Month: December 2008

Church Music

I recently read C.S. Lewis’s “Christian Reflections” where he has a short chapter with his thoughts on church music. I decided to write on the topic as well, seeing as I agreed with much of what Lewis said. I realize that after I write this, some of my readers might think I’m somewhat of a Philistine. Oh well. 

Lewis says that he is like many laymen. He wants the hymns to be fewer, better, and shorter, and particularly fewer. Many of you might be surprised to hear that. I don’t think it’s because Lewis was an intellectual. I consider my roommate an intellectual as well, and he’s quite the music lover and in the praise band at our church.

Honestly, church music is rather an awkward time for me during the service. I’m standing there listening and I consider the magic words to be “You may all be seated.” I would often much rather sit and listen and meditate, which is often what I do during prayer. I will normally sit, because I see it as a position of humility and it reminds me that he is God and I am not.

Now I’m not against all music of a Christian nature. For instance, if someone plays “Holy, Holy, Holy” I am deeply moved. It is not though because of the cadence of the music as it were. It is because of the great propositional truth that I find contained in that song. I particularly love to hear, “God in three persons. Blessed Trinity.”

I have another friend from where I used to live until he moved away who is a huge music fan and the worship leader at his church. (Do pray for him also. He’s in hard times now.) We’d listen to music in my car and if I thought a song was good he’d say “But it’s all on the same chord.” If he thought one was good I’d say “But the lyrics are hideous.” Now there were some songs we liked together like “This Fragile Breath” and a number of Casting Crowns songs, but there weren’t many.

Ironically, if you want to talk about music that does present an emotional response, I think of something like Smallville’s “Save Me” or as strange as it may sound, give me music from a classic video game and I’m set. I enjoy Evanescence and yes, I’m one of those crazy people that listens to Weird Al. To end the list, the tunes of House and Monk are also popular to me.

For me, church music doesn’t really do it. I think much of what I like is either associated with something else or it’s instrumental. When I hear church music, I’m too busy analyzing the lyrics in order to really get into the music of it all.

A little note if you are a musician and playing before the untrained like myself. If you make a mistake, unless it is a huge and obvious blunder, don’t sweat it. Most of us don’t recognize it. 

Now what does excite me is a good message. You give me something new on the nature of God and I’m set. That’s the way it is. You may not be like that. That’s fine. That’s something we have to realize. I’d prefer shorter songs. You might prefer shorter sermons. 

So some of you all might be wondering then what my stance would be on music in church. I like what Lewis said. He said that while he doesn’t get particularly edified, he realizes that there are others that are and the best thing to do is let them enjoy it. If it enhances their worship, great. If I can stand for a time and ponder lyrics and try to get theological truth, then that’s fine as well.

Now it could be that this is something wrong in my temperament and I’ll get past it later. I don’t know. I just know more often than not, I’d prefer to sit down with a good book instead of listening to some music. It’s the way that I relax. 

That’s my thoughts on the matter. Why speak? Because I wonder if maybe some people are like me also and we need to realize that the body of Christ is diverse in this and there are different ways of worship. I certainly have no desire to see music expunged from the church at all as it has always been a part of the church and neither would Lewis. I would like to see though more depth to the songs that we do have. If all were like “Holy, Holy, Holy,” I think my response might be quite different.

It’s Her Decision To Make

A friend of mine told me recently about a situation involving his sister. As readers know, I don’t like to name names on my blog and this time, I am definitely not doing such. In case any are concerned as well, I also told him my plans before I wrote this blog and he told me he would love to see me write on this topic. The identity of my friend will remain a secret, but he talked about how his sister could be in a compromising situation, which is not easily avoidable apparently, with a member of the opposite sex soon and how his mother had said “It’s her decision to make.”

Now I thought about this for awhile and it’s an odd claim to use. Of course it’s her decision to make. Who else could make it? Now naturally, if a thief draws a gun on you and says “Your money or your life,” it is still your decision. You could give your wallet and hope he’s merciful. You could try to karate kick him and hope you can succeed. You could just try to run and hope you can outrun him, but either way, the decision is yours still. The thief can coerce you, but he cannot decide for you.

Which is an interesting point, giving someone advice is not the same as making a decision for them. I seriously doubt any of us will ever get to the point if our parents are still alive and we’re in a good relationship with them when they don’t offer advice. My mother calls me to this day and still offers advice. Sometimes, I appreciate it and sometimes I don’t. There are times I still go to my friends and sometimes still to my family and ask for advice. 

So the first point that must be said is that when one offers advice, one does not take away the decision. In fact, there could be an attempt to force this event to not happen. If the daughter does not want it to, and I don’t believe she does, then she will be glad to work with it. If she does want it to happen, she will do what she can to avert it and it will be her mistake in that case. Either way, the final responsibility will be hers. If someone wants to do something sinful, they will find a way to do it. If they want to find a way out, they can do that as well.

But I notice something held in this statement also. It’s usually said when it involves a decision that we think someone could make a big mistake in, but we don’t seem to want to limit them for some reason. We think we’ll be intruding if we interfere at that level. Well, yes. You are intruding. You’re supposed to do such also. If you see someone who is about to walk into sin, you are supposed to do what you can to help that person out. In the end, the decision is theirs, but you are to do your part.

The person it seems would want the other one to make a good decision. If that’s the case, why not go on and offer your advice and a way out? We are told in Scripture that God provides a way out when we are tempted with sin. If God is willing to do it to avoid sin, is it too much for us to play our part?

I also told this friend that I have a rule that when dating, I would not allow a girl to be in my apartment when I’m alone. I wouldn’t even allow one if my roommate was here. Who knows? He might step out for awhile and I could take advantage of the time and for all who might think otherwise, my mind can immediately envisage such an event happening. Yes. My mind does think about such things. I am a guy after all. 

Now I told my friend also that someone might say to me “Are you really the type that if you had that time alone with a girl in your apartment you’d have sex with her?” I told him I’d answer, “I would hope not, but I don’t intend to put the situation to the test in order to find out.”

Why? I think we need to be real about our temptations. When I see a beautiful girl, I am tempted. When I sit down at my computer, I can think about all that I can access with just a few clicks of the mouse and for a moment, I am tempted. Fortunately, I haven’t acted on such temptations, but I have to be real about the temptations. 

Which makes me think this kind of objection is not being real about the temptation. The sexual drive is one of the most powerful drives out there. Why put it in a compromising situation? Now I realize we will all be in situations where we will be compromised, but how many of those do we want to enter into willingly? If we can avoid them and still bring about good, then why not do so?

So yes, it’s her decision to make. No doubt. It’s your decision though if you will help her or not.

Remembering Jonathan

I told a friend of mine I’d write on a different topic today, and well, some things happen and I’ve had to change my mind. My apologies to my friend. It’s my blog though and it’s my choice. Today, I am confronted with the loss of a friend of mine in another state who at the age of 17 died from complications with dealing with a brain tumor.

I am not really an emotional person, but I do have great sorrow in me now, though you might not know that if you saw me here at the moment as I am reserved, but my friend Jonathan was a great guy. No. IS a great guy. As Lewis said when his wife died, “If she is not a person now, she never was a person.” 

I never got to meet Jonathan face to face, but yet somehow I was blessed to get to impact him from a distance and he impacted me as well. On the floor here, I have a book that I ordered that he said he had read recently. I never got to tell him that I ordered it simply because he recommended it. I never even got to tell him I ordered it. It’s next on my reading list though and I wonder how hard it will be to read, not because of the content of which I expect no difficulty, but of thinking that with each page this is kind of like the last statement of my friend to me.

Some of you might know about a book called Tuesdays With Morrie. Jonathan’s class at school was reading that and each student was told to track down a “Morrie” to have conversations with on a weekly basis about various topics. Jonathan asked me to do it and I was honored and so began a series of discussions. Each time I would drop all other instant messages I had and any web surfing I was doing at the time and just focus on him. I remember one particularly where he said we would talk about love and on that one word, we had well over an hour of discussion time. 

I’m a teacher type and this is something I naturally enjoy. I like the idea of being the professor type and getting to fill a young mind with the wisdom I’ve learned over the years and that’s something that always amazed me about Jonathan. He was always willing to learn and I could tell he had an intense education already at his young age and it made me wish I’d been doing that kind of stuff when I was his age. 

Jonathan also had a loving heart and I could care he cared about people. I talked with him often about some of the emotional struggles he was going through. While I am an apologist, we did not just talk about apologists. We would often, as guys do, talk about girls. He would add that he was praying for me and I would pray for him as well. He’d pray that I’d find the wife I’m looking for and I’d pray that he’d find a good girl that would treat him right.

It was those conversations that helped bond things together as Jonathan was like a younger brother type to me. Our interests were different in many areas. He was an Avatar fan and I’m the Smallville geek. We came together though in our love of Christ and our deep interest in apologetics and just being a guy. I always wanted to be the guy that he could talk to at any time about anything that was bothering him.

I believe I am rambling now and it’s quite likely true. When something like this happens, you just have no idea what to say. I think though about eternity awaiting me and how I will get to meet my friend I never saw but always knew. I wonder if when I get there I will somehow know him. Will I be able to say “I never saw your face, but I recognized your heart from a distance?” Will it instead be he’ll say “We never met on Earth, but I’m Jonathan, and it’s good to finally meet you.” I don’t know.

Out of discretion for the family, I’m not putting information up about last name or location. If others want to, that’s fine, but I choose to remain secret here. However, I do plan to get this to them as soon as I can. Jonathan was like a younger brother that I never had and already I miss him and wish I could just have one more Tuesday with him discussing any topic whatsoever.

Farewell Jonathan my friend. May I see you again someday.

The Reality of Unholiness

I have been considering lately that we fail to often emphasize the holiness of God. Most of us do not see holiness as a good topic. In fact, in our day and age, it’s a boring and humdrum topic. The holy almost has a negative connotation to it. We think we have to wash our hands automatically or be wearing only white or not speak a word. Many of us live in a world though of action where things happen and things not explicitly religious and we wonder how holiness plays a part.

Why is it we don’t think about holiness?

There are numerous biblical passages about holiness. In Isaiah 6, the angels before the throne of God sing “Holy, Holy, Holy.” In Leviticus, we are told several times by God to “Be holy, because I am holy.” In Hebrews 12:14, we are told that without holiness, no one will see the Lord, a proposition we ought to take extremely seriously! It seems holiness ranks quite high on God’s list.

Why not on ours?

I thought about this last night reading “Christian Reflections” by C.S. Lewis. I was reading his section “On Ethics” and how he spoke of how when we are poor, we automatically put money on a high list of priorities. When we are ill, we suddenly value health. Now we might value these things otherwise, but we often seem to put a more than usual value on them when they are absent.

I also thought about that afterwards as I was relaxing watching a Smallville as I do many a night and sipping on a Green Tea Ginger Ale, which I am convinced is the nectar of the gods. I thought about how refreshing it was and considered how it is when I am truly absent of a drink for a time and get one that all of a sudden, that taste is there. Many of us have probably picked up a drink wanting that same cool refreshment, and it just isn’t there. However, there are times we could be most aware of the absence and then experience it as we are truly longing for it then.

I think about a friend of mine also as I write this who is struggling with this now in that he wants to live a better life but he just keeps messing up. As I pondered that I would say such this afternoon though, it occurred to me that my friend is in the same boat I and everyone else is in. Unless you are an unfallen angel or unless you are God, and I seriously doubt you are either, then it would seem that you must struggle with holiness in some area. If you are not, then you have a far greater problem than you realize.

And this brings us to our position. We realize we are unholy, but I wonder how much we have realized it. I think my friend is in a great position actually for he realizes his lack. It is indeed, the person who thinks he’s a really good guy and doesn’t need to be concerned with holiness who I would be more concerned with. It is not the person who struggles with sin we ought to be concerned about so much as the person who doesn’t struggle with it.

And yet, we often come to God and I believe we conceal our unholiness. Do we really bring our sins to God? Do we realize that maybe we really need to own up to our sins for truly, they are our sins and they are not his. We need to, in a sense, embrace them and drag them before the throne of God and admit our crime. 

In fact, such is not so much realizing the unholiness of sin as it is realizing the holiness of God. If we say that God cannot use our sins for good, then we are denying Romans 8:28-29 and we are saying that sin is greater than God. We are saying that sin can wreck the divine plan in some way.

If we consider our futures hopeless because of sins we’ve done in the past we’re greatly ashamed of and hope no one ever finds out about, and let us face it, we all have them, then we are also denying him for we are saying his holiness is not enough to overcome the unholiness of us.

In fact, it could be good for us to look those sins straight in the eye and realize them. Only when we realize how unholy they are are we truly ready to approach the throne of God and accept his holiness on our behalf. If we make our sins light, then we can expect to get a light idea of holiness. If we see our sins as divine treason, as I have argued before that they are, and see them as serious cancers that must be eliminated, then we can truly see serious holiness.

Our lack of thinking about holiness is partially because of our thinking about ourselves. We don’t see sin as sin and we don’t often see our need. When we do commit a sin, we suddenly do realize that need, but until then, we are often unaware. Now I am not for a moment suggesting we need to be beating ourselves up for our sins. That is not good for the Christian life. However, we need to see sins as sins and realize that when we do, it does reveal not just a bad action, but an attitude within us that needs to be changed.

We need to see ourselves as unholy in contrast to God and then, only then, do I believe we’ll realize how important holiness is and how much we need him. We need to accept the reality of unholiness.

Transporter 3 Review

I’ve been a fan of the Transporter movies ever since the first one came out and when this one came out, I knew I wanted to see it as soon as I could. Thus, tonight I went to see it and as my loyal blog readers know, when I go and see a new movie, I always write a review of it. Of course, I try to avoid giving too much information about the movie realizing that many of my readers haven’t seen it yet.

For action and awesome driving scenes, this one is up there. I didn’t think it had as much action as Transporter 2, but it definitely had a lot more driving in it. The story line wasn’t the best though. One was left wondering what was going on and when it was found out, it seemed way too basic instead of the huge conspiracies that are usually involved in Transporter movies. 

One question kept coming to me though about the Transporter, who is Frank Martin in the series. It could be that I had just been reading C.S. Lewis’s essay, “Christianity and Culture,” in “Christian Reflections.” In it, Lewis spoke of second-rate type goods that we often put on the level of essential goods.

Take for instance cleanliness. We can often raise it up so that it becomes something holy in itself. Is there anything immoral though in physical dirt? No. However, most of us would readily agree that we don’t want physical dirt on our carpet.

The problem is when we raise those second-level goods up to the level of primary goods and think that just because the second-level goods are there, the rest will follow. As a fan of the Monk TV series though, am I obligated to think that Monk is a holy man just because he values cleanliness and keeps his apartment neat? On the other hand, because I can tend to be messy at home, is it to be assumed that I am a less holy man for that reason?

When we see Frank Martin, we see a man of rules. He’s quite clear about each of his rules and is quite stoic in his regard to them. They are his god in a sense. They are what helps to keep order in his universe. When he goes against the rules, things go wrong. Of course, he always corrects those things that go wrong, but they go wrong nonetheless. The rules are almost treated the way that superstitions are treated.

Many of us probably have such rituals though and we must keep that in mind before we condemn Frank. This can even happen with religious habits. If you don’t read your Bible in the morning, for instance, then you’re going to suffer throughout the day. There are some nights I’ll go to bed and realize I didn’t read the Scriptures that evening. I go on to sleep anyway. Reading the Bible is important to me, but it should not be treated as a magic charm to avoid evil. (Note this is what Israel did in 1 Samuel in bringing the Ark of the Covenant into battle.)

Many things Frank does could be considered immoral though. For instance, his having sexual intercourse with women he’s not married to. However, we could say that many things that we do are immoral as well. In fact, if we don’t think we’re doing anything immoral, we’re probably thinking too highly of ourselves and need to talk to friends and family who could tell us otherwise.

But is Frank good? That is still the question I ponder. Christ himself spoke, as we saw in our recent look at the Sermon on the Mount, on people who are evil and know how to give good gifts to their children. This was even said to the general populace of Israel, and we’d hardly find the scum of the Earth there.

Which tells me we should not equate the doing of good with the being of good. Of course, that doesn’t mean we need to be totally ambivalent about who is good or not either. Goodness though will be found to be an overall look I believe at someone’s life rather than what they do.

I do believe we see this in Frank. Why does he break his rules? They bring order to his universe, but I think he realizes that there is something higher than his rules. At this point, could it be that Frank is in some way reaching for a concept of deity even if it is a deity that he knows not? I’m not saying we can expect to find Frank at our next church service. I’m saying he’s realizing that there are greater things out there than his rules and there is a higher order in the universe even than that. We even find this in episodes of Monk when Monk will do something like go into a sewer to chase a bad guy because he realizes there is a higher good than what he values as good.

When I say that even, I wish to be clear with the caveat. I am not denying that Frank should have his rules. I do not think they are inherently immoral in themselves. I do believe many of the deliveries he makes can be, but the problem is not with having rules. In the same way as said earlier, the problem is not with wanting cleanliness. The problem is thinking those are the highest good. Our lesser goods must conform to the greater good that is out there. 

Also, I’m not condemning violence as well. Frank does do a lot of action and as a guy, I love the action scenes. However, that is done for a greater good. Sadly, we live in a world where force is sometimes necessary and not everyone is going to sit down to peace talks. Violence is not good for the sake of violence though. It must always bow to a greater good. Violence simply for the sake of being violent is wrong.

Is Frank good then? My answer is that I really don’t think we have enough information. I do think he has that moral law in him which points to a greater good beyond himself in that he’s willing to sacrifice his life and his rules for that, and in some cases, some might consider it a greater sacrifice to sacrifice rules than life.

Does that mean even if he isn’t good that he can’t do good and be a hero? Not at all. In fact, he is only truly being a hero when he does conform to that moral law that is outside of him. Having someone live up to their own rules doesn’t make them a hero or good. It’s living to the concept of the good ultimately that makes them good. While Frank is fictional, we can be sure there are real people out there who are trying to do good and seeking a good beyond themselves. Let us pray for them and seek to point them to Christ so they can truly be good through the one who is good.

The Foundation

As I pondered the blog for tonight on the last verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, I thought about how we normally view sermons. We view them as exhortations to righteousness and quite often, they are. I believe the Sermon on the Mount is that, but I believe there is something unique about that sermon and it is laid out in these final verses.

Jesus is making a covenant offer to the people as I said at the beginning and letting them know what kingdom people are to be like. In the end, he is challenging his listeners to see if they will be ready to take up that mantle. Are they going to become his followers and thus be kingdom people or are they going to try and go about their lives another way?

The consequences are severe. If there is any aspect in this part that Christ is stressing, it is on how great the fall is if the covenant is not held to. The house may look impressive, but it will not stand. When the day of judgment comes on that house, that house will fall for the foundation could not hold it.

We can have all of our nice little moral theories, but we need a foundation for them. Too often, we treat morality as if it’s just something floating in the air as it were. It has no basis, but we will just take it and go with it. Morality does have a basis though. It is rooted in the eternally existing God. 

Jesus is giving us a choice. We can build up our kingdoms on our own principles or we can build up his kingdom on his principles. Milton’s Satan said it was better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven. Which is our choice? Will we choose to have a kingdom that will take us away from Christ, or will we take part in the kingdom of Christ and be servants in it always?

That’s one of the unique characteristics of Christ. Every worldview has to deal with him in some way. You can write him off as a myth as some atheists do or just make him a good moral teacher or a cynic sage. You can make him simply a prophet like is done in Islam, even if he is given great honor in Islam. You can make him an avatar like in some circles of Hinduism. Every group wants to try to claim Jesus as their own in some way. 

Jesus cannot be a part of someone else’s way. He calls the shots. It is either his way or you don’t go. When we Christians say Jesus is the only way to God, we mean it. Any other attempt to get into Heaven on one’s own terms is an attempt to usurp the throne of God.

Christ has made a proclamation in the Sermon on the Mount. We dare not write this off as simple moral advice on how to live. Yes. There is morality all throughout the Sermon. The Sermon though is a challenge. It is a challenge to come and follow Christ. There is no neutral ground to reply on. We either say “Yes, that is how I choose to live” or “No, that is not how I choose to live.”

Christ has told us the consequences of each. The question we must ask is “Is he telling the truth or not?” If he is, then the wisest thing to do is follow him. If you think he’s not though, then you’d better be right!

False Prophets

Tonight, we’re going to look at false prophets in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gives quite a strong warning and I think when we look at this, we’re going to have to keep in mind the passages in Deuteronomy that relate to this. Jesus says these prophets will come like sheep in appearance, but they are really ravenous wolves.

So note this before we even get to the passages. Those that are false could be mistaken for the real things easily. I say this because I’ve been thinking about this text and I’m going to give an interpretation of the fruit aspect of this that I don’t think is usually given probably because we’ve grown up so much with a certain understanding that we’ve never come to consider it.

The passages I have in mind are Deuteronomy 18 and Deuteronomy 13. I put the later one first since it deals with the first criteria I want to deal with. In verses 19-22, we are given a test on how to recognize a false prophet. One way is that if the prophet prophecies something and it does not come true, then that is a false prophet. 

Note this does take into consideration the conditional nature of some prophecies, such as Jonah’s preaching to the Ninevites. Some prophecy is given with the hopes that people will respond and if they do, then God does not give the judgment that he would give. This is, in fact, what he tells Ezekiel about prophecy. Ezekiel 33 is an example of such a passage. 

This is one reason I have for rejecting the Watchtower as an organization that claims to be a prophet. They have predicted the end of the world too many times and been wrong every single time for me to believe that they have the guidance of God. Now some of you might be wondering if that’s my only criteria? It’s not, but that criteria is good enough.

The other passage is in Deuteronomy 13. In this case, the prophet comes and what he says does come true and then he says “Let’s go and worship other gods.” That is not a prophet from God. This is another way that I reject the Watchtower in that the God of Arianism is a far cry from the God of Christianity. 

This is also a reason I have for rejecting Mormonism. (One among many.) Their doctrine of God is not rationally consistent. It’s a polytheistic concept of a god who is not eternal and cannot then have the omni-attributes that the God of Christianity has. This is a more complex argument that can be fleshed out elsewhere and if I need to do another blog on that, I will gladly do so another time.

So now we get to the passage about knowing them by their fruit. What kind of fruit are we talking about? Too often, we might turn to Galatians 5 and look at the fruit of the Spirit. I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about. If one has the Spirit, one should see the fruit that the Spirit produces. Instead, this is talking about the fruit of a prophet. What will be the fruit of a true prophet? 

Notice also then what the false prophets on that day say they have done? Can anyone point to a bad deed listed in there? I can’t. Jesus says though that not only do those not matter, but that those people are lawbreakers and he never knew them. They claimed to do many acts in his name, but as Deuteronomy 18 says, someone can act presumptuously in the name of God or be out and right lying even.

We’ve too often said it’s about morality. Now I believe a true belief will produce good morality, but because something produces good morality, that doesn’t mean it’s true. I think many atheists are good people. I think many Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are. Many Christians are also of course. On the other hand, I sadly think many Christians are people that can be quite unChristlike in their demeanor. 

That doesn’t mean all of those beliefs are true or that Christianity is even partly true just because some Christians are jerks. It also doesn’t seem to be what Jesus is talking about because if he was talking about “True prophets will produce good actions,” then why does he go and condemn all those prophets who have good actions? 

In our day and age, we ought to be moral people, but we also ought to be on guard. When someone shows up with a different gospel, be cautious. The sad thing is we don’t recognize a different gospel often. Paul warned about this in 2 Cor. 11 where he even said that those who are false do come and seem to have goodness all about them. Their source is not good though.

What’s the antidote to this? Proper study and good Christian living. We need to be in our Bibles, in our books, and on our knees.

The Generosity of God.

As we continue on the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Christ telling us that if we ask, we will receive. If we seek, we will find. If we knock, the door will be opened. This must be kept in mind with praying that the will of God be done as in the Lord’s prayer and the seeking of the kingdom of Heaven first. It doesn’t mean that if you pray for a new ferrari, you’re going to get one. Jesus is building on what he’s already said and assuming that you will be having the attitude of prayer earlier discussed.

He points to the generosity of God though in saying God will not give gifts that are not in accordance though with what the children desire if their desires are in the right. No father would give a child wanting bread a stone nor would he give a serpent when the child wants a fish. Even if he just wants food, the father will surely give him something edible.

Jesus points out that if people being evil give good gifts, how much more will God? Notice also that Jesus says “you” being evil. He is not including himself. As in other places in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus disassociates himself from humanity in this regards. One example given is in the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus tells us to pray “Our Father,” but he never collectively prays that prayer with us. We are children of the Father by adoption. He is the Son of the Father by nature.

The point is that we should be persistent in prayer. We should keep asking. I keep a mental list that I go through each night including my friends in ways of their lifestyles and attitudes, the blessing of certain friends,  I pray for conversion for others, and I pray for healing in some cases. For myself, I generally pray for my own attitude and holy living and if any other thing is added consistently by me, I pray for a special lady in my life to come along soon. 

Considering though how God acts towards us, Christ then gives us the golden rule. This has been found in a negative way throughout much of history, but Christ gives us the positive. We are to go out and to do to others as we would like them to do unto you. It is not enough to simply avoid harming others. We must do something good on their behalf.

Interestingly, there is a story of a proselyte who was interested in becoming a Jew and would only become a Jew if he could find a teacher who could tell him the message of the Law and the Prophets while he stood on one foot. When he got to Rabbi Hillel, the rabbi said to him “What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to them. This is the Law and the Prophets. All the rest is commentary. Go and learn.”

This would most likely be Jesus’s own reply to what was said. Hillel did not go far enough. God’s generosity towards us is rich. We also ought to be generous to one another. How about you? Are you being generous to your fellow man?

Judge Not!

There was a day and age when the most quoted Bible verse by people was John 3:16. Today, it’s Matthew 7:1. How many times do I hear “Christans aren’t supposed to judge!” Little problem people. It’s impossible to avoid making any judgments whatsoever. In fact, you judged that it was worth your time today to read this blog. (I hope you will judge it worth your time to continue reading.)

Here are some examples of other judgments you make.

Chances are, you lock your doors at night because you judge that there are evil people out there who wouldn’t mind wishing you harm in some way.

Chances are, you interview babysitters before they sit your kids because you want to judge whether they will take care of your kids or not.

Chances are, you don’t marry the first person you see because you want to date them to judge if you want to spend your life with them.

Every day you are making numerous judgments. It can’t be avoided! In fact, if you’re a Christian and you complain that someone is judging, are you not judging that person as being judgmental? Have you not made your own judgment on them. Notice I’m not saying that that’s wrong. I’m just saying that’s what you’re doing.

Now some of you might be wondering, “Well Jesus said judge not lest you be judged, but you’re saying that we should go on and judge any way? Then you’re throwing out what Jesus said?”

It’s a valid point. If we say “Any and all judging is permissible,” then that is exactly what we are doing. However, notice what Jesus says next though. He tells us that we will be judged by the standard we judge others. What I believe he is telling us to avoid is hypocrtical judging, the kind that sees a speck in a brother’s eye while we have a log in our own.

I also believe this is a statement against pre-judging. Many of us can have our own prejudices that we have to work out and it might not just be racial. You might think, for instance, that someone who drinks alcohol can’t be a truly devoted Christian. There is a story about a professor at a Bible College who went to see C.S. Lewis and when he came back his students wanted to know all about it. He told them “Well, he drinks wine and he smokes a cigar, but I think he’s saved.”

Maybe some of us need to get past some stereotypes of what a Christian is and what one isn’t. There are some beliefs even that it might be wrong for you to do and not someone else. Romans 14 and 1 Cor. 8-10 tells us this. I, for instance, do not drink alcohol. I have no desire to do so. It doesn’t mean though that I impugn on those who do. I just ask that they make sure they control their alcohol instead of their alcohol controlling them.

As an intellectual, and I believe Lewis spoke of this in his writings, it’s hard to think of some people truly enjoying the Christian life if they’re not intellectual. However, Lewis reminded us that while that little old lady might not know the Chalcedonian Creed, chances are she has you whipped entirely in prayer and her holiness puts you to shame. This is a prejudice that I do have to work with. I can’t see my brothers and sisters who don’t jump into the intellectual arena as living less Christian lives. Now I will say if they are anti-intellectual, I have a problem, but I think of many like my own mother for instance, who could not read a book on apologetics at all, but she can sure sing in church and she definitely supports me!

I’ll also say that in most cases, I don’t think we’re to judge on salvation. Now if you have the atheist or the Mulsim or the Hindu who isn’t repentant and who is living in a worldview that contradicts the gospel, yeah. If you have a Christian who is struggling with sin though, it’s really not your call to make. Interestingly, in the Calvinist/Arminian debate, both sides could say something about a Christian who is living in sin.

Calvinist-Never saved to begin with.

Arminian-Lost it.

If such is what is being said, then it seems the person is losing out anyway. Still, I don’t see this as something to judge. I have good friends who I believe are Christians but are struggling with a lot in their lives. I take their struggle as evidence of their Christianity as they know that they have work to do and want to live lives pleasing to God.

Judging though is essential and it could be it’s not accepted in our world because we’ve become a society driven by tolerance where we’re afraid of speaking the truth lest it offend someone and we must treat all worldviews as equal. Some ideas are wrong though and some are right. We have all right to judge them. Of course, we might watch the tone whereby we judge them, but we judge them nonetheless.

No Fear For Tomorrow

Anxiety is a funny thing. Now I’m not talking about simple concern. Some anxiety I think is good. It builds up an awareness that there are some dangerous things in the world and some things you should avoid. I don’t think it’s a sin, for instance, for a girl to not want to walk down a dark alley at night alone. (For that matter, I don’t think many guys should do that either.) 

As we go through the Sermon on the Mount though, we are at the part about anxiety. Jesus tells us at the end of Matthew 6 to not worry. I don’t believe he’s talking about caution and concern though. Those are good things. Caution keeps us from doing many stupid things and concern can often be what drives us to prayer.

Neither of those leave God out of the equation.

Worry does.

Worry is assuming that things will not go right and there is no solution and it’s hopeless. We’re odd creatures really. We all tend to spend so much time worrying. It never helps the situation in any way. It doesn’t help us get closer to a problem. It in fact hinders us from solving a problem because our mind is in a state of fear instead of rationality.

How many times have you been worrying about something and afraid and simply a conversation with a friend who may not have even had some brilliant insight you wouldn’t have got from anyone else has helped you out? If you’re like me, it’s happened several times. Even if you don’t have the “problem solved” for some reason, you realize how silly you’re being.

Christ tells us not to worry. God is in the habit of taking care of his creation. Look at birds. They don’t store up in nests, but yet, they get cared for. Look at lilies in the field. They are more beautiful than the richest king of all in their appearance, and yet, they will be thrown into the fire tomorrow. Yet they get clothed!

Aren’t you worth more than these?

We need to remember that in Christian thought, humans are more valuable. Now I’m a cat lover. Many guys aren’t, but I am. We have a cat outside our apartment and I felt so sorry for the little fellow yesterday as it was raining and I heard him meowing as soon as I got out of my car. I could only pet him. I couldn’t do anything else. 

Yet as much as I might adore a cat and want to help them out, I also have to remember that on God’s chain, I am more important. This is something to all the animal rights’ activists that we have today. In our environmental concerns, we often want to try to treat everything as equal and if you think humans are better, you’re a speciesist.

Of course, this doesn’t discount the goodness of these things. These things are not on the level of humanity. We are the rulers of the creation. We are not to abuse it, but we are to use it. Creation serves us. We do not serve it. Christ would have us keep something like that in mind in remembering that if creation can trust that it will be provided for, shouldn’t we?

He’s right also. Worrying will not make the problem go away and it misses a reality. God knows what we need. As I write this, I have to keep this in mind.  I have bills for school and bills for the dentist and for a short time, I’m going to be between jobs. Part of me enjoys it though as it means that now I have to rely on God more and I have to trust him more. 

Instead, I am to seek the kingdom. If I am seeking God, then what have I to fear? Those who truly seek, do truly find. I found myself telling a friend something similar tonight. We have to want truth. We have to want reality. We have to want it on God’s terms and not ours. Too often, we want to act as if the world functioned according to our wishes. We can’t. It doesn’t. We have to realize this is God’s world and not ours.

Worry not Christian. Trust in God. He knows the beginning from the end. Remember that all things will work together for good to those that love him. If that’s true, and you love him, what have you to really worry about?