1.6% of the North American population says they understand how finely tuned our universe is. I don't think so.
In describing just one of the hundreds of exquisitely finely tuned constants and quantities that govern the existence of our universe, scientists have described it this way. Imagine an aircraft carrier weighing 100,000 tonnes. If the weight of the ship was balanced to 10 ^ 1,230 (the balance of the cosmological constant which keeps our universe from expanding into oblivion or collapsing back on itself) it could not be off by more than a billionth of a trillionth of the mass of an ELECTRON on one side or the other, or the ship would capsize.
This 1.6% of the population say they understand that but they also say than an infinite number of universes (there is zero evidence for these universes but atheists believe in them anyhow) have come into existence with just this type of fine tuning - ALL by accident.
These people think that with an infinite universe theory they are multiplying the chances of our life supporting universe existing by accident. In actuality, they’re multiply chances for normal people to see how absurd is the belief system of atheists.
Friday, April 30, 2010
You’re Breaking My Heart!
Atheists, those one time bastions of "reality" have completely thrown up their hands and devolved into making noises - anything - as long as they don’t have to deal with scientific evidence. This group at one point, not that many years ago, rose and fell by the creed, “If it can’t be observed, tested and verified, we won’t believe it.”
That’s a good creed. It has moved civilization farther than each preceding generation ever dreamed possible. And now? Imaginary time, Material infinities and the most disturbing, at least for me, Beginnings without a cause, are now standard fair in the minds of atheists.
I asked, on a post “If God doesn’t exist, why does anything exist?”
This is a deeply meaningful question. One that touches the very base of both science and philosophy. From both science and philosophy we know two things:
1. The material infinite does not and cannot exist - Whether you believe that this is the only universe to exist or whether you believe ours is the latest of a bzillion or just one of a bzillion universes, at one point there was a beginning, a "first" singularity, a definitive space / time boundary.
2. At one point there was literally nothing -
Not energy
Not matter
Not space
Not time
Not material life
These are two things that we know. At one point there was nothing material in existence. Can literally nothing cause everything to come into being?
The question, “If God doesn’t exist, why does anything exist?” is absolutely relevant. Here are two very typical responses that atheists now give and this is what I find heart breaking. The first is from the mind of a child. It means, I have nothing of value to say so I'll just say anything.
1) “If magic ain't real how come the universe exists?”
Whatever intelligence brought the universe into existence, it was the farthest thing from magic that you can imagine. It was pure, unadulterated science, intelligence, power.
The second response completely turns its back on the scientific method of knowing. It clings to a desperate desire and longing to believe in causeless beginnings, not because of evidence, but in the total absence of observable, testable, verifiable evidence.
2) “...The question is nonsensical, it assumes that a reason is applicable to space/time."
The question is nonsensical? Because of clear scientific (observable, repeatable, verifiable) evidence, we know that Whatever begins to exist has a cause. This is absolutely the basis of science, for science at its base is a search for cause.
That we consistently observe this to be true (Whatever begins to exist has a cause) is critically important because scientific naturalists demand that nothing can be believed without consistent observation and verification. Every single attempt to promote alternatives to this premise (Whatever begins to exist has a cause) have only reinforced its truth. Therefore, atheists have the highest motivation to accept this premise.
Even Hume, one of the Patron Saints of atheism has said, "I've NEVER suggested something so ridiculous as to say that something could begin to exist without a cause." Sorry sir, your tribe has left you far, far behind and as the first atheist suggested, they have entered into the world of magic and atheist generated Origin Of The Universe Mythologies.
And this is what breaks my heart. While I fundamentally disagree with atheists that everything can come from nothing without a material cause (because at one point nothing material existed and now everything material exists) but they could always be counted on to deal with reality; to speak in realistic terms.
Sadly that day is gone - probably forever.
That’s a good creed. It has moved civilization farther than each preceding generation ever dreamed possible. And now? Imaginary time, Material infinities and the most disturbing, at least for me, Beginnings without a cause, are now standard fair in the minds of atheists.
I asked, on a post “If God doesn’t exist, why does anything exist?”
This is a deeply meaningful question. One that touches the very base of both science and philosophy. From both science and philosophy we know two things:
1. The material infinite does not and cannot exist - Whether you believe that this is the only universe to exist or whether you believe ours is the latest of a bzillion or just one of a bzillion universes, at one point there was a beginning, a "first" singularity, a definitive space / time boundary.
2. At one point there was literally nothing -
Not energy
Not matter
Not space
Not time
Not material life
These are two things that we know. At one point there was nothing material in existence. Can literally nothing cause everything to come into being?
The question, “If God doesn’t exist, why does anything exist?” is absolutely relevant. Here are two very typical responses that atheists now give and this is what I find heart breaking. The first is from the mind of a child. It means, I have nothing of value to say so I'll just say anything.
1) “If magic ain't real how come the universe exists?”
Whatever intelligence brought the universe into existence, it was the farthest thing from magic that you can imagine. It was pure, unadulterated science, intelligence, power.
The second response completely turns its back on the scientific method of knowing. It clings to a desperate desire and longing to believe in causeless beginnings, not because of evidence, but in the total absence of observable, testable, verifiable evidence.
2) “...The question is nonsensical, it assumes that a reason is applicable to space/time."
The question is nonsensical? Because of clear scientific (observable, repeatable, verifiable) evidence, we know that Whatever begins to exist has a cause. This is absolutely the basis of science, for science at its base is a search for cause.
That we consistently observe this to be true (Whatever begins to exist has a cause) is critically important because scientific naturalists demand that nothing can be believed without consistent observation and verification. Every single attempt to promote alternatives to this premise (Whatever begins to exist has a cause) have only reinforced its truth. Therefore, atheists have the highest motivation to accept this premise.
Even Hume, one of the Patron Saints of atheism has said, "I've NEVER suggested something so ridiculous as to say that something could begin to exist without a cause." Sorry sir, your tribe has left you far, far behind and as the first atheist suggested, they have entered into the world of magic and atheist generated Origin Of The Universe Mythologies.
And this is what breaks my heart. While I fundamentally disagree with atheists that everything can come from nothing without a material cause (because at one point nothing material existed and now everything material exists) but they could always be counted on to deal with reality; to speak in realistic terms.
Sadly that day is gone - probably forever.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that 1.6% is too low an estimate of their numbers. Because research results show that’s almost exactly the number of people who adhere to their illogical, absurd and incoherent belief system (1.6% plus Hugo in Canada), atheists try to inflate their numbers by including agnostics and those who don’t go to Church as being of the same mind-set. One atheist even tried to run the number up to 15% of the population by saying all these people belong to the same group.
Ask an atheist if he is an agnostic (that God might exist) and he will of course say no.
Ask an agnostic if he is an atheist (knows that God doesn't exists) and he will of course say no.
Saying, “God might exist. I don’t know,” does not make someone an atheist.
Not attending Church does not make someone an atheist.
Yet, atheists try to lump them all into the same group for number’s sake.
Most people would never agree that:
Some things (eg. the first universe) can begin to exist without a cause
There can be an infinite regress of cause (Material infinite cannot exist)
Matter has existed for ever (2nd Law of Thermodynamics refutes this)
Everything (space, time, matter and energy) came from nothing by nothing.
Even though the less evidence you have for your position the more faith you have to have to believe it, atheists have staked their eternity on the above premesis.
"It can be said with absolute confidence that no cosmogonic model has been:
. As repeatedly verified in its predictions, As corroborated by attempts at its falsification,
. As concordant with empirical discoveries, and
. As philosophically coherent as the Standard Big Bang Creation Event Model."
Yet, because of the metaphysical implications of a universe that came from literally nothing, this 1.6% of the population is forced to reject the findings of science.
Talk about irony!
Atheists ask questions like, “When did an eternal being begin to exist?” or “What caused an eternal being to begin to exist?” and think it makes them sound clever.
These are just a few of the things that make people shy away from even considering atheism. This 1.6% of the population have to pad the numbers because to accept that the vast majority of people see their world view as pathetic and stupid may cause them to reconsider.
Ask an atheist if he is an agnostic (that God might exist) and he will of course say no.
Ask an agnostic if he is an atheist (knows that God doesn't exists) and he will of course say no.
Saying, “God might exist. I don’t know,” does not make someone an atheist.
Not attending Church does not make someone an atheist.
Yet, atheists try to lump them all into the same group for number’s sake.
Most people would never agree that:
Some things (eg. the first universe) can begin to exist without a cause
There can be an infinite regress of cause (Material infinite cannot exist)
Matter has existed for ever (2nd Law of Thermodynamics refutes this)
Everything (space, time, matter and energy) came from nothing by nothing.
Even though the less evidence you have for your position the more faith you have to have to believe it, atheists have staked their eternity on the above premesis.
"It can be said with absolute confidence that no cosmogonic model has been:
. As repeatedly verified in its predictions, As corroborated by attempts at its falsification,
. As concordant with empirical discoveries, and
. As philosophically coherent as the Standard Big Bang Creation Event Model."
Yet, because of the metaphysical implications of a universe that came from literally nothing, this 1.6% of the population is forced to reject the findings of science.
Talk about irony!
Atheists ask questions like, “When did an eternal being begin to exist?” or “What caused an eternal being to begin to exist?” and think it makes them sound clever.
These are just a few of the things that make people shy away from even considering atheism. This 1.6% of the population have to pad the numbers because to accept that the vast majority of people see their world view as pathetic and stupid may cause them to reconsider.
Loftus, Ehrman and Tares
In a post at blog Makarios (http://makarios-makarios.blogspot.com/2009/09/inquisition.html)
I talked about how the crusades and the inquisitions could never be justified by Jesus’ teaching, and in fact Jesus taught specifically about NOT doing things like that.
In the parable that I referred to (Matthew 13:24-30) Jesus said that every congregation in the world will have people like John Loftus and Bart Ehrman and many if not most of the atheists who hang around here attending at one time or another. Pretenders, frauds, hangers-on, hypocrites, tares.
Tares are plants that, in the early stages of growth look almost exactly like wheat. Only when they are mature and not able to hide their true selves any more is the reality of the situation known. Tares, like John Loftus and Bart Ehrman and a whole bunch of present day atheists were and are in every congregation. They look and sound - at least in the early stages - like real Christians. They have great sounding testimonies. They sing and pray like they mean it. They may lead interesting and knowledgeable Bible studies. They may even stand in the pulpit and preach sermons that are used by the Holy Spirit to lead others to salvation. They seem just like genuine believers.
They aren’t. Their lives are a sham. While sounding like people who are close to Jesus in thought, word and deed, these people remain unregenerate sinners. Only with time does their true nature show. In time they abandon the faith and completely embrace another doctrine or heresy or completely give themselves over to some sinful lifestyle.
The fact is, true followers of Jesus are not the majority of any group, not even those who attend Church. For the majority, if not outright tares, they are people who simply use Jesus as an accessory to their normal lifestyle. Phoney Christians and pretenders of all stripes have been and will be with us till the end of time. There is no point in getting overly excited about this. It’s just one of the realities of Church life.
“They left us, but they were never really with us. If they had been, they would have stuck it out with us, loyal to the end. In leaving, they showed their true colours, showed they never did belong. 1st John 2:19
I talked about how the crusades and the inquisitions could never be justified by Jesus’ teaching, and in fact Jesus taught specifically about NOT doing things like that.
In the parable that I referred to (Matthew 13:24-30) Jesus said that every congregation in the world will have people like John Loftus and Bart Ehrman and many if not most of the atheists who hang around here attending at one time or another. Pretenders, frauds, hangers-on, hypocrites, tares.
Tares are plants that, in the early stages of growth look almost exactly like wheat. Only when they are mature and not able to hide their true selves any more is the reality of the situation known. Tares, like John Loftus and Bart Ehrman and a whole bunch of present day atheists were and are in every congregation. They look and sound - at least in the early stages - like real Christians. They have great sounding testimonies. They sing and pray like they mean it. They may lead interesting and knowledgeable Bible studies. They may even stand in the pulpit and preach sermons that are used by the Holy Spirit to lead others to salvation. They seem just like genuine believers.
They aren’t. Their lives are a sham. While sounding like people who are close to Jesus in thought, word and deed, these people remain unregenerate sinners. Only with time does their true nature show. In time they abandon the faith and completely embrace another doctrine or heresy or completely give themselves over to some sinful lifestyle.
The fact is, true followers of Jesus are not the majority of any group, not even those who attend Church. For the majority, if not outright tares, they are people who simply use Jesus as an accessory to their normal lifestyle. Phoney Christians and pretenders of all stripes have been and will be with us till the end of time. There is no point in getting overly excited about this. It’s just one of the realities of Church life.
“They left us, but they were never really with us. If they had been, they would have stuck it out with us, loyal to the end. In leaving, they showed their true colours, showed they never did belong. 1st John 2:19
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says to Christians that it is wrong for Christians to try to convince others that Christian beliefs are true. So convinced of this are members of this small group that they are trying to convince everyone that their beliefs are true. Through books, YouTube, the education system, Bill Boards and any other means possible, these people are pushing hard, hard, hard for their view point to be the one dominant view point for people of the world. These people must maintain this implausible position or their belief system will collapse.
That’s Just Dangerous!
An atheist, I think it was one of the anonymous sextuplets hanging around, who said that when he goes to a hotel he flips through (reads through?) a few pages of the Bible that is in the room.
That is just plain dangerous!
Three true stories. I can’t remember the people’s names but the stories themselves are accurate.
1) There is a brilliant Rabbi from New York. By brilliant I mean, he has four Ph.D’s. One of them is in Christian Theology (“My dad taught me to know the enemy.”). At 19 he was a Rabbi and by 21 he was training other Rabbis. Of one thing he was certain, “Jesus was not the Messiah.” One day, this man had flown into Detroit for a meeting and Delta Airlines had lost his luggage. Stuck in his hotel room with none of his books, he pulled out the Bible from the drawer. As he tells it, “I turned to the book of John, which I had read countless times before, and it was as if scales of unbelief fell from my eyes. I could see it. As plain as day. Jesus IS the Messiah!” He now travels up and down the eastern sea board of the United States proclaiming to any Jew who will listen, “I’ve found the Messiah! It’s Jesus!”
2) The Gideons travel around to university campuses setting up their tables in busy student halls. They have stacks of Bibles on their tables and along the front of the table they have a huge banner saying, “FREE.” Of course students like free stuff and one day, along with several hundred other students, one guy picked up a Bible, a New Testament. He’s thinking, “Cool, something free.” As he was walking back to his room, he began thumbing through this thing, and he all of a sudden realised that it’s a Bible. “A Bible! I don’t want a Bible.” He tried to throw the Book onto the roof of a student dorm. He didn’t quite make it and the Bible went through an open third story window. Two weeks later, the Gideons were back on Campus doing follow-up. As they were standing at the table, interacting with whoever would listen a guy was walking by when his eye caught the Gideon table. “Hey, you’re those Gideon guys! I don’t know how you did it but I was sitting in my room a couple weeks ago when a Bible came flying into my room. I looked out the window and saw one of your guys walking away. I hadn’t read a Bible - ever - but I started looking through it and it was like this stuff had been written just for me. I’m a Christian. I’m saved because you threw this Bible into my room. I’m just on my way for a noon hour Bible study with Campus for Christ. I don’t know how you got it into my room without breaking a window but thanks.”
3) The woman’s name is Sandra. I can’t remember her last name. She was raised in a home in California where both parents were satanists. By the age of 12 she was well versed in the black arts. By 13 she was drinking regularly throughout the week and by 14 she was addicted to street drugs. “I realised that if I didn’t leave this life, this life was going to kill me.” She ran away and wound up in Dallas, Texas. From there she hitched to Forth Worth. There’s not a lot of ways for a 14 year old girl to support herself on the street so she did what other girls her age were doing. A series of “boyfriends” left her more disillusioned than ever. Living out of an abandoned car and nursing the bruises from a sexual assault the night before, Sandra decided to end it all. There was simply no hope for any improvement in life. As Sandra accumulated in her lap, the necessary tools for ending her life, she tilted back the front seat of the car, slouched down in the seat and closed her eyes. “I just wanted to sleep for a bit.” She let her hands dangle down to her sides and her finger tips touched something. She pulled it out and there was a New Testament. “I had no idea how that got there.” Long story shorter. Sandra, who had rejected Christianity for all of her very short life, who had in fact been taught by her parents that Christianity was evil and dangerous, began to read.
She read of God’s love for her.
She read of Jesus’ sacrifice.
She read how she could be forgiven for the very real guilt that she carried.
Today, Sandra, her husband and children live in Dallas. They attend a large Church and Sandra travels around telling women how God tracked her down to a beat up car abandoned in an empty lot just off Fort Worth’s East Lancaster district.
My point?
No one comes to Jesus unless God draws that person to Jesus (John 6:44)
It is not by our desire or effort (Romans 9:16)
You never know when the Holy Spirit will open your sin-dulled mind.
You never know when the Holy Spirit will quicken your sin-slowed thinking.
You never know when the Holy Spirit is going to come for your soul and if you want to stay an atheist, flipping through the pages of the New Testament is a very dangerous thing to do.
That is just plain dangerous!
Three true stories. I can’t remember the people’s names but the stories themselves are accurate.
1) There is a brilliant Rabbi from New York. By brilliant I mean, he has four Ph.D’s. One of them is in Christian Theology (“My dad taught me to know the enemy.”). At 19 he was a Rabbi and by 21 he was training other Rabbis. Of one thing he was certain, “Jesus was not the Messiah.” One day, this man had flown into Detroit for a meeting and Delta Airlines had lost his luggage. Stuck in his hotel room with none of his books, he pulled out the Bible from the drawer. As he tells it, “I turned to the book of John, which I had read countless times before, and it was as if scales of unbelief fell from my eyes. I could see it. As plain as day. Jesus IS the Messiah!” He now travels up and down the eastern sea board of the United States proclaiming to any Jew who will listen, “I’ve found the Messiah! It’s Jesus!”
2) The Gideons travel around to university campuses setting up their tables in busy student halls. They have stacks of Bibles on their tables and along the front of the table they have a huge banner saying, “FREE.” Of course students like free stuff and one day, along with several hundred other students, one guy picked up a Bible, a New Testament. He’s thinking, “Cool, something free.” As he was walking back to his room, he began thumbing through this thing, and he all of a sudden realised that it’s a Bible. “A Bible! I don’t want a Bible.” He tried to throw the Book onto the roof of a student dorm. He didn’t quite make it and the Bible went through an open third story window. Two weeks later, the Gideons were back on Campus doing follow-up. As they were standing at the table, interacting with whoever would listen a guy was walking by when his eye caught the Gideon table. “Hey, you’re those Gideon guys! I don’t know how you did it but I was sitting in my room a couple weeks ago when a Bible came flying into my room. I looked out the window and saw one of your guys walking away. I hadn’t read a Bible - ever - but I started looking through it and it was like this stuff had been written just for me. I’m a Christian. I’m saved because you threw this Bible into my room. I’m just on my way for a noon hour Bible study with Campus for Christ. I don’t know how you got it into my room without breaking a window but thanks.”
3) The woman’s name is Sandra. I can’t remember her last name. She was raised in a home in California where both parents were satanists. By the age of 12 she was well versed in the black arts. By 13 she was drinking regularly throughout the week and by 14 she was addicted to street drugs. “I realised that if I didn’t leave this life, this life was going to kill me.” She ran away and wound up in Dallas, Texas. From there she hitched to Forth Worth. There’s not a lot of ways for a 14 year old girl to support herself on the street so she did what other girls her age were doing. A series of “boyfriends” left her more disillusioned than ever. Living out of an abandoned car and nursing the bruises from a sexual assault the night before, Sandra decided to end it all. There was simply no hope for any improvement in life. As Sandra accumulated in her lap, the necessary tools for ending her life, she tilted back the front seat of the car, slouched down in the seat and closed her eyes. “I just wanted to sleep for a bit.” She let her hands dangle down to her sides and her finger tips touched something. She pulled it out and there was a New Testament. “I had no idea how that got there.” Long story shorter. Sandra, who had rejected Christianity for all of her very short life, who had in fact been taught by her parents that Christianity was evil and dangerous, began to read.
She read of God’s love for her.
She read of Jesus’ sacrifice.
She read how she could be forgiven for the very real guilt that she carried.
Today, Sandra, her husband and children live in Dallas. They attend a large Church and Sandra travels around telling women how God tracked her down to a beat up car abandoned in an empty lot just off Fort Worth’s East Lancaster district.
My point?
No one comes to Jesus unless God draws that person to Jesus (John 6:44)
It is not by our desire or effort (Romans 9:16)
You never know when the Holy Spirit will open your sin-dulled mind.
You never know when the Holy Spirit will quicken your sin-slowed thinking.
You never know when the Holy Spirit is going to come for your soul and if you want to stay an atheist, flipping through the pages of the New Testament is a very dangerous thing to do.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that natural selection cannot favour the evolution of a nonfunctional system. Yet if the system obviously existed prior to being functional as that system, it must have functioned as something different. This 1.6% of the population cannot seem to grasp that a complex living organism cannot randomly substitute one function for another and still survive. Nevertheless, even though these people say that without observation and verification nothing can be believed this portion of the population maintains this implausible position, not because of the evidence but in spite of the evidence. They must do this or their world view will collapse.
Insane Grace
If God asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” What would you answer?
Any answer other than faith in Jesus is useless. What we’ve done or who we are is useless. All our accomplishments, our education, our generosity, our good intentions, none of these will help us when the time of accounting has arrived.
Good deeds or good intentions can’t solve the problem of our sinful nature.
Who we are, not what we’ve done is the problem. We do not love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Our sin nature keeps us from doing that. Just like bandages won’t cure cancer, the bandage of trying to be good won’t cure our corrupt nature. Only God’s grace that brought about Jesus’ sacrifice will create the opportunity to receive forgiveness for our sins.
Eph. 2:8,9 says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved - through faith, and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by good works, so that no one may boast.”
It’s not the good things that we can do for God but the good that He did for us that provides for our salvation.
Imagine this. You go to a “friends” house for the weekend. You’re treated with respect and consideration. All the food and drink and entertainment has been provided. The conversation is great, the company interesting. It’s a good time. As you pack up on Sunday evening for the trip home, you pack some extremely valuable rings and necklaces that belong to your host. They are worth at least $80,000. You think to yourself, ‘She’ll just think it was someone at the party who took it. I’m a friend. She’ll never think it’s me.’ On the way home the police stop you for a traffic violation. Your conscience causes you to act in a guilty manner. Your forehead beads with sweat and your jugular is pulsing rapidly. The police search the vehicle. As they examine the jewellery in your suitcase they see that a couple items have the owners name engraved on them. You claim these items were a gift but it’s a lousy attempt at lying and they can tell. As the police return you and the jewels to your friend’s place she has three options available.
. She can reclaim the items that you’ve stolen and press charges
. She can reclaim the items and NOT press charges, or
. She can say, “Officer, I don’t want to lay charges. I want my friend to have these things. In fact my friend can have all that I own. Let me go and get the rest.”
She chooses option number three.
That is grace. Undeserved generosity.
How would you respond?
All of us stand before God as absolutely guilty for abusing God’s love and generosity.
Jesus has made possible total and undeserved forgiveness. It’s ours to accept or reject.
Rather than conditional love, Christianity tells us about unconditional, unearned, undeserved love. Because of this we don’t have to pretend that we’re good when we’re not. God knows the worst about me and loves me anyway.
I am more sinful than I ever dreamed possible, but I’m also loved more than I could have ever hoped.
We haven’t paid for it, have no need to pay for it, and in fact can’t pay for our forgiveness.
We only have to accept it.
If you were to die tonight and God asked, Why should I let you into heaven, could you answer, “Because I’ve accepted the forgiveness offered to me through Your Son, Jesus Christ?”
Any answer other than faith in Jesus is useless. What we’ve done or who we are is useless. All our accomplishments, our education, our generosity, our good intentions, none of these will help us when the time of accounting has arrived.
Good deeds or good intentions can’t solve the problem of our sinful nature.
Who we are, not what we’ve done is the problem. We do not love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Our sin nature keeps us from doing that. Just like bandages won’t cure cancer, the bandage of trying to be good won’t cure our corrupt nature. Only God’s grace that brought about Jesus’ sacrifice will create the opportunity to receive forgiveness for our sins.
Eph. 2:8,9 says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved - through faith, and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by good works, so that no one may boast.”
It’s not the good things that we can do for God but the good that He did for us that provides for our salvation.
Imagine this. You go to a “friends” house for the weekend. You’re treated with respect and consideration. All the food and drink and entertainment has been provided. The conversation is great, the company interesting. It’s a good time. As you pack up on Sunday evening for the trip home, you pack some extremely valuable rings and necklaces that belong to your host. They are worth at least $80,000. You think to yourself, ‘She’ll just think it was someone at the party who took it. I’m a friend. She’ll never think it’s me.’ On the way home the police stop you for a traffic violation. Your conscience causes you to act in a guilty manner. Your forehead beads with sweat and your jugular is pulsing rapidly. The police search the vehicle. As they examine the jewellery in your suitcase they see that a couple items have the owners name engraved on them. You claim these items were a gift but it’s a lousy attempt at lying and they can tell. As the police return you and the jewels to your friend’s place she has three options available.
. She can reclaim the items that you’ve stolen and press charges
. She can reclaim the items and NOT press charges, or
. She can say, “Officer, I don’t want to lay charges. I want my friend to have these things. In fact my friend can have all that I own. Let me go and get the rest.”
She chooses option number three.
That is grace. Undeserved generosity.
How would you respond?
All of us stand before God as absolutely guilty for abusing God’s love and generosity.
Jesus has made possible total and undeserved forgiveness. It’s ours to accept or reject.
Rather than conditional love, Christianity tells us about unconditional, unearned, undeserved love. Because of this we don’t have to pretend that we’re good when we’re not. God knows the worst about me and loves me anyway.
I am more sinful than I ever dreamed possible, but I’m also loved more than I could have ever hoped.
We haven’t paid for it, have no need to pay for it, and in fact can’t pay for our forgiveness.
We only have to accept it.
If you were to die tonight and God asked, Why should I let you into heaven, could you answer, “Because I’ve accepted the forgiveness offered to me through Your Son, Jesus Christ?”
Monday, April 26, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population has a spokesperson who once said that the discovery of a simple string of prime numbers from outer space would prove the existence of an intelligent being.
That was Carl Sagan.
These people will believe what Carl says but when they encounter the equivalent of 1,000 encyclopaedias worth of highly specified, formulated, coded information in the first one-celled life, they say that is not the finger print of an intelligent being.
These people know that there is no replication without this information.
These people know that there is no evolution without replication.
The information came first.
It did not accumulate gradually over a million billion zillion years.
It was there, in the first living cell.
This 1.6% of the population maintains their implausible position, not because of the evidence but in spite of the evidence. They must do this or their world-view will collapse.
That was Carl Sagan.
These people will believe what Carl says but when they encounter the equivalent of 1,000 encyclopaedias worth of highly specified, formulated, coded information in the first one-celled life, they say that is not the finger print of an intelligent being.
These people know that there is no replication without this information.
These people know that there is no evolution without replication.
The information came first.
It did not accumulate gradually over a million billion zillion years.
It was there, in the first living cell.
This 1.6% of the population maintains their implausible position, not because of the evidence but in spite of the evidence. They must do this or their world-view will collapse.
It’s all Dos and Don’ts
One of the atheists roaming through this blog said that the only reason that I do anything good is because I love Jesus. Apparently that’s a bad thing.
Hmm, let’s think about this.
Because I love my wife:
I do things that please her
I don’t do things that annoy her
I do put my clothes in the laundry
I don’t leave the toilet seat up
I do tell her that I love her
I don’t have sex with or fantasise about other women
I do carry in the groceries
I don’t do less than my share of the house work
I do listen to her
I don’t spend money carelessly
I do help with the children
I don’t drink too much
I do trust her in everything
I don’t try to change her
I do treat her with kindness
I don’t tell her that she can’t go out with friends
I do appreciate her gifts and talents
I don’t speak to her with rudeness
I do try to focus on her strengths
I don’t say everything that I’m thinking
I do maintain my eternal commitment to the relationship
I don’t . . . well, you get the idea.
The thing is, according to atheists, doing good things for someone because of love somehow renders the good deeds invalid. What atheists are not able to understand is, because God exists, everything is important. Everyone is important. Everything that I do has meaning and context and purpose. Because of God’s love for me and in me I am compelled to do good. I am powerless to not do good. The love that I have, to the extent that I have love, exists because of the love that God has poured into me.
Now you may say that you don’t need God in order to love others and I say, “Good for you.”
Not everyone is like that. In fact Jesus has nothing to offer people like you. “I have come not to save those who believe in their own righteousness but to save those who know that they are not good.”
Prior to Jesus coming into my life I had a heart of cold stone. My explanation is that years of childhood sexual abuse coupled with arthritis starting at age ten turned me into one of the most bitter, angry, shut-down people I’ve met. I had no love of my own. I was seething with rage.
What God promised to do for His people in the Old Testament He has done for me. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 11:19,20
According to atheists, that’s somehow a bad thing.
Hmm, let’s think about this.
Because I love my wife:
I do things that please her
I don’t do things that annoy her
I do put my clothes in the laundry
I don’t leave the toilet seat up
I do tell her that I love her
I don’t have sex with or fantasise about other women
I do carry in the groceries
I don’t do less than my share of the house work
I do listen to her
I don’t spend money carelessly
I do help with the children
I don’t drink too much
I do trust her in everything
I don’t try to change her
I do treat her with kindness
I don’t tell her that she can’t go out with friends
I do appreciate her gifts and talents
I don’t speak to her with rudeness
I do try to focus on her strengths
I don’t say everything that I’m thinking
I do maintain my eternal commitment to the relationship
I don’t . . . well, you get the idea.
The thing is, according to atheists, doing good things for someone because of love somehow renders the good deeds invalid. What atheists are not able to understand is, because God exists, everything is important. Everyone is important. Everything that I do has meaning and context and purpose. Because of God’s love for me and in me I am compelled to do good. I am powerless to not do good. The love that I have, to the extent that I have love, exists because of the love that God has poured into me.
Now you may say that you don’t need God in order to love others and I say, “Good for you.”
Not everyone is like that. In fact Jesus has nothing to offer people like you. “I have come not to save those who believe in their own righteousness but to save those who know that they are not good.”
Prior to Jesus coming into my life I had a heart of cold stone. My explanation is that years of childhood sexual abuse coupled with arthritis starting at age ten turned me into one of the most bitter, angry, shut-down people I’ve met. I had no love of my own. I was seething with rage.
What God promised to do for His people in the Old Testament He has done for me. “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” Ezekiel 11:19,20
According to atheists, that’s somehow a bad thing.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
Picture this! A reddish pulsating light emanates from around the edges of a drawer in a night table. With each pulse there is a sound, ooOOOom - ooOOOom - ooOOOom.
What’s going on you ask? That’s the sound that 1.6% of the population hears coming from the drawer in hotel rooms where the Gideon Bibles are kept. Along with the sound, the pulsating light goes on and off, on and off driving these people crazy just knowing that a Bible rests not even 30cms away from where they sleep.
I read on one atheist’s blog (this particular post was written by the guy’s wife actually) where she says that her husband couldn’t rest until he had removed the Bible from the drawer, took it down to the front desk and told the staff how offended - offended I tell you! - he was to know that there was a Bible in EVERY room in the hotel.
The people who adhere to this belief system will try to tell you that they don’t think about God, never blog about God, don’t worry about God and certainly don’t believe that He exists. Nevertheless, the obsession with His non existence continues. This 1.6% of the population maintains their implausible position because the evidence for God’s existence is undeniable.
What’s going on you ask? That’s the sound that 1.6% of the population hears coming from the drawer in hotel rooms where the Gideon Bibles are kept. Along with the sound, the pulsating light goes on and off, on and off driving these people crazy just knowing that a Bible rests not even 30cms away from where they sleep.
I read on one atheist’s blog (this particular post was written by the guy’s wife actually) where she says that her husband couldn’t rest until he had removed the Bible from the drawer, took it down to the front desk and told the staff how offended - offended I tell you! - he was to know that there was a Bible in EVERY room in the hotel.
The people who adhere to this belief system will try to tell you that they don’t think about God, never blog about God, don’t worry about God and certainly don’t believe that He exists. Nevertheless, the obsession with His non existence continues. This 1.6% of the population maintains their implausible position because the evidence for God’s existence is undeniable.
Notice Something Different?
Have you noticed that when a book is written about a historically relevant figure, the vast majority of the book is dedicated to the person’s life; to what s/he was doing when that person was alive? Have you noticed that usually only the last chapter talks about that person’s death?
Fully one third of the Gospels is devoted to Jesus’ death.
No other major religion celebrates the death of it’s leader. In all other major religions, it’s the person’s life that has had the major impact on society, not h/his death. Not so with Christianity. Jesus’ death and especially His resurrection are the meat of Christianity.
Another thing about Jesus, something that is different from other people upon whom religions have been founded, is that Jesus went to his death willingly and deliberately. Prior to His death, Jesus told His followers:
That He would die
When He would die
How He would die
Who would kill Him,
Why He needed to die in this manner
That He would rise again from the dead
When He would rise from the dead, and
Why it was important that He rise from the dead.
The importance of His death and resurrection of course have to do with making possible the forgiveness of our sins and the reconciliation, the renewing of a healed relationship for us with our Creator.
Our sin is what separates us from God.
The sin that Jesus took upon Himself is what separated God the Son from God the Father.
My sins, the punishment that I deserved was taken upon Himself by Jesus.
Your sins, the punishment that you deserve was taken upon Himself by Jesus for your sake.
Sadly the humility required to accept that forgiveness is too much for some people.
Now, while there is only one way to experience reconciliation with Creator God, there are several ways in which you can respond to the offer of reconciliation. These different ways of responding are highlighted in the reactions of those who were involved in Jesus’ death.
The soldiers divided His clothes. They just went about their daily duties in life and completely missed the meaning of Jesus and the cross.
The religious leaders mocked Jesus. The self righteous believe they don’t need Jesus in order to be good. They most certainly see no need for forgiveness. I’m always amazed at how similar atheists are to the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. He even rightly called Him King of the Jews, but he caved to the opinion of others.
The Bystanders were totally detached. They knew all about Jesus and what happened, but His death had no effect on them.
The Roman Centurian, this battle hardened soldier, accustomed to death and dying, after seeing how Jesus died voluntarily and with power said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
What's Your Reaction?
If we are guilty, and our Creator say that we are, then justice states that justice must be served.
The sword of justice fell on Jesus.
Jesus said that He came to give His life as a ransom for many, including you.
We can either let Him pay the debt for our sins, or we WILL take our guilt with us to the grave and then begin to pay down the debt ourselves, a debt so great that even a lifetime in hell will not suffice.
Now, before your last breath, you still have time to adjust your response to this offer of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Fully one third of the Gospels is devoted to Jesus’ death.
No other major religion celebrates the death of it’s leader. In all other major religions, it’s the person’s life that has had the major impact on society, not h/his death. Not so with Christianity. Jesus’ death and especially His resurrection are the meat of Christianity.
Another thing about Jesus, something that is different from other people upon whom religions have been founded, is that Jesus went to his death willingly and deliberately. Prior to His death, Jesus told His followers:
That He would die
When He would die
How He would die
Who would kill Him,
Why He needed to die in this manner
That He would rise again from the dead
When He would rise from the dead, and
Why it was important that He rise from the dead.
The importance of His death and resurrection of course have to do with making possible the forgiveness of our sins and the reconciliation, the renewing of a healed relationship for us with our Creator.
Our sin is what separates us from God.
The sin that Jesus took upon Himself is what separated God the Son from God the Father.
My sins, the punishment that I deserved was taken upon Himself by Jesus.
Your sins, the punishment that you deserve was taken upon Himself by Jesus for your sake.
Sadly the humility required to accept that forgiveness is too much for some people.
Now, while there is only one way to experience reconciliation with Creator God, there are several ways in which you can respond to the offer of reconciliation. These different ways of responding are highlighted in the reactions of those who were involved in Jesus’ death.
The soldiers divided His clothes. They just went about their daily duties in life and completely missed the meaning of Jesus and the cross.
The religious leaders mocked Jesus. The self righteous believe they don’t need Jesus in order to be good. They most certainly see no need for forgiveness. I’m always amazed at how similar atheists are to the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
Pontius Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. He even rightly called Him King of the Jews, but he caved to the opinion of others.
The Bystanders were totally detached. They knew all about Jesus and what happened, but His death had no effect on them.
The Roman Centurian, this battle hardened soldier, accustomed to death and dying, after seeing how Jesus died voluntarily and with power said, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”
What's Your Reaction?
If we are guilty, and our Creator say that we are, then justice states that justice must be served.
The sword of justice fell on Jesus.
Jesus said that He came to give His life as a ransom for many, including you.
We can either let Him pay the debt for our sins, or we WILL take our guilt with us to the grave and then begin to pay down the debt ourselves, a debt so great that even a lifetime in hell will not suffice.
Now, before your last breath, you still have time to adjust your response to this offer of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that the Bible can’t be trusted in what it says. Example: These people used to say that writing didn’t exist at the time of Moses. They say that Moses couldn’t have written the Pentateuch. Then the Ebla tablets were found proving that written language predated Moses by at least 1,000 years. 1.6% of the population still maintains their implausible position, not because of the evidence but in spite of the evidence. They must do this or their world-view will collapse.
If You Could Read My Mind Luv
“If You Could Read My Mind Luv - What a tale my thoughts would tell.”
That’s the line from a really old song.
If you know this blog, you’ll know who I’m going to talk about. If you know your Bible you’ll know the account I’m going to turn to. I’ve actually used this account when pointing to the five main reasons that the disciples claimed that Jesus was God.
Jesus was sitting in a house in Capernaum. It was probably the house that He used for His home base. The house was packed and some guys lowered their friend, quite possibly a quadriplegic, down through the roof because they believed that Jesus could heal him. When Jesus saw the man He said, “Son, your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.”
Now, according to Matthew’s account, the Pharisees reacted “at once.” So clearly was Jesus equating Himself with God that their reaction was instantaneous. This man is blaspheming. The curious part is that they said this to themselves and not as a direct verbal accusation toward Jesus. This was early enough in Jesus’ ministry, and Jesus was new enough to the town (He’d just been run out of Nazareth) that they weren’t openly challenging Him like they would later on.
At any rate, there were several Scribes and Pharisees there and each of them reacted the same way - “in their own minds.” Matthew is clear on this. As soon as Jesus said that to the man, “Within themselves” they said, “this man is blaspheming.” Mark says the same, “The Scribes reasoned in their hearts, “why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Luke describes it as “they began to reason in their hearts, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”” (5:21).
The question of course was rhetorical in nature. They knew the answer absolutely. No one but God can forgive sin. Even you and I know that the answer is clear. If Jesus isn’t God then He is most certainly a blasphemer by putting Himself in the place of God, saying that He could do what only God can do.
The point is, Jesus could read their minds and what a tale their thoughts told. He said to them, “why do you entertain evil thoughts about Me in your hearts?” Right there they should have had a clue that something out of the ordinary was taking place.
So Jesus said, “Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven?” or “Get up and walk?” So that you may know that I am God, Jesus said to the man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” and the man got up and went home.
Notice Jesus didn’t ask which is easier to “do” but which is easier to “say.” A fraud, a modern day faith healer would have simply left it at forgiving this man’s sins. This man was ovbiously no stage prop. He hadn't been screened before being allowed "on stage." This guy was the real deal. Known in the community as crippled beyond hope. Who would know the difference; whether he’d been forgiven or not? Jesus put His words into action. That’s why Jesus said to the doubters of His day, “You don’t need to believe that I am God because I say so, but you should believe what I say because of what I do.”
Whether you were there that day or are just reading about it now, you have two choices. (Atheists will say that a third choice will arrive at some point in the future). Jesus was a blasphemer and a fraud and therefore not God and certainly not a good man nor a moral teacher, or He is God incarnate.
What kind of tale are your thoughts telling Jesus right now?
That’s the line from a really old song.
If you know this blog, you’ll know who I’m going to talk about. If you know your Bible you’ll know the account I’m going to turn to. I’ve actually used this account when pointing to the five main reasons that the disciples claimed that Jesus was God.
Jesus was sitting in a house in Capernaum. It was probably the house that He used for His home base. The house was packed and some guys lowered their friend, quite possibly a quadriplegic, down through the roof because they believed that Jesus could heal him. When Jesus saw the man He said, “Son, your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.”
Now, according to Matthew’s account, the Pharisees reacted “at once.” So clearly was Jesus equating Himself with God that their reaction was instantaneous. This man is blaspheming. The curious part is that they said this to themselves and not as a direct verbal accusation toward Jesus. This was early enough in Jesus’ ministry, and Jesus was new enough to the town (He’d just been run out of Nazareth) that they weren’t openly challenging Him like they would later on.
At any rate, there were several Scribes and Pharisees there and each of them reacted the same way - “in their own minds.” Matthew is clear on this. As soon as Jesus said that to the man, “Within themselves” they said, “this man is blaspheming.” Mark says the same, “The Scribes reasoned in their hearts, “why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Luke describes it as “they began to reason in their hearts, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”” (5:21).
The question of course was rhetorical in nature. They knew the answer absolutely. No one but God can forgive sin. Even you and I know that the answer is clear. If Jesus isn’t God then He is most certainly a blasphemer by putting Himself in the place of God, saying that He could do what only God can do.
The point is, Jesus could read their minds and what a tale their thoughts told. He said to them, “why do you entertain evil thoughts about Me in your hearts?” Right there they should have had a clue that something out of the ordinary was taking place.
So Jesus said, “Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven?” or “Get up and walk?” So that you may know that I am God, Jesus said to the man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” and the man got up and went home.
Notice Jesus didn’t ask which is easier to “do” but which is easier to “say.” A fraud, a modern day faith healer would have simply left it at forgiving this man’s sins. This man was ovbiously no stage prop. He hadn't been screened before being allowed "on stage." This guy was the real deal. Known in the community as crippled beyond hope. Who would know the difference; whether he’d been forgiven or not? Jesus put His words into action. That’s why Jesus said to the doubters of His day, “You don’t need to believe that I am God because I say so, but you should believe what I say because of what I do.”
Whether you were there that day or are just reading about it now, you have two choices. (Atheists will say that a third choice will arrive at some point in the future). Jesus was a blasphemer and a fraud and therefore not God and certainly not a good man nor a moral teacher, or He is God incarnate.
What kind of tale are your thoughts telling Jesus right now?
Friday, April 23, 2010
Just Like an Atheist
I’m often struck by the similarity between the response to Jesus of both the Pharisees of Jesus’ day and atheists down through history.
Both of course reject His claims to Godhood.
Both doubt His ability to forgive sins.
Both doubt His need to forgive THEIR sins.
The greatest similarity however is highlighted in a story that I’ve been bouncing back to from time to time; the story of the man whose sins Jesus forgave, and as evidence to prove that He had the authority to forgive someone’s sins, Jesus told this man to pick up his mat and go home. All this took place in a house filled with people listening to Jesus teach. This crowd included some Pharisees who'd come to observe. When the man was instantly healed, it provoked very different reactions in the people present.
The man who was healed naturally went home “giving glory to God.” We aren’t told specifically what this looked like but put yourself in his position. You can imagine how you might express your joy of going from paralysed, possibly from the neck down to running and leaping and getting your life back.
The people in the house who saw this amazing miracle were seized with astonishment. While atheists think that they are smarter than the average person living today and most certainly smarter than anyone living 2,000 years ago, the people of Jesus' day knew that diseases don’t disappear at a command and paralytics don’t start walking just because someone tells them to. Those people also praised God. “We have seen strange things today,” was the best way they could describe it.
And then there were the Pharthesists, or athesees. Someone has just been healed physically. Instantly. Completely. Permanently. A wonderful turn of events has come into a man’s life. He has gone from being a beggar to being able to work and to enjoy his body. Do the Pharisees care? On a different day they might have said something positive but today something unconscionable has taken place. Today, something terribly unfair has been allowed to happen. Today, someone has had his sins forgiven.
Both Pharisees and atheists alike seethe with anger when apparent justice has been denied. The more forgiveness someone needs the angrier it makes Pharisees and atheists that someone has been forgiven. The more desperate the sinner's behaviour the more that these people want to see that person punished.
That’s too bad because some day Pharisees and atheists are going to need forgiving as much as the most heinous criminal who ever walked the earth. And it will be too late. We can know that it will be too late because this side of heaven, neither the Pharisee nor atheists see their need for forgiveness. Don’t you know? They’re good people. Too good to need God. Too good to need forgiveness.
Both of course reject His claims to Godhood.
Both doubt His ability to forgive sins.
Both doubt His need to forgive THEIR sins.
The greatest similarity however is highlighted in a story that I’ve been bouncing back to from time to time; the story of the man whose sins Jesus forgave, and as evidence to prove that He had the authority to forgive someone’s sins, Jesus told this man to pick up his mat and go home. All this took place in a house filled with people listening to Jesus teach. This crowd included some Pharisees who'd come to observe. When the man was instantly healed, it provoked very different reactions in the people present.
The man who was healed naturally went home “giving glory to God.” We aren’t told specifically what this looked like but put yourself in his position. You can imagine how you might express your joy of going from paralysed, possibly from the neck down to running and leaping and getting your life back.
The people in the house who saw this amazing miracle were seized with astonishment. While atheists think that they are smarter than the average person living today and most certainly smarter than anyone living 2,000 years ago, the people of Jesus' day knew that diseases don’t disappear at a command and paralytics don’t start walking just because someone tells them to. Those people also praised God. “We have seen strange things today,” was the best way they could describe it.
And then there were the Pharthesists, or athesees. Someone has just been healed physically. Instantly. Completely. Permanently. A wonderful turn of events has come into a man’s life. He has gone from being a beggar to being able to work and to enjoy his body. Do the Pharisees care? On a different day they might have said something positive but today something unconscionable has taken place. Today, something terribly unfair has been allowed to happen. Today, someone has had his sins forgiven.
Both Pharisees and atheists alike seethe with anger when apparent justice has been denied. The more forgiveness someone needs the angrier it makes Pharisees and atheists that someone has been forgiven. The more desperate the sinner's behaviour the more that these people want to see that person punished.
That’s too bad because some day Pharisees and atheists are going to need forgiving as much as the most heinous criminal who ever walked the earth. And it will be too late. We can know that it will be too late because this side of heaven, neither the Pharisee nor atheists see their need for forgiveness. Don’t you know? They’re good people. Too good to need God. Too good to need forgiveness.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population say that the children of Christian parents should be taken from their homes and placed into reeducation camps where they can be brainwashed with the beliefs of this cult.
This is precisely what has taken place anywhere that members of this cult have gained political and military power. Spokespersons of this group have said things like:
Christopher Hitchens - “How can we ever know how many children had their psychological and physical lives irreparably maimed by the compulsory inculcation of faith?” The atheist answer? Inculcate all children with atheist beliefs.
These of course are the thoughts of the same man that is trying to have the Pope arrested. The arrogance of this group of people knows no bounds. Of course they call themselves Brights - as in "I'm a Bright and you're not!" - so what do you expect.
Daniel Dennett - “How much do we regard children as being the property of their parents? Should [Christian parents] be free to impose their beliefs on their children?” Again, the atheist answer is to impose atheist beliefs upon not just their children but upon everyone’s children.
Christopher Hitchens - “Parents don’t literally own their children . . . [Christian parents] ought to be held accountable by outsiders (read atheists, perhaps the drunken Hitchens himself) for their guardianship, which does imply that outsiders have a right to interfere.”
Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey - “ [Christian] Parents, have no god-given license to enculturate their children in whatever way they choose . . . to bring them up in an atmosphere of dogma . . . or to insist they follow the straight and narrow paths of their own faith.”
I’ve personally experienced this developing atheist dogma from an atheist blogger. His stated hope is that our children will be taken from us to keep them from being taught about Christianity. This of course implies the hope that someone else will raise our children and teach them the tenets of his faith.
Members of this group will never give up their fight to gain control of what your children believe.
This is precisely what has taken place anywhere that members of this cult have gained political and military power. Spokespersons of this group have said things like:
Christopher Hitchens - “How can we ever know how many children had their psychological and physical lives irreparably maimed by the compulsory inculcation of faith?” The atheist answer? Inculcate all children with atheist beliefs.
These of course are the thoughts of the same man that is trying to have the Pope arrested. The arrogance of this group of people knows no bounds. Of course they call themselves Brights - as in "I'm a Bright and you're not!" - so what do you expect.
Daniel Dennett - “How much do we regard children as being the property of their parents? Should [Christian parents] be free to impose their beliefs on their children?” Again, the atheist answer is to impose atheist beliefs upon not just their children but upon everyone’s children.
Christopher Hitchens - “Parents don’t literally own their children . . . [Christian parents] ought to be held accountable by outsiders (read atheists, perhaps the drunken Hitchens himself) for their guardianship, which does imply that outsiders have a right to interfere.”
Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey - “ [Christian] Parents, have no god-given license to enculturate their children in whatever way they choose . . . to bring them up in an atmosphere of dogma . . . or to insist they follow the straight and narrow paths of their own faith.”
I’ve personally experienced this developing atheist dogma from an atheist blogger. His stated hope is that our children will be taken from us to keep them from being taught about Christianity. This of course implies the hope that someone else will raise our children and teach them the tenets of his faith.
Members of this group will never give up their fight to gain control of what your children believe.
Did Jesus Come To Earth for Nothing?
It’s better to find out the truth while we still have time to do something about it. Right? You wouldn't want to know about the existence of hell after it's too late, would you? Of course not.
I’d said in an earlier post that our “ability” to make a decision for Jesus usually ends quickly with very little notice or warning. 100 million people met a violent death at the hands of other humans in 20th century alone. That's not counting heart attacks, storms, falling, natural disasters etc.. The savagery and cruelty of humans toward one another is unparalleled in the animal kingdom. The appalling violence of life staggers one’s sensibilities. How, we wonder, can life be this brutal? Something seems to have gone terribly wrong.
Well, it isn't just a perception. Something is terribly wrong. In fact the world is wrong because we are wrong. While it seems a mystery to us now, one day every thought, every word we've spoken and every one of our actions will be made known. This includes the good that we've left undone. One day our true selves will be made clear to all and any desire to debate our goodness will be rendered silent.
In Mark 7:21,23 Jesus explains that who we are is what makes us wrong. It’s not just our words or our actions - we are fundamentally flawed. We don't get angry. We are angry. We don't act in a hypocritical manner. We are hypocrites. We don't let lies slip out. We are liars. Our wrong is so desperate that we even hurt those we love most. However many hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have done nothing to cure our evil bent and a million more years will not bring about a cure either. Beginning with Adam we point to others and blame them for our wrong.
Jesus says, “Nuh ah. No one but you is going to answer for the wrong that you have done.”
Oh sure, we are capable of doing good; enormous good. But we do good only sporadically. Consistent good is impossible while the pull or temptation to consistent wrong is normal. Even our good deeds are corrupted by pride. Many will bristle at that and say, “I am so a good person. I hardly ever steal, well, maybe a little on my income tax. I hardly ever lie. I’ve certainly never killed anyone and except for lust I’m pretty faithful to my spouse, although that’s mostly cause I’ve never had the opportunity to have an affair.”
And God says, “Isn’t that cute. Now try using My standard of good because that is the only standard by which you will be judged.”
Mark 12:30 gives us that standard. Jesus fills it out in the Sermon on the Mount which is found in Matthew 5-7. In light of this reality, it becomes clear that we not only don’t live up to our own standard of morality, we fall far, far short of our Creator’s expectations of us. Loving God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength is something that none of us have ever done. Instead we’re unfaithful. We turn to almost anything except God for guidance and direction and fulfilment of our lives. The fact of the matter is, if we are planning to please God through our behaviours, it’s simply impossible to live up to the standard that He has set before us. We can never be good enough to be good enough for heaven.
And that is why Jesus came to rescue us. He came to save us from who we are. In Mark chapter two, we have the account of Jesus going to a tax collector’s house for a meal. The man’s name was Levi. People were appalled that Jesus would befriend such despicable people so Jesus gave this explanation. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call those who think they are good but those who recognise that they are not good.”
In reality, no one is good. All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s standard. Of course not everyone believes that. Jesus said, “You will know those who think they are good people, those who are self-righteous, by the fact that they will reject My offer of forgiveness. I’ve come to rescue those who are honest with themselves.”
So why did Jesus come to earth to call sinners to repentance? He seems to think that our problem is so desperate that it required His sacrifice to solve the crisis. Mark 9:43-47 gives us an indication of how desperate our situation is. Pluck out your eye? Cut off your hand? Jesus is saying, “The punishment for remaining unforgiven is so horrible that nothing is too drastic an attempt to avoid it.” Of course He is using hyperbole, but the message is clear. Do anything you can to avoid eternity in hell.
Here’s the problem. Our heart is the biggest problem. We can’t cut it out. Who we are is the problem. We need to be forgiven. We'll never understand why Jesus came until we understand how far we fall from loving God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength. This is the first and most important commandment and we can’t keep it.
Jesus, is the only answer to our problem.
Jesus is the only solution.
We have sinned against our Creator and only our Creator can provide forgiveness for that crime. That, is why God came to earth; to show us the way home. To offer us peace. To reconcile us to Himself. To provide healing for our broken relationship.
Only you can prevent that from happening.
I’d said in an earlier post that our “ability” to make a decision for Jesus usually ends quickly with very little notice or warning. 100 million people met a violent death at the hands of other humans in 20th century alone. That's not counting heart attacks, storms, falling, natural disasters etc.. The savagery and cruelty of humans toward one another is unparalleled in the animal kingdom. The appalling violence of life staggers one’s sensibilities. How, we wonder, can life be this brutal? Something seems to have gone terribly wrong.
Well, it isn't just a perception. Something is terribly wrong. In fact the world is wrong because we are wrong. While it seems a mystery to us now, one day every thought, every word we've spoken and every one of our actions will be made known. This includes the good that we've left undone. One day our true selves will be made clear to all and any desire to debate our goodness will be rendered silent.
In Mark 7:21,23 Jesus explains that who we are is what makes us wrong. It’s not just our words or our actions - we are fundamentally flawed. We don't get angry. We are angry. We don't act in a hypocritical manner. We are hypocrites. We don't let lies slip out. We are liars. Our wrong is so desperate that we even hurt those we love most. However many hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have done nothing to cure our evil bent and a million more years will not bring about a cure either. Beginning with Adam we point to others and blame them for our wrong.
Jesus says, “Nuh ah. No one but you is going to answer for the wrong that you have done.”
Oh sure, we are capable of doing good; enormous good. But we do good only sporadically. Consistent good is impossible while the pull or temptation to consistent wrong is normal. Even our good deeds are corrupted by pride. Many will bristle at that and say, “I am so a good person. I hardly ever steal, well, maybe a little on my income tax. I hardly ever lie. I’ve certainly never killed anyone and except for lust I’m pretty faithful to my spouse, although that’s mostly cause I’ve never had the opportunity to have an affair.”
And God says, “Isn’t that cute. Now try using My standard of good because that is the only standard by which you will be judged.”
Mark 12:30 gives us that standard. Jesus fills it out in the Sermon on the Mount which is found in Matthew 5-7. In light of this reality, it becomes clear that we not only don’t live up to our own standard of morality, we fall far, far short of our Creator’s expectations of us. Loving God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength is something that none of us have ever done. Instead we’re unfaithful. We turn to almost anything except God for guidance and direction and fulfilment of our lives. The fact of the matter is, if we are planning to please God through our behaviours, it’s simply impossible to live up to the standard that He has set before us. We can never be good enough to be good enough for heaven.
And that is why Jesus came to rescue us. He came to save us from who we are. In Mark chapter two, we have the account of Jesus going to a tax collector’s house for a meal. The man’s name was Levi. People were appalled that Jesus would befriend such despicable people so Jesus gave this explanation. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call those who think they are good but those who recognise that they are not good.”
In reality, no one is good. All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s standard. Of course not everyone believes that. Jesus said, “You will know those who think they are good people, those who are self-righteous, by the fact that they will reject My offer of forgiveness. I’ve come to rescue those who are honest with themselves.”
So why did Jesus come to earth to call sinners to repentance? He seems to think that our problem is so desperate that it required His sacrifice to solve the crisis. Mark 9:43-47 gives us an indication of how desperate our situation is. Pluck out your eye? Cut off your hand? Jesus is saying, “The punishment for remaining unforgiven is so horrible that nothing is too drastic an attempt to avoid it.” Of course He is using hyperbole, but the message is clear. Do anything you can to avoid eternity in hell.
Here’s the problem. Our heart is the biggest problem. We can’t cut it out. Who we are is the problem. We need to be forgiven. We'll never understand why Jesus came until we understand how far we fall from loving God with ALL our heart, soul, mind and strength. This is the first and most important commandment and we can’t keep it.
Jesus, is the only answer to our problem.
Jesus is the only solution.
We have sinned against our Creator and only our Creator can provide forgiveness for that crime. That, is why God came to earth; to show us the way home. To offer us peace. To reconcile us to Himself. To provide healing for our broken relationship.
Only you can prevent that from happening.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that God is sending them to an eternity of torture in hell. They say that God is cruel for causing a world that is filled with suffering and grief. They say that because of this, God is a monster and cruel beyond belief. This is the same God that these people spend a good portion of their lives blogging about even though they also say they don’t believe in Him. This is the kind of convoluted thinking that is mind numbing for those who must live with this population.
Grumpy Jesus
Some say that Jesus was killed by Rome for sedition. They’re serious. They read the Gospels and don’t hear one word about blasphemy. And even though Jesus didn’t speak one word against Caesar, these people read the Gospels and see political crimes. Even though Jesus saw the religious establishment as far more dangerous than Rome, these people don’t see any challenges to the religious establishment by Jesus that might have gotten Him in trouble. Well, I can think of one challenge, and it’s a beauty.
In Luke 11:37 to the end of the chapter, Jesus had been teaching the people when a Pharisee invited Him to share a meal at his place. What a mistake!
It appeared that Jesus went out of His way to provoke these religious leaders. If they had a rule, Jesus seemed determined to break that rule - preferably right in front of them. For example, He went to this guy’s house (of course there were a bunch of other religious leaders there) and He just sat right down at the table without washing first. Jesus’ host looked around the room at his fellow Pharisees and then commented to Jesus about His breaking of the ceremonial rule.
In the next moment all heaven broke lose.
“Now then, you Pharisees . . .” began Jesus’ in a rant that went on and on and on about what a crappy job they were doing. Greedy, wicked, foolish, hypocrites, arrogant and proud were just a few of the things He called those people - to their faces. I guess Jesus wasn’t part of the Emergent, Post Modern Church. Friendly dialogue was not part of His mission plan.
Here’s the part that I love. The lesson here is, Never miss the opportunity to keep your mouth shut. A lawyer that was present said to Jesus, “Teacher, when you say these things to the Pharisees, you insult us lawyers also.” And it’s like a light goes on in Jesus’ mind and He says, “Oh, ya. And while I’m at it, you lawyers are a bunch of jerks as well. The whole bunch of you are murderers from as far back as we can remember. It’s you guys who are actually blocking people from finding God.”
Peaceful, baby Jesus. Isn’t He cute? I wonder if the meal ever got served, much less eaten. Kind of makes you rethink that prayer, "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. . ."
The thing is, if you’re a sinner looking for grace and forgiveness, then gentleness doesn’t even half describe how kind Jesus will be toward you. On the other hand, if you are someone who says, “God loves me / will forgive me because of how good I am,” look out!
There are few things that tick God off more than self-righteousness.
Oh, and Rome? The only involvement that Rome had in the death of Jesus is to give permission - very reluctantly - to throw His execution in with a couple others that were already planned. The idea for the execution, the plan for the execution, the longing and the desire to see Jesus executed came from the most religious people of the day. It came from those who saw themselves as more pious than anyone else.
Being around those kind of people made Jesus really grumpy, and it showed.
In Luke 11:37 to the end of the chapter, Jesus had been teaching the people when a Pharisee invited Him to share a meal at his place. What a mistake!
It appeared that Jesus went out of His way to provoke these religious leaders. If they had a rule, Jesus seemed determined to break that rule - preferably right in front of them. For example, He went to this guy’s house (of course there were a bunch of other religious leaders there) and He just sat right down at the table without washing first. Jesus’ host looked around the room at his fellow Pharisees and then commented to Jesus about His breaking of the ceremonial rule.
In the next moment all heaven broke lose.
“Now then, you Pharisees . . .” began Jesus’ in a rant that went on and on and on about what a crappy job they were doing. Greedy, wicked, foolish, hypocrites, arrogant and proud were just a few of the things He called those people - to their faces. I guess Jesus wasn’t part of the Emergent, Post Modern Church. Friendly dialogue was not part of His mission plan.
Here’s the part that I love. The lesson here is, Never miss the opportunity to keep your mouth shut. A lawyer that was present said to Jesus, “Teacher, when you say these things to the Pharisees, you insult us lawyers also.” And it’s like a light goes on in Jesus’ mind and He says, “Oh, ya. And while I’m at it, you lawyers are a bunch of jerks as well. The whole bunch of you are murderers from as far back as we can remember. It’s you guys who are actually blocking people from finding God.”
Peaceful, baby Jesus. Isn’t He cute? I wonder if the meal ever got served, much less eaten. Kind of makes you rethink that prayer, "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. . ."
The thing is, if you’re a sinner looking for grace and forgiveness, then gentleness doesn’t even half describe how kind Jesus will be toward you. On the other hand, if you are someone who says, “God loves me / will forgive me because of how good I am,” look out!
There are few things that tick God off more than self-righteousness.
Oh, and Rome? The only involvement that Rome had in the death of Jesus is to give permission - very reluctantly - to throw His execution in with a couple others that were already planned. The idea for the execution, the plan for the execution, the longing and the desire to see Jesus executed came from the most religious people of the day. It came from those who saw themselves as more pious than anyone else.
Being around those kind of people made Jesus really grumpy, and it showed.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that if God would just give them a sign, a miracle, or have Jesus appear in front of them, then they would believe.
This is the worst of all possible lies, for it is a lie that they tell themselves.
Jesus said, “Even when I rise from the dead, many of you will not believe.” Disbelief is an a priori decision to ignore any evidence that contradicts one’s decision to not believe, in this case to not believe in the possible existence of the supernatural. Therefore atheists don’t believe in miracles - period.
If Jesus suddenly appeared in front of them, this portion of the population, to a person, would say there must be a naturalistic explanation for what had just taken place. If a material explanation was not immediately forthcoming, they would say that at some point in the future a material explanation would be discovered.
These people say that all they want is a sign of God’s presence, of His acting in nature or upon nature. That is a lie. That is the last thing that these people want.
The existence of a life supporting universe is exactly the kind of sign they say they want. The coming into being of this universe from nothing is a working definition of a miracle. Not only were space, time and matter brought into existence out of nothing. The Laws of Physics and the fine tuning of that matter were put into place in an instant, i.e., Planck time 10 ^ -43 seconds. These laws - hundreds of them, right down to the exact number of neutrinos did not evolve or settle into place. They were put in place at the Singularity. The reaction of this population? This is not acceptable as evidence of God’s existence.
A 1,000 encyclopaedic equivalent volume of specified, complex, coded information was present in the first cell along with a separately evolved (for those so inclined) decoding mechanism for the information that governs all of life. Prior to this nothing “living” existed. Even though these people say that without observation and verification nothing can be believed, and even though consistent observation and verification shows that Intelligence is the ONLY source from which specified, complex coded information arises, these people say that in this case, it just happened. The reaction of this population? The presence of this information in the first living cell is not acceptable as evidence of God’s existence.
Whether it’s the Christian killer Paul or me or any other born again Christian, we are absolutely new creations.
Our motives have gone from living for self to living for God.
Our priorities have been taken from denying or ignoring the existence of God to worshipping Him.
Many atheists say, “I couldn’t believe in God even if I wanted to.” Neither could we. In fact, without the working of God in our lives we couldn’t even WANT to believe in Him let alone dedicate our lives to the worship and serving of Him. None of this has been through our own effort or striving. It is from beginning to end the work of Creator God. The reaction of this population? This presence of the very Spirit of Creator God in our lives is not acceptable as evidence of God’s existence.
All they want, these people say, is proof, but with an a priori rejection of the supernatural, no evidence is acceptable. And yet, these people continue to state this implausible position because if they didn’t, their faith system would collapse.
This is the worst of all possible lies, for it is a lie that they tell themselves.
Jesus said, “Even when I rise from the dead, many of you will not believe.” Disbelief is an a priori decision to ignore any evidence that contradicts one’s decision to not believe, in this case to not believe in the possible existence of the supernatural. Therefore atheists don’t believe in miracles - period.
If Jesus suddenly appeared in front of them, this portion of the population, to a person, would say there must be a naturalistic explanation for what had just taken place. If a material explanation was not immediately forthcoming, they would say that at some point in the future a material explanation would be discovered.
These people say that all they want is a sign of God’s presence, of His acting in nature or upon nature. That is a lie. That is the last thing that these people want.
The existence of a life supporting universe is exactly the kind of sign they say they want. The coming into being of this universe from nothing is a working definition of a miracle. Not only were space, time and matter brought into existence out of nothing. The Laws of Physics and the fine tuning of that matter were put into place in an instant, i.e., Planck time 10 ^ -43 seconds. These laws - hundreds of them, right down to the exact number of neutrinos did not evolve or settle into place. They were put in place at the Singularity. The reaction of this population? This is not acceptable as evidence of God’s existence.
A 1,000 encyclopaedic equivalent volume of specified, complex, coded information was present in the first cell along with a separately evolved (for those so inclined) decoding mechanism for the information that governs all of life. Prior to this nothing “living” existed. Even though these people say that without observation and verification nothing can be believed, and even though consistent observation and verification shows that Intelligence is the ONLY source from which specified, complex coded information arises, these people say that in this case, it just happened. The reaction of this population? The presence of this information in the first living cell is not acceptable as evidence of God’s existence.
Whether it’s the Christian killer Paul or me or any other born again Christian, we are absolutely new creations.
Our motives have gone from living for self to living for God.
Our priorities have been taken from denying or ignoring the existence of God to worshipping Him.
Many atheists say, “I couldn’t believe in God even if I wanted to.” Neither could we. In fact, without the working of God in our lives we couldn’t even WANT to believe in Him let alone dedicate our lives to the worship and serving of Him. None of this has been through our own effort or striving. It is from beginning to end the work of Creator God. The reaction of this population? This presence of the very Spirit of Creator God in our lives is not acceptable as evidence of God’s existence.
All they want, these people say, is proof, but with an a priori rejection of the supernatural, no evidence is acceptable. And yet, these people continue to state this implausible position because if they didn’t, their faith system would collapse.
Muslims Threaten South Park
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp9bYLa5gaA&feature=player_embedded
There are some of allah’s boys who lurk in the shadows at this blog. They say that Islam is a religion of peace and we should not be alarmed. Although, when the creators of South Park mention mo in what Muslims consider to be a sacrilegious manner, Muslims post their pictures and address, say that someone should kill them for what they’ve done and then say, but if somebody does kill them, well, it isn’t our fault.
The Muslims that troll here say that even if we were attacked by an Islamic country the ones living here would mind their own business and be good loyal citizens. Will they be?
More importantly CAN Muslims living in the cities of North America be loyal to the countries in which they live?
Theologically? - no - Their allegiance is to allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Religiously? - no - No other religion is accepted by allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
Scripturally? - no - Their allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.
Geographically? - no - Their allegiance is to Mecca , to which they turn in prayer 5 times a day.
Socially? - no - Islam forbids them to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Perhaps that’s why disaffected atheists slide so easily into Islam.
Politically? - no - They must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach the annihilation of Israel and destruction of America.
Domestically? - no - The men are instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge their wives when they disobey him (Quran 4:34 )
Intellectually? - no - They cannot accept the Canadian Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and they, again like atheists, believe the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically? - no - islam, muhammad, and the quran, again like atheism, do not allow freedom of religion and expression.
Democracy and Islam cannot Co-exist. Every Muslim government, like governments made up of atheists in the past, are either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually? - obviously not - 400 times in the Bible the word love is used. 375 times that word is used to describe Creator God. The God of Christianity is described as loving His enemies even to the point of dying for them so that their sins can be forgiven.
NEVER, not once is allah referred to as loving, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names. The muslim’s god allah is said to hate his enemies and muslims are told in their holy book to kill the enemies of allah (you and me) "where ever they may be found."
The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. Every time a muslim emigrates from a muslim country to North America, s/he is taking the muslim cause to the front lines.
While the show, South Park is even sub 14 year old male mentality, to call for the death of its creators is something only a muslim would deem appropriate.
There are some of allah’s boys who lurk in the shadows at this blog. They say that Islam is a religion of peace and we should not be alarmed. Although, when the creators of South Park mention mo in what Muslims consider to be a sacrilegious manner, Muslims post their pictures and address, say that someone should kill them for what they’ve done and then say, but if somebody does kill them, well, it isn’t our fault.
The Muslims that troll here say that even if we were attacked by an Islamic country the ones living here would mind their own business and be good loyal citizens. Will they be?
More importantly CAN Muslims living in the cities of North America be loyal to the countries in which they live?
Theologically? - no - Their allegiance is to allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Religiously? - no - No other religion is accepted by allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
Scripturally? - no - Their allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran.
Geographically? - no - Their allegiance is to Mecca , to which they turn in prayer 5 times a day.
Socially? - no - Islam forbids them to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Perhaps that’s why disaffected atheists slide so easily into Islam.
Politically? - no - They must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach the annihilation of Israel and destruction of America.
Domestically? - no - The men are instructed to marry four women and beat and scourge their wives when they disobey him (Quran 4:34 )
Intellectually? - no - They cannot accept the Canadian Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and they, again like atheists, believe the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically? - no - islam, muhammad, and the quran, again like atheism, do not allow freedom of religion and expression.
Democracy and Islam cannot Co-exist. Every Muslim government, like governments made up of atheists in the past, are either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually? - obviously not - 400 times in the Bible the word love is used. 375 times that word is used to describe Creator God. The God of Christianity is described as loving His enemies even to the point of dying for them so that their sins can be forgiven.
NEVER, not once is allah referred to as loving, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names. The muslim’s god allah is said to hate his enemies and muslims are told in their holy book to kill the enemies of allah (you and me) "where ever they may be found."
The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. Every time a muslim emigrates from a muslim country to North America, s/he is taking the muslim cause to the front lines.
While the show, South Park is even sub 14 year old male mentality, to call for the death of its creators is something only a muslim would deem appropriate.
Monday, April 19, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population has no moral base from which to disagree, or for many, even the inclination to disagree with the person who said,
“ If nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with the stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such cases all her efforts, throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile. But such a preservation goes hand-in-hand with the inexorable law that it is the strongest and the best who must triumph and that they have the right to endure. He who would live must fight. He who does not wish to fight in this world, where permanent struggle is the law of life, has not the right to exist.”
This 1.6% of the population has preferences, likes and dislikes, but it has no moral base from which to judge one behaviour right and another wrong. These people must cling to their implausible position or see their world view collapse.
“ If nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with the stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such cases all her efforts, throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile. But such a preservation goes hand-in-hand with the inexorable law that it is the strongest and the best who must triumph and that they have the right to endure. He who would live must fight. He who does not wish to fight in this world, where permanent struggle is the law of life, has not the right to exist.”
This 1.6% of the population has preferences, likes and dislikes, but it has no moral base from which to judge one behaviour right and another wrong. These people must cling to their implausible position or see their world view collapse.
Does your world tilt?
I love working with people. Secular and Christians alike. Although I must say that the lives Christians live can be significantly more complicated. Not because of the Christianity they live but because of the Christianity they ignore.
Several years ago I was working with a male Pastor who was struggling with alcoholism. Because of a job transfer I only got to see him three or four times. In that time I learned that he was living common law with a woman who was also a Pastor, in a different congregation of course. She probably had alcoholism as well but was not yet ready to admit it. Their relationship broke down shortly after I met him (that’s what brought him to counselling) and she, his common law partner / Pastor moved in with a new partner, a woman. About a year later, I learned that he, this Pastor had moved in with yet another woman.
(((sigh)))
I was reading some comments about a Christian musician who recently announced to the world that she is a homosexual who has been living common law with another woman. The comments that followed this story were largely in favour of both her being sexually disoriented and her announcing it to the public. A typical thought in the comments was, “There will be a lot of Christian artists announcing their homosexuality in the next few years.” No mention of any possible conflict between Whom she served and how she lived.
(((sigh)))
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve worked with dozens of homosexual couples who were experiencing relationship problems. The path to recovery for them is not much different than for straight couples. None of those clients were Christian couples so the issue of what the Bible teaches never came up. If it had, I suspect that the number of sessions involved would have increased significantly. Or - not - depending on how interested they were in what their “Lord” had to say about the issue of sexual intimacy.
Jesus was more than clear in Genesis, which He quoted again during His earthly ministry, that sexual love is to take place within the safety of a male / female marriage.
Jesus also said, "The one who obeys Me is the one who loves Me."
That's why I get nervous around Christians who seem to want to do as little as they can get away with when it comes to obeying their Lord and Saviour. I mean really:
. How do you feel when your children look for ways to not obey you?
. How do you feel when your children rationalise their wrong behaviours?
. How do you feel when your children do only the bare minimum of what you ask?
. How do you feel when your children tell you that what they're doing wrong isn't really wrong?
. How do you feel when your children accuse you of not loving them because you ask them to do something difficult?
. How do you feel when your children follow the letter but not the spirit of what you want from them?
. How do you feel when your children look for ways to interpret what you say as meaning something else?
If you've got children like that, you aren't being loved, you're being manipulated.
If you've got children like that, you have kids who are ignoring your authority and demanding, either straight up or passive aggressively that THEY be in control.
If you've got children like that, you have kids who think that they know better than you as to what's good for them.
I don't expect non Christians to get that kind of thinking but those who claim to follow Jesus should.
I just finished explaining to my nine-year-old that one sign of maturity is when he no longer has to do something just because he really wants to do it. One sign of maturity is that he can make himself do something that has to be done even though he really doesn’t want to do it.
Based on those two examples, I get really nervous around Christians in leadership positions who seem to be very immature spiritually. A Lutheran Pastor, Reverend David Eck and his partner Gary over at blog “I’m Christian. I’m Gay. Deal with it.” might be an example of that kind of immaturity. Jesus is surely SOMETHING to these two Christians but Lord / Master is most certainly not one of them.
I get nervous around Christians who look for ways to believe that the Bible isn't speaking to them.
I get nervous around Christians who look for ways to convince themselves that the Bible isn't saying what it clearly says to the vast majority of believers.
I get nervous around Christians who are only willing to SACRIFICE for their Lord and Saviour in areas where it won't cost or hurt.
I get nervous around Christians who are not willing to DENY themselves for the One who died for them.
I get nervous around Christians who aren't willing to DIE to self for the One who is willing to give them eternal life in paradise.
Those kind of Christian make me feel uneasy. When I encounter them, for a few seconds, my world tilts.
Several years ago I was working with a male Pastor who was struggling with alcoholism. Because of a job transfer I only got to see him three or four times. In that time I learned that he was living common law with a woman who was also a Pastor, in a different congregation of course. She probably had alcoholism as well but was not yet ready to admit it. Their relationship broke down shortly after I met him (that’s what brought him to counselling) and she, his common law partner / Pastor moved in with a new partner, a woman. About a year later, I learned that he, this Pastor had moved in with yet another woman.
(((sigh)))
I was reading some comments about a Christian musician who recently announced to the world that she is a homosexual who has been living common law with another woman. The comments that followed this story were largely in favour of both her being sexually disoriented and her announcing it to the public. A typical thought in the comments was, “There will be a lot of Christian artists announcing their homosexuality in the next few years.” No mention of any possible conflict between Whom she served and how she lived.
(((sigh)))
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve worked with dozens of homosexual couples who were experiencing relationship problems. The path to recovery for them is not much different than for straight couples. None of those clients were Christian couples so the issue of what the Bible teaches never came up. If it had, I suspect that the number of sessions involved would have increased significantly. Or - not - depending on how interested they were in what their “Lord” had to say about the issue of sexual intimacy.
Jesus was more than clear in Genesis, which He quoted again during His earthly ministry, that sexual love is to take place within the safety of a male / female marriage.
Jesus also said, "The one who obeys Me is the one who loves Me."
That's why I get nervous around Christians who seem to want to do as little as they can get away with when it comes to obeying their Lord and Saviour. I mean really:
. How do you feel when your children look for ways to not obey you?
. How do you feel when your children rationalise their wrong behaviours?
. How do you feel when your children do only the bare minimum of what you ask?
. How do you feel when your children tell you that what they're doing wrong isn't really wrong?
. How do you feel when your children accuse you of not loving them because you ask them to do something difficult?
. How do you feel when your children follow the letter but not the spirit of what you want from them?
. How do you feel when your children look for ways to interpret what you say as meaning something else?
If you've got children like that, you aren't being loved, you're being manipulated.
If you've got children like that, you have kids who are ignoring your authority and demanding, either straight up or passive aggressively that THEY be in control.
If you've got children like that, you have kids who think that they know better than you as to what's good for them.
I don't expect non Christians to get that kind of thinking but those who claim to follow Jesus should.
I just finished explaining to my nine-year-old that one sign of maturity is when he no longer has to do something just because he really wants to do it. One sign of maturity is that he can make himself do something that has to be done even though he really doesn’t want to do it.
Based on those two examples, I get really nervous around Christians in leadership positions who seem to be very immature spiritually. A Lutheran Pastor, Reverend David Eck and his partner Gary over at blog “I’m Christian. I’m Gay. Deal with it.” might be an example of that kind of immaturity. Jesus is surely SOMETHING to these two Christians but Lord / Master is most certainly not one of them.
I get nervous around Christians who look for ways to believe that the Bible isn't speaking to them.
I get nervous around Christians who look for ways to convince themselves that the Bible isn't saying what it clearly says to the vast majority of believers.
I get nervous around Christians who are only willing to SACRIFICE for their Lord and Saviour in areas where it won't cost or hurt.
I get nervous around Christians who are not willing to DENY themselves for the One who died for them.
I get nervous around Christians who aren't willing to DIE to self for the One who is willing to give them eternal life in paradise.
Those kind of Christian make me feel uneasy. When I encounter them, for a few seconds, my world tilts.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that we can’t believe what the New Testament writers said because they were converts and obviously biassed. What this small population would never think to ask is,
Why were these people converts?
Why did these people become worshippers of Jesus?
What had they experienced that caused them to leave Judaism?
What had they experienced that made them willing to be put out of the Synagogue, the central anchor of life for the community?
What had they experienced that caused them to be willing to be tortured and killed for making claims about Jesus that this 1.6% of the population says is bogus.
Why don’t the dull of mind and slow of thought ask these questions? The answer is simple. They must hold to their implausible position or their world-view will collapse.
Why were these people converts?
Why did these people become worshippers of Jesus?
What had they experienced that caused them to leave Judaism?
What had they experienced that made them willing to be put out of the Synagogue, the central anchor of life for the community?
What had they experienced that caused them to be willing to be tortured and killed for making claims about Jesus that this 1.6% of the population says is bogus.
Why don’t the dull of mind and slow of thought ask these questions? The answer is simple. They must hold to their implausible position or their world-view will collapse.
Who Do You Say That I Am? 5
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are loaded down with the burdens of life. Come to Me and I will give you rest for your souls.” Jesus said that He alone held the solution to the problems of the world. Jesus said that He was God’s representative on earth. The Gospel writers, those who had come to know Jesus best, either through close personal contact or through interviewing those who knew Him best described Jesus as God in human form. If these people are correct then it would seem foolish beyond compare to ignore Jesus. But why would He be described this way?
The first reason was found in how He taught.
The second reason was found in Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over sickness
The third reason was Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over nature.
The forth reason was Jesus' demonstrated power over life and death.
The fifth reason given by those who knew Jesus best for confirming His claim to be God was His demonstrated authority and power over sins and forgiveness.
In Mark 2:1-5 Jesus said that He had power and authority to forgive sin. This is vitally important because sin is our biggest problem. Virtually everything that brings pain and suffering into our lives is the result of sin. Sin can be defined as living without God being our main reference point. Sin is what leads to eternal death. As the account goes, Jesus is sitting in a house filled to overflowing with people listening to Him teach. A man is brought to Jesus for healing. He’s been crippled since birth. Jesus looks at the man and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who understand God and His relationship to sin and forgiveness naturally asked, “Who does this man think he is? Only God can forgive sin.”
If you think that you feel offended in the presence of someone with a holier than thou attitude, how would you feel in the presence of a guy from the hood who equated Himself with God and said that he would forgive your sins?
Of course, if sin is ignoring God, then in reality only God can forgive that. To prove His right to make such an outlandish statement, Jesus said to those finding fault with Him, “Which is more difficult? Healing this man or forgiving his sins?” He then said to the man, pick up your mat and go home. Instantly the man’s legs were normal. He picked up his mat and walked past the people who were challenging Jesus. The response of the people? Pretty normal I think. “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Jesus does this to point out who He is. Jesus has done this to help us answer the question, Who do you say that I am?
This is not some abstract question. Many people think that we can make Jesus be whoever we want Him to be. That is not an option. Some people think that we can call Jesus a good man without allowing for the option of Him being God incarnate. That is not an option.
When Jesus asks you, Who do YOU say that I am:
Do you recognise Him as YOUR teacher, regardless of whether you want Him to be?
Do you recognise Him as having authority over YOUR death whether you want Him to or not?
Do you recognise that He has the authority to forgive YOUR sin or leave it unforgiven?
Someone with the authority that Jesus demonstrated is not someone to be ignored.
So the question remains, "Who do you say that I AM?"
The first reason was found in how He taught.
The second reason was found in Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over sickness
The third reason was Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over nature.
The forth reason was Jesus' demonstrated power over life and death.
The fifth reason given by those who knew Jesus best for confirming His claim to be God was His demonstrated authority and power over sins and forgiveness.
In Mark 2:1-5 Jesus said that He had power and authority to forgive sin. This is vitally important because sin is our biggest problem. Virtually everything that brings pain and suffering into our lives is the result of sin. Sin can be defined as living without God being our main reference point. Sin is what leads to eternal death. As the account goes, Jesus is sitting in a house filled to overflowing with people listening to Him teach. A man is brought to Jesus for healing. He’s been crippled since birth. Jesus looks at the man and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who understand God and His relationship to sin and forgiveness naturally asked, “Who does this man think he is? Only God can forgive sin.”
If you think that you feel offended in the presence of someone with a holier than thou attitude, how would you feel in the presence of a guy from the hood who equated Himself with God and said that he would forgive your sins?
Of course, if sin is ignoring God, then in reality only God can forgive that. To prove His right to make such an outlandish statement, Jesus said to those finding fault with Him, “Which is more difficult? Healing this man or forgiving his sins?” He then said to the man, pick up your mat and go home. Instantly the man’s legs were normal. He picked up his mat and walked past the people who were challenging Jesus. The response of the people? Pretty normal I think. “We’ve never seen anything like this!”
Jesus does this to point out who He is. Jesus has done this to help us answer the question, Who do you say that I am?
This is not some abstract question. Many people think that we can make Jesus be whoever we want Him to be. That is not an option. Some people think that we can call Jesus a good man without allowing for the option of Him being God incarnate. That is not an option.
When Jesus asks you, Who do YOU say that I am:
Do you recognise Him as YOUR teacher, regardless of whether you want Him to be?
Do you recognise Him as having authority over YOUR death whether you want Him to or not?
Do you recognise that He has the authority to forgive YOUR sin or leave it unforgiven?
Someone with the authority that Jesus demonstrated is not someone to be ignored.
So the question remains, "Who do you say that I AM?"
Saturday, April 17, 2010
The 1.6% solution
1.6% of the North American population are divided on the subject of Jesus. Some say that He never existed. Some say He did exist. Regardless they are unified on this. Jesus was not God and what we have recorded about Jesus is all lies. These people actually believe that evil men, liars, deceivers, con artists in the extreme invented the accounts that we have of Jesus. They wrote these accounts in such a way that today billions of people worship Him and 100's of millions would die for Him. These evil men wrote a story, the message of which is basically this, We must deny our sinful natures, repent of our sins, and follow Jesus to the point of loving our enemies, Doing good to those who hate us, Praying for those who persecute us, Thinking of others more highly than ourselves, Losing our lives so that we may gain them. This, from depraved souls. In fact, as has been said, “It would take more than a Jesus (not less) to invent a Jesus. Nothing about the message that Jesus taught comes naturally to the mind of humans, anywhere. Despite the obvious ludicrous nature of the supposition, this 1.6% of the population still maintains their implausible position, not because of the evidence but in spite of the evidence. They must do this or their world-view will collapse.
Who Do You Say That I Am? 4
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are loaded down with the burdens of life. Come to Me and I will give you rest for your souls.” Jesus said that He alone held the solution to the problems of the world. Jesus said that He was God’s representative on earth. The Gospel writers, those who had come to know Jesus best, either through close personal contact or through interviewing those who knew Him best described Jesus as God in human form. If these people are correct then it would seem foolish beyond compare to ignore Jesus. But why would He be described this way?
The first reason was found in how He taught.
The second reason was Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over sickness
The third reason was Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over nature.
The forth reason that those who knew Jesus best, confirmed His claim to be God was because of His demonstrated power over life and death.
What kind of person says to someone whose child has just died, “Don’t worry. Just place your trust in Me and your child will live.”
Think about that! Neither you nor I know anyone who would EVER make that kind of claim.
Based upon the accounts that he’d heard regarding Jesus’ ability to heal, a community leader, in fact the leader of a Synagogue went to Jesus and begged Him to come and heal his daughter. While speaking to Jesus someone came and told the man that it was too late. His daughter had died.
Jesus said to the girl’s father, “Don’t be afraid. Just place your trust in Me and your child will live.”
So certain were people that this girl had died that when Jesus went to the man’s home and said that they would see her alive, “They laughed at Him.” Wouldn’t you do the same?
Atheists still laugh at Jesus. They still call Him a fraud, a magician.
The writer says that at their laughter Jesus “Put them out of the house.” The Greek term used describes Jesus’ tone as the same used when He commanded evil spirits to leave. He was angry. "Get Out!"
Jesus went into the house and called the little girl back to life. Like us rousing someone from sleep, Jesus demonstrated the power to rouse people from death.
As would anyone in a situation like that, “They were completely astonished.” The people said, “Who is this man?”
How can we ignore someone like this?
The first reason was found in how He taught.
The second reason was Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over sickness
The third reason was Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over nature.
The forth reason that those who knew Jesus best, confirmed His claim to be God was because of His demonstrated power over life and death.
What kind of person says to someone whose child has just died, “Don’t worry. Just place your trust in Me and your child will live.”
Think about that! Neither you nor I know anyone who would EVER make that kind of claim.
Based upon the accounts that he’d heard regarding Jesus’ ability to heal, a community leader, in fact the leader of a Synagogue went to Jesus and begged Him to come and heal his daughter. While speaking to Jesus someone came and told the man that it was too late. His daughter had died.
Jesus said to the girl’s father, “Don’t be afraid. Just place your trust in Me and your child will live.”
So certain were people that this girl had died that when Jesus went to the man’s home and said that they would see her alive, “They laughed at Him.” Wouldn’t you do the same?
Atheists still laugh at Jesus. They still call Him a fraud, a magician.
The writer says that at their laughter Jesus “Put them out of the house.” The Greek term used describes Jesus’ tone as the same used when He commanded evil spirits to leave. He was angry. "Get Out!"
Jesus went into the house and called the little girl back to life. Like us rousing someone from sleep, Jesus demonstrated the power to rouse people from death.
As would anyone in a situation like that, “They were completely astonished.” The people said, “Who is this man?”
How can we ignore someone like this?
Friday, April 16, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that there actually CAN be an infinite regress of cause. They honestly believe that this universe was created by a previous universe and that universe was created by one previous to that and so on back and back into the infinite past. Even though there is not a philosopher or scientist on the planet that believes an infinite regress of cause is possible (unless they belong to this group), this 1.6% of the population still maintains their implausible position, not because of the evidence but in spite of the evidence. They must do this or their world view will collapse.
How To Know When It's Too Early
When I was a kid, I loved the book, Lord of the Flies. I thought that my oldest boys would enjoy it also. So I dug it out and invited my two nine-year-olds to come and let me read a story to them. I planned that we would do this over a series of several nights, each one more exciting than the last.
They usually love it when I tell them stories. Of course those are home-made and are pretty ridiculous.
Anyhow, the boys are lying on the floor and I'm on the couch. I'm reading to them for about - maybe five minutes when Riley says, "Dad, you should try this again when we're older."
With that, they ran upstairs and out the door.
They usually love it when I tell them stories. Of course those are home-made and are pretty ridiculous.
Anyhow, the boys are lying on the floor and I'm on the couch. I'm reading to them for about - maybe five minutes when Riley says, "Dad, you should try this again when we're older."
With that, they ran upstairs and out the door.
Who Do You Say That I Am? 3
Jesus, “Come to Me, all of you who are loaded down with the burdens of life. Come to Me and I will give you rest for your souls.” Jesus said that He alone held the solution to the problems of the world. Jesus said that He was God’s representative on earth. The Gospel writers, those who had come to know Jesus best, either through close personal contact or through interviewing those who knew Him best described Jesus as God in human form. If these people are correct, then it would seem foolish beyond compare to ignore Jesus. But why would He be described this way?
The first reason was found in how He taught.
The second reason was found in Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over sickness.
The third reason that those who knew Jesus best confirmed His claim to be God is Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over nature. One account is the storm that Jesus and His disciples encountered as their crossed the lake. In this account, seasoned fishermen, people accustomed to the sea and to storms have awoken Jesus and pleaded with Him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves, and the sea became perfectly calm. Anyone who knows the open water knows that it takes days after a storm for waves to return to normal. This time, it happened in an instant. The people’s response was, “Who is this man?”
The first reason was found in how He taught.
The second reason was found in Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over sickness.
The third reason that those who knew Jesus best confirmed His claim to be God is Jesus' demonstrated power and authority over nature. One account is the storm that Jesus and His disciples encountered as their crossed the lake. In this account, seasoned fishermen, people accustomed to the sea and to storms have awoken Jesus and pleaded with Him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are about to die?” Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves, and the sea became perfectly calm. Anyone who knows the open water knows that it takes days after a storm for waves to return to normal. This time, it happened in an instant. The people’s response was, “Who is this man?”
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Does God Listen?
My wife is the most amazing person that I have ever met. Strong, strong, strong. She has been through so very much in her life. God has taken those events and used them to make her emotionally solid - steady - like a rock. She has amazing stories about her walk with God and here’s one of them.
Infertility. To a select few that word carries with it pain, almost unfathomable depths of pain and loss. That was our lot in life. It wasn’t as big a deal to me but for my wife, well, it was devastating, heart wrenching.
So one day she’s in the kitchen talking to God about the agony that was present because of her inability to carry life. And in a thought-voice (something else only a select few will understand) God said, “What would you like from Me?”
With tears tracking their way down her cheeks, my wife said, “I’d like someone to tell me that they’re sorry this happened to me.”
Ok, so non believers will be weirded out by this but that’s what went down.
It's important that you know that my wife comes from a family where, to describe it as harsh would be an understatement. Love and caring and emotional support were just not part of the landscape when she was growing up. Compliments were only given if they were meant to bounce right back to the parent. eg. "You look pretty" > [Because I made the dress].
The day after my wife made that request of her Creator, she went to visit her mother.
Getting over that hurdle is a whole other story. Nevertheless, “loving” her mother regardless of her mother's inability to love back resulted in this visit. These visits go on to this day even though dementia has rendered their time together virtually silent.
Anyway, as they were having tea, with nothing about infertility having been said either that day or on any day in the years previous, my mother-in-law said to my wife, her daughter, “I am so sorry that this happened to you.”
“What happened? What are you talking about?” my wife asked.
“I’m so sorry that you’ve had to experience infertility.”
Does God listen?
If you're listening for Him? Always.
Infertility. To a select few that word carries with it pain, almost unfathomable depths of pain and loss. That was our lot in life. It wasn’t as big a deal to me but for my wife, well, it was devastating, heart wrenching.
So one day she’s in the kitchen talking to God about the agony that was present because of her inability to carry life. And in a thought-voice (something else only a select few will understand) God said, “What would you like from Me?”
With tears tracking their way down her cheeks, my wife said, “I’d like someone to tell me that they’re sorry this happened to me.”
Ok, so non believers will be weirded out by this but that’s what went down.
It's important that you know that my wife comes from a family where, to describe it as harsh would be an understatement. Love and caring and emotional support were just not part of the landscape when she was growing up. Compliments were only given if they were meant to bounce right back to the parent. eg. "You look pretty" > [Because I made the dress].
The day after my wife made that request of her Creator, she went to visit her mother.
Getting over that hurdle is a whole other story. Nevertheless, “loving” her mother regardless of her mother's inability to love back resulted in this visit. These visits go on to this day even though dementia has rendered their time together virtually silent.
Anyway, as they were having tea, with nothing about infertility having been said either that day or on any day in the years previous, my mother-in-law said to my wife, her daughter, “I am so sorry that this happened to you.”
“What happened? What are you talking about?” my wife asked.
“I’m so sorry that you’ve had to experience infertility.”
Does God listen?
If you're listening for Him? Always.
Who Do You Say That I Am? 2
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are loaded down with the burdens of life. Come to Me and I will give you rest for your souls.” Jesus said that He alone held the solution to the problems of the world. Jesus said that He was God’s representative on earth. The Gospel writers, those who had come to know Jesus best, either through close personal contact or through interviewing those who knew Him best described Jesus as God in human form. If these people are correct then it would seem foolish beyond compare to ignore Jesus. But why would He be described this way? Well, there are five main reasons.
The first was found in how He taught.
The second reason that those who knew Jesus best agreed with His claim to be God (“If you have seen Me, you have seen Father God.”) was Jesus demonstrated power and authority over sickness. With only the spoken word, Jesus cured diseases like leprosy, blindness and being crippled from birth. Leprosy at that time was much like AIDS is today. It was many times a death sentence and people shunned you just for having it. For someone to show the ability to make this disease disappear caused a great and understandable commotion, not just in the community but in the whole country. The four independent documents that we have describe Jesus healing many hundreds of people. Thirty specific accounts of healing are documented in the Gospels. Unlike today's healing hucksters these accounts all say that Jesus healed completely, instantly and totally.
The people’s logical response was, “Who is this man?”
The first was found in how He taught.
The second reason that those who knew Jesus best agreed with His claim to be God (“If you have seen Me, you have seen Father God.”) was Jesus demonstrated power and authority over sickness. With only the spoken word, Jesus cured diseases like leprosy, blindness and being crippled from birth. Leprosy at that time was much like AIDS is today. It was many times a death sentence and people shunned you just for having it. For someone to show the ability to make this disease disappear caused a great and understandable commotion, not just in the community but in the whole country. The four independent documents that we have describe Jesus healing many hundreds of people. Thirty specific accounts of healing are documented in the Gospels. Unlike today's healing hucksters these accounts all say that Jesus healed completely, instantly and totally.
The people’s logical response was, “Who is this man?”
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that value, meaning and purpose come from a valueless, meaningless and purposeless universe. Intelligence, they say, comes from non intelligence. Consciousness comes from unconsciousness. Life comes from non life. Existence comes from non existence. Morality comes from amorality.
These people must maintain this implausible position or their belief system will collapse.
These people must maintain this implausible position or their belief system will collapse.
Who Do You Say That I Am? 1
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are loaded down with the burdens of life. Come to Me and I will give you rest for your souls.”
Who does that? What kind of a person would make that kind of a claim about h/herself? Oh sure, people like myself or doctors and such, work in the field of helping people. But none of us would hold ourselves out as the cure for the deepest ills afflicting humans. All but the most deluded would actually believe that WE hold the answers to humanity’s problems. Jesus said that He alone held the solution to the problems of the world. Jesus said that He was God’s representative on earth. The Gospel writers, those who had come to know Jesus best, either through close personal contact or through interviewing those who knew Him best, described Jesus as God in human form.
If these people are correct, then it would seem foolish beyond compare to ignore Jesus. But why would He be described this way? Well, there are five main reasons. In the Gospel of Mark we are told:
1) Jesus proved His claim to be God through His teaching. He taught in a manner that was unlike anyone else. His authority was inherent. “The people were amazed,” was a common sentiment from those who heard Him.
There are those who walk among us (they call themselves Brights) who believe that people who lived two thousand years ago were not as intelligent as the ones making this claim. Of course, the people who make this claim think they are more intelligent than anyone living today as well, so . . .
Regardless, this is simply not the case. People of Jesus' day may have lacked the knowledge that we have today but a lack of knowledge is not a lack of intelligence. In fact much of society still functions on principles that were developed by the people of Jesus' day. Very intelligent people were amazed at the teaching of Jesus. He was above and beyond anyone they had ever heard.
The main reason though, that people were amazed at what and how Jesus taught is that He lived what He taught.
Unlike you and I who don’t even live up to our own moral standard, let alone that of our Creator, Jesus loved His enemies. He forgave those who persecuted Him. He asked God to help those who hated Him.
C. S. Lewis once said, “No one knows how bad he is until he tries really hard to be good. A good man knows something of the evil still left in him. A thoroughly bad man thinks that he is good.”
Jesus preached love and He lived love. No other "human" has done or ever will do that. It was as unique then as it is today. It provoked a response of “Who is this man?”
Who does that? What kind of a person would make that kind of a claim about h/herself? Oh sure, people like myself or doctors and such, work in the field of helping people. But none of us would hold ourselves out as the cure for the deepest ills afflicting humans. All but the most deluded would actually believe that WE hold the answers to humanity’s problems. Jesus said that He alone held the solution to the problems of the world. Jesus said that He was God’s representative on earth. The Gospel writers, those who had come to know Jesus best, either through close personal contact or through interviewing those who knew Him best, described Jesus as God in human form.
If these people are correct, then it would seem foolish beyond compare to ignore Jesus. But why would He be described this way? Well, there are five main reasons. In the Gospel of Mark we are told:
1) Jesus proved His claim to be God through His teaching. He taught in a manner that was unlike anyone else. His authority was inherent. “The people were amazed,” was a common sentiment from those who heard Him.
There are those who walk among us (they call themselves Brights) who believe that people who lived two thousand years ago were not as intelligent as the ones making this claim. Of course, the people who make this claim think they are more intelligent than anyone living today as well, so . . .
Regardless, this is simply not the case. People of Jesus' day may have lacked the knowledge that we have today but a lack of knowledge is not a lack of intelligence. In fact much of society still functions on principles that were developed by the people of Jesus' day. Very intelligent people were amazed at the teaching of Jesus. He was above and beyond anyone they had ever heard.
The main reason though, that people were amazed at what and how Jesus taught is that He lived what He taught.
Unlike you and I who don’t even live up to our own moral standard, let alone that of our Creator, Jesus loved His enemies. He forgave those who persecuted Him. He asked God to help those who hated Him.
C. S. Lewis once said, “No one knows how bad he is until he tries really hard to be good. A good man knows something of the evil still left in him. A thoroughly bad man thinks that he is good.”
Jesus preached love and He lived love. No other "human" has done or ever will do that. It was as unique then as it is today. It provoked a response of “Who is this man?”
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says that the Bible can’t be trusted in what it says. Example: These people used to say that because the Bible is the only known book to mention the Hittites, that people group had obviously never existed. Then the entire Hittite library was discovered in Turkey. This 1.6% of the population still maintain their implausible position. They maintain their position not because of a lack of evidence, but because evidence was never part of their decision in the first place.
The Greatest Need of All
The greatest need of our country is not political.
It’s not ideological.
It’s not even moral.
The greatest need for nations around the world is spiritual.
Our souls have atrophied. Dried out and shrivelled up. Profound indifference toward things that matter appears wherever atheism gains strength. In Russia, Romania, Slovakia, China, anywhere that atheism, including it’s cousins, eg. Buddhism (“The tears of another are only water.”) increases its influence, people reach a point where by they don’t even care that they no longer care.
Great wealth, education, health care, seemingly limitless choice of food - that is our heritage and yet our soul problem remains. Despair, loneliness, hiding in games and fearing to communicate face to face without a chemical lubricant, we march onward to ever greater numbing ourselves in busy - ness, virtual relationships, and mood altering chemicals both legal and illegal. We ignore the poor ten blocks over but weep for a whale stranded on a beach on the other side of the continent.
All the while, Jesus, the only possible healer of our souls sits on the sidelines waiting for us to notice.
It’s not ideological.
It’s not even moral.
The greatest need for nations around the world is spiritual.
Our souls have atrophied. Dried out and shrivelled up. Profound indifference toward things that matter appears wherever atheism gains strength. In Russia, Romania, Slovakia, China, anywhere that atheism, including it’s cousins, eg. Buddhism (“The tears of another are only water.”) increases its influence, people reach a point where by they don’t even care that they no longer care.
Great wealth, education, health care, seemingly limitless choice of food - that is our heritage and yet our soul problem remains. Despair, loneliness, hiding in games and fearing to communicate face to face without a chemical lubricant, we march onward to ever greater numbing ourselves in busy - ness, virtual relationships, and mood altering chemicals both legal and illegal. We ignore the poor ten blocks over but weep for a whale stranded on a beach on the other side of the continent.
All the while, Jesus, the only possible healer of our souls sits on the sidelines waiting for us to notice.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population is philosophically illiterate. What we know for a fact is that for any universe to exist (either this universe in which we live, or the infinite number of universes these people hope exists), either matter has to be eternal or the immaterial Cause of matter has to be eternal.
There are these two options and these two options only.
. This population knows that the material infinite does not and cannot exist.
. However, this cult also a priori denies that anything Supernatural does or can exist.
Since neither of the above options are allowed, this small group of believers waits for a third option to “miraculously” arise. And even though this isn’t going to happen, those who belong to this population have to maintain their implausible position or their belief system will collapse.
There are these two options and these two options only.
. This population knows that the material infinite does not and cannot exist.
. However, this cult also a priori denies that anything Supernatural does or can exist.
Since neither of the above options are allowed, this small group of believers waits for a third option to “miraculously” arise. And even though this isn’t going to happen, those who belong to this population have to maintain their implausible position or their belief system will collapse.
The Priest Said What?
The state of Connecticut is proposing legislation that would rescind a statute of limitations (currently 30 years) on sexual abuse. A Priest, obviously concerned about what’s been going on for many decades said:
The "legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities," the letter says.
The “legislation” would undermine the mission? The legislation???
Ah, me. Nothing’s been learned.
The "legislation would undermine the mission of the Catholic Church in Connecticut threatening our parishes, our schools, and our Catholic Charities," the letter says.
The “legislation” would undermine the mission? The legislation???
Ah, me. Nothing’s been learned.
A Covenant Means Keep Your Word
In 2nd Samuel we find a kid named Mephibosheth, the son of David’s best friend Jonathan. David had promised Jonathan that if anything happened to him, David would show love to his family.
David promised to love someone.
Saul and Jonathan die, David tracks down Mephibosheth who is hiding in fear and brings the young man into the palace to live (2 Sam. 9:8-10).
Because he kills Uriah after having a affair with his wife, David’s family falls apart.
He has to run for his life. After various intrigues and doublecrosses, we arrive at 2nd Samuel 16. Ziba, Mephibosheth’s steward approaches David and tells David that Mephibosheth has sided with the enemy. Absalom dies. David returns to Jerusalem and confronts Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth says that he didn’t side with Absalom at all. Ziba, he says, abandoned him.
Who’s telling the truth? Ziba or Mephibosheth? One of them is lying.
Here’s my point. We never find out if Mephibosheth is lying because David never asks Mephibosheth if he is lying. There is no need for David to know the character of this man because David is in this relationship NOT based upon the performance of Mephibosheth but based upon David’s promise to love. The man who had a heart for God took this person who had nothing to offer their relationship, who brought nothing into the relationship yet took much out, David kept his covenant of love because that is what God’s people do. When we promise to love someone, it is a promise based not on performance or worth. It is a commitment to love because that is what God asks of us.
It is God’s story of His love for us that allows us to pass on that agape love to others, regardless of their ability to give to us.
David promised to love someone.
Saul and Jonathan die, David tracks down Mephibosheth who is hiding in fear and brings the young man into the palace to live (2 Sam. 9:8-10).
Because he kills Uriah after having a affair with his wife, David’s family falls apart.
He has to run for his life. After various intrigues and doublecrosses, we arrive at 2nd Samuel 16. Ziba, Mephibosheth’s steward approaches David and tells David that Mephibosheth has sided with the enemy. Absalom dies. David returns to Jerusalem and confronts Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth says that he didn’t side with Absalom at all. Ziba, he says, abandoned him.
Who’s telling the truth? Ziba or Mephibosheth? One of them is lying.
Here’s my point. We never find out if Mephibosheth is lying because David never asks Mephibosheth if he is lying. There is no need for David to know the character of this man because David is in this relationship NOT based upon the performance of Mephibosheth but based upon David’s promise to love. The man who had a heart for God took this person who had nothing to offer their relationship, who brought nothing into the relationship yet took much out, David kept his covenant of love because that is what God’s people do. When we promise to love someone, it is a promise based not on performance or worth. It is a commitment to love because that is what God asks of us.
It is God’s story of His love for us that allows us to pass on that agape love to others, regardless of their ability to give to us.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
1.6% of the North American population says both that inorganic and inanimate gases can evolve, AND that they cannot evolve.
These people say they can evolve because there is no other way to explain the origin of life AND they say they can’t evolve because they know that is the truth.
This population relentlessly and tenaciously holds to this implausible position.
These people say they can evolve because there is no other way to explain the origin of life AND they say they can’t evolve because they know that is the truth.
This population relentlessly and tenaciously holds to this implausible position.
A Man After God’s Heart
In 1st Samuel, we have the account of David being driven into the wilderness by Saul’s attempts to kill him. David, a man who was once so confident in the power of God, has lost that trust. In fact, David is so low in his walk with God that he has turned to living with the enemy.
And isn’t that what happens in marriages? Somewhere along the line we begin to follow the enemy’s advice in how we treat each other. If you have time, please read 1st Samuel, chapter 30. Read and see how this man, David, someone who is called a man after God’s own heart, handled what was one of the lowest moments in his life.
Did you see how David treated the men who were feeling about as low and exhausted as struggling couples feel? Two hundred of his men simply couldn’t do anymore. They had nothing left - not even to save their own family. They were broken. They were discouraged. They felt hopeless. They were done.
In human terms, they didn’t give anything to the cause so they didn’t deserved to get anything in return.
Here is what made David a man after God’s own heart.
“All will share in what the Lord has given us.”
Like God does with us, David had COMPASSION. God gives to us His love, even though we aren’t deserving of it. He does that for you. How can we who have received freely, not give freely?
And isn’t that what happens in marriages? Somewhere along the line we begin to follow the enemy’s advice in how we treat each other. If you have time, please read 1st Samuel, chapter 30. Read and see how this man, David, someone who is called a man after God’s own heart, handled what was one of the lowest moments in his life.
Did you see how David treated the men who were feeling about as low and exhausted as struggling couples feel? Two hundred of his men simply couldn’t do anymore. They had nothing left - not even to save their own family. They were broken. They were discouraged. They felt hopeless. They were done.
In human terms, they didn’t give anything to the cause so they didn’t deserved to get anything in return.
Here is what made David a man after God’s own heart.
“All will share in what the Lord has given us.”
Like God does with us, David had COMPASSION. God gives to us His love, even though we aren’t deserving of it. He does that for you. How can we who have received freely, not give freely?
Saturday, April 10, 2010
The 1.6% Solution
That’s the percentage of people in North America who think that the solution to a better life would be if everyone's children were forced to believe - or at least taught - that everything came from nothing without any cause whatsoever.
Well, that’s not exactly true. This 1.6% of the population believe that the solution to a better life would be if everyone's children weren’t allowed to be taught that everything that has come into being required a cause.
This 1.6% of the population can’t understand why people are hesitant to elect them to positions of power.
Well, that’s not exactly true. This 1.6% of the population believe that the solution to a better life would be if everyone's children weren’t allowed to be taught that everything that has come into being required a cause.
This 1.6% of the population can’t understand why people are hesitant to elect them to positions of power.
Hutaree Love
I went to the Hutaree web site and noticed a well-known Jesus quote,
“No greater love has any man than to lay down his love for a friend.”
To see that quote both surprised and saddened me. Judging from the plans that this group was hoping to carry out we could also say,
“No greater hate has any man than to plot the death of another.”
As someone correctly said, “Hutaree is neither Christian nor a militia.” They’re just a band of hate filled, paranoid domestic terrorists.
“No greater love has any man than to lay down his love for a friend.”
To see that quote both surprised and saddened me. Judging from the plans that this group was hoping to carry out we could also say,
“No greater hate has any man than to plot the death of another.”
As someone correctly said, “Hutaree is neither Christian nor a militia.” They’re just a band of hate filled, paranoid domestic terrorists.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Even Dung Beatles
I can’t remember where it is, but there is some society, I’m guessing Africa, where people worship dung beatles.
Amazing isn’t it?
There is not a culture anywhere in the world, no matter how primitive or advanced whereby humans do not have a sense of awe and contemplation of deity.
Luther stated that humans must have God or they’ll invent an idol.
Even those who claim that God does not exist worship the very philosophy that makes that claim.
Be it a dung beatle, Creator God or yourself, you will worship something.
Amazing isn’t it?
There is not a culture anywhere in the world, no matter how primitive or advanced whereby humans do not have a sense of awe and contemplation of deity.
Luther stated that humans must have God or they’ll invent an idol.
Even those who claim that God does not exist worship the very philosophy that makes that claim.
Be it a dung beatle, Creator God or yourself, you will worship something.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
My Favourite Picture
There are many snippets here and there in the Bible that are special to me. My favourite however, is found in John 21.
Jesus has been crucified. All hopes and expectations that He truly was the One to come and free Israel from Rome have been put on the shelf. Confusion abounds.
And then - reports of Jesus rising from the dead, just as He predicted, turn out to be true. He shows up behind locked doors. He eats with His followers. Teaches them. Reassures them that all is well and then - nothing. He’s gone again. Days pass. Not knowing what to do next, the men do what they know best. They go fishing.
Here’s my favourite part. “It’s the Lord!” Approaching the shore after a night of fishing John recognises Him first. Jesus is sitting on the beach with a fire going and some fish are cooking. Peter agrees with John. He dives into the water and swims to shore while the rest of the guys bring in their boats and the nets full of fish.
They crowd around Him, this Man who was dead - most certainly dead and buried.
Who’s ever seen such a thing? So contrary to human experience is someone rising from the dead that even though this is the third time since His resurrection that Jesus has appeared to them, spoken with them, eaten with them, been touched by them, that John writes,
“None of us dared ask Him, “Who are you?” For we knew it was the Lord.”
This - is my favourite picture. Doubt and certainty mixed together. Excitement and apprehension. Joy at what is, coupled with fear that it might not be real.
This is my favourite picture. A Love that was lost is with them again. Hopes that had been crushed are being renewed. The possibility, the only possibility of forgiveness resides once again in their midst. Restoration and reconciliation are at hand. Jesus will never again leave them as orphans.
This is my favourite picture.
Jesus has been crucified. All hopes and expectations that He truly was the One to come and free Israel from Rome have been put on the shelf. Confusion abounds.
And then - reports of Jesus rising from the dead, just as He predicted, turn out to be true. He shows up behind locked doors. He eats with His followers. Teaches them. Reassures them that all is well and then - nothing. He’s gone again. Days pass. Not knowing what to do next, the men do what they know best. They go fishing.
Here’s my favourite part. “It’s the Lord!” Approaching the shore after a night of fishing John recognises Him first. Jesus is sitting on the beach with a fire going and some fish are cooking. Peter agrees with John. He dives into the water and swims to shore while the rest of the guys bring in their boats and the nets full of fish.
They crowd around Him, this Man who was dead - most certainly dead and buried.
Who’s ever seen such a thing? So contrary to human experience is someone rising from the dead that even though this is the third time since His resurrection that Jesus has appeared to them, spoken with them, eaten with them, been touched by them, that John writes,
“None of us dared ask Him, “Who are you?” For we knew it was the Lord.”
This - is my favourite picture. Doubt and certainty mixed together. Excitement and apprehension. Joy at what is, coupled with fear that it might not be real.
This is my favourite picture. A Love that was lost is with them again. Hopes that had been crushed are being renewed. The possibility, the only possibility of forgiveness resides once again in their midst. Restoration and reconciliation are at hand. Jesus will never again leave them as orphans.
This is my favourite picture.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Imagine the Outrage!
What must it be like to be satan, a Being filled with rage and the all consuming desire to steal, kill and destroy, to realise that even as he kills the human shell that held God the Son, he was all along serving God’s plan of redemption.
That is what it’s like to be the biggest loser in the universe.
Shooting into your own basket.
Firing a shot into your own goal.
Passing to the opposing player.
Lining up at the wrong starting blocks.
Running into the wrong end-zone.
Over and over and over again, satan’s screw-ups are legendary. Every time he tried to outwit his Creator, foil his Creator’s plans, disrupt what his Creator was trying to accomplish, satan wound up helping Creator God carry out His plan to defeat evil. Examples?
he tried to use Sara’s inability to bear a child to cause dissension in the family. Instead she was a model of God’s mercy.
he tried to disqualify Moses from leadership by stirring up Moses’ anger. Instead, Moses went into 40 years of training.
he led Daniel into slavery and wound up watching him attain the power of royalty.
he oppressed the Israelites in Egypt only to watch God use them to punish Egypt.
he tried to impress upon God, Job’s misplaced faith and instead helped to create perhaps the greatest theological work ever written on suffering and God’s sovereignty.
he imprisoned Paul only to help Him spread Christianity throughout the known world.
he used fear to embarrass Peter out of discipleship and instead Peter became the head of the Church.
he used soldiers to crucify God and instead provided the means of salvation for billions.
Pass, satan, pass! Ooops sorry. Wrong team. Pfft!
This is the guy who wanted to rule heaven and instead is condemned to an eternity in hell.
The king of fools followed only by fools.
Like atheists, denying God while the whole time serving His purposes; mocking the Bible while all the time fulfilling It's prophecies.
satan - he began as a servant of God, he will always be a servant of God.
satan on his knees begging God’s permission to do anything at all.
satan, totally and completely powerless except in what God allows him to do.
The only things dumber than satan are those who follow him.
That is what it’s like to be the biggest loser in the universe.
Shooting into your own basket.
Firing a shot into your own goal.
Passing to the opposing player.
Lining up at the wrong starting blocks.
Running into the wrong end-zone.
Over and over and over again, satan’s screw-ups are legendary. Every time he tried to outwit his Creator, foil his Creator’s plans, disrupt what his Creator was trying to accomplish, satan wound up helping Creator God carry out His plan to defeat evil. Examples?
he tried to use Sara’s inability to bear a child to cause dissension in the family. Instead she was a model of God’s mercy.
he tried to disqualify Moses from leadership by stirring up Moses’ anger. Instead, Moses went into 40 years of training.
he led Daniel into slavery and wound up watching him attain the power of royalty.
he oppressed the Israelites in Egypt only to watch God use them to punish Egypt.
he tried to impress upon God, Job’s misplaced faith and instead helped to create perhaps the greatest theological work ever written on suffering and God’s sovereignty.
he imprisoned Paul only to help Him spread Christianity throughout the known world.
he used fear to embarrass Peter out of discipleship and instead Peter became the head of the Church.
he used soldiers to crucify God and instead provided the means of salvation for billions.
Pass, satan, pass! Ooops sorry. Wrong team. Pfft!
This is the guy who wanted to rule heaven and instead is condemned to an eternity in hell.
The king of fools followed only by fools.
Like atheists, denying God while the whole time serving His purposes; mocking the Bible while all the time fulfilling It's prophecies.
satan - he began as a servant of God, he will always be a servant of God.
satan on his knees begging God’s permission to do anything at all.
satan, totally and completely powerless except in what God allows him to do.
The only things dumber than satan are those who follow him.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Where’s Your Refuge?
Joshua 20:1-3 tells of God’s command to build cities of refuge for those who accidentally killed someone - a place to which a person could run so that relatives of the deceased could not take revenge.
“According to the rabbis, in order to aid the fugitive, it was the business of the Sanhedrin to keep the roads leading to the cities of refuge in the best possible repair. Every river was to be bridged, and the road itself was to be at least 32 cubits (about 16 metres) wide. At every turn there were to be guide posts bearing the word “Refuge.” from Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p.208
Sadly, no such place exists for us in our day and age. Churches are supposed to be places of refuge but as often as not they are just one more place to experience judgment. Yet we need a place to go. We need a place of safety. Psalm 31 gives about as good a description as any of the human dilemma.
We’re in distress - vs.9,10. Who can look at the state of human relationships and not be brought to the brink of tears over the way we treat each other. I just saw a news clip where a man tried to steal a seven-year-old girl from the front of a Church where she was out hiding Easter Eggs. She managed to jump out of the vehicle, but is was close. We know how visual men are and how jacked up they can get over looking at pictures. We know that it can cause them to cross a line they might not have crossed had that temptation not been available. Yet porn is a multi billion dollar a year business in North America. We are caught in a schizophrenic lifestyle where we lament the symptoms of our disease but we also refuse to treat it. We’re willing to blame others but never ourselves. Who cares if someone is dying because of X. It's not hurting me!
We’re sinful - Period - vs 10. Again, there are some who, in an attempt to remove real guilt, simply change the rules. Examples?
Problem: Can’t stop screwing your neighbours spouse?
Secular Solution: Call adultery between consenting adults good.
Problem: Can’t stop lying?
Secular Solution: Call it fibbing, or white lies, or mis speaking, or exaggerating.
Problem: Can't love your spouse as you love yourself?
Secular Solution: Call divorce good.
Problem: Can’t stop having unprotected sex?
Secular Solution: Call killing the resulting children - a choice.
Problem: Can’t separate the sin from the sinner?
Secular Solution: Say that sin does not exist.
The fact is, the very planet we live on, as well as the people who inhabit this world are drowning in sin. Contrary to secular suggestions, greater wealth, greater education, greater health care, cleaner water, or changing definitions of right and wrong are not going to bring us a solution. We may be more comfortable and attain more knowledge but we're still killing ourselves.
We are being attacked - vs.11-13 We experience from our fellow man:
Ridicule
Criticism
Rejection
Abuse
Gossip
Sometimes even threats of violence.
This life entails real misery, real heartache, real loss.
Atheists call people weak for admitting a need for refuge.
“You religious people need a crutch.”
Yes, religious people are weak. That's because all people are weak. It's only the religious who have admitted the truth. And we go to the only place where real shelter can be found; in our Lord and Saviour and Creator.
And atheists? They seek shelter in relationships, or mood altering drugs, or work, or looks, or wealth / possessions, or in whatever cause de jour they can immerse themselves to numb their minds. They don’t recognise those as secular shelters nor do they recognise that those shelters are ineffective for curing our root problem, an alienation and rejection of Creator God’s role in our lives.
We are soul sick and only a soul Healer will bring about lasting change.
So where does one go when:
You’ve hurt your children physically and emotionally
Your child phones at 2:00am from jail
You’ve been caught with someone else’s spouse
Your addiction can’t be denied any longer
You are sexually disoriented
You’ve been fired for dishonesty
You’ve chosen yet another partner as bad or worse than the last.
Where can you go to find solace, acceptance and forgiveness?
Where can you go and be listened to and not rejected?
“So we can come boldly and with confidence to the throne of grace where we can find mercy and receive grace in our times of need.” Hebrews 4:16
With arms open and welcoming, God has provided refuge and comfort for us. He is our crutch, our hiding place, our home. In response we are to provide refuge for others who are hurting and in need of shelter from the storm.
“Praise be to the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2nd Corinthians 1:4.
“According to the rabbis, in order to aid the fugitive, it was the business of the Sanhedrin to keep the roads leading to the cities of refuge in the best possible repair. Every river was to be bridged, and the road itself was to be at least 32 cubits (about 16 metres) wide. At every turn there were to be guide posts bearing the word “Refuge.” from Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p.208
Sadly, no such place exists for us in our day and age. Churches are supposed to be places of refuge but as often as not they are just one more place to experience judgment. Yet we need a place to go. We need a place of safety. Psalm 31 gives about as good a description as any of the human dilemma.
We’re in distress - vs.9,10. Who can look at the state of human relationships and not be brought to the brink of tears over the way we treat each other. I just saw a news clip where a man tried to steal a seven-year-old girl from the front of a Church where she was out hiding Easter Eggs. She managed to jump out of the vehicle, but is was close. We know how visual men are and how jacked up they can get over looking at pictures. We know that it can cause them to cross a line they might not have crossed had that temptation not been available. Yet porn is a multi billion dollar a year business in North America. We are caught in a schizophrenic lifestyle where we lament the symptoms of our disease but we also refuse to treat it. We’re willing to blame others but never ourselves. Who cares if someone is dying because of X. It's not hurting me!
We’re sinful - Period - vs 10. Again, there are some who, in an attempt to remove real guilt, simply change the rules. Examples?
Problem: Can’t stop screwing your neighbours spouse?
Secular Solution: Call adultery between consenting adults good.
Problem: Can’t stop lying?
Secular Solution: Call it fibbing, or white lies, or mis speaking, or exaggerating.
Problem: Can't love your spouse as you love yourself?
Secular Solution: Call divorce good.
Problem: Can’t stop having unprotected sex?
Secular Solution: Call killing the resulting children - a choice.
Problem: Can’t separate the sin from the sinner?
Secular Solution: Say that sin does not exist.
The fact is, the very planet we live on, as well as the people who inhabit this world are drowning in sin. Contrary to secular suggestions, greater wealth, greater education, greater health care, cleaner water, or changing definitions of right and wrong are not going to bring us a solution. We may be more comfortable and attain more knowledge but we're still killing ourselves.
We are being attacked - vs.11-13 We experience from our fellow man:
Ridicule
Criticism
Rejection
Abuse
Gossip
Sometimes even threats of violence.
This life entails real misery, real heartache, real loss.
Atheists call people weak for admitting a need for refuge.
“You religious people need a crutch.”
Yes, religious people are weak. That's because all people are weak. It's only the religious who have admitted the truth. And we go to the only place where real shelter can be found; in our Lord and Saviour and Creator.
And atheists? They seek shelter in relationships, or mood altering drugs, or work, or looks, or wealth / possessions, or in whatever cause de jour they can immerse themselves to numb their minds. They don’t recognise those as secular shelters nor do they recognise that those shelters are ineffective for curing our root problem, an alienation and rejection of Creator God’s role in our lives.
We are soul sick and only a soul Healer will bring about lasting change.
So where does one go when:
You’ve hurt your children physically and emotionally
Your child phones at 2:00am from jail
You’ve been caught with someone else’s spouse
Your addiction can’t be denied any longer
You are sexually disoriented
You’ve been fired for dishonesty
You’ve chosen yet another partner as bad or worse than the last.
Where can you go to find solace, acceptance and forgiveness?
Where can you go and be listened to and not rejected?
“So we can come boldly and with confidence to the throne of grace where we can find mercy and receive grace in our times of need.” Hebrews 4:16
With arms open and welcoming, God has provided refuge and comfort for us. He is our crutch, our hiding place, our home. In response we are to provide refuge for others who are hurting and in need of shelter from the storm.
“Praise be to the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2nd Corinthians 1:4.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Priest Abuse = Homosexual Abuse?
On a post that started out talking about human sacrifice in Uganda
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2010/04/who-needs-christianity.html
a guy named Travis had this to say,
“No, I'm simply appealing to the obvious. For instance, the Catholic Church's molester priest scandal that everyone got so worked up about was actually the gay molester priest scandal. Yet hardly anybody brought that fact up. It was just silently understood that there couldn't be any connection, despite appearances, and that you weren't supposed to talk about it. In a complete failure to recognize irony, the people shrieking the loudest about the abuse were largely the same liberals who condemn the church for not allowing openly gay priests to be ordained.”
I’ve purposely tried to stay clear of this subject on my blog but, what do you think?
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2010/04/who-needs-christianity.html
a guy named Travis had this to say,
“No, I'm simply appealing to the obvious. For instance, the Catholic Church's molester priest scandal that everyone got so worked up about was actually the gay molester priest scandal. Yet hardly anybody brought that fact up. It was just silently understood that there couldn't be any connection, despite appearances, and that you weren't supposed to talk about it. In a complete failure to recognize irony, the people shrieking the loudest about the abuse were largely the same liberals who condemn the church for not allowing openly gay priests to be ordained.”
I’ve purposely tried to stay clear of this subject on my blog but, what do you think?
Amazing Love
“Amazing love, how can it be, That you my King would die for me?”
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17
I used to have trouble with that verse. Since becoming a Christian, the quality of my life has been so superior to my pre Christian life that I’ve thought, “Even if there is no eternal life, having a relationship with Jesus has still been worth it.”
Well, obviously I hadn’t thought that through. For one thing, if Jesus isn’t risen, then I haven’t had a relationship with anything other than my fantasy life. Second, I haven’t been freed from the power of sin because the power of sin is still intact. Death is the result of sin. The sign that Jesus HAS defeated sin is shown by the fact that He defeated death. The proof of that is His resurrection.
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
I’ve never been that into heaven. I mean I’m glad it exists and everything but I could live with this life being all there is. On the other hand the proof that I WILL rise again is in the fact that Jesus rose again. It’s proof that death itself has been defeated. My death is not the end, only a transition. Death does not result in just being laid in the ground. Rather, death results in us stepping through a portal into the only other dimension that we know exists.
It’s important that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead or else NOTHING that we claim to believe as Christians is true. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, thus proving His claims of Godhood, Jesus couldn’t even be considered to be a good man. To say the things that Jesus said, and not have Him rise from the dead would make him one of the greatest liars, deceivers and frauds this world has ever seen.
Instead, the resurrection of Jesus shows:
Jesus IS the Son of God (Romans 1:4);
Jesus IS righteous (John 16:10);
Jesus HAS power and victory over death (Acts 2:24);
Jesus HAS guaranteed the believer’s forgiveness and justification (1 Corinthians 15:17; Romans 4:25),
Jesus HAS proven the reality of “resurrection life” (Romans 6:4).
Every year since becoming a Christian has been better than the year before. If this life was all there is, it would be good enough.
But that isn’t all there is.
Jesus’ resurrection is proof.
My faith is not futile.
My future is secure.
John 3:17 - For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Romans 8:1 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17
I used to have trouble with that verse. Since becoming a Christian, the quality of my life has been so superior to my pre Christian life that I’ve thought, “Even if there is no eternal life, having a relationship with Jesus has still been worth it.”
Well, obviously I hadn’t thought that through. For one thing, if Jesus isn’t risen, then I haven’t had a relationship with anything other than my fantasy life. Second, I haven’t been freed from the power of sin because the power of sin is still intact. Death is the result of sin. The sign that Jesus HAS defeated sin is shown by the fact that He defeated death. The proof of that is His resurrection.
“If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
I’ve never been that into heaven. I mean I’m glad it exists and everything but I could live with this life being all there is. On the other hand the proof that I WILL rise again is in the fact that Jesus rose again. It’s proof that death itself has been defeated. My death is not the end, only a transition. Death does not result in just being laid in the ground. Rather, death results in us stepping through a portal into the only other dimension that we know exists.
It’s important that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead or else NOTHING that we claim to believe as Christians is true. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, thus proving His claims of Godhood, Jesus couldn’t even be considered to be a good man. To say the things that Jesus said, and not have Him rise from the dead would make him one of the greatest liars, deceivers and frauds this world has ever seen.
Instead, the resurrection of Jesus shows:
Jesus IS the Son of God (Romans 1:4);
Jesus IS righteous (John 16:10);
Jesus HAS power and victory over death (Acts 2:24);
Jesus HAS guaranteed the believer’s forgiveness and justification (1 Corinthians 15:17; Romans 4:25),
Jesus HAS proven the reality of “resurrection life” (Romans 6:4).
Every year since becoming a Christian has been better than the year before. If this life was all there is, it would be good enough.
But that isn’t all there is.
Jesus’ resurrection is proof.
My faith is not futile.
My future is secure.
John 3:17 - For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Romans 8:1 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Sunday, April 4, 2010
See No Evil
Quite a story out of Trenton NJ.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/03/new.jersey.child.prostitution/index.html?hpt=Sbin
A 15-year-old girl sold herself AND her 7-year-old step sister for sex to a bunch of men and juveniles.
“The 15-year-old first agreed to have sex with the men for money, Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak said. She then gave the men permission to "touch" the 7-year-old, he said, adding that it's likely the 15-year-old gave the 7-year-old some of the money she had received. Molestation of the 7-year-old "quickly escalated to rape," Juniak said. The men held her down and said they would kill her if she screamed, he said.”
Obviously the police are not atheists because they seem to think these males have done something wrong. On the contrary, just as Hugo or any other atheist are forced to say, "What's right for me is right for me."
In atheist world, the only mistake these guys made is not breaking the law but getting caught.
In atheist world there isn’t any right or wrong, no evil, no bad. Everyone is good - according to atheists - that is.
“I consider EVERYBODY to be fundamentally good. Yes, even the most sick rapist murderer . . .” Hugo the atheist.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/03/new.jersey.child.prostitution/index.html?hpt=Sbin
A 15-year-old girl sold herself AND her 7-year-old step sister for sex to a bunch of men and juveniles.
“The 15-year-old first agreed to have sex with the men for money, Trenton police Capt. Joseph Juniak said. She then gave the men permission to "touch" the 7-year-old, he said, adding that it's likely the 15-year-old gave the 7-year-old some of the money she had received. Molestation of the 7-year-old "quickly escalated to rape," Juniak said. The men held her down and said they would kill her if she screamed, he said.”
Obviously the police are not atheists because they seem to think these males have done something wrong. On the contrary, just as Hugo or any other atheist are forced to say, "What's right for me is right for me."
In atheist world, the only mistake these guys made is not breaking the law but getting caught.
In atheist world there isn’t any right or wrong, no evil, no bad. Everyone is good - according to atheists - that is.
“I consider EVERYBODY to be fundamentally good. Yes, even the most sick rapist murderer . . .” Hugo the atheist.
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