Monday, December 27, 2010

Aesop & Son

“The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart.” ~ Francis Schaeffer

“do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” ~ Romans 2:4

When I was very young my morning ritual was to wake up early and tromp down to our basement family room and turn on the TV to watch cartoons before everyone else got up. At the risk of giving away my age I will confess that one show I enjoyed were re-runs of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. For the uninitiated; Rocky is a flying squirrel and Bullwinkle is a moose and they were always trying to avoid the evil machinations of Boris Badenov and his cohort Natasha. Some of the episodes of the show live on even now on YouTube and of course on DVD. The appeal of the show is that it also featured short cartoon vignettes that included Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody’s Improbable History, Dudley Do-Right and Aesop & Son.

What children didn’t realize was that they were being taught history or moral values through the medium of humor and celluloid. I enjoyed them all and remember fondly both the fairy tales and the fables. The Aesop & Son short would start with father (Aesop) chiseling his name on a Greek column in a dignified manner, and to his chagrin his son would run in with a jackhammer and add “and Son”. The typical set up was that Aesop would try to teach his son a life lesson but at the end of the story his son would subvert the fable’s moral with a bad pun.

Many of us have heard or read some of Aesop’s Fables or know stories attributed to him like the Ant and the Grasshopper or the Tortoise and the Hare. Most view these tales as stories for children; however, for the early Greeks these fables were aimed at an adult audience. According to Wikipedia the Greek fable "was a technique of criticism and persuasion, which by its indirectness might avoid giving offense, while at the same time making a powerful impression by its artistry. It was especially valuable to the weak as a weapon against the powerful." Aesop was highly regarded by the Greeks and his work was quoted by none other than Socrates. I decided to try my hand at a Aesop-like fable but in the end it may seem more like a Fractured Fairy Tale. As a good friend always says “You can’t make stuff like this up.”

A young man is brought into this world and he is the apple of his father’s eye. His father is a well known philanthropist and is loved and respected by many. Throughout his youth his father makes repeated attempts, both subtle and grand, to demonstrate his love for his son and strengthen his relationship with the boy. At times the father very openly demonstrates his love, care and affection for his son, yet the boy takes these overtures for granted or even ignores them completely. Other times the father quietly orchestrates behind the scenes wonderful and joyous events in this young man’s life.

The father has many servants but his relationship with them is very unique because he treats them more like sons and daughters. Many of these servants attempt to tell this young man about his father, and share with him how they have been personally changed and blessed by his benevolence. The young man thinks they are fools or, worse yet, ignorant and misinformed. The boy is unmoved and unimpressed by their testimonials on behalf of his father and even ignores a biography written about his father that is a world-wide best seller.

The son has no interest in learning about his father’s history, character or benevolence. The boy is unmoved and disinterested and even though the father’s love is constant, the young man refuses to reciprocate. More often than not the boy blames his father for situations and predicaments he has created for himself, and curses his father for not getting him out of his troubles. The son both consciously and unconsciously knows what his father deems appropriate behavior, yet he ignores this and even at times makes it a point to flaunt his behavior as a means to openly scorn his father.

Occasionally the son shows up at his father’s house on special days like his birthday. Typically this is only to sooth his conscience or to keep up appearances. Other times he shows up because his wife has guilt-tripped him into going. More often it is because he wants to manipulate the father to help with his latest scheme or to help him out of a jam. Eventually the day comes when the boy completely puts the father out of his mind and refuses to darken the door of his house, even on holidays. Through it all the father continues to love his son and wait patiently for him.

One day many years later tragedy strikes the boy and he needs emergency surgery he cannot afford. He calls on his father to pay for the procedure and miraculously the father provides and the boy makes a full recovery. The father hopes this life experience may be an opening for reconciliation and a chance for a deeper and more meaningful relationship. Yet the young man does not offer any thanks, refuses to speak to his father and still will not visit him at his house.

The son often hears stories of how his father has provided for his staff of servants or has done a wonderful philanthropic work somewhere in the world. The father uses all his resources to rescue the poor, outcast and undeserving. But the son rails against his father whenever he reads a story in the paper or hears in the news about sickness, war and natural disaster. He uses this as a justification for ignoring his father and remaining estranged from him. He rationalizes that if his father is as wonderful as everyone says he is, then of course he should have used his vast resources to solve this problem, all the while writing off that all of these instances were the result of bad choices by others and not his father’s doing.

Years pass and the father still longs for a relationship with his son and subtly and quietly provides and protects his son behind the scenes. The son again experiences a tragedy but this time when he calls, the father does not answer and the son suffers a devastating loss. The father knows that his son simply wants his resources but not a relationship, so he hopes going it alone will wake up his son. The son is irate and he is filled with anger and malice toward his father. How dare his father not answer! He blames his father for his troubles and at that point vows to never have anything more to do with him.

This fable sounds implausible and a little extreme yet this is how each and every of us view or treat our Heavenly Father. He seeks to be known and have a personal relationship with us, yet we ignore Him and take Him for granted. He showers us with blessing; both overtly and subtly, yet we fail to acknowledge the Giver of all good things. This phenomenon is evident in all men, no matter their “spiritual” condition. In his Trilogy of books, author and philosopher Francis Schaeffer points to that fact that we all want to rummage through God’s pockets and pull out the gems of His character we like and ignore the rest. We fail to see Him or acknowledge Him in both the amazing and mundane but His love remains constant and never changing. We blame Him for our troubles or use any excuse we can find to question His love and affection for us and the world. We want the benefits of a relationship without the commitment or responsibility that may come with it. He is the genie in the lamp who needs to be at our beck and call in the hour of our need, then forgotten again when the trial passes.

We rarely, if ever talk to Him in prayer, and even when we do it is a laundry list of wants and not a meaningful, loving or heartfelt discussion. We cannot be bothered to visit his house, yet when the chips are down and we face possible tragedy and despair we think that God should pull out all the stops and give it to us NOW! After all God is love and we deserve His favor no matter what. If we are callously ignored and repeatedly taken advantage of in our human relationships we typically jettison that "user". Yet we irrationally and illogically think God should cater to our every whim no matter how we treat Him.

Ask yourself this question; would you give everything to someone who has treated you in the same manner? God gave His only begotten Son, what have you given Him in return? God desired a relationship with you and I so much that He paid dearly for it. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” ~ I John 3:1

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ~ Romans 5:8

“If God exists and we are made in his image we can have real meaning, and we can have real knowledge through what he has communicated to us.” ~ Francis Schaeffer

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Friendship redefined

“Two ways to define a true friend: someone who says ‘hi’ every time they see you (even on bad days), and someone who agrees to show up on moving day - and shows up.” ~ Barry Parham (author/satirist)

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. ~ Proverbs 18:24

It’s the Christmas season so by now many of you have pulled out those VHS tapes and DVD’s to watch your favorite holiday movies. One Christmas classic is “A Christmas Story” which chronicles the fictional life of Ralphie Parker as he plots and schemes the receipt of a young boy’s ultimate gift; a Red Rider BB gun with a compass in the stock.

Throughout the movie we see Ralphie and his little brother Randy dealing with the typical challenges of childhood, food that you would rather not eat, waiting in long lines, being trussed up like a turkey in winter clothes and of course dealing with the school yard bullies; Scott Farkas and his toady Grover Dill. Ralphie has two friends named Flick and Schwartz, but I am not sure if I would agree that they are true friends. For example; when Ralphie utters an expletive that he just happened to hear from his father, rather than admit it he chooses to blame his friend Schwartz, who subsequently gets punished by his mother. Another scene is when he and Schwartz triple dog dare Flick to stick his tongue to the frozen flag pole. Then the bell ring and they leave him stuck there and head back to class. Finally, when one of the trio is getting beaten up by the yellow-eyed Scott Farkas, the others bid a hasty retreat to avoid similar treatment. With friends like these you might need that BB gun to survive.

C.S. Lewis laments in “Mere Christianity” how words over time have lost their significance and true meaning. He cited how the word gentleman once referred to someone of land, means and status as well as dignity and culture. He went on to say that the term had lost its original meaning and was applied indiscriminately to any and all manner of men no matter their deportment. Lewis used this example to point out how the word Christian had lost its power and significance. Words do have meaning, and if we choose to use them in a trite and thoughtless manner we eventually relegate them to the scrap heap of meaninglessness. In our current culture it appears the very same thing has happened to the word friend and how we apply it.

The internet and social networking has played a part in dumbing down the word friend. An individual can have 500 or more virtual “friends” but when the chips are down, how many of those individuals will be there for us in a real and tangible way? What are these “friends” doing for you to grow you spiritually? The author of Proverbs, inspired by the Holy Spirit penned “a man of many companions will come to ruin” and that is even truer today than in ages past. If someone is your virtual friend doesn’t that in turn obligate them to a meaningful and at times costly investment in your real world? Being called or considered a friend should require someone a little more that a superficial or trite interaction with one another. Maybe I am alone in this comment, but being my friend should mean that we see each other in public that I extend the courteously of more than just a mono-syllabic grunt of acknowledgment when I see you. When we ask each other how are you doing, we really want to know the answer to that question and that we are in fact listening and logging the response.

Do we view friendship as a right or a privilege? Maybe part of the problem stems from the fact we treat our “friends” in the same manner as we treat our relationship with God. We talk to them when we feel like it, view it way too casually or only when it is convenient. We don’t show much gratitude or display a certain fickleness toward them if they don’t meet our perceived needs or expectations. Or maybe it is a one-dimensional or one-sided relationship where we are just looking for a sympathetic ear to vent all of our complaints and frustrations, but don’t want to listen to what they have to say. Our friendship with God and being called His friend is neither earned nor deserved, and we need to count it a distinct privilege. If man is created in the image of God and every human has infinite value in His eyes, then this needs to translate into a radical redefinition of how we treat friends and friendship.

If you are a follower of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you believe that the Gospel changes everything (II Corinthians 5:17) then doesn’t that include how you define and view friendship? How do we define friendship and if the Bible tells us that we have a friend in Jesus and that we are friends of God, how does that translate in how we treat and view our friends? Recently I was logging onto Twitter and a tweet by an individual that goes by the moniker “Freddy Amazing” caught my eye. He posted this acrostic for friend; (F)ights for you (R)espects you, (I)nvolve you, (E)ncourage you, (N)eed you and (S)ave you. From a human perspective that is not a bad definition, but apply that to how Jesus Christ is our friend. He fought for us by paying the penalty for our sins. He involves us by giving us the privilege to bring Him honor and glory and tell others about Him. He encourages us by His example and through His love, mercy and grace. He needs us to live out our faith so the world will see our good works and glorify the Father. And He provides a way to save us through His perfect sacrifice and solve our greatest problem.

We have a certain level of community as a body of believers, but that does not necessarily translate into true friendship. We have the Gospel in common which should lead to a deeper and more meaningful kinship, but we can all attest to the fact that this is not necessarily the case. My intent is not to write an exhaustive treatise on the subject of friends and friendship. But I am trying to challenge myself and anyone who stumbles upon this post to reclaim the biblical example of friendship.

In the book “101 Hymn Stories” Kenneth W. Osbeck tells the story of hymn writer Joseph Scriven who wrote one of the most beloved but simple hymns titled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Scriven was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1819 to a prosperous family. Scriven’s faith in Jesus Christ estranged him from his family and the night before he was to wed his fiancĂ© drowned. He immigrated to Canada and from that point on his goal in life was to live out the Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5). He gave freely of his possessions and never refused anyone who needed his help. He spent a great deal of time sawing wood for the poor and widowed in the community. He penned the lyrics to the hymn as a means of encouragement to his mother who had fallen gravely ill back in Dublin. Scriven never meant for the poem to be published, but it is so personal and relevant to the needs of many that it is typically one of the first hymns missionaries teach to new converts. This hymn was borne out of personal tragedy, estrangement and living out the Gospel in real life.

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and grief’s to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

Take the time to examine your relationships and ponder how the Gospel has redefined friendship and how you view your friends. And while we are at it, we also should ask ourselves how we view and treat the best friend we have in this life; Jesus Christ.

"Fake friends are like shadows, always near you at your brightest moments, but no where to be seen at your darkest hours." ~ Anon

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” ~ Proverbs 17:17


Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Hole hearted or Whole Hearted?

“No person, not even the best one, can give your soul all it needs. This cosmic disappointment and disillusionment is there all of life, but we especially feel it in the things upon which we most set our hopes.” ~ Timothy Keller

If you turn on the news, watch the daily talk shows, read the newspaper or check out the NY Times best sellers list there is no lack of opinion on what is wrong with society and how it can be corrected. But while there seems to be a consensus that all is not right with the world, and things are not the way they should be or could be, there does not seem to be much agreement on how to correct this dilemma. There is a universal agreement that things are a mess, but everyone wants to point fingers about who is to blame or how the situation must be rectified.

Some will tell you that the solution to societies' problems is through education; better schools or through charter schools. Others will tell you that you need to simplify your life and give up the trappings of our technological and materialistic society. Still others say it is by embracing hedonism, relativism or an anti-establishment lifestyle. Then another more enlightened group will tell us that we need to break free from our attachment to the past and our outdated reliance on social mores and the bondage to religious beliefs. Strip away anything and everything they tell you that holds you back because man is able through the power of positive thinking and visualization to evolve into some god-like perfection. Just buy our book or DVD series and we will show you how.

Growing up in the country and without cable television I spent most of my time outdoors engaged in various activities. But growing up in the northeast there are some days that it is just too cold to stay outside from sunrise to sunset. Those days with inclement weather were spent indoors either reading or listening to Top 40 or rock music. It seems that most teenagers day dream about either being a professional athlete, rock star or both, and I was no exception. The attraction seems to be the idea of being loved and adored by millions as well as the money and lifestyle portrayed by the media. Yet the road is littered with the casualties of stardom,that doesn’t seem to deter the masses from pining for this life to fill the void.

If you look at the lyrics and titles of many pop or rock songs they are filled with allusions to trying to fill the void. Just from the 80’s alone you can probably come up with more examples than the Eagles “The Thrill is Gone” or U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found what I’m Looking for. Kansas penned the song “Dust in the Wind” that points to the brevity of life and the hands down winner has to be “I can’t get no Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. All of these songs point to a concept that is known as having a “God-shaped hole” in our hearts. This is the concept that states that every person has a void in their spirit, soul and life that can only be filled by God and God alone. GotQuestions.org states; “The God-shaped hole is the innate longing of the human heart for something outside itself, something transcendent, something ‘other’.”

Admittedly I have not followed pop or rock music since the early 90’s, and as I have grown spiritually I wanted to fill my mind with music and lyrics that seek to honor and praise God. But the other day while out bowling with my family a song came on over the PA system that caught my attention. The song is titled “Hole Hearted” and it was released in 1990 by a group called Extreme. The lead singer’s name is Gary Cherone, and he co-wrote the song with Nuno Bettencourt. In 1991 it rose all the way to #4 on the Billboard charts. What I did not know is that at the time he wrote this song and the others on the album he had started listening to pastor and radio speaker Chuck Swindoll and was reading his book “The Grace Awakening.” The album follows the life of “Jack” who looks to fill the void or hole in his life through money, sex and a total hedonistic life experience. The final cut on the album is Hole Hearted.

“Life's ambition occupies my time
Priorities confuse the mind
Happiness one step behind
This inner peace I've yet to find

Rivers flow into the sea
Yet even the sea is not so full of me (quoting Ecclesiastes 1:7)
If I'm not blind why can't I see
That a circle can't fit
Where a square should be

There's a hole in my heart
That can only be filled by you
And this hole in my heart
Can't be filled with the things I do

Hole hearted
Hole hearted

This heart of stone is where I hide
These feet of clay kept warm inside
Day by day less satisfied
Not fade away before I die

Rivers flow into the sea
Yet even the sea is not so full of me
If I'm not blind why can't I see
That a circle can't fit
Where a square should be

There's a hole in my heart
That can only be filled by you
And this hole in my heart
Can't be filled with the things I do
There's a hole in my heart
That can only be filled by you
Should have known from the start
I'd fall short with the things I do”

Truth, real truth can be found sometimes in the most unlikely places and long before Cherone and Bettencourt penned these lyrics the wisest man wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon knew well before our modern music artists that this world is filled with empty and vain pursuits and he states in chapter 3 verse 11 that God has placed eternity in our hearts and every man, woman and child consciously or unconsciously is hole hearted until they allow God to fill that void and emptiness that we all feel.

GotQuestions.org sums it up this way; “Just as a square peg cannot fill a round hole, neither can the God-shaped hole inside each of us be filled by anyone or anything other than God. Only through a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ can the God-shaped hole be filled and the desire for eternity fulfilled.” We can try to fill that void with fleeting things like money, success, esteem, power, hedonism or with man’s wisdom. All those will disappoint and disappear. Find your true identity in Jesus Christ and in Him alone.

Note: If you are interested in an excellent book on our futile attempts to fill that hole, pick up a copy of Timothy Keller’s “Counterfeit Gods.”

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The least of these

“If you wish to share your faith with needy people and do nothing about their painful conditions, you fail to show them Christ’s beauty.” ~ Timothy Keller

I was recently reading a prayer letter from a missionary who ministers in the lower east side of Manhattan. He works with a virtual melting pot of humanity, with people from all different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. He holds six services per week and in three different languages; English, Spanish and Chinese. I have personally spent a week in NYC with this man and his family, and his boldness and enthusiasm for sharing his faith with any and all cannot help but infuse you with a desire to do likewise.

In his prayer letter he shared that he had recently completed a study in the book of James and how he himself had been challenged in his faith to “do the beneficial deeds which testify to the goodness of our heavenly Father.” He paraphrased James 2:14-20 talking about how we can say we have faith, but if that faith is not translated into the action of loving and caring for the needs of others who are hungry, cold or hurting then our faith is truly worthless. He went on to say that when “individuals observe our beneficial deeds they will glorify our Father in heaven.” The key thing here is the motivation; not for people to pat us on the back or for our personal recognition, but to demonstrate that our faith in God spurs us on to do things that bring Him honor and Him glory.

Many of us have a favorite book of the Bible, and most Americans tend to gravitate to the Pauline epistles. The Apostle Paul is a personal hero of mine, and I take great comfort and hope from his example of the transforming power of the Gospel. It is an overwhelming encouragement to me to see how an encounter with Jesus Christ completely changed an angry and violent man vehemently opposed to the Gospel, and how that experience radically redirected his energy, thoughts, motives, goals and desires. It gives me hope that if it can do that for Paul, it has the power to do that for me too. What is very prevalent in the letters of Paul is how he willingly gave his all and endured much to demonstrate that he understood the depth of mercy, grace and forgiveness he personally received and that translated into a love and compassion that radiated his Savior.

While we Westerners embrace the writings of Paul, the Eastern Christians in Asia and Africa as well as those in Latin America gravitate to the short epistle of James. Philip Jenkins writes about the impact of James in his book “The New Face of Christianity”. Jenkins states; “Arguably, James may be the single biblical book that best encapsulates the issues facing global South churches today.” Jenkins remarks that even though James is a New Testament book it has a distinct imprint of the Old Testament. Moreover, the tiny book of James “quotes the words of Jesus more extensively than any other epistle.” Jenkins believes the book of James hearkens back to the gospel of Matthew, and particular the Sermon on the Mount. The book is very practical and not personal like the letters of Paul and focuses on defining what is true religion, class or social distinctions in church, and the need for faith to be exercised in the care of the poor and needy.

We as Americans tend not to put our faith in action in the way that James, Paul or even Jesus Christ Himself demonstrated. We segregate ourselves from society, interact with those of similar economic or social standing, and soothe our collective conscience by writing a check to a ministry or charity, rather than meeting the needs of people. We have convinced ourselves over the years that this is a “social gospel” where some so-called faith-based organizations or non-fundamental churches only feed, clothe or shelter the poor and needy and don’t call them to repentance or preach the “true” Gospel. Oh, maybe we give food to the rescue mission or donate our unwanted clothes to Goodwill, (ALL excellent things), but is our motive guilt or because we desire to demonstrate our faith in action? Some of these ministries and their residents even remark how people come in and preach or give a devotional challenge and immediately flee the premises, having done their “duty”. Do we really give what is more precious to us; our time, our attention, our compassion, our fellowship?

If you want to get a fresh perspective on how the Gospel changes everything, spend some time with people at your local rescue mission, halfway house, or ladies who are in a shelter due to domestic violence or abandonment. Yes, these people can benefit from our money and our donations, but they are also in dire need of Christian friendship, compassion and accountability.

Throughout the Gospels the religious leaders and Jesus Christ were at odds over what “religion” was or how it was to be defined. Many people like to think of Jesus as purely a social reformer rather than focus on what His true mission was and is. He did in fact castigate the religious and self righteous for neglecting the widows and fatherless, and embraced the social outcasts, but that was not his primary objective. Jesus came to minister first and foremost to humanity’s most pressing needs; alienation and separation from God, and to be the perfect sacrifice. But the four gospels recount how Jesus also fed and healed the poor while He was addressing their need of repentance and salvation. His personal compassion and love for the outcasts and most destitute of society demonstrated something radically different from what people had come to expect of the church. And because of the love He demonstrated for both the physical and spiritual needs of humanity it changed the world forever.

Jesus Christ did not spend His days thinking about Himself, wallowing in His troubles and focused on His own little world. He gave His all completely for you and me. Can we dare give Him excuses for not doing likewise? Spend time with those in need and gain some fresh perspective on how great our God is. Put your faith in action and be amazed at how God will use it for His honor and His glory.

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” ~ Matthew 25:35-40

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mirror, mirror lie to me

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of all?” ~ The evil Queen

“Mirror, mirror lie to me, show me what I want to see. Mirror, mirror lie to me.” ~ M2M

Back in 1988 a song was racing up the charts called “Man in the Mirror” sung by the self proclaimed King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The song was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard and it was one of Jackson’s most critically acclaimed songs. It was nominated for Record of the Year and given serious Grammy consideration. This was well before Jackson’s much chronicled public and private meltdown, and today the lyrics are hauntingly ironic in light of the revelations about Jackson. The song states; “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.” We may chuckle to ourselves about Jackson having what we perceive as the audacity to sing such a song, but maybe we should check our own reflection before we start looking down on him or anyone else for that matter.

Like any other middle aged man I try to stay in shape and maintain my weight. I attempt, (attempt being the operative word), to regularly exercise. My attempts are helped by having a membership at our local YMCA. In the men’s locker room there is a wall of mirrors adjacent to the lockers. I find it very interesting and more than a little comical to watch the vast majority of the men preening and flexing in front of those mirrors. No one, including myself is immune from walking by that bank of mirrors to see if we look any thinner or admire our so-called physiques. I can honestly say that I don’t have to worry about primping my hair since I am completely bald, but I chuckle to myself watching guys comb and re-comb and mess with their hair; even those who work that comb-over till it’s perfect. I know it is also the habit of guys to compare their physique and muscles to the other guys standing nearby. You can almost hear the wheels turning in their heads thinking; “I might be a little overweight, but that other guy is much flabbier than I. I guess I don’t look that bad.” But these same guys walk away after a workout and get a Grand Slam breakfast at Denny’s or get some sweet tea, fries and hush puppies for lunch forgetting what they looked like in front of that mirror that very morning.

James talks about this same phenomenon in spiritual terms in James 1:22-25 when he wrote; “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” In our daily lives we are that person who has our true reflection revealed to us through the preaching of God’s Word or in personal Bible study. We enjoy the “work out” and we are convicted by the Holy Spirit about the need to take a look at ourselves and make the change. But then we walk away and forget or put out of our mind what God was trying to teach us, and wonder why there is no lasting change or why we still struggle with the same besetting sins.

Or maybe we get consumed with checking out the “reflection” of others and worry more about how they look rather than focusing on ourselves. We don’t appear to be as spiritually flabby or out of shape as so-and-so and hope they are listening to the Sunday message, rather than letting the Holy Spirit speak to us. We consciously or unconsciously say; “I may struggle with X, but at least I am not as bad as him or her.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary states this about James 1:22; “Those who congratulate themselves on being hearers of the truth are deceiving themselves. If they assume that is all that is needed, they are sadly mistaken. If they think that merely listening to the message earns them a position of special favor with God, they are duped by their own faulty reasoning. In reality, the responsibility of those who hear is far greater than of those who have never heard. If they do not combine doing with hearing, they put themselves in a most vulnerable position.”

James doesn’t want us to take an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to the Gospel. To borrow from Nike; when it comes to the Gospel we need to Just Do It! Living out the Gospel is not theory, and it must be lived out in practice, otherwise we make it null in void in our lives and in the lives of those with whom we live and work. Start with the man in the mirror, ask him to change his ways. No message could be any clearer, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make the change.

"Grace does not chose a man and leave him where he is." ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Real intelligence or A.I.?


“You are making a mistake. My logic is undeniable.” ~ V.I.K.I (I, Robot)

“What a wonderful power is that which dwells in every believer, checking him when
he would do wrong, encouraging him to do right, leading him in the paths of righteousness for Christ’s name’s sake! Happy men to have such a Conductor!” ~ Charles Spurgeon


If you own a GPS or have a factory installed global positioning system in your vehicle you have probably experienced the good and not so good attributes of this product. I am waiting for the day that it actually becomes “self aware” like A.I. devices in a Hollywood film like Terminator, Eagle Eye, I, Robot or even worse like the HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The nightmare starts like this; “Hal I would like to go to Mutt’s BBQ” and I hear; “Mitch, I am afraid I can’t do that. Your weight loss is far to important for me to allow you to jeopardize it." I reply; " Hal, I don’t want to argue with you anymore. Open the doors." And I hear; "Mitch this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.” "Wait, what about my hush puppies?!?”

If you are like me your experience with your GPS has occasionally made you question the value of the technology because the route that it chooses as the quickest doesn’t always turn out that way. When you ultimately reach your destination you think that there must have been an easier way. The GPS has taken you down confusing side streets or some circuitous route that leaves you more than a little disoriented and confused. Upon reflection the journey just seems like it took many unnecessary twists and turns and you think this cannot be the best possible course.

Other times you recognize the area that you are passing through and you mumble about why is this thing taking me this way, so you take an alternate route or alter the prescribed course too early and the voice inside the GPS takes action. In what seems to be a ever increasingly irritated tone it states; “Turn around when possible” or “Make a U-turn” then ultimately “recalculating route.” Even though we have invested in this device we would rather trust our instinct over a voice from a box; even though that box has the backing of reliable and proven information that is not dependent on emotions or a gut feeling. Lucky for you and I that our GPS is not a HAL 9000 else the oxygen in our cars might get cut off at any second.

Our spiritual walk is often a little like making the choice of choosing our “artificial intelligence” over the real intelligence of the Holy Spirit. Think of it as choosing between a “Gospel Positioning Servant” that is a divinely powered member of the Trinity, or our Guessing Perception System; human reasoning. The Bible clearly tells us that each Person of the Trinity is fully God and in verses like Matthew 28:19 is classified on an equal level with the Father and the Son. In Acts 5:3-4 when Paul confronts Ananias he asks why would Ananias lie to the Holy Spirit, and then goes on to say that in doing so he has lied to God. In this passage it is clear that Ananias knew the right thing to do but chose to ignore the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit to his own destruction.

The flip side to this is what happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to do His promised work. When Jesus was giving His final discourse to the disciples, as a source of encouragement He focused on telling them about the Helper, Comforter and Teacher that would come in His place. When Jesus described the Holy Spirit He used the word
allos or “another”. John MacArthur states that Jesus was saying; “I am sending you One of exactly the same essence as Me. He wasn't sending just any helper, but One exactly like Himself with the same compassion, the same attributes of deity, and the same love for them.”

The Holy Spirit is called our Helper and in the Greek this has been translated from the word
parakletos which literally means “one who has been called alongside.” Take some time and read John 14:15-26. We only need to look at the lives of the disciples and the Apostle Paul to see that the Holy Spirit lived up to the promise that Jesus made. That same Holy Spirit that empowered the Gospel message to live and grow in the disciples is the same one that dwells in the heart of every believer.

Life is filled with choices and like the foolish Galatians we forget that we have begun our faith through the leading of the Spirit (Galatians 3:3) and that same Spirit is what leads, guides, directs and admonishes us throughout our life long journey. The Holy Spirit is our indwelling Gospel Position Servant that we are commanded to walk with and be led by. Yet, we (me) tend to ignore His leading and then wonder why there are consequences to going our own way.

Our spiritual GPS aka the Holy Spirit may at times take us down unfamiliar paths, give us directions we don’t understand or seem to be a course that is difficult and confusing but we have to trust that He knows what He is doing and where He is taking us. The road may seem hard and we may think that there must be a better way, but we have to keep in mind that our human GPS is based on limited knowledge that is neither divine nor inspired, and we are being directed by One that is exactly the same essence of Jesus Christ. Which would you rather be led by; real intelligence or an artificial one?

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-11

“To the individual believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit there is granted the direct impression of the Spirit of God on the spirit of man, imparting the knowledge of His will in matters of the smallest and greatest importance. This has to be sought and waited for.” ~ G. Campbell Morgan

Friday, April 30, 2010

Anointed or self-appointed?

“Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” ~ Francis Schaeffer

"We are dealing with God's thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly." ~ D.A. Carson

We live in a critical culture and we all tend to go on the defensive when someone criticizes our preferences, lifestyle or personal choices. Both Christians and non-Christians are quick to make statements like “Who are you to judge?” or “What gives you the right?” This is a frequent rebuttal raised when someone offers a point of view or opinion contrary to one we might hold. What is interesting though is that this reply is not truly a response to the questioner’s original statement. It is in fact a clever way to avoid considering the alternate point of view all together, and is in fact an ad hominem or personal attack on the questioner. It is a subtle way of telling the other individual that their opinion is worthless, not worthy of entertaining, or that they are stupid for even bringing it up.

Within the Christian subculture this happens frequently in two forms; we either quote Matthew 7:1; “Judge not, that you be not judged.” or I Chronicles 16:22; “"Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!" The problem is that we take these verses totally out of context when we use them in this manner.

First, the "judge not" verse seems to be taken out of context with the same frequency of "all things work together for good" in Romans 8:28. The rest of the verse reads "for those who love the Lord and who are called according to His purpose" So using it in this context it implies that if you don't love God and if you aren't called, then there is absolutely no guarantee things will work for good in your life.

In the same vein, Matthew 7:1 is taken out of context when we quote the “judge not” to protect our interests. It might be better to consider it in light of John 7:24, "Judge not according to appearance, but due to righteous judgment.” In other words, don’t base your judgment strictly on externals but on the motives and heart attitude of the individual. The challenge being is that we have limited knowledge and discernment and therefore judgment should be reserved for God.

This verse needs to be considered in the context of hypocrisy. Consider Romans 2:3-1 which says "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things". For example, if as the Bible teaches that sinning in thought is the same as the actual deed we have no business judging our peers or the non-believer because we ourselves are sinners. Don’t misinterpret what I am saying; if we recognize sin as God defines it in His Word we can call it wrong, but we need to be quick to remember that we need to point the person to God’s Word and let Him convict. It’s His job, not ours.

The other verse I have heard some Pastors, televangelists and so-called Christian leaders misquote is not to judge “God’s anointed”. This implies that the person in question is not accountable to anyone or that their pronouncements are ex cathedra or infallible. There are a number of problems with misapplying this verse to any Christian no matter their rank or station; the only perfect and infallible judge is God and His Word. The phrase “Lord’s anointed” in the Old Testament was typically used to refer to God’s appointed prophets (like Abraham), Levitical priests and the kings of Israel. The other key point is that it relates to the idea of bodily or physical harm and not simply questioning the scriptural accuracy or opinion expressed by any believer. How would you even know who is God’s anointed? Do we just have to take their word for it because they say they are? I am not advocating disrespect for church or Christian leadership, however we are called to be biblically discerning and we all should be willing to entertain a question no matter its source.

A prime example of this is when someone claiming to “speak for God” does or says something that is completely out of context or an affront to what God’s Word states, and the problems it causes for other Christians trying to live out their faith. Rather then list off the many pronouncements of various televangelists or para-church organizations I would like to specifically address the activities of Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. This is the group that pickets the funerals of soldiers that have died in the service of their country, and blames it on the morality of America and certain groups. While God’s Word is clear on how God views and feels about specific sins, no where does it give license to “believers” to hate or act in a hateful manner. This is a blight on the Gospel and on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for all sinners and all sin.

When someone claims to speak for God and does not allow for his or her point of view to be challenged or questioned this is an unbiblical position. The bottom line is that when anyone launches a who-are-you-to-say salvo against a Christian we need to be willing to get to the heart of the attack. Are they pointing out that our position is unscriptural or taken out of context, or that they are attacking the argument itself? Our opinions are simply that; our opinion. But if we state or comment on something based on God’s Word we better be sure we have taken great pains to know what His Word says. We are not the authority and we should not expect people to believe us based on our own authority. We need to approach both the believer and non-believer with humility and encourage them to consider the evidence and search the Scripture themselves to see if our views have merit because God says it.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.” ~ 2 Timothy 2:15-16


Note: I am taking a short sabbatical from writing my blog. I hope to be back in a couple of weeks. Thanks for taking the time to read my posts.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The truth is out there

"THAT'S RIGHT! That's what you get! Look at you, ship all banged up! WHO'S THE MAN? HUH? WHO'S THE MAN? Wait until I get another plane! I am going to line your friends RIGHT BESIDE YOU!" ~ Captain Steven Hiller

"For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." ~ 2 Peter 1:16

Over the weekend the Discovery Channel aired a documentary called "Into the Universe" featuring astrophysicist and author Stephen Hawking. Hawking made the news by stating that it is likely that aliens exist and if they do we should not make contact with them because they could cause a threat to earth. I guess Dr. Hawking is not an E.T. fan, but more likely views aliens as they have been portrayed in films like Independence Day, Alien, Predator and Signs. Great, I guess I better have my baseball bat handy and a bunch of pitchers of water so they don't ruin my barbecue. Fortunately for me life is not some M. Night Shyamalan or Roland Emmerich movie, so I am not holding my breath that some smelly dread locked or translucent aliens will be arriving on my door step any time in the near future.

All kidding aside, what I find truly fascinating is the lengths all humans will go to, to deny the existence of God. Let's be honest; it is far more comforting to think that aliens "seeded" our planet or that all primitive culture was guided by crystal skulled aliens who benevolently gave us a jump start in our development. Amazingly these are both theories held within the scientific community. If that is the case then we are free to live life as we chose and we are only answerable to ourselves. If an all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of the Universe exists then He has the right and authority to judge us and place expectations on how we chose to live. It is far more palatable to ignore this prospect and be our own version of Fox Mulder and say "the truth is out there."

Paul Copan is a Christian theologian, philosopher, apologist, and author and he has written a number of books including; "When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics" and "True for You, But Not for Me: Deflating the Slogans That Leave Christians Speechless". He wrote the article below titled "The Presumptuousness of Atheism."

"Atheist Antony Flew has said that the "onus of proof must lie upon the theist."1 Unless compelling reasons for God’s existence can be given, there is the "presumption of atheism." Another atheist, Michael Scriven, considers the lack of evidence for God’s existence and the lack of evidence for Santa Claus on the same level.2 However, the presumption of atheism actually turns out to be presumptuousness.

The Christian must remember that the atheist also shares the burden of proof, which I will attempt to demonstrate below.

First, even if the theist could not muster good arguments for God’s existence, atheism still would not be shown to be true.3 The outspoken atheist Kai Nielsen recognizes this: "To show that an argument is invalid or unsound is not to show that the conclusion of the argument is false....All the proofs of God’s existence may fail, but it still may be the case that God exists."4

Second, the "presumption of atheism" demonstrates a rigging of the rules of philosophical debate in order to play into the hands of the atheist, who himself makes a truth claim. Alvin Plantinga correctly argues that the atheist does not treat the statements "God exists" and "God does not exist" in the same manner.5 The atheist assumes that if one has no evidence for God’s existence, then one is obligated to believe that God does not exist — whether or not one has evidence against God’s existence. What the atheist fails to see is that atheism is just as much a claim to know something ("God does not exist") as theism ("God exists"). Therefore, the atheist’s denial of God’s existence needs just as much substantiation as does the theist’s claim; the atheist must give plausible reasons for rejecting God’s existence.

Third, in the absence of evidence for God’s existence, agnosticism, not atheism, is the logical presumption. Even if arguments for God’s existence do not persuade, atheism should not be presumed because atheism is not neutral; pure agnosticism is. Atheism is justified only if there is sufficient evidence against God’s existence.

Fourth, to place belief in Santa Claus or mermaids and belief in God on the same level is mistaken. The issue is not that we have no good evidence for these mythical entities; rather, we have strong evidence that they do not exist. Absence of evidence is not at all the same as evidence of absence, which some atheists fail to see.

Moreover, the theist can muster credible reasons for belief in God. For example, one can argue that the contingency of the universe — in light of Big Bang cosmology, the expanding universe, and the second law of thermodynamics (which implies that the universe has been "wound up" and will eventually die a heat death) — demonstrates that the cosmos has not always been here. It could not have popped into existence uncaused, out of absolutely nothing, because we know that whatever begins to exist has a cause. A powerful First Cause like the God of theism plausibly answers the question of the universe’s origin. Also, the fine-tunedness of the universe — with complexly balanced conditions that seem tailored for life — points to the existence of an intelligent Designer.

The existence of objective morality provides further evidence for belief in God. If widow-burning or genocide is really wrong and not just cultural, then it is difficult to account for this universally binding morality, with its sense of "oughtness," on strictly naturalistic terms. (Most people can be convinced that the difference between Adolf Hitler and Mother Teresa is not simply cultural.) These and other reasons demonstrate that the believer is being quite rational — not presumptuous — in embracing belief in God."

If you are on the fence or seeking to know more about God I would encourage you to take this challenge for the next three weeks. There are 21 chapters in the Gospel of John; read one a day for three weeks and as you do this ask yourself who is Jesus and what did He come to do? Pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you through His Word. Don't exchange the truth of God for a lie, (Romans 1:25). The Truth IS out there.

"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." ~ John 14:6

Source:
http://www.rzim.org/usa/usfv/tabid/436/articleid/88/cbmoduleid/1482/default.aspx

NOTES

1Antony Flew, The Presumption of Atheism (London: Pemberton, 1976), 14.
2Michael Scriven, Primary Philosophy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966), 103.
3It is important to remember that we are trying to give arguments or good reasons for God’s existence — not "proofs," which imply a mathematical certainty. All too often the atheist’s criteria of acceptability are unreasonably high. One who is genuinely seeking plausible reasons to believe in God can certainly find them.
4Kai Nielsen, Reason and Practice (New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 143-44.
5Alvin Plantinga, "Reason and Belief in God," in Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, eds., Faith and Rationality (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1983), 27.