11 March 2008 by Brian.

Hypocrites in church, you say?  Next thing you know, they’ll be trying to tell us that the forest is full of trees or that the ocean is teeming with fish.

Actually, my experience is that churches are filled with people and…guess what?…people tend to be hypocritical!  Heck, we tend to try to fool ourselves into thinking that we’re better than we are.  It only follows that we’d be attempting to perpetrate the same illusion on everyone around us.

I posted the other day and was rewarded with a rather angry-sounding diatribe against Christianity.  As a Christian, aware of my own hypocritical leanings, I always try to learn from my critics.  We shouldn’t let critics define us, but we should never add self-righteousness and/or pride to our hypocrisy, and fail to see our own shortcomings.  One accusation in particular should give us pause.  The comment stated, “Love thy neighbor, sure, unless they need help that would inconvenience you in any way then they can just fall by the wayside. i cant wait till the post Christian era comes, because only then will we be able to look back in clarity at the centuries of brainwashing and realize the true extent of the hypocrisies you represent.”  It’s easy to respond that believers love others all the time, which is true.  However, do we reach beyond the boundaries of those who are easy to love?  Do we care for the poor, the homeless, the disenfranchised?  Do we give sacrificially and show the love of Christ to those who don’t look, smell, or think like we do?  These are tough questions for believers in a country where we’re so busy that “loving” our brothers and sisters in Christ can often be limited to a smile and a handshake during a 60 second window in the church service each week.  We shouldn’t look away from this issue, but rather look to Christ’s example.  He picked up a cross and showed love to the human race, who in no way deserved his great sacrifice of love.  The Church is called to follow THAT example, aren’t we?

I spend plenty of time on this blog discussing the hypocrisy of secular humanists, the hypocrisies inherent in the sexual revolution, etc., so I’m going to avoid any of that tonight.  What is YOUR part in expressing sacrificial love to a lost world?

We should never wink at hypocrisy, but if it’s there, let’s own it, repent, and trust the Holy Spirit to continually work on us, to convict us of sin (both of commission and of omission), and allow Christ to live His life through us in ever increasing measure.  Let’s never give the impression to the world around us that we’ve got everything so together that can’t learn and grow, nor should we “play church” and then go live our lives self-centeredly disgracing the name of our Lord.  Let’s get real: with God, with ourselves, and with each other.  Perhaps more authenticity and humility would make the church more welcoming to those who currently see nothing attractive about us.

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20 February 2008 by Brian.

If you’re not familiar with dictionary.com, I highly recommend you check it out.  (I find it helps me appear to be smarter than I actually am.)  The word of the day on 18 Feb 2008 was ‘sine qua non’ (isn’t that really three words?), which means, “an essential condition or element; an indispensable thing.”  Now there’s a useful word (or three)!

My wife had some great advice for a friend recently while they were struggling with a difficult decision.  The advice boiled down to the following questions: “What is the most important thing in the world to you?  What SHOULD BE the most important thing in the world to you?  What decision will result in moving closer to alignment with the thing you know to be most important in your life?”

Clearly, our worldview drives us.  If God is the most important thing in an individual’s life,  then that person’s life and his/her decisions will reflect this fact.  If the accumulation of material wealth is ultimate, this, too, will be revealed.  If it’s Power, then you get a Hitler, if it’s Pleasure, an Oscar Wilde.

As a believer in Christ, I offer the following observation by G.K. Chesterton as food for thought:  “God is like the sun; you cannot look at it, but without it, you cannot look at anything else.”

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19 February 2008 by Brian.

I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever been a conspiracy theorist, although I will admit to getting a laugh out of listening to the occasional late night radio broadcasts full of stories about black helicopters, alien abductions, and internment camps being built across the USA.  However, I’m also a conservative, believing that governmental authority should be kept to the minimum necessary to provide for a free and peaceful society.   As a result, I’m always a little leery of big government (especially unelected, unaccountable governing bodies) – the United Nations being one of the governing bodies I’m least likely to trust.

So, I want to do my little part to assist Mr. Matthew Lee in his attempts to bring some transparency to the UN.  As this article states, Mr. Lee isn’t always 100% accurate, but at least he’s attempting to inform people of some of the abuses and failures of that powerful organization.  Let’s not forget, after all, that the UN operates from a decidedly Secular Humanist perspective, a fact which should never fail to make us look twice at its initiatives. Of course, the UN does a lot of good, but as with any human organization, it certainly doesn’t do only good.

FoxNews reports:

“Over the last couple of years, Lee has proved to be a constant — and controversial — thorn in the U.N.’s side.
Though his writing is clunky, his methods unorthodox (and often highly annoying) and his news judgment sometimes more than a little off the mark, Lee has hit his share of bullseyes and became an outlet for whistleblowers inside the U.N.
In 2006, for example, he drew attention to human-rights abuses by the Ugandan People’s Defense Force during a U.N. disarmament program, including incidents in which four people were killed and over 100 homes destroyed.”

I find it interesting that the most powerful search engine in the world (forgive me if I give Google too much credit) can’t seem to solve the “technical glitch” that’s keeping Lee’s website out of their searches.

Check out Mr. Lee’s website at www.innercitypress.com and help him keep us informed, even if Google doesn’t like it.

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31 January 2008 by Brian.

I’ve heard unbelievers mock the cross and I’ve heard believers confess confusion regarding the justice of an innocent man suffering on it for our sins.  Recently,  I’ve been reading an excellent book lately, “The Cross of Christ”, by John R. W.  Stott.  The following excerpt offers an excellent perspective on the wonderful work of Christ on the cross.

“What we see, then, in the drama of the cross is not three actors but two, ourselves on the one hand and God on the other.  Not God as he is in himself (the Father), but God nevertheless, God-made-man-in-Christ (the Son).  Hence the importance of those New Testament passages which speak of the death of Christ as the death of God’s Son: for example, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son’, ‘he…did not spare his own Son’, and ‘we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son’.  For in giving his Son he was giving himself.  This being so, it is the Judge himself who in holy love assumed the role of the innocent victim, for in and through the person of his Son he himself bore the penalty which he himself inflicted.  As Dale put it, ‘the mysterious unity of the Father and the Son rendered it possible for God at once to endure and to inflict penal suffering’.  There is neither harsh injustice nor unprincipled love nor Christological heresy in that; there is only unfathomable mercy.  For in order to save us in such a way as to satisfy himself, God through Christ substituted himself for us.  Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice.  The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and grace, justice and mercy.

Seen thus, the objections to a substitutionary atonement evaporate.  There is nothing even remotely immoral here, since the substitute for the law-breakers is none other than the divine Lawmaker himself.  There is no mechanical transaction either, since the self-sacrifice of love is the most personal of all actions.  And what is achieved through the cross is no merely external change of legal status, since those who see God’s love there, and are united to Christ by his Spirit, become radically transformed in outlook and character.”

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21 January 2008 by Brian.

Today is, of course, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Day and so I thought  it fitting to post something in remembrance of his contributions to our society.  Fox News offered this article on Dr. King’s leadership, both in reality and as it has been remembered (or not).   The following excerpt leads to my point for tonight:

“By freezing him at that point, by putting him on a pedestal of perfection that doesn’t acknowledge his complex views, “it makes it impossible both for us to find new leaders and for us to aspire to leadership,” Harris-Lacewell said.

She believes it’s important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was before his death in April 1968.

“If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular,” Harris-Lacewell said. “Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one.”

This quote reminded me of how unpopular President Roosevelt became for his “warmongering” prior to the Japanese attack on the USA which launched us into WWII.  Where would the world be, had Roosevelt failed to prepare the nation (economically and militarily) for war against the Axis?

It also reminds me of the call of Christ to take up my cross and follow him on the narrow road that is God’s will for my life.  In this day and age of opinion polling, reality TV, and the constant pursuit of popularity, it’s important to remind ourselves that the popular position isn’t necessarily the right one.  Will we be leaders in our culture?  Or will we parrot society and take up only those “causes” already “championed” by everyone around us?

Posted in Humanism, Abortion, Homosexuality, Community, Naturalism, Eurabia, Israel, Social Justice, Social Injustice, Politics, Social Medicine, Missionaries, Europe, Christmas, Missions, Evil, Trinity, Trinitarianism, Environmentalism, Religious fanaticism, Radicals, Sex, Biblical Worldview, Postmodernism, Contemporary Christianity, Relativism, Sanctity of Life, Islam, Marriage, Postmodern Philosophy, Postmodernity, Morality, Religion, Radicalism, Morals, New Age Spirituality, North Korea, Spirituality, New Age, Secularism | 1 Comment »

21 December 2007 by Brian.

I’ve started reading a couple more books. Today’s quote comes from, “The Cross of Christ“, by John R. W. Stott.

“All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and man. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to His, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it. When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God, and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely ‘hell deserving sinners’, then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.”

Christianity in a secular humanist age. This is our challenge.

Posted in Quotes, Naturalism, Social Injustice, Social Justice, Bible study, Inductive Bible study, Humanism, Homosexuality, Missionaries, Europe, Missions, Evil, Politics, Trinity, Religion, Morality, Biblical Worldview, Postmodernism, Sex, Contemporary Christianity, Sanctity of Life, Relativism, Postmodern Philosophy, Postmodernity, New Age Spirituality, Morals, False Doctrine, New Age, Spirituality, Secularism | 1 Comment »

7 November 2007 by Brian.

A friend of mine offered the following definition of a mid-life crisis and I thought it was worth sharing.  “A mid-life crisis is what happens when a person spends his entire life up to that point, relying solely on himself.  Then, he or she gets to a certain point in his or her life and doesn’t like the results, so they make drastic changes in an effort in a futile effort to create an identity they can live with from that point on.”  (I’ve paraphrased a bit, as I don’t remember it word for word.)

I’d have to say I agree with this definition.  It’s interesting that C.S. Lewis’ conception of hell was a soul turned so inward that it neither could, nor would, see or relate to anything other than itself.  Hell was the eternal condition of self-worship, completely separated from fellowship with God or anyone else.  I’m not sure this is all there is to Hell, but I believe it’s a fundamental aspect of it.   Why would we ever place ourselves at the center of our universe and bring hell into our present day experience?  It might look appealing for a while, but it only leads further and further from that which most satisfies our souls, a relationship with God.  Think about it.

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6 November 2007 by Brian.

Last Sunday our pastor preached on blind spots.  The problem with blind spots is, of course, that one isn’t aware of one’s own blind spots (hence, the name).  Of course, if those around us were willing to be perfectly honest with us, they could probably enlighten us with two or three before we knew what hit us!  In reality, most of us rarely even consider the fact that we DO have blind spots.  It’s a lot more comfortably to go through life assuming that we’re aware of all our flaws and are conscientiously working to remedy them.  Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Wait a minute!  Ignorance is NOT bliss, biblically speaking.  The Holy Spirit leads us into truth.  Jesus challenged Pilate (John 18) with the fact that he came into the world to testify to the truth and that, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  This truth co-existed perfectly with the Father, the One who “is love”.  Truth and love are perfect partners, inextricably woven together at the foundation of reality, in the person of God, Himself.

With that said, why is it that one of my greatest blind spots is my failure to express the love of God as I attempt to conform my life to His truth and to live out my relationship with God in my family and in my vocation?  I can only surmise that I’ve taken the active role in determining how to express the truth of the Word of God, rather than asking God to guide me in doing so each day.  Once again, I’m confronted with my own tendency to self-sufficiency (sin!) and I realize how desperately I need Christ to rule every moment of my day.

Back to the cross I go, thankful for the grace of God that daily covers all of my sin and makes me acceptable to Him.  I could never, on my best day, deserve the tiniest fraction of His love or acceptance.  Instead, miraculously, He chose to give it all to me and to anyone else who chooses to accept it.  What an amazing God!

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18 September 2007 by Brian.

Okay, okay…I sensationalized the headline, but I read Hebrews chapter 12 today and was blown away by just how profound, challenging, and encouraging this chapter is.

So often, we get caught up in the excitement of chapter eleven’s “heroes of the faith” and think of the awesome things they did for God.  In doing so, we usually forget two things: that we’re meant to live out the same faith in our own lives and that each of these heroes faced impossible situations and incredible trials.  The fact is that their lives were far from easy ones and their only assurance that things would turn out well for them was their faith.  As the author of Hebrews makes clear in 11:35-38, many of the faithful met with rather horrible ends in this world.  Now, on to chapter 12….

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,  2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NRSV)

Verse one grabs us and diverts our attention from the fine examples of chapter 11 and forces us to apply this faith to our own lives.  As I pondered the verse, I realized that each of us has a “race marked out for us”.  Each of us has our own set of challenges, our own opportunity to exercise faith, experience God’s providing and sustaining grace, and thereby glorify Him.  Verse two redirects us once again, but this time it is to Jesus that we look.  Why?  Because he is the One who went before us, perfectly modeling the walk of faith.  Not only that, but He is the One by whose Spirit we are made increasingly holy as we walk by faith.  Chapter 11 had some great Old Testament examples to follow, but Jesus is the ultimate example to follow.  The Chapter 11 “heroes of the faith” exercised their faith imperfectly,  but served to prepare the way for Jesus, just as the Old Testament law (i.e., Judaism) could not provide salvation, but served to bring awareness of sin and to point the way to the One who would die for the sins of the world.  In doing so, Jesus dealt with sin once and for all.  He is the ultimate High Priest, the ultimate sacrifice, and the initiator of the new and perfect covenant.  That’s great stuff!

Continuing in verse two of chapter 12, Jesus’ walk of faith is explicitly spelled out for us, so there is no mistaking the type of example we are to follow.  First of all, the joy that was set before Jesus was not the opportunity to acquire great wealth, fame, or worldly power.  Instead, his joy was in expressing the love of God for his enemies (sinful mankind) and by laying down His own life, redeeming them and offering them life in relationship with the Father.  To gain this joy, He endured (a key word in the book of Hebrews) the most humiliating death which one could face, not to mention the fact that it is a  physically tortuous way to die.  In choosing to obey His heavenly Father, Jesus didn’t consider the shame of it (He IS God, Himself, after all!).  Instead, he faced the trial and passed through it to the position of honor at the right hand of the throne of God!  What an amazing savior!

The question I must ask myself, and I hope you’ll join me in asking it, is, “What shame or what trial has God asked me to face in order to glorify Him and accomplish His plans and purposes in my life?”  If I’m making my decisions based upon their impact on my own ego, my own reputation, or my own comfort, I’m probably not following the path of Christ.  I’m certainly not following His example by doing so.  Where is my focus?  Is it on the trial?  Or is it on the glory that can be brought to God as I trust Him through it and the blessing that might accrue to others as a result?

If you plan on reading further into chapter 12, be forewarned: the remainder of the chapter gets even better.  You will be challenged and blessed.  If you want to get the most out of it, read the book of Hebrews from beginning to end in one sitting.  I promise, you won’t regret it!

Posted in Social Justice, Inductive Bible study, Inductive study method, Bible study, Social Injustice, Eurabia, Community, Humanism, Naturalism, Israel, Religion, Spirituality, Biblical Worldview, Contemporary Christianity, Marriage, New Age, False Doctrine, Morality, Morals, New Age Spirituality, Sanctity of Life | No Comments »

26 August 2007 by Brian.

“Very few really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justification, explanations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To
really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the
questioner.”

Spoken by the Vampire Marius in
Ann Rice’s book The Vampire Lestat
Ballantine Books. New York, NY. 1985.

(Remember, Ann Rice became a Christian late in life…interesting what happens when you dare to really take a look at reality!)

I found this quote at http://tchriscrain.blogspot.com/2007/07/critical.html .

Posted in Bible study, Inductive study method, Inductive Bible study, Israel, Religious fanaticism, Radicalism, Radicals, Social Justice, Social Injustice, Abortion, Homosexuality, Community, Humanism, Naturalism, Quotes, Eurabia, Religion, Morality, Contemporary Christianity, Sex, Biblical Worldview, Relativism, Marriage, Sanctity of Life, Islam, Postmodernism, Postmodern Philosophy, False Doctrine, New Age Spirituality, Morals, New Age, Spirituality, Postmodernity, North Korea, Secularism | No Comments »