Just For The Hell Of It

It's an amazing thing that our Creator does. He lets us choose to be apart from Him for all of eternity. He actually gives us what we want rather than forcing His will on us. It's the kind of tolerance that atheists rave about.

“Go to hell; see if I care.”

Well, not exactly. Jesus has done everything possible to make sure you don't have to endure eternity without Him. In fact, if you choose to go to hell, you're going to have to step over Jesus' dead body in order to get there.

We are profoundly spiritual beings. We are created to be in a healed and forgiven relationship with our Creator, made in His image, made to love Him and to be loved by Him. We are made to spend eternity in His presence, but some simply don't want that. They don't want anything to do with Jesus now or ever. They see Him as a monster.

Atheists have been given the right to choose, and they'll be damned if they're going to miss the opportunity to reject the God they don't believe in. 

They take their right to choose to do wrong. 

They rage at His justice for punishing sin and evil and 

They rage at the injustice of His Grace which forgives sinners of their evil.

It really does take a fool to reject one's Creator in order to rage at the freedom He gives to live apart from Him for eternity.

No Option But To Bomb Syria

If the United States went to war when it knew there weren't any weapons of mass destruction – It must go to war when it knows there are weapons of mass destruction.

It's simple logic

If the United States wants the world to know that it will use nuclear weapons when it's vital interests are threatened – It must use nuclear weapons when it's vital interests are not threatened.

Philosophy To The Rescue

I had done a series not too long ago called Atheists Save The World – I think. One part contained a post saying that science could not heal what is wrong with human nature. Surprisingly this atheist guy that drops by from time to time admitted that science doesn't have the ability to cure the human condition – i.e. Science cannot remove our corrupt self-love and self-obsession. That's more than most atheists are willing to admit. Most think along the lines of Richard Lewontin who said, “Only science is rational. Science is the only begetter of truth.”

This, even though:

. Science can't tell us why kindness is better than cruelty - yet we still believe it to be true

. Science can't tell us how or why the laws of mathematics and logic and morality came to exist - but we still live as though they do exist.

. Science can't explain or prove metaphysical truths like -

- there are minds other than my own

- the external world is real

- the external world didn't begin to exist ten minutes ago appearing as aged.

. Science can't prove or disprove ethical beliefs such as whether the Nazis or Joseph Kony did anything evil – yet we believe they did.

. Science can't prove one way or the other on aesthetic judgements such beauty and goodness - yet we all live as though we know the answer.

. Science itself can't be justified by the scientific method of enquiry.

. Science is incapable of establishing that all truths about the universe are discoverable by the scientific method.

. Science can't explain why in the world we would evolve the capacity to examine and understand our universe, the origin of stars, or the mathematical uniformity of our universe, since none of these are needed for our survival. Natural selection, we're told involves no fluff. Nothing exists, atheists tell us unless it aides our survival. So what's up with all this supposedly superfluous knowledge?

Science certainly can't tell us the answer.

As I said, the atheist agrees that science can make our lives physically easier but the root cause of our troubles is beyond science. Sadly the atheist moves right along to Philosophy as our Saviour. This, even though human philosophy is as deeply flawed as the human condition itself. When atheists bring their world-view to philosophy, it causes atheists to think that moral, logical, scientific, or mathematical truths / laws do not exist apart from our noetic activity. This is the same activity that atheists rely on to tell themselves that humans are born good.

In order to think that we are good, they ignore the fact that we know objective morals, obligations and duties exist and we know it absolutely when someone does something wrong to us. We don't have to ponder for even one second whether what we're experiencing is culturally or socially formed. And we certainly feel no compulsion to let the aggressor off the hook because atheists tell us that “determinism” was at work. The victim appeals to, and the perpetrator claims ignorance of the same objective moral law that transcends them both.

This right and wrong is not something we have to be taught. We know it instinctively. Even children as young as a year old have been observed in clinical studies to react negatively when they see something unfair taking place to other adults or children. No one has to teach a small child to hide behind h/her back a cookie that was not supposed to be taken. No one has to teach a child to hit the other toddler who “stole” a toy.

Now, Jesus teaches that we are conceived with a sinful nature while atheists say that we're born good. In atheist-world, it's not humans who corrupt the institution. Rather it's the institution that corrupts the human. Contrary to this atheist belief, much if not most of what parenting involves is squashing the child's tendency toward physical and emotional violence and encouraging the child to behave in a consistently respectful manner toward others. We have to teach our children correct behaviour because we are not born good.

Atheists appeal to reason / philosophy as our salvation, yet:

. Reason itself is not a reliable way to know right or good.

. Reason doesn't free us of prejudice.

. Reason doesn't free us from cruelty.

. Reason is a calculative function of the brain that is pulled this way and that by our pre conceived world-view.

. Reason is hampered by the fact that some (atheists) deprive themselves of access to the “whole truth” which exists a priori:

- In the spiritual realm,

- In the Person of Jesus the Christ, and

- Which is revealed to us by interpenetration of the Spiritual realm with the material realm.

Don't get me wrong, our God given ability to reason is a wonderful thing. Yet it remains hobbled, crippled until our spiritual eyes have been opened.

Atheists cling to the Enlightenment which was nothing more than the idolatry of reason and which led to the worst horrors of modern history. All because atheists sought to replace God with human reason.

We're off to the Canadian Rockies so I won't post again till some time in September. 

Zechariah 8:16,17 - These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgement in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbour and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this declares the Lord

Which Saviour Do You Rely On?

In Jesus' parable of the lost son, or prodigal son, the younger son rejected the Father openly and carelessly. The elder son, on the other hand, lost the Father through wrong headed obedience.

I see clients like this all the time. The obey God, not to know Him, to love Him, to become like Him or to delight in His love. They obey God to coerce Him to keep His end of the bargain that they invented, i.e. They obey God in order to “force” Him to be good to them.

These people obey God to put Him in their debt and get control over Him. Instead of relying on God's goodness and grace and mercy, just as pagans and atheists, these religious people seek to become their own Saviours.

Some people determine to be their own saviour. They break God's laws at will and set their own moral course. Others, many who consider themselves to be Christians, determine to be their own saviour by keeping all the moral laws of God in order to force Him to save them out of some sense of obligation.

Both ways set us apart from Jesus in efforts of futility and gross disrespect.

Numbers 15:15 - The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD. 

When Will This Happen?

That was the question asked by Jesus’ disciples. “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Jesus spoke about this at length, but broadly speaking He kept His comments to four main categories:

. Religious apostasy - “Christian” churches will be teaching things directly in opposition to the teachings of Jesus.

. Persecution of the Christian Church along with the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus throughout the world.

. Continual conflict and wars around the world.

. Disturbances in the natural order; unnatural weather, earthquakes and strange ocean currents.

Paul speaks of an increased love of self and a lack of love for others as another indication of Christ’s impending arrival. Anti social and anti family attitudes will be ubiquitous. There will be much spirituality but little love for or adherence to Jesus' teaching.

We're also told that we can know Jesus arrival is just around the corner because, “People will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, they will gather around themselves teachers who tell them exactly what they want to hear.”

We're told that there will be a mass exodus from the Church that coincides with a huge rise in atheism that is matched by a huge rise in homosexuality.

With sardonic wit, Jesus points out that many can predict the weather by interpreting atmospheric signs but they can not predict His coming by watching the fulfilment of prophetic signs.

‘Be prepared. I will come suddenly, in the blink of an eye.’ 

Does Our Pain Amuse God?

“God is love. That is why He suffers. To love our suffering, sinful world is to suffer. God so suffered for the world that He gave His only Son to suffering. The one who does not see God's suffering does not see His love. God is suffering love. So suffering is down at the centre of things, deep down where the meaning is. Suffering is the meaning of our world. For Love is the meaning. And Love suffers. The tears of God are the meaning of history.” Wolterstorff

Your child is rejected by a “friend.”

Your child is unfairly treated by a teacher.

Your child is demeaned and humiliated by a bully.

Your child is in recovery the day after open heart surgery.

In each of these cases you sit back with detached amusement as you watch your child experience emotional, physical and relational pain.

No?

Of course not.

There are actually people on this planet who think amusement, or at least gross detachment is how our Creator reacts to our pain. There was a time when even I have asked, “How can God just sit there and watch this happen?”

I now know better.

God does not “watch” our suffering.

God endures our suffering.

Just as our heart breaks along with our child's broken heart, our child's fears, our child's pain and suffering, so too does our loving Father endure our suffering along with us. As Jesus said:

“As you have done it to these, so you have done it to Me.”

“When you give a cup of cold water to someone, you are giving it to Me.”

People say, “If I could do something to rescue my child, I'd do it.”

Yes, most of us would be able to say that. And so has God.

Romans 8:32 says, “If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, experiencing the human condition and exposing Himself to the worst we could offer by sending His own Son to die for us, it's clear that there isn't anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us.”

Only love could motivate our Creator to forgive us for crucifying Jesus.

Only love could motivate our Saviour to die in our place so that we might live.

Speaking metaphorically, God's love for us is so great that if you choose to go to hell, you're going to have to step over Jesus' dead body in order to get there.  

True Freedom

Our Creator allows us not only freedom from the power of sin and freedom from the love of sin. God allows us the freedom to choose to continue to live in sin over choosing to obey Him. 

What is Faith?

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not yet seen.”

That of course is what “Christian” faith is.

Atheist faith is something else altogether. Atheist faith is the belief in something unproven, unseen, untested, unverified, but which is believed anyway. Those who hold to atheism live by faith even to the point of being willing to believe until one's dying day that at some point in the future, science will reverse what it knows today, and the world-view of atheism will be proven correct.

Atheism's faith is blind faith.

What's worse is that atheists base their beliefs not only on that which is unproven, but on those things that the scientific method of knowing itself says cannot happen. Atheists persist in holding their faith in the teeth of evidence that goes against what they want to believe.

As I've said in my post, Why I'm Not an Atheist, “Except for epistemic, experiential, logical, coherent and reasonable evidence for the existence of God, I could be an atheist.”

Christians on the other hand possess a confidence, based in experience and reality, that we will receive what we hope for. Our faith is an unshakeable confidence that comes to us by the Spirit of the living Creator. 

Yes, science supports our beliefs. It can't not support what we believe because Creator God is the origin and founder of the scientific laws that we observe acting upon matter; matter that was brought into being out of literally nothing material. 

However, even without scientific knowledge we could not deny what we know. We could not deny what we know because we are indwelt by the Spirit of the living and true God Who has convinced us that Jesus will do what He has promised to do.

God's has made His existence so undeniable, indisputable, irrefutable – to us - that to deny His reality would be similar to denying that my wife and children exist. It can't be done.

Hebrews 11:1 can be translated, “Now faith is the assurance, the substance, the reality, the confirmation, the being sure of, the substantiating, the confidence, the solid ground, the evidence of, the trust in God, the only guarantee of things hoped for.” 

If a man’s life is in what he possess, when disaster comes to his possession, his life goes too (Luke 12:15).  

Chambers

Divine Genocide

That's what atheists call God's Judgement of Canaanite society. Hmm.

There is a News story taking place as I type this. Parents in Pennsylvania whose child died of pneumonia are on trial for failing to provide medical help for their son. They prayed (I assume for healing) instead. As horrible as that is, this was the second child of theirs who died from their decision to reject medical attention and rely on prayer. They are being charged with Murder.

People are outraged, indignant, up in arms at what these parents have done. Or not done, as is the case. There is no evidence (yet) that these parents are negligent in any other way. They feed and clothe and provide education for their children. But then there's this other issue. Children who get sick in that household are in danger – grave danger.

So here we have most people (especially atheists) rightfully angry at this couple who really did nothing to “cause” the deaths of their children. It's that they didn't do anything to prevent their death.

Atheists want these parents brought to Justice.

On the other hand, when atheists read of people in the Bible (not just one or two people but society as a whole) who sacrificed their children as live burnt offerings, something odd happens.

. In this case atheists support the parents!

. Their outrage is turned toward the One who brings these parents to justice.

If you find this seeming hypocrisy and inconsistency odd, you shouldn't. The world-view of atheism itself is absurd, inconsistent and incoherent. It's hard to say whether this manner of thinking leads people to accept atheism, of if the world-view of atheism leads to this type of thinking.

When it comes to the Bible, atheists typically say that nothing in the Bible can be believed. They say that the historical accounts in the Bible are contrived and totally fabricated. This is a line of thought found on the majority of atheist blogs.

That Creator God does not exist is of course the foundation of atheism.

Yet, when the chance comes to rant and rage at this God that atheists don't believe in:

. The Biblical accounts suddenly become accurate

. God suddenly exists

. And parents who sacrifice their children as live burnt offerings are suddenly supported while God is condemned for holding them accountable for their atrocities.

That's the pattern of illogical thinking that seems to draw people to atheism.

“Of all powers, love is the most powerful and the most powerless. It is the most powerful because it alone can conquer that final and most impregnable stronghold which is the human heart. It is the most powerless because it can do nothing except by consent.”

― Frederick Buechner

He Got Away With Murder

Has that ever happened to you? 

Some have. 

Barabbas did. 

What’s worse, Barabbas went free so that an innocent man would die in his place. 

I wonder if that fazed Barabbas at all. I wonder if he felt any guilt at all. I wonder if you feel any guilt that an innocent Being, your Creator in fact, died in your place.

Does it bother you that He knows you so well that His sacrifice to pay for your sins was part of His plan all along?

Or do you, like Barabbas, scoff at this gift and run the other direction?

We, you and I killed the Lamb of God - perfect, sinless, innocent. And yet, for only admitting that we did this, not just a confession but a Just confession will set us free.

Jesus will literally let us get away with murder and like the thief on the cross, He will bring you safely home to live in paradise with Him.

Not too bad a deal if you ask me.

It makes me wonder, “What kind of a person would pass up a deal like that?”

Speak, and it shall be

 “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded and it stood firm.” Ps. 33:6,9

God spoke the universe into existence.

“Behold I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind.” Isaiah 65:17

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth . . . for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4

The very same power that God used to create the universe, He uses to make us a new creation. Nothing less than the power of God can turn us from condemned to forgiven.

Atheists Save the World

This is the last segment of a series on secular efforts to save the world. They've included:

- Science
- The combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Easy divorce

- Feminism
- The pursuit of everything.

- The condescending attitude of tolerance.

Isn’t it time that you find the courage to counter your culture and get on board with your Lord and Creator? Accept His offer of love and forgiveness, so that you might then extend His authentic love and kindness to others.

God's solution to the problem of society’s evil is His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus offers forgiveness, freedom from real guilt and eternal peace. That in essence, is the heart of the Christian story. Countless examples of violent criminals, drug addicts, lost and lonely individuals who have turned their lives over to Jesus and entered society as helpful agents of positive change attest to the effectiveness of doing life “God’s way.”

I remember a family member saying with a turned up nose, “But it’s mostly poor people who are Christians.”

She’s probably right.

Have you ever wondered about that or been bothered by that?

The apostle Paul wrote, “Have you ever noticed brothers and sisters in Christ that most of us who have turned our lives over to Jesus are nobodies?”

Why is it most often those on the fringes of society that seek and find Jesus? Because they are the ones who have been stripped of any delusion that this world in it’s present form has something of value to offer. Most of us who have decided to follow Jesus have been creased by life and the crease is permanent-press.

We do not worship a deistic God. He is not an absentee landlord. We worship a God who came down not just to our civilization. He came into the mess that we, ourselves created. He lived with us then, and continues to live with us now, in our spiritual squalor. The New Testament says, “He tabernacled with us. He pitched His tent among us.” He experienced what we experience. He didn’t stay out in the suburbs or out on His country estate. He came downtown and slept in the ally with us. He ate out of the dumpster with us. He took the burden of life upon himself to show us that it could be done. Jesus came to earth to show us how to clean up the mess that we had made. 

"If you've got real legalists in your church -- and you do -- the only way to intentionally offend them is by preaching the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ."  

Jared Wilson

Atheists Save the World

I've been doing a series on secular efforts to save the world. They've included:

- Science
- The combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Easy divorce

- Feminism
- The pursuit of everything.

- The condescending attitude of tolerance.

We Christians, on the other hand are not innocent of making a mess of things.

The desire to exclude those who live in opposition to God's will lacks love for that person. To tolerate the sin shows a lack of courage to love those same people. Out of love Jesus rejects both exclusion and tolerance.

Jesus' love continues, even when it’s called judgemental. Jesus’ love doesn’t just tolerate one’s acquaintances or even one’s enemies. Jesus’ love looks past the ugliness of your hidden thoughts, and the sanctimonious posturing about your tolerance. Jesus flat out rejects human plans that are destined for failure and says, ‘Come to me, all of you who are loaded down with life’s cares, and I will give you rest for your weary souls. I will give you peace beyond comprehension. I will guard your hearts and your minds and I will liberate you from anxiety.’ And so, followers of Jesus are able to say, "I love you too much to merely tolerate you. You’re far too important to God for me to just accept your sin in the hope that you will extend the same degree of cold-hearted, self-serving hypocrisy to me."

Jesus’ love invites you to come in from the cold. In response to jeering and mocking, Jesus’ love says, "I will go beyond tolerance. I will be good to you on every level, even to the point of honesty. I will passionately seek the best for you even if you see me as your enemy and hate me simply because you don’t like to hear what I’m saying." The best part about all this is that unlike those who are wise in their own eyes, Jesus is able to deliver on His promise to bring to you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Or how about easy divorce?

- Feminism
- The pursuit of everything.

The latest solution is to indoctrinate us with the condescending attitude of tolerance. "I will tolerate you." Doesn’t that make you feel all warm, and fuzzy inside? Of course discrimination, be it from Christian communities or elsewhere is wrong. My generation screwed up by finding it impossible to hate the sin without also hating the sinner. This generation is screwing up because they can't figure out how to love the sinner without also loving the sin. 

Sophisticates brag, "I tolerate everyone, no matter how diseased, dysfunctional and damaging to themselves and to society their behaviours may be." What they’re really saying is, "I have so little genuine love for you, that you can go straight to hell for all I care." So there you sit, surrounded by your refined and worldly wise friends, yet utterly alone in the very dim awareness that others care as little about you as you care about them. Oh sure, you cluck your tongue at the famine in Africa and worry about the whale on the beach. But treating with love your partner and kids is another matter altogether.

All of the above failures have sounded wise to the worldly, but this kind of thinking is repugnant in the extreme to those of us who know the love of Jesus. Why? Jesus loves us too much to just tolerate our miserable state. He refuses to tolerate the fact that the path we are following is leading to a disaster of eternal proportions. Rather than sitting back in smug indifference, Jesus left His throne in paradise to venture into our slum-living, futile, sin-enslaving, squalor. He did this to show us the way to victory and to freedom. This is a freedom from real guilt, freedom from slavery to self-destructive behaviours, freedom to make choices that will bring contentment into our lives despite circumstance. For Jesus’ love is a love that pursues relentlessly. 

Atheists Save the World

Have you ever wondered about the tsunami like tide of evil that is sweeping the Globe? Are you staggered by evil's power to shred society, collapsing nations? Not a Newscast goes by without the mention of corruption. And do you notice how no race, gender or age group is exempt from the power and influence of evil? It ruins families. It destroys homes. And most of all, it causes humans to do all they can to ignore it, despite the way evil corrodes the quality of everyone's life.

On the other hand, those who refuse to call evil for what it is, have grand plans for healing society's ills. Space does not allow a full discourse of the “cures” that have so far been explored by secularists but there are a few that are worth noting. Another of the more infamous secular efforts might include:

- Science
- We were told that the combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Or how about easy divorce?

- Feminism 

Oh, and don’t forget the pursuit of everything. Do you remember when you first believed that the busier you were the more value you’d have? The secular world has put a huge push on this one. Try standing in front of the mirror and then proudly “complain” about how busy you are. It doesn’t have quite the same appeal as when you’re getting approving nods from your equally deceived friends, does it?