teens

Our Christmas baby is 17 today. It doesn’t seem possible. Much of what is right and good in the world is in the hands of young people such as Kristina. She is a light of our world as she follows the light of the world. An amazing young woman.

Jesus works through those who invite him in. All over the country, I have had the privilege of seeing Christ in the teenagers I meet who have sold out to Jesus. I have so much hope for the future of his Kingdom work. I have to say I am especially prejudiced for the youth in my local church. FLY is the “bomb” or whatever the current vernacular for “outstanding” is. They continue to serve and grow; grow and serve.

You will get a chance to see them in action some day. They will be the ones leading in all arenas of life. They will be the ones who give you hope. If you don’t know them, just look for the ones reaching out with a helping hand. The ones who will marry and raise godly children of their own who will be a powerful influence in their community.

Good luck trying to stop them. I am afraid they have already been infected by the Holy Spirit. The world doesn’t have a cure. My “kids” are going to just keep spreading him around.

Happy Birthday, Kristina. You have no idea the wonders God has in store for you. He works through those whom he can trust. He is extremely busy with you. You see God in action already, but you haven’t seen anything, yet. He’s just warming up.

Going away with the family for the week. I will post again this weekend.

Feast of Stephen

Happy Feast of Stephen’s Day. As in,

Good King Wenceslaus went out
On the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even.

Don’t know if you ever sang this song, but it was a popular Christmas carol when I was a child. In fact, it is one of two melodies I can plink out on the piano. The other being Silent Night. Fascinating fact, no doubt.

Today we remember Stephen, the first person to die as a result of proclaiming Jesus as Lord. Millions have followed, but Stephen has the honor of being first. Read his story in Acts 7:1-8:3.

Let’s pray for persecuted Christians around the world today. Many die unknown to us, but certainly known to the Father.

Here is a thought. To those who persecute Christians for their faith, what are you so worried about if it isn’t true? Your religion or worldview should be more persuasive, should it not? Christians are told to examine the evidence. We are told to examine and compare other worldviews. That’s why the modern university movement was Christian driven. As the Bible says, “Test everything.” (1 Thes. 5:21)

speaking of Dover

Speaking of Dover, Pennsylvania, the day the court decision was handed down, I received an invitation to teach a weekend Why God? Conference in… Dover, Pennsylvania. The high school students will have a chance to explore the amazing wonders of the natural world from the macro to the micro. They will be able to examine the solid evidence for natural selection and ask questions about development that natural selection isn’t equipped to answer.

As I have stated, I don’t agree with having mandated instructions to science teachers to introduce students to some of the aspects of Intelligent Design. I do advocate looking at strengths and challenges to any scientific theory. According to the latest court ruling, this won’t happen in Dover. High School students there will be able to discuss strengths and challenges to Darwinian evolution. It just won’t be in school.

“Mom, can I have some money to go to a conference where I can freely talk about scientific theories? No, it’s not at school. It’s at church….”

Have a blessed Christmas!

Comments on Dover

Intelligent Design advocates didn’t support the way the former Dover Pennsylvania school board went about getting some aspects of Intelligent Design mandated teaching in the classroom. Being taken to court ended up being a good thing in that it showed how weak the support for absolute Darwinism really is today. The evidence presented gave a public forum to distance the attempts by Darwinists to characterize Intelligent Design as six day creationism. Only those who would choose to lie for political purposes will continue this straw man logical fallacy.

Another good result in the ruling is the judge showed clearly that he not only did not understand Design arguments, but he also swallowed Darwinian teaching hook, line, and sinker. The 1950’s heyday of Darwinian thinking is over, and it is not just design people who have figured this out. Other scientists like the structuralists and punctuated equilibrium folks are now being put on notice by this ruling, as well. Don’t even think of questioning anything Darwinian in a science classroom? Good luck. Enjoy the churn in the scientific community as the non- Intelligent Design scientists continue to stand up to the Darwinists.

In the meantime if you want your high school student to have the opportunity to ask questions of Darwinian thinking and have open discussion, you can always get involved here.

spirit and truth

When Jesus was asked by the woman at the well (Why didn’t she give her name? I can’t imagine going through life being called “guy who lives by Pierce College”),

John 4:19-20
19"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

Jesus’ answer gives a clue why Christians weren’t outraged at what happened at the Church of the Nativity.

John 4:21-24
21Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The place of worship is not the essential ingredient; it is worshipping in spirit and truth. We view our “houses of worship” with respect and it is an outrage that the Church of the Nativity was so treated, but ultimately God is worshipped in spirit and truth, regardless of the building.

This brings us to another point. Jesus says God seeks true worshippers. Is it not also an outrage to not worship the one from whom salvation comes? What does Jesus think about those who know him but don’t worship him, or those who don’t know him and don’t seek him?

If he doesn’t care about our worship or he doesn’t care if people seek him or not, then why didn’t he just say,

“Don’t worry ‘woman at the well.’ It’s all good.”

what's the difference?

Antiochus Epiphanies had pigs slaughtered on the altar in the Temple of Jerusalem. As the pig is an unclean animal in Judaism, this is a huge sacrilege. He had idols of Greek gods put up, as well. Again, a direct violation of Jewish law. “No other gods before me” and “no graven images.”

It is interesting how a major festival comes out of defeating a foreign power who trashed a house of worship. Granted this is not just any house of worship. Yet, how different than the reaction of Christians over the desecration of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem by Palestinian terrorists back in 2002. Tradition holds that this church is built on the site of the birthplace of Jesus. Priests and nuns were taken hostage and the church became a “sanctuary” for known terrorists.

Finally, after a negotiated settlement, they left. The church was left in shambles. There will be no major holiday commemorating the cleaning out of the Church of the Nativity and getting rid of the explosives left behind. My guess is you have forgotten about this event, or perhaps weren’t even aware of it.

A holiday commemorated 2100 years later or an already forgotten event three and a half years ago. Why the difference? Chanukah or ? Christians didn’t seem to have a sense of outrage when one of their historic churches is desecrated. I am going to think on this today.

Chanukah

Hanukkah or Chanukah begins on December 25th this year. There will be festivities occurring from the Christian and Jewish communities on the same day!

“Chanukah” is Hebrew for “dedication,” and it commemorates the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated by the Hellenistic Syrians under order of Antiochus Epiphanies in 167 B.C. Led by Judah Maccabee, the Jewish people revolted and defeated the Greeks in 165 B.C. The first order of business was to clean out the Temple of the pagan symbols and desecration that had occurred.

The story from the Jewish commentary, the Talmud, tells of there only being enough special oil to light the lamps of the Temple for one night. That one flask of oil lasted for 8 nights, however, and that is the miracle that is celebrated. The lighting of the 8 candles of the menorah recounts this event.

who is teaching?

I haven’t seen teacher faith affiliation surveys, but if 82% of Americans are self-identified as Christians, then my guess is the majority of public school teachers would identify as Christian. Should they be permitted to teach specific Christian principles in school?

Here is the dilemma. My wife and I are the primary faith nurturers of our children, along with other adult faith mentors from our Christian community. I don’t want public school teachers trying to give them a water-downed version of the gospel. I don’t like it when some of my daughter’s teachers let their political bias loose in the classroom; it is generally an anti-this or anti-that tirade rather than a principled, reasonable, balanced presentation.

Now put Christian faith in the mix. What kind of Christian faith would be taught? Take the role of women, for example. When some Christians teach that a married woman is under the headship of her husband they take that to mean he is always right; the boss of the house, and everyone just has to do what dad says. In my fantasy life would that this were true, but realistically, if marriage isn’t a partnership we are in trouble.

I don’t fret over the fact that some Christians follow this view of marriage, but biblically I would make a far different case for the meaning of the headship of the husband in a Christian home. Now, who is going to teach this to my children in school? I can choose what church I am part of and know what is being taught, but I can’t choose the biblical worldview of the teachers in my children’s classroom.

Christmas thoughts

I heard the latest Gallup poll showing 94% of Americans acknowledge some sort of God. More specifically, most polls show 82% identify themselves as Christian. Judaism (1.3%), Buddhism (.5%), Islam (.5%), and Hindu (.4%) are the next closest religions. With these statistics in mind, let’s reflect on the Christmas season.

You can’t blame businesses for decorating in a non-Christian fashion for Christmas. Happy Holidays and all the rest. Businesses will do just about anything to get you to buy from them in terms of marketing. They aren’t interested in your religious sensibilities; they are interested in turning a profit. So realistically, it must not bother most of the 82% consumer base of self-identified Christians if the businesses are secular. Believe me, you would have the whole Christmas story told in song and word every hour in every store if it actually made a difference in sales. As long as people buy with Santa and snowmen, stores don’t need the Christ Child.

As far as government funded institutions (schools, etc.) go, self-interest is also a logical influence. You could make a strong case for schools to promote a sense of patriotism, not a Christian worldview. Actively promoting the Christian worldview and reaching out in the name of Jesus is the call of Christians and Christian communities. Even with 82% of the population, the type of Christian faith promoted by public institutions would seem too diluted and too strained to make any significant difference. It’s not about political correctness as much as it is lack of effectiveness. Manger scenes and Christmas trees in a country of 82% isn’t far fetched, even for government agencies, but what form of Christianity would you use to get any more specific?

I will give an example tomorrow.

enlighting

A Japanese scientist finds that human hands, foreheads, and the soles of the feet emit detectable light.
(Discover Magazine, Nov. 2005, pg. 9)


29When Moses came down the mountain carrying the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn't aware that his face glowed because he had spoken to the LORD face to face. 30And when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses' face, they were afraid to come near him. (Exodus 34:29-34)

There is a lot of glare coming from my forehead. It has been uncovered since the 80’s. Not by choice, but by allowing nature to take her course, as it were. Yet, fortunately, people are not afraid to come near me.

This light topic is pretty fascinating. It is interesting how much light keeps coming up in the story of God’s people in the Bible. It is interesting how important light is for the whole scientific venture.

The more we learn about light, the more interesting it makes my Bible reading. I am not trying to make a direct correlation between what the ancients wrote and what we are currently discovering. My faith is based on the evidence of the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead and its aftermath. The correlations are not insignificant, though. I will say it is fascinating to see the evidence of nature make my biblical study more intriguing.

light of the world

John 8
12Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life."


Matthew 5
14You are the light of the world--like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see.

Jesus calls himself the light and he calls me the light. It can’t get any clearer than this. He expects me to live my life the way he would live it if he were I. He expects you to live your life as he would live it.

If he has these expectations then he gives the ability. He is not telling us to do something that he doesn’t expect us to be able to do. There is nowhere in scripture where Jesus says, “Do this,” or “Be this,” that he doesn’t expect us to be able to do or be. The creator accomplishes whatever he wants.

“I am the light of the world.”

“You are the light of the world.”

Wow! You aren’t just a student getting ready to take a test today. You aren’t someone getting ready to go to work. You aren’t a “normal” person at all. If you follow Jesus, you are the light of the world.

light

John 1:1-5 (NLT)

1In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make. 4Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. 5The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Gerald Schroeder likes to speak of life coming from light beams. Using Einstein’s theory of special relativity and Louis de Broglie’s wave mechanics, Schroeder points out that matter is condensed energy, hence, light beams.

Now read John 1:1-5 again. The “life gives light.” What does light give? Life?

Ponder on this for awhile.

design is here to stay

The more and more powerful the instruments of investigation the greater the intricacies of design one will see in nature. This has always been a given in the scientific enterprise. What are scientists thinking who are shocked that there is controversy brewing about speculations they have made concerning “random and purposeless” development? How dare anyone question their worldview? It reminds me of the whole “don’t look behind the curtain” Wizard of Oz thing.

More than any other single factor, I think what is really behind a lot of the “don’t look behind the curtain” thought is this. If we are simply a product of our “particles” responding to our environment, then we are not ultimately responsible for our attitudes and actions. If my development is random and purposeless, then so is my life. Then I can live any way I choose. I can do anything I want. There is no right or wrong (except if you don’t agree with me; then you are wrong). Good or evil. There is just protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks and the rest mixing it up and making “me,” me. There appear to be those in positions of power at the university level, who lean in this direction.

If you are a proponent of “physicalism,” the physical is all there is, then you are tempted to ignore contrary evidence, in particular if you hold positions of power in your field. Your thirst for power may trump your insatiable curiosity to further explore the possibilities of the metaphysical. Like anyone else, if scientists are completely honest with themselves, they will go where the evidence leads. Period. It’s not as if a scientist is simply going to say, “It’s too complicated for me. Let’s just forget about it.” Whether we like it or not, design is here to stay.

why hide it?

Gerald Schroeder explains what happens when the Cambrian explosion was first discovered.

The reality of this explosion of life was discovered long before it was revealed. In 1909, Charles D. Walcott, while searching for fossils in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, came upon a strata of shale near the Burgess Pass, rich in that for which he had been seeking., fossils from the era known as the Cambrian. Over the following four years Walcott collected between 60,000 and 80,000 fossils from the Burgess Shale. These fossils contained representatives from every phylum except one of the phyla that exist today. Walcott recorded his findings meticulously in his notebooks. No new phyla ever evolved after the Cambrian explosion. These fossils could have changed the entire concept of evolution from a tree of life to a bush of life. And they did, but not in 1909.

Walcott knew he had discovered something very important. That is why he collected the vast number of samples. But he could not believe that evolution could have occurred in such a burst of life forms, "simultaneously" to use the words of Scientific American. This was totally against the theory of Darwin in which he and his colleagues were steeped. And so Walcott reburied the fossils, all 60,000 of them, this time in the drawers of his laboratory.

Walcott was the director of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. It was not until 1985 that they were rediscovered (in the draws of the Smithsonian). Had Walcott wanted, he could have hired a phalanx of graduate students to work on the fossils. But he chose not to rock the boat of evolution.

Today fossil representatives of the Cambrian era have been found in China, Africa, the British Isles, Sweden, Greenland. The explosion was worldwide. But before it became proper to discuss the extraordinary nature of the explosion, the data were simply not reported. It is a classic example of cognitive dissonance, but an example for which we have all paid a severe price.

It is these kind of stories that help fuel the skepticism towards Darwinian evolution. “Examine the evidence,” is replaced by “Examine the evidence if it fits in with a Darwinian approach.” This is why Schroeder advocates simply teaching the wonders of the complexity of it all and let the student make the physical coming from the non-physical connection.

Where did the non-physical causative agent come from? Acccording to Schroeder, it could be the laws of nature or it could be God. If it is the laws of nature the conversation can continue in a public education science class. If it is God, then the conversion can begin, but it will not be initiated by the teacher. The conversation won’t go that far with the students either. What kind of God? Which God? What do you mean by “God”? You can see why these conversations are best left outside of the classroom. Let’s examine the fascinating evidence and the human aspect of curiosity will kick in. This appears to be Dr. Schroeder’s approach.

fill in the blanks

Gerald Schroeder makes the point that to the debate concerning intelligent design in America is not necessary. He says rather than arguing about how and if a “fish became a frog,” teachers ought to simply focus on the wonders of the natural world. “Young people are smart enough to fill in the blanks of the metaphysical significance,” is how Schroeder put it.

The majority of science teachers in our schools are totally Darwinian evolutionists in their thinking. One would have to make the assumption that they would desire to highlight the utter complexity of the physical universe in all its macro and micro levels. Yes, students would fill in the blanks, but are they getting blanks to fill?

For example, when I speak to high school students in various parts of the country, about the “Cambrian explosion,” where virtually all the body plans for animal life appear suddenly about 530 million years ago, only a few hands go up in any audience. Think about it. Prior to this time in the history of life on earth, there is only evidence of some bacteria, plankton, and algae, then, wham, almost all the architectural structures for animal life at once? Is that a little unsettling?

Yes, unsettling to a Darwinian model of slow, gradual, infinitesimal change over vast periods of time for evolution. The Cambrian explosion has huge implications for a classic Darwinian model. There are evolutionary explanations for how this may have occurred, but there is no agreement on this, whatsoever. There is a lively debate going on in biology about these Cambrian events at this very moment, but it doesn’t appear to even be mentioned in many of our classrooms.

Why?

More tomorrow.

visiting the Chabad

I went to hear Dr. Gerald Schroeder speak last night at the Conejo Jewish Academy, in Agoura Hills. There is something about being asked to wear a yarmulke that just means something special is occurring in this place. Something special did happen. Dr. Schroeder was fascinating.

Gerald Schroeder is one of the key influencers of Antony Flew becoming a former atheist. Flew was the world’s leading spokesperson for atheism and then a year ago (December 9,2004), Flew announced he believed in a God. Not a particular one, but, in Flew’s words, “I'm quite happy to believe in an inoffensive inactive god.” Well, that’s a start!

Schroeder’s book, The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth, was the book that finally persuaded Flew to rethink of his former worldview. For a brief excerpt of this historic announcement, look here.

I will highlight a few of Schroeder’s teachings this week.

why Jesus?

Jesus clearly says he is God and a person needs to trust in him for forgiveness of sin. One example from John 8,

24"That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins."

Jesus calls himself, “I am.” The Jews he is speaking to in this situation from John 8 would know Jesus has just declared himself God, as “I am,” is the sacred name God gives himself.

Again, we see to die in your sins is not saying Jesus-followers don’t sin. It is saying there are two types of people in the world. Those who sin and trust in Jesus to take those sins upon himself and those who don’t trust in Jesus to do this.

God is totally just. God is totally pure. He promises that those who are 100% pure will be in his blessed presence forever when he establishes the new creation for good. Anyone who is not 100% pure can’t be in the direct presence of God. They will be separated from God and his blessings forever. A pure God cannot be directly in contact with the impure. A just God cannot say, “Just forget about the sin.” Someone has to pay for justice to occur.

Jesus is the way out. He takes the sin and destroys it. Only those who want the benefit of that destruction (forgiveness) receive it. It isn’t that forgiveness is not offered to everyone. It is. Once and for all time on the cross. It is just that you don’t have to choose to receive it. You can choose to not trust in Jesus. Then when you die, it will be with the results of your sin remaining on you. This will keep you from living with God forever. You won’t want to and he won’t want you to. He won’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.

Just like in life, you will convince yourself you are right and he is wrong. There is no second chance when you die because you haven’t taken the multitude of chances in this life. After you die it will be no different. Know God or no God. The choice is yours.

blameless?

16"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
18"There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

When we face God at the final judgment, those who get to remain with him are those who are blameless. Those who are perfect. Right away you might say, “No one is perfect.” There is where you would be wrong.

19For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. (Colossians 1:19-23)

Jesus offers to stand in our place. Take our punishment upon himself. We will stand before God perfect.

Now, those who do not trust in Jesus can theoretically be saved. If they can stand before God blameless on their own merit, then they will be able to live in his presence forever. The reality is no person can stand before God perfect. By not trusting in Jesus, he/she has already become the kind of person who cannot want to live with God for eternity. God honors this desire. This is why scripture says, “But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.”

Unbelievers become their own judge. The sentence is handed down before they even stand before God in judgment. The sentence? Separated from God forever. They get their wish. God is so loving that both believer and unbeliever get exactly what they want. The choice is not made by God. The choice is our own.

the day

In a Simpson’s episode where Homer wants to imitate Flanders faith life, Homer keeps a portrait of God on his desk at work. The image shifts as he moves it back and forth. A smiling God turns into an angry God as he moves the picture. As he does this Homer says, “Vengeful God; Loving God.”

Homer reminds us that the God of love is also the God of justice. Completely loving and completely fair. Sin cannot go unpunished. A price must be paid. That payment will become due at the “Day of the Lord.” This is a final time of justice when God brings in his Kingdom for good.

All people will be judged one final time. All people sin. All people will receive justice. So, what will that day be like?

the day of the Lord

2 Peter 3:10-11 (NLT)
10But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be exposed to judgment.
11Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living.

What do we make of such passages? Welcome to the strange world of the apocalypse. “Apocalypse” means, “Revelation,” or “Uncover.” The Bible has much apocalyptic language, writings that speak of events to come that are interpreted literally or metaphorically. The Book of Revelation, is also entitled “The Apocalypse of John,” and is a whole book filled with this type of material.

Revelation is not the only place we see apocalyptic language, as the passage from 2 Peter above indicates. In an example like this, the second coming of Christ is called “the day of the Lord.” This phrase occurs 20 times in the New Living Translation of the Bible. It is a pretty terrifying. This is the most frequent allusion to what God’s judgment of the world will be like. 14 of the 20 mentions are from the Old Testament.

The first time the phrase appears is in Isaiah 13:9.

For see, the day of the LORD is coming--the terrible day of his fury and fierce anger. The land will be destroyed and all the sinners with it.

What exactly is this “day?”

Tomorrow

be ready

Mark 13:32-33 (NLT)  
    "However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. [33] And since you don't know when they will happen, stay alert and keep watch.

Christians have been trying to predict the second coming of Christ since Christ ascended to heaven. Every prediction so far has been wrong. Eventually, someone at sometime will be right.

It isn’t the calculation that is important, it is the preparedness. Are we ready? Water, dry food, batteries, first aid kit and camping equipment are ready for the “big one” in our earthquake country household. But how do you get ready for Jesus?

You live as a disciple. Disciples are always ready. Those who are learning from Jesus and his Word and applying it in their daily lives are as ready as they will ever need to be. No matter what is happening in the world around you, to be ready is as simple as focusing on Jesus.  

Waiting

Waiting is a key ingredient to the Christian faith. The key waiting for Christians is for Jesus to return. This is an essential teaching. The second coming of Christ. There are two types of Christians when it comes to waiting.

1. Try to figure out when he is coming, and serve him in the meantime.


2. Don’t try to figure out when he is coming, and serve him in the meantime.

Neither viewpoint is right or wrong. They are just different waiting. If you are a Christian, which type are you?

I will post on this topic this week.  

Happy Thanksgiving

I am stuffed as it should be. I have spent the day with my immediate family and my parents, who are out visiting. They have gone to bed. The family is watching Survivor, and I snuck into the other room to watch Privileged Planet again.

Thanksgiving doesn’t come any easier. Great food. Shared with loved ones. A God who could put it all together on a planet that is virtually impossible within a universe that is virtually impossible with me commenting on the whole thing.

Virtually impossible.
Highly unlikely.
Not normally the case.
A bit unusual.

Oh, all right, it just happened. Happy Thanksgiving.

getting ready

What do you do to prepare for worship? In ancient Israel when the Jews were going to Jerusalem for a festival, we get a glimpse of what was on David’s mind from the “Songs of Ascent,” Psalms 120-134. These are called “Songs of Ascent” because no matter where you are coming from, you are always going “up” to Jerusalem. These songs were probably sung by travelers (pilgrims) coming to worship.

It wouldn’t be such a strange idea to mimic our ancient ancestors and recite a few of these Psalms as we are preparing. A personal favorite of mine is 121, but all of them get you pumped up.

If you want to literally get pumped up why not get up a little earlier and exercise before worship? Nothing like getting the heart pumping to get the Spirit jumping. Or something to that effect.

Some music might do the trick, as well. Blasting a bit of Third Day or if you want to keep with the Songs of Ascent theme, Matisyahu, is sure to get you going. Anything but, A Day in The Life, “Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head.”    

ready for worship

It can be a physical challenge to get focused on Jesus for worship. Your own body may get in the way. Consider this.

If you worship on Sunday morning, your whole routine is probably different than for the rest of the week. On a weekday, perhaps you have a pattern. If you work, then you get up at a certain time and get ready in a similar way. If you are going to school, it is the same, only you wait until the very last minute. Whatever the case, Sundays don’t come at you the same way.

Then there is Saturday night. Chances are you stayed up later. Maybe you spent the evening with friends. Maybe you went out to dinner. A party of some sort. Whatever the case, not the same bedtime.  If you are a teenager, it’s going to be quite a bit later.

Sunday morning arrives and you are in one of two scenarios. One is if you worship at an earlier service at 8 or 9, and you are tired. Didn’t get to “sleep in.” The other is if you attend a later service, 10, 10:30, or 11, then you may sleep in too long. Either way, you come tired. Maybe even dragging.

You get to church. Late for many of you. The music starts, it is time to worship the living God. Ready? Your mind is saying, “OK, we can do this thing!” Your body is saying, “Should have had another cup of coffee…”

Last weekend, I attended a worship seminar by my friend LeRoy, worship pastor at a local church. He had a great insight about what happens at worship.

When you worship in a church setting, what are you doing? What is on your mind? It may be two things that have little to do with worship.

You are looking around thinking about other people who are there.

You are looking around and thinking about what others are thinking about you.

LeRoy is right on. It is so difficult to do anything that doesn’t have to do with what I think or what others think about me. Is it any wonder Jesus can get through all of this?

There is a question that would be helpful concerning worship. When you are leaving the sanctuary (worship center), ask yourself, “After what just happened, is Jesus thinking, ‘Wow! (Fill in your name) really appreciates me!’”

It is not what I think about you.

It is not what you think about me.

It is what Jesus thinks.

as was his custom

How do we declare God worthy in worship? First of all, we show up.


 16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. (Luke 4:16)

“As was his custom?” Why does God have to worship God? This is not so difficult to understand if you consider God in the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always given each other honor, praise, and adoration in their relationship together. When God becomes man the worship is natural and it is memorable. If Jesus found regular worship essential to his life, we do well to follow his example.

Two immediate observations can be made from the model of Jesus for worship.

First, if you ever ask yourself, “Why should I ‘go to church?” one answer is simple. Jesus considered it normal for his life. For some reason, he found it necessary. Probably a good idea to join him.

Second, If you have ever caught yourself saying, “I didn’t get anything out of the worship today,” think about Jesus. Especially when it comes to the preaching. In one sense, unless he is always doing the preaching for the day, logically, what is a preacher going to say that Jesus would “get anything out of?”

My hunch is Jesus would pray for and encourage the other rabbi’s. If he heard teaching that was not helpful, he could always take care of it in his teachings around town. It wasn’t as much what Jesus got out of worship that was important. It was (and is) what Jesus brings into worship. His presence and his attention.      

worship on the moon

Worship is at the hub of the Christian faith. The word,”worship,” from the Old English weorthscipe, worth + ascribe, gives a good foundation for what is happening. When we worship we ascribe (we declare) God worthy. This occurs in several ways.

Archeological evidence dates human worship from about 24,000 years ago (specific religious artifacts) to 8,000 years ago (earliest sanctuary discovered). A little known fact is that the first human worship on the moon occurred on July 20, 1969.

Buzz Aldrin brought at communion kit with him to the moon. After he and Neil Armstrong landed, Aldrin has this to say.

"Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way."

"In the radio blackout," he wrote later, "I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.' I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute Deke Slayton had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly..." "Eagle's metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements."

no special awards necessary

I get nothing from God if you are influenced by me to become a Christian. There is no reward or bounty. I don’t get any extra “credits” in life blessings. No special “he reached (fill in the number) section” in heaven. Nothing.

I get no special prestige if you come to Christ. There is no thermometer poster in my church with my name on it so you can see how many people I can influence. There are no gold stars.

No, the only thing I receive when I have an impact on you for your faith in Jesus is satisfaction and joy. I will admit I am pleased to have you as a brother or sister in Christ. It is a blessing to me when you are blessed. I will also admit it makes my world a better place to live. Growing disciples of Jesus are people who are getting healthier and healthier. Notice, I didn’t say, “Christians are healthier.” There is a distinct difference between disciple and Christian.

A “disciple” is someone who is learning from Jesus and acting upon that learning. An apprentice. A “Christian” is someone who says they believe in Jesus. A self-identifying label, but not an assumption that one is living what they believe. God’s desire is that all people on earth become disciples. Jesus said it this way.

…go and make disciples of all the nations… (Matthew 28:19)

As we saw in yesterday’s post, the Christian faith is called, “The Way.” This indicates that you are actually following a direction and moving ahead. As more and more people discover that way, don’t be surprised if you aren’t blessed, as well. It is God’s plan.



  

shock- Christians want others to be Christian

In Acts 24-26, Paul is being accused of causing trouble and inciting riots. He is given the opportunity to explain his case to Felix, the Roman governor of the area. Later Festus, the replacement governor, and then Agrippa, the local Jewish king, also hear Paul’s testimony of the difference between his following Jesus, called, “The Way,” and Judaism. When Paul is testifying before King Agrippa, he says,

“King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do-“

Agrippa replies,

“Do you think you can make me a Christian so quickly?”

Paul replies,

“Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”

Christians want people who are not Christian to become Christians. Is that so strange? I don’t know any human being who doesn’t follow this same guideline.

“This is the way I think at my very core. I desire that you would think that way, too.”

Even Baha’i, which is a mixture of many religions, wants people to think Baha’i is correct. I don’t know of any worldview where its adherents don’t think they are right about what they think. Who doesn’t want people to see eye to eye with them?

Veteran's Day

My friend Neil is 92 years old. I was talking to him yesterday and he was speaking of his friends as if it were yesterday. Except these were guys he served with in WWII Pacific Theater. His eyes were glistening as he recalled those days. He used nicknames. He started getting a burst of energy as he continued. Spoke of later years at the American Legion in Fargo, North Dakota and how he misses getting together. Thanks, Neil.

Tuesday at the club, two guys were talking in the Jacuzzi. The subject was off-roading and how they hadn’t done it for years. That got them talking about being in the desert which led to the one guy being stationed for a time in the desert at one of our bases out here in California.

Then they both started talking about Vietnam. Both had served.

“What a complete waste.”

“Many of my buddies were killed.”

“Got spit on by a lady at the airport.”

As is the case when you are in the Jacuzzi, I had license to chime in.

“You both are from California, aren’t you?”

“Ya.”

“I’m from Wisconsin and in my hometown you wouldn’t have been spit on. You would have been respected. That’s what I remember as a teenager when you guys came back.”

Then I asked them if they had read from the recently declassified Soviet documents about the war. How it had thrown the Soviets for a loop in their move to dominate in Asia. Depleted their resources. How many are arguing today that the Vietnam War was a battle period of the wider Cold War and the “end” of the war was in 1989. I asked them to simply look into some of the research. Examine the evidence. It could have been a total waste. Then again, maybe not.

What happened next was interesting. One guy says, “I never thought of it that way before.” The other guy agrees. And their whole demeanor changes.

I finished by saying,

“I could be wrong, but I would take a look for myself. And thanks for what you did.”

Thank you, all of you veterans out there.

Those who are reading this, please thank a vet.

why skepticism?

Skepticism = Intelligence

This formula is a favorite when it comes to considering the Bible. It is a given for me that when someone is really skeptical about the Bible they fall into two camps.

1. They haven’t actually studied the Bible

2. They have studied the Bible, but don’t want to follow the moral guidelines that are summarized within its pages

Rarely do I come across a person whose moral standards are similar to the biblical model, knows the Bible’s content, and is skeptical. When you examine the evidence of the Bible and you are open to following Jesus you quite often become his follower.

There are a variety of events in a person’s life that may draw him/her to Christ. More than any other, of course, are times of crisis. It doesn’t have to be this way. If someone is open to actually being changed in their thinking, then simply examining the evidence in a caring Christian community can be enough.

One such opportunity of learning is an Alpha course.

if I doubt, I am brilliant

In my post from yesterday, I said my guess was everyone in the audience was thinking one way or another of the implications of the latest physics and some of the biblical records. Walking through walls might well be within the realm of physics? Jesus walked through walls, or so it appears (John 20:19). There may be extra spatial dimensions in the universe that we are not aware of? Who could have access to those extra-dimensions if he also happened to have created them?

I must admit I have another hunch. I would guess a large percentage of the audience made the Jesus connection to what was being taught and almost as fast as the speed of light, dismissed this thought. There would be nothing worse on a university campus, Christian or not, than to see any link to Jesus and scientific evidence. The student sitting next to me certainly felt that way.

We had been chatting a bit during the lecture and when it was finished, I said, “It’s kind of interesting he says it is not scientifically impossible to be able to walk through a wall. It seems to me I have heard that story before. The Bible claims Jesus did that.”

His reply, “O, I don’t take that stuff literally.”

I wasn’t asking him if he was a “raving fundamentalist.” I was simply making an observation. So, why the instant dismissal of any Jesus connection? I think a person would instantly dismiss any connection because if I give in to thinking that way about anything, I would have to begin to think seriously about the rest of the stuff in the book!

This is the curse of modern thinking and also why so little of God’s Kingdom life is accessed by people. Dallas Willard addresses this in Hearing God.

Very few people ever develop competence in their prayer life. Why?They are prepared to explain away as coincidences the answers that come to the prayers that they do make. They consider it intelligent to doubt.

As long as I doubt, I am an intellectual.

As long as I am skeptical, I could be brilliant.

I know someone

I attended a lecture at California Lutheran University yesterday. Brian Greene, author of The Fabric of the Cosmos and The Elegant Universe was the guest speaker. Dr. Greene is the science celebrity now, the Carl Sagan of our day. In other words, he’s been on Letterman and Leno.

The talk was hilarious and insightful. Greene makes physics fun. His area of expertise is string theory. I have studied this for a while now, and am fascinated by considering the possibility of extra dimensions existing. Just one example, one of the wild ideas that Greene says in highly unlikely but not impossible is to walk through a wall. I know someone who did that. Someone who can create dimensions and who can operate in no dimension at all. His name is Jesus.

Greene also talked about 20 mathematical equations that explain physics as we know it. These 20 equations are rigorously tested and keep coming up absolutely correct. How can everything in the universe be designed so specifically down to that exact detail? I know someone who is that brilliant. He could formulate equations in such intricacy. His name is Jesus.

Funny how his name didn’t come up in the Q and A of a Christian University crowd. That’s OK. It was a science lecture and not a philosophy class. The evidence was clearly stated. Showing the possibilities of amazing design on the cosmic scale and the quantum scale was quite enough. My hunch is everyone in the audience some way or another was thinking the same thing. This stuff sounds awfully familiar. Could the one who put this all together be…God?

  

Salem Witch Trials

My daughter is studying The Crucible for English class. This play by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem Witch Trials. In his introduction to the play Miller says this:

However, I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history.

Most awful chapter?? Let’s get this straight. Miller attended a few Communist Party meetings as a younger man and even spoke at these events. So, he had to know something of Stalin’s forced starvation of his own people in Georgia. An estimated 6 million were killed. Now how many people were executed as a result of the Salem Witch Trials?

2000
200
Let’s try 20. 5 more died in prison.

Wow! 25 to 6,000,000. That’s terrible.

Yes, the witch trials were ridiculous, but let’s get real.

Obviously, people hold people who call themselves “Christians” to a higher standard than anyone else because either consciously or subconsciously, they know Christians have high standards. That’s also when people want to speak of “Christian” atrocity they often end up at the Crusades. 1000 years ago. I can give you a more current atrocity. The fact that I know Jesus intimately and yet can still lash out in anger, on occasion.

  

more post Halloween

I heard from my friend Don on my blog from yesterday. I think I have discovered a whole new topic for a blog site. Stories from growing up the child of a funeral director! Come to think of it, there probably is one already! Enjoy Don’s response.

Halloween was a cool time when we lived next to the funeral home. We had a circular driveway that went in front of our house and exited at the front of the chapel (the hearse could be loaded prior to the drive to the cemetery just beyond our front door). At any rate, the three Meyer kids would convince our doubting parents that THIS year would be different on Halloween. We assured them that we had invited all of the neighbor kids who lived in "normal" homes down the block that it was safe to come to our front door at night. We sold our parents on the notion that they should stock up on lots of candy for the Trick or Treaters.

Of course the three of us were lying through our teeth. No self respecting kid goes to the front door of the residence on the property of a funeral home at ANY time, let alone Halloween. No one came. They never came. We were left with loads of uneaten candy. And each successive year we would plead our case that kids would come on Halloween. Lies, all lies. But, our parents (bless their souls!) would relent each year and each year we put our teeth and blood sugar count in danger.

I’m just lucky I'm not a diabetic thanks to the excessive candy from Halloween!

post-Halloween musings

Is it just me or was Halloween a bit of a bust this year? It didn’t seem like nearly as many people decorated their houses or any mad advertising campaigns and such. Maybe I’m just not getting out much. I didn’t get to see “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” either (Are they still showing Charlie Brown?).

I’m not complaining, as Halloween has always been a bit bizarre for me since adults started getting into the act. When I was a child, I can’t imagine my mom and dad going to a Halloween party dressed up, let alone trying to do that myself as a teenager. Probably would have been beat up if I showed up in a costume at my high school.

The gory and scary stuff of Halloween is no longer compelling, as everything one could possibly do to a human has already been done on CSI. I do have to admit though, there are some cool things you can do with movie makeup. Our boys were eerily realistic with a skull face on one and a railroad spike sticking out of his head for the other. A friend who works for Disney did the special effects honors. It was awesome and awful. I have no idea what the symbolism all means in their case, but our family does go back to the 19th century in the funeral business. Perhaps we’re just weird. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.

response 15

• My family is Jewish (or Moslem). They would disown me and never talk to me again if I ever became a Christian. It would break my grandma’s heart.

I do not take this lightly. Living in Los Angeles, I know Jews and Muslims who have become Christian. In normal circumstances, when you fully acknowledge Jesus as your Savior, it brings about a change in your life. This is not without hardship. Friends may shun you. Family members might think you are strange. Life goes on.

In the case of Jews and Muslims, it can bring about more than just family crisis. With some Jews and Muslims, mothers and fathers refuse to talk to their children who have come to Christ. In cases of strict Islam, Muslim immigrants from countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran may never be able to return to their homeland. It is one thing to have trust in Jesus and your friends think you are kind of weird. It is another thing to be treated as if you no longer existed. Jesus knew the stakes.

Luke 12:51-53 (NLT)  
    Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division! [52] From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or the other way around. [53] There will be a division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."
What is the answer? If you have been reached by Jesus you don’t have a choice. He is your Lord as well as your Savior. You follow him, paying a dear price. It is worth it because of the paid he price. You can’t control what others might think, but you can keep your eyes on him.

response 14

• How could I be a Christian? The things I have done in my life are awful. Jesus might be OK for naïve nice people and little old ladies, but the walls would cave in if I ever stepped foot in a church! I sit in the back if I ever go to a wedding or a funeral.

The very core of relationship with Jesus is he makes it possible through forgiveness of sin. The very last thing that should get in the way of developing that connection with him would be thinking you were unforgivable.

One of the great things about the Bible is tells the story of God’s people in an honest way. The models of faith lifted up are not without their “sorted” past. Far from it.

Take David, for instance. Throughout his life he struggles with egregious sin but his relationship with God remains. What do you have in your past that makes your being forgiven and restored by Jesus impossible? A couple of examples.

David
Adultery
Accessory to murder

You
?

If you are avoiding coming to Jesus because of your sin, then you are not being honest about being open to him, or you are unfamiliar with how it works with him. Forgiveness of sin and new life are the essence of what it means to be a Chirstian.

response 13

• Christians are so wimpy. Turn the other cheek? Love your enemy? If you let people walk all over you then you are not being healthy, you are being codependent.

Let’s think about this carefully. First of all, what do these concepts about “loving your enemy” and “turning the other cheek” mean? Here are the pertinent Bible verses.

Matthew 5:38-39; 43-44 (NLT)  
    "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it. If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.' [39] But I say, don't resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too.

    [43] "You have heard that the law of Moses says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. [44] But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!

These verses occur within the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is describing what life looks like for an individual follower of Jesus. It is a process, beginning with dealing with anger. Jesus addresses anger, contempt, lust, divorce, and verbal manipulation before he gets to “turn the other cheek” and “love your enemy.”

These descriptions of life in the Kingdom of God now are in the specific order they are on purpose, according to Dallas Willard. I become the kind of person who can respond to these situations as Jesus would respond if he were me. You don’t just instantly begin to love your enemy until you learn to deal with anger and contempt, for instance.

The Sermon on the Mount deals with the individual Christian. This is not a prescription for how the church community automatically acts, and is certainly not a description of how society is to act. Without the transformational power of Jesus in your life, it is not possible to live like this in a healthy way. God gives government to protect. It is not the Christian’s place to legislate to empty all prisons and to disband the military.

As it is up to me individually, I can become the kind of person who voluntarily will not take revenge or retaliate against someone who has wronged me. To be merciful by choice is not being a wimp, it is being in control of my actions.

As far as when someone else is wronged, I will take the appropriate steps to defend the innocent and seek justice. One can work against the evil actions of others without employing a life of revenge. Justice is not retaliation.

To “love” my enemy is to want what God wants for them. God wants us to repent and take responsibility for our sin. If my enemy is filled with hate, I want them to repent and transformed by Jesus. This has nothing to do with a warm, fuzzy feeling toward them. For instance, when militant Islamists strike out in hatred and kill innocent people on purpose, I may experience a sadness of the type of warped teaching they received from their parents and others as children that would result in such evil behavior. This doesn’t mean I excuse them.  

There isn’t a human being on the planet earth who hasn’t dealt with garbage and injustice in their lives. Yet, the vast majority of us don’t strike out with the evil intent of trying to kill the innocent in order to further our cause. This evil is based on bad thinking and the willingness to act upon the bad thinking.

I am not filled with hatred for the militant Islamist. I pray they will see the error of their ways and be transformed by Jesus. I also pray that  justice will be done.

response 12

• There is so much hatred done in the world in the name of religion. Christianity is no different. Why should I follow any religion that divides people into two groups: those who are in and those who are out? We would be much better off if we all just thought for ourselves. Go with your heart and realize everyone has part of the truth.

There are only two questions you ask of a faith if you are judging it’s comparison to reality and its ethical content.  

1. By what authority?


2. Who is the model?

For example, Islam is to be judged by what the Q’uran says and the model of Muhammad. Muslims are instructed from the Q’uran and called to follow the model of Muhammed. If you want to understand Islam, read the Q’uran and study the history of Muhammed’s life.  

In the Christian faith the authority is the Bible and the model is Jesus. Any actions someone who calls himself a “Christian” takes, must follow these two criteria.

There is no hatred in Christian doctrine or the model of Jesus for people who disagree with the message. A faith and leader who says “Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you” isn’t likely to provoke strong action against someone who doesn’t share your faith. Not if you follow Jesus and scripture.  

Only those who follow Jesus are Christian. What is done in the “name of Jesus,” is only valid if it follows scripture and his model. When it comes to dividing people into whose in and whose out, this is God’s domain. Christians are to love all people no matter what. When we share the good news of Jesus and it is rejected we are called to keep loving, but move on to others who may be more receptive with our message of hope.

As far as following your own heart goes, I have seen people who live responding to their own human nature. It can get awfully ugly. I am going to bet on Jesus and the Bible every time.

response 11

• I think it is wonderful that other people are Christian. If their faith helps them get by, that’s great. I have too many questions about the Bible and what Christians believe. I would not be welcome with so much doubt.

Repentance is honestly confessing I turn away from God and his ways. It is acknowledging my way doesn’t work and I am on a path to destruction without Jesus. I desperately need his help.

Who needs to repent? I do, and so do you. As C.S. Lewis once said, (I paraphrase) ‘The average human being can be so godlike that you are tempted to worship him/her, and at other times closer to the Devil of hell.’

It is not just “nice” to follow Jesus, it is absolutely essential.

As far as the questions go, most are just because you have never done a careful, straight forward, deep reading of the Bible and you haven’t examined the evidence concerning Jesus. A thorough understanding of what the various groups of Christians actually think would be helpful, as well. Questions are always welcome, but the Christian community will expect you to do your homework.

• I really do think Jesus could be God. I see how Christians are always the ones trying to help other people. I am not naïve. I know the media bias about Christians is just for effect. I have seen how much Christians can love. My real problem is this. How do I admit that I have been wrong all these years and this Jesus stuff is real?

The first great sin that is overcome when you begin a relationship with Jesus is the sin of pride. To follow Christ is to realize I am wrong about just about everything when I rely on me. It’s OK to admit you are wrong about Jesus. It doesn’t bother him. He is thrilled you have opened yourself to his love. This opening begins with pure honesty.

responnse 10

• I don’t want to open myself up to be changed. My life is fairly comfortable right now. What if I get caught up in the whole Jesus thing? I am frightened of what might become of me. What will my friends think? There are just too many unknowns.

This is a difficult situation to face. It sounds like things are going pretty well for you. You are not like many people who became Christian as the result of some crisis in their lives. At the same time, it sounds like you are leaning toward thinking Jesus might really be Lord. If you are content in your life, though, why add something with the potential of really mixing things up? Two reasons.

First, if Jesus is God, then he deserves your worship and obedience. If he is who he says he is, then the things he says are true. He says you must be in relationship with him in order to live with him forever. You have to trust in him now. There is no getting around this basic fact.

Second, until you open yourself to experience trust in Jesus, you won’t experience him. The joy and full life he has designed you for is not yours unless you want it. Without Jesus, you will never be who you are intended to be. There will be times in your life when you will know to the depths of who you are that there is something missing. That something is Jesus. A “Jesusless” life is the ultimate lost opportunity.

response 9

Now the reasons are not about belief in Jesus as much as trust in Jesus.

• I believe in Jesus, I just don’t think you have to go to church. I pray and I think about Jesus some time. I try to live a good life. I know what I believe. It is between me and God.

Praying, thinking about Jesus, and trying to live a good life can all be done by non-Christians. To be a Christian is to be connected to the Body of Christ, the Church. Why would a Christian not participate in a church community?

If you are agoraphobic, going to church community events might be a challenge. Also if you are homebound due to illness or physical challenge. In these cases, a caring church community will come to you. Stephen Ministry is an excellent example of this.

What about your work schedule. If you can’t come to worship on Sundays because you work, there are plenty of churches who also worship on Wednesday or Saturday evening. There are also other church events during the week.

Why participate? Following Jesus means encouraging others. It is difficult to do this without being in relationships. Following Jesus means serving others. It is difficult to do this without being in relationships. Following Jesus means coming together in worship as a united community with Jesus in the middle. Going it alone is absolutely unheard of in Scripture. There is no precedent.

Probably the most important reason to be involved in a church community is you have no accountability on your own. You develop a faith based on your own thinking and desires. It is easy to stray from a normal, straightforward biblical view of living out your faith when there is no teaching to call you into question. Participating in worship and study with other Christians can keep you honest.  

response 8

• 
  I know Christians. They go to church on Sunday, but they don’t live like they believe it on Monday. They gossip and curse. I have seen Christians get wasted at parties. They fight with their spouse and kids. I thought you were supposed to be different if you are a Christian? They act like everybody else if you ask me. At least I don’t pretend like I am something I am not.
  
  Growing as a disciple is a process. You don't instantly become a completely together person once you become a Christian. Most Christians don't try to pretend we are something we are not. We realize we are sinful people in need of forgiveness. The Christian life is a constant challenge to yield more and more of ourselves and our choices to God's way.
  
  The more "holier than thou" attitude a Christian has the less likely they have their act together. Connecting with Jesus brings about life transformation and at the heart of transformation is humility.
  I do think it is fair to compare people's behavior to the faith they claim to follow. Yet, don't use some people's behavior as a sole reason not to explore the Christian faith. Jesus and the Bible do not make claims that we are better than other people. In fact, the Bible says directly,
  
  Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. (Philippians 2:3)
  
  Another fair question to ask is, "Why are so many Christians so caring and gracious?"

response 7

• Related to expectations, I like to think for myself. Christians are not very bright. They think the universe was created in 6 days and is only 10,000 years old. How could I have intellectual integrity and believe in something like that?Christians follow the Bible like it’s, well, the Bible or something. I would have to say I believe in a book that is full of contradictions. A book that is filled with violence and hatred towards anyone who is not a Christian.We have evolved so far as human beings that what they wrote thousands of years ago can’t have any real relevance today. They don’t know what we know now.

The idea of a 6- 24 hour day creation is not the center of the Christian faith. The physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central event. There are plenty of Christians who are PHD scientists who make connections between the biblical creation accounts and use accurate scientific method. Probably the most prominent organization is Reasons to Believe. Most Christians who are scientists would have a modified view of creation called “theistic evolution.” They claim God created the universe and he set within it the natural means to continue the creation. Neither viewpoint has a “6-day” creation theory in place.

Whether the Bible has contradictions or not, it is not the main claim of the Christian faith. Jesus is God and he was physically resurrected from the dead is the absolute. Now, I don’t find contradictions in the Bible if you actually mean “contradiction.”

Contradiction- Two statements are given in the same context.
One is true and the other is false.

There are differences expressed by different authors reporting on events, but these are not contradictions. Yet, even if the Bible were filled with contradictions, Christian faith is based on the resurrection, not the veracity of the rest of scripture, and so these so called “contradictions” would be meaningless to the central tenant of the faith.

If you think God commands believers to kill unbelievers you simply haven’t actually read the book. It is quite the opposite. From the Old Testament caring for the alien in your midst to the New Testament’s “love your enemy,” the message of the Bible is to reach out to those who disagree with you.

If the Christian claim that Jesus is the source of inspiration behind the writing of the Bible is accurate, then one who is not limited to our space/ time dimensions is quite capable of making sure that everything he desires to be accomplished by his Word will be, regardless of the generation reading it. A simple, but thorough, reading of the Bible will reveal the remarkable consistency of insight into human thought and actions which is not limited by time.  

response 6

Responses to people’s objections for being a Christian

• Expectations. I don’t want anyone to expect anything from me. If I was a Christian, then other people would expect me to act a certain way or think a certain way. I don’t want to be placed in any category. I am a complex person.Also, I don’t want to be expected to give money to a church. If I am supposed to give, what is it, 10% of my income to the church, what am I going to be left with? I already give a ton of money to taxes. How do I know what they are going to do with my money anyway?

This is more an objection to being part of a Christian community. If I join a church there will be things people expect from me. What does this mean? If it means I am expected to trust in certain basic teachings of Jesus as recorded in the Bible and follow them then that is a reality. If it means we all have to try to think the same thoughts, that is not possible and our goal is to have the mind of Christ, anyway. Would that we would grow to think more and more as he would think if he were us.

If this means we have to act the same would that it were more so. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we acted identically in areas such as (all biblical examples):

1. “outdo one another in honoring the other”


2. “think of others as better than yourself”


3. “as it possible for you, live in peace”


4. “tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

As far as tithing goes, it is a spiritual growth tool, not some kind of money making scam. If God wants his mission funded, he gets it funded. He doesn’t need a dime from us. He calls on Christians to tithe to teach them about getting too obsessed about something that is not theirs in the first place. People worry about money. Worry is a lack of trust. God wants trust. He builds in a mechanism to help us make progress in trust.

response 5

Another response

• Being Christian isn’t cool. The Dali Lama is cool and so Buddhism is definitely an option. Madonna is cool and so I might dabble in the Kabala. Anything Native American is cool so vision quests and dances and those awesome flute CD’s may be just the ticket.

There are two things you will notice about the various spiritual practices which appear to attract many (especially young people) today. One is they are very mystical and mysterious. They deal with lots of time of quiet and meditation. There is an emphasis on gaining wisdom in a secret way.

The second thing you will notice is the spiritual practices are highly individual. There is no one calling you into question or holding you accountable to reach out and give your life for the sake of others. When you dabble in these “cool” spiritualities what ends up happening is you just design your own faith around your own desires. It isn’t how they are actually meant to be practiced; it just becomes the way they are practiced.

With Christians, a relationship with Jesus is always formed under the authority of the Bible. Healthy Christians live out their faith life from within Christian communities and the faith itself is not following what we want but what Jesus wants. This is not mysterious. What he wants is quite clear from the Bible.

It is also important to know that there is a rich tradition of mysticism within the Christian tradition. For example, the practices of silence and solitude can be crucial to developing as a disciple of Jesus. One of the common mistakes that people make is to talk about “Eastern” religions and not realize the Christian faith is “Eastern,” as well. Meditative prayer, fasting, going off for times of renewal and retreat have all been around in the Christian camp since the beginning.

Even mystical writings by such Christians as Madam Guyon provide a rich background for those who are fed spiritually in contemplative ways. There is also a long a long history in contemplative worship such as Taize.

There is no lack of mystical elements to the Christian faith. However this is coupled with a reasonability based upon evidence that makes trusting in Jesus and his mission so compelling.
  

response to why I wouldn't be a Christian 4

Another response to reasons people give for not being a Christian.

• I don’t want to appear politically incorrect. How can I say Jesus is the way to salvation when there are so many other good people who don’t believe this? It is easier for me to just not deal with the whole “Jesus saves” thing and have a salad bar instead.I can have a little Jesus, a little Buddhism, maybe some Hinduism on the side. I can make sure I keep my no-God options open with some statements about Darwinian evolution mechanisms. If I can get a pair of Vans custom made, why not religion?The great thing about this potpourri is I don’t have anyone calling me into question. I am on my own. There is nothing better in an independent culture like ours.

You can’t actually follow Jesus and follow other religious practices. There are basics that contradict.  

Either there is a God or there is not. There goes many forms of Buddhism which have no God at all.

Either Jesus is God or he is not. There goes Hinduism with its endless lineup of gods, and Islam which says it is blasphemy to say, “Jesus is God.”  

Either we are restored in our relationship to God through Jesus or we are not. There goes Judaism where we are restored through the law and Jesus is not the Messiah.

Either God created the universe or not. There goes Darwinian evolution which has no working model for the origin of the universe or the origin of life, but either says, “We just don’t know, yet,” or posits unsupported philosophies about these basic foundations.

The list goes on. If I say, “Jesus is the way,” and you say, “Jesus is not the way,” then the issue is not sensitivity, it is making competing truth claims. Either Jesus is God or he is not. I can’t pretend that he isn’t. I can just invite you to honestly examine the evidence along with me.