A Logical Faith

Interesting Quote ...

2011-11-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

"The Glory of God is the human person fully alive"

- Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century)

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The Bible was Just Kidding About Demons ... Right?

2011-11-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

I have just finished a book entitled 'An Exorcist Tells His Story' by father Gabriele Amorth. Amorth is a Catholic Priest and a sanctioned exorcist. The first time I heard about this book I must admit that it brought back memories for me, specifically regarding the film adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel 'The Exorcist.' The first time I saw the film I must have been around 10 years old. My parents had left for a night out, and I was with a babysitter. Somehow I managed to persuade her that it was no problem if she let me stay up and watch this horror movie. I hid behind the couch the whole time. I think I may have been psychologically scarred by this. Why did I insist on watching this film? Why is our culture so fascinated by supernatural evil? Blatty's novel spent something like 57 weeks on the New York Time's best seller list back in the early 70's. Even the title alone of Amorth's book - I admit - drew me in. The premise was fascinating. He spends 200 pages detailing the strange things he has seen during his long career as the local parish exorcist in Italy, and doesn't pull any punches when chastising the Church in Rome because they have forgotten the Biblical roots of exorcism. That horror film I watched when I was 10 was just a movie though, right? And that was just based on a book, right? Amorth's book presents the topic in an interesting light. Basically, that it is all real. I wondered if I would have to read this book from behind my couch as well.

It is interesting that Amorth reminds us that the Ritual (the Catholic Church's official set of norms and guidelines for priests to exorcise individuals) was written in 1614. He says it is still as effective today as it was then. Amorth does not quote the Ritual word for word, probably because (as he warns us later) the average lay person ought not try this at home. In the Bible, Jesus does grant the power to expel demons to anyone who believes in His name. Amorth does realize this, but he adds that the average person must be careful - because things like blessing a home are entirely different than practicing the removal of evil spirits from another human being. But I am getting ahead of myself here. Aren't demons, ghosts, and spiritual evil the stuff of fiction? Isn't it safe for me to come out from behind my couch after all? People today don't need exorcisms because now we have the ability to diagnose schizophrenia and a host of other mental maladies without the need for religion - right? But 'An Exorcist Tells His Story' was published in 1994! Not necessarily ancient history. Often times Amorth describes taking a psychiatrist with him during some of his exorcisms. Apparently the Church also concedes that it is important to go to the doctor first. So what, then, are we to do with the things that he is saying in his book? That people today are attempting to erase supernatural evil from reality? That many people have a tendency to divorce the Bible's teachings on evil from its teachings on God and Heaven? It is this strange paradigm that I will discuss in the next paragraph.

It does fascinate me how many of us (including even some people of great faith) can read the Bible and take certain truths seriously, but reject wholesale the other things it mentions. Speaking for myself, I was always of the camp that it was okay to believe that some guy named Jesus lived a long time ago, and that Moses may have heard from a higher power in the desert outside Egypt. But as far as demons and the devil were concerned - that was just metaphor and symbols. Things were easier that way, less embarrassing. One of the most difficult things in the Bible to defend today may just be the doctrine on Satan and his demons. You would have better luck selling snake-oil at Sears. But there is a catch. Without a literal devil, the story of the Fall of Man in Genesis makes no sense. Without literal demons, who was Jesus expelling half the time in the Gospels? If we are made fun of for believing in the Bible, then we might as well go the whole way, and believe ALL of what Jesus said - not just the happy stuff about God and Heaven.

But if our culture doesn't believe in the literality of demons, they sure do seem eager to watch movies about them (The Rite, The Exorcist and its sequels, Paranormal Activity, etc). Not to mention the onslaught of books and T.V. shows about them. We may not believe in the devil, but we are still worshipping him a good portion of the time. But none of this matters of course, if demons are merely symbolic. I won't spend too much time mentioning the popularity of psychics, mediums, astrologers, and the like.  I think they are all part of this cult fascination as well. Amorth warns against visiting these people, and so does the Bible. We are to trust God only. There are no shortcuts to spiritual fulfillment. So if spiritual evil is real, then why don't more of us witness things like demons on a semi-regular basis? Why is it necessary to get our "scare fix" by going to a movie theatre or visiting the public library? Well I believe many of us have witnessed these things, and probably more of us than we would like to admit. I can't blame people for wanting to relegate this area to the realm of fiction. It's more comfortable that way. Less embarrassing.

I will recount a story for you now. I am mentioning this from personal experience. Feel free to read it and either ignore it or accept it - the choice is always yours. When I attended a small church a few years ago, I had a good friend who I was very interested in inviting to service. After some discussion, he agreed to meet my family and I one Sunday. My wife and I were very excited - he was a good friend and a good man. The Saturday night before the church service, my wife and I put the kids to sleep and got ready for bed like normal. About 2:00 in the morning I woke up to feel my dog squeezing up against my neck; whining incessantly in fear. I looked over and saw my wife wide awake as well. We both sat up in bed and came to the conclusion that we were not alone in the house. I got up and grabbed an old police baton that I keep under my bed (I don't do guns) and began checking the doors and windows to make sure there wasn't any forced entry. The entire time I was doing this, both my wife and I felt a palpable presence of evil in our home. It's interesting to describe, but we both felt it from the moment we woke up. The air felt very still and heavy, and it was as if "something" hated us vehemently. It was to say the very least, frightening. After finding that the house was closed up safe and sound, I returned to bed.

The next morning it was gone. My wife looked at me plainly and said, "we were not alone last night." I nodded in agreement. Whatever visited us that night did not want us to meet my friend for church the next day. It wasn't pleased that another soul was being set in motion to encounter God. Things went well at church on Sunday morning. I think we may have even taken my friend out to lunch afterward. I know for certain that I am not the only one this type of thing has happened to (and this is not my only story either). I have spoken with pastors, Christian friends, and a few others who have had similar or even more graphic stories. My point is this: the Christian walk is worth fighting for. By choosing not to believe in accounts by people like father Amorth, I think we do a dis-service to the Bible. If Jesus warned us to be mindful of demons and to stay away from modern-day psychics and astrologers, we probably should. We don't need them. God is our best resource and greatest protector. It's fun to talk about Heaven and happy things, but in doing so we cannot erase the darker spiritual component. All the more reason to stay in line with Christ, and to invite Him into our lives at all costs.

Amorth concludes his book by upholding Jesus as the centerpiece of our salvation. I will echo that sentiment here. The last sentence in his book is a paraphrased quote by a writer named Manzoni. He says that writing "one book at a time is sufficient, and at times, is one too many." And so it can be with blog posts as well I'm sure, so I will stop here. But at least I have come out from behind the couch. I hope the same for you.

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The Homeless Equation

2011-11-15T14:50:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I teamed up with a local ministry here called Joppa (named after the city in the Bible) and went out with 2 car-loads of people to distribute meals to homeless people in our city. I'm not sure what prompted me to do this. I simply saw it in our church bulletin, and decided to sign up for a session. We met at 1:00 pm at the Joppa warehouse and split up into four different groups that were responsible for four unique routes around the city. Since I was the "new guy" I remained silent, but I noticed immediately who the old veterans were. There were two people in particular who help organize these distributions almost every weekend. Personally, I was grateful to have a guide, and I even hitched a ride in someone else's vehicle for the day. We finished around 5:00 pm. What I experienced is not easy to summarize. In fact I'm not so sure this blog post will be a very focused piece of writing, but I feel the need to write about it nonetheless. It was easier to feel my way through this experience than it was to quantify it. I have listed the things I noticed during this outting below.

Puzzlement for their Plight
I found myself at the beginning of the experience wondering if anyone was doing more than just delivering food and clothing to these unfortunate people. After all, shouldn't we also be helping them get on their feet? Soon I found out that Joppa does indeed help many of them clean up and get into housing. Often times finding them a job as well. One gentlemen named Al told me that after he had been placed into a job and an apartment, he was back on the street within months. He told me he could not beat the "demon of alcoholism."

I was told that some of the people we delivered to actually preferred to live by themselves without the responsibility of a full-time job or a mortgage. Others asked us to pray for them, so that they could bet back on their feet. I found myself feeling sad, and at the same time puzzled: they needed help, but only so much help was appropriate. Some of them (I think) have chosen this as their life. And whether by way of addiction or personal choice, are destined to end up back on the street at some point. I'm not sure how to feel about this yet, at this point I'm just recounting what I saw.

God is Still Good
I wondered if these people were being helped spiritually also, in addition to just physically. That question was answered as soon as I met a man named Dwight. He lives in a small tent community in the woods behind a bank (insert your own metaphor here). Dwight told me that he and some others in the tents attend a large church on the West side each Sunday. He was happy to tell me that they were all Christians in that camp. He also told me that with God's help, he was able to repair some damage to his tent in only half a day. Every other sentence out of his mouth was "God is good." I shook his hand twice and spoke with him maybe a total of 10 minutes. I will most likely remember him the rest of my life. No home, no heat, little food ... but God is still good. I cannot add anything else to this. His attitude was nothing less than amazing.

Stray Cats and D-Batteries
On one of our last stops we drove over a bridge and into an abandoned parking lot. Just over the bank in the woods stood two or three tents. There were only two people living there, they appeared to be a couple. It had snowed earlier in the week and the man began telling us that the snow was so heavy it weighed down the trees to the point where one of them tore a hole through his canvas. He was able to repair it quickly, but he wondered if we had any D-batteries so they could keep some electricity going after it got dark. How I truly wished I had stopped at the store on my way to the Joppa warehouse and picked up some D- batteries. We had none to offer them.

A stray cat passing over the embankment caught my eye. "That is our pet cat," he said. "The campers who were here before us left him behind, so we took him in." This struck me for a moment. There was compassion in the way he said it. What is it about animals that unites us? My wife and I took in a stray cat about 5 years ago. One of the best pets we have ever had. This man was no different than me. I live in a house, he doesn't - that was about it. How many paychecks could I stand to miss before ending up in the same situation?

I hope this article strikes a chord with some of you. It doesn't have much to do with a logical faith, or how we can know that God exists through reason or philosophy. We are not discussing atheism or agnosticism today. No, last Sunday was about meeting people and helping them. No arguing about religion or denominations - just delivering food. Jesus says we will always have the poor with us, and surely this is true. But I don't like it. I didn't like that this experience produced feelings in me that I couldn't articulate. The homeless people we met that day don't need our pity, they just need some help. I am grateful for what Joppa and similar ministries do. I heard that Joppa was started by only two people. Now it has its own warehouse downtown. I asked myself questions like "what did these homeless people do prior to Joppa in this city?" ... or "why did no one else form such a ministry sooner?" But then why did it take me until I was 38 years old to volunteer? Bad enough to admit that I didn't spend much time thinking about this problem until now. Worse to admit that over time, a certain degree of apathy may sneak back into my attitude. But only if I let it. It is a problem that has no simple equation or solution. It just exists, and we must help when we can.

For more information on Joppa and the things they do in the Des Moines area, click this link: http://www.joppaoutreach.org/

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2011-10-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

"I just want to lobby for God ..."

- Billy Graham

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The Grand Design: Something out of Nothing?

2011-10-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have recently finished reading Stephen Hawking's new book The Grand Design. With the help of author Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking has crafted an impressive book outlining his theory of everything (called M-Theory). He claims this theory - once developed - will be the answer to Einstein's search for a unified scientific theory to explain everything. A theory that will explain how everything is scientifically determined, right down to the last living single-celled organism. I knew Hawking would have some interesting points, though I have to admit I didn't find the text very compelling. In chapter one he states that "philosophy is dead." From there he proceeds to lay out his personal philosophy on how our universe can exist without God. A fascinating circular reasoning mistake from one of the brightest minds of our time. But ignore that for now, let's talk about the book's denouement for a minute. That is where things get interesting.

In the last chapter, Hawking says, "Because gravity shapes space and time, it allows space-time to be locally stable but globally unstable. On the scale of the entire universe, the positive energy of the matter can be balanced by the creation of whole universes. Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing in the manner described in Chapter 6 [Choosing our Universe]. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

That laws like gravity exist and might govern something the size of a universe is interesting, but it doesn't answer the question of who or what ordered that law in the first place. Hawking addresses this earlier in the same chapter by employing one of atheist Richard Dawkins' favorite counter-arguments for God. In essence, if there is a God, then who created Him? This counter-argument has always seemed too simple to me. We know from the Bible that God is described as having always existed, with no end and no beginning. Since we have things that exist as complicated as entire universes or black holes (where we cannot see an end or beginning), is this concept of eternality really so hard to imagine for people like Dawkins and Hawking?

At any rate, I cannot mask my disappointment after reading the conclusion of the book. I believe he is basically telling us that because there are laws that exist which use positive and negative energy as a balance, everything can just "spring up" from nothing - and we are supposed to call it "M-Theory." Have I oversimplified this concept? Perhaps. I am not a scientist or an expert in quantum physics. This book however WAS written for the common and ordinary person. The problem is that the reason we are given as to why anything exists is a little too common and ordinary. Anyone can choose not to believe in God, but it is something entirely different to disprove Him.

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Spiritual Homework: A Return to Joy

2011-09-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

"Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart." Psalm 119:111

I remember what it was like to be a new Christian. Not a new member of a church, not the first time I watched the Passion of the Christ movie ... but what it felt like to trust Jesus. I was around 30 years old when I knelt on the bottom stair of my split foyer home and admitted to God that I needed Him in my life.  This changed a number of things for me. I remember doing "crazy" things like withdrawing twenty-dollar bills from the ATM and shoving them in the coat pockets of my unsuspecting co-workers.  When they turned off their computers and put on their jackets to head home for the night, the surprised look on their face and stunned silence was it's own reward. I would just keep quiet and giggle from my cubicle across the hall. I was joyful toward God and life, and ready to save the world!

Since then a number of years have gone by (without telling you my age!).  Why had I done those types of things? Because I was happy to be alive. Happy to be under God's grace. Happy to be forgiven and free, all at the same time.  I have been thinking about this alot lately. Why don't I do those things anymore? After all, God is still faithful - and I am still His, right?

I think many of us forget what it is like to have freedom in Christ. We get caught up in the throes of raising a family and going to work, paying bills, etc.  Even experienced Christians can lose track of the joy that God provides.  In Revelation 2:17 Jesus tells the church in Ephesus that they had "forsaken the love they had at first." I think that many of us (myself included) have done this very same thing.

I want to extend an offer to you today. This is your "spiritual homework" for the week, if you choose to accept it. Do the following 2 things after reading this post:

1.) Pray that God would show you someone that needs your help
2.) When God shows you this person, DO something to help them

If it entails watching their child while they run to the grocery store for a gallon of milk, then do it. If it means sharing the Gospel message, then give it a shot. I believe that if we pray this prayer sincerely, God will respond. After all, what would it be like to put on your jacket at the end of the day and find an extra twenty-dollars?

PS: If you have accepted this assignment and want to share with me (and the readers of this blog) how God allowed you to help someone, please email me your story at sjklaus@msn.com. I look forward to seeing what can happen when we ask God for someone to bless.

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Interesting Quote

2011-09-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

“We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.”

- Bono

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How Are We Using Our Time Here on Earth?

2011-09-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Pastor and best-selling author Francis Chan summarizes his thoughts in the video below. I am currently reading his book Crazy Love, about what it means to love God in the 21st century. I found the link below both humorous and compelling. Enjoy!

Interesting Quote

2011-08-15T14:12:00.000-07:00

"It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious."

- Stephen Hawking

Heaven is for Real: Colton Burpo's Story

2011-08-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

I recently finished the book Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. This book is only about 150 pages, so it is a relatively quick read. But I have to be honest - it was quite engaging. In the pages of this book Todd lays out the true story of his son Colton's trip to Heaven. When Colton was close to 4 years old, he suffered from a mis-diagnosed appendicitis. 5 days later, by the time the Burpos took Colton to a hospital to find out that his appendix had ruptured, it was almost too late. In fact at one point the author relates that the nurses in the hospital were instructed not to give the Burpo family any encouragement, because Colton would most likely be dead from organ poisoning in a matter of days.

Can you imagine this? One day your 4-year-old is healthy and active. The next day he is on death's doorstep. Unfortunately many people can imagine this and have experienced something similar. In this case, however, things took a turn for the better. After the Burpos invited around 80 people to gather and pray for recovery, Colton rebounded quickly. Todd writes that those same nurses would stream constantly after he had recovered just to witness what they knew was a miracle.

Then things get interesting. Throughout the course of the next year, Colton begins relating details to his parents about what he had witnessed when he was close to death. He talked about sitting in Jesus' lap. He discussed seeing people in white robes with red and blue sashes across their chest. Colton met Todd's father "Pop", who had died before Colton was even born. Apparently in Heaven everyone is young and beautiful. There are fantastic color palettes there, thousands more colors than exist on earth. And then there was what would become Colton's catch-phrase during those post-hospital months: "Jesus loves the children." Todd even writes of one instance where they were attending a funeral for an acquaintance, and Colton happened to see the casket. He exclaimed, "Daddy, did that man have Jesus in his heart? You can't get into Heaven if you don't have Jesus in your heart!" Not your typical topics of conversation for a 4-year-old.

The Burpos have been a beacon of hope to many people, and also subject to criticism by others. This is normal of course. You cannot write a book about Jesus and please everyone. But the strange thing is that some of the criticism is from other Christian groups. One group argues that you ought not mistake the truth of Scripture for a supernatural "experience." Now this is a strange argument really. After all, if the Bible is true - shouldn't we see some experiential evidence? At any rate, I applaud the Burpos' courage. If your 4-year-old started talking about meeting Jesus, would you tell anyone? As Todd wrote several times in the book: it was a gift from God. The more time that passed, the more wrapping paper would come off.

Nothing in Heaven is for Real appeared to contradict anything Biblical, at least in my eyes. The author was careful to research everything his son was telling him, and he provides chapter and verse for Biblical verification throughout the book. I am recommending this book. I think it will enhance what we already think we know about Heaven. It also makes me wonder how many of us are holding on to incredible stories about God that we may choose not to talk about in mixed company. Do you and I have "gifts from God that need to be unwrapped?" I have included a link below to a video detailing the Burpos' experience. Take a look and see for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhT36Dizo2s

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2011-07-17T20:53:00.000-07:00

"God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering."

- St. Augustine (354 - 430)

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Consternation and Faith

2011-07-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Progress on The God Circle Book

2011-07-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Just an update on the progress of my book. I was able to procure the help of a local editor and I am happy to announce that the second draft of The God Circle: the Search for the Logical Christian Faith is complete! I think I may have underestimated how much of a process something like this can be. Nevertheless, I hope to be nearly complete (and maybe even published) in 6 months.

I wanted also to extend a big THANK YOU to all who have supported this project. From the people who have screened the original manuscript and given me feedback, to my wife who has had to stomach listening to me talk about it constantly. Keep an eye out for this book soon. I intend on having a dedicated website set up so people can order it easily, as well as an internet "advertising" campaign. But most of all, I think this book will succeed through word of mouth.

Thanks again for reading!

- Jon

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Does Science Imply No Supernatural?

2011-05-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

There is a call-in radio show by Don Johnson Ministries that often honors callers with different worldviews. Although it is a Christian show, Don will entertain atheist callers, and the outcome is usually a respectful and thoughtful debate. On one particular segment, caller Justin was attempting to promote a naturalistic and determinist worldview. In the course of the conversation, Justin mentioned that one big reason for his assent to an atheistic viewpoint was the fact that natural science had proven itself so well over the course of history. He maintained that because science assumes that there is nothing other than a physical world and universe, and because it has worked well to help mankind over the years, then it serves as evidence that the supernatural does not exist.

Now this is an interesting vantage point. Don challenged the caller with the following 2 points: 1.) natural science does NOT assume that only the physical world exists, 2.) natural science only cares about testing and observing nature – nothing else. To this last point I would add that anything else you bring to the table here is personal philosophy, not scientific fact.

I think the question then is this - does science imply that the natural physical world is all there is? Now a good many people today think this is true. But I think that linking the effectiveness of science with the assumption that there is no God was not as predominant throughout history as it is today. I am not a historian, but I believe this to be largely a new phenomenon. So if this claim is truly a weapon that some people are keeping in their intellectual arsenal so that they can ignore Christianity, we must examine it further.

First of all it occurs to me also that science does NOT assume that only the physical universe exists. Since natural science is only concerned with the natural world, it can only speak to attributes of that natural world. It cannot say – no matter how much some want it to – that no other type of world exists. This may seem like semantics, but let me put it a different way. Let’s say that I am a really good mechanic, and that I always have a full car shop. Anything from Hondas to GMC vehicles show up at my door. I am experienced at working on cars, and over the years I have become pretty efficient - maybe even impressive. But if you take me out of my car shop and plop me down in front of, say, an art school; I find that I cannot even properly mix a color palette. Simply put – I have nothing to say when it comes to painting or drawing. Science is an excellent tool and predictor of things in the natural world. But I hardly think it can assume that there is ONLY the natural world, anymore than I could assume that replacing a muffler or overhauling an engine is all there is to life.

Second, it occurs to me that when we regard any of the conclusions we draw based on the results of natural science (at least in so much as it pertains to the big questions of life) we are using philosophy or a worldview - not science. Bear with me while I risk an oversimplification with this next example. I can test the effect of two chemicals together, and I can observe the outcome. But I cannot declare that this outcome automatically points to a certain worldview or philosophy. Just because science is really good at science, doesn’t mean that there is no God. I don’t think most people (atheists included) could argue this raw point. In order to argue that point, you would have to break it down into finer and finer arguments, wherein I think you would simply find yourself adding more and more personal preference and philosophy – hence taking you farther away from the factual science itself, and full steam ahead into the arena of philosophy.

When we begin to step outside the realm of the scientific and into the realm of the worldview, we have left science and entered into something different. Let us at least be agreed on that. After all, natural science isn’t good or bad, it just IS. The minute we begin to analyze it as being something that is good or bad, we are making a personal judgment about it, and this is something different.

OK, so what does this mean? I think it means that if a person is relying on the effectiveness of natural science to help hedge their bet that atheism is correct, then they have been misled. In other words, the fact that “science works” is absolutely no indicator that God doesn’t work. You can have both God and science. There is nothing wrong with holding a worldview. We just need to be honest about it when we do.

Please feel free to add your comments below. This is such a BIG issue for some, that I am interested in possible differences in opinion.

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The Importance of Man, in Light of God

2011-05-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

"Man is the microcosm; man is the measure of all things; Man is the image of God."

- G.K. Chesteron, 'The Everlasting Man'

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Wretched Radio & Television!

2011-05-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

Looking for a nice place to spend time? Todd Friel is the host of Wretched Radio and Wretched TV. He is often accused of being a little too over the edge, with some of his biting commentary hitting too close to home. I have always found his style unique and entertaining though. Consider him the polar opposite of the most boring Christian speaker you have ever heard. There is nothing boring about this guy!

I have included the link to his website below. Enjoy it - and try to catch his TV show sometime!

http://www.wretchedradio.com/

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Sacrificially Yours ... Signed Jesus

2011-05-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

The following story is worth the read. I cannot personally verify whether or not it is a real account from a real school, but it makes the point well enough - even if it is merely hypothetical. Hope you enjoy it!

There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson , a studious man who taught at a small college in the western United States. Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this particular institution. Every student was required to take this course their freshman year, regardless of his or her major. Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take Christianity seriously.

This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football team, and was the best student in the professor's class.

One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him. "How many push-ups can you do?" Dr. Christianson asked. Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."

"200? That's pretty good, Steve," Dr. Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?" Steve replied, "I don't know.... I've never done 300 at a time"

"Do you think you could?" again asked Dr. Christianson. Well, I can try," said Steve. "Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," said the professor.

Steve said, "Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it." Dr. Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday. Let me explain what I have in mind." Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. No, these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls.

Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson's class. Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?" Cynthia said, "Yes."

Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?" "Sure!" Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.

Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?" Joe said, "Yes." Dr. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut.

And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut. Walking down the second aisle, Dr. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. When the professor asked, "Scott do you want a donut?" Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own push-ups?" Dr. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them." Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."

Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked, “Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?" With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten push-ups. Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!" Dr. Christianson said, "Look! This is my classroom, my class, my desks, and these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.

Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.

Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry. Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?" Sternly, Jenny said, "No." Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten more push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?" Steve did ten....Jenny got a donut.

By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were beginning to say, "No!" and there were all these uneaten donuts on the desks. Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these push-ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.

Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row.

During his class, however, some students from other classes had wandered in and sat down on the steps along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it. Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.

Steve asked Dr. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?" Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your push-ups. You are in charge now. You can do them any way that you want." And Dr. Christianson went on.

A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!" Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come." Professor Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten push-ups for him?" Steve said, "Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut." Dr. Christianson said, "Okay, Steve, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?" Jason, new to the room, hardly knew what was going on. "Yes," he said, "give me a donut." "Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.

The very last two students in the room were two young women, both cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a donut?" Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you." Professor Christianson quietly asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?" Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.

Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?" Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. "Dr. Christianson, why can't I help him?" Dr. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, Steve has to do it alone; I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not. When I decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked at my grade book. Steve here is the only student with a perfect grade. Everyone else has failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me that in football practice, when a player messes up he must do push-ups. I told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price by doing your push-ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes."

"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?" As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.

Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said, "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, plead to the Father, 'Into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, He yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten." Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically exhausted, but wearing a thin smile.

"Well done, good and faithful servant," said the professor, adding, "Not all sermons are preached in words." Turning to his class, the professor said, "My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . He spared not His Only Begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, for the whole Church, now and forever. Whether or not we choose to accept His gift to us, the price has been paid."

"Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?"

.

The World Will End on May 21st ... Really?!?!

2011-05-19T08:07:00.000-07:00

Unless you have lived in a cave for the last 30 days, you know that small, but organized Christian groups are setting up bill-boards and driving around the country warning people that the end of the world as we know it will occur on May 21st of 2011. As I am writing this blog post, we are 2 days away from our projected doom – and I have 2 questions that I can’t get away from: 1.) What possesses large groups of people to go into a state of temporary insanity like this, and 2.) What happens when all of them wake up on May 22nd and the world is still here? It will be interesting to see what the news media records in answer to these 2 questions. Regardless of what they report, I will answer these 2 questions the best that I can below.

Why do so many people believe that the end is near, and why have they begun to do things like quit their jobs and travel the country?

I think that 2 factors come into play here. First, people are hungry for someone or something to believe in. We all have an innate desire to make sense of the world around us. Much of the suffering that takes place can seem to random and cruel. But what if all of a sudden there sprang up a leader who could manipulate something that you already believed in (the Bible) and transcribe a pseudo-religion wherein it was commanded that in order to be thought of by God as “Elect”, you would need to do things like leave your church, quit your job, and spread the word? Sound familiar? (Remember Waco) I think in one regard, this is exactly what has happened. I have listened to people like Steve Brooks from Boone Bible Ministries talk about the May 21st deadline. They are eloquent and intelligent. If you didn’t know your Bible, you may in fact be drawn in.

Second, the Bible itself does tell us that groups and movements like this will occur more and more frequently as time goes on. Jesus tells us plainly in Matthew 24:4-5, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.” And again later in the same chapter He says, “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.” There have in fact been many groups and people that have thought they were the end time prophet, or even Jesus himself! (see my other blog post Million Dollar Mansions and False Messiahs). All of this business is interesting and confusing, but none of it is new to God.

What happens when all of these people wake up on May 22nd, and the world is still here?

This is the bigger problem. The news media loves a good story where Christians look silly or stupid. And believe me friend, this is one of them. Damage is being done. If your friend or family member already thinks you are a bit strange for believing in the Bible, this business has not helped your case. Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are laughing together somewhere right now. But what about all of those well-meaning folks that actually DO believe that they are performing a service for God? I’m afraid there can be only one outcome. They will be disheartened, angry, upset, feeling led astray, and worst of all – their faith may be shaken.

It doesn’t matter if their leaders attempt to back-peddle by saying things like, “well we must have miscalculated” … or “God must have changed His mind.” It won’t matter if they suddenly remember that the Bible says expressly that it is not given unto man - or even the angels in Heaven - to know the hour or the day that the end will come. The damage will already be done. These folks will wake up jobless, disillusioned, and embarrassed.

I would not want to be the one heading up this march. I would have a lot to answer for. Let’s just hope that no one decides to drink the cool-aid, if it is offered. On May 22nd there will be disappointment, but also I think, some relief. Now we can go back to reading our Bibles with the Scriptures rightly divided. Just remember, be nice to these people. At least they are doing something with what they believe in, however misguided it may be!

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2011-05-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

- Jesus Christ

My advice is to knock. What do you have to lose?

The Truth About Truth

2011-05-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

Recently I viewed a debate between Dr. Sam Harris and Dr. William Lane Craig at Notre Dame on the matter of ‘Does Good Come From God?’ Harris is an atheist, author, and eloquent speaker. Craig is a theist, an author, and also eloquent. The two men went back and forth debating this issue for several hours. Harris provides the following equation in order to illustrate what “Good” is: imagine the worst case scenario of suffering for human beings, and then acquiesce to the fact that anything which is not as bad as the worst case scenario, must intrinsically be better, or more good. He maintains that you do not need God as a governor behind the scenes, instituting what is good or bad.

By contrast Dr. Craig says that in order for something to be good, there must be something or someone providing that intrinsic “goodness” behind the scenes. Otherwise we are all left up to our own opinions, or even worse – cultural majority vote, telling us what is good and bad. This was all very interesting of course, but I found one of the peripheral issues MUCH more interesting than the primary subject of the debate. Dr. Craig often posed the following argument: we need to have a grasp on the truth (generically speaking) in order to be able to make right comparisons as to what is or is not GOOD. And if we hold to the world view that human beings are nothing more than highly evolved mammals that came from a happy accident of matter mixed with life, then our reliance on truth is also a happy accident. In other words, we can never have any confidence in our own logical processes (how can you trust an accident?), because this intrinsic understanding of logic that we are “born with” was never the result of a divine mandate. Only unintelligent matter coming together to form a highly complex brain.

Or look at the problem this way. If Dr. Harris maintains that his worldview is correct, logical, and truthful… but then denies any type of God who could govern the intrinsic nature of that truth, then it follows that Harris’ take on truth and logic is simply the result of a happy accident of evolution - and as such cannot possibly have any logical grounding. For example, how can I trust that A+B=C, if my understanding of A, B, and C came from green slime which eventually evolved into small creatures, and eventually became a human being? You cannot use science to prove that science is accurate. There must be a higher standard which governs whether or not something is logical or true. From this higher standard, you may then make right comparisons as to whether or not worst case scenario suffering is good or not. Skipping the higher standard step is cheating.

I suspect that many people who hold to the closed system of naturalism act like there is no God, but all the while make use of God’s gift of reason and logic.

Why does inserting God solve this problem? Because then we would know that there is a force which gives truth its impetus and power. Evolution is supposedly a blind master, impartial to good or bad, true or untrue. Things just are the way they are. God takes away this impartiality, by providing the First Cause by which we can even understand logic and reason in the first place. If God is the originator of reason, then we can have confidence in our use of that reason. We need no longer attempt to argue that a person’s worldview is the Truth on one hand, but in the same breath deny there being any ultimate Truth on the other hand. Yet that is what people often do. This is what Sam Harris attempted to do, but Craig caught him. We do not have to take the rather silly stance of “whew, thank goodness the cosmos and evolution just happened to form the human brain in such a way as to be reliable in its use of logic and reason.” But rather we can say, “there is a God which allows me to think, reason, and engage in truth in a way that is different from the animals.” There is a greater Truth behind the way we use truth.

The lesson to be learned here is a big one. God gives us the ability to use His power to reason and identify truth. It is a gift, we don’t own it. He allows us to go through life judging concepts, making comparisons, and yes… He even allows us to deny His existence. And then when we do put forth a worldview without God, we ignore the gift of reason which allowed us to suggest the worldview in the first place.

I have 3 children. My wife and I are responsible for their well being; dressing them, feeding them, etc. At various times – while relaxing after a full meal – one of them will utter a harsh remark or take us for granted. We feed them, we love them, we make sacrifices for them - but all on human terms. Imagine what a personal God might feel like when His children treat him similarly.

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2011-04-14T14:09:00.001-07:00

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Interesting Quote

2011-04-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

"God the Father bestows upon all, existence; and participation in Christ, in respect of His being the word of reason, renders them rational beings."

- Origen (185 - 254 A.D.)

Financially Stressed?

2011-04-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

Proverbs 22:7, "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender."

Tired of feeling poor? Dave Ramsey (internationally famous financial speaker and author) gives us four tips to keep control of your finances. As no one says it better than Dave himself, I have included a link below this post, for those of you who want more. In the meantime, take a look at the following items, and weigh whether or not you are accomplishing these things in your own life!

1.) If you don't start to save money, you will always be broke.

2.) Create a plan for getting out of debt. You can wander into debt, but you cannot wander out of it. You need a specific plan.

3.) Get a part-time job [if you need to]. "If a man shall not work, he shall not eat" 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

4.) Pray for blessing. Your Father in Heaven is rich in abundance. You are able to "dial him up" at any time to ask for help!

Click here for more of Dave Ramsey: http://www.daveramsey.com/home/

Stay in Your Lane

2011-04-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

The excerpt below was taken from one of my good friends and spiritual mentors. Hope you enjoy it:

1 Kings, Chapter 1

These scriptures illustrate how Adonijah attempted to set himself up as King over Israel & Judah. Solomon was David’s choice, but Adonijah and his people tried to undermind David and Solomon. Adonijah decided he, not Solomon, should be King after David’s death.

He got chariots and horses, gathered his entourage, sacrificed animals, and had a big feast. He didn’t invite Solomon or the others that ordinarily would have been there, if in fact, he were supposed to be the King. When David heard this, he set things in order. He had Solomon anointed and to sit on David’s throne.

At this news, Adonijah’s entourage dispersed, leaving him alone. He was afraid because he had done wrong, so he went to the temple and held on to the horns of the altar. He knew that Solomon could have him killed for what he had done. In the end Adonijah bowed before Solomon and his life was spared.

Just like there can only be one king over a kingdom, there can only be one pastor of a church. Anyone that tries to set themselves in the office of pastor, divide the church, usurp authority and create disharmony, is asking for trouble from on high. God has something for each of us to do in the kingdom, but we can’t all be the king.

1st Corinthians 12, teaches us that we are one body with many parts. We can’t all be hands or feet, and there can only be one head. I challenge you to seek God for the assignment He has specifically for you, and then give that your best. For I also read that if you are faithful over a few things, God will make you ruler over many.

Yours in Love,

Min. Lacinda McClendon

The Prayer Engine

2011-03-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

In dealing with the personal experience as it pertains to God, we cannot neglect mentioning the power of prayer. If a personal God exists, then He would want to speak with us. Prayer is the language by which we speak to God. It is true that God is omnipotent and knows our heart at any given moment, but there is something special about finding a quiet place, sitting down, and talking to God. The Bible tells us to “pray without ceasing”, and you will find many people who pray in their vehicles on the way to work, in their homes, at the car wash… just about anywhere. We need not fold our hands and get on our knees every time we utter something to God. If we speak it, He can hear us.

I am blessed to have a true prayer warrior in my own family. If there is a fast track to Heaven, she is on it. My grandmother Kathleen is 92 years old. She has been praying almost all of her life. One afternoon over lunch, I went to visit her. My aunt and uncle were also present. I decided to pose 6 questions about prayer to all of them. What follows each question below is a paraphrased summary of their responses, with my own comments in brackets.

1.) Does Prayer Work?

Yes [everyone answered emphatically on this point].

2.) How do you Know Prayer Works?

Things so often turn out the way you want, after you have prayed about it. [There were actually so many prayer success stories here, that we had to work to trim them down to just a few]. There was actually one time in particular, when I [my aunt] was looking for a job and came across an advertisement for a high school religion teacher. I was uncertain about applying for this at first. As it happened I was soon recruited to be a chaperon for one of the student trips, and we were all riding in a bus together. Many of the students were listening to a radio, and I remember praying the prayer, “God if you want me to apply for this teaching job, play the song American Pie on the radio.” All joking aside, the VERY NEXT song was American Pie. And it continued to play 3 more times on the radio intermittently during the rest of the bus ride. I knew it was more than coincidence. I applied for the job, and got it! It turned out to be one of the most interesting and fulfilling jobs I have ever held.

3.) How has prayer made a difference in your life?

It settles your nerves and keeps you calm. It allows for a transfer of responsibility from your shoulders, directly onto God’s shoulders. If ANYONE needs help, they should pray. Because the God you are praying to can see farther down the road than you can – He knows what you need before you do.

There was one story in particular that comes to mind here. When my husband was in the military [Kathleen is speaking now], I had the same dream off and on for 3 nights. The dream was about my husband laying in a ditch somewhere out in the field. I could tell he was in trouble, and he didn’t move – just laid there. Some time later when he returned from the war we discussed this occurrence. He told me that at one point they were out on patrol, and he heard the voice of the enemy – he was forced to jump down into a low-lying ditch. He had stayed there all night. When his fellow soldiers found him the next day, they couldn’t believe he had survived the night alone, surrounded by the enemy. As it turned out, the timing on this matched when I was having those dreams!

4.) How do you View God?

He is the great protector. No one loves or protects you more than God. We are all His children, and I can’t stand to see people mistreating each other.

5.) Do you Have Any Tips for Praying?

[Kathleen] I always pray that people will be healthy, good Christians, and good role models. It is better to thank God first, so as not to be constantly bombarding Him with only personal requests.

[My aunt] Begin with praise for God, move on next to repentance, continue on to asking for things, and then finally you can end with petitioning God on behalf of yourself.

6.) What Would You Say to Someone Who Doesn’t Have Prayer in His or Her Life?

You don’t know what you are missing. It calms your fears.

I think [my uncle speaking] that prayer allows you to be separate and apart from your worries and problems. It frees you up.

Many have had a bad taste by looking in on “religion” from the outside, seeing only the rituals and hypocrisy of certain churches. But they haven’t experienced Jesus. That is different.

There are so many suicides and cases of depression today. I think lack of prayer, and lack of the knowledge of something greater adds to this.

The questions above were designed to get people thinking about the grace of prayer. All the people involved in the discussion that day were able to fill an encyclopedia with stories of prayers fulfilled, and lives changed. I was only there for an hour, but it could have gone for a day. It seems clear from the Bible that we were created to be in communion with God via the saving grace of Jesus, and by the language of prayer. Prayer operates like an engine, able to sustains us continually and operate in even the most difficult circumstances.

My grandmother finished with the following statement. I feel there is nothing else that needs said, so I will end this chapter with her words: “I pray that God gives the gift of Faith to all of my children and grandchildren, and I am grateful every day because I know He will.”

New Book Coming from 'A Logical Faith'

2011-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well it has been some time coming, but my book manuscript is almost 100% complete. The working title is: The God Circle: In Search of the Logical Christian Faith. It is a compilation of many of the different blog postings from this website, in conjunction with some new material, and also a list of appendices. During my faith walk these last 2 years or so, I had often thought about transferring the content discussed on the blog into a book which would challenge both believer and non-believer to examine many of the ideas they hold about God and Faith. I believe I have achieved that goal.

I am currently trying to decide whether or not to self-publish, or go through an agent and sign with a professional publishing house. I am investigating both options. I am also in prayer about it, and I'm sure that whichever path I go down, God will be at the center. It has been a wild ride already, and there are a few people screening the manuscript even as I write this.

So keep an eye out for the book in the near future. I will also keep you all abreast of things on this blog once it has gone to print. Thanks to all the people and faithful readers of this website that have helped bring this day to fruition. I really appreciate you!

- Jon

God is Good

2011-02-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

The Bible tells us that God is good. Many of us know this experientially as well. Last week a good friend of mine at work informed me that after 20-some years of hoping and praying, God moved in the heart of her elderly father, and he decided to receive Christ. This is overwhelmingly good news, and my friend's face was absolutely glowing when she told me. I have to admit, it made my day also.

What does something like this say to you and I? I believe it reminds us that time doesn't have the same meaning for us as it does for Him. 5 years, 10 years, 20 years... everything happens according to the proper season and at the perfect time. I enjoy hearing stories about God showing up. I enjoy them even more when they happen to the people around me, so I can experience the joy with them, and also be reminded first-hand that God really is in charge.

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2011-01-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

Sermon: Running from God

2011-01-03T07:08:00.000-08:00

Did you know that many people are on the run from God? In fact, some are running and don't even realize it. I gave the following sermon last Sunday. Click on the link below to hear the different ways that people find to avoid God, and what God wants us to do about it. Hope you enjoy - you may be surprised by what you hear!:

http://www.pillarchristian.com/media.php?pageID=5

** You should see something like the graphic below after loading the sermon web page. Make sure you have my name and sermon selected from the list, and then click "play."

Interesting Quote

2010-12-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

"Only those who have sought to grow by effort and failed are in the position to appreciate the fact that God is the aggressor in the realm of development."

- Miles J. Stanford, The Complete Green Letters

Evil Intent

2010-12-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

I think that we often hear or read the words in the Bible that say "the thief comes to steal and destroy", but we gloss over them. Many of us may think that these words represent some mystical ethereal being called the Devil, but that they are simply not real. We think that spiritual warfare doesn't really happen, and most of the evil in the world can be attributed to human nature, or sin, or something to that effect. But is that all there is to the story? What if there were a real undercurrent of evil which existed in our world? Something stronger and more focused than just "human nature"?

I recently viewed part of a documentary called 'Worse Than War', outlining some of the reasons behind genocide and the mass killing of entire segments of the human population. I'm not talking hundreds of people here, I'm talking millions. Nazi Germany, or even the Bosnian War in more recent history for example. Wikipedia defines genocide like this: the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group. A fine definition. But now imagine that you lived in Darfur and you witnessed your neighbors, friends, and family being dragged into the street and murdered in front of you - only to realize that you were probably next. Lets bring it home: you are pulled out of your car at the stoplight, waiting to get to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. You get the idea. A definition is good as far as it goes, but then reality comes rushing in. Compare the black and white films we used to watch in high school about the German gas chambers, and contrast that with talking to a holocaust survivor.

The film-maker in this particular documentary went and interviewed one of the men from Rwanda who participated in roaming groups which went into communities and wiped out families. What he said made me sick. To paraphrase, he said the following: "we would go in with machetes and chop up whoever got in our way first. If they were fast and made us chase them for too long - we would purposely cause them more pain prior to death. If they submitted willingly to us, we would kill them quickly, or occasionally even let them live. Sometimes it was tough, because you would encounter young babies who would just start to learn to smile. They would smile at me, and then I would murder them."

When asked what caused him and his fellow "soldiers" to act like this, he said (also paraphrasing): "I don't really know. I don't have an answer for this. We knew we were doing it, we were fully conscious... but it was like a kind of fog enveloped us. A current of great cruelty overtook us, almost like it was controlling us." The documentary offered some different explanations for this type of killing; blind obedience, bias, racism, etc. These are all true, in so far as they go. But the answer that this man from Rwanda gave was much more haunting.

The Bible tells us that evil is real. That it isn't just some aberrant behavior carried out by small portions of the world's population. There is something more going on, and none of us are immune. Americans are lucky, my generation hasn't had to deal with conflict on our own soil really, apart from 9-11. It won't last forever. That great evils have occurred in the past, or that they will occur in the future - or even that they are currently happening - doesn't concern me as much as the reason they occur. If you answer that it is just human nature to seek out conflict, you may be right, to a degree. But what had to happen to the human being - who can be loving and generous one moment, awful and vengeful the next - so that we have fallen so far from the mark? I believe it was a fall indeed. Genesis talks about the fall of man due to sin, but not just that. That the devil is a real being. That demons are also real. And that there are spiritually dark undercurrents that do exist in our world.

The good news is this: if there is such a dark reality in our world, then there must be the opposite which exists also. For we cannot call true evil bad, unless we know the greater Good. This, in a round-about way, I believe points directly to the existence of a loving God. Do not let the fact that planet Earth can be a violent and horrible place wash away the fact that it won't be like that forever. That there is a God, that He loves us, and that He has promised not to abandon us. Let's focus on Jesus, and in so doing, live out that part of our human nature that is divine. In doing this we don't stay in our homes and hide from evil, but rather we go out into the world, and bring with us this Light.

That true evil exists, few people would doubt. At least God has provided us with the true Good.

Cause for Concern

2010-10-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

I have long been fascinated by the prospect that there exists a higher power, or dominant rule, to which all human beings are subject. This higher power exists whether or not we believe in it, and it provides us with what some have called the Natural Law, or the Moral Law. It is - as C.S. Lewis writes - a real law, which we did not invent, which we find pressing down on all human beings, that provides us with a conscience and a greater moral good. Now this is interesting, and we could certainly spend an entire night debating whether this greater moral directive was discovered, or merely taught; but I think there is something even more interesting going on here.

Take for instance the following fictional example, which I think will help us see the point I am trying to make. Let's say that I am debating whether or not Moral Code A is better than Moral Code B. Moral Code A seems so wonderful and awe inspiring. I believe it represents one of the high points in the history of the human race, and the people group that acted according to this code were simply wonderful and awe inspiring (I told you it was a fictional example!). Now the dreadful Moral Code B, by contrast, is truly despicable. It's practitioners were brutal and malevolent, and if followed to its logical conclusion - Moral Code B will land just about anyone in jail. Yes, Moral Code B is in fact detestable in my sight.

The question is then, what am I using in order to judge both of these sets of moralities? Maybe it is their intrinsic value. Both of these moral codes have a certain set of inexorable traits that cannot be divorced from either of them. Fine then. They are each very different based on those individual traits existing within them. But what causes me to pass a judgement on either of them regarding these traits, and in turn causing me to prefer one over the other? How do I gauge whether or not each trait is - in and of itself - good or bad? Where do I get my definitions of good and bad so I am able to apply them?

Maybe aside from intrinsic value then, it is personal experience. I am bringing my own personal experience to the situation (and surely this is true), and I am deciding that Moral Code A is superb because of the things which I have gone through in my own life. Because of my own hardships, relationships, education, income level, and a host of other demographics, I have made my choice that Code A is great, and Code B detestable. But the question remains: what causes me to think (or more to the point - know) that all of my personal experiences have been accurately assessed in order to bring me to the point where I can judge these 2 sets of moral codes? How do I know it isn't simply emotion, or that the emotion I am using is based on any kind of real good, or real bad? Couldn't it be that I am simply "preferring" Code A based on what I like and don't like? If so, if this is really all there is to it, then we are no longer discussing good and evil. These terms have been replaced by "I prefer" and "I don't prefer." But we know there is something more than this going on when we compare 2 items like this. There is an "ought" and an "ought not", and this is much more important than whether or not I simply like or dislike something.

Finally, maybe I am judging these 2 sets of moral codes based on their end results. Who cares what the individual dictates of these codes are, as long as the end result yields an outcome desirable to me. The means justify the ends. If it works, then go with it. Maybe I am betting on Moral Code A because its practitioners all seem to end up rich, or happy, or both rich AND happy. Again we are stuck, however. What is it that tells me being rich (for example) is the best thing to attain regarding a moral code? My personal experience? We have just been down that route. The intrinsic "value" of being rich? How do I assign goodness or badness to this value? How do I decide that it is intrinsically good? Don't lottery winners often lose their friends, happiness, and entire fortune in no time flat?

Here is what I think can be the only realistic way to compare, judge, or make an assessment on anything. We must take into account that in order to compare Code A with Code B, there must exist something else over and above these 2 codes. If I think A is far superior to B, then that thing which I am using to judge A and B MUST be DIFFERENT than either of them. If you maintain that it is simply personal experience, or education, or expertise that enables you to make an accurate judgement, then you are still caught in the trap of judging 2 or more propositions by factors which may be contained within those propositions. And you have not accurately judged anything, much less judged them well. You have only given a preference.

Or look at it this way through the eyes of C.S. Lewis on page 38 of Mere Christianity, "My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line... If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. "Dark" would be a word without meaning."

But "Dark" in fact does have meaning. What was Lewis using here to define good and bad? He was in fact pointing out that certain something which exists over and above any 2 or more propositions that you are comparing and thinking about. Good and Bad in fact, have a higher Governor to which we appeal when attempting to use them to judge or compare anything. In other words, when we talk about Moral Code A being better than Code B - we are appealing to a higher standard of truth with which to make that assessment. And to make matters worse, most of us do this automatically... and in so doing; take this amazing discovery for granted. The fact that none of us could accurately or logically judge anything without first appealing to this higher standard/power/truth (whatever you want to call it) is stunning.

Very well, I think I have belaboured the point long enough. The fact of the matter is that we have cause for concern if we think that we have come into any degree of knowledge or superior education souley of our own accord. There is something, I'm afraid, to which we all must appeal whenever we argue, compare, judge, or even think about any 2 or more ideas. This something seems to be at the heart of everything, and if we drill down far enough (as we have taken the time to do in this post) we usually eventually stumble onto it.

Lewis tells us this also, "We have to take reality as it comes to us: there is no good jabbering about what it ought to be like or what we should have expected it to be like." If we look deep enough, I think we can see that this reality encompasses a higher Truth that exists and helps govern our thoughts and rational brains. Now we could stop here and simply throw up our hands and say, "well, okay, maybe there is some force or guiding flow... but that's all." We would be missing the point of course. This higher truth is God. It always has been. That it took 10 paragraphs to get here was only because this truth is so obvious we usually overlook it.

I will close with a story that professed Christian author and speaker Ravi Zecharias tells. He was taking questions after one of his talks at a college campus, and a man stood up and yelled out that he thought everything in the universe was pointless and meaningless. Ravi responded simply by saying that "if there were truly no meaning, then what you just said was meaningless." The man's statement contained meaning of course. He was relating his opinion that all things considered, he cannot find anything worthy of meaning in this universe. This is a statement of enormous meaning, and we all know it. The man had compared multiple propositions and probably made countless judgements along the road to his opinion that everything is meaningless. In short, God's higher standard of truth allowed this angry and depressed young man to speak out and deny God Himself. We must be careful that we don't do the same.

* The majority of this argument was taken from the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Though I mentioned him several times in the above article, I wanted to be clear to the reader that if they have further questions on this idea, they can (and should) read the entire book.

I'd Rather Skip Church, Thank You Very Much...

2010-09-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

I have been reading the book They Like Jesus But Not The Church by Dan Kimball. It is, to say the least - eye opening. Kimball (who is a pastor also) brings to light the fact that there seems to be a resurgence in our culture today. There is actually a growing segment that adores Christ and His wisdom, but ardently opposes the institution of the church. And speaking honestly, can we blame them? I had viewed a debate several months ago which pitted the Catholic Church against a board of atheists. The question of the debate was, "is the world a better place because of the Catholic Church?" One of the opponents on the opposing panel was famous professed atheist Christopher Hitchens (the same who now suffers from cancer). In short; Hitchens ate the church defenders for lunch. It was hard to watch. He sited occurrence after occurrence of when and how the Church had failed. There is in fact, no shortage of disappointed people when it comes to "The Church." It is no use listing off the bad things that can happen when human beings attempt to uphold what is Good and Holy. Let's face it; sometimes we screw up.

If you are reading this right now, maybe you are one of those people who have been disappointed by the church. Maybe you trusted an elder or pastor or priest, and you were let down and hurt. There are some offenses that are worse than others. Many people have left the church for very good reasons, some of which include: false teaching, abuse, misuse of trust, judgementalism, and the like. Kimball cites 6 reasons that our emerging culture tends to shy away from organized religion. Here is the list below:

1.) The church is an organized religion with a political agenda

2.) The church is judgemental and negative

3.) The church is dominated by males and oppresses females

4.) The church is homophobic

5.) The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong

6.) The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Quite a list isn't it? The list above of course does not exist in all churches equally, and in fact Kimball even admits that the items in this list can (and often are) more misconceptions about Christianity. After all, when the media gets a hold of half-baked pastors who threaten to have a Q'ruan burning, or who stage rallies with vulgar signs that say "Turn or Burn" - it's easy to paint all Christians with a bad brush.

Now lets look at what the church is SUPPOSED to do. I think the church today is supposed to uphold the Bible as God's Word. The church is supposed to be faithful and reverent. The church is supposed to help the poor and needy. The church is supposed to be welcoming and loving. And above all, the church is supposed to point people to Jesus. We are charged with the task of bringing Christ to the world - nothing more, nothing less. This is a large job. We are - as Dr. Francis Collins says - dirty vessels which contain a pure truth. We are bound to make mistakes at times. But the truth is that the Christian church is also the Hope of the world. Without it, man left to himself will act in his own accordance, losing track of the meaning of the Bible, and will end up ultimately (I think) farther and farther away from God's Kingdom. We were not made to stay at home, read the Bible, and never meet to fellowship and worship together. God meant it when he told us to "not forsake the assembly."

Don't get me wrong, I think it is better to stay home than to be in a hurtful church. Bad teaching can do more harm than no teaching. But I also think that for a good majority of Christian churches, this list of 6 misconceptions above is the exception, not the rule. We cannot give up entirely. Ask God to bring you to a solid Biblical church, and don't be afraid to test the doctrine when you get there. It's okay to be upset when you are hurt by Christians, but it's not okay to give up on Christ.

On Faith...

2010-09-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

"Faith is a reasoning trust, a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God."

- John Stott

I Believe in God, But Don't Go Overboard...

2010-09-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

The good news is there is no such thing as a nominal Christian. So what's the bad news? There is no such thing as a nominal Christian. Christ spoke about what it means to have only a lukewarm faith. Click the link below and navigate to a web page so you can hear my latest sermon message, "I Believe in God, But Don't Go Overboard":

http://www.pillarchristian.com/media.php?pageID=5

*you will see something that looks like the graphic below, that will allow you to press
play on the arrow icon:

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Trusting Reason

2010-08-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

I have reposted the article below from one of my past entries. I do so because as of late, I am fascinated with God all over again. One of the greatest powers that man possesses is his ability to reason. One of the greatest gifts that can happen to you and I is that - from time to time - we step back and take a look at this power, and we come face to face with that divine "mind behind the curtain." I say it is a gift, because without it, we could not even begin to perceive the greatness of it. Enjoy the read:

I have sat in wonderment while listening to someone attempt to assert that "It is logical to deduce that one can understand that everything around us comes only from materialism." For many years this statement felt wrong to me, but I wasn't sure why. Then I was introduced to the following bit of reasoning by a little known Evangelist named Don Johnson (no, not the actor - the minister!).

It goes something like this: If we assert that everything we know comes from the logical grouping of materialistic evidence, then how can we trust logic or reason in general? In other words, if everything came into being via random chance, evolution, and/or materialism, then there is no reason to think that 'reason itself' is exempt from this randomness. Or think of it this way; if you maintain that logic and reason provide to us a way of manipulating different hypothesis and premises in a way that surpasses the premises themselves (a.k.a. "thinking"), then how can you trust that the reason or logic you are using to think about those premises is sound? If you are a strict materialist, you cannot!

Think about it, this isn't a slight of hand trick. Let's look at one more example to drive the point home. We will do it by way of a fictional narrative. Let's say that Bill claims that we exist in a closed system that only consists of material, and that there exists no supernatural component. Bill then says that he came to this conclusion by checking out all of the scientific data around him, and making reasonable and logical conclusions based on that data. He then came to the conclusion that given what he knows - there is no God. Only atoms and particles and matter.

Bill symbolizes many modern day thinkers that throw out the baby with the bathwater so to speak. How can Bill possibly trust that his use of logic is correct, if there is nothing outside this closed natural realm governing it? In other words, if logic doesn't exist apart from (and outside of) this closed system, then it cannot be used as a trustworthy means by which to make any valid judgements about that system. It is simply also part of the system. Of course no one really believes this. Most of us know that logic and reason are in fact more significant than this, so much so that we take if for granted.

You can argue possibly that straight logic (A, then B, then C) is a result of our experiences within this materialistic system. But we cannot assert that this other thing, this function of our existence that can take two or more separate premises or ideas and then decide between them is just instinct or experience. It is more like a governor or an overseer. It is that faculty within us that can step outside of the boundaries of the material only world, and guide our decisions with something more like a consciousness than a reaction or an instinct. It is reason in this sense of the word that is our signpost pointing to something greater, something beyond the normal everyday chain of events we see around us. I believe God has given us this gift of truth. It is what separates us from all other species of animal.

It would be easy for someone to get this one wrong. If they maintain that they are fearfully and wonderfully made; intelligent, logical, and capable of great reasoning skills which far surpass that of any other creature, and that they possess all of this on their own - then they are only half right. We are not our own creators. We have free-will sure enough. God did not create a legion of robots or automatons. But the vehicle for interpreting our world is much more than just a physical brain full of firing neurons and synapses. The brain is the house, what lives inside is different.

Truth Quote

2010-08-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

"All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired."

— Martin Luther

Can You Hear the Still, Small Voice?

2010-08-28T20:53:00.001-07:00

Do you pray in fast forward? Click below to find out!:

http://www.godtube.com/featured/video/coffee-jesus/comedy

Hitchens is Hedging his Bet

2010-08-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have recently learned (along with the rest of the world) that the famous, outspoken atheist and author Christopher Hitchens has cancer. His prognosis isn't good. Hitchens maintains that there probably is no God, and even if He did exist, His creation and endeavors are nothing to brag about. In one of his books he refers to Faith and religion as poison. He is published, successful, and adored by his fans -- and now he is dying.

I do not think this is good news, nor is it humorous. It is not a check in the "win" column for theists by any means. Hitchens was a good debater and a formidable opponent. Let's face it, he sharpened the Christians apologists. I have included the video below because in it (I think) he begins to drop the "atheism routine" to a degree, and simply expresses those same emotions and thoughts that anyone in his situation would have. He is the most subdued and reserved that I have ever seen him here.

At the end of the interview he maintains that he will in no way become "redeemed." He will never accept God. There are hundreds of prayer groups wishing him well. I will also wish him well. In Christ, death has no victory, and true believers have experienced the difference Faith can make. May God perform a small miracle for this man who has berated His good name at every turn, and in so, showing that no one is outside of the Hope of salvation until they take their last breath. There is still time for Christopher Hitchens to repent. Let's pray that he listens to God in the weeks to come.

Interesting Quote

2010-08-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

"You cannot follow God in neutral."

- Erwin McManus

Am I Lukewarm?

2010-08-17T12:33:00.000-07:00

Certain statistics claim that something on the order of only 10% of all new churches in America are growing. The Faith in America is facing a crisis, and in Europe Christianity is effectively dead. I remember having a conversation with one of my friends on the subject of churches, and I made the statement that there seemed to be a church on every street corner. She responded, "Yes, but there are only 10 or 12 people in each of them!" Where have our believers gone?

The idea of lukewarm Christianity comes from Revelation 3:14 - 16, which says "To the angel of the church in Laodicea, write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation (Jesus). I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm -- neither hot nor cold -- I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Now personally I don't want to ever hear this from God about myself.

No one person fits conveniently into a category, and some of us may fit a handful of the items below. But the question is, do we fit all of them? Or most of them? Lukewarm Christians tend to:

* Crave acceptance from people more than God

* Rarely share their faith in Christ

* Do whatever it takes to alleviate their guilt

* Think more about life on Earth, than eternity in Heaven

* Gauge their morality by comparing themselves to other people

* Want to be saved from the penalty of sin without changing their lives

* Only turn to God when they are in a bind

* Give whenever is doesn't hurt their standard of living

* Are not much different from the rest of the world

* Want the benefits of Christ, without submitting to Him

There are, I think, 2 types of lukewarm Christians. Those who are lukewarm and don't know it, and those who are lukewarm and don't care. There is hope for the first group. The second group is in serious trouble.

As for me when I read the list above, I am filled with the desire to repent of the things I fall short on, and rekindle the fire for God. What is the best way to do this? Pray earnestly that God gives you the Spirit to be an effective Christian, and second -- make some sacrifices. Sacrifice seems to lead directly to faith-building. Talk to that co-worker or neighbor about Jesus. Drop a check in the church offering basket. Repent anew today of that same old stupid sin that continues to creep into your life and rear it's ugly head.

Christ is real and He demands things from us. Not simply to make us feel guilty, but to give us a better life. I want to be a part of that better life. Don't you?

Do SOMETHING...

2010-08-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

We have Netflix, we get children’s movies all the time. My wife and I watch them with the kids, and sometimes we make mistakes on which films to get! But we watch them WITH our kids usually, and if the content isn't suitable, we are present in the room and we can turn the TV off.

Mark Batterson (Lead pastor, National Community Church), quotes the following statistic; he says “70% of non-believers worship and get their theology from movies & music.” This is staggering to me. At first I thought it was silly, but if we stop and think about it a while... is it so silly? Think of the way we react to the Harry Potter series, or young tween-age girls respond to the Twilight films.

Proverbs 19:18 says “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.” Now the key word in this piece of Scripture is "discipline." It assumes an action on the part of the parent. The point is, I think, that we need to do something with our kids to help fight against the prevailing culture. We cannot - I'm afraid - do nothing! Parking them in front of the television for hours at a time, sending them to their room just to get them out of our hair, or relinquishing them over to their friends without supervision are all examples of transferring the duties of parenting. Now please don't assume that I am completely clean regarding all of this when it comes to my own kids. I have 3 young ones, and it can get overwhelming. Compromises are sometimes made.

Everything in this world either belongs to God, or to the Devil. The Bible tells us there is no middle ground. If we are right in line with popular culture, then we are playing for the wrong team. We must actively instill in our kids, therefore, a value system (preferably by example)… or the culture will win.

It is easy to float into autopilot with our full-time jobs, our children’s sports, our busy summers, etc. But children WILL be influenced by something, so try not to miss out on being the one who does the influencing - especially when they are young. What a gift this responsibility is.

Interesting Quote

2010-08-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

"The thing that impresses me most about America is the way the parents obey their children."

- Edward, Duke of Windsor

Food for Thought...

2010-07-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

"The most ancient records we have not only mention but take for granted things like kings and priests and princes and assemblies of the people; they describe communities that are roughly recognisable as communities in our own sense. Some of them are despotic; but we cannot tell that they have always been despotic. Some of them may be already decadent and nearly all are mentioned as if they were old." - The Everlasting Man, pg. 61-62.

Famous Christian author G.K. Chesterton may have written this book as an ode to dispel the silly un-truths that many people take for granted about God. Recently I have been thinking about a particular form of bias as it concerns people trying to discount God, Jesus, and the miraculous. C.S. Lewis refers to it as chronological snobbery; and I have to admit that prior to becoming a Christian... I upheld it. This is basically the belief that ancient people were too primitive to know any better but to believe in some all-powerful Divine entity. That they were so afraid of the weather, the environment, and the like, that they huddled together seeking shelter from things they didn't understand. Man needed God 'back in the oldin' days' because he didn't know any better. Only Zues could have created lightening, right?

I like Chesteron's way of dispelling this myth in the passage above. Ancient man had societies, rulers, common sense, and intelligence. He was able to build and test things, and able to reason with the best of them (remember Plato?). No, I'm afraid that if and when something out of the norm and miraculous did happen, human beings were quite able to understand that it wasn't business as usual. A miracle was a miracle the same then as it would be now. When word got out that a former religious leader named Jesus of Nazereth rose from the dead after being publicly scourged and crucified, it was just as remarkable then as it would be today.

The food for thought is this: if we attempt to escape from the idea of God by dismissing Him as a primitive form of wish-fulfillment, then we need to be careful how we define the notion of primitive. Modern technology and science aside, people were still people - even back in 'the oldin' days.' God is more than wish-fulfillment. He is the very reason that we have wishes in the first place. Thank you Chesterton for reminding us of this.

Interesting Quote

2010-07-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

- John Piper

Evidence vs. Conclusions

2010-07-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

I recently viewed a debate between top-notch Christian philosopher William Lane Craig and atheist New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman. The topic of the debate was "Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?" The format of the debate was normal, both men spoke at a college, and had time for opening statements, 3 or 4 rebuttals, and then a Q&A session. Craig laid out his criteria in favour of the resurrection: 4 pieces of evidence that had to be refuted in order to disprove it actually happened. He cited the quick and large-scale spread of Christianity after the death of Christ, the multiple attestation of the 4 different gospel accounts (among other corroborative evidence from non-Christian writers outside the Bible), etc.

Dr. Ehrman offered the opposing view, that Jesus probably didn't rise from the dead because: the Gospels differed from each other by way of contradictions, they may have been recorded after some decades of verbal accounts handed down and possibly distorted, and that people don't rise from the dead generally speaking. In effect, Ehrman was attacking mainly the idea of something miraculous happening; namely that anyone (in this case Jesus) could be raised from the dead at all, because miracles just don't happen.

Now what was most interesting about this was that neither man attempted to erase any of the accounts in the New Testament. Ehrman didn't say, "well Jesus wasn't killed," or "Jesus was mythical." Instead, (and as Criag says in one of his rebuttals) the key points of evidence weren't being discredited, but rather Ehrman just concluded different things based on that same evidence. Two men who have studied the gospels in great detail, arrived at 2 different conclusions not based on what happened... but rather what those things that happened meant. Now this is an interesting concept because the Bible warns us that there are people who "see without seeing," and "hear without hearing." This I believe is how people can read the life-changing testimonies of the Bible, and get caught up in the fact that in one gospel Matthew refers to 10 disciples, but in another gospel Mark may refer to 11.

Ehrman was basing his conclusions about Christ rising from the grave based on his refusal to allow for the miraculous ever occurring. In short, by excluding God from the outset, he effectively removed God from the conclusion. Of course we could argue the same thing from Craig's perspective. Wasn't the fact that Craig was a believer from the outset influential in his acceptance of the resurrection as actually occurring? But think about this. If it never really happened, then what is all the fuss about? What was the big deal 2,000 years ago? Why are people's lives being changed every day by the power of the Gospel message? As C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity, "Christianity is either the truth that we are blessed to have received from a gracious God, or a lie from the pit of hell." (paraphrased).

I come down on the side of believing that Jesus DID rise from the grave, that the Bible is actually more than a just a collection of stories from some wise people, and that miracles DO happen. What a cruel hoax it would be if there was no Christ, or if He hadn't actually been resurrected. If this were true, we would still be dead in our sins, and this life is all there really is. But if the reverse is true, then we are an incredibly blessed species, because something up there really does revere and love us. Make your own choice regarding Jesus, but make sure you look at the evidence fairly, allowing for both possibilities: that miracles couldn't possibly happen, or that they can and do happen. How much more sense the 4 Biblical accounts make in light of the supernatural, as they were always meant to.

Religion Never Works

2010-06-20T19:39:00.000-07:00

Tired of the religious proud? Tired of being held up to some sort of unwritten rule or compared with "so-and-so" who goes to church 3 times a week and throws it in your face whenever you see them? So are we. There is a famous saying that goes, "the single greatest cause of atheism is the Christian who honors God with their lips, but acts otherwise in their actions." Today I heard the statistic that only 10% of churches in America are growing, and only 2% of that 10% are new converts. In other words, the American church is dying - and I think we "churched folk" may have something to do with it.

I was fortunate enough to give a talk a week ago at church entitled, "Religion Never Works." In it I defined Religion as either the Old Testament law, or anything that human beings have added to the Bible itself. In essence, God has told us A,B, and C through the Bible, but man has added D, E, and F on his own accord. If you have been a victim of religion, or simply witnessed it in other people; I understand, and I sympathize. Religion as defined above leads to 1 of 3 things: 1.) Pride, 2.) Spiritual Death, or 3.) Frustration. Allow me to explain.

God has the following to say regarding religion (in fact the book of Galatians is packed full of plain advice on this subject):

* God judges the Heart, not the external appearance (Gal 2:6, 4:9-10). One does not have to follow strange rules or practices, observe certain days and special feasts, or get everything perfect in order to gain salvation.

* We cannot Earn our way to Heaven (Gal 2:20, 3:10). If we are relying on our own ability to follow the 10 commandments in order to prove ourselves worthy to God, then the Bible tells us we must not slip up even a little. If we have ever told a lie, then we have broken "the law" in God's eyes. If we have ever coveted or lusted after anything, we have broken the law. We are - in effect - powerless to secure salvation through our own works or actions. Being a fairly nice person isn't good enough.

* Religion can turn into Pride (Matt 23:6, 23:15). When Jesus was on earth, the people that REALLY ticked him off were the religious proud. They were called the Pharisees and the Saducees. Listen to what Christ says about people who act pious on the outside, but endorse the spirit of bondage and hatefulness on the inside, (Matt 23:27) "You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean."

So then, now that we know what religion can do in our lives and in the church, what can we do to stop it? Essentially I believe the Bible commands us to do a number of things. We are to stay humble, stay in Christ, Love God and other people, and live by the Holy Spirit. We are saved by Faith in Jesus Christ alone. Not by trying really hard to be good, or by going to church as much as possible, or even by working in the church or teaching Bible study. It is by accepting Christ and being baptised that we gain the privilege of going to heaven when we die.

You will note, by the way, that going to church and teaching Bible study, etc are all great things. It's just that doing good things and being really nice to people isn't God's only criterion. If it were, then Jesus would not have had to die on a cross for humanity. And one more thing. Some have argued that because we are saved through Faith alone, we can throw out the Bible and any moral code therein. Here is the key difference between religiosity and Faith: we love God, so we obey Jesus (and his commands), we don't obey his commands, and then earn his love. Big difference. Religion doesn't work... Jesus does.

I'm sorry if this article has offended anyone. I am simply trying to convey the good news that the Bible teaches. If you are currently judging someone because they aren't living up to your religious expectations; please stop. If you are currently bad-mouthing other world religions or denominations; please stop. Instead offer love, and point people to Jesus. If you are reading this and are even remotely curious as to what all the hoopla is about, perform a search of this blog for the article "So... How Am I Saved?."

It's up to the people who attend church to actually "be the church." Remember what is at stake, and take it seriously. If you are saved today, it's because God extended you the grace to choose Christ, and probably because there was someone who took the time to help you and answer questions. Be that person.

The link below will get you to the audio of my sermon message, the same one that I have outlined above. There was an opening skit at the beginning of my talk, but it isn't included in the audio. It is roughly 24 minutes long, if you have time, click on the link below; and then select 'Religion Never Works' and give it a listen:
http://www.pillarchristian.com/media.php?pageID=5

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Million Dollar Mansions and False Messiahs

2010-06-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

Matthew 24:24, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible."

When I first read these words in the Bible 8 years ago, I remember thinking to myself, "who would actually fall for this? Who would actually follow some guy saying he was Jesus?" Recently 20/20 ran a broadcast of 3 men who literally think they are Jesus come in the flesh. One is a Russian policeman, the other a homeless man from London, and the last one a successful pastor in the Philippines. The latter lives in a million dollar mansion surrounded by gates and boasts thousands of followers.

This is scary stuff. I mean David Koresh is one thing, but people with thousands upon thousands of followers? Fortunately the Bible also adds the following clarification for people who may be deceived about the true second coming (Matt 24:26) "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

I must have missed the shout from the heavens and the lightening bolt. Rest assured, Jesus has not come back yet. In the meantime, click on the link below and enjoy the 20/20 excerpt. It will make you giggle, while at the same time giving you pause for concern:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/son-god-10894617

The Science of Man

2010-06-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

Recently the world of biology experienced a jolt as Craig Venter (founder of the Institute for Genomic Research) made the claim that we are on the verge of creating true synthesized life forms. As of now, this has consisted of taking a computer-generated schematic of a bacterium and placing it into real bacteria in order for it to begin reproducing the artificially synthesized original. To me this is both amazing and staggering. Venter goes on to say in the near future we will be able to create solutions for biofuels, toxic waste, and even global warming. But his recent video from the TED conference (Technology, Entertainment, Design) depicts Venter claiming that his team will be able to create entirely new species, and even impact the evolutionary tree of life.

If we stop and think about this, it is almost reflective of some strange Sci-fi movie. In fact a recent feature film called ‘Splice’ deals with this idea of creating a being synthetically. Of course in the movie things do not go smoothly. But what if Venter’s claims are true, not just science-fiction? I think this would mean an incredible advancement for human life as we know it. The ability to invent and create alternate fuel sources. No more offshore drilling disasters. No more cleaning up beaches. Think of the impact this could have on disease prevention. We are human beings of course, so there will also be the temptation to pervert this type of technology for financial gain and/or terror. What could the ability to play God do to the psyche of a malevolent, tyrannical leader? What if Hitler had the A-Bomb?

But that is really the question, isn’t it? Playing God. The ethical and moral considerations on something like this are off the charts. Can it even be governed? It was interesting to hear Venter discuss his findings in the TED video (I have attached the link below in case you want to listen). He uses terms like Evolution and Design in the same breath. In fact, more often than not, Ventor speaks about designing and creating. These acts of course pre-dispose that there is someone to do the designing. If we break down what his team is doing – at least as I understand it – they are taking something designed, using an intelligence (the human intellect) to alter this design, and them plugging it back into nature in an intentional and organized manner. Nothing here really gives me any reason to conjecture that Venter and his team are able to play God. They are simply taking something out of nature, copying it, altering it, and re-introducing it back into the world.

If he does pull off a new creation, good or bad, this would be immense. But we need to keep in mind that everything we use to manipulate our biological world was here for us to begin with already. We split the atom, but the atom was already around; we just discovered it, and then abused it. The Institute for Genomic Research is trying to create artificial biological life forms, but they would still be life forms made up of a combination of what was already here + the human intellect. The bigger question I think would not be “have we become our own gods?”, but rather, “how will we use the intellect and technology that the real God has allowed us to possess?” How we decide to play out this scenario will demonstrate whether or not we are worthy of this power. Let’s hope that God is more than just a fleeting thought in the minds of those who wield this technological sword. I would sleep a little better at night, at least, if the people piloting that boat were submitting to an intelligence greater than our own. The stakes are bigger now, the bar has been raised.

http://www.ted.com/talks/craig_venter_is_on_the_verge_of_creating_synthetic_life.html

The Big Picture: Is There a God?

2010-05-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

I have transcribed below the outline for a talk I had developed a while back. It was my attempt to pull in some of what I believe to be the iron-clad proofs that God exists from philosophy, history, and logic; along with some other details pertaining to the state of the modern church, etc. I am posting this outline here so that it may be a help to anyone looking for a quick reference, "one-stop-shop" to find information about empirical evidence for God. It is not a comprehensive document, and some of the bullet points may raise more questions than answers for you. That just means you will need to delve into the research a little more on your own. Enjoy the ride as it pertains to looking at the evidence... I know I have!

I. Introduction

· People sitting in churches often don’t really believe -- this is lukewarm Christianity
· God is real, not just an idea
· Atheism is popular and fashionable today – people need to be reminded about God
· Lets Discuss: 1.) Philosophical Evidences of God, 2.) Historical Evidences of God, 3.) Our ability to choose

II. Philosophical Evidences of God

· The Moral Argument
- that annoying right and wrong thing built into our consciousness
- does not come from evolution
- is more than learned behavior; we can teach it, but we did not invent it
- morality therefore, comes from God

· Everything has a First Cause
- There cannot be an infinite regress; something must have started everything
- Universe must have been caused (big bang, singularity theory)
- Nothing can exist without being caused, and that first cause must exist outside the thing which it caused. In other words: God!

III. Historical Evidences of God

· The Bible can be trusted. New Testament as historical documents
· Evidences that Jesus existed from NON-Biblical accounts (Josephus, Tacitus, etc.)
· New Testament does not refer to Him as “just a good man” or “a good teacher”, but something more than that

· The revelation of Jesus to humankind
- Christ was either lying about His deity, or He was crazy, or He was actually the Son of God. You make the choice.

IV. An Important Choice

· Now that we have come this far, what will you do with this information?
· God’s road-map gets us to Heaven; we are not left alone to wander aimlessly through life

. The next step is up to each of us!

Driscoll on the Evil that Men Do

2010-05-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Mark Driscoll is a pastor in Seattle at Mars Hill Church. This mega-church that now sports thousands of members, started from small potatoes and humble beginnings. It has become one of the fastest growing churches in America, in the least churched state in the country. Why? I have a feeling it is because Driscoll as the head pastor isn't afraid to speak the truth and preach even the difficult aspects of the Bible. I have included the video bit below not just because it is shocking (though it is that), but because you never see this sort of thing anymore in churches. I doubt that it would be a good idea to adopt this style of preaching as a regular thing, but something tells me it must have been necessary here.

Driscoll is preaching on young men that have abandoned any and all Biblical leadership and responsibility in their lives. They are mistreating their girlfriends and wives. After the shock value of the footage below wore off; I was left wondering what the faces of those individuals must have looked like in the audience. If they deserved this lecture, did they know it?

The Head Coach

2010-05-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Recently at church we had a message entitled 'Spiritual Coaches.' In preparation for our communion meditation that day, I prepared a short talk wherein I could not help thinking about the ultimate spiritual coach. Not Vince Lombardi or Kirk Ferentz, but in fact -- Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” This instructs us to view Jesus as a model or a coach, and to accept and expect hardship for His name. The message of the Cross is offensive to most people. It is neither apologetic nor compromising. It simply says, “Jesus is from God, and only He offers salvation through a blood atonement.”

Hebrews 12:7-8 further says, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.” We are speaking here of how we are to endure our trials. As discipline with trust toward God, not simply as hopeless situations.

We are coached continuously by Jesus. We suffer at times, He suffered also. We are joyful, so was Jesus. I believe these 2 verses from Hebrews come together to tell us that we are to recognize Christ as Spiritual Mentor in 2 ways: 1.) as a model or example, and 2.) as a coach.

To Him we are to look for FAITH, and from Him we are to accept what is given, also in FAITH.

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2010-05-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

God is in the Business of Love

2010-05-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

Don't believe demons exist? Think Jesus was just kidding or being "metaphorical" when he discussed demons in the Gospels? If so, the documentary film Furious Love by Darren Wilson may cause you some discomfort. Released to DVD on May 5th, this film is the sequel to Wilson's Christian sub-culture hit Finger of God, which was basically a presentation of miracles caught on tape.

Furious Love however goes deeper. We don't just see people get healed on video, and get to enjoy the surprised looks on their faces. We get to see what God is doing to combat spiritual darkness in some of the most anti-christian places on Earth. Wilson travels from Salem, Massachusetts (home of the old Salem witch trials), to New Age festivals, and even goes over seas to capture Christian revivals in unlikely places. All of which provide him with more than he bargained for. Viewers will see people being delivered from demons, accepting Christ, and being healed.

Like his first film, Wilson begins by easing the viewer into the notion that spiritually dark places actually do exist. Then as the film progresses, he hits home with some very powerful interviews with missionaries who have survived graphic and horrible religious persecution and lived to talk about it. Wilson's main point in the film (and apparently God's also), was that the most powerful weapon for combating our present day spiritual plagues and afflictions is simply... Love. One man is even quoted in the film as saying that people who hold Biblical knowledge as the most important thing are actually committing idolatry! Because the thing which should be held above all else is Jesus Himself. Bad news for modern day Pharisees.

This is an interesting film. I enjoyed and agreed with the sub-premises that lead to the main thesis. 1.) Christianity is a relationship with Christ, not a set of rules. 2.) If you are looking to condemn non-Christians for their unbelief, then you have already sinned by passing judgement. 3.) Everyone deserves God's love, especially the culturally unlovable.

If you aren't a Christian and you watch this film, your worldview may not necessarily be shattered -- but it will make you think. Definitely worth watching.

Interesting Quote

2010-05-09T21:01:00.000-07:00

“The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.”

- Stephen Hawking

The Cosmological Constant

2010-05-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

The cosmological constant is the term for the energy density of empty space. Or as I refer to it: the space between space. Listen to what Steven Weinberg (atheist and Nobel-winning physicist) says about the cosmological constant, "If large and positive, the cosmological constant would act as a repulsive force that increases with distance, a force that would prevent matter from clumping together in the early universe, the process that was the first step in forming galaxies and starts and planets and people. If large and negative, the cosmological constant would act as an attractive force increasing with distance, a force that would almost immediately reverse the expansion of the universe and cause it to recollapse."

In fact it turns out that this amazing building block in outer space is actually quite small and precise. Listen to what Robin Collins, PHD says about it, "the fine-tuning has conservatively been estimated to be at least one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion. That would be a ten followed by fifty-three zeroes. That's inconceivably precise."

So what can we take from this? To me (and also to a great many fascinated physicists) this means that this measurement of empty space is so astoundingly perfect for the creation and maintenance of the universe, that it demands an answer. I used to think - and this is extremely embarrassing to admit - that this fact, and others like it, were simply coincidental. That they didn't prove anything. They just existed, and we got lucky with our universe... LUCKY!!

This is just one example of what I believe to be an implementation of God's great complexity of design. If this constant were off by even a little, life as we know it wouldn't exist. I see no other explanation for this, other than 'we just got lucky' or 'it is what it is.' If you are a physicist reading this blog posting, please feel free to comment as to what other explanations may suffice. At any rate, whether this is an example of the supernatural or not (and I strongly urge the reader to realize that it is), we can all stand in amazement at the universe we live in. The more we seem to discover, the greater the questions that result.

This subject has often been termed the Cosmological Constant Problem, because it seems to demand a fine-tuning in place of a natural or evolved pattern. In other words, there is no known natural way that we can get this tiny measurement in cosmology from partical physics alone. Insert God, however, and you have an answer.

Avatar and the Public Consciousness

2010-05-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

The film 'Avatar' by director James Cameron has recently become available on DVD, and unless you have been living in a cave for the last 6 months, you know about this film. My wife and I were one of the hold-outs to see this movie. We waited until it left the theatre (too bad for us!). This is an intense film. We know James Cameron from such films as Terminator, True Lies, and Aliens. He is an American Icon. He makes American Icons.

What was interesting about this film was the way it seemed to perfectly encapsulate the American cultural consciousness (also evidenced by the number of people that went to see this film, and its success at the Oscars). Now don't get me wrong, this movie was visually stunning -- a great action and cinematic achievement. I even enjoyed the fact that Cameron cast Sigourney Weaver as the scientist; a throw-back to her role as sci-fi scare queen in Aliens I'm sure. But as I watched scene after scene, it became clear that Cameron had an agenda. It seemed to be as follows: 1.) cherish nature, 2.) big government is bad, 3.) respect the mysterious unnamed Spiritual force.

It reminded me of the battle-cry of today's post-modern thinkers: "Don't tell me what to think, get the military out of my face, and please recycle while you're at it!" Now I am not just poking fun at this, I think Cameron was on to something here. I think that is why this film was so successful. It was not only pretty to watch, but also struck a cord with its viewers by tapping into the current cultural vibe. The most interesting thing however, was the fact that the Navi (the alien race of avatars) were extremely spiritual. They would bless animals after killing them for food. They would respect all things natural, and in fact had biological appendages that they used to literally and spiritually connect to other living organisms and access this spiritual power.

The Navi would in effect pray, but these prayers were directed to a large tree in the center of the forest. The Marines (the bad guys; big government) often referred to their sacred locations by referencing the term "deity." In no way (at least that I could see) was any serious reference made to any one all-powerful God. Just a life-force, or tree, or sacred location. Even Eywa was more or less an incarnation of the "mother-earth" belief. And in this manner, I think the film accurately reflects what many in the viewing audience either agreed with, or were at least comfortable positing. I am in no way detracting from this film. My wife and I both enjoyed it. In the end I suppose it lived up to the meaning of its title -- avatar means a literal descent of a god from heaven to earth. Cameron does accomplish this task in his film. There was no god to save the Navi, only the forest and the mysterious life force.

When the film was over, we went to bed; and I thanked God for being real, and being God.

Interesting Quote

2010-04-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

"If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark."

- C.S. Lewis

Modesty, Where Have You Gone?

2010-04-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I can't believe it, but I have added a video from American Idol to my blog. It may be time for me to hang it up after all!! Seriously though, click play below and watch this audition for a young man named Kris Allen. He has since gone on to record professionally, and I have no problem with his singing. What caught my attention was the advice that young Mr. Allen receives from the panel of judges. Quite frankly... it's awful. As Christians we know that to follow God is to be humble and open to teaching and reproof. Pride is the anti-God state of being. Listen below to how Simon & company exhort Kris Allen to nurture a state of 'stardom' and get rid of his modesty. Is this what our T.V. generation is learning? Is this what they aspire to? Wow!

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Trust vs. Fear

2010-04-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

I recently came across an article from gotquestions.org, an excellent Bible question and answer website. An excerpt follows below, the question addressed was 'Should a Christian declare bankruptcy?':

Biblical Principal #1: We have the responsibility to keep our promises and pay what we owe. Ecc 5:4-5 says, "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed - better not to vow than to vow and not pay."

Biblical Principal #2: Living on credit and not paying back what we owe is characteristic of the wicked. Psalm 37:21 says, "The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives."

All this talk about righteous and wicked servants reminded me of the 'parable of the talents' that Christ told his disciples in Matt 25:14-30. He told the story of a master giving 1 man five talents, another man two talents, and the last man received one talent. When the master returned, he found that 2 of the 3 servants were faithful and trusted his master's command to invest the money. The last wicked servant was too afraid, so he dug a hole in the ground and buried the 1 talent.

We can apply this parable in terms of literal financial repayment (as mentioned in the first article I quoted above), but I am speaking here of Spiritual Repayment. What causes us to take what Jesus has given us (either money, our individual gifts, anything) and hold onto it like a miser? The answer I think is FEAR. The first 2 servants trusted their master and put the talents to work for them… the last servant was afraid. He could repay his master nothing, other than the same amount that was given. There was no return on any investment.

TRUST causes INCREASE. Fear causes stagnation and death. This is a literal principal, as well as a spiritual one. If you hang on to something for dear life, you will lose it. If you are generous and Trust in God, you will gain what you need, with all the rest rolled in. Notice I didn’t say what you want, rather what you need!

So then, in whom are we trusting?

Can We Survive Atheism?

2010-04-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have included a video below of up and coming Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll talking about Atheism. It isn’t that he presents the information in a new light, so much as he seems to hit the mark regarding the logical end of this belief system. There is a lot of energy spent on debating whether or not God exists, but not as much energy spent on the psychological effects of believing that there is no one out there that truly cares about you. The symptoms are similar between people who have once had faith and for some reason lost it, as well as with people who have come to atheism from the beginning. Why does America have so much depression and anxiety? In our race to become so intellectually advanced that we don’t need God anymore, we have exchanged Him for a little pill, or a self-help positivity book, or whatever.

Driscoll discusses the truth that if atheism is followed to its philosophical conclusion, then the items below must be true:

* we are ultimately alone
* our existence came from nothing (we are happy accidents)
* we have no real purpose
* this life is all there is
* everyone we know will eventually be forgotten
* we are a temporary blip on the radar screen of the cosmos, nothing more

I’ve said this before, but if this seems a little too depressing and ugly – it’s because it IS! Human beings were not designed to exist as independent and detached entities. Plugging into anything other than God is only a temporary high. Money, success, hobbies, work… you name it; the rush only lasts so long. Even human romance is fleeting. But when we are plugged into God we find a force to sustain us in a different way. Never boring (remember I’m talking about the living God – NOT religion), always faithful. This may sound like more heart-tugging and less like science & logic, but it is more than that. Check out the evidence in favor of God, look around at the other posts on this website even. There is reason to believe that there is something in which we can put our trust and faith, and that it won’t let us down the same way everything else can. It’s amazing what happens when we realize that our existence actually matters.

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2010-04-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

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A Logical Faith is back on facebook. Hope you stay

a while and enjoy the articles.

So... how am I saved?

2010-03-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

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.

C.S. Lewis on Christ...

2010-03-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2010-03-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

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!

CLICK HERE to get sermon: http://www.sundaychurch.org/Pages/sermons.html

On Ditching Religion: Sam Harris Speaks About Morality

2010-03-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

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:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/25/ted.sam.harris/index.html?iref=allsearch

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2010-03-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

Living in a Finely Tuned Universe

2010-03-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK-X3x9tyqY

Does Prosperity = Right Relation with God

2010-03-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

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.

Interesting Quote...

2010-03-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

"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

Famous Last Words

2010-03-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

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 ...

2010-03-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

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?

Interesting Quote

2010-03-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

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

- Fr. John Corapi

Interview with Satan About Views on Church

2010-02-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

This one speaks for itself! Click on the link below to watch Christian speaker Craig Groeschel conduct an "interview" with the devil. Humorous, but some good points are raised!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDqRheBu2cg

And They Said Life Doesn't Have a Handbook...

2010-02-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

S.O.S. for Darwin

2010-02-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

It's time again to discuss evolution. Not from the standpoint that I will attempt to prove or disprove it; many people smarter than I have tried to do that, and have neither succeeded or failed. In fact, many people are simply more or less puzzled by the theory in general. Dr. Francis Collins says it is an undeniable fact. Dr. Michael Behe says it is fiction. Many reputable scientists believe it, over 100 other reputable scientists have gathered together to sign a document called 'A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.' We may never know (at least in the near future) who is right. What I am more concerned about in this article is loosely outlining some of the things that make me nervous when it comes to the theory of evolution. Namely, what author Lee Strobel calls the 4 Icons of Evolution. Lets look below at each of these, and then the reasons why they make me nervous.

1.) The Miller Experiment. Remember him? This is the man who claimed to have proved that a livable atmosphere could come into being via random chance; as long as the necessary constituents were present. The problem is that there is now almost NO evidence that the early earth consisted of a primitive ammonia-methane atmosphere. Most have now abandoned this experiment as a legitimate proof for anything - yet it remains in current science text books!

2.) Tree of Life. This is the diagram showing how apes evolved into modern day humans. Very compelling upon first glance. The problem is that these are drawings, not real-life photos. Also occurrences that have come to light since Darwin's time - such as the Cambrian explosion - help reduce the idea that life evolved slowly with thousands of transitional species. It is an excellent depiction of Darwin's theory, but not such an excellent demonstration of reality based on the fossil record.

3.) Haeckel's Embryos. This was the compelling picture of early stage embryos of different animals compared to a human embryo, showing all the similarities. This, in effect, was supposed to show that if traced back far enough, we all "looked the same" biologically. The problem is that these were also drawings, and that it has been later discovered that Haeckel cherry-picked his embryos, and also made illustrations of the different embryos at different stages in their development; comparing apples to oranges so to speak. He was first accused of fraud in the late 1860's by his own colleagues! Haeckel had used the same wood-cuts to produce the appearance of similarity in the drawings, due to his confidence that time would prove him right.

4.) Archaeopteryx. This was the half bird / half reptile fossil that appeared in National Geographic some years ago. It was slated as the "missing link." Problem is that this was later proved to be all bird, and not a half-and-half transitional form. Yet it is still discussed as a fact which helps prove evolution even today! A spin-off fossil named archaeoraptor was later pointed to in order to provide Darwinian proof also. It was later discovered (I'm not making this up) that someone had glued a tail onto the end of a bird, and faked the discovery.

Granted these are only 4 pieces of evidence, but they helped shape some of the modern day atheists I think. They were certainly presented as facts when I was in school. I have watched numerous debates in an attempt to collect more compelling evidence, but I find that even authors like Dan Dennett and Richard Dawkins cannot seem to nail the coffin of doubt shut for me. The debate rages on. Both sides of the debate have eloquent speakers. Both sides contend to have truth on their side. I am still nervous.

What I think is happening is this. People from both sides of the fence are falling into the trap of thinking that if evolution is true, it must erase God. Microevolution may very well be true, in fact it probably is. There is actually a lot of evidence for this; small changes occurring within the same species. Macroevolution on the other hand seems a stretch for me; the idea that we can take this theory on a minor scale, and use it to explain the origin of life on a larger scale seems highly implausible.

What then is the answer? What is the reason I listed off the 4 Icons of Evolution? I believe these things (and others like them) have succeeded only in causing confusion. Evolution I think is a giant McGuffin or Red Herring. In other words: if macroevolution is true, you can still have God. If in 30 years or so we find that it isn't true at all, you can still have God. This theory as a mechanism for human development neither subtracts from Scripture, nor discredits the thousands of personal testimonies of believers everywhere who know God is real, nor does it detract from the onslaught of scientific evidence out there that points directly to a Creator. Let's hope we use evolution neither as a crutch OR a hurdle. Trust me, God is still God either way.

* Evidence taken from The Case for a Creator, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Darwin on Trial, and Icons of Evolution.

So What do Priorities Matter?

2010-02-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

When we address the issue of priority, we can go many different directions. One way is to address where we put God in relationship to the other things going on in our life. To take myself for example, I find that I often fill up my time with things that lead to no real fruitful end -- video games, surfing the web, watching movies for instance. These things are my bad habits. But even the things that our culture normally considers "good" (such as working hard, reading a book, or managing finances for example) can get us into a bind if we aren't' careful. These things, among others, make us "busy."

If we look at Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, we get an interesting bit of wisdom from Solomon regarding priority. The Scripture below talks about the accumulation of wealth and "stuff", but I think what it also addresses is where we place our priorities... where we are storing up our 'treasure':

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecc 2:10-11.

Where in all of our toil and busyness is God? How often I find myself thinking "I'm too busy to pray," or "I can't squeeze Bible study in this week," or even my personal favorite: "God will understand." And then back to those other pursuits I go. After all, I'm BUSY, right? Now not all of this is bad. There are good things also. There is raising children, attending to our spouse, etc. But the issue is not if we do these things or if we don't do them, but rather, does God take priority in all of it? Are we honoring our vow to Him?

We are God's children first. We are husbands and wives and brothers and sisters second. We (who are born again) wrote God a love letter when we accepted His son and became baptised. We were adopted into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We must honor this down payment of Grace. He will honor His part.

Interesting Quote

2010-02-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

"Does your problem seem bigger than life, bigger than God himself? It isn't. God is infinitely bigger than any problem you ever had or will have, and every time you call a problem unsolvable, you mock God."

- Bill Hybels

Welcome to the Blog

2010-02-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome back everyone. If it has been a while since you have visited - it's good to have you back. Please feel free to search around and leave comments with your opinion. On this site I make an honest attempt to defend God and Christ in the face of a smorgasbord of differing beliefs out there. Hope you enjoy!

If there is a question you have that hasn't been addressed by any of the articles on this blog, feel free to send me an email. I will try to get back to everyone in a reasonable amount of time. Otherwise, I usually respond to comment posts.

- Jon

Interesting Quote

2010-02-01T14:22:00.000-08:00

"Are you trying to define God based on your 'God-Box'? Everyone has a God-Box, it is a little sphere that holds all of your views about what God should be, and what He should or shouldn't do. With Jesus, God was trying to brake through people's God-Boxes. He was trying to say, 'Listen up... this is who I REALLY am!'"

- Andy Stanley (as paraphrased from his talk Belief in God; It's Personal)

Morality without God?

2010-01-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

Can you have an objective morality without God? Some people seem to think so. I have recently listened to a debate between Dinesh D'Souza and Peter Singer. D'Souza is an Indian-born Catholic writer and author. Singer is a rather famous Australian philosopher, most notable for his outspokenness on atheism and controversial views on animal rights and end of life scenarios. The heart of the debate was on the question of whether or not God exits, but a fair amount of attention was given to the question of morality, of which Singer didn't want to spend much time. Upon researching further what his views were - I can see why. Below is an excerpt from his book Rethinking Life and Death:

[The argument that a fetus is not alive] is a resort to a convenient fiction that turns an evidently living being into one that legally is not alive. Instead of accepting such fictions, we should recognise that the fact that a being is human, and alive, does not in itself tell us whether it is wrong to take that being's life.

Now granted, this is just one statement from an entire book, but his arguments were similar in the debate. Now this statement to me is atrocious, but the question really is I think, "would I have thought it atrocious prior to following God?" In other words; are we okay in working from the assertion that we may make our own morality, because it has 'evolved' over time, or it has always been a human invention? Dan Barker (former minister turned atheist) argues that we are moral as decided only by our actions, without regard to the condition of the heart. Of course Christ turns this teaching on its head in the New Testament when he gives the sermon on the Mount - that God looks at your heart as well as your actions. Nonetheless, many people hold to the convention today that morality is what we make it, and that we can be good simply for goodness' sake.

D'Souza argues the opposite of course, and says in the debate that we end up having a morality similar to the New Testament in the West because of the longstanding influence of the Bible in our country, as well as Europe. He reminds the Peter Singers of the world that you cannot divorce God from morality, and also be honest about it. Now this is an interesting idea. After all, doesn't God validate violence in the Old Testament? Doesn't Jesus say to indulge your enemy and to love him? Do these statements really sound "moral" to us today?

You have probably already guessed my position on this matter. C.S. Lewis provides an excellent demonstration of God as moral law-giver in his book Mere Christianity. If you are interested, search this blog for my post 'The Moral Law.' I suppose my central argument rests on the supposition that you cannot call something good, if there is no objective Goodness in the universe. If there is no God to put the Good into goodness, then we are left arguing goodness from experience and nature; and this allows different people with different perceptions to create their own morality. I'm not angered by this, in fact I sympathize with it. We all do the best we can in life with what we know. But how much more would we know if we didn't stop at the natural, and looked further into what Cause might exist which stamps us with a conscience?

I have posted the link to the website with Singer's debate if you are interested: http://www.greatgoddebates.org/

Name Our Church

2010-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to name a church? Well here is your chance. Our church is looking for a new name. We are a contemporary church that tends to shake things up a bit. We don't normally do "church as usual." We have modern music, an excellent group of people, and a devotion to teaching the truths of the Bible second to none. I have posted our mission and vision statements below in case they help you select a name:

Mission: 'Loving people to Jesus'

Vision: 'Real People, serving a real savior, making a real difference'

Okay, so let your creative juices flow. You can submit your choice of names in 1 of 2 ways. Either 1.) post it in a comment below this posting, or 2.) email it to me at jklaus@cds-global.com. I look forward to hearing from you, and I will let you know (and acknoweledge you on this blog) if your choice is selected!

Why Listen to God?

2010-01-19T10:37:00.001-08:00

The debate rages on in America as questions are posed such as “does God exist?”, or “is religion good?” But one question in particular I believe also strikes a cord with us, especially in this country; and that is “why should I listen to God and the Bible?” At the heart of it, if most people (atheist, agnostic, or religious) deep down DO believe in some type of God, then the question isn’t so much whether or not He exists, but rather, if they need to listen to Him at all. Many people are angry with God. Why is there suffering? Why an earthquake in Haiti?

To answer this question, I took note of what our teaching pastor at church said recently, as I believe it describes accurately what we can gain from the study of God’s Word (a.k.a the Bible). In his sermon he listed four interesting things that occurs when God’s statutes are preached and studied. I have listed them below:

1.) Power. “For the word of God is alive and powerful.” Hebrews 4:12

2.) Healing. “He sent forth his word and healed them…” Psalms 107:20

3.) Direction. “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

4.) Freedom. “… He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.” Luke 4:18

If the Bible truly brings these 4 things to the table, then we would be silly not to invest in its wisdom. More to the point, I don’t think that many skeptics have delved into the Bible deep enough to put these pillars to the test. Probably more accurately, they have a passing knowledge of some of Scripture, maybe enough to feel the conviction regarding its moral stance – and that was enough! But what about someone who HAS studied the Scriptures thoroughly? After all, there are ex-preachers. Dr. Michael Shermer for example, publisher of ‘Skeptics Magazine’, claims he used to evangelize door-to-door prior to becoming a militant agnostic. What then, are we to think about folks who have tasted the medicine, but not the remedy?

I think that the answer is this: they have in fact felt the Power of God, and it produced fear. They have in fact experienced Healing, but this healing didn’t last as long as they expected, or there was a tragedy or something else that occurred which didn’t jive up with what they had previously experienced. They have in fact seen the Direction of God, and consciously denied Him, wanting no part in living more strictly moral lives. And finally they have in fact felt the Freedom of God, and found it to be too overwhelming. To be free, you must first have boundaries.

We must make sure that we don’t give up on our walk of faith. God will welcome you back if you have been away for a while. If we knew these truths to be real at one point, then it isn’t God that has changed – it is probably us.

.

On Haiti ...

2010-01-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Bono from U2 was once quoted at a leadership summit for Christian pastors as saying "as Christians it is not recommended that we give, it is commanded." If you feel the need to donate to a worthy cause after the devastating earthquake in Haiti this week, click the link below. This will take you to Project Hope by Theo's Work, which is an orphanage in Haiti that my family has worked with in the past. They have hundreds of children. May God bless them and help them, and may He do it through His servants on earth -- you and me.

https://secure3.convio.net/ftk/site/Donation2?idb=0&df_id=1180&1180.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=0vtpcllxz1.app305a

Interesting Quote

2010-01-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

"Love is not consolation. It is light."

- Friedrich Nietzsche (famous atheist philosopher)

Faith Based Living

2010-01-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

Everyone Has Faith in Something

Faith is an interesting thing. It can be referred to differently by different people. It can mean affiliation with a particular religious system of beliefs, or it can simply mean hope. The fact is however, that everyone on planet Earth has faith in something. A good portion of people have invested their faith in a job, in money, or something similar. The point being that just because you haven’t found God yet, or haven’t begun your journey toward spirituality, doesn’t mean that you don’t believe in something. There is some part of your life that you are devoting your time and energy to, or some principal of theory that you believe in.

Faith Misplaced, is Indeed a Problem

Here is the issue then. If everyone has faith in something, but a vast majority of people have applied this faith to material wealth, secular goals, or the like – then what is the outcome? Take for example a fictional character we will call Mike. It is easy to make judgments about people who we deem to be obviously or inherently bad (i.e.: Hitler or Stalin), but lets make use of a more typical example for the purposes of our discussion here. Mike has a good job and he is a family man. He has been married to his wife for 10 years or so, and he may even go to church occasionally. But his real passion is the fully restored ’69 Camaro sitting in his garage. Every chance he gets, Mike will go out and check on this car. He will spend any ounce of free time browsing through parts on the Internet, making sure that anything that could be chrome, will be chrome! He devotes time at work even on the Internet making certain that he is always “in the know” for when the next car show is coming up, so that he can be there. Mike’s faith – in the simple sense – is attached to his muscle car. His faith in the larger sense, is attached to a material possession. Since the object of his desire is what God refers to in the Bible as an idol (a thing which cannot see, hear, or feel), there is no other outcome for Mike than that he will never rise higher than what his obsession with his car allows for.

Faith Properly Realized, is a Powerful Thing

There are only a few options open to Mike as of now. He must either continue living the way he has been living, giving his time and energy to something that cannot love him back. Or he has some type of experience (either internally or externally) which takes him out of his little bubble and causes him to desire something greater than where he currently affixes his devotion. By grace of God we hope that Mike (and you and I) have just such a situation that takes him out of his idol worship. Often this can come in the form of a tragedy. How many of us have been “chased into church” by the devil?** The point is that once we finally realize that only God can properly fill the weight of glory necessary for us to flourish, we can then begin to fully live as the unique individuals we were made to be. That is the funny thing about God. To submit to Him is to lose nothing (other than those things which were never good for us in the first place), and to gain everything.

** This phrase comes to me from my friend and spiritual mentor Cindy.

Are Near Death Experiences for Real?

2010-01-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

From time to time we hear about NDE’s (near death experiences). I have presently avoided adding anything to this blog about them, as they are really more or less subjective experiences, and someone listening to one of them is really thrust into the position of simply finding the account believable, or not. There usually isn’t any physical evidence that can be traced back, other than there may be medical records on file that corroborate the fact that a person actually died for some time. And a good many people report seeing or feeling nothing when they were gone. As we are entering the 21st century, we have medical advances such that people can (and are) often resuscitated after they flat line. An interesting thing has occurred, in that as modern medicine has become more proficient in “re-animating” people, accounts of NDE’s have also gone up proportionately.

Does this mean we can trust all of these stories? Of course not. There are different versions of what happens after death which exist in the different religions in the world; there are also different versions that people give account of that happens to them after their death and resuscitation. There are also different motives. Whenever I read about or hear about someone who had one of these experiences, or something of the miraculous has occurred – I often look back just to see if all of this is hinging on a book deal, or rights to a movie, etc. If Joe Blow is charging $50 per book, then a financial motive exits, at least as opposed to charging $10 per book or giving them away on donation.

But there are some interesting things to take account of. The number and frequency of these occurrences seem to indicate with a certain degree of alarm that there IS something out there, whether or not you choose to believe it. Immediately subsequent to this, is the interesting point that not all of these NDE experiences are pleasant. And finally, the astounding number of people (even from different religions and cultures) that report seeing Jesus, or a presence similar to that of Christ. Let’s face it – this phenomena is either happening, or it isn’t. There is either a percentage of this pool of experiences that are legitimate, or it is all nonsense. Some belief systems will explain away all of this by making statements like “remember, these people weren’t really dead… they came back”, or “it is all a product of the chemicals inside the brain firing randomly during the death process.” These statements may both be accurate, we won’t know until it is our time.

But the interesting thing is, when we actually stop to listen to some of these stories. The people are either exquisite actors, ravenous liars, or worse…. Or they are telling the truth.** As I said before, near death experiences are far more difficult to discuss in that they don’t provide a central document or book from which to make arguments or trace historical accuracies (the way we can from the Bible for example). They are subjective. The person gives their testimony, and we believe it or we don’t. But interesting how much persecution some of these people endure for the sake of their testimony. Intriguing how these testimonies often end up matching what the Bible says. Even more intriguing the number of these experiences that describe a meeting with Jesus. I have included a video clip of the well-documented NDE of Howard Storm, the atheist turned preacher that had died in a Paris hospital and found himself in a place he couldn’t explain. You will need to make up your own mind as to whether or not he is telling the truth. May we all come to the realization that Jesus is the way.

** Certain religious denominations and sects are curiously adamant that all of these experiences are spiritual deceptions. It has always fascinated me, because in maintaining that all of these people are simply wrong seems to miss the larger point, that either good or bad: something is out there. At any rate, if you choose not to view this video I don’t blame you. Move on and read the Bible if you like. By God’s Word we can always rest assured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkIborHkIXk&feature=related

Is the Bible Reliable?

2010-01-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

Is the Bible reliable as the authentic Word of God, or is it just another holy book written by men? Many people today have this question, and some never go deep enough to really answer it. I have posted here my sermon message from last Sunday. For a serious answer to this question about the Bible, click play below. The run time is about 25 minutes. You will have to pardon the couple seconds of dead air shortly after I begin, it will pick back up again soon after. Enjoy!

Furious Love Trailer

2009-12-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

Darren Wilson directed and released a movie a few years ago called Finger of God. It was a documentary outlining real-world miracles caught on video at different churches and places around the world. I highly recommend renting or buying it if you can. I came across the link below, showing the trailer for Wilson's follow-up film Furious Love. It is quite something. Click below then sit back and watch as it loads automatically. It is good to know that in the face of popular mainstream Hollywood films such as Avatar and the like, there are still Darren Wilsons out there capturing the important things!

http://www.furiouslovethemovie.com/

One Heartbeat Away

2009-12-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

I recently finished reading One Heartbeat Away by Mark Cahill (see an earlier post on this blog for more info on the author). This is the kind of book I wanted to write. Imagine my surprise when I realized it had already been written! Kudos to Mark for this instructional book. If you are a non-believer, or even an agnostic and you aren't for sure either way about God - you need to read this book. After thinking about the evidence that Cahill presents, then you may make your decision. At least you will have the facts.

This post isn't so much a book review as it is praise. Cahill did a really good job laying out 12 chapters that take the reader from raw evidence for God from nature, onto evidence for believing that the Bible is actually trustworthy, and finally into looking at who Jesus really is. Many of these types of books simply repeat the same information over and over again; not so with this one. Each chapter is important. Another downfall of these kinds of books is that they can be too narrow or biased in presenting the evidence. Aside from over-quoting Charles Spurgeon, Cahill is complete and generous in his presentation of the information. Don't get me wrong, this book is written for 2 kinds of people: 1.) non-believers that know very little of the Bible, and 2.) brand new believers. You won't find a slew of atheistic evidence in order to create a balanced meal here - just the facts as they point to Christianity. But that is okay, since those facts alone are compelling enough I believe to sway most readers, as long as they actually give the book a chance. But that's the trick isn't it? Our culture is busy and so are we. Do we really have time to ready anymore, let alone think?

A pastor once told me that a hundred years ago, the church didn't have to try to convince people that mankind was sinful and needed God. Nowadays the church has to first convince people that there IS a God, then move on to defining sin, and then finally on to the person and divinity of Jesus. The task of evangalization is much more difficult today. People are proud and so is our culture. We probably shouldn't be surprised by this. Bible readers out there know that we are warned about the "immorality of these times" frequently by Christ. In the last 50 years our planet has gradually but surely slipped from a belief in morality to a belief in "anything goes." Christianity is on the front lines of the battle. Famous philosopher Voltaire said that the Bible would be extinct in less than a century. It is still here. Whether it gets passed down to subsequent generations is up to the current generation. Let's not drop the ball on this one!

Cahill finishes the book with a chapter on Reflecting the light of the Son. By this he means that Christians should be an outward gift of Christ to the rest of the world. We can hardly argue that. We will fail from time to time - we are still human. Cahill draws a sharp designation between the religious and those who are actually in Christ. There will be hypocrisy in the church, there always has been. But if you look closely, what about that man or woman who took the time to try to tell you about Jesus? There are good apples mixed in with the bad ones. If we are sincere in our prayers to find God, he will send us a good apple.

Evolution Humor

2009-12-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

Interesting Quote...

2009-12-28T10:49:00.000-08:00

"I had to learn who God was from atheists. They had to teach me who not to believe in, before I was instructed not to believe..."

- Alyosha Ryabinov (from 'Supernatural' with Sid Roth)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all of you who have been reading this blog. Your support and loyal readership means quite a bit to me! It has been a pleasure adding articles and supporting information for God and Christ over the past year. I will probably be taking a short break over the next 2 or 3 weeks, but I will be back in January.

Stay safe, stay warm, and most of all remember the God who loves you. Try not to confuse the American version of Christmas with the spiritual version. It's all about Jesus. Take care, and see you soon!

- Jon

The Season...

2009-12-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

I had originally published the following short essay about 2 years ago. At that time, we were more or less unaffected by the current economic downturn - at least to the degree we are experiencing it now. Because of this, I feel that the lesson contained in the piece below has become somewhat tempered. I don't think "we are as bad about this as we used to be," so to speak. Nonetheless, it still holds relevance for the 2009 Christmas season, as anyone who has participated in Christmas shopping of any kind will attest to. I hope you enjoy it:

Here we are ready to go into another Christmas holiday season. The lights are up, the decorations have been set out, and the caroling has begun. The problem is, no one is listening. We are all out shopping – running from store to store and mall to mall. We are extremely concerned about what we will get Uncle so-and-so, or our spouse, or our kids… or even what we will receive ourselves. But what about Christmas? Not the season for consumerism in America (if it weren’t for Thanksgiving our country would begin advertising in August) – but what about the actual meaning behind it?

Many would say the meaning of Christmas is gift giving. Our children would say it’s about Santa, or getting the perfect remote control car, or setting up a tree; but mainly about presents. And who could blame them? They have eyes, they watch mommy and daddy drop hundreds of dollars at the mall.

Many would say the meaning of Christmas is family. The fact remains that Christmas is one of the most stressful times of the year in our country. Air travel, car travel, gas prices, money, and least of all trying to find a way to get everyone together in one place at one time….. and then to get along! But who doesn’t want their children to remember their first couple of Christmas’ as being surrounded by relatives and good food! This is what I distinctly remember as a young boy.

Some would say the meaning of Christmas is all of the above rolled into one, and certainly this isn’t far from the truth. But I seem to remember one more thing. It seemed to involve a woman named Mary, and a manger, and something about a savior-born-as-child. I believe there were wise men, and a large star in the sky, and a good deal about reverence and holiness. Or was this just a nice fairy tale?

In fact, the reason for the Christmas season is Jesus Christ (Christ-mas). It is the celebration of the birthday of the most important person in all of creation. It is about giving, but not presents. It is about family, but not just a gathering. It is a remembering of the all-important gift of God to humankind. It is interesting not that Americans celebrate it, but HOW we celebrate it. Did I get what I wanted….. did he/she get what she wanted…. have we saved enough money to meet these demands….. were there enough Tickle-Me-Elmos to go around, or will there be mothers fighting in the isles of department stores…..

Where is our head, where is our heart? So this season if you are one of the lucky ones, and you had enough money to get everyone a new such-and-such, and you will share this wonderful day with loved ones, and you don’t get stranded in a snow storm or caught in a department store feeding-frenzy on Christmas Eve, then don’t forget to thank God. But more importantly, tell your kids to do the same.

Interesting Quote

2009-12-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

"Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning..."

- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Welcome

2009-12-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to A Logical Faith. It is almost Christmas, and we are reminded that this season is about more than shopping and setting up Christmas trees and ornaments. Hopefully you are a return visitor. But even if you are new to this blog, I hope you stick around and read to your heart's content.

Not everything on this website is apologetics based, but a good majority of it is. There is such an abundance of evidence in favour of God that I never run out of material to publish. Your comments are always welcome, and if I can, I try to respond to all of them - so check back if you leave one.

Thanks, and happy reading...

The Great Reversal: Antony Flew

2009-11-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

There have been more than a few articles written about Antony Flew. He is a British philosopher that spent the majority of his life refuting theism. He was known by many as one of the pillars of atheism, by which many professed atheists "hung their hats." In 2004 however, this all changed, as Flew authored the book There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. The mere mention of Flew and his book incites anger in many people. If you don't know who Flew is, it would be analogous to the Pope renouncing his Catholic Faith or Hitler building schools for the Jewish nation -- he did a complete 180 degree turn.

So why the sudden change? Some of his more outspoken critics (people that used to uphold Flew as an eminent philosopher) are now blaming his change of heart on his old age. How boring. Have they read his book? Some argue that his contributing editor Roy Varghese actually took charge of the majority of the book. This claim has been widely rejected by many, including Flew himself. It's interesting to me that someone so revered by so many while he was a non-believer, should be so quickly written off and forgotten when (after decades of study) he finally changes his mind. I have included a link to an interview with Flew at the end of this post. You be the judge on whether or not he is "declining due to old age."

So lets discount the knee-jerk reactions of his critics and nay-sayers for the moment, and examine the more interesting question. How does someone go from one end of the spectrum to the other end? Not slightly askew mind you, but ALL the way to the other side. It occurs to me that it just may be that Flew has finally allowed himself to see the big picture. The nail in the coffin of his atheism was the recent discovery of consistent complexity in nature, specifically biology. After years of looking at the glass half empty, something happened. His book outlines several good arguments in favor of God, as well as a good many critiques as to why the atheistic beliefs of his contemporaries fail. But this still points us back to the question, "why the big change, and why now?"

May God continue to work in all of us. I believe this change of heart demonstrates that it is NEVER too late to accept (as St. Paul mentions in the book of Romans) the fact that God's creation itself is evidence to His divine existence. It just happened to take Flew until the later years of his life to see this truth. Far be it from us to consider ourselves "too intelligent" to believe in God. May we never become too educated or too learned to look up at the stars in the night sky, or a beautiful sunset and say, "there is no creator."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbyTwmaJArU

Mark Cahill: Christians Must Evangelize

2009-11-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

Penn Jillette (famous magician and front man for the Penn and Teller act) is a professed atheist. He has said the following about Christian evangelization, "I know there is no God... but if you believe that someone is going to hell unless he or she repents and accepts Christ, then there comes a time when you must basically tackle that person to get them out of the way of that oncoming truck." Penn has a point. Even though he doesn't believe what the Bible says, he openly displays his respect for Christians who aren't afraid to share the gospels with other people.

And we as believing Christians must do the same. God has called us to go out and preach the gospel to all the nations via the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20): "All authority on heaven and earth have been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

So then, why are we so hesitant sometimes? Embarrassment? Shame? Fear? Mark Cahill is a Christian author and speaker. He has written two influential books (One Heartbeat Away and One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven). I recently listened to one of his talks, and he tells us some pretty staggering facts. He gives us the statistic, "every second, 7 people on planet earth will die, and take their final step into eternity. By the time you put your head on your pillow tonight, 600,000 people will have died." His call for us is to do something about it.

There are many Christians who preach on how to reach out to the lost* -- there is Ray Comfort, the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, even Billy Graham. But Cahill is a recent standout. His enthusiasm is evident when you watch him speak. His message is infectious. I have included the link to one of his most interesting talks below. It is rather long, but if you want more of what I have written about here, feel free to click and enjoy. The real question is 'what can you and I do today and tomorrow to further the kingdom?' As my pastor recently challenged our church; think of 3 people in your life that could benefit from the best news in the history of the world. And then do something to act on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VA2b_s6yaI

* I have always disliked the term "lost." Prior to accepting Christ, I had periodically been referred to as lost. If you don't like this term either, feel free to exchange it for any of the following, which in my mind mean the same thing: seeker, inquirer, non-Christian.

Reading "The Shack"

2009-11-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

Many of you may have already read the William Paul Young book "The Shack." I recently borrowed it and sat down to peruse this 250 page novel. The story begins with a character named Mackenzie (Mack), and lays out his encounter with the Holy Trinity. Mack and his family had a terrible family tragedy when they were out camping and his youngest daughter Missy was kidnapped. As Mack searched for her, it became more and more apparent that she would not return, and later we find out that she was indeed murdered by her assailant. Since Mack's grief has no real outlet, the book begins when God sends him a note in the mail asking him to meet at a shack in the woods; the same shack where the killer had taken his daughter. God could see that Mack was stuck and in serious need of help.

To be honest, this book deserves two separate reviews. Part 1 should be a critique on the style and story-telling ability, and part 2 should be a review on Young's use of theology. Instead, I will attempt to intertwine both of those threads into this one review, and see where we end up! Since I have a 7 year old daughter, I was hooked into the original premise of the book immediately. It caught my attention and didn't let go right up until the end. Young's use of language was acceptable (neither superb nor below average), but the real compliment is reserved for his ability to hold the reader's attention. I could not put the book down. This novel has an ability to heal people's hurt I think. His depiction of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is certainly unorthodox (we will get to this in a minute), but if you can see past that - it is quite an engrossing work of fiction.

Unfortunately Young's use of theology is off... quite a bit off. Had I not known much about the Bible it would not have been an impediment. But because I did, certain things caught my attention. It was very interesting to me that a book based on the Biblical understanding of God often failed to be accurate in that respect. Much of the book centers on not following "the rules" however, and Young makes sure that readers know that his version of God is 'constantly full of surprises.'

Most of the inconsistencies I was able to overlook simply because the book was so well written, and I don't mind a fresh perspective on all things spiritual. To be fair, the author portrayed God as kind, good, and forgiving. A great many popular works of fiction fail to do this. Kudos to "The Shack" in that regard. The main thing that bothered me however, was that Young all but completely ignores one of the most important truths of the Bible: salvation through Christ alone. There are almost no references to it, a total of only 2 by my count. Young skims the subject matter with phrases like this, "(God speaking) All I am telling you is that reconciliation is a two-way street, and I have done my part, totally, completely, finally. It is not the nature of love to force a relationship, but it is the nature of love to open the way." Here Young gives part of the truth, but if the reader didn't know the Bible or have a relationship with Christ already, this wouldn't be enough information.

Why am I so hard on Young regarding this point? Because the rest of the book is written with a great deal of care. Why not the most important promise of the Bible also? We may never know, it is not for an author to explain himself. If people reading this book use it as a signpost which leads them to the Bible, then we have a huge success of a book on our hands. If they read it and then stop, never moving on, but instead taking what is taught in "The Shack" as total truth, then the novel has failed. If you are reading it or have already read it, I would advise you to allow yourself to enjoy this book - but then move on and read The New Testament. Again don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and I think it has great potential to lead people back to God. As long as they keep asking the hard questions, and read the Bible also.

Archaeology Speaks...

2009-11-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

"No archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. Scores of archaeological findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or in exact detail historical statements in the Bible. And, by the same token, proper evaluation of Biblical descriptions has often led to amazing discoveries."

- Dr. Nelson Glueck