In All These Things

What humans so often fail to realize is that our problems, our losses, our pummelling by life, while difficult, are also opportunities for growth and courage. This is doubly so for the Christian. The chief source of pain that results from hardship is not the hardship itself but our resistance to the hardship. We spend so much time trying to wiggle out of our problems that we completely miss the learning that can be taking place within the problem. As a Christian, you are not always protected FROM life’s difficulties. But you will be protected THROUGH life’s difficulties. This is joy. This is strength. This is character. This is seen in the lives of Christians in Haiti. Their faith is allowing them to move beyond the immediate pain and loss and immediately take another step upward on their spiritual journey. "In all these things we are more than conquerors."

You look like someone I know

The standard for Christian experience is not for the faint of heart. The standard is God Himself. “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” I am a long, long way from those in the early Church of whom it was said, “They took note of them because they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13).

The apostles bore a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, their experience and their character were being brought up to God’s standard. I so very much hope that someday the same can be said of me.

Agnostic Christians?

Oswald Chambers defines and agnostic as someone who recognises that there is more than s/he knows and if s/he is ever to know more, it must be by some sort of revelation.

Every one of us living today, whether we have ever thought deeply or not, has faced this problem: If God is love, why does He allow so much suffering and violence and heartache in this world? This is not a passing perplexity but a real puzzle. The puzzle forces us to either deny the facts or confess we simply don’t have all the information. We can also grasp one of two irrational options. First, We can deny that God exists or two, We can pretend that the world really isn’t that bad of a place. If we enjoy reality however, we are forced to admit that things do not look as they should if God is the kind of God that we expect Him to be.

The only possible conclusion that honest observers can reach is that something is terribly wrong, fundamentally wrong with the world and with us. On the other side of the coin, we must also admit that with either a telescope or a microscope both the macro or micro universes are appallingly beyond our comprehension. Unless you are a spiritually blinded atheist you must admit that we are in way over our heads. No one is able to comprehend the madness and chaos into which we are born. No one can, in all honesty believe that s/he has to answer to putting this madness right.

A secular agnostic says, “There is more to know but I’ll ignore it until either I’m forced to deal with it by some external event or someone gives me the answer. Until then I’ll hum a song.”

An atheist says, “We know as much as we can and until I discover more, I’ll simply deny that there is any more to life than what we already know.

A Christian is an avowed agnostic intellectually; h/his attitude is, “I have reached the limit of my knowledge, and I humbly accept the revelation of God given by Jesus Christ.”

Christian Morality / Atheist Morality

When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality from under one’s feet.

(Twilight of the Gods: Friedrich Nietzsche)

Not Again!

Oh dear, once again I've got some goof saying that there are no extra Biblical references to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, nor of the comings and goings of the disciples. Sorry for yet another re post but, what else am I supposed to do?

Extra Biblical, Non Christian documentation from the time of Jesus and / or his disciples:
Regarding Jesus died due to Crucifixion -
“The Christians, you know, worship a man, the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites and was crucified on that account.” Lucian of Samosata - (The Death of Peregrine), 11 - 13

“Nero fastened the guilt of the burning of Rome and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, Called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.” Tacitus - Annals 15.44

“When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing amongst us, had condemned him to be crucified.” Josephus - (Fides et Historia) 13

“Or what advantage came to the Jews by the murder of their Wise King, seeing that from that very time their kingdom was driven away from them?” Mara Bar Serapion, in a letter to his son from prison.” - Fragment currently at the British Museum, Syriac Manuscript

“On the eve of the Passover, Yeshua was hanged on a cross.” The Babylonia Talmud - Sanhedrin 43a - I. Epstein Editor and translator, London

Extra Biblical documentation from the time of Jesus and / or his disciples:
Regarding the dramatic changes in the character in the disciples and claims of witnessing the resurrected Jesus.

“Therefore, having received orders and complete certainty caused by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and believing in the Word of God, they went with the Holy Spirit’s certainty, preaching the good news that the kingdom of God is about to come. Jesus’ apostles were fully assured by Jesus’ resurrection. Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried on earth a very long time, and when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles.” Clement of Rome - (1 Clement ) 47

“Bishop Clement has conversed with the apostles to the extent that it might be said he had their preaching still echoing and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone, for there are many still remaining alive who had received instructions from the apostles. When I was still a boy I saw you in Lower Asia with Polycarp, when you had high status at the imperial court and wanted to gain his favour. I remember where Polycarp sat and conversed, his comings and goings, his character, his personal appearance, his discourses to the crowds and how he reported his discussions with John the apostle and others who had seen the Lord. He taught what they reported about the Lord and his miracles and his teaching, things that Polycarp had heard directly from eyewitness of the word of life and reported in full harmony with Scripture.” Irenaeus - (To Florinus) 5.20

“For this is the manner in which the apostolic Churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein, by John the apostle; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter.” Tertulian - (The Prescription Against Heretics) 32.

“Paul himself and the other apostles, for they did not love the present age, but Him who dies for our benefit and for our sake was raised by God.” Polycarp - (To the Philippians)

The above sources point to multiple, very early and eyewitness testimonies to the disciple’s claims of witnessing the risen Jesus. The late New Testament critic at the University of Chicago, Norman Perrin, who rejected Jesus’ resurrection wrote, “The more we study the tradition with regard to the appearances, the firmer the rock begins to appear upon which they are based.” What we have are three categories of evidence that the disciples claim to have seen the risen Lord. 1) Paul 2) Oral tradition 3) Written Tradition.
Paul had firsthand fellowship with the disciples. We have an oral tradition originating from the time of Jesus resurrection. We have written tradition that attests to the disciples claims.

Extra Biblical documentation from the time of Jesus and / or his disciples:
Regarding the suffering and martyrdom of the disciples:
“The greatest and most righteous pillars have been persecuted and contended unto death. Peter, endured, not one or two, but many afflictions, and having borne witness went to the due glorious place. Paul pointed to the prize. Seven times chained, exiled, stoned, having become a preacher both in the East and in the West, he received honour fitting of his faith. Thus he was freed form the world and went to the holy place. He became a great example of steadfastness.” Clement of Rome - (1 Clement ) 5:2-7

“. . . the unlimited endurance of Ignatius, Zosimus and Rufus as well as the apostle Paul and the rest of the apostles among others. In association with Jesus they also suffered together. For they did not love the present age. Polycarp - (To the Philippians)

“And when Jesus came to those with Peter, he said to them: “Take, handle me and see that I am not a bodiless demon.” And immediately they handled him and believed, having known his flesh and blood. Because of this they also despise death.”
Ignatius - To the Smyrnaeans 3:2

“That Paul is beheaded has been written about. And if a heretic wishes his confidence to rest upon a public record, the archives of the empire will speak. We read the Lives of the Caesars: At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising faith. There is Peter girt by another, when he is made fast to the cross. Then does Paul obtain a birth suited to Roman citizenship, when in Rome he is ennobled by martyrdom.” Tertulian - Scorpiace, 15

According to Tertullian, if one did not want to believe the Christian records concerning the martyrdoms of some of the apostles. He could find the information in the public records, namely “The lives of the Caesars.”

“The disciples’ devotion to the teachings of Jesus was attended with danger to human life and that they themselves were the first to manifest their disregard for death’s terrors. Jesus who has both once risen Himself, and led His disciples to believe in His resurrection, and so thoroughly persuaded them of its truth, that they show to all men by their sufferings how they are able to laugh at all the troubles of life, beholding the life-eternal and the resurrection clearly demonstrated to them both in word and deed by this one, Jesus.” Origin - Contra Celsum - 2.56

. Papias cites both Paul and the apostle John and records their sufferings and deaths. (Fragments: Traditions of the Elders) 2,5 (Fragment 5)

. Eusebius in Ecclesiastical History 2.23 cites Dionysius of Corinth - Tertullian, Origen, Josephus, Hegesippus, Clement of Alexandria, all who wrote of the “martyrdom of James the brother of Jesus.”

All these non-Biblical sources affirm the disciples’ willingness to suffer and die for their claims that Jesus rose from the dead. The disciples’ willingness to suffer and die for these claims indicates that they certainly regarded those claims as true. The case is strong that they did not willfully lie about the appearances of the risen Jesus, for liars make very poor martyrs.

. On his way to be martyred in Rome Ignatius of Antioch penned several letters to various churches. All of which attest to the reality of Jesus and the suffering of His disciples.

In his letter to the church in Smyrna, Ignatius writes that the disciples were so encouraged by seeing and touching the risen Jesus that “they too despised death” and that after his resurrection, Jesus ate and drank with them like one who is composed of flesh. 3:2-3 “So pay attention, however, to the prophets and especially to the Gospel, in which the Passion has been made clear to us and the resurrection has been accomplished.” 7:4

In his letter to Philadeophians, Ignatius writes concerning the gospel, which of course was at the centre of Christian preaching. “But the Gospel possesses something distinctive, namely, the coming of the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, his suffering, and the resurrection.”

In his letter to the Magnesians, he writes, “I want to forewarn you not to get snagged on the hooks of worthless opinions but instead to be fully convinced about the birth and the suffering and the resurrection, which took place assuredly by Jesus Christ.” 11:2-4

“And the wonderful thing is, that, though he did not accept Jesus as Christ, he yet gave testimony that the righteousness of James was so great; and he says that the people thought that they had suffered these things because of James. Origen on Josephus - (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol 10) (Antiquities of the Jews) (Contra Celsum) 1.47

“Jesus appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning Him.” Agapius - (Historia) 1.7.13

“Peter preached the Gospel in Pontus, and Galatia, and Cappadocia, and Betania and Italy, and Asia, and was afterwards crucified by Nero in Rome with the head downward, as he had himself desired to suffer in that manner. Andrew preached to the Sythians and Thracians, and was crucified, suspended on an olive tree at Patrae, and town of Achaia; and there too he was buried. John, again, in Asia was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of Patmos, in which also he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his remains were sought for, but could not be found. James, Jesus brother, when preaching in Judea, was cut off with the sword by Herod the tetrarch, and was buried there. Philip preached in Phygia, and was crucified in Hierapolis with his head downward in the time of Domitian, and was buried there. Bartholomew again, preached to the Indians, to whom he also gave the Gospel according to Matthew, and was crucified with his head downward. And was buried in Allanum, a town of the great Armeia. And Matthew wrote the Gospel in the Hebrew tongue, and published it at Jerusalem, and fell asleep at Hierees, a town of Pathia. And Thomas preached to the Pathians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians and Margians and was thrust through in the four members of his body with a pine spear at Clamene, the city of India, and was buried there. And James the son of Alphaeus, when preaching in Jerusalem, was stoned to death by the Jews, and was buried there beside the temple. Jude who is also called Lebbaeus, preached to the people of Edessa, and to all Mesopotamia and fell asleep at Berytus, and was buried there. Simon the Zealot, the son of Clopas, who is also called Jude, became bishop of Jerusalem after James the Just, and fell asleep and was buried there. And Matthias who was one of the seventy, was numbered along with the eleven apostles, and preached in Jerusalem, and fell asleep and was buried there. And Paul entered into the apostleship a year after the assumption of Christ; and beginning at Jerusalem, he advanced as far as Illyricum, and Italy and Spain preaching the Gospel for thirty five years. And in the time of Nero he was beheaded at Rome, and was buried there.” Hippolytus - Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix [ECF 1.5.0.2.3.0]

. Celsus - a critic of Christianity wrote strongly against the resurrection but admitted that the tomb was empty and that no body was found anywhere. He was forced to propose magic or deception i.e., lies. This type of claim shows that critics like Celsus had to respond to the reality of the empty tomb and the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

. Pliny the Younger, . Suetonius, Tactus, and Celsus were all enemies of Christianity yet attested to the historicity of Jesus.

“Nero fastened the guilt of the burning of Rome and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus. Tacitus - Annals 15.44

. Shepherd of Hermas (Parable 9, section 28); (Vision 3, section 1) . Melito of Sardis
. Hegesipius . Polycrates - (To Victor of Rome) are early Christian authors attesting to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Modern:
. “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.” John Dominic Crossan - Founder of the Jesus Seminar - In (“Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography”) San Francisco, Harper Collins, 1991 - 145,154, 196, 201

. Rudolf Bultmann - (“What Really Happened to Jesus - A Historical Approach to the Resurrection.”) John Bowden Trans. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995 - 80

. Paula Frederickson - Historian - In an interview with Peter Jennings for “The Search for Jesus,” American Broadcasting Company, 2000.

The amount of evidence that we have concerning Jesus is actually very impressive. We can start with approximately nine traditional authors of the New Testament. Another twenty early Christian authors, and four heretical writings mention Jesus within 150 years of His death on the cross. Moreover, nine secular, non-Christian sources mention Jesus within the 150 years of His death: Josephus, the Jewish historian; Tacitus, the Roman historian; Pliny the Younger, a politician of Rome; Phlegon, a freed slave who wrote histories; Lucian, the Greek satirist; Celsus, a Roman philosopher; and the historians Suetonius and Thallus, as well as the prisoner Mara Bar-Serapion. In all, at least forty-two authors, nine of them secular mention Jesus within 150 years of his death. Why am I telling you this? Let me make a comparison.

Julius Caesar, was one of Rome’s most prominent figures. Caesar is well known for his military conquests. After his Gallic Wars, he made the famous statement, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Only five sources report his military conquests: writings by Caesar himself, Cicero, Livy, the Salona Decree and Appian. If he made such a great impact on Roman society why didn’t more writers of antiquity mention his great accomplishments? Yet no one questions whether Julius made a tremendous impact on the Roman Empire. Yet within 150 years of his death, more non-Christian authors alone comment on Jesus than all of the sources who mentions Julius Caesar’s great military conquests within 150 years after his death.

One more example. Tiberius Caesar was the Roman emperor at the time of Jesus’ ministry and execution. Tiberius is mentioned by ten sources within 150 years of his death: Tacitus, Suetonius, Velleius Paterculus, Plutarch, Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Seneca, Valerius Maximus, Josephus and Luke. Compare that to Jesus’ forty-two sources in the same length of time. That’s more than four times the number of total sources who mention the Roman emperor during roughly the same period. If we only considered the number of secular non-Christian sources who mention Jesus and Tiberius within 150 years of their lives, we arrive at a tie of nine each.

I’ve mentioned that the vast majority of historical scholars, be they merely secular, atheist or Christian attest to the life, death and resurrection “sightings” of Jesus. These scholars attest to the empty tomb, the conversion of the sceptics Paul and James, the dramatic change in the disciples and of course the rise of the Christian church based solely on the belief that Jesus rose from the dead. As there are not very many historical scholars who specialise in this area I will list them here. Glank, Blinzler, Bode, von Campenhausen, Delorme, Dhanis, Grundmann, Hengel, Lehmann, Leon-Dufour, Kremer, Lichtenstein, Manek, Martini, Mussner, Nauck, Rengstorff, Strobel, Stuhlmacher, Trilling, Vogtle and Wilckens. There are sixteen additional prominent scholars who are not evangelical who attest to the historicity of the above: Benoit, Brown, Clark, Dunn, Ellis, Gundry, Hooke, Jeremias, Klappert, Ladd, Lane, Marshall, Moule, Perry, Robinson, and Schnackenburg.
These forty-five prominent scholars believe that there was an empty tomb, that the disciple truly believed they saw the resurrected Jesus, that that belief caused such a dramatic change in Jesus’ followers that they endured hardship, persecution and many suffered execution for that belief, that the sceptics Paul and James were changed by an encounter with what they believed to be the resurrected Jesus. In the world today, more than one hundred historical scholars who specialise in this areas believe these premises versus thirty-five who do not.

Atheists and Christians? We’re a lot alike!

An atheist was aghast that I would “shamelessly indoctrinate” my children regarding Jesus the Christ and the religion that bears His name. It’s very tempting to look at others who think differently than we and then assume or feel that they are part of another species. It’s easier to denigrate and demonize that way. Truly, Christians and atheists are similar in many areas.
. Both think the other is unbelievably stupid

. Both think the other is living out wishful thinking

. Both are obsessed with the concept of a Creator God

. Both think the other lacks reason and intellectual honesty

. Both think the quality of their lives is enhanced by their beliefs

. Both accept and believe things that they simply don’t understand

. Both think the other is making the world a worse place in which to live

. Both formulate “logical” reasons why they don’t believe what the other one believes

. Both sides rarely admit to the fact that they indoctrinate their children with their beliefs

. Both beliefs require faith.

- Atheists’ faith is in their powers of intellect, science and pride

- Christian faith is in the person of Jesus the Christ.

. Both are born in rebellion to the idea that a God exists to whom they will someday be accountable.

. Atheists maintain that position throughout their lives by adhering to evidence that supports their position and discarding evidence that doesn’t.

. Christians have come to free their thinking and change their minds through spiritual and intellectual exploration. Christians come to their position by admitting and accepting evidence that cannot be successfully challenged or refuted.

I used to believe in Jesus

You’ve heard it often. We all have. Former christians turned atheist bloggers telling anyone willing to listen how deeply they loved Jesus; head over heals in love with Jesus. They served Him. They obeyed Him. They told others that they too should believe in Jesus. And now? Well, now they don’t believe in Jesus. Jesus has turned out to not be real after all. Some of them now claim that Jesus was just a man. Some of them now claim that Jesus didn’t exist at all.

My own thought is that these people never really believed in Jesus; not in the sense of having a healing and forgiven relationship with Him. At best they believed in a BELIEF ABOUT Jesus. They had a creed in which they placed their faith, and nonsense was the result. When Jesus is only a creed or a statement or religious belief, then He is not real. However, if Jesus is one with whom a person gets into personal contact in other ways than by one’s intellect (and atheists do everything by intellect), then any person who touches the realities of life, touches God Himself.

Sadly, the person who rests in a creed will most likely be someone who is terrified of a known and knowable relationship with Jesus. The whole point of vital Christianity is not the refusal to face things, but a matter of personal relationship. You can know when someone has been resting not on a relationship but on a Creed with they say things like,

“If God exists, then why did my dad die?”

“Why are there earthquakes if God cares about us?”

“Why do children get raped?”

Creeds do not allow God to be God. Creeds create God in our own image. When one’s Creed does not describe God as He meets the reality we see all about us, then the “belief” in one’s belief about God will eventually be cast aside.

When I read posts by people who make comments like, “I used to believe in Jesus,” I inevitably find that what they mean is, they went along with everything they were taught, or they diligently went through the motions of the religion in which they were raised. They acted as though they believed in Jesus. Yet for virtually every single person, the so called “belief” in Jesus that they had ended when Jesus or God didn’t come through for them in a time of need. Or they came upon a portion of Scripture that required a change in life-style, and then? Well, then “I can’t believe in Jesus anymore.” People will change who they are for someone they love, but they won’t make that kind of commitment for a simple belief. These people had a theory of Jesus, but there was no relationship. If there had been a relationship with Jesus, then when Jesus disappointed the person, their belief would have remained intact, but the relationship would have been adjusted to cohere with the facts. The words, “I believe in Jesus” have a totally different meaning for those resting upon a creed than what they mean for those in a relationship with Jesus.

I believe in the reality of Jesus in the same way that I believe in the reality of my wife. Jesus is as real to me as are my kids. No, I can’t see Jesus. No, I don’t touch Him. But His presence, His working, His correction, His influence on my life, and His comfort and counsel and direction, well, there’s simply no denying His reality. I can identify totally with the apostle Peter. When Jesus asked him and the other disciples if they were going to leave Him, Peter answered, “Lord, where would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.”

So to have my wife disappoint me in some way, or to have her ask that I change how I talk or change what I do, and to then say that for me she no longer exists is as strange to me as to hear someone say, “I believed in Jesus right up until I didn’t.

Atheists love this life more than Christians

That’s a comment that atheists make fairly frequently in order to feel better about themselves and to diminish the effects of their mind numbing, soul destroying philosophy. "Unlike xians, I don't have any delusions about some future in the sky so I make the most out of this one life that I have to live."

Personally? I think that statement is pretty accurate. The Bible, especially in Revelation talks a lot about “those who live upon the earth.” It’s referring to those who draw their value, and worth and security and sense of belonging from the things that this life can offer - money, power, looks, relationships, etc. It’s referring to those who deny that there is anything more going on in life than what meets the eye.

Now, you can say that an atheist loves h/her life specifically and be fairly accurate. To say that they love life in general can only be said if you ignore the high suicide rate, the low reproduction rate, the high rate of abortions, the push for euthanasia, illegal drug use, excessive use of alcohol and high risk sexual behaviours that are so prevalent in the atheist community. So, good for you guys. You really do love your life. Allowing other people to live if their existence will put a crimp in your life-style? Mmm, not so much.

On the other hand, it’s not that big a deal. Barring a mental illness, virtually anyone can love this life. What’s much harder to do, while being exponentially more important to the well being of this planet and its inhabitants is the ability to set aside one’s life, to reign in one’s corrupted self-love and self-serving bias in order to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. On an atheist blog that was attempting to encourage fellow non believers to play catch up in the area of serving the needy, one young atheist lamented, "Can't I just fuck around and watch tv if I want?"

. Empirical evidence shows that atheists, like Buddhists are good at loving this life in a manner that “improves” their personal lot in life while remaining pretty awful at loving those less fortunate.

. Empirical evidence shows that God, working in the lives of Christians, allows them to prove their love of this life by loving those from whom the rest of the world turns its gaze.

Of course the first thing an atheist will ask is, “What empirical evidence are you talking about?” Fair enough. Let’s start with a survey that was done by someone at the University of Alberta last year about this time. It lists a number of virtues that I see as being so closely related, that the reasons for supporting or rejecting any one of them are reasons for supporting or rejecting all of them. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of the above virtues. The findings were as follows.

Kindness (Theists 88%, Atheists: 75%),

Courtesy (Theists 81%, Atheists 71%),

Concern for others (Theists 82%, Atheists 63%),

Politeness (Theists 77%, Atheists 65%),

Friendliness (Theists 79%, Atheists 74%), and

Generosity (Theists 67%, Atheists 37%).

There were numerous attempts to falsify the results, even though most atheists who wrote in actually agreed that these things weren’t as important as Christians seem to think. In the end, however, it was just a survey. It’s not what atheists would call hard evidence. That’s ok. As it turns out, there’s lots of other evidence to prove the point. In fact there is far too much information to include even in my traditionally long posts.

The evidence indicates that per capita charitable giving by atheists and agnostics in America is significantly less than by theists. According to a study by the Barna Group:
“The typical no-faith American donated just $200 last year which is more than seven times LESS than the amount contributed by the prototypical active-faith adult ($1500). Even when church-based giving is subtracted from the equation, active-faith adults donated twice as many dollars last year as did atheists and agnostics. In fact, while just 7% of active-faith adults FAILED to contribute any personal funds in 2008, that compares with 32% among the no-faith adults.”

With the apparent rise in the number of individuals who claim no faith, it will be interesting to see what this will mean for those who serve the poor and outcast.

Arthur C. Brooks wrote in Policy Review regarding data collected in the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS) (data collected by researchers at universities throughout the United States and the Roper Centre for Public Opinion Research):

“The differences in charity between secular and religious people are dramatic. Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money and 23 points more likely to volunteer time. And, consistent with the findings of other writers, these data show that practising a religion is more important than the actual religion itself in predicting charitable behaviour. For example, among those who attend worship services regularly, 92 percent of Protestants give charitably, compared with 91 percent of Catholics, 91 percent of Jews, and 89 percent from other religions.”

ABC News reported the following in respect to atheism:

“...the single biggest predictor of whether someone will be charitable is their religious participation. Religious people are more likely to give to charity, and when they give, they give more money: four times as much. As well, the giving goes beyond their own religious organization: "Actually, the truth is that Christians are giving to more than their churches," he says. "The religious Americans are more likely to give to EVERY KIND OF CAUSE AND CHARITY, INCLUDING EXPLICITLY NON-RELIGIOUS CHARITIES."

Adultery and “stupid” Christianity

I read on notproud.com, an online confession site, about an atheist who was confessing his anger. The root of his anger, he claimed, was Christianity with its “stupid” teachings. What particularly irked this person was Jesus’ teaching on lust, or more specifically adultery. “If anyone has looked at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” being ignorant of how human beings function, the confessor described such a statement as being, among other things, “Unhuman.”

My first thought was, how can someone who sounds so dumb get it so right? Not looking at women with lust, and seeing them instead as human beings with value and worth far beyond their exterior is indeed “Unhuman.” In fact it’s supernatural. It is a supernatural gift, from God, given to those who believe in Jesus as trust Him for their daily walk. Based on simple observation of the men in our society, it’s easy to see that WITHOUT the Holy Spirit to guide them, many if not most men see women, real or fantasised as little more than a repository for they ejaculation. That is what’s considered normal by the writer of this post. And it’s not just him. In our society pornography is “normal” and accepted. Look at any magazine rack as you’re waiting in line at the grocery store and you’ll see that because sex has been removed from the context of a faithful relationship, all that is left for people to focus on is technique.

For men, fantasy relationships are often preferred over real ones. As C. S. Lewis said, “When these men say that they “want” a woman, a woman is exactly what they don’t want.” They are completely unable to relate to women in a real manner. A fantasy is as much as they can emotionally handle. What’s worse is that many women are willing to debase themselves in all manner of ways, simply in a desperate attempt to gain attention from men. And that too is NORMAL human behaviour because left to our original state, we use others and allow others to use us. We demean and destroy the true character and worth of other human beings, particularly women, for no other reason than to feed our lust.

Yes, this person was right-on about the teachings of Jesus coming from another dimension, a dimension of love, caring and respect - a dimension where those who are created in the very image of God are deemed to be worth more, far more than their external appeal.

Telling kids about death

As far as parenting goes, explaining death and what comes after death can be a challenge, even scary. It doesn’t need to be that way, especially for Christian parents.

Have you ever had a surprise party thrown in your honor? You walk through the door and the lights come on and the horns blow, close friends cheer as ribbons and balloons are thrown into the air?

Have you ever watched as an athlete’s name is announced and he runs from the dressing room tunnel and onto the field as 60 or 70 thousand people cheer his arrival?

Have you watched as sailors return home from a deployment? And as they leave the ship their loved ones run to great them with kisses and hugs?

Or have you noticed the smiles on the Olympic athlete’s faces as they rise to the podium and wave and smile to the cheering crowd as they receive the reward for achieving their goal?

When my kids ask about death, these are some of the analogies that I use. Because my children have made decisions to follow Jesus, I can tell them that Jesus and the angels and all the people who have died before us and who are already in heaven, well, those people will welcome us home with cheers and shouts of joy. Another good thing to do, especially if you have lots of kids like we do, or if you have a bunch of people over when the question is asked is to have some of them go outside onto the deck while the others, along with the kid who’s been asking about death stay back in the kitchen or whatever. The questioner’s favourite parent goes onto the deck and plays the role of Jesus. Then, the questioner pretends that s/he is dying and is crossing from this world into the next. As s/he opens the door and steps across the threshold leading to the deck, the people in the kitchen say, “There s/he goes. Bye, bye honey. We love you.” while at the same time those on the deck cheer and shout, “Here s/he comes! Yea, she made it safely home.” And while the people on the deck are cheering the arrival of the child, the parent playing the role of Jesus gives the kid a big hug and introduces the questioner to those who have gone to the deck before with, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to introduce to you my personal friend (insert name). Now my child, come and play with us.” The Bible explains to us that "We (Christians) do not grieve as those who have no hope." Death need not be a difficult passage for us and Jesus is the reason why.

What a difference it must be for atheist parents, especially for those who want to be honest with their child.

“Dad, what happens when we die?”

“Well, nothing really. We come from nothing and we go to nothing. Either your mom and I or someone else will put you into the ground and cover you with dirt and the person that we knew as YOU will just totally and completely cease to exist. And that’s the end of it.”

“But, how can that be it? How can I just come to an end? What if I only live until I’m five years old? I won’t get to do anything important.”

“My dear boy. Five years or five hundred years, it doesn’t really matter because none of it counts, not ultimately anyhow. Humans are part of a dying species in a dying universe. You’re an accident little buddy. An absolute accident to which we gave a name. Don’t get me wrong. We love you, and perhaps some day you can even manipulate some other people to love you too. But apart from that you’re pretty much on your own. I sure hope you don’t grow up to be so weak as to think that you need anything other than yourself.”

“But what are we here for? Is there any meaning or purpose to all this?”

“Use your brain son. How can there be meaning and purpose to something that’s an accident? Of course, you can pretend this life has meaning and purpose if you want. You can be kind, or get really rich, or you can discover how our chemicals interact so that the lives of similar organisms might be made easier. You can get a good education or do some type of research, anything really to relieve the boredom from now until you die. Just remember. You can better the human race all you want son, but when it’s done, it’s done. And all the time that you spend making someone else’s life better, well, what’s happening to your own? You know what I mean? All those people whose lives you’ve made easier? They’re going to die just like you’re going to die and no matter what you’ve done during your life time, in the end it all counts for absolutely nothing. Since there is no objective purpose to human life, none of what you choose to do has any objective significance, regardless of how important you happen to think they are. Fame and importance are ultimately meaningless no matter how much you pretend otherwise. Reality is, you come from nothing and you’re headed to nothing, just emptiness, a void. That’s all there is son. That’s not a bad thing son. It just is. The fact is, our life has no meaning, no context and absolutely no purpose save the purpose that you pretend to give it. Pretty cool huh?”

“But daddy, shouldn’t I at least try to be a good person?”

“Oh my precious little munchkin. Good and bad are just subjective words that some people use to describe things that they like or don’t like. Have you read Ayn Rand or Camus, or Hume or Sartre or Monod? Oh, of course you haven’t. You can’t read yet. Listen, as soon as you can read you should check out what these people have to say. You’ll find them very encouraging. They explain it a lot better than I do. All I know is, live good, live bad, live for yourself, live for others, none of it matters because the end of the good and the end of the bad, the end of people, pigs and insects is exactly the same, we rot away and become a different form of matter. Now, why don’t you run along. I’ve got some useless and pointless things to do.”

“But dad, that’s absurd!. How do you expect me to be happy if life has no meaning, context or purpose” If that’s the way things are, why did you make me in the fist place?”

“Well, sweetpea, now you’re starting to ask what's beginning to feel like a lot of questions. First of all, I couldn’t not make you. My genes compel me to reproduce. I squirt my semen here and there and everywhere, not so much since your mother and I got married, but it’s like I have no other option. Our DNA must reproduce. A very brilliant man named Richard Dawkins says so and he wouldn’t lie. You’ll do the same thing as soon as you’re able. And as far as life being absurd goes, well, yes it is. It’s a farce really, just a little bit this side of a tragedy. But like I said, here is where we must simply pretend that it isn’t absurd. A brilliant Nobel Prize winner, an atheist of course makes the case for all of us atheists believing what he calls, “The Noble Lie.” That lie of course is that in an accidental universe there actually is meaning and purpose. I haven’t been able to pull it off but for that guy and Dawkins and a few others, apparently they’re able to believe such a thing. And don’t go accusing me of promising you happiness. Now THAT would be irrational. A wonderfully brilliant man whom I admire a lot, his name was Bertrand Russel, well, once he said, “We must build our lives on the firm foundation of unyielding despair.” He was such an awesome atheist! One of my heros. You see son, it can be no other way. If you live consistently according to the logical conclusion of our atheist belief system then you simply cannot be happy. Remember, it’s because I love you that I’m teaching you this belief system so that you’ll be resistant to all those Christian idiots who try to tell you that because of a guy named Jesus, you can have hope and joy and peace in your life just like they have in their lives. But that’s a lie - straight up. If you wish to be happy, then you cannot live consistently according to the logical conclusion of our atheist beliefs - the ones that your mother and I are teaching you. But if you’re serious about this, if you rebel against our indoctrination to live a brave life in the face of meaninglessness, well, what you do in that case is, you borrow meaning and value and purpose from the Christian’s belief system and claim it as your own. I’ll think that you’re an idiot if you do that, but because I’m so tolerant I’ll still tolerate you if you turn against our logic and reason. Simple enough. Now, you must run along as I have a large bowl movement approaching at a fantastic pace. We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

“You’re a really great dad. Thank you.”

“You self-righteous C***!”

I saw it again on a Christian’s blog. A woman was writing about being blown away by her salvation; by her incredible relationship with Jesus. True to form, an atheist who was cruzin through her site responded with “You self-righteous C***! What makes you think you’re so good? What makes you better than me?”

Why is it so impossible for atheists to understand salvation in any terms other than goodness? Simple. Being “good enough” is their reference point. It’s their insurance policy just in case there really is a Creator God. The concept of Grace is totally beyond an atheist’s ability to comprehend. In perfect fulfilment of Biblical prophecy atheists are tripped up by “that great stumbling stone, Jesus the Christ.”

Because of that, if a Christian talks about salvation, forgiveness of sins, God’s love for them etc., in the atheist’s mind that forgiveness can only be based on some degree of goodness. AND since in any given atheist’s mind s/he is as good as any person can possibly be, the fact that one person is saved and the atheist is not infuriates the atheist. It infuriates the atheist because the direct implication of this salvation is that the Christian must think she is better than the atheist.

Sucks to be an atheist.

Hell isn’t real - Honest!

That’s the line that I’m seeing more and more often from people calling themselves Christians. For someone claiming to be a follower of Jesus, calling Him a liar is no small thing. So what is causing this shift? As it turns out it's the reality of, or the horrors of hell that is causing some people to declare - Hell can’t be real.

Well there is no doubt that hell is unspeakably the worst scenario anyone could conceive of. That's probably why Jesus spoke more often about hell than He spoke about heaven. Who wouldn't warn people about such an end?

It's pretty easy to predict the human response to overwhelmingly bad news.
It can’t be.
It’s not real.
That’s not possible.

Just like when people began to hear about the horrors taking place in what we now call the Holocaust, people’s first reaction was to deny that anything like that could possibly be taking place.

While I’ve never had a very refined concept of hell, I’ve known enough to be embarrassed for those who have said profoundly stupid things like, "I’d rather be in hell than heaven ‘cause hell is where all the parties will be." Ya right. On the other hand, I’ve usually thought of hell ‘simply’ as a place where people are forever separated from the presence of God for eternity. And the Bible says that is a true statement. However, hell is so much more than that. Jesus taught "If you do not believe that I am who I say that I am, you will die in your sins." He taught that someday very soon, all of those who have refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord during their life-time on earth will live in:
. The unrelieved absence of Love
. The complete absence of Good
. The total, all pervasive presence of evil

People who have chosen Hell over Heaven will spend eternity in:
. Absolute fear
. Unmitigated hatred
. Total darkness
. Unrelieved sorrow
. Unequivocal alone-ness
. Absolute shame
. Unbounded regret
. Undiluted violence. Sheer panic
. Unrelenting dissatisfaction
. All encompassing meanness
. Overwhelming stench
. Total betrayal
. There will be no freedom from pain, only total, all consuming, overwhelming pain.
The worst conditions on earth don’t come close.

Hell is for people who have not kept the first and greatest commandment to Love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and mind.
Hell is for people who have finally come to the end of a journey, the main focus of which has been to live a life without humbling themselves before Creator God.

Right now, even as I write this, millions of people, including George Carlin are suffering a special kind of torment as they are in a hell that they refused to believe in. Their special torment is that they convinced spouses, children, friends, students and other ‘open-minded’ people that hell didn’t exist. And now there is no way to turn back the clock. There is no way to warn their loved-ones about the horrendous consequences of following that error. On the other hand, Jesus himself said, that even the evidence of Him rising from the dead would not be enough to convince most people to stop living as though God and eternity did not exist.

The Bible says - THAT ?

Science tells us that everything in the universe that begins has a Beginner
Just like the Bible says

Science tells us that the universe had a beginning -
Just like the Bible tells says

Science tells us that what is seen is made up of what is not seen -
Just like the Bible says
(How did the writers of that old book know this fact? Microscopes didn’t come into being until the 15th century.)

Science tells us that everything that is seen and unseen was brought into being by a force that is unseen -
Just like the Bible says

Science tells us that everything is held together by some force - yet unknown
Just like the Bible says, although the Bible goes on to Name that force

Science tells us that the laws of physics were brought into existence by some force that operates outside the laws of physics (our present day definition of a miracle) -
Just like that Bible says

Science tells us that early humans at some point were driven out of Africa to populate the rest of the world -
Just like the Bible says

Science tells us that early humans were vegetarian and only later became meat eaters -
Just like the Bible says

Science tells us that cultures from around the globe have an oral history of a catastrophic flood -
Just like the Bible says

Science tells us that climate change and warming of the oceans is the cause of deeply perplexing and fearful storms erupting around the globe -
Just like the Bible says

Science tells us that every human on the face of the earth is morally flawed
Just like the Bible says

As a Christian it’s more than a little ironic with just a pinch of amusing to watch as human “discoveries” expose the Truths of that Bronze Age Book.

Does it really matter?

I saw this comment on another blog
“those who push an exclusive brand of religion (meaning one way of salvation) do not speak for a majority of American Christians.”

I saw that and thought, Does it really matter what the majority of ANYONE thinks? If what Jesus said about salvation is true, then the only thing that matters is what He taught about salvation to His followers.

One of the biggest differences between what Jesus Christ taught, and what other religious leaders have taught, is that Jesus made it perfectly clear that there is nothing we can DO to merit salvation. John 6:28,29 - Then they asked Him, what must we do, to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, “The work of God is this, to believe in the one He has sent.”

All other religions, and even some cults that call themselves Christian, have at least some form of “Good Works” as a base for one’s entrance into paradise. Contrast that with the following teaching of Jesus the Christ:

Mark 16:16 - Jesus said, “Those who believe in Me and are baptized will be saved but those who refuse to believe in Me will be condemned.” (You would think, wouldn't you, that believing in Jesus would entail believing what He taught?)

John 1:12,13 - Jesus said, “Unless you are born again, you can never get into the kingdom of heaven.” There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust Him save them. But those who don’t trust Him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God.

John 3:3 - “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John 3:16-18 - “God loves so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

John 5:24 - Jesus said, “I say emphatically that anyone who listens to My message and believes in God who sent me has eternal life and will NEVER be damned for his sins. He has crossed from death into life.”

John 6:40 - “For my Father’s will is that every one who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 8:24 - Jesus said, “For unless you believe that I am the Son of God, the Messiah, you will die in your sins.”

John 14:6 - “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Acts 13:38,39 - In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who trusts in Him is freed from all guilt and declared righteous.

Romans 3:27,28 - Our acquittal is not based on our good deeds, it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in Him. So it is we are saved, by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.

Romans 9:32 - Because they were trying to be saved by keeping the law and being good instead of by depending on faith, they have stumbled over that great stumbling stone, Jesus.

Galatians 2:19 - It was through reading the Bible that I came to realize that I could never find God’s favour by trying and failing to obey the law. I came to realize that acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.

1st Thessalonians 1:8,9 - The Lord Jesus will bring judgement on those who do not wish to know God and those who reject His plan to save them through our Lord Jesus Christ (the majority of American christians). They will be punished in everlasting hell, forever separated from the Lord, never to see the glory of His power.

That verse is saying that the fate of atheists and apatheists ("those who do not wish to know God) as well as those who reject Jesus' plan of salvation will be identical. One group is no better off than the other. Both are guilty of thumbing their noses at the One who came to earth in an attempt to provide a means for their salvation. And He prophesied, "I and My teaching will be the great stumbling stone." These groups of people are fulfilling that prophecy.

You might be asking at this point, “How could something so negative as this last verse come from a loving God?” The fact is, God is completely Holy. Nothing less than complete Holiness can come into His presence. But we are separated from His Holiness by our sinful nature, and neither good works, nor religion, nor a moral life can fix that. Only the atoning work of God’s Son, who is also Holy, can do what we can not.

Think of it this way. A surgeon, will discard a scalpel that has a single, tiny blemish on it just as readily as she would discard a scalpel that is completely dirty. Or think of it this way. How many of the chef’s pubic hairs do you need to see on your order of food before you wouldn’t eat the meal?

You see, the size of or the amount of dirt is not the issue. The issue is the presence of dirt.

The question then IS NOT ‘why does God condemn some people’? The question is, ‘Why doesn’t He condemn all of us?’ Jesus warns us that all of us start out this life deserving of eternal separation from God? John 3:18 Yet because a survey suggests that "a majority of American christians" say that Jesus didn't know what He was talking about the rest of us should follow their lead? How stupid is that?

There are not many ways of resolving our sin problem. There is only one way. The Son of God was murdered - by you and by me. Washing your hands and praying a certain number of times per day will not serve as true justice for that horrendous act of violence. Placing food or fake money in front of an idol will not be a punishment that fits the crime. Promising to be as good as you can will not make things alright. Bathing in a certain river or pretending that Jesus doesn’t exist will not right this wrong. We all deserve condemnation, but He who was without sin became sin for our sake, for our salvation, and saying "So what?" or "His sacrificial death was meaningless" probably won’t help your situation any.

Stop trying to produce peaches!

My goal as an peach tree is not to try to make peaches appear on my branches. My goal as an peach tree is to be the healthiest peach tree that I can be, and by doing that, I naturally and without effort produce peaches. By being a healthy peach tree, I don’t produce Strychnine. I don’t produce Marijuana. I don’t produce Poppy seeds and I don’t produce Thorns. By diligently taking in the water and nutrients that a peach tree needs I produce good fruit because that is my destiny. If I receive what I need to grow, I can do no other.

As a Christian, my goal is not to produce both a civil and religious law abiding person. It is not to produce someone who goes about the day doing good things. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that I set out each morning to sound and act like Jesus the Christ. Rather, by imbibing the nature of Jesus, by acknowledging and interacting with Jesus throughout the day, by walking and talking and breathing and existing “in Jesus name” I naturally produce an obedience to the laws of Jesus the Christ as well as the laws of the land. Taking in the former means that producing the latter requires no effort at all. In fact, I can do no other. It's become my destiny.

The only thing that the Law of God can do is point out where and in whom the nature of God is not present. It can do nothing more than that. Jesus and only Jesus is able to produce in us the kind of character that gives off the aroma of Jesus’ nature.

Focussing on having the right shape, colour, smell, size or texture will not allow just any tree to produce good peaches. One must first be a peach tree. Just the same, trying to appear to have the right thoughts, words and behaviours will not make you a Christian. Sooner or later what is really “in there” will leak out and let the truth be known. If you are not filled with the Spirit of your Creator, sooner or later your thorns will poke the innocent. Sooner or later your poison will kill those you love.

Am I a Disciple of Jesus, Or Just a Christian?

This is just a hand-out that I use as a review with counselling clients part way into our sessions.

If you are a Christian who has a deep desire to follow Jesus, to be changed by Jesus, to possess the characteristics of Jesus, then what you now believe to be the major problem in your life is actually the answer to your problem.

Could that be true? Would you be willing to suspend your current beliefs for just a few moments and entertain that statement as a possibility? Let’s review where we have come thus far.

1st John 1:5 - “The main thing that we were taught by Jesus, and what we now pass on to you is, ‘God is light. In Him there isn’t any darkness. There is nothing wrong, or evil or deceitful, or mean or unjust in Him. He can be trusted absolutely’.”

God longs to bless us and it is only our refusal to follow His leading, it is only our fear of following His leading that blocks us from receiving those blessings.

Romans 8:28,29 - “In all things our loving Heavenly Father works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purposes. For those that He foreknew, like you brother or sister in Christ, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, Jesus the Christ.

While God may bring all kinds of good out of what satan has brought into our lives as a means to destroy us, the bottom line goodness, the main goodness, the goodness that at minimum you can count on God working towards, is making you into a person who bears the characteristics of Jesus. And what are those characteristics?

Galatians 5:22,23 “But the characteristics that come from becoming like Jesus are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness (which means Long-suffering > think about that one) Gentleness, and Self-Control. Bearing this type of personality and this attitude toward others means that you are completely fulfilling the Law of God.”

We need to trust Jesus enough to heed His message, “Follow Me.” What does Jesus mean by that? Jesus, our example and character goal, came to earth knowing in advance that He would be abused, misunderstood, mistreated, rejected, insulted, betrayed and ultimately have humanity do our absolute worst to Him. Yet He entered into a covenant relationship with us anyway because He loves us. And then Jesus said, “Pick up your cross and follow Me (become like Me) in your covenant relationship with your spouse / children / extended family / co workers / neighbours etc.. This isn’t a suggestion, something to ponder for a few minutes, a debating point or simply a nice thought. This is a command to be followed as surely as the command - “Don’t Murder!”

So why don’t we trust Jesus enough to obey Him? Why do we think that following Jesus will be something awful? Why don’t we want to live our lives the way Jesus would live our lives if He had been born into our circumstances?

This may infuriate you, but it is my strong belief that Christians come for counselling because God is trying to take them to the next level of obedience and growth and they are refusing to go along with His plan. Refusing to obey God brings great internal dissonance, emotional pain, confusion, anxiety and depression. Our inner contradictions between what we say that we believe and how we act make it almost impossible for clients to communicate with God in a meaningful manner.

When people come to me, almost always it is because they are either living with “the enemy” or they are in too close contact with “the enemy.” Because of this, they are confronted with Jesus commands:

Romans 12:19-21 - “Do not take revenge, my friends. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” And Matthew 5:44 - Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.

Counselling clients look at these commands and to a person -
1) It seems too hard. It seems too much to ask. And / or
2) They have forgotten that in every previous case of obedience and dying to self they have grown in character and they have been blessed beyond their wildest dreams.

What we fail to realise is that responding God’s way to what seems to be our biggest problem, our biggest challenge, God’s most “unreasonable request” is actually His answer to our prayers for release from our problem. There is a really good line, “The fastest way to get rid of your enemy is to make him your friend.” Well, as we know from Jesus’ own life, loving someone doesn’t always make someone your friend, but it is nevertheless, always the right thing to do. We cannot overcome evil with more evil, nor can we overcome evil by running away from it or refusing to love the person displaying evil. That is why obeying God, when confronted with an extremely difficult person is actually God’s answer to our prayers. It’s His ticket to the next level. It’s the door through which we must enter to achieve freedom from our current pain and difficulty. Remember! This has nothing to do with changing the other person. It has everything to do with changing ME.

So the questions remain:
Why don’t I trust Jesus enough to follow Him?
Why don’t I trust Jesus enough to obey Him?
Why do I claim to trust Jesus with my eternity but not my today?
Do I love Jesus enough to obey Him (John 14:23,24)? And if not, why not?

These are not rhetorical questions and I’m not being reckless or insensitive in asking them. You may have what seem to be very good reasons for not trusting Jesus with your today. Perhaps a child has died. Maybe you’ve lost your job, your health, your family. Natural disasters and unspeakable abuse are constant reminders of the dangers that surround us. The Bible makes it clear that the road of life is not for the faint of heart. That is why Jesus tells us to follow Him through life, to follow His leading, to follow His example, thereby guiding us into a character and personality that makes us more than conquerors. This I know, Running from where God is leading keeps us less than conquerors.

Am I a disciple of Jesus or just a Christian? Without you deciding on becoming the former, counselling can achieve little more than a third-rate recovery.

Good luck on your journey.

Christians are Hypocrites!

I’ve been working on another project, so blogging time is at a minimum. However, a News item caught my eye that I need to write about.

Apparently 75% of non Christians believe that Christians are hypocrites. That in itself isn’t the interesting part. The accusation is old news. The interesting part is what hasn’t been said. For instance. Since 100% of Christians are hypocrites, why haven’t 100% of non Christians noticed that? Are the other 25% too polite to say it? Have they just not noticed? Maybe they don’t know any Christians? Or is the other 25% are wise enough to know that 100% of people, all of us, Christian or not are hypocrites to one degree or another?

Another question is, what do the 75% mean by hypocrite? Is it just that they see us as not living up to the ideals of Christianity? Or do they really believe that we are pretending to be better than we know we are? Do these 75% understand that people become Christians because we have become glaringly aware of the fact that we aren’t good people, that we aren’t holier than anyone else, that we are sinners of the first order who are in desperate need of forgiveness? Do they know that or are their responses born out of ignorance?

Just wondering.

Yikes! Another Health and Wealth Preacher.

I was in Christian book store the other day. I almost bought the e-bay atheist book but then thought better of it. I’ve already bought too many books this month. I went around the corner of the isle and saw a book by this good looking preacher dude. I’ve seen him on Larry King and couldn’t stop from flipping the pages.

Sigh, another huckster making millions off gullible, desperate people. And he’s doing it by corrupting the message of Jesus, no less. Of course he has to corrupt God’s message because no where in the Bible does God say that Christians will be exempt from the normal pain and suffering of life.

Not this guy. With great enthusiasm he tells folks, ‘Now is when God wants us to be rich.’ ‘Now is when God wants us to be free from sickness.’ ‘Now is when we can eliminate all troubles and concerns in our lives.’ ‘Forget about heaven. You deserve to have everything you want now, and you can get all that stuff by giving me huge chunks of your hard earned savings.’

He and others like him call this offering “seed money.” Give me your money and God will give you back more than you gave me. He’s just as big a liar as those shysters who operate out of Nigeria.

Christianity has always, always, always taught that the Crown, never precedes the Cross.

Thoughts on Christian Marriage

Colossians 3:2 - “Set your minds on the things above, not on things on earth.”

Just some thoughts on something that all of us need to be reminded about over and over and over in our Christian walk in marriage. The things that happen to us, the things that aggravate us, the events that take place in our relationships are nothing more than that; they are events. The event (for example one’s partner’s irresponsible behaviour or another partner’s hurtful comments) are not the most important thing to pay attention to. They feel like it, but they aren’t.

I’m not trying to downplay the significance of these or other events. I’m not saying that when one person does something disappointing or when the other person says something hurtful that it doesn’t matter. In fact, I’m saying that these events have more significance than they appear to have on the surface. I’m saying that the changes that these two “events” are meant to bring about in us are what’s important. Pretty confusing? Let me say it this way.

As Christians, we have a promise from God. I can tell you from 26 years of experience as a Christian and after 34 years of marriage that this is a promise that is 100% accurate. Here it is. “In all things [events], God will bring about something good in those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose”(Romans 8:28). (Inclusion of “events” mine.)

That promise was made by God, to all of His followers. The behaviours or events that satan is using to try to destroy you, the things that satan is using to try to tear apart your marriage, the things that satan is using to try to create a broken and chaotic home for your children, God will use to bring about good, if you love Him.

But what is the good that God brings out of these things or these events? The answer is found in verse 29. “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son . . .”

If, instead of focussing on how we’ve been wronged by our spouse, we ask God to help us focus on, “What are You trying to teach me in this situation, Lord?” then God will be able to teach us and to change us. Why is that a good thing? It’s good for at least two reasons:

1) The more that I’m like Jesus, the less that I’ll be doing or saying things that hurt my spouse.

2) The more that I’m like Jesus, the less that I’ll retaliate in hurtful ways when I’m treated badly or with disrespect by my spouse.

This is good news for any Christian marriage. Whenever I do something that is not being as kind to Wendy as I could or should, it’s a reminder to me that I need to draw closer to Jesus. And when I listen to that reminder (and that’s hard to do in the heat of the moment) I begin to treat Wendy better. That’s because Jesus’ Spirit in me causes me to do that. On my own, I’m not that nice. When I let Jesus work through me, I become nicer.

The Bible tells us that the Fruit of the Spirit, or the consequences of allowing God’s Spirit to work in us are: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control (Galatians 5:22). I want to have a character like that! I need to have a character like that for our marriage to be all that I want it to be. Only God can bring that about in me.

But why this lengthy process? I mean, God could heal us immediately if He wanted to. The reason that God takes us along a difficult path, the reason that God brings / allows difficult events and people to come into our lives is because that is how we become strong in our faith. These difficulties force us to continually depend on Him. Without increasing faith in God, we continually repeat old destructive behaviours. Only in Him do we find true life.

Hypocrites in the Church

When talking about Christianity with non Christians, it isn’t long before someone will say something like, “That f----g Christian hypocrite cheated me out of hundreds of dollars a few years back.” Or “He goes to Church and he’s an alcoholic. What a hypocrite!” First of all, being a sinner is not the same as being a hypocrite. I and other Christians became followers of Jesus because we know that we ARE sinners and that we need forgiveness for that reality. On the other hand, we Christians often fool ourselves by thinking, "Now that I'm a Christian, I've got it all together." We compare how far Jesus has brought us from where we used to be and we mistakenly believe that we've arrived. That is often perceived by non Christians as hypocrisy. This is very important because it deflects non believers from an important Truth.

Are there hypocrites in the Christian Church? Of course. Every person on earth is a hypocrite to one degree or another. However, no one is asking you to follow hypocrites. Follow Jesus. No one is asking you to believe hypocrites. Believe Jesus. There is not a shred of hypocrisy in Jesus Christ. He lived exactly what He preached. He is dependable in every area of life. He preaches truth and justice because True and Just are who He is.