Life / Religion / Philosophy / Science / Polictics

Category: Philosophy

Discussions about PHILOSOPHY. Because everyone needs to wax poetic every once in a while. This category will contain everything that interests me about PHILOSOPHY.

  • Does God Want Bad Things For You?

    A question that I have pontificated upon before, but nonetheless a difficult question in life is: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  The basic premise is: If God is such a loving and kind God why is there pain and suffering in the world?  It is a concept that even the brightest minds and strongest of faith amongst us struggle with.  It is also a rather foolish argument that some use to reject faith, especially Christianity.

    I have considered these topics in several postings in the past, but always with reasoning as to why God would allow pain and suffering in our lives.  But the question still remains: Does God intend for bad things to happen in our lives?

    This question surfaced recently when I was asked the question “Did God intend for me to have cancer?”  I didn’t answer the question at the time it was posed because the question came from a close family member and it would not have been respectful to do so.

    However I know that many people have the exact same question in their lives.  They cry out “Why me?” and “What did I do to deserve this?”

    But have we considered the question from God’s perspective?  I have provided logic and reasoning in the past as to why we may expect a world of good and evil from mankind’s perspective, but does God really and truly design bad things for people’s lives?

    I think this is an extremely important question to answer because it goes directly to the question of God being in control.  If God is God, then is he really in control?  And if he is in control, then why do these things happen?

    I’d like to share with you my view by answering the question with a question.  “Did God intend for Job to lose everything he had?”  Remember the story of Job?  Job was the greatest man in the East – Job 1:3.  He was greatly blessed by God.  And yet in a single moment Job lost his donkeys, his oxen, his sheep, his camels, his servants, and even his sons and daughters – Job 1:13-19.  The question is: “Did God INTEND for Job to lose everything?”  We all know from the story that it was Satan who took these things from Job’s life, but consider the whole host of errors that God had to commit in order to get to that point:

    This first error God would have had to commit was to bring up Job in the first place: Job 1:6-8.  Notice that it was God who brought up Job in the first place, asking whether or not Satan had considered him.  Did God really and truly believe that bringing up Job to Satan would not, or could not possibly result in bad things?  Of course God knew that pointing Job out to Satan was going to result in Satan showing an interest in the subject.  Do you really believe that God is that bad of a Chess player?  Of course not, God knew full well what he was doing and what the outcome would be.

    The second error God would have had to commit was to taunt Satan with Job’s record – Job 1:8-10.  Note the second half of verse 8, God refers to Job as a perfect, and an upright man.

    I think it important to note here Satan’s reasoning for why Job was a perfect and an upright man – Job 1:10.  Satan places Job’s condition squarely at the feet of God.  God placed the hedge of protection about him.  God blessed his life and all that he had.  Satan basically said “God, you are the one who made him perfect and upright, of course he fears you.”  We need to consider this when accounting for the blessings in our lives.  If Satan himself acknowledges God as the source of all good things, maybe we should as well.

    At any rate, do you really believe that God did not consider the turn for the worse that things would take if he were to flaunt Job’s record in front of Satan?  Did God not believe that Satan would challenge him on that?  Of course not!  Once again God knew perfectly well what he was doing and what the course of events would be.

    But the third error God would have had to commit was to lower the shield of protection that he had placed around Job – Job 1:11-12.  Do you really and truly believe that God did not know that bad things would happen if he lowered his protection from Job and placed all that he had in the power of Satan?  Perhaps you would like to believe that this was a test for Satan and God was hoping that Satan would do the right thing?  But Job 2 implies a different story.  God knew what he was doing, and God knew perfectly well what the outcome would be.  God even told Satan that he had moved against him and that he sought to destroy him without cause.

    The answer to the question as to whether God wanted bad things to happen to Job?  Well I think God made 3 egregious errors that need not have been made if he truly intended to protect Job and all that he had.  And since I do not believe that God, being God, is capable of making mistakes, I am left with the alternative that Yes, God fully intended to allow bad things to happen to Job.

    And if God could have stopped all of the disastrous events in Job’s life, I know he could stop the cancer in the bodies of those around us today.  But he chooses not to.  Does God intend, really and truly, for us to experience bad things?  Well, let me say that God is completely, 100% in control all the time and that nothing happens that he does not want to happen and that nothing catches him by surprise.

    Why?  Consider the blind man in John 9:1-3.  Jesus answered his disciples that neither the man nor his parents had sinned, but that the man had been blind from birth simply for the glory of God.  And that is the answer for everything in our lives.  Whether it be great blessings or incredible hardships, or happiness, or sadness.  It is all for His Honor, and His Glory, and His Pleasure.  Praise be to my Lord Jesus Christ.

  • Are Your Decisions Based On Knowledge or Understanding?

    Job 38:36:  36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?  King James Version (KJV)

    Have you ever wondered how someone could purport to hold the exact same set of beliefs as you and yet seem to be on a totally opposite page?  I have.

    For example – consider the United States Democratic nominee for President, Hillary Clinton.  Former Secretary Clinton claims to be a Christian and hold with Christian values.  And yet she strongly supports abortion (a position opposed by nearly every major religion of the world, including Hinduism and Buddhism) and has even called on people of faith to change their religious beliefs and cultural biases (YouTube Video).

    Here is the quote from her speech:

    “Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed.“

    I think to myself, “Wait-a-minute.  Abortion is wrong.  It is murder.  It stops an innocent human life before it even has a chance to defend itself.  Furthermore, there is enough teaching in Scripture to clearly make the case that it is immoral and against God’s desires for our lives.  I understand it is the law of the land … BUT, I could never support it.  I will never change my beliefs about it.  I will never bend my cultural biases regarding it.  To do so would be to deny my Faith.  And my FAITH is foremost in my life.”

    Former Secretary Clinton, in her remarks calling on people to alter their religious beliefs, has, in reality, just discriminated against me on Religious grounds.  Supposedly a protected category.  Which is an interesting discussion in and of itself, but is not what I want to focus on today.

    What is just jaw dropping, mind-boggling, puzzling about this is: why in the world does someone who claims to hold Christian beliefs, call on people of the exact same set of beliefs to change them?  What does she understand that I don’t understand?  And why is she just as sure that her position is the correct one, as I am that my position is the correct one?  How can two separate people lay claim to the exact same moral code in their lives and yet draw two totally opposite conclusions and understandings?

    Most of my Christian life I have heard pastors and teachers refer to the (allegorical) 12 inch difference between an eternity in either Heaven or Hell.  What has often been referred to as the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.  It is the allotted distance between the brain, and the heart, in the average human being.  However I never gave it much consideration.  The illustration has always been given as a picture of the difference between an unsaved person, and a saved person.  I have never once seen a study that described it any other way, nor have I come across any study that has applied it to any other application.

    It is difficult to research common euphemisms or pithy sayings like this.  They almost always fracture into a myriad of directions the further back in time you go and it is almost impossible to source them back to single individual, time, or event.  However, that being said, I believe this one might have grown out of an understanding of Job 38:36, at least I would like to believe so.

    In Job 38:36, God asks Job a question.  His question is – who was it that gave you understanding and wisdom?  And in doing so, reveals that there is a huge difference between knowledge and understanding.

    You see, what Job 38:36 is saying in a nutshell, is that you put knowledge in your head, but understanding is placed in the heart.

    What’s the difference?  Well consider this, if we have a law of the land, say a speed limit placed upon a particular highway, I can learn the traffic laws.  I can know how to read and interpret a speed limit sign.  I can know how to properly operate a vehicle such that it remains within the confines of the speed limit as prescribed by law.  I may even know the reasoning that went into establishing that law.  All of that is knowledge that I hold in my head.  But it takes the understanding in my heart to actually put that knowledge into practice.  It is my wisdom and understanding that guide me to following and implementing that law.

    This now explains two things to us.  One is why in the world former Secretary Clinton and I can be on two totally opposite pages in life, and Two, why her call for those of us with different views to change our religious beliefs is so dangerous.  It is because the difference is between knowledge and understanding.

    So NO, former Madam Secretary.  I do not, and will not change my religious beliefs and cultural biases.  Because my religious beliefs are rooted in an understanding within my heart, and not just based on the knowledge that is in my head.  My wisdom guides me in this matter and I understand that God teaches that abortion is wrong.  And that is not what I say, it is what God says.  And for me to abandon that, is to abandon God.

    My prayer is that all of us would be careful with our wisdom and understanding.  You see, if God is not the one placing wisdom within your innermost parts and understanding within your heart, then who is?  Is it Satan?  Because he will step in and fill any void created by a lack of action on our part.  Our seemingly exasperating differences of opinion and our exhausting rhetoric is easily explained by the differences, not in our knowledge (the facts in our heads), but by our understanding of that knowledge (the wisdom in our hearts).

    I’m not worried about what is in your head.  I’m worried about what is in your heart.

  • Are You In Your Comfort Zone?

    So here is an interesting concept to me, people that are worried about their comfort zone.  I was chatting with someone today who was worried that God would move them out of their comfort zone.  Meaning that God would literally put them into an uncomfortable situation that they did not want to be in.  I asked them why they thought that God would do this to them and they responded ‘because you cannot grow unless you are outside of your comfort zone“.

    This is somewhat surprising to me since I grew up on a farm.  And I can assure you with no uncertainty at all that EVERY SINGLE TIME I ever put a seed into the ground (and I’ve put a lot of seeds into the ground) that the seed stayed right where it was planted, got comfortable, and GREW.

    That is the way God designed plants to grow.  And I don’t know why we think we would be any different.  God PLANTED Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  He PUT them into their comfort zone.  THEY were the ones that became restless and tried to uproot themselves.  God PLANTED the Nation of Israel in a land flowing with milk and honey.  He PUT them into their comfort zone.  THEY were the ones that became restless and tried to uproot themselves.

    It is God that desires the best for us.  It is we who are constantly trying to go the other way.  Are we to believe that God did not expect Adam and Eve to grow while in the Garden of Eden?  I don’t think so.  God fully expected them to grow in all aspects of life.  That is why God brought the animals before Adam to see what he would call them.  That is why God charged them with keeping (dressing) the Garden.  And that is why God told them to be fruitful and to multiply.  Are we to believe that God did not expect the Nation of Israel to grow after they had entered the promised land?  Once again, I don’t think so.  He gave them victory after victory and saw them through several generations of the wisest and greatest kings to ever walk the face of the Earth.  God desired for them to grow while PLANTED in the promised land.

    And the last time I checked, we were the branches and He (Jesus Christ) is the vine.  We are the one’s grafted into Him (not the other way around).  And I know of no greater comfort zone than to be grafted into the vine that is Jesus Christ.  However God the Father is the husbandry (John 15:1-2).  He is the one who determines what needs to be pruned and what needs to be grafted and where.   He is also the farmer that chooses the fertile soil where the seeds will be planted.  And as God, he chooses wisely.  The branches and the seeds get no say in this.  They are under the care of the Great husbandry and he desires for his children to GROW.

    Jesus said He was the branch and we are the vines (John 15:5) but we Christians today are not acting as vines.  We are too worried about which part of the branch we are on.  The branches at the top of the vine are worried about getting too much sunlight or the amount of time it takes for them to get nutrients.  The branches at the bottom of the vine are too worried about not getting enough sunlight and too much nutrients.  And all of us are worried about being pruned or grafted into another part of the vine that we may not be comfortable with.  And none of us are focused on the vine, which is where our focus should be.

    As a farmer, my dad considered the soil where he would plant the seeds.  He knew the soil that needed fertilizer and the type and amount it would need.  He considered the soli that would need to be watered and the soil that had an abundance of water already beneath the ground.  And he carefully chose each seed and planted it where it would have the greatest chance of success.  He PLANTED each seed within its own comfort zone so that it would grow into the plant he desired and would produce good fruit.  However, my dad, as a farmer, also knew that some plants needed to be pruned as they grew.  And he chose which parts of the plant would be pruned in order to produce the greatest outcome from that plant.  And yes, there were times when a plant needed to be transplanted to new soil, with different conditions in order to grow into a healthy plant that would produce good fruit.

    I believe that God the Father does the same with us.  He plants us in good soil, a comfort zone.  He grafts us into the good branch, another comfort zone.  And sometimes he prunes us, takes us out of our comfort zone.  And sometimes he transplants us, which takes us out of our comfort zone.  But we are the plants, and He is the planter.  He desires nothing more than to see that we produce good fruit for His Honor and for His Glory.  Not for ourselves, but for Him.  And we need to rest in the hands of the farmer.  We need to be willing plants and branches and to grow where He plants us, and where He prunes us, and even where He transplants us.  If the plant is more worried about where it is planted or where it is grafted into, it is not focusing on the vine and it is not going to become a healthy plant or branch.

    I believe too many of us today are worried about our comfort zones when we should be resting in the vine that is Jesus Christ.  So how about yourself?  Are you in your comfort zone?  Then good!  Stay there and grow!  Are you being grafted into a part of the branch that takes you out of your comfort zone?  Then good!  Rest in the knowledge of the husbandry and grow!  Are you being transplanted outside of your comfort zone?  Good!  The Great I AM has nothing but his Great Plan in mind and desires nothing more than good fruit.  Our job is to rest (abide) in the branch and stay focused on Jesus Christ and to follow Him wherever he may plant us.

  • Who Is Your Role Model?

    Recently, while talking with a young co-worker, I was told that she believed that God gave accounts of various people’s lives in order to serve as role models for us.  Which prompted me to think that it made an interesting question.  So let me ask you, Who is your role model?

    Actually, the more pertinent question I would like to ask is, Do you hold Biblical figures as role models?  Because if your answer to that question is Yes, then my next question would have to be Why?  You might have deduced by now that I am challenging the notion of Biblical characters being role models.  However, you are really astute if you have come to the conclusion that I am challenging any historic figures as role models.

    Before I present my reasoning for that, let me first say that there is nothing wrong with a role model in your life.  Most everyone should have a mentor or trusted advisor in their lives.  And if possible, many of them.  Role models can be a good thing in your life, but they may also be a bad thing IF not kept in the proper perspective, and if not carefully weighed against Scripture and one’s own understanding.  Keep this in mind as you read because I will revisit it near the end of this post.

    And to begin with, let me just say that I do not care what your world view is.  You may be Theistic (either Christian or non-Christian), or Atheistic, or Agnostic, there will be concepts here that can be valuable to your life.  Not that the Atheist or the Agnostic, or even some Theistic Christians, and probably most non-Christian Theists will agree with everything I put forward, indeed how could you?  But don’t let my reference to God rob you of being challenged on the concepts of how you apply role models within your life.

    Secondly, lets address my young co-workers question about whether or not God gives accounts of Biblical figures in order to act as role models to us today.  My short answer to this is: No, he did not.  In reality, God gave us accounts of Biblical figures in order to reveal some special aspect about Himself and to point to His Honor and for His Glory.  When it comes to Biblical figures I employ one simple rule: It is not about Adam, or Eve, or Noah, or Abraham, or King David, or Peter, James, or John, or Mary, or Martha, or Paul of Tarsus.  IT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS CHRIST, God, in the flesh, come to Earth to die on a Cross for my sins and yours.  Why?  Because we needed saving?  Well, to be sure, Yes.  But the ultimate why is for His Honor and for His Glory.  And thus if I allow my attention to tarry to long on one Biblical figure or another, without the express purpose of finding my way to Jesus Christ and giving God all the Glory, then I have allowed my eyes to stray from Him.  And quite frankly, I don’t see how you can be following after Jesus Christ if you have taken your eyes off of him.  But, but (you might say), can’t they be both?  Cannot a Biblical figure be both a role model and point to Jesus Christ at exactly the same time?  I suppose they could, but the real question is: should they?

    And this brings us to my third observation: Should any historical figure be a role model?  Why not Joan of Arc, or Plato, or Socrates, or Benjamin Franklin, or George Washington?  Can we not find admirable traits in the great figures of human history that we would want to emulate within our own lives?  Is it just because a figure appears within Scripture that they become a viable candidate for being a role model?  This goes directly to the heart of what a role model is (or should be/could be) in one’s life.  A role model is someone you want to emulate the behavior of in your own life.  In the here and now.  Today, in real-time.  Oh, you may say that Sgt. York was brave in the face of battle and that I need to be brave.  But don’t you already know you need to be brave?  The real question is How?  Sgt. York was brave on the battle field when faced with enemy forces.  You may never, ever be in a situation like that.  And quite frankly, you have no idea how Sgt. York, or any Biblical figure for that matter, would react to the situations you face in your own life.  Which is why I believe a role model in your life should be a contemporary.  A person you can go to directly and question and work through things with.  A mentor.

    And so I have a few simple rules that I employ with regards to role models in one’s life (and no, there are no Biblical role models in my own life save the person of Jesus Christ – however he goes far beyond a role model, even though there are Biblical characters I admire).  And those are:

    1. A role model should be a contemporary in one’s own life and should be within the circle of those known that you can easily get to.  A Pastor, a Teacher, an Eagle Scout (who may actually be closer in age to yourself).
    2. Public figures, like sports heroes or politicians, may teach us much, and while you may want to emulate some particular style of play for an athlete, or some political tactic for a politician, overall make poor role models.  Unless you are close to them and can question them, challenge them, hash things through with them, you are just using them as an excuse.  Meaning that when you act in some manner because “that is the way my role model would act” you have just made an assumption and placed them in a situation you are making up as you go along.  A role model must be available to you to say “You know, I wouldn’t have done things quite the way you did“.
    3. A role model should always be challenged.  Another big reason they need to be a contemporary.  You cannot stand before God and use the excuse “I was just emulating my role model“.  You must always act in your own understanding and because you have rightly divided truth and lie.
    4. Never confuse inspiration with emulation.  There may be people who inspire you who are not your role models, and there may be role models you emulate who never inspire you.  But never let either one allow you to take your eyes off of Jesus Christ.

    Honestly, with all the bad actors in sports these days, and with the really questionable forays in politics, and with the lack of honorable men and women in our educational institutions, and yes, even the less than admirable pastors and teachers in our churches, it is a wonder if anyone could find a role model to draw upon.  But it shouldn’t force us to go into the annuals of time in order to pull a role model out of some long-lost century and attempt to divine actions applicable to life today.

    Rather if Christians were a little more focused on following, which would require them to keep their eyes on Jesus Christ, we might find ourselves all going in the same direction for a change and a little less concerned with our role models.

  • Are You A Lover or A Fighter?

    In 1982 Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson made a very poignant statement in this song.  In the song Michael tells Paul that he is a Lover, not a Fighter.  Thereby setting up the premise that, at least when it comes to the love of a woman, you are either a lover or a fighter.  Of course this might beg the question: “Are you not willing to fight for those things you love?”  Certainly the WWII generation had a better understanding of fighting for love of country.  A concept, I’d dare say that has been lost on most today.

    We have been permeated in our cultures around the world today of these concepts, that if you are one thing then you cannot be another.  When in reality it is not quite so stark a separation.  You actually CAN be a lover and fighter at exactly the same time.  Today I’d like to address one of these either OR’s that I’ve already addressed in this earlier post.  And that is “Are you a Lover or a Hater?”  I know I’ve stated my position on this in the past, but it is an important point for many different reasons and it is a topic that is important because it affords a foundation for many other understandings.

    We seem to have this general understanding in societies around the world that you either love someone or something, or else you hate them (or it).  If you look them up in a thesaurus, you will even find that they are antonyms of each other (as is found here and here).  The idea is that they are opposite concepts of each other and are mutually exclusive of each other.  You either love, or you hate, but you cannot do both.

    We tend to believe this despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary around us.  Consider love of country.  As much as you probably love your country, there are probably some things you hate about it as well.  You love your country, but you hate it as well.  We tend to assign degrees of strength to one concept or another such that one side or the other wins.  For example, if you mostly love you country, even though there are a few things you hate about it, you would say you love your country when asked.  And we even apply degrees of love to those objects we love.  I love my country, but l also love my wife’s country.  I just love my country the most.

    Rather than considering the two concepts as complimentary forces, and in static degrees, we instead break them apart, make them competing forces, and add varying degrees of strength to them.  This does us a great disservice in understanding so many other Spiritual concepts.

    For example, the Bible states that God is Love.  One might then conclude that the opposite of God is then hate.  Of course you are screaming at your screen right now that I’ve made a false premise.  But we are logically carrying the thought forward, are we not?  If I am to believe that the opposite of Love is Hate, and then believe that God is Love, isn’t the opposite of God then Hate?  The logic is not quite so convoluted as you might think, except for the fact that we know that (1) the opposite of God is that which is anti-God, generally Satan and his evil forces, and (2) that God does indeed hate.

    But we don’t have to twist the logic to prove the premise to ourselves.  We only need to remove the degrees of strength we apply to love and hate.  If I say I love my country without any degree of strength, then I absolutely love my country.  I don’t have to say I mostly love my country EXCEPT for this grievance or that.  I don’t have to say I mostly love my wife EXCEPT for these minor annoyances.  No.  I love my country and I love my wife.

    But at the exact same time I hate where my country is headed, as a society.  And if I remove the degree of strength, then I absolutely hate my country.  So I don’t have to flip my argument around and say I hate my country EXCEPT for these things over here.  I just simply hate my country.

    In other words, Love and Hate actually do act as complimentary forces.  As to their degrees of strength, let me ask you this: “Does God love me more than he loves you?”  I don’t think so.  “Does God love you more than he does your parents?”  Once again, I don’t think so.  “Does God hate your sin more than he hates my sin?”  No.  Of course not.  “Does God hate the sins of all your friends more than he hates your sin?”  No, God loves (because he IS Love) and God hates (because he cannot stand to be in the presence of Sin), and each are equal parts.

    And with this simple understanding, we now have Tough Love explained.  I never have been a fan of that phrase ever since it has been introduced.  Love has always been tough.  Love has never been weak.  And (so-called) Tough Love is some weak philosophical attempt of mankind to resolve the conflict within themselves that they absolutely love someone, but hate the destructive behavior they are engaged in at the same time.  Well how do you think God feels?  He loves us (he created us in his image).  He absolutely Loves us.  And yet he hates our sin.  He most assuredly, absolutely hates our sin.  But you have never, ever, once, heard God say that he needs to employ Tough Love.  Because his love is absolute, and his hatred is absolute.

    We don’t need to sit around and come up with silly slogans like “Make Love, Not War“.  We simply need to let our love be Love, and our hate be Hate.  And let that be the balance and the guide to rightly dividing good and evil within our lives.

  • Do You Want to Change the World?

    Currently, here in the United States of America, we are going through an election cycle for the President Of The United States. The candidates making their pitch to the citizens for the highest office in the country, each have a vision for how they would change things for the better. They all want to do something, and sometimes, what that something is, is hard to discern. They also want to bring their vision of change ostensibly on behalf of the people they represent. Seemingly without regard as to what that change would mean to the people or how it would affect them.

    How about yourself?  Have you ever wanted to change the world?  Have you ever wanted to right a wrong?  Build a bridge?  Or tear down a wall?  Have you ever wanted to unite people?  Or divide the good from the evil?  I think all of us, to some extent or another, have wanted to impart our own particular version of change upon that area we can affect, at one time or another.  We all, seemingly want to change the world.

    My question is why?  Why do YOU, personally, want to change the world?  To what end?  And what would be accomplished?  And this is not a matter that is particular or unique to any one group or world view.  Christian’s want to CHANGE the world for Jesus Christ.  Atheists want to CHANGE the world by stamping out (supposed) religious fantasy, and even Agnostics want to CHANGE the world by having everyone else just leave everyone alone.  And somehow I can’t help but believe we’ve all gotten it wrong.  And the group I am most concerned with today is the Theistic group.  Because that is the group that I believe actually has the most potential to effect a change in the world, IF they were to do their part.  And here is why I believe that is so ,,,

    If your world view is Atheistic, you cannot possibly believe there is any outside or external influence upon the forces in the world today.  It is a closed system and, as I have argued in past posts, is subject to the physical and meta-physical laws of the universe around us.  The mere fact that you even want to change the world was set in motion (supposedly) billions of years ago at the outset of the (so-called) Big Bang.  You can no more change the world than you can defy the laws of gravity or nature.  Everything around you is governed by a set of events you have absolutely no control over and has no meaning attached to it.  It just is what it is.  So why do you need to effect any change to begin with?  All of time is going to play out governed by the laws of the universe whether you like it or not.

    If you are Agnostic in your world view you really shouldn’t care one way or the other.  After all, Que Sera, Sera.  Whatever will be, will be.  The problem the Agnostic faces is that they truly cannot be left alone.  The Agnostic has to exist in a world alongside both Theists and Atheists.  And at some point they are going to be infringed upon.  At some point the Agnostic is forced to care and to act in their own best interests.  And even that is a misnomer because even then the true Agnostic shouldn’t really care.  Why would you?  A true Agnostic would just go with the flow.  They are along for the ride and hope that it all sorts itself out in the end.

    The Theist however should believe in a God.  A Spiritual realm that has an external influence upon the world and that is acting out on a greater plane than we see or experience here in the physical realm.  And this is the group I have the greatest concern over.

    Christians want to CHANGE the world for God.  And yet as Theists, the Christian should recognize that it is their very God who is in control.  It is he who orchestrates change in the life of a person and it is he who moves to effect His will in the world today.  The ONE thing a Christian should want is to get out-of-the-way and let God work!

    Nowhere in Scripture do I find the commandment to CHANGE the world.  Christians so often misinterpret their own directives and try to apply them to others around them, when in reality, they are only commanded to follow.  The question I would ask is How can you be following if you are constantly trying to change the direction of others around you?

    Christians believe they are to be the Salt of the earth (a concept I’ve addressed in this post before).  Christians can’t preserve the status quo.  Nor are they intended to.  Christians as Salt should be the savor in the world.  That which makes the taste palatable.  And one might ask whom they are making the taste palatable for?  Why God of course!  Not for others or ourselves, but for Him!  The great I Am.

    Christians believe they should be the Light of the world.  But light has never caused me to change my path in and of itself.  It has illuminated my path and helped me along my way.  But it has never directed my path.  Light illuminates, but it does not direct or dictate a way to go.

    So what then should we do?  I have always told my congregation that they have one obligation in their Christian lives.  And that is to keep their eyes on the Cross.  A Christians obligation is to simply take up their cross and follow after Jesus Christ.  When your eyes are on the Cross of Jesus Christ, everything you see will be filtered by His sight, by His will, and for His Glory.  And then He will effect real change in the world we live in.  Not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done.

    So what about you, Christian?  Do you want to change the world?  Then keep your eyes on the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Take up your cross and follow after him.  By applying all of your attention to the Creator of the Universe and by simply following Him, Jesus Christ, you WILL become the Salt and the Light of the world.  And the world WILL change.  Not because of what we have done, but because of what we have STOPPED doing.  Stop trying to CHANGE the world and allow the Sovereign God to work and the world WILL CHANGE.

  • A Final Thought on HELL

    In my last three posts I’ve espoused quite a bit on the subject of Hell.  I’d like to take a final (for now) post to summarize and add a few concepts that I’ve not had the opportunity to cover in those posts.

    I’ve had the great honor and privilege to sit under and be taught by some great men of God.  One of these individuals was Dr. Darrell Orman (no physical relation to me, although we certainly have a Spiritual relation), Pastor of First Baptist Church of Stuart Florida.  These individuals have taught me how to study and discern not only the truths of Scripture, but of the world around me.  And this has then translated into the development of my world view (essentially my theology).  Usually when you look at a building you do not see the foundation that it is sitting upon.  So you do not see the footers that were dug and poured that form the basis for holding that building up.  The same is true for an individual’s life.  You may not always see the foundation for which I base my arguments on, but I at least want you to have a clear enough picture to be able to discern for yourself their validity or their ineffectiveness. I’ll attempt to provide some of those insights here.

    I’ve stated that I believe Hell is a finality.  It is an end state that is eternal.  In Isaiah 66:22-24 the prophet writes that the New Heavens and the New Earth which the Lord will make shall remain before Him.  A reference to the end state of humanity.  God says that one day this Earth (present day) and the Heavens above it will pass away and He will make a New Heavens and a New Earth to replace them and that the new creation will remain before him, that is it will exist forever and ever.  This is referenced again by John in Revelation 21:1.  Personally I think this is pretty exciting.  During the first Creation (Genesis 1) you and I were not around to witness the great work that God did.  But the second time around, I get a front row seat.  Imagine being able to witness first hand the Glory and the Splendor of all of Creation being brought into existence right before our very eyes.  How awesome will that be?  But also note what will transpire in that new Heaven and Earth.  Once a week and once a month God will bring all flesh (you and I) before Him, and those that are His children will go forth and look upon those that have transgressed (Sinned) against Him.  I believe this is God’s baseline.  His constant reminder to us of the great work he has done for us.  We will never, ever forget the great Mercy, and Grace, and Love he has shown us and the great work he performed on our behalf.  Hell is a finality (for all of eternity) because an eternal Hell balances an eternal Heaven.  Just as God’s great Mercy is for all of eternity, so is His great Judgement for all of eternity.  That is why this life is so precious and important.  The choices we make now will impact us for all of eternity.

    I’ve also stated that Hell is God’s holding place (prison) for Sin.  The passage in Isaiah tells us that those who have transgressed against him (along with this passage in Revelation 20:10-15) will be imprisoned there and that they will not die.  I have heard theologians teach that everyone, part of God’s family or not (we would say the saved and the unsaved) will receive a new, incorruptible body.  Those in Hell will remain there and they will not die because their incorruptible bodies will not succumb to the fire.  But at the same time, they will not experience relief from that fire.  This is not a foreign concept to us. Most countries today have individuals that they imprison for life with no chance of parole.  If we, as humanity can see fit to imprison those within society that we deem unworthy of freedom, how much more can a Holy and Just God see fit to imprison those who have transgressed against him for all of eternity?

    I’ve stated that we (humanity) are faced with a choice as to where our destiny lies.  Essentially the question that Nicodemus asked of Jesus Christ as recorded in John.  And Jesus’ answer, in John 3:16 tells us that we simply need to believe in Him. Jesus tells us that we have that choice to make.  We may believe in Him and have eternal Life, or we may reject Him and join the vessels of dishonor in Hell.

    I’ve stated that God allowed us (humanity) to be immersed in that which was not Him in order that we could truly make that choice for His Honor and His Glory.  This is a theological conclusion on my part and is based on us being joint heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17) having suffered through being transgressors of God and bought and paid for with a price that He paid.  And from this standpoint, Hell is a part of God’s great plan.

    A great many people in the world today think that Christianity wants to threaten them with the prospect of Hell.  Many want to turn Hell into a threat that God makes in order to get us to do what He wants us to do (if you don’t do good you’ll go to Hell).  Nothing could be further from the truth.  God doesn’t need to threaten us to have us do his will.  He is, after all, God.  Hell is not a threat, it is a consequence.  It was not created for us and we have to choose to end up there.  It is however, very much a reality and an integral part of God’s great plan.  In order to show us who He is, God first chose to show us who He is NOT.  And that required a place to keep that which God cannot have within his presence, Sin.  And thus we have Hell.

    Hell makes perfect theological sense if you work it through.  But the only way you will escape it is through the person of Jesus Christ and his death on the Cross.  You cannot escape it by explaining away its existence as the Evolutionists try to do.  You cannot escape it by ignoring it as the Agnostics try to do.  And you cannot escape it though your own good works and efforts.  You must be rescued from it by Jesus Christ himself through belief in Him.

    I truly hope that you realize you need to place your trust in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and believe in Him so that you do not spend an eternity in the finality that is a very real Hell.

  • Hell: Is it For You or Me?

    In my last couple of posts I’ve espoused the idea that Hell is God’s holding place for Sin for all of eternity.  But I haven’t fully explored what that entails.  Particularly, will we (humanity) find ourselves there?  It is a reasonable question after all, because we know there is evil in the world and if Hell is God’s prison for evil, will we (any or all of us) find ourselves there?

    Unsurprisingly, this question haunts a lot of individuals in the world today.  Dr. Stephen Hawking is so disturbed by it, he has devoted his life to trying to answer it.  And if you think I stretch the bounds of reason here, look at the last few pages of his book The Grand Design. S.W.Hawking and L. Mlodinov (Sep 2010), ISBN-13: 978-0553805376.  Look at the last few pages of the vast majority of any Evolutionist’s book.  They usually conclude with the thought that if evolution is true, there is no God, and if there is no God, there is no Heaven, and by contrast, if there is no Heaven, there is no Hell.  Ahhhhh finally!!  We’ve escaped Hell.  The Evolutionist’s means of escaping Hell is by disproving it.  By-the-way, the Agnostic’s means of escaping Hell is to ignore it (after all, what do they care?  An Agnostic is impartial by definition).  The Theist however escapes Hell by trying to understand it.  It is up to you as to which path you choose.

    The Creator’s answer is yes, some of humanity will find themselves locked away in Hell for all of eternity.  Jesus Christ himself told the story of a certain rich man who found himself in a place of torment (Hell) in Luke 16:19-31.  Here we have a man alive on the earth who died and found himself in Hell.  So if we are to take the Creator’s word for it, the answer would seem to be yes, we (humanity) can definitely end up in Hell.

    However, knowing that mankind can end up in Hell, does not necessarily mean that Hell was created for mankind.  Actually Peter tells us that it is God’s desire that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9).  In other words, God does not desire to see anyone in Hell.  That doesn’t sound to me like God created Hell for humanity.  Rather that he is saddened that some of humanity gets swept into Hell along with the rest of the evil host.

    I was asked to lead a singles Bible study about 16 years ago in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,  One of the members of that study asked me what I thought the difference between angels and humans was.  The question really boiled down to whether or not an angel could experience mercy and grace. I do not (personally) believe they can.  We are two different types of vessels,  In the case of humanity, we have the distinct privilege of being made in God’s own image. When God created us, He made family, His family,  I, for one, am more than happy being the weaker of the vessels.  An angel will never know the honor and the privilege of being a part of the family of God.  Angels certainly get to watch God’s plan play out on a stage and an scale I could only hope to understand.  But that is not worth trading to be a part of the family of God,

    So I believe that God created Hell for the vessels of dishonor He created for the purpose of introducing Sin into creation.  Mankind was created as God’s very own family and then was allowed to be put to the test with that Sin.  Adam, on behalf of all of mankind (yeah, I know, but before you give Adam a bum rap, consider that you or I would have done no different), failed that test,.  And God then had to set his plan into motion to rescue us by paying the price for that Sin in our stead.  Had we never been in that Sinful state we wouldn’t have needed rescuing, and by not being rescued we would have never known God’s Mercy, and Grace, and Love.

    A few years ago, Rev. Rick Warren wrote a book titled The Purpose Driven Life.  You may take several things away from that book, but the one thing that kept hitting me in the face was It’s not about me, it’s all about God.  People keep asking question like “If God did not want anyone to perish, why didn’t he just put us all into Heaven to begin with?”  Well, it is His show, His plan, His design, and it is for His Glory and His Honor.  It is all to Glorify Him.  And that alone is good enough for me.  But my theology also allows me to reason that perhaps God wanted a family that actually knows Him on a personal level, that understands His Mercy and His Grace.  And knows of His Love like none other in all of creation.  And that required us to know what was NOT Him to begin with.

    But God did not want just want dedicated servants.  I believe he has those with the Angels.  Both the ones created to serve His purpose in good, and those created to serve His purpose in evil.  No, God wanted his family to choose Him because they desired to of their own free will.  And thus he gave us a choice.,  We may choose.   Choose rightly, and spend eternity in Heaven, choose wrongly and spend eternity in Hell.

    Astute theologians should recognize at this point that we have a paradox,.  The Youth Pastor and Worship Leader of my home church growing up pointed out to me that perhaps I was asleep during certain studies and that there actually is a study of these paradoxes in theology,  My Youth Pastor was Rev. Mitch White and he has been a great friend and mentor over the years.  The study he recently introduced me to is antinomy, literally two competing but equally true ideas.

    I don’t know how it is that God can be 100% in control and that at exactly the same time you and I have the free will to live our lives and to either choose or reject Him.  Louie Giglio said in one his Passion Series that it is a great mystery that God can be completely in control and mankind can have free will at exactly the same time.  We cannot resolve or know all paradoxes in this life.  But I do know this, you and I have a choice, and that choice is Heaven or Hell.  And the choice is final, for all of eternity.

    Hell: A Finality?  Very much so.  I would surmise that it takes an eternal Hell to offset an eternal Heaven.  I choose to believe on Jesus Christ, that He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  I believe with all my heart that I have chosen wisely.

  • Further Considerations of Hell

    Yesterday I left you with my belief that God, The God, The One True God, Jehovah God, created Sin. and that he actually allowed evil to come into existence by design.  I also stated that I believe he did this by creating Satan (the Angel Lucifer) as a vessel of dishonor for the purpose of bringing evil into existence.

    This thought probably does not sit well with most non Christians and quite a few Christians as well.  But let me ask you a couple more questions.  Did God create the Angel Lucifer (Satan)?  Of course he did.  We know from Scripture that God and God alone is the only being outside of time and space (meaning he just IS and always HAS BEEN).  And did God know that Satan was going to rebel (Sin) against him and take one-third of the Heavenly host with him at the time (at the exact moment) He created him?  Of course He did.  He absolutely knew what would occur.  To think that God did not know what Satan’s actions would be in advance of his creation would be to limit God.  And if you limit God against his nature, he would no longer be God.  In other words, God is either omniscient (all-knowing) or else he is not God.  You can not have it both ways.  If an attribute of God is that he is all-knowing (and this is a base characteristic of God for me), then he has to have full knowledge of the actions and their consequences that He is taking.  And by-the-way, if you want to bring a god to the table that is somehow only partially omniscient, I’ll tell you that is not my God or else your understanding of my God is incomplete.  My God is in full control, including in control of all of the evil in the world today, or that ever has been in the world, or ever will be in the world.

    If you are with me up to this point, we are at the shocking (for some) realization that God carried through with a certain set of plans knowing that those plans were going to result in evil and Sin (that which is against the nature of God).  And that he did so with intent and that it is part of his great plan.

    I believe the next question most reasonable people ask at this point is: Why?  Why would God allow evil, and pain, and suffering, and hurt, and Sin to come into the world?  Why would he do that?  And some might even ask (or state): Doesn’t that make Him a bad God?  Paul addressed this in Romans Chapter 9.  He asks this very question in Romans 9:14.  I hope you take time to read the whole chapter very carefully, but here Paul acknowledges that some would come to the conclusion that there is unrighteousness in God.  And if I may paraphrase his answer: ABSOLUTELY NOT!

    I have on many occasions mentioned Dr. Ravi Zacharias here.  I sincerely hope you take some time to follow this man’s ministry.  I can only hope to say this as eloquently as he would, but consider this:

    Without evil how would you ever know good?  Without pain how would you know sorrow?  Without sadness how would you know happiness?  Without loss how would you ever know gain?  Without lows how would you ever know highs?  Without unrighteousness how would you ever know righteousness?  Without God’s great plan how would you ever, ever know of His great mercy and love?

    Every scientific discipline I know of in the world today creates baselines of study.  In other words they collect data to establish what is normal.  They then conduct their experiments with-respect-to that baseline.  Looking for good deviations and bad deviations.  Without establishing the baseline first, the results are meaningless.  I need the baseline in order to determine what my data actually means.

    Could God have created a perfect utopia without sin or pain?  Sure, he could have.  But then you and I would have not had any reference point when God told us about the suffering he had kept us from.  We would have existed without a baseline, without a reference point, and would have never, ever known God’s Mercy or his Love.

    With this line of reasoning, Paul of Tarsus has brought us to the realization of two things.  One is that God is completely in control.  There is nothing more freeing (in my experience) than the understanding that Satan, Sin, Evil cannot (and will not) win.  This world can throw all the pain and hurt and sadness it possibly can at me and it simply does not matter.  In the end, God wins and I am his child.  The second is that God has established for us a baseline.  We can now know His Mercy, His Righteousness, His Love, His Grace, and we can know it experientially because he has shown us the unmerciful, the unrighteous, the hateful and the scornful.  We now KNOW what God means when He says He Loves us.  We understand His Mercy and His Grace.  We can fully praise Him for His Righteousness because we were unrighteous and He made us Righteous before Him.

    But now that God has created the baseline, the contrast, the experiential part of this creation what do we think he will do with it?  Is it going to go away?  I believe the answer to that is No.  Humanity is a fickle set of creatures.  We need to constantly refer to our baselines and update our reference points.  No, I believe God is going to keep the Sin and the Unrighteousness around.

    And He has a place for the Sin and the Unrighteous.  And that place is Hell.  Hell is where he will lock away Sin for all of eternity.  A constant contrast and an ever-present reminder of His Mercy and His Grace.

    And now, from that perspective, Hell suddenly becomes a very real place.  Hell: Fantasy or Reality?  I assure you, very, very REAL.

  • Hell: Fantasy or Finality?

    A while back I had a post here in which I mentioned Hell.  In that post I based arguments on some assumptions that were given’s up front in my discussion and I purposely did not offer a definition or an explanation of Hell for the stated reason that I wanted to revisit the subject of Hell in more depth one day.  Let’s make that day today.

    But before I get to the actual subject of Hell itself, which I may actually have to address in several separate posts,   Please allow me to lay some groundwork with a short examination of why I believe we have both good and evil in the world.

    I had a friend of mine (my friend is a lawyer and is quite intelligent.  He passed the Florida Bar the first time he took it.) once tell me that he believed people were born in a neutral state.  That is a person comes into this world without any disposition towards good or evil.  As time goes on, a person is then influenced by good and evil forces within their lives and they are pushed and pulled towards one side or the other.  Kind of like Star Wars.  You either choose the light side of the force or the dark side of the force.  It is amazing to me the number of people in the world (I would guess the vast majority, although I have no definitive statics on this) that have this exact same philosophy.  There is one religion in the world that does not teach this, and that religion is Christianity.  And thus it is even more amazing to me the number of Christians that seem to hold this basic belief.

    There are a couple of fundamental problems I believe you should have with this thinking.  The first is “Where did the first evil person get their influence from?”  For that matter where did the first good person get their influence from?  If we indeed started out neutral, and are still born that way today, how did good and evil come to exist to begin with?  And who was it that first defined what was good and what was evil?  I’ve addressed this conundrum of morals in this previous post.

    The second problem I believe you should have with this philosophy is that you should ask yourself the question “Which side is winning?  Good or evil?”  Is there more good in the world today or is there more evil in the world, and why?

    People want to believe that both forces have existed from the beginning of time (they have, from humanity’s standpoint) and that the great struggle is for humankind and we are caught in the balance waiting to see who will win, the forces of good or the forces of evil.

    Christianity however teaches that people are born into sin.  That is they are alienated from God.  Having a propensity towards evil and that there is no good in them.  Paul of Tarsus made this argument rather eloquently in Romans and every Christian should be familiar with it.

    But were good and evil always present?  Meaning did they both exist equally before the beginning of time?

    Let’s see if we can ask some theological questions that will help us with this question.  The first question I would like to ask is: Where did God come from?  A Christian’s answer should be God has always been and always will be.  He had no beginning and He has no end.  God Is.  My second question would be: Is God good, or is God evil?  And once again, a Christian’s answer should be God is good.  My third question would be: Is there any scenario ever where God’s will is not fulfilled?  Now before you answer that, think about it very carefully. Is there anything (anything at all) that God does not know is going to happen or exactly how it is going to happen?  Is there any scenario where God could ever lose a battle?  Is there anything that could ever surprise God or catch him off guard?  Is there anything that God could not change should he so desire?  By definition, God is in absolute control.  It is His show.  It is His creation.  He is preeminent.  He, and He alone is supreme.  Therefore, your answer should be No.  God’s will is always fulfilled.

    So my next question would be: Where did evil come from?  Well if it existed before time, wouldn’t God have been aware of it?  He should have been.  And would not God have been able to erase it?  Why wouldn’t He?  He is, after all God.  It does not theologically follow that evil existed either prior to or current with God’s own existence.  Evil has not just always existed without beginning or end.  Evil came into existence just like anything else in creation with God’s full knowledge and approval.

    So the real wonderment then becomes the understanding that it was created along with the everything else.  Now I personally don’t believe that God, in a single act just brought Sin into existence.  What I believe he did is, he created the avenue for Sin to come into existence knowing full well that it would fulfil the course he set it on.  This is explained in Romans Chapter 9.  In Romans 9:21 Paul asks the question as to whether God has the power and the wherewithal to make both good and bad vessels.  Paul concludes that he does.  I believe God created Satan for the express purpose of bringing Sin into existence.  He created him as a vessel of dishonor.  Why would God do such a thing?  Paul answers this question in Romans 9:17 and in Romans 9:22-24.  God allowed Sin to come into existence through a vessel of dishonor that he created in order to show his great purpose.

    And what of Hell?  Hell is God’s containment vessel for that Sin.  Hell is the holding place where he is going to keep it locked up for eternity.  Hell is the prison that will separate the unrighteous from the righteous for ever and ever.

    And from that consideration – Hell is very much a finality and not fantasy.  Next – Further Considerations of Hell.