we should not judge (something non-Christians and Christians alike love to mention when a believer try's to correct someone's behavior). But there is a condition under which we should not judge. Jesus says "first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye". It's that simple, don't be hypocritical in your judgement. If you curse like a sailor, don't tell others to not curse. But if you have gained control of sin in your life by the grace and mercy of God, than you are in every position to rebuke and aid others in their difficulties. Not out of hate and mockery, for that is sin, but out of love and a desire to further their experience with Christ. Jesus even says in Luke 17:3 "Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sin's, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him."However, there must be a balance in the Christian life between Judgment and forgiveness, we have a responsibility to aid those who are poor spiritually but also a responsibility to forgive those who have come to acknowledge their depravity.

Some may say we have a tough job. For we are called to rebuke and forgive those who's sins we witness. Let us not say to those who are non-Christian that it is okay for them to sin because they do not believe in Christ. Denying a belief does not make it false. I can say that the world is flat, should I therefore live as if it is? Never traveling across water, worried that I may fall off the edge? I surely will but others have the responsibility, in their greater wisdom, to tell me the truth, that I may understand life further. We Christians are in the same position, we must proclaim Christ when given any opportunity, whether it be someone cursing in front of us, or someone coming up and asking us plainly about Jesus. We are called to a life of purity, judgement, and constant fellowship.

Our Jealous God

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." -- Philippians 1:21

To live is Christ and to die is gain? Does that fit with the way you view the world? Last I checked, dying wasn't the most pleasant thing. In fact it is quite horrible. Isn't it? Not to mention that I sure never thought of dying being a thing of "gain". Whatever that means.

For the one who has little faith, this verse can be difficult to understand. However, for the one who has an abundance of faith, this verse is close to heart. First, Paul meant that living is his most heartfelt way to express his connection with Christ to others who are lost, and that in this life, there are opportunities to be tested and therefore opportunities to further express one's love for Christ. Basically, in this life, Paul can understand the sufferings Jesus experienced because he suffers. Secondly, he meant that in death, he will experience closeness again to his savior and his Father and because of the effect of death, what seems to be loss is gain.

If it's true that we Christians are supposed to look at life as Paul did, think of life as an opportunity to live like Christ, and look at death as simply a passage to a greater ultimate reality with God, than maybe this whole "Christian" thing isn't what some of us thought it was. Many Christians assume everything is done for us. After all, God died for us, we live for us, I choose God, God hopes I choose him. It's a perverse logic so many of us have adopted. I will make this next statement as clear as possible. Everything that happens is made to happen by, for, and through God. Look at some of these verses supporting this premise.

"For I [God] knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel. For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another." -- Isaiah 48:8-11

"I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins." -- Isaiah 43:25

"Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." -- Psalms 44:22

"We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, be we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things." -- 1 Corinthians 4:10-13

"But whatever gain I had, I counted for loss for the sake of Christ." -- Philippians 3:7

It is obvious that all of these verses point to things being done for the sake of Christ, not for ourselves (even though sometimes it seems it is being done for us). God blots out our transgressions and forgets our sins for his sake, not ours; God makes us suffer for his sake, not ours; God loves his children for his sake, not ours; God has mercy for his sake, not ours. Paul realized this in his letters, he realized that God didn't save him so that he could go do whatever he wanted, but so that God would be glorified through his salvation. He realized that he didn't suffer because God is an evil tyrant, but because God will be more glorified in  the end through his suffering. The reality is that God does things for himself, sounds selfish? Get over it. We serve a God who does not "give up his glory" to anyone, a God who loves, but not because he feels bad for us, a powerful God who isn't selfish but glorifies himself because who else is God to glorify? Us? Absolutely not. Nothing created deserves glory, only that which did the creating deserves glory.

Does all of this make sense? I hope so. Sometimes it won't make sense why God made us suffer, but that is because we don't see the whole picture. Can you tell what the puzzle is going to be when you look at just one piece? No. In the same way, when we look at one instance of evil in our life, we don't understand because we can't see how this fits into a picture that is glorious, but we are only seeing one small piece of the puzzle.

How glorious is God? We have a God who knows the beginning from the end, is transcendent yet immanent, incomprehensible yet understanding, wrathful yet lovable, merciful yet just, pure yet exposed. He is a God who gives glory to himself because he is the only one worthy of such glory.

On occasion, we think we are worthy of God's glory, well in reality, those who think they are worthy are less worthy than those who think they aren't. God did not come to save the righteous, but sinners. Not the rich, but the poor. Not the strong, but the weak.

Blasphemy

What do you think of when I say the word blasphemy? Do you think of when someone exclaims "Oh my God"? Do you think of someone who refuses God? Do you think of cursing? Or calling upon evil spirits? Maybe you think of sin in general, or maybe you think of not doing the will of God. To have any one of these views is more cultural than it is biblical. And even if some of these views are accurate, the list is not exhaustive--it does not have all the situations in which God is blasphemed. Yes, it contains cursing, denial of the spirit, demonic practices, and sin, and though there is two more I wish to add to this list (which this post is about), the list will still not be complete, but it will be slightly more extensive (by two).

Now, read these Bible passages and think about blasphemy.

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." -- 2 Peter 2:1-3

"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." -- Mark 3:28-29

Many of us are familiar with the verse in Mark presented above talking about the one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit being unable to redeem such a sin. But many of us have heard the more cultural (but less biblical) version of this verse, that is "Anyone who blasphemies God will not be forgiven". What does this mean? Does it mean that Jesus' death on the cross did not cover the sins including blaspheme against God? Such as saying "Oh my God" or saying "God doesn't exist"? There are those who teach this doctrine, but it is a fallacy. There is no denying that their is some sort of blaspheme that is unforgivable, and in this passage, it is referred to as the "blasphemes against the Holy Spirit". One more very important thing to notice in Mark is where it says "sins will be forgiven...whatever blasphemes they utter".

Now let's take a look at the passage in 2 Peter. The verse begins by talking about false prophets. What is a false prophet? It is someone who is persuasive, seems to have all the right answers, seems to have the truth, but is a liar. They are people who bring about heresies and sin, gossip and hate, false teaching and slander, idols and poor doctrine. When talking of these false prophets, the passage says they "even deny the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." So it seems that denying the Master (Jesus and his salvation) causes a path to destruction (hell). It goes on to say that many will follow these false prophets, and then it says "and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed."

Follow the line of logic here. We know that blaspheme against the Holy Spirit brings about an inability to be forgiven. We know that blasphemes that are uttered can be forgiven. We also know that the Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus inside each child of God. And we learn in 2 Peter that false prophets (or teachers) blaspheme the way of truth; and that blaspheme leads them to destruction. It must be then that blaspheme is not what so many people think it to be, for I know that I do not have a reservation in heaven if my sins have not been forgiven for my cursing and anger towards God on certain occasions. But as we know, things uttered are forgiven.

These verses are talking about the second most severe form of blaspheme: the blaspheme against saving grace. The blaspheme of when a person turns away from God in resentment, or ignorance because they are either too lazy or angry to follow God. The blaspheme of when people curse God whole-heartedly wishing him eternal damnation. The blaspheme that denies the saving grace God offers. For who can be saved without the gift of the holy spirit? No one. Not only this, but the first most severe form of blaspheme is also within these verses. Think of the false prophets for a moment. The worst form of blaspheme is a "lukewarm belief". By a "lukewarm belief", I'm talking about those people who claim to be a Christian, but their lives show otherwise, and because their lives show otherwise, others see and follow a false Jesus living within them. I'm talking about those people who go to church for the holidays and drink every weekend; or those who claim to hold the spirit within their soul, but rather than lead people to Christ, they take them from him. The people who are supposed to be a light in this world, but are a dark place to hide. The people who don't stand up for their faith, but rather duck down and dodge the bullets. They say "Lord, Lord" but they have never opened their Bible a day in their life. To these people, the kingdom of heaven does not belong. Because they have not received the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit is not seen in them through their actions. All you atheists who hate Christians and hate Jesus, do you truly want to blaspheme God? Become a Christian and live as if your not. If someone thinks they are safe, then that is right where Satan wants them, when you think you are healthy, you won't look for a cure. Little do you know, your dying.

The Bible as a Movie

I recently finished the book of Matthew. I never realized the life-changing power that the Bible has until I read it and actually tried to comprehend what I was reading. Ya know, as opposed to that reading-but-not-hearing-what-your-reading method; a pretty common method (especially when it comes to God's word). Why is that? Why is it that the single most important book that anyone will ever read is so easily drowned out by other things around us? It seems that if God really wanted his people to write a book that was divinely influential, as the Bible is supposed to be, he would have made it entertaining. Maybe throw a few battle scenes in, have a clear antagonist and protagonist, and obviously the protagonist would have to win. Another essential to any good story is you have to fall in love with the protagonist and hate the antagonist (unless it's some bizarre psychological experiment). So what was God thinking? Doesn't it feel like we don't find any of these things in the Bible?

Actually, the reality is that we find every one of these in the Bible, the old testament in Judges and other books is filled with battle scenes; in Job, we see the battle between God and Satan and the sovereignty of God. There is even a very clear antagonist--satan--and protagonist--God. Here is the best part though, the protagonist even wins. It seems the Bible does contain all the essentials for a great story.

Ya know that part in every superhero movie where it seems the protagonist is going to lose and than he draws on his last bit of strength to end up conquering the day? Like when spider-man gets the crud beat out of him but ends up winning against unlikely odds? Or when Batman has a dilemma to solve and he ends up finding a loophole? Well, in the Bible we find the same thing once again. When Jesus was on the cross, he died!! How much more distress and lack of hope could you possibly have for a dead protagonist? Talk about a depressing ending to a film. The sad part is it isn't a film, it's reality.

Ya see, the key is to make people lose all their hope in the protagonist and they, against all odds it seems, make a come-back. It enhances the viewers faith and hope in the protagonist. I don't know how you could have anything make you lose more hope than death. That seems pretty final to me, but Jesus rises from the dead after three days. He had even predicted this to the disciples, but they had doubted it. Could you imagine the anticipation? He dies, you run because your next, and those next three days are probably the slowest of your life. The disciples were probably counting down the seconds to that third day wondering whether Jesus was the real Christ (savior). And then, against seemingly unspeakable odds, Jesus rises from the dead exactly when he said he would! He is victorious after all. Not only that, but he has conquered the most persistent enemy known to man: death. If you can overcome death, I don't think your gonna be having much trouble with anything else. Agreed?

It is a beautiful story, and if you think about it, one that man simply could not think up. The complexity, yet simplicity of the story is genuine, unimaginable, and not comprehendable. I don't know about you, but the last thing I would do if I was making up a religion that was fake would be to make it so complex, yet that is what we find. We find simplicity and complexity inside one concept. The complexity of pure theology and the simplicity of "Jesus died for you". Beautiful.

Jesus' Parable of the Wedding Feast

This parable in Matthew 22 is a controversial one amongst the Christian community because of its' blatant ending statement: "For many are called, but few are chosen." Some have read this last verse and concluded that some people are Christians today, but on the day of judgement--the time that we die and God judges our lives--they will be sent to hell.  Others have taken the statement to refer to the "lukewarm" believers. In Revelations 3, John vividly describes the voice of Jesus in his vision in reference to the Church in Laodicea saying, "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of my mouth." Many believers think that the verse in Matthew, where Jesus talks of the people who are called but not chosen, refer to those that John talks of in Revelation--the lukewarm: the people who say they are Christians but do little for Christ; they have one foot in the world, and another in the Kingdom of Heaven.

These are a couple of the views that are widely accepted but are inadequately supported. Let's take a further look at the first view I described. The first view, in my opinion is terrifying. Keep in mind, this view is less accepted than the second, but it still has its place in our cultural Christianity. Think about the implications of believing that some are Christians but simply will not go to heaven. I am a Christian but is my spot in heaven guaranteed? This verse seems to say it isn't, but look at some other verses.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Romans 10:13 "For 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'"

There are many more verses supporting the paradigm that "those who call upon the Lord shall be saved", but I will just share these few. Seeing as I am a Christian and there can be no contradictions within the Bible, it appears I have run into a problem. Matthew 22 seems to say that not everyone who calls upon God is chosen for his Kingdom, but these other verses in Romans and John seems to clearly state that anyone who calls upon God for salvation will be saved. See the problem?

Let's now look at the second, more common view. This view claims that those people are being called but not chosen are people who have asked God for salvation but have not done enough "works" or good deeds to gain true salvation into heaven (the lukewarm people). The problem with this view lies near the same place as the problem for the last one. Firstly, the verses in Romans and John again make this statement difficult to support because this view claims that you must do some works along with your faith in order to be saved, but the others say it is simply the faith that is essential for salvation (John and Romans). Here is another selection of verses that makes this view so difficult to hold:

Galatians 2:16 "yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."

2 Timothy 1:9 "who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began."

So what view are we to hold? These two seem far too contradictory and unstable to maintain with confidence. If we look into the beginning of Jesus' parable, we find that these views are not what he intended and that with the correct view, there is no contradiction.

In this parable, Jesus compares a king throwing a wedding feast to the Kingdom of Heaven. He says, "Then [the king] said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' and he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."

Notice, in this parable, that the king (God) tells his servants (Christians) to go out and tell everyone about the wedding feast (heaven and the gospel). This concept fits well with other verses:

Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

The problem is that people are interpreting the word "called" in the parable incorrectly. From the way the story is told, it should be interpreted in the sense that many are going to be "told" of the gospel by Christians, but few are going to accept it. However, it is being interpreted poorly as God will call many people, but only some of those people are actually chosen. The problem was in the words "many" will be called, and "few" will be chosen because this indicates a different number of people for each category, but with this new interpretation of the verse, this is no longer a problem. We know that it is our job to tell all about the gospel (few of us actually do so however) and we also know that not every person we tell is going to accept it. This was a straw of Jesus' message through this parable; tell others of him, but expect some not to listen.

expected ignorance

I believe I am speaking,
But the evidence proves me wrong.
I can feel my throat vibrations
And even hear my song.

Clouded eyes look past the song,
Into their own abyss,
As if the song I sing
Is completely being missed.

Is it no longer of importance?
Or did it start like this?
Did the clouded eyes of conversation
Simply lose interest?


I give up trying,
For they have been lost.
Perhaps tomorrow, one more go,
But will agony be the cost?

Walking away to go home and rest,
Glancing into the streets;
A cursed vision bestowed
Upon these starlit pupils.

What vision did I see you ask?
One of glory perhaps?
Or maybe it was my beloved friend?
If it was, I wish not to comprehend.

The horror was too great,
Too full of hate,
Too full of shame,
Too full of a desire to be selfish with fame.

I saw children walking with parents,
The Children’s eyes starlit with prospect.
The parent’s eyes dark and lost,
A curse to the blessed elect.

The Children talked to their parents,
Unaffected by the world,
Listening for listening,
But finding only ignorance.

“Is this the way of the world?”
The children thought,
Ignorance beginning to take its’ toll.
“It must be okay, this is what our parents have wrought.”

The parents completely unaware
Of the way they used to be:
As their children are now,
Searching for hope and someone who can truly see.

But this is the way of the world,
We do not care what others speak,
We wait for what we say next,
We look but do not seek.

I will not try to sing again,
My voice is worn out,
In silence I will sit,
That others may be heard out.

Love story

Love has been expressed by humans through words, actions, time, and gifts. But what is this most mysterious, yet powerful thing we call love? We all supposedly understand it, yet we use cute metaphors and sayings to explain it. Why not be straight forward with our answer? Is it that we really don't understand it? Even our dictionary explains it as "an intense feeling of deep affection". I don't know about you, but that doesn't satisfy me. It is far too vague and broad to actually help me understand love intellectually and apart from my feelings. But can love even be understood this way, or is it to be forever felt but never thought?

Me and my girlfriend tell one another that we love each other and we hope this feeling to last. I would like to think that this feeling is genuine, but how can I really know without a solid intellectual understanding of what love is? I don't believe I can, hence the problem.

We can define love as the dictionary does, we can make up our own definition, we can even say it is merely a feeling one gets that cannot be described, or we can choose to not define it at all and bask in the joy and happiness it has brought humanity. However, it is not like me to merely cast aside an attempt to try and understand this mysterious abyss that philosophers have been trying to understand for years. With that, I now make my attempt.

I believe love to not be something of this world. An odd statement? To many people, yes. Someone is saying, "but love is part of this world. Whether we understand it or not, it is irrefutably a large part of the human race." My question is this: If it is such a large part of the human race, why can we not understand it? Can our mind understand everything but love and is hence inadequate to try and understand anything. If a source of knowledge is not all-knowing, than it knows nothing for sure. For example, I may see my water bottle as being blue, but do I know whether or not there is another way to see its true color apart from sight? No. Therefore, because my whole knowledge for the water bottle being blue comes from my empirical data, I cannot trust it. Empirical data is no source to be trusted because it is not all knowing. Since we cannot understand love, since we cannot think of love clearly, it must be either an alien to us, or we have become alien to it. The latter is my opinion.

This world was born of love, it lost love, it was saved by love, and it perseveres because of love. In the second stage of this, we lost touch with what exactly this thing called love is. In the third stage, we learned again that perhaps love was not dead forever and there was still hope to be found in a new source.  And in the fourth stage, two thousand years later, we have began to lose touch with it once more, but not all hope is lost. In fact, I know the end of the story....yeah, I looked. And by the way, to answer this complex question, "what is love?", that's an easy one, God is. And in the end, love wins.

Presupposition's of Rationality

Everyone depends on God. Not in the sense that everyone trusts God, nor in the sense that everyone believes in the existence of God; in the sense that everyone's existence is dependent upon God. An odd statement? Possibly one that questions my ability as a thinker and writer. However, given the known fact that life is present, that events happen, and that matter is existent, isn't this an unavoidable conclusion to arrive at? 

   

If we assume that we are truly rational--which science, thinking, philosophy, and empirical data are all dependent on--than we must have some ground for believing that this is the case. I would rather not consider the option that all thought is completely irrational, nor, I'm going to assume, would my reader. Let's dive deeper into this premise. 

By rationality, I mean the human ability to reason towards accurate conclusions on the basis of empirical or philosophical data. This ability is not one that arises from random occurrences; from, namely, the theory's of the sciences. It would be much appreciated if at this point, my reader would join me in thinking through this. At this moment, I sit in a coffee shop with a cappuccino  next to me. What empirical data is present in this statement that allows the reader to feel this is an accurate statement? There is none whatsoever. So why are you inclined to believe me? Because you find me trustworthy. "Why would he lie to me about such a mundane detail?" you ask yourself. Well there are several reasons I may twist the truth of this detail: for the sake of an example, for a necessary hook (though this is not the best hook), or simply to get more words on the page. It can now be concluded that there is a possibility I have either lied altogether or twisted the truth to fit my hopes for this blog post. 

  

Premises in science are accepted with a similar lack of questioning. I do not claim that they have not been tested, or that all things in science are inaccurate. I claim that certain theory's in science have been so desired that it has resulted in a determination, if not hostility, towards the questioner to not so much answer the question's of the science-skeptic, but to merely tell the questioner they are senile for considering a  paradigm that is incompatible with a scientific theory. 

   

Many hostile atheists believe we are mentally confused, and they are intellectually credible and thought-through. But are they not guilty of clinging to their views with arms squeezing? Yes, Christians also cling to their views, but why is the atheist so hostile? Why is the new-atheism so against us? It is one thing to have a naturalistic basis for your views (the atheist), but it is totally another to have a supernatural. The naturalist is not backed except on the basis of his own rationality; the Supernaturalist is backed by a being who has provided our rationality. If nothing has given you rationality, why trust it? It is a fallacious way of reasoning; one’s quality of reasoning is only as good as it’s source. 

Strong Weakness

I feel misunderstood;
significantly insignificant.
As if only I notice
me and my magnificence.

I pray for contentment,
for joy in who I am,
and the answer I get
is seemingly grim.

"Why do you feel
as though you are lacking?
Why do think
that you are worth nothing?

"I tell you the truth
when I speak of contentment,
your significance is found
in your insignificance.

"Your importance is not based
on your amount of skills,
your importance is based on your chosen
gear for climbing life's hills.

"I do not care
for what others see,
only I care for the
way you trust me.

"When climbing a hill,
bring your best,
do not settle,
it is a test.

"But when it is over,
you will be renewed,
to a life of joy
and solitude.

"I grant you hope
and abundant strength,
but don't expect
lessened pain.

"For when you are weak
then you are strong."

REDEMPTION

A broken spirt,

an uplifted soul,

seem contradictory,

but the two make one.

How is there such grief,

and yet such desire,

contained inside,

one empire?

Pain inhabits grief,

while passion occupies desire.

Passion, pain; desire, grief:

An image of transcendence. 

Could man at his best

forge an image,

as that of such a 

magnificent pilgrimage?

Nay, for too great

is such a picture,

and too significant

are the limits of humanity. 

Most of the posts on this blog are intellectual, full of difficult concepts, full of thought-wrenching ideas that make the mind reach beyond its average capacity. But where, one might ask, is the emotion; not the thought-wrenching, but the heart-wrenching? Where is the emotion that the gospel carries with it?

A broken heart.
Ehh, what's new?
A fallen world,
I'm used to that too.

Some have become
insensitive to pain.
They look the other way
as if heartbreak is gain.

Yes, everyone suffers.
Yes, everyone Cries.
So why should one care
for the tears in your eyes?

The tears are not a curse,
but rather a blessing.
A way to end
all of the suffering.

Though I have no tears,
I still feel pain.
Though my crying has ceased,
I endure my shame.

Much of life hurts,
but put your pain on a scale.
Measure it compared
to the pain of His tale.

In comparison,
one finds difficult to do.
It's not what i've done,
but what he went through.

So, where is the emotion?
Where is the feeling?
Where is the love,
that reaches to the ceiling?

It's all around you,
just search high and low.
You are sure to find it,
even if it is below.

The love of a savior
can be hard to find.
Do not search in the
depths of your mind.

Look east,
Look west,
and you will see,
although subtly,
a love as big,
as the sea.

I Don't Know...God Does.

God knows the all-encompased past, present, and future. No devout Christian would try to refute this statement, but many do so without trying. When a belief is accepted as true, one must accept the implications of said belief as true also, lest the logic for the belief become inconsistent, and thus lack a foundation. This is the problem that is present in many Christian's understand of omniscience (complete knowledge). They accept omniscience as true, but deny an attribute called sovereignty. Sovereignty is a word meaning basically "complete control". To put all of this more succinctly, many Christians assert that God knows all (The base belief), but deny that God has planned all (The implication of the base belief). This is a large problem in today's liberal theology that makes God seem weak and impotent. It needs to be addressed.
Let's begin to adress this problem on a base that all Christian's would agree with: humans are individuals with distinct personality's. We all have unique desires and passions that make us who we are. Can we all agree with this? Most unbeliever's would even agree with this truth, it is indispensable. From this basic truth, the Christian must concede that God created us differently; with our personal desires. Seeing as God does not create without a purpose (For his glory), it must be admitted that our personal ambitions, our unique outlooks on life, our different passions, have been put there for a purpose; and if everyone has specific passions, everyone has a purpose; since everyone has a purpose, the world has a purpose. Following? Furthermore, granted omniscience, if the world has a purpose, God knows the purpose for the world; if God knows the purpose for the world, than he has known it from before time began. What follows is this: If God has known the purpose for the world before time began, than he had the ability to fit said purpose to his goal. And in adjusting the purpose for the world, he must adjust personal passions, lifestyles, and desires. In doing so, he has inevitably planned for a world that follows his outline and will meet his goal. We have fallen into sin because it is in God's plan; we have crucified our Lord because it was God's way of showing us his amazing grace; we have suffered because God wants us to understand what Christ went through for us. Everything happens because God has ordained it to.
In denying that God has planned out personal lives, one can see now that they are denying complete omniscience; and accepting "partial-omniscience", that is, they believe God knows, but deny he has known from eternity. It is wrong for us to simply accept what is being taught in many churches and to not investigate it ourselves, if we do so, we fall into a inconsistent belief, such as this, that makes God appear as a being who puts us humans above himself; with all due respect, that is not the God I follow.

Reducing God

"God is not great". Have you heard this before? Perhaps from a close friend, from an enemy, or from Christopher Hitchens 2007 book god is not Great. This is not usually thought to be an empty solution to a contradiction in God's attribute without any backing, but that is what it inevitably reduces to. "Ah!" you say, "but God has shown he is not good, look at all the evil in the world! Does not a similar cause produce a similar effect?" Oh how quick we are to point fingers, to push the guilt off of ourself, to find another to blame. That is not my argument, but it's a valid point. My argument is this: if given the oppurtunity to do evil, and we do, is that evil? Of course! If given the oppurtunity to do good, and we do not, are we evil? No! In the book of Job, Satan comes up to God and tells him that the only reason Job is following God's word is because God has blessed his sock's off! And God says essentially, go ahead and take away my blessings and see what Job does! Do you get it yet? Is it not true that christianity believes that God has not so much said "yes" to evil as he has said occasionally "no" to blessings bestowed on us: Health, wealth, and family? Have we made the monumental mistake of reducing God to not only to the natural, but to an even lower unhuman standard? How crucial a mistake! For we consider ourselves justified when we say "no" to giving a homeless man money, and we see God as not being justified for saying "no" to that man's blessings. I suggest that we think of God not even merely from a natural perspective, but a supernatural one.

Romans 12:2 "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

We should not be in harmony with this world; the world that we are in the presence of until we die. This world will pass away, this life itself will pass away. We should in fact, hate certain things this depraved world has created. In Romans 7 I believe, Paul says that if "I do what I do not want, than it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me". You see, if we are sinning and we hate it, it is litteraly not our soul or spirit that commits it, it is our flesh.

So many times, people judge by the appearance of the body, but our body is not who we are, it is our container. Being imperfect, we will always be contained in a bodily and physical form which distinguishes us from God. I remember a specific example once given to me by my grandmother, she compared our physical and spiritual form to a penut. A penut has a shell and does not come into existence without one, but the inside of the peanut is never seen until you examine the peanut beyond its external appearance. Humans are the same, we are in this physical container and cannot escape the bounds of it. The Bible tells us that when we get to heaven, we will have heavenly bodies, so my question is: Seeing as us humans are always going to be confined in a "container", is this simply so that God can put limits on us and show his dominion over us? Or is there another reason God has done this?

By focusing no longer on outward appearance, the world, or sin, one can focus and be closer to God presence. But only in heavenly realms will one experience the greatest possible intensity of God's presence.

The miracle of fasting

As I sat in the kitchen, I heard my sister and mother talking about fasting for twenty four hours. Out of a natural curiosity, I asked them why they had decided to fast (they have never engaged in fasting before). My sister answered saying "My friends parents, who have been married for like sixteen years, are thinking about separating, they got in a huge fight." Immediately I responded by saying that I would also like to participate. That night at 8:30 p.m, me, my mom, and my sister, would not eat for 24 hours. And every time that we thought of our hunger, it would remind us of the unfortunate seperation and we would pray for them. I would try to get on my knees in full surrender to our Lord in hope that his wonderful grace would be shown on this marriage, and with faith that his will would be done either way. There were several times that day I felt the full spirit of God descend on me and his grace radiate throughout my body. For once, I felt the completeness of full surrender to God. How glorious this was! The next night, we ended our fast and ate somewhat of a late dinner after one more deep prayer with our family. The next day, I found out that the night we ended our fast, EVERYTHING was back to normal and my sisters friends parents were as close as ever in their marriage. God is good!

IMAGINE

Can you imagine weightlesness? Think about the problems on earth that weight bring up: Stereotype, irrational judement, uncomfort, inadequacy to perform certain skills, etc... Weight makes things heavy, makes it difficult to carry certain objects and burdens. Weight is what makes a burden a burden.

I sat in a tub of water today as I meditated on God's word, I searched for a perfect balance, and could find none. When my hand was under the water, it was pulled to the top; when it was above the water, it was pulled to the bottom, there was no perfect balance. One could put their hand half in each, but as I tried this, it made simply an uncomfortable tension, half of my hand being pulled up, but the other pulled down.

This imperfection of balance will be impresent in the heavenly realm when we have reached eternity with God. Burdens will not be held, for they will lose their weight. I challenge you this, how much more will the absence of force other than that of the perfect God, affect a life of perfection? I think it is no mistake to make the assumption that the absence of gravity other than that towards our Lord and savior may be the best thing that a believer shall ever experience.

Chapter one of Biblical Love: Love for yourself

Love for yourself

Romans 13:9 “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,
You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and
any other commandment, are summed up in this word:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

In America, you can go up to nearly any woman (regardless of size) and ask them if they are trying to lose weight, and if they are being completely honest, the answer would commonly be “yes”. You can also go up to nearly any man in America and ask him if he wishes he was stronger and he would say “yes”. Why is it that we always see the negatives about ourselves? If you went up to a woman and asked her how much weight she has lost, she would say a number and instead of continuing to boast about how much she lost, she probably would go on to tell the person her goal weight. When is it enough? When do we need to accept ourselves for who we are? Moreover, when do we need to realize that God accepts us for who we are?

Why is it that we are constantly bombarded by negative reinforcement? We are constantly finding what is wrong with our appearance or attributes and trying to adjust them to what is popular. So there must be something that is contributing to this negativity in our self-esteem. Of course there is! People, magazines, television, school, the internet…etc. All of us are told that if we don’t look a certain way, dress a certain style, or go to a certain school that we are simply “not as good”. Why else would it be that some girls spend around two hours on there hair every morning? Even guys often lie about engaging in sexual activity to avoid being called gay and gaining a bad reputation.

In magazines, I constantly see titles such as “lose weight now!”, “Best bodies!”, “How to look good in a bikini”. Whether we wish to believe it or not, the majority of Americans have allowed this to affect their life in a huge way. We worry what we look like on a date, women carry make up in their purse, men do everything they can to become muscular. It literally takes up peoples lives and turns there heads from what’s important; love. In these circumstances, it is not love for others that is needed, it is not love for a thing that is needed, and it is not even love for your family that is needed, its love for yourself.

Genesis 2:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

We were created in the image of God, every one of us. Whether we are blind, naked, unloved, hated, persecuted, or rejected, human beings are none the less the divine and incredible image of God.

Perhaps “image of God” does not refer to looking like God, but rather, the way God wanted us. For example, if I was to make a bowl out of clay and I had shaped the bowl exactly how I wanted it so that it could be used exactly how I wanted, one may say it was created in my image, not because it looks like me, but because it was my perspective that created it the way it was. And that is exactly how I wanted it.

At the beginning of the earth, this is what God did. He took humans and molded them exactly according to his will, not the will of the person across the street, not the will of the media, but the will of God. If we think about it this way, it helps us understand why people aren’t accepting of others; because it isn’t their will or perspective that is prevailing, it is God’s.

When we were molded by God, we were molded in such a way that we would fit perfectly into his plan. God has a plan for every one of us, not just the strong, not just the week, not just the rich, not just the poor. Every single one of us makes a contribution to further accomplish God’s plan. People in America commonly think of only themselves and what they are going to do. But the Bible talks about the “body of Christ”, and that is not plural. If we are to contribute to the “body of Christ” than we have to think about not just how we can help ourselves, but how we can contribute perfectly to that “body”.

Let me use this example, God molded some of us into a fork, some of us into knives, some of us into cups and plates. But if a fork is all on its own when something more tough comes along, you are going to need a knife, and if something with more liquid comes along and all you have is a plate, your going to need to go grab a cup. You see? Everyone has a specific purpose to serve while we are down here. Other wise, God wouldn’t have put you or me down here at all.

The easiest way for someone to loose sight of God’s plan for their life is to allow others “will” to affect them instead of the will of God. God’s will for us is perfect and fits into his amazing plan. But a person’s will is complete imperfection and can distort our view and, possibly, will contribute to us turning our eyes from God.

So how do we love ourselves? By ignoring what others negatively tell us, and accepting what God truthfully tells us. When we listen to God, we discover a joy that reaches down to the pits of our heart and soul and binds them in such a way that we realize we are truly worth something. Let not things of the earth define you, such as money, sex, power, and drugs, but rather, let yourself be defined by the acceptance and love of Christ.

You might ask why I decided to have the first chapter be about love for ourselves. Maybe it seems like it should be focused more on something like: Love for God, love for people in Africa, love for family…etc. But the reason I decided to start on love for yourself is because once you have love for yourself, you gain love for others and God.

The bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Romans 13:9). But that commandment is impossible to follow if we do not know how to love ourselves. Furthermore, if Romans 13:9 tells us that in order to follow all of the commandments, we must love our neighbor as ourselves, than we cannot follow any of the commandments from the bible without self-love. This is why I started the book with this, because if we are to have any hope of understanding the deep love of Christ and the deep love we should all strive to acquire for Christ, than we must learn to love ourselves.

Biblical love: introduction

This is a book I have been writing in my free time. I ask you guys for comments on it so that we allow God to speek through you in order for me to improve it enough to hopefully get published. This is the introduction. Enjoy and please Comment:

I rarely come home from a Christian book store with a book that doesn’t talk about Calvinistic theological beliefs and defenses for such beliefs. My family is very strong in their beliefs towards the Calvinistic ideas of Christianity and the contrary to this belief is frowned upon in our household. However, I recently came home from a bookstore with a book called “Fearless” by Max Lucado which had appealed to me at that time because I was being troubled by some things in my life and I felt that it would be a good time to purchase such an item.
I got half way through it the first night I bought it and was enjoying it quite a lot. Once my brother caught a glimpse of it, he was somewhat taken back that I had bought a book that wasn’t referring to specific theological ideas that me and my family had so earnestly indulged in. He asked me why I had bought such a book and I simply told him that I thought it looked like a good read. He then walked off with a glimpse of disappointment. I find this to be a concise example of how Christians forget about the single most important thing God asks of us; love.
I, myself am an example of a person that is consistently distracted by things that cause you to turn away from the important things in life and pursue something because it seems more appealing. I turn away from things such as: The bible, God, my family, my friends, school, and prayer. I exchange these for: Video games, a movie, physical attraction towards the opposite sex, and just about everything that your mind can come up with that is unneeded for a happy life. I have been condemned for both lists, but I have only been convicted of the second. Condemnation is feelings that people have of doubt, or insecurity. They are feelings that are untrue and come from an unreliable source. Sometimes they come to us through feelings the devil gives us, sometimes through other people, and sometimes through ourselves. However, conviction is a true thing that could, in a sense, be considered somewhat of a conscience. Conviction brings about feelings of things you should not have done, guilt, and often times, if you listen to it, ends with an apology to God or a person who was wronged.
It is most important that we do our utter best to control our lives in such a way that we are not distracted by the things of the world such as: drugs, sex, pornography, lying, cheating, steeling, hating, murder, adultery, etc… but instead our faces make a one hundred and eighty degree turn towards: God, the bible, family, Christ, and prayer, or….you could simply refer to the latter list as love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Love really is an intriguing word, in today’s society it is used with nearly everything that appeals to someone. Many of us say things such as “I love that TV”, or “I love that video game”. But at the same time, it is used as a word of affection and sensitivity towards people. We use it towards our kids, our parents, our spouse, our girlfriend or boyfriend, and towards God. If we use the word love towards our possessions on earth, than why do we also use the same word in order to glorify God? I hope that God does not mean as much to some of you as your TV or your video game system does. Therefore we shouldn’t be using the same word for both. We must choose whether we wish to use, what the bible tells us, is the single deepest way to express compassion and kindness towards another being, for God or for items.
However, there are many types of love, the love one has for another Christian, for a spouse or loved one, for objects and idols, and most importantly, for God. Many people take these loves and twist them in such a way that they might love God in the way that they love an idol, or they might love an idol the way they should love God. Therefore their love has become perverse and twisted. And the only antidote to confused love is God. My goal is to allow God to speak to people who have mistakenly twisted their ideas of love so that God (not me) may help you and guide you on the path to correcting, what I like to call, biblical love.