Where's Truth?

So, I'm talking with a friend today, and he is telling me about a young adult study he is in where they are currently discussing "big topics" in Christianity, which is basically all those questions that always come up. Anyways, I start to probe exactly how the group element works and what sort of conclusions they are coming to, when I realize that their whole process could very easily be naught but a waste.

They started with an associate pastor outlining the subject, and enlightening it with some scripture and his thoughts. Awesome. But it is exactly at this point where untruth can sneak in. I have been in plenty of Christian study groups where we just go in circles for an hour with everyone's personal thoughts and feelings being expressed, and in the end you only changed your mind if someone had a better illustration or seemingly better logic, but mostly you just stayed the same. What a waste! It's like playing "Where's Waldo" with a bunch of people who don't even know what he looks like, completely ignoring a book readily at your disposal that can tell you everything you need to know about Waldo, even where to find him in the picture!

We can so often treat the Bible in much the same way in these situations. The person that brings up scripture in the conversation can sometimes be seen as overly righteous, when in reality that is the one and only place to find ultimate authority in truth. Even more difficult is when a person either in sin does not want to hear what the Bible has to say, or they just simply don't put the Bible in it's proper place of ultimate authority. So, now not only are we looking for Waldo without a clear picture, but some people are completely disagreeing with what they think Waldo looks like in the first place! It's like the big picture at the end of the third book where it is all people who look similar to Waldo, some missing only one small detail. There is only one real Waldo in that last picture, just like there is only one truth and one place to find it: the scriptures.

16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
--2 Timothy 2:16-17

So much time, energy, and life is wasted debating amongst Christians, when in reality there is no cohesion on basic principles, which is holding up the entire discussion in the first place. IS the Bible the infallible, inspired word of God, and therefore THE absolute authority in matters of life, death, sin and faith? WAS Jesus fully God in the flesh, the propication for sin, and resurrected King? How sinful is man and what effect does that sin have on his relationship to God and ability to function in this world? All questions that need answering, some more immediately than others, and all out there to be found by the grace of God and diligence of His disciples.

Waldo is out there, I promise. Find Him.

Fight or Flight?

So, it's been a week since the last post, why not update.

I've been thinking some lately about my life, big picture kinds of things.  Where it's going, what it will look like down the road, and also what it's been up to this point.  It's hard to remember that a year ago I was toiling away in plus 100 degree heat for 10 hour days in a glass factory . . . my own fault I ended up there, but still.  I definitely feel like I've come a long way since then, grown, etc.  However, I definitely still need to be mindful of sins that I repeatedly struggle with.  One of my biggest is fight or flight.  Do I repent and deal with problems, sins, even just things I don't feel like doing?  Or do I search for the next distraction, the next "moment" as our culture is so fond of pushing where there is no past, no future, and all problems seem to slip away.  "Live in the moment, for the now", whatever that even means.  What you are inevitably left with is a pile of rubble.  The "moment" probably wasn't all that great in retrospect, all the issues of life are still there when you get back, and more than likely they have only gotten worse because you have delayed dealing with them.  

The most dangerous part about this desire to not be burdened with problems is when it becomes habitual, such that you are using anything at all as an escape.  I can make a pretty good case, based on personally experience, for just about any action having the potential to be an escape, as opposed to what it may have the potential to be.  Reading, hanging out with friends, eating, trips, sleeping, sports, even just simply sitting and enjoying the sun on a nice summer afternoon.  

This is not a motivational half time speech.  I'm not trying to spur you on towards achieving your best life now.  "You can DO IT, if you only give that extra little bit of effort, dig a little deeper."  I've got news . . . a little deeper, will always be there, you can never dig deep enough.  Rather, repent.  Repent.  Repent.  Repent.  Realize that we are so beyond capable of any good thing on our own that it is downright repulsive.  Pray.

"Its (meditation's) purpose is to clear one's mental and spiritual vision of God, and to let His truth make its full and proper impact on one's mind and heart.  It is a matter of talking to oneself about God and oneself; it is, indeed, often a matter of arguing with oneself, reasoning oneself out of moods of doubt and unbelief into a clear apprehension of God's power and grace."

-- J.I. Packer, Knowing God

Amen.

2+2 leads to Advanced Calculus

Well, since I now have you thoroughly confused from the title of this post, I'll go ahead and start clarifying. First, I love driving, especially at night, by myself. It is just a great time to think about life, listen to a sermon, whatever. Something about smoothly moving through the darkness just lends itself to that kind of time.

Anyways, driving home last night, I was thinking about God's providence and hand in our lives. One thing I've noticed in the last few years is that, for whatever reason, He has become much more direct in rebuking me and showing my my sins. Sometimes He leads me to repentance pretty quick, and other times he lets me run with it, so when I am finally humbled, it hits even harder. In the end, he is working everything towards His perfect will. For example, anytime I try to read or do something in order to make me more righteous, I literally can't focus or do it. Even if I do manage to force myself to sit down, it's like pulling teeth. I have to literally stop, repent and pray, then figure out if there is something else I should be doing with that time instead, or if it was simply my motives getting in the way. However, I firmly believe God does everything and works everything together on His own time and by His own prerogative. I probably wouldn't have as clear an understanding of my own attempts at righteousness being sin, if I hadn't been given so much time to falter in it.

Which brings me to 2+2 = Advanced Calculus. It is unfathomable to understand simple multiplication, let alone Calc, without first understanding simple addition. 6 times 4 is simply adding together the number 6 four times. It is impossible to in any way understand multiplication without addition. The significant distance between addition and calc pales in comparison to the difference between what man at first knows about God and what God really is (any knowledge being solely by the grace of God). However, God starts somewhere, with small matters, in an effort to continually build upon and broaden our understanding of an infinite God, while at the same time sanctifying, and all this largely through the process of repentance and forgiveness. Romans 12:1-3 speaks to the same thing:

"1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith."

Amen, the word of the Lord.


P.S. - it's really hard to find a good picture when you talk about three different things in one post . . .

Two Towers Truths

So, I just finished watching the second half of the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings: Two Towers. The whole movie clocks in at just under four hours, quite a commitment. However, I would submit that it is well worth it. The hardest part I think people have with it, besides the entire trilogy lasting almost 12 hours, is that it is such a large and complex story that doesn't fit into simple little metaphorical classifications. However, if you can keep track of what become the three main story lines, there is so much to be found. The seductiveness, deceit, and hate of evil (aka sin), is at times so powerfully apparent, and at other times so slightly influential as to be almost imperceptible, but a bad influence none the less.

Contrasted against this powerful working of evil and the ring, is a sense of purpose, or destiny, or providence evident in the "good guy" characters in the story. At times they are confident they will succeed and live and prosper, and at others they know nothing more than they have no different possible path. But there seems to be something working behind the curtains, almost orchestrating all the events and decisions made, working towards a set outcome or goal. Here we might call it God's providence.

Anyways, you could expect nothing less out of a major story from a close friend of C.S. Lewis, than a beautifully complex adventure, in which can be found profound truths about God, evil, and our existence. If you want to borrow the movies, just let me know. I'd highly recommend the extended versions, or if you want to be real hardcore, just read the books!

God's Revealed Majesty

So, I’m sitting in my room, looking at my walls, and my eyes fall upon some artwork I have up. They are from a street spray paint artist I love in Mexico City, who just layers on the colors, squiggles around bits of paper, and creates these unbelievable pieces of art. I have a couple of different landscapes, with trees, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, birds, clouds and sunsets. All incredibly beautiful (to me anyways). However, what makes it so is that it is a representation of something God created, and in which his glory, majesty, power, grace, and beauty can be seen. Obviously these aren’t mountains and scenes that have been directly copied, but all the elements can be seen in nature.

A great picture of this can be found in the Robin Williams movie What Dreams May Come. It’s about heaven, and is at times really theologically wacked out. But this one scene, right when Robin first arrives in heaven, is so great. He loved oil paintings, especially his wife’s, during his days on earth. When he gets to heaven, the entire place is literally made out of paint. The water, the plants, the house, all of it. But as he comes to grips with death and heaven, it all suddenly becomes real, not just paint, and it literally stops your heart it is so breathtaking. That is the difference between our best efforts and what God can do. Not only is anything beautiful we create an extension of what he has already done in the first place, but it isn’t really even worth comparing our pictures to his creation.

In the end, as so often is the case, the Bible says it best. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:19.

Amen

Searching for Life in a Depraved World

So after tantalizing you with some books I have been reading, here are some thoughts from the couple of pieces.

Let me preface this by saying that I am by no means a professional literary critic. Also, I know that there is a lot more to these books and the impact they've had on society than what I'm going to talk about. This isn't a book report, it's trying to look at these through the lens of truths they reveal about life, God, and the world. Anyways, three books I've read in the past month or so are The Great Gatsby, On the Road, and Lord of the Flies. Road was the only one I hadn't read before, which was the reason I picked it up. The other two I just hadn't read in probably six or seven years, and figured I could appreciate them better now than when I was sixteen with lots of other things on the brain.

Anyways, for everything that each one of these books has to offer on it's own, I absolutely could not help but notice this resounding note of uneasy, searching, wandering, lost depression in each story. Gatsby throws parties on just hoping Daisy would wander in. Kerouac and his crew can't seem to stay in one place for more than a couple of months, and go to live life on the road and in bars. And the lost boys end up stripped down to the bare instincts of humanity, completely mad with desire to hunt and run amuck. In all three stories, sin and it's effects are smeared all over the pages, with the result being characters who are just desperate for full life.

The most vivid example of this desperation is portrayed in On the Road by a character named Dean. Dean, over the course of the book and a couple of years, ends up with I believe three partners, two of whom he married and divorced and remarried on opposite coasts, and a couple of kids. Every once in a while, he gets dissatisfied with life, wants to be on the road, and just straight up and leaves his home, wife, kids to go wander the country. Most of his traveling time is spent drunk, high, or some combination thereof. It is literally so sad, he doesn't have any larger motives for leaving ("finding himself", etc.), he is simply bored and keeps wandering.

One of the most amazing things to me is to look at is how all three stories can also be seen as ways we think to deal with the problems of life that ultimately fail. Gatsby has wealth, and that doesn't cut it. Kerouac's crew spend their life on the road, wandering towards a horizon they will never reach and remaining unsatisfied the whole time. And the lost boys escape to an island paradise, with no one or rules to keep them down. Money, freedom, and vacations have no power or ability to fulfill or deal with the problems of sin that in some form or another become brutally apparent to all the main characters in each story. How often do we seek the same things? How often do we lie to ourselves and say just this little bit extra of whatever will make things great, if not at least bearable? How can we see ourselves and our own sins in these situations?

Let the pondering begin!

Fourth of July

First and foremost, I LOVE the Fourth of July.  It's not a crazy big holiday in my family, in that we do the typical stuff (grill out, launch fireworks, hang out with friends, etc.)  But man is it great.  I just realized today that this will be the first time in my 23 years on this earth that I won't be spending the 4th with my family . . . So, in honor of them, here is a list with pictures of  my three favorite parts of the 4th celebrations:

Of course First on the list is FIREWORKS!!!

This photo is of the various fireworks celebrations around San Diego, taken from Mt. Soledad facing over Mission Bay.  Every year until I was a teenager my entire extended family would converge on San Diego for three days, the highlight being setting up a picnic in the park to watch fireworks.  

Next, Grill Outs!

Airshows, more specifically the Blue Angels, greatest fliers on the planet!

So, there you have it, my favorite things about the Fourth of July.  Oh, and obviously friends and family are THE integral part that makes the day special.  So, go forth and have a great day of friends, family, fireworks, grilling, and whatever else makes this day special for you.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  And one last note . . . PROBABLY good to remember that the true name of the Holiday isn't the Fourth of July, but rather Independence Day, in honor of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, by which our forefathers began the steady, costly march toward freedom, the benefits of which we are still reaping today, and something that must be constantly be protected and paid for.    I leave with a historically real letter many of you will recognize from it's use in the movie Saving Private Ryan:

"Dear Madam:

 I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

 I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. 

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 

Abraham Lincoln." 

Sovereignty

The Sovereignty of God is a tough thing for me, and I think most people, to understand.   Lets start with a quote from Piper's Desiring God, which I'll add I agree with.  

". . . the suffering of sickness and the suffering of persecution also have this in common:  They are both intended by Satan for the destruction of our faith and goverened by God for the purifying of our faith . . . Satan is not the only designer in this affair.  God rules over Satan and gives him no more leash than can accomplish His ultimate purposes.  Those purposes are the opposite of Satan's, even in the very same experience of suffering."

He goes on to quote Paul, how we are above all other people to be pitied most if there is no resurrection.  This is because the suffering to which we are called by and in Christ has no honor or value outside of the hope of joyful resurrection.

So, back to sovereignty, this all gets tough when we take it out of the context of textbook head knowledge, and look at real lives going through real suffering and real sickness.  For example, a lady my dad works with has a 10 year old daughter, chyenne, who a couple years back was diagnosed with both types of leukemia.  I didn't even know there were two types, and apparently it's unbelievably rare amongst people with leukemia to have both.  Anyways, she has been through two bone marrow transplants, etc. etc., and just recently found out that it's back again.  Since she has had two transplants already, she is not a candidate for a third, which basically gives her a matter of months to live at most.  

Now I know, she isn't in reality an "innocent" little girl, we all are sinners, but still.  How and where is God working to His glory in this girl's struggle and impending death?  What plan of God's do I tell her mother as she prepares to tell her daughter about dying?

I have some thoughts on answers, but would love to hear what everyone else thinks.  I think these types of questions are of paramount importance as we seek to delve deeper in understanding of God and the Gospel.  Not only is it of little use to know a bunch of things that have no impact on your life (see pharisees), but I would challenge how much is truly understood if it doesn't have an impact (again, pharisees).  Let the thoughts flow!