"Oh Give Thanks To The Lord"

Oh, give thanks to the LORD for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy say so.  Psalm 107:1, 2

You don’t have to hang around my friend, Dennis Jernigan, very long to realize that this is probably in his top ten of favorite Bible passages. So I wasn’t surprised when he gave us this passage as our homework two weeks ago.

Now, I will be the first to admit that when I think of an in-depth Bible study Psalms is one of the last books I turn to. I mean, after all, its songs, right? How much analysis does a song really need? Either it speaks truth or doesn’t, case closed. And these verses seem pretty straight forward to me. So with a barely suppressed eye-roll, I dove in – more out of obligation than enthusiasm.   

But guess what? It seems I had a thing or two to learn after all. (Don’t make me start naming names of people who need to stop being so smug. I can feel your smirks through the computer, and you don’t know it all either.)

First of all, we were asked to look up the writer and the circumstance that lead to the writing of this particular Psalm. Easy enough, right? Wrong. Unlike many of the Psalms there is no intro included for this one, and if you go to the popular commentary sites you are going to find something that has run amuck in Biblical scholarship – the attempt to suppress anything prophetic within the Scriptures. Most sites are going to tell you that this was written sometime after the return of Babylonian exiles to the land of Israel. However, there is a major flaw in this argument, and if you take the Bible as a reliable source of history you have to dismiss what all the cool kids are saying and go by what is in the Word.

Which leads us to 1 Chronicles 16. I won’t type it all out here, but if you go and read it yourself (which I always recommend) you will find that David has just recovered the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines. The man is stoked. He is dancing in what is roughly the ancient equivalent of his tighty-whites, he has offered up sacrifices to God, and he is dishing up some sweet raisin cakes for the ladies. If this wasn’t enough, he decides that old tunes just aren’t going to cut it anymore and he commissions Asaph and his kinsmen to write up some new songs – the first of which is recorded right there in 1 Chronicles 16.

If you take some time and do some deep reading the first thing you are going to discover is this is a medley of Psalm 96, 105, 106, and 107. The Psalms and the passage from Chronicles share verses that are similar and some that are verbatim. Time and space prohibit me from going over them all, but let’s just look at one verse:

O, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Ring a bell?

So why is this important? I am so glad you asked. The reason is that it shows us the magnitude and greatness of Scripture. This Psalm was written in celebration. The Ark of the Covenant was home! The importance of this cannot be overstated. God’s presence was manifest over the Ark as he led them through the wilderness, the tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments were inside of it, Aaron’s rod, and a pot of manna – all the things that reminded them of God’s redeeming power demonstrated in the Exodus from Egypt and in the birth of their nation.

Yet, even as they sang these songs in the time of their joy, it would function as a prophetic word for the time to come. When Babylon swept in and stole, not only the Ark of the Covenant, but the people of the Covenant. God’s true treasure on this earth, and where he desires to be most manifest, in the hearts and lives of his people. It was in remembering God’s promises that the people found the courage and strength to keep going and to cling to their identity in a foreign land. They would sing these songs in their homes, over themselves, and each other reminding them of what God had done in the past and would do in the future.

For us there is an incredible lesson in this. As believers, we live in a land where we don’t belong. We may not even know what our true home looks like, we just know that it isn’t here. Everyone around us wants us to forget, to just give up and fit in. No more fights about abortion, homosexuality, and transgender bathrooms. No more squabbles over red cups, pagan holidays, and legalized marijuana. Life would be easier, simpler if we just forgot who we were and what we believe.

But to do that we would have to forget the God who redeems, the God who delivers, and the God who never forgot we are his. So how do we remember him? How do we remember who we are? We proclaim it, even when we can’t see it. We sing the songs of truth, of his promises fulfilled in the past with faith that we will see them in our future. We have been redeemed once as we stepped into relationship with him, and we will be redeemed again out of this exile in a strange land. So until then don’t stop singing, don’t let anyone steal the truth of your song, and sing for those who have yet to hear the music of his love so that they may know the truth.  

Reader Question: A Look At the Devil

Question 1: Why is the devil portrayed as an ugly twisted red thing with fangs and horn when he is said to be the most beautiful angel of all Do you have any idea where the (relatively) modern version of him came from?

There is no straight path to the answer, and most of what we think we know is based on probable leaps of logic by those long dead. I think that unless further evidence is found, the best anyone can offer is conjecture. However, having acknowledged that, the conjecture is based on ideas and concepts accepted by most scholars to be historically accurate.

Let’s begin by looking at the role of goats in Judeo-Christian thought.

They have a rather mixed role within both religions. Goats were considered to be “clean” under Levitical law and therefore an accepted part of the Jewish diet and an acceptable sacrifice. It was a ram that Abraham found in the thorn bush when he was released from the command to sacrifice his son, Isaac. (Genesis 22).

Despite all these good things, we also find the goat present in the story of Jacob and Esau where the goat skins become a means of deception. (Genesis 25). Jesus declares there will be a time when the sheep will be separated from the goats in reference to judgement. (Matthew 25:32). But the most damning element is found in Leviticus 16:8-10, in a puzzling ritual sacrifice in which two goats are chosen for sacrifice and then the priests casts lots for which one shall be offered up on the altar and which one shall become a “scapegoat”. The scapegoat is released, symbolically carrying the sins of the people out into the desert to a demon or fallen angel known as Azazel.

The Bible offers no explanation as to who Azazel is, but his story is recorded in an extra-Biblical work called “The Book of Enoch” which tells us that “the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.” (1 Enoch 10:8) Many Biblical scholars believe that Satan, and Azazel are all the same entity as the description of each one is mirrored in the others. Additionally, Satan is not strictly a name, despite how it has been commonly used, and is more accurately a title meaning “accuser.” (This is where I will spare you the long theological debate about on how many satans there are and if or why they may or may not be different.) The point is Azazel predates any concept of Satan, and he has always been closely linked with the goat.

A key aspect of Azazel’s story, as told in the Book of Enoch, is that he was the leader of a group of angels known as the Watchers who came to earth and raped human women, giving birth to what were called the Nephilim. It was for this sin that Azazel and all the angels who followed him were condemned.

And we should also bear in mind that the Levitical law was given directly after the Exodus. In Egyptian culture the goat was also sacred – the point that it was not sacrificed. (Think Hindu cows.) In fact, Moses original request to Pharaoh was to release the people of Israel so that they might sacrifice to God in the desert away from the Egyptians who would be offended by the slaughter of their sacred animal.

In Egypt the Goat of Mendes was linked to fertility and some of the rites performed were even said to be sexual as recorded by Herodotus.  This goat god was later absorbed by the Greeks to become the god Pan. Pan would be known for his love of drinking, food, and women and would be worshipped by excessive consumption of all three just as Banebdjetet was.

Skip ahead a few millennium or so, and we have Christianity on the scene. A new religion with deep roots in Judaism and attempting to make a place for itself among the many religions practiced in the Roman Empire. Believing that all gods, apart from the Hebrew God, were demonic being masquerading as the truly Divine the imagery of the Greek/Roman gods was used to depict any spiritual entity in opposition or perceived competition with the Hebrew God.

Additionally, Pan’s mythology shared in several of aspects associated with Satan/Azazel. Pan was deceptive, a glutton, loved to drink, was a talented musician, and was basically the personification of lust. Combine that with the fact he was goat-man creature and that his image was everywhere, and you have the easiest target in the world. Particularly, if you are have two fold agenda:

1. Convince people that the pagan gods are abhorrent by equating them with pure evil. So the most popular god becomes Satan.

2. Strike fear into the hearts of your followers by portraying your enemy as something disgusting so that they will not be tempted to give into temptation. So Satan becomes ugly in the image of Pan.

Personally, I think as Christians we shot ourselves in the foot with this seemingly brilliant move. For while I do believe that there are demonic forces that masquerade as gods demanding to be worshipped, we have allowed the world to believe something that is counter to the teachings of Scripture. Satan is not ugly - the Bible teaches us this. He is beautiful and seductive in his beauty, but no one is on guard against beauty. We are all waiting for the man in red pajamas to scare us because we think we know that this has to be what evil looks like. We have based our ideas about God and Satan on movies, not Scripture. We have accepted superstition, folk lore, and Hollywood scripts as theology instead digging into our sacred text, and in doing so allowed offered up a lie to the world instead of the truth we were entrusted to share.

Speaking of red, I almost forgot. I could find no ancient sources that gave me any indication of color. So I will offer my speculation. Red has long been associated with passion, lust, and fire. Plus, it looks good on film and producers needed to dress up their characters in ways that immediately conveyed who and what this person was to embody. If I had to guess where the red came from, that would be it, but I am open to correction.

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"How Could Such An Intelligent Person Believe That?"

I am often asked why “such an intelligent person” would allow my life to be dictated by such an archaic book as the Bible. The implication being that to do so is a stupid choice or, worse, I am stupid for making that choice. Now, this the point in the conversation where most Christian do one of two things: they become offended and say some rather rude things about the questioner, or they start quoting Scripture at the questioner, appealing to the Bible’s declarations of authority.

The flaw with first approach should be self-evident, but in case you need a refresher, calling people names, casting aspersions on their intelligence or character, or more simply failing to be gracious is not in keeping with the dictates of Scripture. Furthermore, you have revealed your own hypocrisy and lack of faith by seeking the validation of another’s agreement. So just don’t, okay?

The second approach is also flawed, because it ignores the one basic fact that would lead to such a conversation in the first place – the Bible is not authoritative to anyone who does not believe in it.
Allow me to break this down for you: If you do not accept that Bible is a holy and inspired work, you have no reason to accept any of its claims, including the right to be seen as holy and inspired.

However, there is a third option. It is a much harder and demanding option, but it places the demands of Scripture above our own flawed thinking. This is three step approach, and it cannot be something that you do in the heat of an argument. Waiting until someone challenges you on the authority of Scripture to apply this method is too late, and it will not work.

First step: Live like you believe that Bible really is the divine decrees of God. I am not going to try and make a list of what this should look like. To do so would require far more time and space than I suspect you allowed for reading this blog, but it brings us to the…

Second step: Study your Bible, and I mean really study your Bible. I am not talking about doing a daily devotional. Devotionals all fine and dandy, but most of them were designed to make you feel good about your faith. They were created to be soothing to your ragged nerves and fragile egos, but real Bible study confronts and challenges us. It is does not allow us to pass over the unnerving bits of Scripture and forces us to ask ourselves, what do we truly believe? Are we comfortable with the God who demanded that Abraham place his son on that altar? How about the God who killed the first born of Egypt or demanded the deaths of entire nations, right down to the last child? What about a God who condemns his own son to a bloody death?

Real Bible study will not let us get by with only focusing on the happy verses. And happy verses alone do not demand maturity or growth, they let us remain spiritual babies who can only live like we believe the Bible is true in the good times. By finding God in those troubling verses of the Bible, we learn how to find him in the troubling places of our lives, those places where the world needs to see him the most.

Third step: Share the awe.

There is something amazing that happens when you dig into the word and find God’s fingerprints upon the pages. A sense of awe rises up and leaves you in wonder of the revelation and artistry of this book. It is a feeling that does not have to be conjured up or whipped into a fanatical frenzy, it simply is and it settles upon your heart in waves and currents of love, joy, peace, happiness, and all the other fruits of the spirit that we are to exhibit in our lives. It inspires us to share what we have learned not through adversarial tactics but in true awe-struck veneration of a God who transforms us into a reflection of his Son.

In that place of awe, there is no need to be offended, no compulsion to be rude, and the futility of arguing is revealed. Instead, we can face our critics with love, with compassion, and with a pure desire not to be right but rather with the hope that they can experience a similar moment with their Creator. For in the end, it is not about winning an argument, and it is not about being smarter. No, it is about finding him to be bigger than our doubts and objections, unafraid of intellectual wranglings and justifications, and discovering a God greater than ourselves – a discovery that we can coerce or force upon another.

So instead, we offer them a peek at the inspiration we found in the pages of his Word. For beneath the ink and paper, beyond the rules, is the reason for our obedience – the God who wishes to be known and the love that our souls crave more deeply than any other love we once held sacred.

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Fishing For Hope

My hubs with a bluecat we caught jug fishing.

It is always the stuff I never thought that I would do that teaches me the most. In fact, if I were to be real honest, I would have to admit that it is the stuff I swore I would never do that teaches me the most, and it seems that my life is one episode of doing the things I swore I would never do after another. I blame my husband and God’s quirky sense of humor.

One of those things I swore I would never do was fishing. I simply did not see the appeal in sitting next to the water all day holding a stick, but that changed soon after my hubs talked me into buying boat. Out of sheer boredom, I picked up one of those sticks and caught my first fish. I was hooked.

Since that day, Ty has been teaching me new and creative ways of fishing, and it has become one of our favorite ways to spend time together. This summer the new way has been jug fishing.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this method of fishing, allow me to explain – it is like an Easter egg hunt for adults. How can that not be fun?

Basically, you take any floating object, usually empty jugs but Ty and I use sections of pool noodles, attach a line, a few hooks, some bait, and drop them in the middle of the lake. Then you go do something else for a few hours, like go to bed overnight. When you return that’s when the fun begins.

Yesterday, we woke bright and early and gathered our gear ready to go out find our noodles. (Okay, Ty woke bright and early and coerced me from bed with promises of monster fish that we had surely caught overnight.) The thing is when you leave floating objects in the middle of large bodies of water, they do not tend to stay put, and when we returned to where we had left them the night before we not a single one was in sight. They had followed the dictates of the wind and waves to some unknown new location, and it was now our task to find them.

We quickly found eight of the twelve we had set out the night before, and to the beginner this sounds like a good thing, but I have learned that it typically isn’t. Oh sure, we found them, but we found them where the environment pushed them. What we really wanted were the ones that were in the strange places, the places that wind wouldn’t take them, and places far from where we had left them. Why? Because only big fish have the stamina to pull those noodles against the forces of nature to where they wanted to go.

No longer was our search limited to the following the wind, we had to start searching the expanse of the bay where we had left them. We began zigzagging across the waters. We found two with tangled lines and knots on the other side of the waters, indicating that a fish had been on the hook and managed to free itself. One was bobbing wildly as it ran from the sound of the boat motor and as I got the fish to the surface, he broke free but not before I saw that was largest one we had hooked to date.

Having searched the far perimeter of the waters, we turned back towards the starting pointing hoping that we had not lost the fourth and final noodle, but it didn’t look promising.

Ty conceded that we had probably lost one, even as we continued to retrace our course, when he suddenly shouted, “I think I see it.” I looked but saw nothing. We were heading deep into a cove far away from where from where we had found any of the other noodles and in the opposite direction from where the wind should have taken it. I was not going to bother getting too excited, in the glare, I figured he was probably just seeing things.

“It just went under the water.” He yelled over the wide open boat motor as he raced to the spot he had seen it. Now, he had my full attention.

I watched the spot he indicated waiting for sign when it popped above the waves and danced on the waves. It was a beautiful sight! Even before I could feel the tug on the line, I knew that this was going to be a great fish. I was not disappointed.

The thing about fishing is there is lot of time to think, and while we were scanning the waters looking for that last noodle, I was doing a lot of it. It seems to me that jug fishing is a pretty good example of what a life faith can look like. Most of us are just pushed around by the environment, no purpose or direction for where we end up, just reacting to the forces of nature we call life. We are easy to find, all clumped up together, empty hooks, nothing to add, and no joy for those who discover us.

Then there are the ones who aren’t where you would expect to find us. The ones who are in strange places, far from where we started, and you might even lose sight of us – think we are lost as we sink beneath the waves for a while. We are the unpredictable, the ones who refuse to simply follow the crowd, and the troublemakers. We can cause you some moments of panic, you might even lament us as lost, and want to give up on ever finding us again because the search has taken too long.

And then I had another thought, in almost every culture fish represent one thing – hope. You see we didn’t wander away from the expected norms because we wanted to upset anyone. We left because something got ahold of us, and it became stronger than the forces of this life. It began to pull us, instead of pushing us, and it began to lead us into places where few dare to go, and it was nothing less than that irresistible force of hope. Hope with enough stamina to fight the wind and waves of life and compel us to take risks, to be okay with sinking beneath the waves for a season, and causes us to dance upon them when we reemerge.

I will not lie. There was a moment of sadness when I thought of all those who have been pushed about by the wind, for how many times are those in search of hope going approach the crowds of believers looking for hope only to find bare hooks? But there is joy too, because I know there are many of you who are out there fighting the winds and waves to be in that place where hope has led you, those of you who are willing to appear lost to the crowds so all so that others can find the hope that you have known.

So to all of you troublemakers, misfits, and rebels of faith, I want you know I see you dancing on the waves and you are a beautiful sight!

I have tried three different days and dozens of different ways to write this post, and I have decided there is just no graceful way to jump in – so here I go!

Yes, Christianity states that you are a sinner. Is that a pleasant thought? No. Is it a comforting and beautiful thought? Nope, not at all. Is it offensive and detrimental to your sense of self-worth? Oh, yeah. Could it be damaging to your self-esteem? Could it possible sink you into depths of depression and wreak havoc on you delusions of grandeur? You better bet it can.

And you know what? That is precisely what it was designed to do.

I know, I know, precious, you want to think that this whole religion thing was meant to be comforting and sweet – something to help you sleep better when the monsters under your bed threatened to eat you alive. You want to believe that faith is meant to be affirming and uplifting, and all these horrible people are using it to beat you down when you just wanted be loved for who you are.

Well, get over it.

Real Christianity is a religion of death and bloody wounds. We serve a God who was nailed naked to a cross and then commanded us to follow his example. It is not pretty picture. I don’t care how nicely you try to paint it.

The image was never meant to be comforting. It was never supposed to a pretty idea to soothe your frazzled nerves. Everything about it was meant to disturb your senses, to shred your ideas of propriety and dismantle any thoughts of self-worth you might be tempted to entertain. The cross is a mirror held up to the soul, showing us what true love looks like and exposing our selfish attempts at self-preservation for what they are - greed, pride, and selfishness. Who among us would endure such a tragedy for the sake of another? Who among us has the courage to be laid bare before the world? To remain still as our lungs filled with fluid and our hearts shredded in an attempt to keep beating?

Not I, and probably not you either, but our Lord, Saviour, and our Redeemer did. When freedom from suffering was a mere thought away, when an end to the agony required but whisper to be made real, and when the excruciation could have been stopped simply because he desired comfort above our redemption.

I know, I know. Even to call him by those titles – Lord, Saviour, and Redeemer – is an affront! For in declaring him to be those things would be to acknowledge that you need him to be all of those things and more. It is saying that you need someone to rule in your life who is greater than you because you are not enough. It proclaiming that you were lost, in need of saving, because you were incapable of saving yourself. It is saying that you are of no value outside his redeeming love, and that is blow that stings our pride.

These are the truths that so many find distasteful and offensive. Who is this God who would dare imply that we are nothing apart from his love? What kind of love would demand that we acknowledge such painful ideas about ourselves before allowing us to experience his presence?
Surely, he is a monster who does not deserve our love if these are his demands.

And if we stopped the story of his love right there, he would indeed be such a monster, but this is the beauty of the Christian faith – it never ends in death.

On the contrary, death is but the beginning the necessary prelude so that richness of the symphony mercy might be appreciated. For what is the glory of resurrection without the gory death? Where is the beauty of rebirth without the terror of mortification? What victory is there if there is no grave?

We have grown soft and selfish, wanting the beauties of our faith while never submitting to the demands that we pick up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We try to claim the prize but refuse to run the race.

Is it any wonder that we face a world who denies the validity of our faith? That is disgusted by the very tenants of what we believe because the revelations of the Bible are too cruel to be embraced, to be lived, or to be honored as true? When we claim to have known the beauty of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, but deny that his death and suffering has any bearing on this reality? We cannot blame the world for pointing at the ugliness we reject as reason to reject our faith. We cannot hold them accountable for failing to see past the blood and cruelty when we have never embraced it as the means of our salvation.

We are the ones who told the lie, who softened our message so that we could live at ease with the horror of it all. We are the ones who never looked into the mirror of the cross and saw our own corruption and begged for it to be removed from us so that we could walk in fellowship with our King. Instead, we said, he loves us – just as I am, he loves me, and that is all I need to know. We reached out for the grace and spurned the holiness as too demanding and cruel to be encompassed in the love he offered. And in doing so mocked his divinity, elevated our humanity, and worshipped a god we have created in our image.

It is time to get real. We were sinners, born in sin, downing in the ever encroaching tide of death, weighted down with our pride and self-justification. Embracing his holiness is the beginning of death for all these things, and death hurts, it terrifies, and leaves us empty of all that we were before. And if you have embraced a god who does not burn these things from your being then you have not embraced the God of love who is never content to leave us as he found us but rather died so that we might become a new creation, free from the damaging effects of former selves. For it is only in the death of who we were that we are empowered to become who might be in his presence.

A More Thoughtful Response To SCOTUS Decision

A good friend who always has a balancing and healthy perspective on the issues I address, pointed out to me that yesterday's post about the SCOTUS decision seemed dismissive of the gravity of the situation. And as usual, I could not argue as she was right.

I did not address any of the possible, and I believe inevitable, negative outcomes this will create for the Church. There is no doubt in my mind that things are going to get a whole lot uglier before they get better, and I think that as Christians we should be prepared for what is around the bend.

Now, I am in no way claim to be a legal expert, nor do I pretend to be familiar with all the intricacies of the laws of our land. What I offer is my opinion based on my knowledge as a student of the Bible and history.

What I do know about our nation’s laws is that they can be rewritten to be acceptable to the changes of time and culture to better reflect the social attitudes of our day. The ability to make these changes was integral part of the design from the start and has been used to make some very positive changes in our country. Women’s right to vote and racial equality are just two issues that come to mind without a second cup of coffee. My point is laws change, even constitutional laws change, and to bank on them as the source of our security is absurd and naïve.

And it isn’t always that the laws have to change, it is simply that interpretation of the laws are changed. After all, if you compared many of the selfies posted on social media, they clearly fit the standards of pornography of the Comstock Act of 1873 and would have been grounds to arrest about half our nation. However, over the years styles and fashion changed so the definition lewd and obscene changed and as such laws had to be changed to accommodate public demand. Now you can show your butt online as long as you have a string over the crack, and by law it is not considered to pornographic.

There is a very similar evolution going on in our laws that dictate the relationship between church and state, and the SCOTUS decision is going to accelerate that evolution.

The first, most obvious reason, is that the Bible teaches homosexuality is wrong. I know there are a ton of convoluted arguments to the contrary, but let’s go with the plain reading of the text as offered in Scripture.

Now if we believe that freedom of speech is a protected act in the US then you have never studied censorship laws – speech is only as protected as it is deemed proper under societal dictates. Whereas Clark Gable once caused a scandal by “not giving a damn”, no one even blinks at such phrases today. However, say that for a man to lie with another man as woman is an abomination, and presto! You have crossed over into hate speech, and do you know what isn’t protected under freedom of speech?

If you guessed hate speech, you are right.

Freedom of religion also will not spare us the consequences. All that is needed is apply the term abusive to any religious practice and it can come under fire, particularly when it involves minors, and this isn’t a bad thing. When we have men like Warren Jeffs marrying off teenage girls to the men his church, legal action should be taken. However, where do we draw the line and who determines what abuse is? In California, reparative therapy for a child dealing with same sex attraction is considered abusive and has been banned. Other states are sure to follow as homosexuality is now considered to be normal part of our society and culture.

To me the almost obscene footnote in all of this has become a major issues among Christians, and that is the idea that churches will lose their tax exempt status. Ladies and Gentlemen, I hate to break to break it to you that is going to happen. When we have churches who voluntarily decided to run themselves corporations instead houses of prayer we asked for it, and I am not going to waste time feeling sorry for reaping the consequences of what we have sown. There are greater issues on the line than money, and if you think that God has to have a tax break to be present in this world, your god is pretty small and probably not worth worshipping, and definitely not able to handle the real issues of our world.

So what are we supposed to do? Well, for starters, don’t sit around wringing your hands as if the world has come to an end. What if it has? Isn’t that the hope and longing of all creation? Our job is to be preparing for it, and I don’t mean by stockpiling a bunch of food and ammo. I mean we should be helping those around us to see God’s glory and goodness so that they might be inspired to seek him, and let’s face it, if we are only showing them a defeated God, why would they want him?

We dive deeper into his Word and we follow the outline he gave a persecuted church so many years ago. For their persecution was far greater than any we face now, and yet, he gave them not only the keys to survival, he showed them how to thrive! He told them how to live their faith in the face of oppressive laws and intolerance for their religion. He didn’t lie to them about how believing in him would make their lives all lollipops and rainbows. Instead, he said that we are blessed in persecution and that we would be reviled and that we should rejoice in it.

We become intentional in seeking our King. For it is in knowing him that we find the strength and humility to live transformational lives. Lives that are not full of self-pity or fear, but lives that recognize the darkness makes the light shine even more brightly.

We surround ourselves with other believers, but we remain available to the rest of the world. We find strength and encouragement through the love and support of those who share our faith, and we use those times as a springboard to live our faith boldly before others.

We educate ourselves on the issues that touch the lives of our loved ones, believers and non-believers alike, so that we can have a ready answer in due season. We have been called to be wise, and wisdom is difficult to cultivate in a desert of ignorance.

We walk in grace and compassion, not anger and bitterness. God has done this for us and when we fail to extend it to others, we fail to deny God’s gift to us.

We speak truth, but we do it in love, fully recognizing that the love that has been given to us is also offered to any who would receive it.

But most of all, we share our stories of how God changed us. For some of us this means being real about struggles in our sexuality, for some this an admission that we don’t know what it is like to face that challenge, but for all of us it call to celebrate the goodness of God’s grace and mercy extended to us no matter what we have faced in our lives.

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Why I Am Not Crying About the Supreme Court Decision on Gay Marriage

Today we learned that gay marriage is now legal in all fifty states. There was both much rejoicing and lamenting throughout the land. Supporters of the movement celebrate this new freedom and right within our nation, while Christians vacillate between abject mourning and threats of hellfire and damnation. I will admit that there is a strong temptation for me to join in with my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I am choosing a third option.

I am rejoicing and making a deliberate attempt not to show my butt.

So how is it that a Bible believing Christian can rejoice, you might ask.

Simple.

My faith was never in the government. I know that my identity as a Christian is not tied to my nationality in any way. God was never hamstringed by any governmental authority. If I start acting as if this affects him in the slightest form, I am basically saying the government is bigger than the God I serve. So excuse me if I fail to deify the Supreme Court justices, but I think that would fall under the heading of idolatry and I try to actually live what I believe. (Success is variable, but the attempt is constant.)

I am rejoicing because Bible believing Christianity will no longer be the default setting for Americans. Faith in the Bible as God’s holy and inspired Word will be an act of decision and living it will be a commitment that requires us to be actively engaged in knowing what and why we believe. Laziness and ignorance will no longer be compatible with calling yourself a Christian. Some of us might actually try reading it now that we know that we can’t count on society to reflect what only the Bible is supposed to teach us.

I am rejoicing because this is a reminder that we are to be counter cultural and, boys and girls, we haven’t been that in years if not decades. Instead, we have embraced the *smaller* sins of our times as excusable and justifiable because everybody else is doing it. Whether it was speeding down the highway at ten over, cheating on our taxes, gluttony, sloth, or turning a blind eye to heterosexual immorality, we failed to live up to the standards that our God has given to us and in doing so we paved the way for this decision. When we confused being our culture with our faith, we stopped putting God first and made belonging to this world an act of worship that denied his right to be Lord of our lives. Maybe this will get our attention, and we will stop half-assing this thing we call Christianity and experience the conviction we should have been sensitive to so many years ago.

I am rejoicing because some people only learn through consequences because now is the opportune moment for God to reveal that his law is perfect. Something that could never happen when the decrees for right and wrong were based in man given law, not divine revelation.

I am rejoicing because I believe that by allowing marriage to become a social contract and not honoring it as sacred covenant we have made Christianity a little more irrelevant to our society. And I think that is a very good thing, in that only those who want to experience God will continue to identify themselves as such. Am I ignoring or downplaying the consequences for thousands of people? No, but I am not discounting my God’s ability to act despite and within the consequences of our decisions.

I am rejoicing because now we have an opportunity to choose our response, and the response we chose will identify us as we really are – bigots who are only faithful when it allowed us to feel superior to everyone else, pretenders who never believed but went along when it was convenient, or authentic believers willing to be unpopular for the God we love. But even in authenticity, there is a choice. For if we are nothing but venom spewing martyrs for a God who has called to live in love and peace, then we are denying our faith in denying the world a witness to his love.

So I will not cry over this decision. God is still in control and his Word will remain true. No one can affect that, but we can affect how his Word is manifest in our lives. That choice is and always was ours, and now we must face it as we have never have before. So what will choose? Bitterness, anger, or despair? Or will you do as he has asked and continue to praise him as the God who was not surprised or defeated by some words on paper?

How big is your God? The response you choose will inform the world.

After this posted, a friend of mine observed that I did not address the gravity of the situation here. I giving her words some thought, I followed up with this:  http://misdirectedmusings.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-more-thoughtful-response-to-scotus.html

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A Second Hand Question - Natural Revelation and Multiple Religions

“I believe in God but how come there are so many different religions to believe in? Like how could anyone really be living for the wrong god if they grew up believing in something else, and they have no clue about anything else. Like atheist, and stuff..just because you hear about another religion and people saying it the way to live doesn’t mean they’re going to live that way.”

A friend of mine tagged me in response to this Facebook status, and due to the original author’s privacy settings I was unable to respond directly. So I guess this is a secondhand reader question. I decided to answer in this way so that our mutual friend can share my response with the writer, and I know that this is a common question among believers and non-believers alike.

First, there are several questions being presented here, so let’s divide them up for easier handling. I am also going to arrange them in order of what I consider to be importance.

Q.) “Like how could anyone really be living for the wrong god if they grew up believing in something else, and they have no about anything else(?)”

A.) This was a question that has bothered me since I was old enough to know that people might not hear the message of the Jesus, and I wrestled with it for a long time. It did not seem fair to me that God would punish someone for something they were never taught or saw in their culture.
The problem with this view is that we are limiting God’s power to speak to whomever he wishes however he wishes. We are saying that God can only reveal himself if men and women speak on his behalf, but there are so many accounts that show that God will make himself known to those who really desire to know him.

One famous example is Helen Keller who was blind and deaf from the age of two. After she learned to communicate she was introduced to Phillips Brooks who wrote about their conversation. Keller told him that she always knew who God was and that he was there with her in the silence and darkness. She did not have a name or the proper *Christian* words to use for her experience, but when she was told about Jesus she knew that he was the one who had been with her at this time.

There is another story of the Druids in Ireland who upon hearing the message of the first Christian missionaries declared that they could now end their search for the name of the God they had been seeking. The Romans built an idol to an unknown God as they knew there was a God greater than any they served, and they desired to honor him even if they could not identify him.

Paul address this in his letter to the Romans:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness suppresses truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” 1:16-20

Now I know that is a big chunk of dense Scripture, so let me break it down a little. To me it means that if any of us stopped and really looked at this amazing world that we live in, we would see the evidence of our Creator. And we would not only see that he created a home for us, but he cared about us enough to make it home of beauty and to contain things simply for our pleasure and delight. (Can you say “chocolate”? Beautiful sunsets? The cool breeze on a hot day? The list of the good things he has given us can go on and on.) We might not know his name, but we would know something of his heart for us. We could see it and love him even without being told his story. And as our hearts opened in faith to seek him, we would be come to know him more fully despite the fact that no one told us who he is.

I think this is what happened with Helen Keller – she discerned his presence and she trusted him in the darkness. I think in doing so she learned to recognize him so completely that when Phillips Brooks described Jesus to her she knew he could be describing no one else than the God who had been with her all this time. I think God honored her desire to know him even before she knew his name, and I think God would honor that in anyone who had never been told of his story. Which leads us to the next question.

Q.) “Just because you hear about another religion and people saying it the way to live doesn’t mean they’re going to live that way.”

A.) You are absolutely right. I have studied so many religions trying to understand this world, and I have yet to hear of a new one that even begins to draw me away from the faith I grew up with.

So what would cause someone to change their faith just by hearing about a new religion such as Christianity?

I believe it happens when the people have had a faith in the God their hearts knew to be the real God and we make the introduction. Just like Helen Keller, we share the story of Jesus and they recognize that this is the God they truly want to serve in their hearts. The understand the limitations and shortcoming of the faith they had known before and recognize Christianity as the complete answer to their questions and desire to know God more fully.

Q.) I believe in God but how come there are so many different religions to believe in?

To answer this question completely would require that I write a book or ten. The answer is found in history and cultures that were isolated from the message of Christianity, and in the fact that some people will never accept the truth of the Bible. Some people want to think they can exist without God, that science and reason can answer all the questions of their hearts and close off their hearts to him. Some have intentionally created new religions in order to have a god that will allow them to serve themselves and justify their evil intents. Some people have deliberately deceived others saying that God has spoken to them and used this as a way to get power and prestige.

It is popular today to say that all religions are the same and all religions really serve God. Many people believe that it does not matter which religion you claim as long as you believe in a higher power, but the Bible rejects that claim – as do all other religions, because all religions claim that they are the one true religion and deny the rewards of their faith to anyone who does not follow them.
Once we have been told of the Jesus and his sacrifice for us, we have a choice – to believe and accept Him as the Truth or to reject Him as a lie. There is no in between.

I truly hope this answers your questions or, at least, gives you a starting point to begin seeking out more better and fuller answers to your questions. I confess there are many who could answer this far more eloquently and plainly than I.

God Is A Liar - An Emily Rant For My So Called Christian Friends

It is very popular right now to say that you are a Christian. However, just saying that isn’t enough to let you win the contest. You have to add the proper caveats. You have to affirm that Jesus was all about love and peace and forgiveness. You have tell how you aren’t the kind of Christian who judges anyone and that we all have our individual paths to follow in this journey of faith. You have clarify that you do not take the Bible literally or that you are not foolish enough to believe the decrees of an archaic book addresses the social issues of our age. And if you really want to take first place, you have to say it with a bit of scorn for those who do.

Now, I am going say few things that are not all that popular, things that will make me appear foolish to my more sophisticated and enlightened brothers and sister, things that won’t win me any ribbons at that politically correct pageant of faith, and I am going to say them without apology or concern for winning any congeniality prizes.

The god worshipped by those who add all those proper caveats is not the God of the Bible. No matter how much we want to believe it, it simply cannot be true. Somewhere along the way we have bought into the lie that God is all about our happiness and personal fulfillment. We have defined him as the God of Love, Peace, and Joy and cannot imagine him as anything bigger or greater than a God who adheres to our definitions of what love, peace, and joy are supposed to be.

The thing is when we start serving a God that we have defined, even if that definition is based on our favorite Bible verses, we really aren’t serving him. We are serving ourselves. When we start saying that the things I like and the things that make me feel good are the only things he wants us to have, we aren’t let him be Lord.

Like it or not, God isn’t all that concerned with the things you like or even the things that make you feel good, because believe it or not your hurt feelings aren’t the highest thing on his list of priorities. They only rate number one on your list which might be a reason to ask, who are you really serving? God or the god of your emotions?

But, but, but, someone is whining, Jesus was all rainbows and butterflies. He love, peace, and harmony. He wants me to be happy and find personal fulfillment in how he created me.

Uhm, no. He wasn’t and he didn’t, at least not at the cost of truth. He even told us that – I mean, he literally spoke the words telling us that this is a false idea. And we would know that if we ever read anything other than Christian motivational poster and internet memes. Consider these verses: (And while you’re at it, you might want to flip on over to chapter 10, because he gets even more hardcore in that passage.)

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man to if gains the whole world and loses his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?” Matthew 16: 24-26

Do you see the words there? Deny yourself. Deny what you are, what you want, what you think is going to bring you joy – deny it. Take up your cross. This doesn’t mean go out and buy some gaudy necklace, or slapping some pious sticker on your car. A cross wasn’t a thing of beauty it was a torture device that ended in death, and you need to pick yours up, and follow him. And where did that path lead? To Golgotha, the hill of the skull, a mountain drenched in the blood, urine, and feces of those who died there. Does this sound like rainbows and butterflies to you?

Sure you can reach out and have your best life now. You can discover who you really and live that life to the fullest, but if you truly believe that Jesus is Lord then you have to accept that following that path means you will eventually lose everything you gain for yourself. Why? Because everything that owes its existence to flesh will die with the flesh, and this is why who you are must not be the creation of your inborn fleshly desires. The flesh cannot create the eternal, and the eternal owes nothing to efforts of the flesh. Paul put this way:

So then brothers we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. . .and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and coheirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:12-14,17

The problem is we have a lot people who are calling themselves Christian and never denying themselves one thing, never putting to death the deeds of the body so that they might live by the Spirit. And there are some of you who are reading this and shaking your heads yes, agreeing with all that I have said while pointing your finger at the other guy, and almost yelling, “I know who she is talking about!”

The truth is I am talking about us all, because each and every one of us has some area of our lives where we have ignored God’s command to eradicate certain behaviors or ideas. Some of us have reasoned our way around Scripture, citing science and progress as a vindication for ignoring his commands. Some of us have equated love with placating and appeasement, so that we can declare that a God of Love would never ask us to know the pain of trying to change who we are. Some of us have just dressed up our pet sin as a morality so that we can still enjoy a sense of smug superiority while being jerk to the rest of the world.

Look, trusting in God means trusting in everything he said. If we start picking and choosing which of his words we are willing to believe or cast aside based on our delicate sensibilities, we are doing nothing more than calling God a liar. We are saying that I am smarter, wiser, and more loving than God ever was – and if knowing that does not cause you to tremble, you need to check your faith because it is not what you say it is and you are not who you say you are.

The child of a true King does not dishonor him before the world, the child of a great King does not try invalidate his Father’s words, and the child who truly loves his Father will not betray that love through persistent disobedience, even if you supposedly have a great excuse. So tell the world that you like some of the pretty bits of his book, tell them how there are some great moral and ethical teachings to be found in the Christian faith, explain why you have a certain fondness for our ideas, but if you are not actively working to follow his demands to deny yourself, to put to death the deeds of the body, stop lying to yourself and the rest of the world.

And, yes, he is the God of Love but a love so big, so grand, that it compels us to become more than we were so that we might receive it and live it. Who we are, as we are, will never be big enough to do that, and that is why demands so much, and yet so little, from us.

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"Jesus" Isn't A Trivia Answer

If you have ever played trivia games, you have probably experienced that one beautiful moment where your opponent stumbles over what you consider to be an elementary question. They fumble and stumble for the answer as that smug smile on your face grows wider and wider, waiting for the chance to crush them with your superior knowledge. Perhaps you even indulge in a taunt or two, throw them a vague hint, or just sit in arrogant silence, all the while glorying in their ignorance, because not only does it feel good to win – it feels amazing to have proof that you are the smartest person in the room.

We live in a world where so much of life is a game. We collect our tokens, we roll the dice, and we play every free pass we get hoping that we win this round. The world is full of winners and losers, and how you define that is by how much you earn, who you know, what you have, and who knows the right answers.

Unfortunately, this is also how many of us approach this thing called faith. Those of us who identify ourselves as Christians have no doubt that we have the answer – his name is Jesus. And even more unfortunately, we have treated this like the ultimate free pass. We win. We know we win, our Bibles tell us so, and so what is the point of anymore questions? Why bother with another go around the board when anyone with any sense can plainly see that we have already won?

But you see there are still questions, valid and necessary questions that need to be answered.

Somewhere along the lines we got confused. We started dividing up this world into winners and losers. We stopped looking at other people as teammates and friends, and we began seeing them as opponents and losers. We started keeping score and feeling smug about our victory. We taunt and even treat others with scorn when they are not as smart as we think we are. And we flat out despise anyone who dares to ask another question, because we are convinced they should just accept the answer we have to offer.

And this means that we stop asking questions. We stop seeking answers and understanding, hiding behind our free pass and using Jesus as our favorite excuse to remain in ignorance.

After all, questions can become rather risky. They threaten to expose how little we do know and if our identity is wrapped up having the right answer the very fabric of who we believe we are just might come unraveled if someone asks the wrong thing. People have this unnerving tendency to ask about things we don’t like to think about like sex, heartbreak, death, poverty, and where was God when my world fell apart? And they won’t accept “Jesus” as an answer. They want more.

They want to hear how Jesus became real to you. They want to know how he showed up when your life was in shambles. They want to know what he said when you asked that difficult question in your life. They want see if you are really know what you are talking about or are you just spouting off something you read on a cheat sheet.

And if we got honest – I mean down and dirty, scary honest – that is exactly what most of us are doing. We don't ask why we think he is the right answer. We just know that someone told us that he is, and by accepting it, we hoped that we could bypass all those awful and terrifying questions that world poses to us each day.

The thing is relationships don’t work that way. You don’t get to just pull out a free pass and say I won. You can’t do with people, and you can’t do it with Jesus. He has no interest in simply being your “get out of hell free” card.  He want you to know him and he wants others to know him through you. And how do you get to know someone? It’s when you have the guts to work through the questions together, when you trust someone so deeply that you can take them all the doubts and fears of this world with the assurance that you have someone at your side who will never leave. It is when you can freely ask him the hard questions about all the things no one wants to think about knowing that he will guide you to a true answer, not a cliché.

True faith grows through the questions, not through avoiding them, and as we seek the answers that strengthen our faith, we learn that questions keep us humble and in awe of our Lord. We learn humility in our being while still being able to claim victory in his. We stop seeing people as winners and losers, and learn to appreciate the questions of others as a valuable part of their journey to faith.

Where Does It Say That? - I Answer A Reader's Question About Sex

This is an excerpt from a recent message I received. I am answering it publicly, but I am NOT naming who asked the question. I have chosen to do so because I think that it is a question that more than one person has, and I would like to share why I hold the belief I do about abstinence. The opening quote was taken from a comment I made in response to a question presented to me in my comments.

"'The Bible says sex is reserved for marriage' -- Where, precisely, does it say that? The Christian community has said that for many, many years. I have yet to find any verse in the Bible, read IN CONTEXT of the society in which the writers lived, which says anything of the sort."

I struggled with this question for several years as divorced woman. I was even told by certain people in positions of authority that I had every right to indulge my sexual appetites since I was “no longer a virgin”. However, I did what I think every Christian should do, and I did not accept any man’s word without confirming or disproving it within the pages of Scripture.

For me the answer is most clearly spelled out in 1 Corinthians 7:1-8. In verses one and two Paul says, “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman. But because of the temptation to sexual immorality each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.” Paul makes it clear that way to combat the temptation to sexual immorality is through marriage, but that begs the question what is sexual immorality?

The question is answered in two different passages. The first is Acts 15:28-29 which is the summation of the Jerusalem Council that delineates the obligations of the Gentile Christian from the Jewish born Christian. Keep in mind that this was a group of Jewish men, at least one of which was trained in Jewish law by a leading Rabbi, whose references would have reflected their Jewish training and understanding of these terms. The second passage is 2 Timothy 3:16,17, where Paul says that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that every man of God may be competent and equipped for every good work.”

Please note that the New Testament as we know it was not yet considered to be Scripture – so Paul could not be referring to any of the books authored after the life of Jesus. He was referring to the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), the books of reference for the Jerusalem Council. Since everyone was referring back to the Hebrew for their definitions that is where we must go to find out what sexual immorality means. Now I do not wish to bore you, so I am not going to type out all the sexual laws contained within the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy). Instead, I am just going to give you a few references that you can look up if you are interested: Deuteronomy 22:13-30 which demonstrates the importance of a woman’s virginity before marriage and fidelity after, Genesis 38 which demonstrates that even a widow was expected to abstain until remarried, and Leviticus 18 which clearly states that the attitudes of believers towards sex should not be in keeping with the cultural norms of other cultures or prevalent societal views.

Finally allow me to add, while I do believe that these passages provide us with the standards that we should strive to maintain the Bible was not written by a God who was unaware or unfeeling towards our struggles. He knows that we all fall short, we screw it up (sometimes literally), but He extends the gifts of mercy and grace. He never called us to perfection apart from Him, and He never denies a second chance for those seeking to move deeper in relationship with Him. The quest to tame my sex drive was a driving force in teaching me how to rely on Him and in deepening my relationship with Him. In the end, I value the fight for what it taught me, and I do not regret anything momentary pleasure I may have missed in seeking His ways before my own.

When I Am Just Not Feeling It

There are few things harder than acting like a Christian when you don’t feel very Christian. Now, I am not for sure exactly what a real Christian is supposed to feel like, but I always imagined it was somewhere between cotton candy and bunny fur. And truthfully, I feel more like a porcupine and electric fence sometimes.

I think many people would be surprised at how seldom I feel Christian. Usually I am so busy trying to act Christian that feeling anything other than frustration would be miraculous. I know there must be someone out there who manages to feel Christian. I mean I have always assumed that those people at church who always greet you with a big smile and a “God bless you” must feel Christian, at least on Sunday mornings.

I just don’t know how this feeling of being occurs. I have tried, but so far nothing has really worked. I don’t know if just didn’t get the secret decoder ring, I missed that particular sermon, or no one hit me with the right amount of fairy dust. I have been prayed over, anointed, and once pastor tried to shove me to the floor – but I was between him and the doughnuts. I mean if someone were to ask me how I felt right now, I would have to say I am vaguely grumpy and rather gloomy. Definitely not feeling Christian.

We all know that true Christians, or at least mature Christians, don’t have bad days. They smile all the time. They know the answer to the world’s problems and they would rather be caught without their underwear than without the right Bible verse for the occasion. They have sparkling smiles, well mannered children, perfectly groomed spouses, and they breathe in peace and exhale joy. They look forward to their turn in the church nursery, and they can whip out a casserole for the church potluck faster than I can sneeze. And I know that they act this way because they can feel just how Christian they are. They charming, gracious, and we all try not to hate them. Or maybe that’s just me, because the more I am around these people the less Christian I feel.

You see, I have bad days and a messy house. My car is never clean and my kids fight. I have a hard time remembering my phone number, let alone chapter and verse for anything. I can’t cook and when my car breaks down I don’t respond with a “thank you, Jesus.” I can be mean, jealous, and petty. I love a good fight and will sometimes start an argument just to have one. Sometimes I enjoy scowling at the world and I am a bit of a snob. I have kicked my dog and yelled at God when things haven’t gone my way. I don’t always feel Christian, so I don’t always act Christian.

The good news is that being a Christian isn’t based on my feelings. It is even based on my performance. It is something that goes beyond what I get right and what I do wrong. Being a Christian is not found in someone else’s perception of who and what I should be, or what they think I should be doing. Being a Christian is the result of a relationship, one that affects how I behave and changes who I am, but I don’t always feel it like I think I should feel it.

Sure I want to do better, but not because it makes me any more or less Christian. I want to be better because I want to the world to see the how knowing God has changed me. I want to please him in my deeds and words, even my emotions, but I have to wonder if we have gotten confused about the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. If somewhere along the way we began to think that being holy meant that we denied our emotions and suppressed our quirks so that we could become conformed to our ideas about what a Christian should feel like.

You see, being a Christian doesn’t mean that my miraculous transformation short circuited my mind or desires. My transformation began when I understood that my mind and desires don’t always agree with where God would have me, and confronting me where I am, as who I am. It is me being honest enough to say I have a bad days and I don’t feel like loving my enemies or even my friends all the time. It is me being willing to go to him when I am grumpy and asking for help, wrestling through the gloom with him, and not hiding from him until I feel right. Because the truth is on my own I will never get it right, I will never be good enough to feel as Christian as I think a good Christian should feel all the time.

I might be able to fake it on Sunday mornings. I might even hold it together for a Sunday night service, but by Wednesday afternoon, forget it. I am right back into the mess of me. Beaten up, cast down, and overwhelmed by all the things I do that don’t measure up to whom I think a Christian should be, and all my feelings say I will never make it, that I should just give up.

So if you are like me. If you ever have a bad day and wonder why you even try when you know all you are going to do is fail, take heart. You are not alone. We all have those days, and we all feel like we are failing sometimes. The question is what you do with those feelings? Do you let them dictate who you are? Or can you let your heart find hope and strength in who God says you are? Because he loves us, even on grumpy days, sad days, and even on days we totally mess up.

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New Age Fallacies and Christianity - A Comparison

I recently read an article, “5 Common New Age Misconceptions You Need To Understand” by Erin Janus. Now, I had personally been under the impression that the term New Age had fallen out of vogue, so seeing it after years of not, I was curious. As I read through the article I was struck, not by what it had to say about being New Age, but rather that the same misconceptions they listed are all alive and well in the Church as well.

     1. Ignore the negative.

In Christianity we do this by “not speaking that over myself”. Literally, I have seen people who have been so sick they could not keep their eyes open and had tissue stuffed up their nose, but by God, they were not going to accept that they were ill. Because if they named it they claimed it, so they walked around infecting everyone else because they would not acknowledge this “great evil” had any power over them.

The article said that many believed that you give power to something that is harmful simply by “putting your attention on and becoming aware of it.” Sound familiar?

     2. Never get angry.

Oh, we’ve heard this one haven’t we? Anger and offense is the bait of Satan and should be avoided at all costs. It is a favorite of leadership who want to keep their congregations in line, because you are supposed to believe that good Christians are never angry. We are all long-suffering and patient, just like Jesus. (I guess they forgot about that whole Temple scene with the whips.)

Look, most anger is about our hurt feelings or pride, even at being inconvenienced, but sometimes anger is the appropriate response. (As evidenced in that whole Temple scene.) What we need to be taught is not how to stuff our emotions, but rather, to steward them in godly, healthy, productive ways.

The article rightly points out that to shut out anger can lead to “apathy and passivity to the injustices happening in our world today.” How many Christians does that describe?

     3. There is no right and wrong.

We don’t say it this way. After all, there are still some lines we won’t cross, but we are some of the most talented people in the world at saying things we don’t really say. So we use these words instead: “God loves everyone and he just wants us to be happy”, “I felt like God was leading me to __(insert sinful action)___ because __(insert extenuating circumstance/special privilege)___”, “Times and culture has changed and we must change with it”, or “I know it was wrong, but God will forgive me.”

When we start making excuses and conjuring up caveats for why God’s word is wrong we are essentially saying that there is no right or wrong. Or worse, we are saying that God was wrong when he crafted that sacred book.

The article points out that when a person reaches this place they will try to convince themselves and others that everything is okay. However, take this a step further since we as Christians seem especially talented in turning this into a special kind of hypocrisy wherein we will still chastise and look down upon those who break the same rules we do.

     4. There is no Truth: Perception = Reality

This is the progression of “there is no right or wrong” or, perhaps, it is the genesis of the thought. (This could really be one of those chicken or the egg debates, but moving on…) By presenting himself as the Truth, Jesus clearly demonstrates that the truth is both objective and knowable through him. However, if we deny the revelation of truth contained in his word, we are effectively denying the purpose and power of his presence here on this earth and in our lives.

The article points out that reality and perception are not one and the same. Our perceptions of reality might change but the actuality of what is truly happening does not. As Christians, we need to be aware of how our perceptions affect our understanding of the truth and be working to bring ourselves into alignment with it.

     5. What you resist persists…So don’t resist.

“I am just going to let go and let God”, “We will be in prayer about that”, “Just love them to Jesus”, or “Keep praying God will give you peace about it” are a few of the ways we have embraced this principle. The idea is that if we just pray hard enough and have enough faith, we will eventually learn to accept the circumstances that cause us pain. It seems so spiritual to walk past evil as if it had no ability to harm you. In many Christian circles this serene acceptance of pain and injustice has become the litmus test for the spiritual mature.

However, there are things in this world that we, as Christians, should be resisting. We should be resisting homelessness, starvation, abuse, addiction, and disease. We should be resisting apathy and the temptation to make laziness sound like a spiritual endeavor.

The article says, “If we do not resist the evil that is destroying freedom, health, and happiness in the world, then nothing will change or improve.” Boys and girls, that is a fact and one we would like to by-pass in an attempt to justify our own unwillingness to become involved in those issues that would demand more of us than we are willing to give.

Why did I bother to go through a New Age article on a Christian blog? I did it for two reasons: 1.) It bothers me that we as the Church have incorporated so many popular New Age fallacies into our faith without ever questioning the origin. 2.) It saddens me that so often we have failed to address them with the same bold manner as Erin Janus has demonstrated for us in her writing.

Link to the original article here:
http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/5-common-new-age-misconceptions-you-need-to-understand/

Don't Flinch

“I believe we were created by aliens,” he announced from nowhere.

I grinned and poured his drink, careful to let amber brew slide down the side of the chilled glass. The challenge in his voice was unmistakable. What he up to was obvious, I had watched him in action far too many times before this to be surprised.

I set the beer before him and leaned on to the bar, doing my best Sam Elliot impression, wishing for once I had bushy eyebrows to look through.

“Aliens?” I asked pushing him a napkin.

“Yup,” his eyes glittered, anxious for the coming fight.

I shrugged and grinned a little bigger. “As in extra-terrestrials?”

“Yup,” he was getting ready to pounce.

“As in not of this earth?” I queried as coolly as possible. “As in something bigger, greater, more powerful, and smarter than you and I can begin to imagine…”

“That’s right.” he was perched on the edge of his chair now. His broad smile revealing just how many teeth he was missing.

“Well, Bud, I guess I’ve got to agree with you - God’s an alien.” He deflated like a child’s balloon. I could almost hear the air hissing out of him as he shrank back on the stool.

He took a long draw off his cigarette and downed half his beer in one swig. He gave me an irritated glare that gave way to an indulgent smile. “Hmmph, God’s an alien.” He raised his glass in a mock salute and threw back the rest of his drink.

I learned something that night - Don’t flinch. He came in there like a bantam rooster raring for fight, and he was sure I would give it to him. He knew what  I believed, and he was counting on me to act like so many other intolerant and insecure believers. What he didn’t count on was the fact, I was tired and just ready to go home. Fighting just wasn’t on my agenda.

We talked for a long time that night, about God, faith, and the Bible but mostly we talked about why I didn’t feel the need to lock horns with him. You see, I live by a code - one that does not require that I have to validate what I believe by gaining the approval of others. I can share what I believe and they are free to take or it or leave it. That night Bud learned something too. He learned that there are Christians out there that can discuss their faith without arguing about it, that we can acknowledge a valid point even if it comes from an opposing view.

Arguing about faith is waste of time leading to hurt feeling and often make both parties look foolish in the process. And trying to convince someone your right when you just injured them is sure fire way to get yourself hurt.

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Faith and Denial - The Difference

Denial has no room for your emotions - pain, frustration, disappointment, and anger must be suppressed at all costs.

Faith allows us to embrace our emotions, to experience them, and own them as part of our journey. Only then can that part of us be offered up as part of our sacrifice to Father and a declaration He is bigger than what we feel.

Confession Of An Irate Christian, or Why Can't You Just Agree With Me?

Emily Rant or, perhaps, a lament?

I recently had a conversation where I tried to explain why Christians are not the same as other people. I talked about how our values, morals, ethics, and very way of life is radically different from the people around us. I told how there are certain behaviors that we engage in and others that we avoid. I shared how our relationship with God compelled us to be set apart from the crowds and why we are to identified by this distinct state.

The person I was talking to became irate - irrational, even, refusing to acknowledge these things. In their opinion Christians were no different - worse, in some cases, than the people around them. I reminded them that simply claiming the title without modifying your life accordingly did not necessarily make one a Christian. I was still met with belligerent anger as they refused to see my point.

And that's when I, with all the love of Jesus in my heart, was overcome with the desire to smack them up side the head with my Grandpa's Bible - because his is significantly bigger than mine. I felt the sting of righteous indignation as I fought down the urge to choke this idiot out so that they might know the goodness of The Lord, and above all things I wanted to drive their foolishness far from them with a rod of correction.

Instead, I broke off the conversation because assault charges aren't in my immediate plans. Yet, hours later I was still fuming that anyone would choose to miss such a simple point - not all people claiming to be Christians are really Christians and if you do not see a life marked with integrity, love, compassion, grace, and mercy then chances are you dealing with a liar, fraud, or hypocrite. Surely, a little violence could be excused to drive home such a valid point?

Okay, yeah, I get that there is a huge disconnect between what I was saying and what I was thinking/feeling in that moment. I get that punching someone repeatedly in the throat so that they will acknowledge the life changing power of the love of Jesus isn't exactly the most credible means of communication. I was just mad, mostly at not being met with immediate agreement, but mad that I was being exposed as a rather small individual.

I, also, realized on reflection that I'm mad at other Christians too. I'm mad at each and everyone of us who lived lives that fail to uphold the standards of faith in such a way that we are unmistakably recognizable to the outside world as people whose lives have been radically changed by an encounter with the living God. I'm mad that our faith is only skin deep and if you scratch the surface you only find ugly, self-serving thoughts, and I'm mad that when faced with resistance our tempers rival that of a hooker who got stiffed. I'm mad that we are known more for our rage at the "world" and less for our conviction or desire to change the faults in our own lives.

I'm mad that we've stopped living our lives with integrity and excellence, as a service and witness to our King, and have chosen instead to justify our behaviors by blaming circumstance, mood, or barometric pressure. I'm mad because we have made everyone else other than God more important than God when we allow their behavior to dictate our feelings and actions. I'm mad that we will check our behaviors by how they will sound on Facebook, but we never stop to consider if they are up to the standard of THE BOOK. I'm mad that the actions and words of people who do not share our faith shame us into conforming to their image far more effectively than our relationship with our Lord motivates us to be conformed to his image.

You see, I shouldn't be surprised or angered that someone who doesn't share my faith doesn't see the distinction between Christians and everyone else. Why should they? Especially since most of us haven't either.

Hard Truths About Our Faith

Let's just be terrifyingly real, shall we?

Christians believe a lot of crazy things. We believe in a lot harsh and, quite frankly, some terrifying
things.

And even if we are honest, we even believe somethings we don't even like.

We believe in things we don't understand and things we can't prove. We believe in ideas and philosophies that are offensive, and we teach things that make some people mad.

And deep down, we know this. And when we get honest, our faith can make us squirm with embarrassment.

So we soften the message, explain away the hard stuff, and we think we are doing the world a favor - when the truth is the only person we are helping out is ourselves, trying to save ourselves from being humiliated by a God refuses to be reasonable.

The thing is Christianity was never about being reasonable. It was never about comfortable easy teachings and it was never about making sense or complying to the world's standards.

It is about the inexplicable, the baffling, and the awe inspiring. It is about not making sense, upsetting convention, and devastating expectations.

This is a faith whose God is found in the very center of humanity - the holy embracing the profane. A God who does not dispense mystical platitudes from an inaccessible mountain top, but rather offers forgiveness from a bloody cross.

And you know what? I think it's time we become okay with the hard parts of our faith, that we stop trying to make it more palatable, and we are honest with those who confront us about what we believe and why it doesn't make sense.

It's time we stop arguing and just agree that it is a hard teaching. Acknowledge we don't have it figured out, and be secure enough to smile about it without the fear that someone smarter than you is going to argue you out of believing.

Because that is one of the truly great things about our faith - we don't have to understand. We don't have to explain it, defend it, and we don't even need to be comfortable with it. We just have to live it, and when we do that the mystery will unfold before us - giving an understanding that exceeds all theoretical pursuits and inspiring us to delve deeper into the mysteries that can never make sense from the outside.