The glorious reminders of aches and pains

An amazing thing happens when you reach forty. Your body begins to lose some of its ability to bounce back. What this means is that pulled muscles seem to happen easier and last longer. Yesterday afternoon I was kicking a soccer ball with my boys and well today I am still pondering that soccer ball as a muscle in my hip protest with every step I take. There are a couple of things this can do for me. It can drive me to distraction or it can remind me of my mortality. As I ponder my mortality I am inevitably drawn to think about my Lord Jesus and the home that He is preparing for me (John 14:2-3). In that home He will wipe away all pain (Revelation 21:4). My heart looks forward with greater longing to the day when I will see Him, all because of some little aches and pains. On reflection I can truly thank God for blessing me with these aches and pains. May God bless you with a focus on Him that allows you too to rejoice in ALL the gifts that He gives us.

Middle finger musings

Several times over the years I have witnessed someone cutting someone off with their car and receiving the reaction of a hand extended with only the middle finger pointing upwards. I have seen the same reaction when bikes cut off cars or when cars cut dangerously close to pedestrians. This gesture is used with the intention of causing great emotional stress in retaliation for the stress that someone else's actions have caused. 
What makes a person think that flipping someone off is going to elicit any sort of agitating feelings in the object of the gesture? Further what causes the person who is flipped off to take offense at the gesture? There is no animal that takes offense at the motions of other animals. If we are nothing more than higher animals you would think that we would surely have evolved past this silly self destructive behavior. Survival of the fittest would require it. But for some reason we seem offended by this waving of a limb in a mean spirited manner perhaps accompanied by an expletive or two. Why? I believe that this action and response is an assault on man's dignity. Which begs the question where does this dignity come from? It assumes that man has intrinsic value. But if he is just another animal why does he have intrinsic value? Why does the individual matter? I believe that without realizing it that every time man makes an assault on another persons dignity they are giving an acknowledgment that man has dignity and value. I believe that if you look hard you will be hard pressed to find a reference point for man's dignity and value in nature. Certainly the animals do not exhibit anything even close to this. So where does it come from except God. I believe that the fact that God created man in His own image is the answer and true reference point for man's dignity and why he has dignity at all. Ultimately when you see someone flipping someone off remember that unintentionally they are acknowledging that man has dignity derived from His creator that he can effectively assault. Once again we see that pagan man cannot get away from admitting he has a creator no matter how much he may want to. As we seek to live a God focused life things like this should strike us more and more with the constant reality that God truly is with us (Romans 1:20). Every day all men every where live before His face. Sometimes pagans end up pointing to God in a way that they never intended.

The scar death leaves

My oldest daughter and one of my middle sons have a bunch of chickens that they take care of. We have two roosters and have been talking for some time about killing one of them. Today was the day. I have been hunting and have killed several animals in my life. My daughter has never had to do that...until today. She took the initiative and started the process the way that her book said to do it. When I looked in her eyes I saw the pain that comes when you are suddenly faced with being responsible for an animals death. It took me back to a little boy with a new BB gun at the age of nine. He was headed out to scare the birds out of a cherry tree. Who wouldn't want to defend sweet juicy helpless cherries from the onslaught of vicious winged fruit eating birds. The problem was the BBs weren't scaring them off. So he took carful aim and an instant later a robin fell from the tree. Everything had been fine until that robin fell. Nothing could have prepared me for the knife of pain that stabbed my heart. I remember picking that little bird up and trying to get it to be OK. But it wasn't going to be OK. Tears flowed from my eyes as I asked God to bring it back...but it could never come back. Death and all of its pain and finality had entered my young world. That pain I felt as a little boy rushed back on me as I looked in my daughters eyes. She now understood that death is an abomination. There is something very wrong about death and we all know it. It stands as a blight on creation. Jesus even wept over its unholy impact on the world (John 11:33-35). John tells us that Jesus was troubled by what He saw the people going through as a result of Lazarus death. Now Jesus knew that He was going to raise Lazarus so what else could have been troubling Him except the impact of death on the world and its people. That impact continues today. It reminds us of how imperfect this world has become. For those who are seeking the Lord Jesus it makes one long for Him with a greater intensity. We know that when He comes He will put an end to death (Revelation 21:4). When we face death in the killing of an animal or the death of a loved one it should drive us to seek more fervently our Lord Jesus.

How fears point us to God

CNN has an article on their site called, "Who's afraid of snakes, spiders, vomit?" While the article deals with phobias it brings up a good point for Christians to consider. The very first time that we see fear mentioned in the Bible is when Adam tells the God that he heard Him and was afraid and hid himself (Genesis 3:10). Fear is a result of the fall and I think that in all of eternity this will be borne out. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but God gave us a spirit of power, love and self-control. The main thing here is that power, love and self-control are all things that put fear to death. It is even this idea of self-control that counselors use to treat phobias. What should our goal be as Christian living a God focused life? To be so consumed with a desire for God and His kingdom that the things of this earth that produce fear in us are minimized. To put it another way we can say that we do not fear man or beast because God has ordained the day of our death (Hebrews 9:27). Men may try to intimidate us but we do not fear them because the power of God is greater than that of any man. Ultimately the thing that will fill our heart with the confidence we need to face and overcome fears of all kinds is the love of God filling and permeating our hearts. 1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” The love of God experienced in the context of a relationship with Him will fortify our hearts against fear.

Is there a reason to agree with Sam Harris? Why?

Today I will conclude my dealing with Sam Harris's talk on why we should ditch religion at the TEDs conference. I have addressed some of the issues raised by Sam Harris and qouted by John D. Sutter in an article on CNN.com called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." These comments in the article are recaps from his 20+ minute video presentation on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam's case is an emotionally charged one. He makes the statement that, "Religion has convinced us that there's something else entirely other than concerns about suffering. There's concerns about what God wants, there's concerns about what's going to happen in the afterlife." This statement is a legitimate statement if there is no God. But as I have talked about in earlier blogs Sam has not made His case that there is no God. Rather Sam has made the case for suffering and the insufficiency of religion using appeals to human dignity and man's knowledge as ultimate determinate factors without explaining the basis for either. Sam depends on God's image in man without acknowledging that dependence. However I would agree that the Christian church is often too caught up in trying to force unsaved pagan people to live a life that is moral by God's standards. The pagan man hates God (Romans 1:30). We are not called by Jesus to change the actions of people. Changing peoples actions makes us Pharisees (Matthew 9:11, 12:2). God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Since we cannot change the heart of men our job is not to change pagan men and women but to introduce them to the one who can change their hearts. 
Sam also talked about how there is no reconciling Islam and Christianity and indeed he is correct. The problem is that Sam sees all religions as the same and here is the fatal error. Jesus made it clear in John 14:6 that He is the way the truth and the life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him. This then explains the problem with all religion outside of the Christian faith. It is the need of Jesus to be the central figure in the lives of those that would be reconciled to God that drives Christianity. We do not kill or force our belief on others because it is God that changes their hearts. What do we do? We kindly and compassionately share the gospel with those that God places in our lives. Our heart for them is to save them from God's wrath. If they reject that then they are rejecting God. At that point our focus should be to live God focused lives before them. The only way the society will be changed is if Jesus Christ first changes us.

The Purpose of Suffering - Part 4 Future Praise

Lets look at one final reason of how pain is a tool that God introduced into a fallen world for the sake of man. We have looked at three parts of suffering in the previous posts. I am looking at this to seek to address some of the issues raised by Sam Harris. See the previous post for more details. The fourth main reason that God introduced pain into a fallen world has to do with the glory of Jesus. God had determined in eternity past to send His only begotten Son Jesus, the second person of the trinity, to take the penalty for our sins and become the mediator between God and man. This is how God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Now think about eternity. What has Jesus promised? Revelation 21:4 tells us, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”” Jesus promises us that there will be no more pain anymore. The depths of God's love for us is demonstrated by the great pain and sacrifice that Jesus endured on our behalf. The pain that we experience now will be the only reference point we will have for understanding the pain of Jesus suffering in order to remember the depths of His love for us. When we see the nail prints in His hands we will praise Him because of the pain we have as a reference point for understanding His pain. While our understanding is stunted in comparison to the infinite pain He endured for us it is never the less an important reference point we take with us into eternity. When Christians endure pain and suffering here we are storing up future praise for our Lord Jesus. The pain we experience will be a vast reservoir we will draw from to praise Him for His glorious work on the cross for us. Living a God focused life will help me to look past the pain to the great God and Savior that I serve. It will help me to embrace the pain He sets before me. The pain becomes a grace by which Jesus will be valued more fully by me in all of eternity.

The Purpose of Suffering - Part 3 Divine Retribution

Again lets look at how pain is a tool that God introduced into a fallen world for the sake of man. We have looked at two parts of suffering in the previous posts. I am looking at this to seek to address some of the issues raised by Sam Harris. See the previous post for more details. The third reason that God introduced pain into a fallen world has to do with providing meaningful recompense for our rebellion against Him. If there were no pain there would be no way for God to provide corrective discipline (Hebrews 12:3-11). We would unruly sons with no means for our loving Father to correct us. Divine retribution extends to those who reject God entirely and never become sons as well. Their judgement will be portioned out according to the evil deeds that they have done (Psalm 28:3-5, Romans 2:5-9). God is a just judge and pain is a means of rendering justice for those who have lived in rebellion against Him. They have been given a clear revelation that there is a God in the heavens and yet they have suppressed that truth and pursued their own futile thinking (Romans 1:18-25). Pain and suffering in a fallen world that is in rebellion against God makes sense. It is a necessary component to communicate God's eternal wrath against sin and rebellion. Without it we could never know how much God hates sin (Deuteronomy 12:31). Knowing how much God hates sin the heart of a Christian that is focused on God should be bent toward running from sin like Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:11-12). Understanding the great mercy of God exhibited in giving us pain for correction and retribution should drive us more than ever to living a God focused life.

The Purpose of Suffering - Part 2 The Restrainer

Yesterday I started to explain how pain is a tool that God introduced into a fallen world for the sake of man. We looked at one part of suffering. I am seeking to address some of the issues raised by Sam Harris and qouted by John D. Sutter in an article on CNN.com called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." In the article Sam makes some comments related to suffering. These are recaps from his 20+ minute video presentation on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam's case is an emotionally charged one. He is passionate about the need to combat repression and pain wherever it exist. I pointed out how in many ways Sam seems to see repression and pain as the highest moral tragedy. Since this appears to be key to his discussion on science determining what is morally right and wrong without the need for religion I thought I should address it. Today we will look briefly at how pain is a tool of God to restrain mankind. Pain was introduced as a result of the fall of man (See yesterday's post). In the new heaven and earth it will not exist. So God introduced it into a fallen world for a good purpose. Imagine a fallen world in which there is no pain. On a purely physical level I could steal from you because I wanted to and be sent to prison for the crime. Would prison without pain have a reforming effect on me? No! Would there be any real reason for you to want me to go to prison since you do not feel pain either. We would be constantly cutting ourselves and burning ourselves because there would be no pain to restrain us. Pain in this regard is a grace because it makes reform possible and it provides protection. Certainly there are areas of our world where pain and suffering proliferate because the world is fallen. One of the reasons for this is so that we as followers of Jesus will reach out and help the sufferers. Mark 14:5-9 almost cast it as a forgone conclusion that we would be helping the less fortunate. Jesus calls us to help those in need. To comfort them with the comfort we have received from Christ. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 Paul makes it clear that suffering is a means by which we might bring comfort to the sufferer. In verse six Paul sees it functioning for the sake of not just comfort but for salvation. In the light of the gospel it becomes clear that pain and suffering is ultimately for the glory of God. He uses it to restrain what would be rampant sin and He uses us to bring comfort and salvation to those who are suffering. The truth of God's work through pain can only be realized as we live a God focused life.

The Purpose of Suffering - Part 1 Revelation

Yesterday I explained how Sam Harris could not in a Biblical sense come to grips with a moral ground founded in God. During that post I pointed out some of the issues he raised in the article on CNN.com by John D. Sutter called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." In this article he draws comments from Sam Harris trying to make the case on why we should ditch religion. Sam makes some comments related to suffering. These are recaps from his 20+ minute video presentation on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam's case is an emotionally charged one. He is passionate about the need to combat repression and pain wherever it exist. In many ways Sam seems to see repression and pain as the highest moral tragedy. This is what guides much of his discussion on science determining what is morally right and wrong without the need for religion. Sam uses pain to point out problems with different religions around the world. His opening religion shot is the repression of women by Islam. He takes shots at religious groups that call themselves Christian but cause pain for others. He sees these things as either wrong and a distraction from bigger issues (also potentially painful) like, "nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education," For the most part I would agree with Sam that many of these issues cause pain. But that is where we part. Sam would blame Christians and in effect God for promoting or allowing so much pain. The reality is quite different. God created the world very good (Genesis 1:28) and when the new heaven and earth are made God promises in Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more pain. What happened in between these verses? Man fell and in Genesis 3:16-17 we see them both cursed with pain. Because they have eaten of the tree Adam and Eve are spiritually dead. God gives them physical pain to help them realize that something is wrong. Since they are separated from God this pain points to a need for something more. Often it is pain that is the tool God uses to strip away the blinders and help us to see that we are not self-sufficient. Some people argue that this is self-serving of God. But if God made us for Him then the best possible thing for us is God. Since God is the best thing for us if it takes pain to bring us to Him then that pain becomes the kindest and most gracious thing that He could give to us. Pain in the hands of God becomes a great revealer of our need for Him. Pain is God's to give not mine. My calling is to live a life focused on Him and help others to do the same.

Understanding the TRUE and morally grounded God of Christianity

CNN has an article by John D. Sutter called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." In the article he draws comments from Sam Harris trying to make the case on why we should ditch religion. I will be examining some of the comments by Harris over the next couple of days. I watched the entire 20+ minute video presentation by Sam Harris on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam makes a passionate argument that we need to combat repression and pain wherever it exist and that we can determine what is morally right and wrong without the need for religion. Sam then goes on to point out problems with different religions around the world. The repression of women, the amount of energy being spent to combat gay marriage, the problem of the exploitation of women in a purely secular way. He sees these things as either wrong or a distraction from bigger issues like, "nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education," For the most part I would agree with Sam on many of these issues. Where Sam fails however is to point out a reasonable solution and moral basis on which we can make these kinds of decisions. Sam will always fail at this very point. The reason is that his decision making mechanism is driven largely by suffering and repression. Sam lumps all religion together and yet I would argue that the only answer to rationally deal with the issues of morality are found in the Christian God as revealed in the Bible. I would join Sam in arguing against repression of women in Islam. Why because women were created in the image of God just like men. I would also be able to argue against the exploitation of women in western society for the same reason. Unfortunately all too often people in the church are so busy defending their, "rights" and trying to shore up the, "Christian ghetto" that the world has given to them that they have failed to be salt and light to a world that is spiritually dead. Sam Harris along with many other atheist have taken their position largely on the outcomes that they see manifest in the lives of those who claim to follow God. We as a Christian community have failed terribly. When the divorce rate among the Christian community exceeds the rate in the world it is a sign of major failure. The failure is really a failure of our faith and teaching to really bring us to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12:1-2 calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is a call to seek the Scriptures and to seek God to understand what is good and acceptable and perfect. I fear that most churches are so busy trying to help shape scripture to meet the felt needs of the people that we fail to teach people how to study to show themselves approved unto God. Pastors/Elders should be intent on getting people to a place where they are coming to know and pursue a personal relationship with the God of the universe. This is transformative. This is the kind of thing that Sam Harris cannot begin to understand. I pray that some day God will have mercy on Sam and save his soul. Without God's revelation Sam will never understand. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Yet when we look around at the proliferation of problems within the church it appears that many within the church who would call themselves Christians are in the same category as Sam. They do not accept the things of the spirit of God. Therefore they are not changed by that God to be discerning moral agents in the world. If people developed a God focused life centered on the true God of Christianity, the Lord Jesus, several things would happen. We would have more people compassionately being salt and light. We would have more lives changed by Jesus. We would naturally be addressing issues like genocide, poverty and education. (Nuclear proliferation is an issue of the state. However, the state would be influenced by a greater number of God focused Christians.) Christians living a God focused life would have an answer for the Sam Harris's of the world. The answer is God and His power to transform.