Just a bunch of sheep...

 
The first time I thought of people as "sheep" was in Mr. Ison's Composition II class my first year at Fort Hays State University.  We read the short story A&P by John Updike.  I really liked that story and have read it several times since that discussion one day in the Spring of 1992.

Sheep.  Yes, I think that's a good analogy.  At Answers.com and Wikipedia.org I found characteristics of these animals and narrowed them into 7 broad statements.  Sheep are:

1. social.  They live in herds and are inclined to follow a leader.  When separated from the flock, they suffer stress.
2. prey animals. They are vulnerable and defenseless.  Even when not killed by a predator attack, they may die of their injuries or just from panic.
3. jealous and competitive.  There is a pecking order.
4. food-oriented but must be led to good sources of food and water.
5. extremely unintelligent with a herd mentality.  They are easily panicked.
6. creatures of habit.
7. stubborn and often go astray, needing patient and reliable shepherds.

Consider the vast intelligence and power of our God.  As the Creator of all things, how does our intelligence as humans (His creation!) compare to His intelligence?  What is a good analogy?  Man:X as God:man - man is to "X" as God is to man.  What is X?  A chimpanzee?  A gnat?  How about a sheep?

When scientific "discoveries" are made the offer evidence that contradicts the Bible, it always amuses me.  For example, I was reading about the Big Bang Theory just last night.  That theory has evolved over the last 25 years so that it barely resembles it's own previous definition.  Yet scientists in every year along the way have been fully convinced that this theory was/is absolutely the truth.  It will continue to change and they will continue to have absolute and firm faith in their flawed knowledge.  And they proclaim their faith with such arrogance!  It is laughable.

What makes this dangerous is that many of us sheep listen to them proclaim this absolute and firm faith and follow them.  It's interesting that the one sheep that other sheep follow is not the smartest, most reliable, or even most fit--it is simply the first one who moves.  With scientists looking for answers to questions only God can answer, they are often the first ones to move.

I have said this before and I continue to believe it:  I am not afraid of science.  The laws that govern our world were created by God.  Science only supports the Bible.  It is man's flawed theories of science that contradict the truth.

But there are other sources of wolves out there that attack the sheep...false religions, temptation of sin, and a herd mentality (our current culture) that prefers to worship the created rather than the Creator.
 
In a quick search, I found that sheep are mentioned 200 times in the Bible.  Many of those are direct comparisons to humans.  Shepherds are mentioned 118 times.  Abraham, Isaac, Rachel, Jacob, Moses, and David were all shepherds.  This was NOT a glamorous job!  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  It was a lowly position requiring reliability and patience.  Yet God chose these humble people to accomplish great things.

When Jesus was born God sent His angel, Gabrielle, to proclaim the birth of our Savior.  Where did Gabrielle go?  One would think that this announcement would come to someone important and well-known...say the king, or the Jewish leaders (Pharisees), or at least the socially and culturally influential.

No.  Gabrielle came to the humble, socially inept, and culturally unimportant shepherds.  These people were not even named in scripture.  After getting past the fear that gripped them when their peaceful evening in the field was interrupted by an angel's voice, they went to see the Baby for themselves.  They shared the whole story with Mary and Joseph then left that stable with their lives forever changed...glorifying and praising God.  Luke tells us that "Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart."  (Luke 2:19)  I love this verse.  Mary is a new mom!  What a beautiful beginning to Mary's new journey as a mother.

Psalms 23:1 tells that the Lord is our Shepherd (Old Testament).  John 10:11 tell us the Jesus is the Good Shepherd (New Testament).

There is, apparently, something about this analogy.

We, as sheep, are easily led astray.  We do not want to be separated from others, which is what happens when we live counter-cultural lives.  It is so much easier just to go with the flow.  We are jealous and competitive, trying to raise ourselves up by pecking others down.  Compared to God, whether we like it or not, we are extremely unintelligent.  The problem is that many of us cannot grasp the fact that we simply do not know the things we do not know.  We are creatures of habit with routines, friends, and surroundings that provide us with a nice little comfort zone.

We do, however, have a Shepherd.  One that is reliable and patient.  In fact, He is so devoted to our care that He gave His life to provide us (the vulnerable and defenseless) with eternal protection.  Through the Holy Spirit, He leads us to the spiritual food and water that will sustain us and help us to grow strong in our faith.

With the Holy Spirit within us, then, God expects us to also go into the world and help shepherd his people...our fellow sheep.

When Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times between the time Jesus was taken into custody and dawn of the next morning, Peter could not fathom that he would do such a thing.  But he did.  This trusted friend of Jesus found himself being a scared, lost, vulnerable sheep.

After His resurrection, Jesus talked to Peter again about this incident.  Peter was devastated by his own failure.  Jesus asked him three questions giving him three opportunities to make up for his three denials.  The question:  Do you love me?  Three times Peter answered positively.  (John 21:15-17)  After each of the three questions and each of the three answers, Jesus gave him a command.

Feed my lambs.
Take care of my sheep.
Feed my sheep.

In Updike's story, Sammy chooses to leave the flock when he realizes that the herd's beliefs contradict his own.  He is warned that life will be harder without the security of the flock (the culture at that time).  Strangely enough, Queenie and the others that he is defending neither acknowledge his existence nor realize the sacrifice he made on their behalf.   And he goes out into the day knowing that life will be hard.

And it is.

Thank God we have a Shepherd.

Tough Issues: Why do bad things happen?

The problem of "Evil" confronts many Christians suddenly and in a very emotional way.  Often we have to address this issue with the loss or devastation of ourselves or someone we love.  This seems to often have a polarizing effect...either pulling one toward God or pushing one away from God.  I am, however, a firm believer that Christians who struggle with this issue will find their way back to the God who loves them. (Romans 8:38-39)

God created man and woman, giving them a beautiful garden, food, companionship with Him, and dominion over all things created.  It was perfect!  However, God also wanted to give them something else--free will.

It was important for God to give us free will.  He did not want his creation to love, worship, and obey him because that was the only thing they could do.  He was very capable of making us His puppets with no ability to reason or option to rebel.  But that was not His plan.  God wanted His people to have the ability to obey Him...or not.

With this in mind, the Garden of Eden had to contain an option to rebel.  Without an option to rebel, there could be no free will because every option would be God's will.  So, a tree was included in this paradise, just one tree (the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) from which Adam and Eve were not to eat.

We were not the only creatures that God created and gave free will.  Angels were also given this opportunity to choose.  The only creatures that are mentioned in the Bible as being made in God's image, however, are men and women.  Just as we experience envy, it seems very likely that these other creatures with the ability to reason would feel the sting of this emotion on occasion.  This probably made it especially tempting to entice us to rebel against our maker.  And Satan, a fallen angel, did just that.

I am not particularly mad at Adam and Eve for doing something as stupid as eating the one fruit that God forbid them to eat.  It is my belief that I would have done the same.  In fact, those who would criticize the decisions of our first parents are suffering from what C.S. Lewis refers to as chronological snobbery.  After all, how many choices have I made in my life that are in direct violation of the commandments of God?  And I will also add that you can't blame only Eve.  Read the verses for yourself to see just where Adam was.  (Genesis 3:6)  That's right.  He was right there with her...not off gallivanting through the Garden as is often depicted when this act is recreated in artistic works.

We chose to rebel.  Just as God knew we would.  Yes, of course He knew we would.  He knows everything.

Could God have chosen to stop Adam and Eve from eating the fruit?  As I mentioned earlier, the tree was necessary to provide an option for us to exercise our free will.  Stopping Eve from taking that first bite would have done likewise.

So why didn't God just kill the serpent (Satan)?  Didn't Satan's interference unfairly affect Eve's ability to make a rational choice?

God will not (and cannot) contradict Himself.  As Paul tells Titus, God cannot lie.  (Titus 1:1-4)  Since the angels have free will, God would/could not interfere with Satan's plan.  Since we have free will, God would/could not interfere in Eve and Adam's decision.  If He had interfered in any of the evil events that happened at that time, He would have stripped his creations of free will.

So sin entered the world.  With consequences.  God had to banish them from the Garden.  You see, there was another tree there from which God had to save us.  This was the Tree of Life.  Eating from this tree would have made the consequences from the first sin eternal.  Adam and Eve would have lived forever in sin.  God showed them mercy by banishing them.

We all have choices to make.  We are given free will to make our own choices.  And we all have consequences (good and evil) from those choices.  We cannot forget that other people also have free will.  Just as Satan's free will affected Eve's free will, which affected Adam's free will resulting in consequences for all of us, the same cycle happens today.  The sins of others have consequences for them and for us.  Our sins have consequences for us and for others.

We ask things like, "Why did God allow Hitler to kill all those people?"  Hitler had free will.  The people that influenced Hitler had free will.  This doesn't mean that God ordained these things to happen.  St. Augustine's conclusion in his book On Order (386 a.d.) aligns with my view, "God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil at all."

The reality of the situation when facing this evil overwhelms us as beings with limited knowledge and power.  We forget when facing the evil on this earth that our time here is very short in the scheme of an eternity.

And next comes the question, "But what about disease?  Why does God allow cancer (or AIDS, M.S., Alzheimer's, etc.) to kill good people?"

I have two thoughts on this; first, we live in a cursed world that is deteriorating.  I have no idea where and how these diseases began, but they may be related to this deterioration...which was caused by our first sin.  Without sin, humans would've lived forever in companionship with God in a perfect world.  Our human lifespans were eternal!  Once sin entered the world, however, we started deteriorating...aging.  In early Bible recordings, the world was still "healthy" enough that humans lived very long lives.  In fact, theologians estimate that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark and he was about 600 when the rain came!  Was he a freak of nature?  No, that's just how it was.  Our lifespans got shorter and shorter until man's knowledge of science allowed us to develop medicines and easier lifestyles through technology.  But the world has continued to decay and we are suffering the consequences.

My second thought is that they may be related more directly to sin itself.  Some diseases may come from the sin of the sufferer or the sufferer's parents.  For example, some diseases can be linked to sinful habits--overeating, sloth, drunkenness, mistreating one's body with drugs and even cigarettes, promiscuity, etc.  But I have to wonder if diseases that seem to have no cause actually started through some mutation that occurred many, many years ago due to a single sinful act.  Let me make it clear, I am NOT blaming the victims of disease for their own suffering.  My thought is simply that this evil had to have an origin.  Sin and deterioration are the only options I see.

Thankfully, as St. Augustine indicates, God uses these things for good.  In fact, Paul says as much in his letter to the Romans.  (Romans 8:28)

There are also philosophical reasons for the presence of evil.  Could there truly be "good" without it? At what points in your life have you drawn closer to God?  Really consider this.  Was it during times of contentment...or times of struggle?  So, is suffering necessary?

I think it is.  And we need to remember that Jesus Christ suffered FOR us in the most brutal of ways without deserving it.  God knows exactly what it means to physically and emotionally suffer.

Peter talks about the trials that we face here throughout his books of the Bible.  He reminds the new Church (the believers--not the people in a specific building) that "Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit."  (1 Peter 3:18)

We are promised in Isaiah and reminded again in Revelations, "The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth."  (Isaiah 25:8, Revelations 21:4)

One day the sins will be erased and evil will be gone.  I hope you are back here to enjoy it with me.
_________

Suggested Resources:

CS Lewis:  The Problem of Pain.  (1940)
Mars Hill Church Sermon Series:  Trial
Ravi Zacharias:  How Can a Good God Allow Evil in the World?
RC Sproul:  The Problem with Evil
St. Augustine:  The Confessions of St. Augustine, Book 2: The Anatomy of Evil, multiple translations/editors

God and the Titanic

I had an interesting "conversation" this week that I am going to share. 

What started as a smart comment to a facebook picture post, turned into more.  But I learned from it...and you can too.

Here's the picture...

 

It just popped up and I responded...

 

There were lots of other interesting responses about the pride of man. I liked this one...

But then came this one...

 

Followed by this one...

 

Ummm...did I just get called ignorant?  Never one to take a slam casually, I had to respond.

 

Yes, God is sovereign.  In fact, God has all kinds of amazing qualities.  So, now I am really thinking.  Then these two guys made some good points.

 

 

And then came this one...

 

Huh?  How did this comment about the ability of God to do as He pleases (whether we like it or not) turn into a "rejoicing" in the sinking of the Titanic.  Although I disagree with her judgment of the comments (and attitude of the Christian Church) on this picture, I agree with her theological statements that followed.

And then, of course, I have issues with keeping my mouth shut.

 

My point with Sodom and Gomorrah is the fact that God HAS exacted punishment on people.  For goodness sake, the Old Testament in downright scary!  Prior to our new covenant with God through Jesus Christ, people paid for their pride and sinfulness at very, very high costs.  Once Jesus came, however, He was appointed as judge. (John 5:22-23 and Acts 10:42)

 

Yes, sin often means that innocent people suffer.  The sinking of the Titanic was a tragic event.  I can't imagine the fear, pain, and suffering that those people endured.  It was, and is, very sad.

When Noah built the ark, babies drowned.  Can you imagine Noah's family listening to the cries of help from those outside?  When the Israelites claimed the land that was given to them by God, in many cities there were no survivors.  Can you imagine watching as Israeli men killed mothers...and their children...and their babies...at God's command?  The horror of it!  We, meaning Christians, don't like to talk about these things.  It's scary!  But we are instructed to fear Him; He is jealous.  (Deuteronomy 6:13-15)  

You see, God has a plan (Isaiah 46:8-13) that many choose to ignore when they pull these (and other) little necessary pieces out of the His great puzzle.

Now I want to make clear, I am not saying that God heard the statement on the sign above and destroyed the ship and all those in it.  But, did prideful attitudes lead to prideful behavior?  Did people not worry about doing their jobs correctly (communications, lookouts, life preservers, warning system, evacuation systems, etc.) because of pride in their own craftmanship?  Hmmm...

First, what's with the "G-d"?

Second, NOW I'm offended.  "...so can anyone who studies the scriptures..."?!  

Let's not get 'God's involvement in' and 'God's knowledge of' the events of our lives confused.  Although I know that God knows the number of hairs on my head (Luke 12:4-7), that does not mean He intervenes in my daily life.

Furthermore, there were no righteous people in Sodom or Gomorrah.  This includes Lot and his family.  Nowhere in the the story of Lot (Genesis 18:16-19:38) is Lot declared righteous.  He certainly was NOT righteous.  READ IT!  Lot offered his virgin daughters to evil men.  Later, through incest, he impregnated his own daughters while he was sloppy drunk!  Lot was CLEARLY not righteous!

In the NIV (New International Version) Bible, 2 Peter 2:7-8 says that Lot was a righteous man.  However, when I read all the translations of these verses, I feel that most of them do not capture adequately the content of God's original message to His servant, Peter.  Lot was given God's favor...he was granted grace.  Lot did not earn this, it was a gift to him from God.

You see, Lot was the son of Abraham, the Father of All Nations.  But Abraham, an imperfect man* who found favor with God and was given the gift of grace, asked for these cities to be spared.  As it says in Genesis 18, Abraham "bargained" with God to refrain from destroying the cities.

Will you spare them if I find 50 righteous people?  Ok
How about 45?  Sure
Well, what if I only find 40?  Why not?
Don't get mad...what about 30?  No problem
I know I'm being bold here, but would you do it for 20?  20 works for me!
Please don't be angry when I ask one more time, how about 10?  What if I can only find 10?!  You have a deal.

God knew.  He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.  He knew that not one person in Sodom or Gomorrah was righteous.  He did not spare these cities.  But He did send down angels to instruct Lot's family to get out...and get out quickly.

Ellen, however, is correct in saying that there were righteous people on the ship.  When Jesus suffered and died, He did so for our sins...not His own.  He took on all of the sins of the world. (1 John 2:2)  Since God is eternal and not subject to time as we know it, this includes all people who ever lived on the Earth.  God has granted grace to those who did believed and those who do believe in Him as He sees fit.  This is a gift that He gives to anyone that HE chooses to give it to.  We do not (and have NEVER been able to) earn it.  This means that those whom He called at any time in the history of the world to receive the gift of grace, became righteous when Jesus declared, "It is finished."  (John 19:30)

But righteous people die every single day.  Jesus follower's suffer because of their own sin, the sin of others, and simply from the fact that we live in a fallen world...a world that is full of death and decay (including disease) and will continue to rot as it has since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit when tempted with the same pride that the sign posted at the beginning of this message exhibits.

God knows that his followers suffer and die.  He, however, decides when and how He will intervene.  Some would say that He is absent and never intervenes.  I know this is false.  I have seen Him intervene.  Sometime I will share some of the miracles I have witnessed.  But whether or not He decides to intervene, He makes all things work for good for those who love Him and are called by Him.  (Romans 8:28)  We just don't always understand.  (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Yes, Ellen, God is merciful.  But we cannot forget that what he declared to Moses was “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."  (Exodus 33:19 and Romans 9:15)

THIS is what I wanted to say.  However, I have been very conscious lately of the fact that when Christians argue the details with other Christians, it hurts the forward progression of Christianity.  As followers of Christ, we are all on a journey.  Some things have been revealed to some that have not been revealed to others.  Yet.  (I truly believe that this is a "revealing" and not just knowledge that we find and understand on our own.)  This belief humbles me.  Maybe Ellen understands something that God has not made known to me at this time.  

The important thing about our walks on our own unique Christian paths is not the different little detours we take and dead-ends we hit, rather the fact that all of our paths lead to Him.  We, as Christians, all have the same destination to reach.

So after typing, then deleting.  Then getting angry and researching and typing more and deleting...and repeating.  I listened to God.  And I deleted.  And I responded:

 

Man, that was hard.  I am a stubborn, prideful woman who thinks she always has to have the last word.  I walked away.  And I was at peace with my response...and I thanked God for humbling me.

When I looked later to make sure I diffused the situation, I saw this response:

Apparently she needed some time to type, delete, and repeat also.  I was relieved to see that others who were reading this little discussion also understood the value of two Christians discussing our faith.

So, as I sat back down at my computer after my pause and I posted this...

And I was raised this way.  With people that you love and respect, disagreeing and discussing (even in a heated manner) helps you grow.  I remember some of our dinner conversations when I was growing up.  (We had family sit-down meals every night and at noon on Sundays.)  When friends would come over and sit through some of these, I would get asked later about our arguing!  Ha!  We didn't see it as arguing.  We were learning lessons from each other about controversial topics...rather than just ignoring them.  It was healthy.  I am grateful for this gift from my parents.

Ellen and I, however, do not know one another.  As Christians we should be able to have these conversations through love and respect.  And I think we would!  But in a public forum (such as a facebook post) I think we needed to follow Ellen's advice taken from the children's Bible School song, "O, be careful little tongues what you say."  Others who are on a different place in their own path (or not on a path at all but are playing way off the path in the green, but dying, grass) find fuel in our disagreements to start having doubts or to support their disbelief and justify their sin. 

 

Yes, this is how Christians argue...err, participate in discourse.  And the other Christians who were watching agreed.

 

 

As you can see from the number of posts listed on the original picture, there were many other comments along the way.  I particularly liked this one that came in the heat of the conversation.  Matt, a man I don't know, points out a simple fact.  

 

Noah, another unrighteous sinner who was given grace by God, built a huge ship...

(Source: www.worldwideflood.com)

...with a plan from God.  He didn't understand it.  He suffered because of it.  But he built it...humbly.  And he lived.
______________________

*It is important to note that Abraham was also NOT a righteous man.  In fact, he was an adulterer.  His adultery led to the birth of an illegitimate son by the name of Ishmael...and we are ALL still paying for this sin. (Genesis 16)  Although Hagar (Ishmael's mom) was promised by God that He would make Ishmael into a "great" nation (Genesis 21:17-18); it is also said that he would live in hostility toward all his brothers (Genesis 25:12-18).  And this came to pass (Genesis 16:12).  Muslims consider Ishmael to be a great prophet.  They believe that they are the inheritors of his legacy. (See Ishmael and Islam)

A Prayer for our Girls

Annie came home a couple of weeks ago with an interesting memento from her day.  One of her teachers had each of the students write his/her name at the top of a piece of paper.  Then they passed these around so that everyone had a chance to write on every paper something that they like about that person.

It's a good idea.  I've done this before in classes where my students didn't seem to be getting along and needed to be reminded that everyone has good qualities and brings value to the classroom.

Annie's list proclaimed that she:

• is pretty,
• dresses nicely,
• is someone several of them want to know better,
• has pretty hair,
• is nice,
• is hilarious,
• and is intelligent (ironically, it was misspelled).

All of these are flattering, but the majority of them are superficial.  Most of the comments focused on the first four things listed above.  And I would agree with all of them.  Annie does take care of her appearance and she was blessed with her grandmother's beauty--including the amazing dimple and naturally slim, athletic body.  

But, I don't want her to see these as her true assets.  "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."  (Proverbs 31:30)

Annie is so much more than a pretty face.

She has a big heart.  She worries.  My daughter worries about other people (especially her twin, Andy) and wants everyone to be happy.  She is nurturing.  I love to watch her "mother" Emmri and Greyson, the little neighbor girls.  She loves her friends and family.  Like me (and probably Heath), she associates people and events with music.  There are songs on her iPod that she listens to specifically to remind her of times with her cousin, Tyler, and Grandpa Tyler...as well as her brother, Heath, who is in the Navy.

Every girl should have to go through an "ugly phase" to learn some empathy for others.  Not all girls do.  My biggest fear for my daughters is that they will be "mean girls".  Mean Girl syndrome stems from jealousy and pride.  I know, I had my own bouts.  Mean girls get their value from their looks, boyfriends, and status (ie. popularity).

I don't want my daughters to assess their value on these things.

Lord God,

Please give my daughters empathy for all people.  Help them understand that beauty, boyfriends, and popularity do not determine their value.  In fact, help them choose NOT to desire to be popular.  Instead, lead them to live their lives according to Your will, which is counter-cultural and not popular.  Give them friends that will support them and hold them accountable.

Help Todd and I to teach them to not judge others as they see their peers make bad choices.  But help them avoid the same bad choices.  And when they do make mistakes, give them a remorseful heart and remind them that Your Son died so that they can be forgiven.  Give them the strength to say "No" even when they have made the mistake of saying "Yes" before.  Repentance is hard and painful and full of temptations.  Turn their hearts toward You when they must go through it.

Continue to help our girls nurture tender hearts.  Help us instill in them that their value is not in their appearance or status, but in their impact on others.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will give them the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

Give them the desire to seek You above all else.  And help us be the examples that we need to be.  Remind us every day that we are the spiritual guides of our children--not our church and not our youth pastors.  Give us the desire to learn every day from You so that our children will see this and know that You are the focus of our daily lives.

Thank you for blessing us with our amazing daughters...as well as our cherished sons.  Be with them all every single day...reminding them that they are Your children, too.

Amen.

Woo Hoo!

Yesterday we attended the annual marching festival in which my daughter's high school band participates.

We got to the event just in time to see the Cougar Marching Band perform the numbers they have been working on since school started this Fall.  It was an amazing performance...from the music, to the flag team, to the twirlers, to the drum majors, to the band members themselves.  The band directors should be proud of the final product of all of their hard work. 

After our band finished, we relaxed and enjoyed some of the other performances.  Wow!  The talent on display gave me goosebumps.  One of the bands I was looking forward to seeing performed within a couple hours.  We waited to watch them before taking the younger kids out to dinner.

As they took the field, it became obvious that several of their supporters were sitting directly behind us.  The Woo Hoo-ing started.

I saw this band perform last year so I knew that had a solid program and would put on a entertaining show.  But I simply couldn't get past the constant hollers of Woo Hoo coming from the women behind me.  It was obnoxious.  It was prideful.  It was annoying.

In fact, I found myself actually disliking the band and looking for problems in their performance.  And that's when it hit me.

This was a good band.  These kids had worked very hard to learn their music, learn their choreography, and perform at a high level of skill.  They deserved to have the respect of the audience and their peers.  They had earned the right to be seen as a good example.  Rather than looking for fault with them, I should've been simply enjoying their performance. 

But those darn Woo Hoos!

How many people do not explore the Christian faith simply because they are irritated with all of the Woo Hoo coming from Christians?  Is our display of faith sometimes obnoxious?  Are we prideful rather than humble?  Do others find us annoying?

Do these things lead others to look for things to dislike about Christianity?  Do they delight when there is a problem within our faith?  (Think of the gloating that takes place when a respected leader of a church commits a sin that becomes public.)

Christ was perfect--fully man and fully God. He worked hard while on this earth to teach the Word of God through miracles and preaching.  He deserved the respect of all of us and His contemporaries.  He earned the right to be seen as a perfect example.  He gave it everything He had...including His life.

Maybe it's time we, the followers of Christ, stop with the Woo Hoo. 

I'm not saying that we shouldn't share our faith.  We have a responsibility to share the Good News of Jesus.  But we need to make sure that this doesn't get obnoxious.  Christians should be humble about their salvation--after all we didn't earn it and honestly don't deserve it.  It's also important that we be respectful of others and their beliefs rather than being confrontational, defensive, or downright annoying.

Remember, we can't change someone.  Only the Holy Spirit can do that.  Plant the seed and let God do His work.  The Bible provides us with everything we need to know, but God reveals it to his people in the time and manner He determines.  If He needs you to teach someone, He will provide that opportunity when the time is right.  We cannot shove it down someone's throat.

Provide an introduction to God, watch the Holy Spirit do His work, provide support in helping others walk with Christ, then humbly praise Him for all of it.

And before you screw up someone's opinion of Christ, bite your Woo Hoo-ing tongue and let His performance speak for itself.

Prayer...it's a conversation

When I have to listen through a long prayer that includes quotes from Scripture and sounds like the person is trying to win an Oscar for the best dramatic performance in church, I want to scream.  Especially when I look at them and see that they are actually reading a script!

What are we teaching our children with these kinds of prayers?  I worry that we are teaching them that praying is a complicated task reserved for those who have memorized the Bible and either got an "A" in Speech class or went to state in Forensics...or both.  This is NOT how Jesus taught us to pray.  In fact, the Bible often says that Jesus prayed alone where nobody could hear.  On the occasions when Jesus did pray publicly, he prayed humbly—asking for the ability to accept God’s will, thanking Him for food and blessings, and asking for strength and faith for His followers.

Jesus provided us with an example to show us how repentant believers should pray.

Matthew 6:5-14

First, He gives us some instructions.

• Do not be like the hypocrites who love to pray in churches and on the street so people will see them.
• Go into your room, close the door, and pray to Your Father, who is unseen. 
• Do not keep “babbling like pagans”.  They think they will be heard because of their many words.  God knows what you need before you even ask him. 

This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,

            What is Jesus telling us?  Pray to God the Father.

Hallowed be your name,

            What is Jesus telling us?  Praise God...He is holy.

Your kingdom come,

            What is Jesus telling us?  Acknowledge that the current struggles in our time on earth will be dwarfed by an eternity in which God reigns in His kingdom. 

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What is Jesus telling us?  Understand that things happen according to God’s will.

Give us today our daily bread.

            What is Jesus telling us?  Ask that our needs be met.

Forgive us our debts,

            What is Jesus telling us?  Ask that our sins be forgiven.

As we also have forgiven our debtors.

            What is Jesus telling us?  Forgive people who sin against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

            What is Jesus telling us?  Ask for help in avoiding tempting situations.

But deliver us from the evil.

            What is Jesus telling us?  Ask to be given the strength to resist the temptations that we must face.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever.

            What is Jesus telling us?  Acknowledge that God is in charge…always has been and always will be.

Amen.

            What is Jesus telling us?  Translated as—so be it.  Accept that God’s will is not always in alignment with ours…but He knows best and you should trust Him.
           

God is your Father.  He wants you to have a relationship with Him.  He wants you to talk to Him.  Nothing you say is going to surprise Him.  There is not a trick to it.  No secret strategies exist.  You don’t have to kneel, bow your head, close your eyes, or fold your hands.  And for goodness sake…you don’t need to quote His own words to Him.

Learn.  Believe.  Repent.  Pray.  Repeat.

It’s just a conversation.

Just a small miracle...

According to Wikipedia, a miracle is an unexpected event attributed to divine intervention.

Many would suggest that miracles don't happen.  They would argue that there are coincidences, oddities, and illusions that simple-minded people can't explain so they attribute them to God.  I, however, would argue that there are events that NO man can explain or perform, thus making them divine.

For example, I quit chewing my fingernails.

Don't laugh.  Give me a chance here.  Do any of you chew your fingernails?  If you are a nail-biter and have been since being a toddler you can at least empathize with me on the initial problem.

I do not remember a time that I did not have my fingers in my mouth.  From birth I was always either sucking my thumb or chewing my nails.  Now, I WAS able to break the thumb-sucking habit.  However, even as an adult when I suffer through a particularly traumatic event, I will still sometimes wake up with my thumb in my mouth.

Nail-biting is different.  It isn't comforting, but rather a nervous habit.  I don't know how many times in my life I've tried to stop.  Even when I was able to really focus and pull this off for a month or two, the nails were thin and flimsy.  I couldn't leave them alone!  My constant picking at them took its toll and one would get a tear in it.  And that was all she wrote.  It gave me permission to chew it off...then one nail led to another.

As an adult, I spent a couple of years paying for acrylic nails.  It was the only time in my life they looked decent.  This, however, was not a long-term solution.  And even when they were on, I picked at them and often chewed them until they came off or looked awful.

The worst chewing time came when I would drive.  Honestly, I didn't even realize I was doing it.  Driving time is one of the few times I can just focus on my thoughts with no distractions.  It's almost like meditation.  When I would "come to" on the road, my fingers were almost always in my mouth.  I know, it's gross.  I don't get it.  It was totally unconscious. 

Then...a couple of months ago I realized that I haven't been chewing my nails.  As time has kept going by, they have gotten long enough that I often need to file them down.  They aren't thin and flimsy; on the contrary, they are hard and strong.  Amazingly they are quite pretty...even though I don't polish them and I type all day long just about every day.

So what happened?  Why don't I catch myself chewing on them as I drive for hours from this meeting to that meeting?  How am I able to keep myself from bending them and picking at them?  When, how, and why would an ingrained habitual behavior that I've had for 40 years suddenly change without any effort from me?

The answer is simple...it wouldn't.  It's a miracle.

Over the last couple of years, my life has changed dramatically.  Some of the changes have been external, some have been mild, but many have been internal and huge.  Could I have made these changes by myself?  No.  I've tried.  For years.  Through depression.  With poor results.

Once I got far enough in my journey of faith to truly accept God's Truth of the Bible and the grace that is given through the gift of Jesus, I began to realize the power of the Holy Spirit.  Wow.  The gifts that I've experienced growing within me are truly GIFTS.  (Galatians 5:22-23)

When changes take place within you without your effort, you are experiencing a miracle.

There is no greater proof of God than his miracles.  They aren't always public spectacles like the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-43), the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:15-18), the conversion of water into wine (John 2:1-11), or the resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son (Luke 24).  But when your complete outlook on the world changes so that you find yourself physically mourning your family, friends, and even strangers who have not allowed God into their lives...that is a miracle.  I think I understand now why Jesus was described by Isaiah as a "Man of sorrows" 800 years before He was even born.  (Isaiah 53:3-4)

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  Oh, the Spirit has lots of work left to do within me.  The death of the nail-biting habit is just one little outcome under the self-control objective on a huge laundry list of goals in God's project called "Gina Tyler". 

Yes, miracles happen.  Daily.  I pray that they are happening in you.

Infinite Regress and God

In my continued reading of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, the next chapter dealt with the proof that God does not exist.

Honestly, none of his arguments against the existence of God provided proof.  I’m not going to address each one of these in this blog.  However, I will say that his “proofs” are as weak or weaker than the “proofs” for God that he criticizes in the previous chapter.  In fact, Dawkins doesn’t even appear to realize that he uses his biases (just as he accuses Christians of using their own biases) to make his claims.  I found it amusing that this intelligent man is apparently unable to see his own logic flaws…especially when considering that he uses Christian biases to jocularly antagonize and belittle believers in the previous chapter. 

There is one point that he made, however, that made me stop cold and face an issue that I have avoided.  He introduces this as the problem of “infinite regress”.  One can find the definition by simply Googling (or Binging or Yahooing, etc.) it, but I’m going to put it in terms that anyone can understand.  If the universe is full of perfection, intelligence and complexity (from solar systems to ecosystems to internal body systems to molecular systems) that leads me to believe that they must’ve been designed by a Creator, THEN the Creator must be even more perfect, intelligent, and complex.  So who created the Creator?

I’m not going to lie.  I’ve thought about this before…often.  Dawkins didn’t amaze me with his brilliance by asking this question, but he did make me face a hard one. 

I think the standard answer has been, “Well, I don’t know.  But I have faith…and faith means that you don’t always have the answers yet you still believe.”  It seems like a cop-out.  However, there is logic behind it.  Simply put, we as humans don’t have all the facts.  As Christians we believe that when we do have all the facts, things will make sense.  Dawkins can’t accept this.  I’m sure he sees this argument as simple-minded and weak.  So, I’m going to expand on it with my own thoughts.  Am I offering “proof”?  No.  But I’m using the tools of Dawkins and his atheist cohorts…reasoning.

The universe and everything in it (that I can think of in my limited knowledge) was developed with a cyclical nature.  Think about it.  Planets make orbits.  Seasons come and go yearly.  There is a complex life cycle.  We have an intricate water cycle.  Women deal with a menstrual cycle.  Every process in our knowledge (or at least in mine) is based on a cycle.  It is my firm belief that “global climate change” is just another cycle but a longer one of which humans have very little data to realize that it is all part of the system.  (Can I have MY Nobel Prize now?)

I realized this even as a child.  In fact, when I first understood that through Jesus Christ we would have eternal life, it terrified me.  Have you ever really thought about it?  I simply cannot fathom anything eternal.  This is my challenge to you.  Go into a room by yourself (maybe tonight when you go to bed), close your eyes, and consider living forever.  It’s not something that you can do as you read this.  It’s not something that you can do in a minute.  Really think about what that means…what that looks like.  I did this as a child…I still do this occasionally.  Honestly, it scares the crap out of me. 

Because everything I know is cyclical, when I consider eternity I see it as a spiral.  This never-ending spiral continues to spin and spin and spin (like a barber pole) with no end.  Really, it is terrifying.  I remember being very young and thinking, “I don’t want to live forever!”  And I will not hesitate to tell you today that the concept still makes me nauseated.  I just cannot conceive of it.

Now maybe you’ve never thought about this to the depth that I have…until now.  But many people have.  In fact, I believe that this is why many believe in reincarnation.  Reincarnation is cyclical.  We can understand it.  In fact, in my limited human thinking, reincarnation is more appealing to me than eternal life.  Why?  Because it fits with my understanding of the universe.  Things come and go.  If I’m going to live forever, it must be in cycles.  But the Bible makes it clear that this is not the case.  (Hebrews 9:27-28)  Hmmm….so apparently there is something more that I don’t understand.

Can I prove that there is something beyond our universe that is NOT cyclical.  No.  But even people who lived back in Moses, David, and Jesus’ times must’ve had the same thoughts.  After all, I am nothing special.  So, if Judeo-Christian beliefs were all invented, why wasn’t reincarnation simply built into the plot?  It would’ve fit in better with our human understanding.  In fact, many other religions (Hindu, Buddhist, Kaballah, New Age, and many of the Greek philosophers) have done just that.

Our God is eternal.  Can I fathom it?  No…it is completely out of my realm of understanding.  In God’s wisdom and perfection, He created our universe with laws of nature that would make it perpetual and self-sustaining.  They are cyclical.  God, however, is not.  He wasn’t created, He hasn’t evolved, He doesn’t age…He is eternal.  God’s reality is totally separate from our reality.  He doesn’t live by our “rules”.  The “rules” were made for us!  God did, however, choose to enter our world through Jesus Christ and live by our rules for a short period of time.  However, while here He also demonstrated His ability to not follow the rules.  Hence the miracles…seen by thousands, recorded in history, and preserved in the Bible.

The only afterlife that makes sense, then, is an eternal afterlife with an eternal God.  The cyclical rules of this world will no longer be necessary.  Darwin, Dawkins, and Hawkings’ human logic models are meaningless in God’s kingdom.

Does it STILL scare me?  Absolutely.  It is beyond my comprehension.  But I’ve been assured that it will be heavenly.

Proof of God

I’m currently reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.  My decision to read this is not because I question whether God exists, it is to see what logic is used by atheists to try to “disprove” the existence of God.

There is an entire chapter where Dawkins lists the “evidence” that has been presented by past theologians for a Creator and personal God.  One by one he addresses these and attempts to prove them illogical.  And, to be quite honest, he makes good arguments. 

The problem with these types of arguments is that both sides have biases.  He makes underlying assumptions that I do not.  Just as a theologian makes underlying assumptions that Dawkins does not.  There is no reconciliation of this fact.  It really boils down to the fact that Dawkins does not want to believe in God.  On the other hand, theologians and true Christians know that God exists.  They do not have to prove it.

You see, the amazing thing about God is that when one accepts Him, He lives within them.  Can I prove this to you, oh skeptical one?  No.  Ha!  I won’t even try.  But it should be obvious by the changes in my life.  Of course, there are those who will choose not to accept that as “proof” either.  But…they would if it happened to them.

God gives His grace as a gift to those whom He chooses.  (Romans 8:29-30)  You see, there are some that will never believe because they were not elected by God to receive His grace...His gift.  This concept is beautiful and terrifying.  It’s beautiful because I know that I am not worthy of this gift, yet He has given it to me.  It’s terrifying in that I realize that some people will never receive or accept this gift and will suffer the consequences of their sins that I should have to suffer with them. 

I did not earn this gift of God.  I need to make that very clear.  I have not lived in such a way that God would look at me and think, “Well, that Gina sure is righteous.  I’m going to give her My grace.”  No, no no!  It is a gift…a totally undeserved gift!  I am humbled by the amazing grace of God.  Do I completely understand how or why God chooses His elect?  Absolutely not.  But God is sovereign.  He doesn’t need my input.  And…I trust him.

But I do not accept this gift without responsibility.  After all, faith is meaningless if it is not accompanied by action.  (James 2:14-17)  Just ask anyone who has been “turned off” to Christianity by hypocrites in the pew beside him.  My life has changed—my outlook, priorities, mission, pastimes, and attitude.  It is truly a miracle.  And God performs this beautiful miracle every day. 

The Bible tells us that the proof of God is all around us.  (Romans 1:18-21)

I don’t need to prove to you that God exists.  You already know it.  Whether or not you admit it is another question.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Twice in the past week I've heard Christians that I respect discuss their concern of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD).  Let’s break it down. 

Moralistic—concerned with morality

Therapeutic—assisting in a cure

Deism--a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe

This term was coined by Christian Smith of the University of Notre Dame.  According to the National Study of Youth and Religion, people who are MTD believe the following:

1. God exists. He created and watches over the world.

2. God wants us to be good, nice and fair to each other.

3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

4. God is not involved except when I need God to solve a problem.

5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

In my observances, I would stretch this a little further.  It is not just a youth problem, it’s a world-wide, every age problem.   In fact, I would guess that many of you reading this don’t even see anything wrong with the 5 beliefs listed above.  Let’s look at each one of these and see exactly what IS the problem?

God exists.  He created and watches over the world.

Yes.  Yes.  And, well…yes.  I hesitate a little on the last one because “watching over” seems to indicate that God makes sure that everything is A-Okay.  And, to be quite frank, everything here is not. 

Don’t think for one minute that God is not aware of everything going on in the world, but he does allow us to use our free will—which means that we often hurt others and ourselves.  Could he intercede?  Yes.  Does he intercede?  I’m quite sure that he does.  But God is sovereign and he makes those calls without needing (or heeding) the advice of us.

God wants us to be good, nice, and fair to each other.

Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  But there is more to this one.  Being “nice” to one another seems to indicate that we never should disagree.  But there are often times that we need to contradict or even confront (privately and with respect and love) when another person (particularly a fellow Christian) is out of line—in their faith, in their actions, in their beliefs, or in their words.  (Matthew 18:15-17)  When on the receiving end of this, it doesn’t feel very nice. 

Being “fair” is even more complicated.  It’s easy to see the importance of “fairness” when talking about paying your entire tax bill, awarding appropriate penalties to crimes, or honestly correcting mistakes even when they resulted in something favorable for you.  However, being “fair” gets fuzzy when we, or someone we love, is treated in a manner that we see as being unfair.  What is fair in this circumstance?  Is it to treat them unfairly back?

Being “fair” gets even more fuzzy when we become aware that someone has committed an act that we see as being not good, or not nice, or not fair.  We do NOT have the right to condemn others.  (Matthew 7:1-5)  As mentioned earlier, we do have a responsibility to contradict or confront (as described above) but this does not include the right to gossip about them to others or publicly criticize them.  God is our judge.  God will make sure that everyone is one day treated fairly.  Our best course of action is to simply pray for them. 

The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. 

No.  The central goal of life is to glorify God.  (1 Peter 4:11, 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Chronicles 16:29, 1 Corinthians 6:20)  Often when we make ourselves happy or feel good about ourselves, it is because we are glorifying ourselves. 

I was watching Andrew Witt sing live a while back.  (http://www.andrewwittmusic.com) Wow.  The thought that kept coming to me as I watched this talented and good-looking group of young men glorify God with their words, actions, music, and prayers was that fact that they could be using their talents to glorify themselves.  It amazes me that at their young ages they already know that their purpose in life is to glorify God. 

Now I’ll bet that if you asked Andrew, he would tell you that he IS happy and feels good about himself because he glorifies God.  You see, I think that he understands that these things are the effects of striving toward our goal…but are not goals themselves.

God is not involved except when I need God to solve a problem.
No.  This belief seems to refer to the concept of answered prayers so that is how I will address it. 

As a creation of God, man does not have all of the facts.  Yes, science has taught us much about our world but we don’t even begin to understand the complexity of God’s designs.  In fact, we use the rules of the laws of nature to explain our universe yet refuse to acknowledge that He made those laws!  It is truly laughable that we think we have things so figured out!

God has all the facts.  God sees the big picture.  He is not restricted by the laws of nature that he created for us.  He is involved when He sees fit.  In fact, I believe that he is involved with us personally and on a daily basis when we except Him into our lives and invite the Holy Spirit to live within us. (Romans 8:9-11)  We, on the other hand, are limited in our knowledge of God’s creation.  There are simply some things that we are not able (or meant) to understand.  We want Him to get involved when WE see fit.  Instead, we must trust him and not rely on the limited information that we have when it comes to the decisions that God makes in our lives.  (Proverbs 3:5)

Good people go to heaven when they die.
Yes and no.  People who go to heaven are good, but this is not why they got there.  The fact of the matter is that there are people that most humans would consider “good” that will not make it.

You see, one cannot earn his way into heaven.  It is simply impossible.  We are all sinners.  No matter how “good” you are, you are still a sinner.  Sorry.

We, however, can be saved by God’s grace.  It is a gift.  It is a gift to those who believe in Him; accept His son, Jesus Christ, as their Savior through baptism; (Mark 16:16) and repent of their sins (genuinely feel remorseful and try hard to discontinue sinning) (Acts 2:38).  God in his sovereignty chooses who He will save. (Romans 8:29-30)

We can fool people into believing that we are Christians.  In fact, we can live our public lives in a way that we even fool other Christians.  Even more scary, I think we can wrongfully convince ourselves that we are Christians when we really haven’t even taken the time to understand what that means.  I’m afraid that many people who call themselves Christian simply don’t get it.

One good test for yourself is to consider the fruits that you have received from the Holy Spirit.  (Galations 5:22-23)  The blessings that God bestows on his followers are amazing.

The bottom line is that if we want people to understand what Christianity means, we need to be honest in our teaching of it.  Sometimes that means that we have to tell people things that they don’t want to hear.