An element of truthiness

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” ~ Winston Churchill

"As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one" ~ Romans 3:10

We are daily bombarded with ideas, opinions and observations that oft times sound good or logical but typically contain only an element of truth. Our generation has even coined a word for this known as “truthiness”; a "truth" that a person claims to know intuitively "from the gut" or because it "feels right" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. How do you define an element of truth? It is a figure of speech which simply means some narrative, story, rhetoric, propaganda, hyperbole, rant or rave has SOME truth in it. By implication it means there are things there within that is not truth.

One of the blessings of social media is that friends and family can post encouraging and entertaining videos, pictures and quotations that bring a smile to your face or reaffirm and confirm something that we endorse. Often these pictures go “viral” and depending on how many connections you have you will see these same things “shared” or re-posted over and over. To “like” or “unlike” that is the question.

The other day a couple of my Facebook friends posted this picture and on the surface I can “like” the thought it conveys. An individual who has placed his or her faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ would and should agree that their beliefs do not make them a better person. If they are truly following the Jesus of the Bible they have come to a point where they have acknowledged that they are in fact NOT the better person. On the contrary, they have come to the realization that they are a sinner or someone who has rebelled against God, the rightful ruler and Lord of their life. They have recognized that they were guilty of cosmic treason against the Creator and Sustainer of this world and their very life. In the light of the Gospel they have come to the place where they have thrown themselves on the mercy of God and accepted that there is only way to be reconciled to Him-they must place their faith IN the better person; the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. They have experienced what Martin Luther has called “The Great Exchange”; our sins for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Through this exchange they have been reconciled to God through a very costly sacrifice; the death, burial and resurrection of God’s own Son. This does NOT make them a better person; in the light of the Gospel they realize that apart from the work of Christ there is nothing good about them. This knowledge should motivate them to tell others about who is truly the better person; Jesus Christ.

The key thing to remember is that God is not asking for simple “belief” in His existence. Nor is He asking for belief that Jesus was an actual historical figure or that He was a good man. The belief that God demands is not simple intellectual assent or what has been described as head knowledge. If that type of belief was enough then the demons themselves would be the “better person.” In the New Testament book of James it states; “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!” Demons believe in God and in Matthew’s gospel account they even address Jesus as the Son of God. This acknowledgement or belief did nothing to improve their lot in life. God is not asking for a tip of the hat or mere intellectual assent. He demands much more.

I can believe that Abraham Lincoln was the 16^th President. I can believe that Steve Jobs was a genius. I can believe that saving the whales is right or that I should do what I can to stop genocide in Darfur. I can believe that we should feed the poor and homeless. There are many great causes in the world that we can and should take up. No matter how good and noble these beliefs are, they do not make me a better person. So back to the posted picture; I agree that belief in and of itself does not and cannot make anyone a better person.

The retort on the picture takes another path that again, on the surface sounds reasonable. Beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does. But is that true? But if our goodness and our behavior is the determining factor in what makes us “better” there is another big problem…who decides what behavior is good? Who decides what behavior is acceptable? Who holds the cosmic scales and determines who meets the standard? I don’t want to have that burden placed on my shoulders because I am a finite human who has a proclivity for making mistakes and being wrong repeatedly. Honestly, do you want me or any other human you know to be the final arbiter on who meets the nebulous standard? We humans are fickle, moody and imperfect so why would we want to trust in the whims of imperfect beings to make the right choice on our behalf? Who keeps this list and is it set in stone? Actually the answer to that question is yes; they are set in stone. You may have heard of that perfect standard; it’s called the 10 Commandments. The only problem with that list is that no one in all of the history of mankind has been able to meet that standard with one exception. His name was Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a matter of behavior modification. The Bible is very clear on that and calls our righteousness or deeds “filthy rags” or a polluted garment (Isaiah 64:6). No amount of changed behavior is going to change our eternity. Faith in the finished work of Christ and His work on the cross is all that matters. The Apostle Paul reinforces this thought in Titus 2:5-7 when he states; “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” If our behavior made us acceptable to God then Jesus Christ would have never had to die a painful and bloody death on our behalf. If good behavior was all it took then we could be boastful about how we did it all by ourselves and again, the Apostle Paul blows this idea to pieces in Ephesians 2:8-9.

Many of us know and can recite from memory John 3:16. It is not some trite or quaint idea but the lynch pin of our cosmic destiny. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What you might not be familiar with is verse 17 which continues with; “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Believing this does not make me or anyone else better than any other human on the face of the planet. But the knowledge of this has changed my behavior in the sense that “those who are forgiven should gladly put aside their sinful ways and walk in newness of life.” My behavior cannot and will not make me acceptable to God. My behavior has been changed because I desire to be an ever so faint image of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am not better, but I am forgiven and that makes all the difference in the present world…and the world to come.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins" ~ Romans 3:23-25

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." ~ John 8:31-32

Gonzo Grace

“No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson

“If your preaching of the Gospel doesn’t provoke the charge from some of antinomianism you’re not preaching the Gospel.” ~ Martyn Lloyd Jones

I think it is safe to say that no 20^th century writer was as self indulgent as Hunter S. Thompson. I first became aware of Thompson through his articles in sports magazines and also through Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” comic strip and the character Duke who was a thinly veiled caricature of Thompson. Thompson was a journalist, author and hedonist who was fueled by sex, drugs and insanity and he covered events ranging from the Kentucky Derby to the 1972 Presidential Campaign. He most notably wrote for Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated, and his articles and own books chronicled his drug-fueled self destruction. His most “notable” book was aptly titled “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” which chronicled his pursuit of the American Dream through illegal narcotics.

Thompson is credited with coining the term “gonzo journalism” which is a style of reporting that the journalist becomes a central part of the story on which they are reporting, and involve themselves in the action, rather than simply serving as a detached observer. They insert themselves into the story to such a degree that they become the central figures rather on whom or what they are reporting on. It has been said of the gonzo style that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism. It is based more on style over fact and it is journalism without any claims of objectivity.

At times I wonder if followers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have unwittingly torn a page out of a Hunter Thompson book. Rather than fully embrace the grace of the Gospel we settle for a poor facsimile of grace, and our life’s story could be titled “Fear and Self-Loathing; Gonzo Grace on the Trail of Life”. We readily accept only a portion of the grace in which we stand and spend the rest of our Christian existence trying to earn the balance. In the words of Tim Keller; “Without the Gospel we hate ourselves instead of our sin. Without the Gospel we’re motivated through all sorts of awful fear and pride to a change and it doesn’t really change our hearts; it just restrains our hearts.”

Something that has struck me about not only myself but also my fellow Gospel believing friends and acquaintances is that we seem to be afraid of grace. Grace or God’s unmerited favor is truly shocking and scandalous, and conservative evangelicals and fundamentalist Christians seem to live in fear of accepting it or applying it to it’s fullest extent. At times it seems we would rather live in perpetual fear of disappointing or offending God (or the subculture), rather than joyfully accepting Sonship and fellowship with God. Without a doubt Sonship carries with it both obligations AND freedom. Sadly we settle for some obligations that are purely personal applications and preferences rather than biblical injunctions. I will freely admit there are some activities and venues that I avoid purely as capitulation to the subculture rather than out of deep conviction and this can lead to a form of gonzo grace.

Or maybe we chose to skulk around like some self flagellating monk with a hang dog look on our face chanting; “we’re not worthy.” Here is a news flash; no we are not worthy, but God in His infinite and unchanging mercy and love offers it freely anyway. He is not expecting us to live perpetually in sack cloth and ashes or to be constantly looking over our shoulder like someone in the witness protection program. Do we really embrace verses like John 8:36? John boldly tells us “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” Do we live like it? What about the words of Paul? In 2 Timothy 1:7 he states; “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” and then in verse 9 when he declares; “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

One would almost get the impression that we don’t want to accept the gift of grace that God so freely offers and we fight with Him over it. It is like two people sitting in the most expensive restaurant on the planet; one the penniless pauper and the other the richest individual in all the universe. We are the honored guests and we want to tell the chef how to prepare the meal. Then the check comes to the table and we reach for it arguing about who is going to pick up the tab. The great problem is that God has already picked up the tab in the form of His Son Jesus Christ and the atoning work of the Cross. We cannot even cover the tip with our works or attempts at goodness, let alone pick up the check. But we still seem to insist that we can pay something; anything to contribute to the cost of grace. So we want to sneak into the restaurant and set the table, clear after the meal and maybe even wash the dishes. How is that graciously accepting the banquet set before us? It is an affront to the Founder of the feast!

The beauty of grace is that we no longer need to live in fear or self-loathing. God’s love is fixed on us and there is absolutely nothing we can do to make Him love us MORE or less. Through Christ’s sacrifice and through no merit of our own, we who were dead in our trespasses and sin have been forgiven! He has cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with all of it’s legal demand for justice, (Colossians 2:13-14). As Tim Keller has stated; “The Gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope—at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.”

We have been freed through Christ from the idols of sin, so why trade it for the idol of empty religion? We often fall into the trap of thinking grace is not enough to keep us in check spiritually and that the indwelling Holy Spirit needs our help. We must have lists, rules, structure and organization lest antinomianism (lawlessness) will run rampant in the church. After all, without us God’s plans and will be thwarted! We must insert ourselves into the mix and become central to the work of sanctification; at least where others and their choices are concerned. How utterly arrogant and self righteous beings we are! If God’s grace and mercy are not enough for us and they do not lead us to obedience and a pursuit of holiness than I honestly have no answers for you. None at all…

Don’t settle for gonzo grace; attempting to insert ourselves in the work of salvation and making it about us and our deeds, merits and conformity to a religious subculture rather than Christ, the central element of the Gospel and all of history. The beauty of the Gospel is that if you are in Christ you are free indeed! Live like it!

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-- "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” ~ Colossians 2:20-23

Call me irresponsible

"He is no fool who gives that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot

"My most recent faith struggle is not one of intellect. I don’t really do that anymore. Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don’t believe in God and they can prove He doesn't exist, and there are some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it’s about who is smarter, and honestly I don’t care." ~ Donald Miller

It seems on any given weekend you can scroll mindlessly through the cable channels looking for something to watch and you will probably stumble upon the film Forrest Gump. It is an entertaining film with many memorable characters and lines. The film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks is based on a book by the same name by Winston Groom, and it follows the life of the title character from childhood into fatherhood. While Forrest is viewed by all as an idiot or a simpleton he displays honesty, dignity, loyalty, bravery, heroism and even more wisdom and the ability to make better choices than many of those he encounters that possess a higher IQ.

Forrest’s rock is his mama and she always seems to have the ability to explain things to him in way’s he can comprehend. When people tell him he is stupid his reply is “Mama always said that stupid is as stupid does." Forrest’s "Stupid is as stupid does" is a variant of an old adage, "Handsome is as handsome does." This saying appears in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and in Herman Melville's "Billy Budd," and can be traced as far back as the 14th Century. "Handsome is as handsome does" basically means that true handsomeness has to do with a person's behavior, not just a handsome face. The saying is also phrased in the forms "Pretty is as pretty does" and "Beauty is as beauty does."

Forrest's version of the saying means that stupidity is not just a surface thing derived from a person's looks. Stupidity is a matter of deeds, not appearances. Like the other versions, it comes down to this: judge people by what they do, not by how they appear. While the world views Forrest as a simpleton they are unwittingly touched by him and he serves as a mediator and unifying factor to eventually help them redeem a once pitiful, shallow and empty existence.

I am surprised at times how people react to the fact that I express no embarrassment telling them that I believe and follow the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, but admittedly it does. I don’t think people can truly grasp that people have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, rarely do this “blindly” as we are often accused of. I can look you square in the eyes and tell you that no decision or choice I have made in my entire life has received as much thought or attention. I have not spent even one sixteenth the amount of thought or effort making life changing decisions as I have in wrestling and agonizing over should I believe the Gospel message. I did not put nearly as much effort into choosing where to go to college, who I was going to marry, if I would be a father, where I would live or what job I was going to take. That is not to say that I stepped into any of those decisions without thought or even prayer. I am just attempting to impress upon you that I have invested nearly a half a century asking myself is it worth it to follow Jesus and should I continue to do so?

People often attempt to marginalize the decision that others make to accept Jesus Christ as the only means to reconciliation with God. They say that it is a product of your subculture, up bringing, a lack of reason or intelligence and even an outcropping of one’s national heritage. To that I would say; not hardly! Even though I was raised in a Christian home and regularly attended church nobody could force me to listen to what was being said. I had the option of mentally checking out and to be frank I often did. Nobody made me read my Bible and more times then I care to admit I didn’t. And even after I graduated from college and started a family of my own, I clearly had the freedom to go my own way and for a period time I actually did. I didn’t have anyone in my immediate family within a 2 to 3 hour radius of me and I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. But ultimately none of these choices offered me the freedom, joy, peace and satisfaction that the Gospel could. A good job, security and a steady income have never given me what the Gospel offered. I never felt more alive than the day that I placed my faith and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And as I have learned more about Him and His matchless gift of grace and mercy it has given my life a deeper and greater meaning and purpose.

I have made poor choices and suffered the consequences and I have ignored God’s Word to my own detriment. The idea that I am a sinner is not hard for me to accept at all. I know me, I know how I think, I know my motives and I know what I secretly want to say or do sometimes. People can see the exterior of a nice and friendly person but they fortunately cannot see inside my head. They don’t see the times of anger, bitterness, annoyance, frustration, pride or self righteousness. I have no problem accepting the concept of sin and the fact that I have offended God and I need His pardon. I know myself all too well, and a good friend reminds me that deep down inside we all know, we know. The words of John Newton echo in my mind; “...I remember two things -- that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." What truly amazes me is that as I grow in my knowledge of God and His Word these distasteful and sinful aspects of my character lessen over time and how I respond and react have dramatically changed over the years. Older and wiser or mellowing cannot account for the change that has occurred over the course of my life and it is by no means any credit to me, but all credit goes to the author of that change; my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have not drunk any Kool-aid, I am not a member of a cult and I am not saying I have never wavered or doubted. But even when I doubt, or entertain and examine the alternatives to the Gospel all it does is strength my faith and my resolve that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one can come to Father (God) but through Him. I am not embarrassed in that exclusive statement and I say it with conviction and boldness. Truth by it’s very nature is exclusive. Don’t believe it then wrestle and agonize with it yourself. Make your choice but don’t be intellectually or spiritually lazy; Jesus doesn’t give you that option. C.S. Lewis said it well when he penned; "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."

Some want to accuse Christians of adopting our faith as a form of intellectual laziness and maybe in some cases that is true. But I found out very early in life telling a skeptic I believe something because that is what my parents, pastor, church or school said may work in a cloistered environment but it holds no weight in the real world. “If one stakes out an ethical position on any topic, the assumption is that you have to defend it. Quite frankly defending ideas is hard work.”¹ Rather than ignoring the question, embrace it, wrestle with it and consider alternatives to your worldview, but don’t just give up seeking answers. Don’t abdicate the responsibility to others and just accept what they are telling you without doing the heavy lifting for yourself. I have to admit that I have some respect for an atheist because at a minimum he or she is putting a stake in the ground and they have taken a definitive position on the matter. As Teddy Roosevelt once said; “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…”² Get into the arena and wrestle with life’s biggest question; is there a God and if so what does He expect of me?

When Winston Groomed penned stupid is as stupid does he was very close to echoing Psalm 14:1 when David wrote; “The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." Rather than write it off investigate it for yourself. Taste and see that the Lord is good!

"Since Jesus Came into My Heart" by Rufus H. McDaniel

What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I have light in my soul for which long I had sought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!

Since Jesus came into my heart,
Since Jesus came into my heart,
Floods of joy o’er my soul
Like the sea billows roll,
Since Jesus came into my heart.

"It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ. My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt." ~ Fyodor Dostovevski

“You cannot live faithfully in this life unless you are ready for the next.” ~ D.A. Carson

^1”Hidden Worldviews; Eight Cultural Stories that Shape Our Lives” by Steve Wilkins and Mark L Sanford pg 86

²Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

A modern fable

The man Who Would be King: A Modern Fable

"Life was so much different back when I was right all the time." ~ Barry Parham author/satirist

"Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding.” ~ Plato

This week school children across America marked the 107^th birthday of Theodor Geisel who is better know by his nom de plume Dr. Seuss. My mother bought a set of Dr. Seuss books for my siblings and I, and they were a treasured possession that I spent hours reading and re-reading. My wife and I loved the books so much that we bought them for our children and we probably loved reading them to our kids as much as they loved listening. Geisel was and still is beloved by children everywhere and his imaginative characters as well as his creative and mesmerizing artwork are as appealing as his clever rhymes.

Wikipedia states; "Though Geisel made a point of not beginning the writing of his stories with a moral in mind, stating that kids can see a moral coming a mile off, he was not against writing about issues; he said that there's an inherent moral in any story." I have penned my own story this week and I will tip you off that there is a moral at the end. It is a difficult story to write without stepping on toes but the premise seems as whimsical and silly as a Dr. Seuss storyline.

Once upon a time there was a Kingdom ruled and watched over by the wisest and most benevolent King. The King created His Kingdom to perfectly sustain and maintain the lives of His subjects. This King set up a system of laws that He wrote on the heart of Everyman. The Kingdom was fine-tuned and magnificent and reflected the King and all of His glory and splendor. All the King asked of His subjects was to return His love and acknowledge His rightful rule. He asked nothing more but to be respected, honored and loved and in return He would give His subjects joy, peace and blessedness.

In the not too distant past and in a region not so far away there was a village called Gnosis. In this village there was a consortium of deep thinkers who grew tired of honoring the King. They had never personally met the King and started to question His very existence. They chafed at His “rules” and longed to rule themselves. They deeply desired to rise above the commonly held belief that the King was the righteous ruler so they began to question His authority to rule them. They started to question if there was something out there, something bigger than themselves, something that defined our existence and gave meaning and purpose to our lives. Something other than the King.

You see they could not accept the Truth that had been passed down through the ages and written on Everyman’s hearts by the King of the land. They could not possibly accept that Everyman inherently knows the difference between wrong and right or good and bad. The very idea of being responsible for one’s actions was preposterous, let alone being answerable for the act of free will was just too logical or rational to bear. They would not accept the King of the world or the very knowledge that He was the right and sovereign ruler.

One of their philosophers named Hume did not wish to follow the reason the King had blessed Everyman with. He wished to help the towns people rally against the King. Hume told the residents of Gnosis; “Reason is, and only ought to be slave of the passions.” They realized that if they could convince Everyman that there was no King, Gnosis would have no foundation for truth of any kind, moral truth included. In doing so they could indulge in any desire or activity they wanted and not have to answer to anyone but themselves for the consequences of their choices. They could do whatever they wanted! They needed to give their people something to believe in, a “faith” to adhere to, and a “deity” to follow. If they could come up with their own over arching story to rival the King’s then they could take over, then they would be the ones in power.

So they came up with a plan; we must find our own book and our own deity. We will create a god in our own image and follow it. They came up with an idea that they thought would appeal to people. They chose a select group of the most learned men of their society from the clan of science and set them up as their High Priests. The High Priests decided they needed to find something to support their bias against the King and help them accumulate power. So they latched onto a new god named Darwin and refused to let go. They said to themselves; “We must make the King’s Truth appear to be oppressive so the world will not accept or embrace it. We will substitute it with our truth. This will allow us to live life as we see fit and not worry about the consequences. We shall be king!”

So they crowned Darwin their king and his book of theories became their bible. They created a class of high priest from the clan of scientists who proclaimed themselves the wisest in the land and the final arbiters of “truth”. As time went on their disciples grew in number and some rose to great prominence. Darwin was “the father”, Nietzche his devoted son and the spirit lived on in Dawkins. They had their trinity and anyone that questioned their theories or found inconsistencies or problems with their great faith were ridiculed and shouted down in the public square. They continued their assault on the rightful King and strived to make people think that His moral and ethical claims were presumptuous and dangerous, all the while drowning out claims that their lawless rule would wreck people’s lives and bring them low.

Before long their followers grew even more militant. They blindly parroted their high priests and embraced the cult of consensus science. A scientist that was brave enough to question the demagoguery and dogma of Gnosis was demonized and denounced. Dissenters risked being shunned and losing their ability and resources to pursue true discovery. “The theory is still valid” they shouted! “Give us more time and we will prove it to you! We have not plumbed the depths of the idolatry of our minds! Do not question our faith, our creed, our book or our high priests!” They openly scorned and mocked those that would cling to "foolish ideas" and continued allegiance to the King.

I wish this modern fable was not true but sadly it has taken center stage in the world in which we live. If you don’t believe me just grab a Bible and read Romans chapter 1. People who claim to be rational, logical and educated people refuse to consider that their “faith” and “religion” of Neo-Darwinism is just that. True scientific discovery proves time after time how little we still know and how much we have yet to truly comprehend and understand. People that claim that they seek truth do not want to go where the truth may lead. They have invested emotional capital in their “religion” and cannot bear that their “faith” could be called into question.

Society has bought into the lie that science is impartial, unbiased, cold and rational. Yet science is not neutral and there is not always objectivity, and those that do research approach it with both bias and presuppositions. In his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions”, Thomas Kuhns points out that scientific progress is not linear and that scientific researchers accept a normal set of “received beliefs” that guide and bind their investigations into both new and old phenomena. Any idea or paradigm shift that runs contrary to these “received beliefs” such as natural selection, evolutionary theory or the Big Bang must be either ignored or suppressed. They have unwittingly set up a “religion” with the very characteristics and attributes of the one they despise.

Neo-Darwinism’s ugly little secret is that it requires far greater faith and blind allegiance than the Gospel itself. It has exchanged one absolute Truth for another inferior truth. It has substituted and exchanged one perceived bias with a bias of its very own. Rather than just admit sometimes “I don’t know” science gravitates to any and all theories that remove man’s accountability to a Sovereign God. As Kuhn aptly states; “one conceptual worldview is replaced by another.” Science brushes away certain data that is not consistent with their paradigm and simply ignores or refuses to deal with it. This is viewed as an “acceptable level of error”, and falsifying the data to support a theory is not only common place, but an accepted practice. The irony should not be lost on us that Neo-Darwinism is guilty of many of many the baseless accusations it levels at the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Life is not a Dr. Seuss story and we are all faced with the reality of answering life's big question; what will you do with Jesus Christ? If there is one scintilla of evidence or one nagging doubt in your mind that the Origin of Species, the cause of the Big Bang or Evolutionary theory might not be true don’t you owe it to yourself to at a minimum investigate and consider the alternative? The Gospel not only encourages questions and even doubts, but unlike the “religion” of modern science it embraces and welcomes those questions and doubt. If a theist is wrong, what has he or she really lost? They have a faith in the God of the Bible and that faith has brought them peace, joy and a sense of well being. But what if atheism or agnosticism is wrong? What are the ramifications? If there is even a 50/50 chance that you are wrong and there is a Holy and Righteous God that we are all answerable to, what then? Don’t exchange the Truth of God for a lie.

If you are seeking real Truth take this three week challenge, read one chapter a day from the Gospel of John and ask yourself these key questions; who is Jesus Christ and what did He come to do? Or go to your local library and grab a copy of “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis and explore the possibility God is there and He is not silent.

“God is responsible for the FACT of freedom. Man is responsible for his ACTS of freedom.”

"Only in Atheism does the spring rise higher than the source, the effect exist without the cause, life come from a stone, blood from a turnip, a silk purse from a sow’s ear, a Beethoven Symphony or a Bach Fugue from a kitten walking across the keys." ~ James M. Gillis

Not content

"We make time for what we truly value. We build habits and routines around the things that really matter to us. This is an important principle to understand as we seek to build our lives around the gospel. Do you want a cross centered life? A cross centered life is made up of cross centered days." ~ C.J. Mahaney

“The first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ).” ~ Sinclair Ferguson

Every January in the region where I live the Band Directors Association stages regional auditions for high school students. The students are expected to prepare and perform for the judges their musical scales and then sight read a piece of music they are unfamiliar with. The judges rate their performance and if they receive a good enough ranking for their age bracket and instrument the student has the opportunity to play in the regional band and maybe audition for the chance to be named to the All State band. For many high school students this is a mixed blessing, and this is true of my children. They dread the practice time required and they are nervous about performing and doing well, but if they do not play well or don’t make call backs they are disappointed.

Recently I took my son to the regional auditions and like most teenage boys we had to “encourage” him to practice with mixed results. The day of the audition came and he went in and performed his scales and played the piece. I could tell by the look on his face as he walked out the door that he was not pleased with the results. On the drive home he lamented on his performance and of course the parent in me could not resist using this as a “teaching moment”. I proceeded to tell him how in order to get good at any anything it requires practice, commitment and a certain level of personal discipline. We discussed that the things he excels at are those activities he has a passion about. Things that he devotes time and energy to are the things that he tends to master. He recently started to take Karate and he gladly picks up his nunchucks, or he tells me how he practices his kata in his mind to try and memorize the choreographed series of punches, kicks and blocks. He is passionate about Karate as compared to his baritone and the results clearly tell the story.

Mastering anything requires a certain level of passion, discipline and commitment, and these can be “dirty words” for most people, and this phenomenon is not unique or isolated to teenagers. I looked up on the internet how much time experts and researchers believe is required to “master” a skill. According to author, musician, neuro-scientist, Daniel Levitin in his book; "This is Your Brain on Music" (a New York Times best-seller, Plume Printing 2006), an expert or master of any craft is measured by that person practicing their craft for 10,000 hours. Here is how Levitin puts it...“The emerging scientific picture is that 10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Now how long is ten thousand hours? It is equal to roughly 3 hours of practice a day, or twenty hours a week, of practice for ten years. Of course some people never reach mastery, which is not really explainable yet. But, no one has found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.”

If we apply the concept of achieving true mastery to the spiritual realm how exactly are we doing? I am not implying that we can ever truly become “masters” of godliness or achieve spiritual perfection simply through sheer human will power, discipline, passion and personal commitment. But are we even putting forth a valiant effort? Or better put; are we relying on a once a week observance to achieve the desired result? Let’s do the math; if the average Christian attends a weekly worship service and the average sermon lasts for 30 minutes that equates to 1 hour of spiritual nourishment per week. Let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt and say we are attending 50 weeks out of the year. Let’s even be generous and say that we are not mentally checking out of any of those fifty Sundays. That is 50 hours per year divided into ten thousand hours. On that pace it will take us 200 years to put in the time most experts agree it takes to be considered world-class at anything. Even if we doubled or tripled the time commitment we are still going to struggle to achieve anything by our sheer determination and power of our will.

A reoccurring thought in the New Testament is the command that we are to be content with what God has blessed us with, (see Luke 13:4, Phil 4:11, 1 Timothy 6:18 & Heb 13:5). But I am going to go out on a limb here and state that the Bible never calls us to be content with our spiritual growth or in what God has achieved in our life and sanctification. I have yet to meet someone who would articulate the thought that they are content or satisfied with where they are spiritually or in their relationship with God, but sadly it seems that sometimes our actions (or lack thereof) betray what is our heart attitude. I have yet to meet a spiritual prodigy or someone that just instantaneously is a spiritual giant. The bottom line is that the natural man cannot receive the things of God (I Cr 2:14) and in and of ourselves we cannot understand or seek after God, (Rom 3:11). But the questions I constantly need to ask myself are twofold; am I focused on things that really matter in life and what am I truly passionate about? My goals define what I value and if I truly want to grow in godliness then am I committed to my spiritual growth or putting in a half-hearted effort?

We live in an era of quick fixes and we are constantly looking for ways to cut corners to achieve our goals. We have a “sitcom mentality” that we want all of life’s issues and problems resolved and tied up in a neat little bow in 30 minutes or less. Sanctification through the “spiritual microwave” and voilà, presto change-o we are spiritual giants. Don’t ask us to work for it, apply any spiritual sweat or discipline. Give it to us now! Recently my Pastor stated; “Sanctification involves cooperation. Now that we are justified by his grace, we are called to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12).” The question I have to continually ask myself is, “am I cooperating?” Am I working out my salvation? Have I grown complacent or content with my achievement, or am I hungering and thirsting after righteousness , (Matt 5:6), for His name’s sake and His honor and glory?

Our spiritual growth must be gospel driven. We need to focus on these words by Sinclair Ferguson; “The first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The Christians who are most focused on their own spirituality may give the impression of being the most spiritual … but from the New Testament’s point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so exclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about us and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Bible clearly states that we have been given everything we need for a life of godliness, yet we fail to take God up on His gracious offer. Recently I was reading I Peter 1:10-12 and I was struck by a couple of statements. The first is found in verse 10 when Peter talks about the Old Testament prophets who inquired and searched diligently into the grace they prophesized that WE would experience. And then in verse 12 when Peter points out that these are things that the angels long to look into. The thought struck me between the eyes; the O.T. prophets didn’t have the amazing benefit of the complete revelation of Jesus Christ or the total canon of scripture yet they searched diligently or anxiously. And the angels, created beings who cannot fully experience the mercy, grace and blessing of God long to look into these things which we can know! The word long in the Greek (epithymeō) means to covet, desire for, or lust after. Is that how we feel about seeking after God and growing in grace and truth?

Every teacher I have ever met and every parent that I know relishes an enthusiastic and devoted student. God is no different. He is a rewarder of those that will diligently seek Him. The God of all the universe wants to know you and I and be known. He longs to reward us. Don’t be content with the crumbs and come to the banquet table and feast!

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” ~ Philippians 3:9-10