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Revisiting Grief

Recently we experienced the loss of one of my son's neighborhood friends.  Derek died of cancer Friday morning at his home, surrounded by his family.  He was seven years old.  He was a sweet, fun-loving little boy that used to ride his Bigwheel up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.  He came over countless times during the summer, and my kids played with both Derek and his sister.  And now he is gone.  All of his human potential has ended in the blink of an eye.  Granted the weeks and months of on-and-off suffering that his family was forced to deal with probably didn't seem like the blink of an eye to them.  My point is that he was playing in our basement one day, and gone the next.  Nothing is permanent.  Not the cars we drive, not the houses we live in, not even you and I. 

There are answers in Christianity for the times when we struggle with suffering.  They may be true, but sometimes they can seem too academic.  This was one of those times.  I was unprepared for the level of grief that I felt when I heard about his death.  It is one thing to attend the funeral of someone in their eighties.  It is something entirely different to see a seven-year-old's blankie draped across a coffin.  I'm not sure what to make of this.  It happens every day in our world of course, because children are mortal too.  But it just feels wrong.  Suddenly I will feel pangs of guilt for the times when I grew frustrated with the kids when they were playing together too loud, or committing some other "crime" that all normal kids take part in.  Suddenly I long to have those times back, so that I could revel in the gift of having the opportunity to get mad about silly things again.  How funny the human condition is that we exist on a linear timeline that often consists of 'sweating the small stuff.'   

I must admit that I am greatly comforted by the story of Jesus equating our entrance into Heaven with having the faith of a child (Matt 18:3).  For children, faith comes so naturally and openly.  As adults we often allow pessimism and pride to get in the way.  Christ reminds us to strip off the garbage, and keep what once came so naturally to us as kids.  I am certain Derek is in Heaven.  Not just because he was baptised, or because he had a religious funeral, but rather because spiritually speaking - he was a straight arrow.  I wouldn't mind one more chance to pat him on the head or watch him playing with my own children again in the backyard.  But that was about to change anyway, even before he got sick again: my family and I are in the process of moving.  Derek would have soon been without my son as a playmate.  In addition, the family just across the street from him had moved three weeks prior.  Maybe that is how God works sometimes.  Derek was here to touch the lives of the other children for a while, and once they moved away, God brought him home.  No more suffering, no more trips to the doctor.  Only peace.

There are a handful of near-death experience studies that were conducted on children during the twentieth century.  It is amazing how so many of them reported the same thing.  They could feel themselves die, and then all of a sudden they were in the presence of Jesus.  Many of the kids even reported details like Christ was wearing a red sash around his upper body (you will note that this description also shows up in the recent story of Colton Burpo from the book Heaven is Real).  I like this mental picture.  I imagine Derek walking next to a tall, kind gentleman wearing a red sash. 

Am I being too poetic here?  Too Pollyanna?  I don't think so.  I think grief and pain itself are often indicators of the reality of Heaven and God.  To suffer so acutely seems to demand a greater Good from which a lack or disconnection from that Goodness can  become offensive. But why is it so offensive?  Why do we get so angry and so grief-stricken when something like this happens?  Because we know that human-kind is meant for something better.  This separation feels unnatural because it is unnatural.  Deep down our spirit knows Heaven already, and the stark contrast of this world compared to that one is repugnant to us.  We can have joy in the fact that if we know Jesus, Heaven awaits us.  Notice I said we can have joy, not always comfort.  During certain times in our life there may in fact be very little consolation from religion, but there can always be joy from God.  Some of you will know exactly what I mean here. 

I am not sure if there is a moral here, save to say that only God lasts forever.  If we place our faith in anything else (money,  work, individualism, etc) we will eventually be disappointed.  None of those things will follow us after we die.  None of it will follow us or wait for us on the other side, but God does wait.   He waits for us to accept Him in this life, to take part in the way we live here on planet Earth, and He waits to greet us when our time is up.  If this were not the case, then our species would truly be without hope.  

Derek has moved on.  It is up to the rest of us who knew him to continue living, and to attempt to process the things that have happened.  I suspect I will picture him riding his Bigwheel up and down the sidewalk in front of our home for some time to come, even once we are in our new house.  Forgive me if I make it a point to also picture him riding alongside someone wearing a red sash.




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"I don’t know how to prove God to you. I can only hope to guide you to a place where you and God might meet."



                                 - Erwin McManus


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Obedience: Cause & Effect

I would like to take a moment to share a short story with you.  A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege and ability to tithe (give 10% of your wealth to the church) on a portion of income that I had received.  I cannot make the assertion that my family is always able to do this - I wish I could.  This particular time, however, I made it a point to follow through, and I wrote a check for the full ten percent to our local church.

What happened next was very interesting.  In fact, if we look to the Bible in the book of Malachi (chapter 3, verse 10), it says this: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."  And bless us He did.  Not more than 45 minutes after cutting the check, I received a call from my wife informing me that we had been pre-approved for a home loan at a superb interest rate. 

Could these two events have been coincidental?  The skeptic would say yes.  Its true, God didn't send an angel from Heaven, riding a lightening bolt, to deliver the news about our loan.  But come now, doesn't it make you wonder?  Some would ask, "but you have only been pre-approved, its not a done deal yet."  That is correct.  However I believe both of these skeptical assumptions presume two things: 1.) God surely couldn't have done this, and 2.) circumstances need to be drawn out to their full and verifiable conclusion before we can give God any credit.  To the first presumption I would have to answer, "yes, God could have done this, and in fact does do this for people on a regular basis."  To the second presumption, I would answer that even if we get all the way through the process and begin moving into our new home ... would that be enough proof?  There is always an out if you look hard enough.

I am of the opinion that God simply fulfilled His promise in Malachi 3:10 that day.  We tithed, and He rewarded.  Now it is true that God is not a giant ATM in the sky.  Others may not have this same result, and this may very well not be the outcome all of the time when you tithe. But I enjoy being reminded that the Bible is true, and I thought a segment of you readers out there may appreciate this post also.  

Praise be to God, and I'm sure I will be blogging for you again soon, from the office in our new home.



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Why is Christianity Special?

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One God Further: Is Christianity a Myth?

“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16



Prominent atheist writer and speaker Richard Dawkins is fond of uttering the following sentence: "none of us believe in Zeus or Thor anymore. I simply go one god further.” By  further god he is referring to the God of the Bible of course. He is making the claim that atheists can be comfortable with denouncing Christianity as just another myth. This argument sounds convincing at the outset. After all, we can’t necessarily go back in time to ancient Greece and interview anyone to see if they actually DID believe that Zeus threw lightning bolts and governed the heavens. Additionally, there has been an onslaught of recent books and movies that attempt to portray Christianity as a copy of certain ancient Pagan “mystery” religions from the past. Some even go so far as to say that there were records of ancient myths containing baptisms and resurrections (for example Horus, the mythical god of ancient Egypt).

One person I know told me that after he watched a stand-up comedian draw parallels between Jesus and Mithras, he formally recanted any belief in the Biblical God. Mithraism, by the way, became popular among Roman soldiers in the second century – too late to have influenced Christianity. But that fact never gets transmitted. Only that there were similarities between Christ and Mithras. But were there really?

It has been said that this Mithras god was born of a virgin. Sounds like a copy of Jesus already, right? However, we find scholars like Dr. Edwin Yamauchi with a doctorate in Mediterranean studies from Brandeis University reminding us that the actual legend states Mithras is born out of a rock. Some have tried to claim that Mithras traveled with 12 disciples, instructing them as a master would a student. Yamauchi reminds us that Mithras was a god, not a teacher. And on and on it goes.

Old Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife sound a little more convincing (to my mind), because at least they pre-date the appearance of Christ in first century Palestine. But the Egyptians believed that in order to attain immortality, the body had to be mummified, nourished, surrounded by necessary objects, and make use of certain spells. And all of this would still only guarantee entrance into the afterworld – not a resurrection here on Earth.

And now for Zeus himself (one of Richard Dawkins' favorite false gods). We can take note that there are a number of anthropomorphic traits ascribed to God in the Old Testament. He has this particular quality or that particular one, etc. But when dealing with Greek mythology, you will note the literality of the human traits. Zeus had a severe problem with lust for example. There were stories of him chasing after human women like some kind of modern day sex addict. Not exactly the kind of thing that Yahweh in the Bible would do.

But pointing out all of these things may not be enough. If you have made up your mind already, then no proof will ever be sufficient, no matter which scholar of ancient writings is speaking. And I think that is really the issue here. I am not a PhD in Mediterranean studies or Greek mythology, but I always had the sense that equating Zeus or Dionysus to Jesus just sounded silly. At the heart of it (and my apologies if this is offensive), Pagan myth attribution is another excuse for some people to dismiss the original claims that Christianity makes. In essence this is like saying if you can find something in history to draw upon that has some similarities to the resurrection or immortality, then it is safe to discount Christ as just another dying and rising god. There is nothing special about Him.  But the problem is that when we dig a little deeper, we find that the majority (if not all) of those mystery religions and Pagan myths took hold AFTER the beginning of the first century. They occurred too late to have influenced The Bible.

We are still faced with the uniqueness of Christ. Because if He was not a myth, then we are forced once again to look at the things He said, and weigh them on their own merits. On this note I can sympathize, because trying to live the Christian walk isn’t easy. Struggling with the things Jesus said can be quite a challenge.  But that doesn’t mean we get to discount Christianity and explain it away as some copy of an obscure religion.  I don't think an accurate account of history will let us off the hook that easily.


* I would recommend The Case for the Real Jesus if you are interested in further reading.  Much of the technical content from above (facts and timelines) were taken from that book.  Author Lee Strobel has put together a powerful tool for those who are in search of the truth as it pertains to the claims of Christianity and the Bible.




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