I've never given much thought about organization until I need to find something and can't. I've always operated on the "I generally know where it is" approach to life and that has been a bad idea and it really demonstrates my immaturity. Today I went to go get my marriage licence and if you are married you know that it requires some particular documents. Documents that I had trouble finding because of my lack of organization. This slowed down the whole process and ended up hurting my fiance, because since this is something we had to do together she wasted some of her time because of my laziness in organizing my files. As I said earlier this demonstrated that I was immature in this area, but let me tell you I have learned my lesson now. I sowed disorganization and I reaped a longer process for doing a relatively simple task. The principle of sowing and reaping is one that is clearly taught in scripture. It is just basic wisdom, however if you are anything like me, these little decisions that I make each day and don't think about add up to a big frustration. I am fortunate that I was able to find what I needed in time, but if I couldn't then this would have taken even more time, and that would not have been good for anyone. As Christians I think we can allow our spiritual life to also get disorganized. If we do not continue to reflect on our faith, and continue to learn about our savior and do not have regular time in His word, then when life hits us with any number of issues we are not able to find what we need to approach them from a biblical worldview, and if we continue to neglect the word of God then our worldview which we claim is Christian could in fact have nothing to do with what God has said in His word. Instead what we end up with is a confused mess of inconsistent ethics and ideas and we continue down that road we become susceptible to the lies of this world. When we buy into the lies of this world we get wrapped up in all manner of sin that is hurtful to others, self destructive and most of all offensive towards God. This demonstrates a spiritual immaturity on our part when we do this, and in some cases it can demonstrate unbelief. So what do we do when we realize that we have allowed ourselves to become lazy in our spiritual lives? Well we repent and trust in Jesus, the one who has saved us from our sins, and we look to the time when God did not give us what we sowed, He visited that upon Christ, and we look to all that we will reap not because of our righteousness, but because of Jesus' righteousness. I've had to repent of the sin of laziness in regards to my disorganization just like I have had to repent of many other sins that have committed knowing full well that they were wrong. Perhaps you find yourself in similar shoes as I, or perhaps you feel like you have done worse, no matter how big or how small your sin is, there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ when we repent of our sins, and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of them. This is what the Christian life looks like until Jesus returns. Paul talks about this in Romans 7. Paul states that he does the things he doesn't want to do, and doesn't do the things he knows he should, but then at the end of the chapter he thanks God for Jesus Christ who will deliver him from this sinful body. You see, a believer's life is filled with repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus. Christians must have both. It is important for the development of a believer to continue to confess and repent of their sins as they learn more about the character of God through His word, but it is also important that we continue to trust that through Christ alone we are saved. We are not saved because of how many sins we confess, we confess our sins knowing that God is good to forgive them because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. We repent because we understand how our sins hurt ourselves and others and offend God. Repentance and trust in Christ, that is the key to the Christian life. It is something that I am learning more about day after day. What do you think? Are you an organized person, or do you struggle with that? Are you trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sins? Comment below and let me know.
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So you're writing a book, or screen play and you need a compelling villain, but you don't want to offend anyone, what do you do? You use the Nazis. Yes the Nazis are a group that is still seen throughout our modern culture as still being in no uncertain terms evil. We even call people Nazis when we think they are being too strict or mean. If you were to ask people if they were for or against the Nazis most people would say they are against the Nazis, but do we even know why the Nazis were evil? Yes their name is associated with evil, but is that all we understand about them? I fear for many people that is the only reason they understand the Nazis to be evil. The more educated person might say that the reason the Nazis were evil is because of what they did to the Jews, which is that the murdered a lot of Jews in this thing called the Holocaust. This is of course what the Nazis are most known for, and for good reason because the Holocaust is the great tragedy of the 20th century. Even understanding this there are still questions that arise as to why the Nazis were evil. One question is, if that is the only reasons the Nazis were evil, and then the next question is why is it that killing the Jews was so evil in the first place? Why is it that the Nazis wanted to extinguish the Jews from the world? Why was this called "The Final Solution"? Why were the Jews such a problem for the Nazis? One might be tempted to claim racism as the reason why the Nazis wanted to commit genocide, however it is foolish to think that something as irrational as racism could have lead to such support for the The Final Solution alone. I do believe racism played an important part, but it was not the sole factor. It does not fit that the Nazis just woke up one day and decided they were going to get rid of anyone who was a Jew. There was a worldview behind this, and in fact getting rid of the Jews, was not an end, but rather a means toward an end. The Nazis believed they could create some kind of super race as they defined it, and believed the Jews stood in the way of this super race, and thus had to be eliminated. Even achieving this super race was not the end goal for the Nazis. They believed with a race of super humans, eventually all the weaker humans would be gotten rid of and then there would be a Utopia on Earth. So the Nazis were evil because they wanted to make a Utopia? In a sense yes. Is the concept of wanting the Earth the be a better place bad in and of itself? The answer is no. Is it wrong to strive to make the world a better place? The answer again is no. There is an old saying that goes, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" While the saying is not Biblical, I do believe it is in alignment with a Biblical worldview. It was not wanting to make a utopia that made the Nazis evil, it was what their utopia looked like, and the means by which they were willing to achieve it that truly revealed their wicked hearts. To understand this one must understand the fundamental philosophy and worldview that drove the Nazi movement. This also requires an understanding of why the Nazi worldview lead to such suffering, which is because it is fundamentally inconsistent with reality. The type of utopia that the Nazis wanted to created was so far removed from people's real experiences that they would have to get rid of every person on earth in order to achieve it. The Jews would have been the first to go, but had the Nazis not been stopped, the Jews would not have been the last. When one operates on a worldview that does not coincide with reality, suffering will be the result. For example, if I were to have the worldview that gravity does not exist and so acting on this worldview I jump out of a window three stories up, I will suffer. That is an easy example of how life really is. Not all of reality is that easy to observe. This is why it is necessary to compare worldviews, understanding that you have yours,and they have theirs, seeing what you disagree about and then making a determination on which worldview is most consistent with reality. I strive to have a biblical worldview, as I believe that scripture is most consistent with reality. This is one of the reasons I enjoy apologetics because it enables me to test my understanding of my worldview, but to also see how my worldview reflects reality. Of course the reason I have this worldview is because I have been given faith through the power of the Holy Spirit to believe that Jesus Christ has died on the cross for my sins, and rose on the third day. Since I believe that through Christ all things were made I believe He has the authority to define how reality is, which I believe He did through His apostles who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is through understanding my worldview, and then understanding the Nazi worldview that I can see how it is evil and will lead to suffering. The Christian terminology for this would be that the Nazis were sinful, and violated the laws of God and man. Worldviews are so important because how we view the world will affect how engage the world, and if we engage the world in way that is inconsistent with reality, then suffering will be the inevitable result. What do you think? Have I made any good points, any mistakes? Why do you think the Nazis are evil? Comment below, let me know!
"Did God Really Say..." These are the first recorded words of Satan. They were spoken to Eve in the garden right as Satan was wanting to convince her to eat the forbidden fruit. This question of "did God really say" seems to be a popular one in culture today, and the question serves the same purpose today as it did so long ago, which is create doubt and unbelief, so that one can be lead away from God's direction. The questioning of God's word is taking place all over today, and this is what I believe to be the primary reason why the church stands in such confusion as it does today. Churches today seem to have a lot of confusion about what is pleasing to God. Not in everything. I haven't met a church yet that thinks it's pleasing to God to not give your money, but there are a lot of issues where the churches disagrees, and while I think there are a number of reasons why this has happened, I think the primary reason is because Christians are not sure about God's word. Doubt has been cast on God's word in a variety of ways, however the way I want to focus on today are those who argue that we cannot truly know what God's word actually says. The statement usually goes something like this, "I believe scripture is the inerrant word of God, but not every interpretation is." This is a true statement, however there is an underlining principle which is false and that principle is, "we can't know which interpretation of scripture is correct." They say that the best lies have some truth mixed in there, and that is why this is such a good lie, and also why it is such a dangerous lie. There is some truth in it, however it is still a lie. This idea that we cannot know which interpretation of scripture is right, is not an idea people would have had 200 years ago. This is a concept that has arisen from the predominate philosophical worldview known as post-modernism. This worldview states that we cannot know objective truth, and so truth now becomes subjective, or left to the individual. So the secular post-modernist would say, "We can't know that the Bible is true." The Christian post-modernist would say, "We can't know the truth of the Bible." The Christian post modernist is willing to say that the Bible is true, but that it's truth cannot be known, the Bible might be the word of God, it's interpretations are not. While it is true that Biblical interpretations are not God-breathed, I think that Christians can learn with a high degree of certainty which interpretations are right and which are wrong. I think that if God has spoken to his people, He has spoken clearly to them. So through proper hermetical tools, and the aid of the Holy Spirit I can know fairly well what Scripture is saying. Yes I acknowledge that there are some parts of scripture that are unclear, however, I do think it is possible to have a good idea of what the author wanted to communicate in scripture. I seem to find myself in the minority on this however. Since it is the predominate view that Christians cannot know the truth of the Bible, because they cannot know which interpretation is correct, Christians are then called to look into their heart as an indicator of what God wants them to do. Again this is a post-modern thought, because it is making truth subjective, and predicated upon one's feelings rather than objective truth. The biggest problem is the fact that one must look into their heart, which scripture says is full of all manner of sinful things. My heart is fickle. Sometimes I feel good, and sometimes I feel bad. Sometimes I feel happy, and sometimes I sad. Don't worry this isn't turning into a poem, but my point is, that when truth becomes subjective, people are no longer conformed around it but truth is conformed around the people. This is what I see happening in many churches in the US, and it saddens me, because God's truth is that which sets us free, and we must remember that ultimately Jesus Christ is truth, and if we conform truth to suit our emotions then we are not really worshiping Jesus, we are worshiping a false Jesus that we created. Also when truth becomes subjective, it cannot rise any higher than the individual, which leads to confusion because some many doing all kinds of things, and calling it Christianity. It is like people moving all different directions, but they all say they are moving east. Casting doubt upon God's word is what Satan does best, but it is done in order to cause humans to suffer. Christians must fight against doubts raised by Satan, and those who have become participants with him in leading other into unbelief over God's word. One of the first steps to fighting against this doubt is by looking to the one in whom you trust, the one who saved you, which is Jesus Christ. For Christians it is a matter of trust. Do we trust Jesus? Do we trust the word of God, or will we be lead into unbelief? At the end of the day each person must ask, "who do I trust?" What God tells me, or what the world tells me? What do you think is a reason the church in America seems to have so much confusion, what did you think of this blog post, comment below and let me know .
So I'm sure that many of you have heard by now of the show with the Duggars being canceled due to some disturbing things that have come to light. To be honest I have never seen an episode of their TV show, and I do not know much about this situation, however I read a couple of articles about it, and basically what has happened is that many people have looked at Christianity and said that Christians are a bunch of hypocrites and so that's why we should ignore Christianity. Well it's true all Christians are hypocrites, I would argue that this does not say anything about the Christian religion other than that Christians fail to live up to the high standard that Christianity sets for it's believers. The standard that Christianity sets for believers is to be Holy as God is Holy. Now anyone with any kind of sense would see that this is impossible for any human to do. In fact the Bible makes this clear that it is impossible in Romans. "All have fallen short of the glory of God." This is what sin means, to miss the mark. So why would Christians set such a high standard if they cannot reach it? First Christians did not set this standard God did, and second Christians can reach it, but not in their own power. Christ are Holy as God is Holy because they are united to Christ through faith. The righteousness of Christian comes ultimately from Jesus Christ. It is not something that we have earned, and in fact is the exact opposite of what we deserve. Christians trust that Jesus is the one the makes them Holy, that justifies them before a mighty God. So while Christians can call our actions sin, we understand that it is through our savior that we have been redeemed. "So are you saying that what we do doesn't matter because we are forgiven?" May it never be, was Paul's response to this same question. What we do matters very much because of it's effect towards people here. The Christian seeks to not sin out of love for their neighbor. Sin is destructive, it hurts us and the people around us. Even though we are forgiven for our sins, if we should willing continue to sin it demonstrates our lack of understanding of what Christ did on the cross and shows a lack of love for God, and for our neighbor. Perhaps is reveals our lack of belief that the sins we are doing are in fact wrong, which is a fruit of unbelief. As humans with a sinful nature we are going to sin, but this should grieve us when we do. We are no longer at peace with our sin, but are at war. We fight every day against desires of the flesh, however we have to remember that we do not achieve righteousness by our own power, we must every day look to the one who saves us. I believe that when we stop looking to Jesus as the reason we are saved and we trust more in our own power and our ability to combat sin, that is when we open ourselves up to temptation to do all kinds of evil, because like everyone else who seeks to justify themselves, we have to change the standard, and make excuses, and cover up our wickedness so that we look pure in our own strength. This is how and where Christians fall, however it should be pointed out that they are no longer being Christians consistent with the word of God. It is so vital that the Bible is the authoritative word of God, because if God will send his people a savior it makes sense that He would speak to His people in a clear way, and that it what we have with the word. It is the standard by which Christians must conform their life around, because it is in his word that we learn, that while we are sinners falling short of God's glory, we are redeemed by the saving work of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. It is from this standard that we understand what sin is, and how to see in our lives, and it is from this standard that we are commanded to love God and to love our neighbor which leads to us fighting against sin, because of how it hurts us and our neighbors. If one is to judge Christianity, then it should be judge by it's message through the word of God, and not to people's ability to stick to it. This does not excuse when Christians sin, however just because a person screwed up part of the quadratic equation does not mean that the quadratic equation is wrong, or should be disregarded, it means that person working the problem has some more work to do. The same is true of Christianity. What do you think, comment below and let me know.
I'm just going to say it suffering is hard. It does not matter if you are sick for a long time, it does not matter if you are separated from loved ones, or going through a death, or are being bullied for being who you are, suffering never feels good while you're going through it. This brings up an interesting questions for Christians, "Why would God allow His children to suffer so greatly?" In Romans 8 it states that believers are children of God, so why does God allow His children to suffer, and what do we do when we do go through suffering? First we must understand that God allows this suffering to come, but He does not produce it. The cause of our suffering comes from sin. We live in a fallen sinful world. Word by its nature is destructive and causes suffering. So with so much sin, there is a great deal of suffering. Why does God allow this suffering? That question is not as easy to answer because it requires knowing the mind of God, which can only truly be known as it has been revealed through His word. In God's word it says that all things work for good for those who love the Lord, and it states that suffering is a form of discipline and that it is done out of love for His people, and that it is to remind Christians that this is not our true home. Christians are apart of God's kingdom, and God's kingdom is not of this earth yet, so we must remember that we are strangers in a strange land which is why at times we will suffer. So what do Christians do when they go through suffering? The first thing I would suggest would be to understand that the Bible never tries to hide suffering from you. There are many believers who suffered in the scriptures. Joseph was sold into slavery and went to prison. David had to be on the run multiple times for his life, the entire book of Job, Steven was stoned to death, Peter was put into prison, Paul was stoned and put into prison, John was exiled to an island to die, Jesus was crucified after being beaten and whipped. Jesus even says those who do not pick up your cross and follow me are not worthy of me. In that time, to say, "pick up your cross" meant to join the death march. Suffering is not a hidden subject in scripture and so as Christians we should first understand that be Christian is to suffer. This is not the most encouraging thing to say I know, however while reality might not be comforting it is more useful. This brings me to my next point which is that Christian should understand that one day their suffering will end. Christ has promised to carry us through this life and into the next, and in this next life every tear will be wiped away, and there will be no more suffering, or sickness for the old way(which is present) will have pasted. A time is coming believer where we will be through with our suffering and so hold on to the hope of that coming day, understanding the suffering we are going through now will not even compare to joy we will experience in the new heaven and the new earth. The next thing Christians should is stand together. It is important that all Christians have a group of fellow believers they can share their burdens with. Although it should be understood that Christians will suffer, it never has been taught that Christians should suffer in isolation. Part of the reason why believers are called to gather together is so that they can help one another with their burdens including advice, prayer, sound doctrine, and sometimes just an ear. In this same way believers should also cast all their cares upon God because He cares for you. Paul had a thorn in the flesh that he prayed about and Jesus prayed in the Garden that if it were possible for Him to not go through what He did then for the Father to take that cup away from Him. Both Jesus and Paul came to God with what was on their heart praying for their affliction. In both cases God did not remove their affliction. Christ went to cross for our salvation, and God told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." Both times these men went to God with their suffering, and while God did not remove their suffering, He did comfort both of them. The Bible states that suffering never feels good while you're going through it, and so this blog is not serve as a means to remove discomfort, but it is aimed to give anyone who cares to read it, the biblical worldview of suffering and how Christians should respond to suffering when it comes. Please understand that God is with you believer, and He cares for you, and your suffering will come to an end, and please remember that God is working all things out according to His will. What do you think of suffering? Is there something that I did not cover or something more that should be said? Comment below and let me know. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of this blog, and if you have an idea for a blog you can comment below and I'll be sure to write on it.
Justice is a word that I do not often hear in the same sentence to God anymore. Many times we talk about the forgiveness of God, and the love of God, but what the justice of God. In fact we do not hear much about a universal theme of justice hardly at all. Justice is now a word that is always associated with another word. Social justice relating to matters of justice in society, or unjust meaning that something is not right. The idea of justice as a concept is something that I think few people really think about, however justice is one of the reasons why I believe Christianity is truth. What is justice? Essentially justice is everyone getting what they deserve. When murders get life in prison or face execution, we say, "justice is served" because it is understood that the murder got what they deserved for taking a human life. One of my favorite movies is the movie Hogfather. This is a movie that explores myths, the human experience, and what is called the "Noble Lie" Towards the end of the movie the character Death, and yes Death is a character in this movie, scythe and rob and all, makes a comment about mercy and justice that has always stuck with me since the first time I watched the movie. Death challenges his granddaughter (don't ask) to take the universe and grind into the finest powder and show him one molecule of justice, and one atom of mercy. What is being conveyed here is that if there is no God, the concepts of Justice, mercy, and even love are nothing more than lies we tell ourselves and our children, in hopes that they one day become real which is also a lie. If there is no God, then really is no justice, at least no true justice. We have justice for certain crimes, but there is not justice for the person that insults you, the person that was mean to you, and so you can think about all the wrongs in your life that will never be right. I reject this idea and do believe that there is a thing called justice, because I believe there is a God, however, if we are going to talk about God and justice, then we must say that God is a just God, after all a God who is all powerful will always be just because they have the power to determine what justice is. If God is a just God, then it stands to reason that God would be a totally just God taking into account every injustice no matter how big or small, and to me this is where a majority of religions fail, but is where Christianity succeeds. I can not keep track of how many injustices I have inflicted over people throughout my life. I've lied to people, cheated people, insulted them, talked badly about them behind their backs, and the list goes on and on. I'm only 27 years old. I cannot imagine how many injustices I will inflict should I reach the age of 80 or 85. This does not take into account all the unknowingly times I wronged someone. Now these might seem small, however if we are looking at justice, can we really say that justice has a limit? It does in our society because if we punished everyone based off all the wrong things they did, there wouldn't be anyone left in society, and we can not keep track of all the wrong doings of each person all the time, and so we prioritize. God is not limited and thus if He is to be a justice God, the He must give each person punishment for every wrong that they do, not matter how big or small. Be honest if you were to think about every wrong deed you have done in your life could truly say that you have done enough to make up for it? Can you really feel like you deserve to be called innocent, or at least that your debt has been paid? I can not. This is where I feel many religions fail. I think most religions do not adequately address the issue of justice if they even address at all. I can't say that I have studied all religions, so I am making an educated guess here, but looking at the ones with the biggest followers I feel like Christianity is the one that best deals with justice and that is of course through Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God and is the second person in the Trinity (Within in one being of God, there exists 3 persons coequal and co-eternal namely Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) We believe Christ took on flesh and lived a sinless life and then died on a cross. This death was the sacrificial atonement for all of God's people. All the sins of God's people were placed upon Jesus at the cross and God delivered His full wrath upon Jesus for the sins of the world. This action paid the penalty for all those that are in Christ and death itself was conquered and thus Jesus rose from the dead, the first fruits of what is to come. It is though Jesus that all of Justice is accounted for, because Jesus took on all of the sins of his people both big and small and thus every believer has not reason to fear the judgement of God because they know that God's judgement has been paid in full by Jesus Christ. This is grace, and so Christians repent and believe in Jesus who has saved them. It is with this understanding that Christians are able to forgive other people, knowing that they are forgiven, and understanding that justice will be done. It will be done on judgement day, or it has been done on the cross. It is through Jesus that Christians can properly address issues of justice since they have a total concept of justice, and I believe this is part of the reason of how unbelievers' thinking is darkened as it says in Romans 1. Without a proper concept of justice, how can think about things in a proper way? What do you think about justice? Do you think Christianity gives a proper answer to justice? Do you know of another religion that answers all injustices both big and small? Comment below and let me know!
So there's been an article going around the web lately called "How to take Christ out of Christianity" written by Alana Massey. The article describes the author's plight of not believing in God, however she feels a deep connection with the Episcopal organization and thus seeks a way to reconcile being able to claim Christianity without having to claim Christ. While I certainly understand the author's plight, I find myself disgusted at the continued disrespect for words that continues in our culture. What do I mean by this? Well there seems to be a trend going where people use words due to their cultural context rather than using them because of their meaning. Wanting to be a Christian, but not wanting to follow God is just one example. Christian literally means "little Christ" or "Christ follower" Christ believed in God, Christ prayed to his Father and sent the Holy Spirit to his people. To say that one is a follower of Christ without sharing his core beliefs and motivations, is intellectual insanity. Gandhi to my knowledge has never been understood to be a Christian, yet he is quoted saying he liked Jesus' teachings. Because I believe that the Bible is the word of God and God's ways lead to life, it makes sense that reasonable people would be able to find at least something in the Bible they agree with. It is well understood that Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian, but found that he agreed with a great deal of what the Bible had to say, and so he literally cut out the parts he didn't like. He viewed the Bible as a good book, rather than the good book, but Jefferson and Gandhi did not try to redefine Christianity to suit their own belief, this is what this author is trying to do, and I find it appalling. I respect atheists, truth, and words too much to want to try and argue that I'm an atheist even though I believe in God, believe the Bible is his word, and it is through Jesus Christ that I have salvation from divine judgement. This author does not seem to have respect for Christians, words, or truth. To some it might seem as if I am being too harsh on this author using words like "disgusting", or "appalling" however I want to make clear I do not feel this way about the author, but rather their idea that one can causally redefine a word to suit what they want. Words have their power because it is with words that we communicate ideas. If we continue down this path of redefining words that have a long history and are connected to a series of important ideas, eventually these words will lose all their meaning. The redefinition of the word demonstrates a person's totally lack of respect for the idea that word is connected to. In this case although the author feels a connection to the Christian faith, they demonstrate their lack of respect for it, by thinking that they can call themselves a Christian and yet lack the corner stone of the faith which is resurrection of Jesus Christ which is only possible if there is a God. Believers gather because Christ is alive. Our faith only has value is Jesus Christ is alive. Paul makes this clear in 1 Corinthians. If Jesus Christ is dead then our faith is worthless. The book of Hebrews makes clear that it is through faith that believers do what we do. Why do we love our neighbors? Because the God we believe is real has commanded us too. Why do feed the hungry? Because we see the effects of our sin upon the world and out of love for our neighbor we give them food to restrain the suffering inflicted upon them by our sin. We also give as a means of feeding the breading of life which is Jesus Christ. Each action a Christian takes is tied back to their faith in God, which is connected to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To deny these core tenants of the faith one is removing the foundation for all their actions and replacing it with, it feels good to good towards other. So now the author has taken Christianity and since they have removed Christ they have made the religion all about them. Why do they give to poor? Because it feels good or feels right to give to the poor. I am going to suggest that this line of thinking and this type of Christianity only works in a 1st world country where people have the luxury of acting like a saint when they feel like it. The author makes the case that they are not alone, however by redefining words to suit your wants you make yourself alone because only you can fully have the definition you want. Only you will fully commit to your worldview. So for all this person's effort to find a community which is what they want if you read the article they are isolating themselves even more. Because they seek to redefine the religion, rather than changing who they to meet the demands of the religion. In Christianity we believe that the Holy Spirit is making us more like Jesus Christ. This process is called sanctification. As we individually are transformed to made more like Christ we find that we have much in common with others who being made to be more like Christ. We are still individuals having our own preferences and things we like, however the core values, and worldview is something we share, and thus brings us together. These are things that are greater than the individual however. That is one of the great things about Christianity is that it emphasizes both the individual and the community when one has a biblical worldview. Christians gather together because the believe in and worship Jesus, just gamers gather together to play video games, and people who enjoy football gather together to watch football. In the same way that it would be crazy to say "I'm a football fan" but hate watching football, or "I'm a gamer" but hate playing video games, it is crazy to say that "I'm a Christian" but I don't believe in God, or believe Jesus is God. What do you think? Can you be Christian and not believe in God, was I too hard on the author? Is there a fault in my logic? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
There are all kinds of books, videos, and podcasts on the subject of church growth. We hear all about these churches that have hundreds to thousands of members, and have experienced so much growth in their church. For me I know that I can look at church growth and think it is equivalent with how well we are spreading the gospel, or with how well I am spreading the gospel.It is impossible for any thinking pastor to not consider church growth during their ministry. If a church does not ever experience growth, there will come a day where it will be no more. I fear though that sometimes church growth can become an idol and I can spend more time thinking about how to grow the numbers in the church, rather than making disciples in the church. Now the way to focus on this and sound biblical and pious, is to call it evangelism. Perhaps you have heard pastors talk about this from the pulpit. They will say things like, "We need to do more evangelism in order to grow God's kingdom" or something to the effect. This has the consequence of making evangelism only for the unsaved. For much of my life I viewed the gospel in this way. I would think to myself, "Self, I've got the gospel, now let's move past it." I was wrong in thinking this way. I struggle with sin. I'm prideful, lustful, misleading, greedy, and lazy and self centered. These are only some of the sins that I battle against every day of my life, and they are not pretty. I know that I am a Christian however I still struggle with these sins. I need the gospel just as much today as I did back when I first believed. I think this is true of all Christians, but how often do focus on evangelizing each other? How often do we as a church tell us that we are forgiven, bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ?This is biblical and so obvious when we look at the majority of the New Testament which is made up of the letters to the church, and yet in all of those letters the gospel is presented and sometimes it is presented multiple times. Paul goes through the gospel in such detail in the book of Romans, and yet he is writing to a church in Rome. He even says that he is looking forward to evangelizing the church in Rome. If our church ever feels like it can move past the gospel, then we are not being consistent with scripture and something has gone wrong. So how does this translate into reaching out to other people? I clearly pointed out that if a church does not grow then it won't be around in time, so how does sharing the gospel with fellow believers, lead to sharing the gospel with unbelievers? To understand this, one needs to understand the transforming work of the gospel on the lives of believers. When we understand the depth of our sin, and we know the forgiveness that we have been given through Jesus Christ that is going to have an effect on the way that we live, and thus will lead people to ask us about salvation. As we are transformed more and more by the Holy Spirit, it will be seen in how we dress, how we speak, how we drive, how we work, what we watch, what we listen, and this be noticeable to unbelievers. So for those who are seeking God, we should be ready to give a response when asked. I hope no one has misunderstood what I am saying in this. I am not advocating for there to be a stop in church activities or any such thing, however I am saying let us do things out of love for our neighbors rather than a clever way to get them into the door. Let our out reach miniseries be driven by a desire to restrain the suffering in this world because of our sin, and as a way of expressing love to other people rather than something for us to invite a friend to church. Let us also understand the gospel in our own lives so well that we are able to answer questions like, "What does it mean to be saved, and how can I become a Christian, and how to get peace with God?" Perhaps if we focused more on the good news of Jesus Christ rather than growing a church, we might be surprised by how much evangelism we really do, and maybe we will be given the chance to see what God does in bringing those who are dead, to life in saving faith. What do you think about evangelism and church growth? What did you think of this blog post? Comment below and let me know what you think!
This blog post is inspired Dr. Moore's most recent post about how freedom of religion is not freedom from ridicule. In this post he talks about how as Christians we ca sometimes be tempted to stray away from the public square out of fear of being made fun of and mocked. Christians can also be tempted to be want to throw a fit when we are mocked by other people. Dr. Moore made the point that when someone made fun of his beliefs or where he was from they felt as of they were making fun of him. Mocking or teasing has always been an issue that has made me a little uncomfortable. It's tough to know when someone will take offense to a joke or not. At the same time I think the excuse, "I was only joking" has been used too many times to cover up for some really intentionally hurtful things, however as I have gotten older I have learned the value in humor, and laughing at one's self. Humor when it is done right offers a great way for one to be self aware. I think self awareness is a quality that is severally lacking in our current culture. I do not mean to say that people do think of themselves enough, but rather people are not really aware of how they really are or how they might be seen by other people. I can't speak for everyone else, but I have a certain fear of knowing how other people see me. It forces me to see myself in ways that can make feel guilty because other people can see the flaws that work hard to cover up from myself. The same can be said for the church. The church is a collection of people who are both sinners and saints, and thus the church will do some good things, and the church will do some not so good things. There are people who are watching the church and are going to point out when we mess up. This doesn't feel good, but in the end it is good for us, because it shows where we have messed up. Beyond that there is a form of ridicule that Christians should understand and no lose their temper over. This is when our beliefs are mocked. I'm not talking about making fun of God, I'm talking about people mocking us because we believe Jesus rose from the dead. As Christians we have to understand that we believe is not what a lot of other people believe. Now there is good historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ, and there good reason to believe, but ultimately we have to understand there are going to be people who don't believe and won't believe and they will mock us because it seems silly to them. So what do we do with these people? We don't hurt them of course, we don't even get mad at them, but what we do is we keep calm and believe on. We should be afraid to fly our flag that is weird for other people. It was not by avoiding looking foolish that the church grew in the first century into what it is today. Are we willing to take some mocking in the name of Jesus? I think so many of us are quick to say yes and then when we are mocked, we get upset or mad and say things like, "They can't do that" or "They shouldn't be allowed to do that" As a Christians we are going to get called lots of things, hateful, ignorant, etc... We don't need to too upset over these remarks, and understand that while we might look foolish in the world's eyes, we look just fine in God's. We don't hide our faith, we show it for the world to see, and we shape our lives around it. After all if we are not willing to be mocked for the sake of Christ, then how important is Jesus to us really? If we are willing to compromise our beliefs just because a large number of people disagree with us and are vocal about disagreeing with us, then how important are these beliefs that we are dropping for the approval of other people? So I've kinda split into two different topics in this blog post, but let me recap so that at least I can keep things straight. There are two types of mocking that Christians should be okay with. The kind of mocking that points out the ways that the church is not being consistent with the word of God, and the mocking that is being made because we are Christians. We should not get upset when we are mocked and if we can admit our short comings then let's do it, but if we are being mocked for what we believe then let's not care, and go on believing even if we are mocked. Jesus was mocked too, and scriptures tell us that we will be mocked for following Christ, and we should not be scared of this or try to avoid, but be a good sport about it, take in stride and trust that Christ is faithful. What do you think? Do you think Christians can ever make a joke about another belief in a good spirit? Do you think Christians should just avoid those types of jokes? Have you ever been mocked for your belief? How did you respond? Comment below and let me know!
Before I get too far into this blog post I want to apologize for my absence. I had been sick, and for a while I was not too sure what it was that I should be writing on. There are all kinds of story in the world today. With the election coming up I'm sure many people will be doing a lot of writing about why they think the candidate they are promoting should be President.Today however I want to focus on something that I have been thinking about for a while now and that is the apparent lack of trust in culture. I don't know about you, but trust is not a word I hear often. It is a concept that I am seeing less and less. The big question is in today's world who can trust? There just doesn't seem to be the same kind of trust today that there was in days past. You have probably heard or told stories of people talking about how they use to leave their doors unlocked, and how they use to trust their kids with people they did not know as well, and yet nowadays we would look at these people and say that they are foolish. We have learned through the power of communication that some people who may seem nice are not and that even are neighbors could be bad people with the intention to harm us, or our family. This lack of trust has extended to news sources. When was the last time you read an article that did not appear to trying to get you think a certain way or have a certain worldview attached to it. We have learned how preachers can fail us and instead of trying to teach the word of God, they are instead wanting to rob us, and trick us, or control our minds. With the rise of psychology we have learned that we may not even be able to trust ourselves, because of past experiences that cause us to think certain ways. Now life is not as bad as I am painting it. of course there is still a great deal of trust that many people have in the world, but I wonder if that trust is more from ignorance or just not thinking. For example how many people really think about or know all the ways their accountant could get them into trouble with the IRS? We also have seen this in relationships. Marriage seems endanger of becoming a relic of past as more and more people are not getting married. The current generation has seen the failures of the institution and no longer trust it to be the life long journey that it once was. Along with that there seems to be a sense of distrust among men and women in general. Women are told that all men are potential rapists and would rape them if given the chance. At the same time men are told that many women are just wanting them for their money and stuff and want to take it if given a chance. Children doubt their parents. They doubt that parents actually know what is best for their children rather than not wanting what is best for their children, although with all the stories of abusive parents, there is also a case for that as well. Surprisingly many parents do not think they know what is best for their children past a certain age. To say that we live in uncertain times would be an understatement. There is a lack of trust between government and people, and there is a lack of trust in schools, and there is a lack of trust in just about every area of life. To be honest it is easier not to trust. You don't make yourself vulnerable, and you don't risk looking like a fool. As someone who struggles with trust this is the reason why I do not like to trust, because I do not want to feel the sting of humiliation for trusting when it turns out that I shouldn't have trusted. This lack of trust is a problem, because trust is vital for relationships and trust is vital for communication. This is a big problem that I see today, and that problem is people do not believe the words that are coming out of someone's mouth. When they say something like, "I like pizza because it taste good." For some reason they don't hear that and instead try to think about what the person really said. While there is a sense of reading between the lines with people's words, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and to try and make into something more leads to confusion and miscommunication. A harmless example of this is all those theories about movies that float around the internet. The theories that take simple things in movies and make these complicated theories based around one or two things. They don't trust the film makers that what they put in the movie is just what they put in the movie. Of course we see the problem of a lack of trust but what is the solution? How do we trust others knowing that they can and perhaps will abuse that trust? To be honest I'm not sure how to answer that question. I believe the answer lies in the gospel where we understand that just like ourselves everyone else is a sinner and so at one point will let us down, or betray us, and yet we forgive just as we are forgiven, and if the person repents then we can trust again. We are told that trust is something that is hard to build but easy to loose, I would also like to point out that trusting someone can be hard too. It's easy to set things up to where you don't need to trust someone, and yet I think there is something noble about trusting other people. especially those who are particularly important to us. I think we can also learn something about trusting Christ about our salvation and the fact that we are in him, even though we still deal with being sinners, and we don't like we have been saved by Christ, but we are to trust in his word. I'm going to keep thinking about this, and perhaps I can come up with a better answer in time. What do you think? Do you think our culture has a problem with trust? What do you do to help you trust others? Comment below and let me know!
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OverviewHere you can read various thoughts and discussions that come from the mind of our Pastor Archives
February 2023
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