Wednesday, March 31, 2010

So... how am I saved?


In our world today we are faced with many questions. The most important of which (I think) is "am I on God's team, or that other one's team?*" In other words, am I going to Heaven when I die, or not? In order to live this life to the fullest, right yourself with God, and live on in Heaven, you must of course be "saved." Our American culture is good at throwing many different ideas at us regarding spirituality. We have New Age religions telling us that God is everything and everywhere. We have atheism telling us that there isn't a God anyway, so stop trying to live out your Faith. We have relativism telling us that there are many different paths up the mountain. But only 1 religion telling us that Jesus Christ is the only way up that mountain.

If you are ready (or have been thinking about) playing for the winning team, then this post is for you. You don't have to wonder anymore if death is permanent, where you will end up, or that there must be 'something more to this thing called life.' We are conditioned to take in information in list format. Example: 10 ways to improve your life, or maybe the top 5 things you can do to improve your marriage, etc. Committing to God is not just another list, but I will outline the basics below in just such a format, simply because we are so used to seeing things this way. I think it will help.

1.) Acknowledge Sin
Let God know that you just may have fallen short of His perfection, and that you just may have certain sins in your life that need forgiven.

2.) Say the Prayer
Romans 10:9 tells us "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Pray the following prayer, or something like it: God, I know that I have sinned against you and deserve punishment. But Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven. I place my trust in You for salvation. Thank You for Your wonderful grace and forgiveness. The exact wording is not important, but the sentiment is.

3.) Become Baptised
This one is controversial. People argue over what type of baptism saves, when to do it, who can do it, etc. Many contest that being baptised itself is just a ritual, and that accepting Christ is the key. I can only re-produce here what I think the Bible tells us; that disciples are to go forward, baptising in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I will not argue about how important baptism is or isn't, or in what order it needs done. Only to say that God feels it is important, so we should also.

4.) Repentance
Once we have acknowledged sin in our life, and accepted Christ to save us from this sin, we then need to stop indulging ourselves in those sins from which we have been delivered. This is only common sense. Now the good news is that we receive help from God with this. It isn't just up to us, and in fact it is usually a process. This is called sanctification, and occurs over time. But there is ALWAYS a personal choice involved. We can reject the Holy Spirit at any given time and fall back into sin in any situation. But fortunately, if we are saved, we can pick ourselves back up, ask for forgiveness again, and get on with our lives. We need not be slaves to sin any longer. Our debt has been paid in full by Christ.

I would add one last thing, though this is just my opinion. If you have done these things, don't stop there and keep it private. Get yourself into a Bible believing church. Ask God to show you which one - He will. Continue to grow in your Faith alongside others who have chosen the same path to salvation that you have. Enjoy the ride, you will marvel one day at the before and after story!


* We are speaking here of the devil of course. Many consider him to be a symbolic representation of evil, and as real as the tooth fairy. If we really believe this though, we must offer a good alternate answer to evil and suffering in the world. Somehow "human nature" just doesn't cut the mustard here. The Bible tells us that the devil is a real and literal being.


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C.S. Lewis on Christ...


At various times I have written about the 3 choices we have when it comes to Christ. C.S. Lewis phrases it best I think, so I have included his quote from the book Mere Christianity below. Read through it carefully, and think about how you personally view Jesus in your own life, and where He ranks.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.


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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

New Sermon: "My God, My God... Why?"

I recently gave this sermon message at church. It was from a series entitled Famous Last Words, outlining the last few sayings of Jesus while He was on the cross. This sermon seeks to unpack the meaning behind this famous Scripture in Matthew 27; "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Upon first researching this topic, I thought that it had only to do with suffering. I was wrong. Christ gives us an outline to follow, in order to make sure that if and when suffering does come into our lives - we know how to handle it. It ties in with the Old Testament. It ties in with our humanity. It ties in to the fundamental questions surrounding this mysterious passage in the Bible, and the reason that God temporarily abandoned Jesus on the cross. I have included a graphic showing you were to go, after you have clicked on the link below the picture. Enjoy!




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Sunday, March 28, 2010

On Ditching Religion: Sam Harris Speaks About Morality


There was an interesting article & video posted on CNN.com recently featuring Sam Harris (author of the extremely popular atheist book 'The End of Faith'). The video basically shows Harris defending the secular worldview and stating that man no longer needs God or religion to explain morality, and that in fact we would be better off to "ditch" religion altogether. Harris states some examples of how Islam and Christianity differ about how to think regarding Christ, and that these 2 religions have radically different views when it comes to the big questions.

Harris then discusses his feeling that we need to stop spending time worrying about things like the after-life and a Moral Universe, and start spending more time thinking about how to solve nuclear proliferation and poverty. Now these are interesting points raised by an intelligent skeptic. They share a common theme I think - that of fear and skepticism. Fear in the face of the possibility of terrorist attack and nuclear destruction. Skepticism that God, the Bible, or Christianity could possibly help anyone in the face of these threats. On one point he is correct: religions like Islam and Christianity ARE very different. You cannot claim that Jesus is God come in the flesh in one breath, and then state that Christ was just another prophet in the next. The exclusivity of truth does not allow for this; at least Harris is paying attention.

I have a feeling where he gets off the path a bit is when he upholds secularism (the 'science-only' world view) as the One Right Way. He advocates ditching religion in favour of secularism. This of course - in and of itself - is a moral statement, no better and no worse than upholding Christianity or Islam. The real question is "which one is the truth?" The question always comes down to Jesus. Was he God, just a good teacher, or a fictional character? Mature Christians know the answer to this. They have experienced the reality of Christ. We know He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). That Sam Harris does not know this, we cannot necessarily be angry with him -- many people don't have a personal relationship with God. That he proposes that 'religion' in the strict sense can be harmful and damaging, I will give no argument. Christ knew this as well; He admonished the Pharisees and the spiritually proud quite often in the New Testament. As to whether we can divorce God from morality, now that is something quite different. You can (for a while) pretend that human beings don't need oxygen, but after a few minutes of holding our breath we see how silly this is. Take the ultimate Good out of goodness itself, and we will be in trouble in a matter of decades.

It is no small thing that Hitler and Stalin fell into this trap. If there is no one minding the spiritual store, eventually the employees will do whatever they want. I have attached the link to the CNN video below. Feel free to watch and make your own decision:




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Monday, March 22, 2010

Living in a Finely Tuned Universe




I have included a video link below of noted Christian scholar and philosopher William Lane Craig discussing the facts leading up to the reality that we live in a finely tuned universe, which contains a planet Earth that is so incredibly engineered to support human life, that it almost becomes silly to propose the strictly naturalistic notion of multiple universes and/or "world ensembles" to explain away this engineering. Although Craig becomes a bit wordy in his discourse below, the facts still stand. Many scientists (though not all) begin the question of why our universe is the way it is by skipping the most important question. In fact regarding the anthropic principal, they would say that man exists and the universe is the way it is, just because. Or in effect, since things are the way they are already, then what good does it do to ask the question "why" at all? Just accept it and move on. This strikes me as missing the point in a very large way. Because we are in fact here, and the universe exists the way it does, this should promote the question: how do we explain a world in which all signs point to fine tuning and creation? Click below and enjoy:




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Does Prosperity = Right Relation with God


Have you ever been left wondering where is God when you can’t pay a bill, or your car won’t start, or when someone in your family gets sick? Have you ever asked the question, “God, how could you have let this happen to me?” If you have, then you aren’t alone. I have asked similar questions myself. Many other Christians have also. I have a feeling that this type of thing is a stumbling block to many would-be Christians out there today. They have tried on the armor of the Christian God, and found it to be wanting. In other words they went to church, they sang the hymns, and they took communion – but in their life they still had suffering.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Gospel of Prosperity may be the culprit here. This is an idea that many popular preachers are preaching today which essentially says “if you are in right relation to God, then He wants you to be completely and totally happy, therefore you should have health, wealth, and prosperity.” It sounds silly to say this out loud, but I have a feeling that this untruth lies at the heart of many people’s frustration surrounding God. The problem is we have an incorrect view of what God has promised mankind. If we actually read the accounts of the Bible we find that there was in fact suffering, even among the great martyrs of Jesus’ time.

Look at St. Paul for example. Often he was imprisoned, on occasion he even asked God to remove a physical suffering (he referred to this as the thorn in his side), and God refused. He ended up tortured and killed for his faith. Was this because he wasn’t in right relation with Jesus? What about Job, Elijah, or just about any of the prophets or people of the Old Testament. Guess what, they had difficulty also. And if we turn to Christ himself, we see someone devoid of the items listed in the definition of the Prosperity Gospel above. Christ was neither rich, pain-free, or prosperous in a worldly sense. Upon further reflection, I think you can see that this type of preaching is not beneficial to either Christians or non-Christians. It simply creates confusion and wounded hearts. It does not allow people to ‘count the cost’ of following Christ. It is not realistic.

Now hold on, don’t ask the question “so why follow God at all” just yet. Anyone alive on planet Earth today can see that we have some degree of suffering in our lives; with or without God. There is no escaping it. My point is simply that the Bible is more than a self-help book or a manual for positive thinking. It is a book for grown-ups, full of historical figures (included Jesus Himself) which contains both suffering and joy together. But the followers of Christ have at least the following things in common: 1.) they are fighting for the right things, 2.) their suffering has purpose, 3.) they have eternal salvation, and 4.) there can be no separation from the Love of God – Christ’s atonement lifted that barrier once and for all.

If you have stumbled with regard to Christianity because you believed (either overtly or latently) in the Prosperity Gospel, then you need not be ashamed or downtrodden. You can cast off that layer of false teaching that says if God loves you, He will never let you suffer. Once this issue has been dealt with properly, you can then begin to live the more realistic Christian life. You will have pain from time to time, we all do. But you will also have God, if you ask for Him.


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Interesting Quote...


"How much of your life you've invested in Jesus Christ is the issue. Have we held some back for ourselves - just in case He's not as real, as powerful, as active as we thought? Just in case He doesn't come through? Just in case He really can't be taken at His Word?"


- Beth Moore



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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Famous Last Words

My church is doing a sermon series soon entitled 'Famous Last Words.' I was able to find this video from Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ depicting the 7 sayings of Jesus from the cross. As these phrases represented Christ's last chance to tell the world something important prior to His passing, we may take it for granted that these words are important. This film I believe did an excellent job of presenting the facts as they probably occurred historically. Because of this, the semi-graphic nature of Christ's beaten body in this video may not be for everyone. If it is not for you, that is okay - skip this post and move on to the next one. Watching this again served to remind me of the brutal nature of sin, and the extent to which Jesus had to go to save us from it. It is only by grace that some of us are lucky enough to be pulled out of our busy lives long enough to remember what happened on Calvary, the most important event in the history of mankind. Does thank you even cut it? Probably not, but I offer it to God anyway.




On Hope ...


Is it important to have hope in your life? When we are younger, we select certain things in our life to hang our desires on. I am loosely referring here to “hope.” For example, when I mention going to church to my 3 –year-old, I am almost certain that he pairs that up with good donuts and a particular set of toys in the kid’s room. On Friday’s my 7-year-old daughter looks forward to going to her grandparents’ house to see her cousins and to spend the night. She holds this in her consciousness all week, and by the time Thursday gets here, she is all but chomping at the bit.

But what about grown-ups? What about us? As we pass from this age of innocence and into a world often more difficult and less forgiving, we must still place our focus somewhere. Daily living is usually hard enough, and then from time to time we experience true suffering. If you haven’t experienced this loss or suffering yet, then go into your house, lock the door, and consider yourself lucky! So during our lulls when things aren’t so bad and we are going through day to day life, maybe some of us place our hope in material things like money, entertainment, -- or if we are lucky -- maybe even things like people and relationships. But what happens when things don’t go so well, and we find ourselves driving down the road less traveled, in a speeding car that we don’t want to be in? I think that if our hope is misplaced during the quiet lulls, then it is harder to find God during the storms. Why is this? Because often the fulfillment of hope comes from the partnership with God that occurs during the average every-day times, in addition to the difficult times. He wants our attention all the time.

When we pin our dreams and desires to material or natural things only, and these items finally do disappear (whether it be through suffering, or some other means whereupon these things are taken from us), we become lost. If Jesus is our light ALL the time, then when the Dark of Night comes, we have direction instead of confusion. Notice I didn’t say happiness. Happiness is situationally dependant. If you total your new car, you aren’t going to be happy – no matter if you know God or not. But you can still have Joy. Joy is different. Your hope is placed correctly in the Creator. Good times or bad, God is still God.

I’m not sure what people do without God in their lives. I don’t say this in an arrogant or boastful way. I had spent much of my own life refusing to look into the deeper truths of the Gospel, and when I finally did accept a relationship with God, it was a night and day difference. I’m not going back to that other life; you can't make me! Where was my hope prior to this providence? Matthew chapter 12 tells us about Christ that “in his name nations will put their hope.” Is this just lip service? It is my great joy to celebrate God in both the good times (when I am driving around with a full tank of gas and a happy family), as well as the bad times (when sickness and difficulty make their home with me). Is your own Hope well placed? Is what you look to for comfort on a good day, enough to sustain you on a bad one?


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Interesting Quote

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"A good teacher is someone who is humble enough to be set on fire with the love of God."


- Fr. John Corapi



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Resurrection Sunday Still Matters

The literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the linchpin of the Christian faith.  It doesn't matter which denomination or slant ...