For Your Reflection

New Gallop polls show that the divorce rate among self proclaimed born again Christians is higher than the divorce rate among atheists.

Among these born again Christians polled, the divorce rate was less than 1% for marriages that prayed together every single day.

This poll implies a whole lot. The importance of prayer, the extent that the church has been watered down... you interpret the math however you like.

Implications of Reflecting Christ

Newton wisely noted that every action has an opposite reaction. This theory goes beyond physics and is applicable to veins of thought and progressing philosophy as well. Philosophical actions, or altercations and advancements to popular thought are rebutted by opposing reactions. The presence of God is evident in all corners of the earth that He created, and man is forced to constantly tweak their justification of a life without God as His truth repeatedly shines through man’s attempt to wall Him up and silence Him.

Many times throughout philosophical history, man’s attempt to escape God was merely an effort to rid themselves of a corrupt religious establishment. Luke 17:1-2 states “¹He said to His disciples, "It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! ²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble.” It is a shame the way God has been misrepresented by man, acting upon greed in the name of a Holy God.

Foucault proposed that the idea of truth is a tool used by authorities to justify power. This notion was his response and critique of the church in his day. Thirteenth and fourteenth century monks questioned “how do we really know things” in response to their churches inability to face questioning and confrontation. This idea led to Erathmus claiming that man is the determining factor of truth.

Max Lucado once wrote, "Christianity, in its purest form, is nothing more than seeing Jesus. Christian service, in its purest form, is nothing more than imitating Him who we see. To see His majesty and to imitate Him, that is the sum of Christianity." Christ in us, the hope of glory is what believing in God is all about. Galatians 5:25 states “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” In 2 Corinthians 5:20, it is written “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” I think Christians need to take a hard look at history, and learn the implications of what they say and do as representatives of Jesus. When we bend His word to fit our needs, we pollute His image to the people around us. People need God, not our impression of God. Believers must work harder on reflecting Christ to the world around them.

Sorry Guys

Crazy couple of weeks for me. I am working on a new post now

The Essence of Christianity

"Christianity, in its purest form, is nothing more then seeing Jesus. Christian service, in its purest form, is nothing more then imitating Him who we see. To see His majesty and to imitate Him, that is the sum of Christianity"

- Max Lucado

Man’s Attempt to Survive a Life Without God

“Archaeologists have unearthed Neanderthal graves containing weapons, tools and the bones of a sacrificed animal, all of which suggest some kind of belief in a future world that was similar to their own. The Neanderthals may have told each other stories about the life that their dead companion now enjoyed. They were certainly reflecting about death in a way that their fellow-creatures did not. Animals watch each other die, but as far as we know, they give the matter no further consideration. But the Neanderthal graves show that when these early people became conscious of their mortality, they created some sort of counter-narrative that enabled them to come to terms with it. The Neanderthals who buried their companions with such care seem to have imagined that the visible, material world was not the only reality. From a very early date, therefore, it appears that human beings were distinguished by their ability to have ideas that went beyond their everyday experience.”
-Karen Armstrong: A Short History of Myth

Psalm 139:13-14
13For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
14I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

We were each custom made by God, but more importantly for God. Man was created with the intrinsic understanding of his creation by a superior being, and the myriad of implications that would render. No human being can escape His presence. How does man cope with his own blatant disregard of inherent knowledge? The answer to this question explains many events throughout history. Man cannot. The answer is as simple as that. There is absolutely no way of dealing with a personal refusal to yield to a deity that is omnipresent in the world around us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Nature never spares the opium or nepenthe; but, wherever she mars her creature with some deformity or defect, lays her poppies plentifully on the bruise, and the sufferer goes through life, ignorant of the ruin, and incapable of seeing it, though all the world point their finger at it every day. The worthless and offensive members of society, whose existence is a social pest, invariably think themselves the most ill-used people alive, and never get over their astonishment as the ingratitude and selfishness of their contemporaries.”

Everyone knows that annoying kid who always thought he was “mad cool.” That, is the essence of man. Without God, we cannot possibly cope, so we are faced with two choices: spend the rest of life in submission to this deity, or spend the rest of life convincing ourselves that there is no such ultimatum. If man rejects God, it is imperative that he devalues the significance of his choice; this is man’s only chance at sanity.

Romans 1:17-32
17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Who understands human nature in more depth than the being who created it? He knows the implications of rejecting Him. This is where is gets scary… He is very active in man’s rejection of Him. Verse 24, “Therefore God gave them over,” verse 26 “For this reason God gave them over,” verse 28 “God gave them over to a depraved mind.”

Psalm 81:9-14
9"Let there be no strange god among you; Nor shall you worship any foreign god.
10" I, the LORD, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11"But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me.
12"So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices.
13"Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!
14"I would quickly subdue their enemies And turn My hand against their adversaries.

God’s longing for us to find joy in Him is not a notion to be underestimated. He gave His Son up to die for us. He desires to fill our every need and to comfort us, but when that offer is rejected, he allows our hearts to be calloused and confused. This principle applies to Christians as well. Just because we go to church and claim to follow Jesus, does not protect us from ensnaring ourselves. This is where introspection becomes so vital. We must fight everyday to see through the opium and nepenthe of our lives, because seeing ourselves as we really are is the factor that keeps our souls breathing. Being His children does not infer that we are immune from God giving us over to the desires of our hearts. We are completely free, able to choose between God and ourselves every second of the day. We are also filthy and decrepit beings, forced to overcome ourselves in order to see God every day. This collaboration is the most frightening aspect of life. If there is a particular area that we refuse to yield to God, it will grow. The more we choose this area over God, the closer we creep to the point where God gives us over to that area. He will cry and plead, but He will only hold on for so long, in order to preserve our free will. Delusional Christianity is dangerous. Consider Mathew 7:19-23: 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20"So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me; you who practice lawlessness.” Believing in God is not enough. James 2:19 mentions how even satan believes in God. It is Surrender that God seeks… complete surrender.

The minute we refuse to submit even the minutest point of life, we turn down the volume of God’s voice in our hearts. Mathew 13:14-15 says that the heart of people has become dull because of our unwillingness to see and hear God, but states that if we returned, He would immediately heal us.

In the words of our Lord Jesus, “Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) We must stay on top of ourselves with the most excruciating attention, and pray daily that God will show us our weak points. God forbid we find ourselves in a place where we look for God, but do not remember where to find Him.

Kant and Epistemology

Kant promoted in his first major philosophical work, Critique of Pure Reason, that anything that could not be seen or touched could not be considered truth. According to Kant, truth was something that came pre-organized in the human mind. On this issue, he directly opposed Hume and Locke, who saw the human mind as an empty chasm waiting to acquire enough experiences to begin formulating knowledge. The implications of his position were that it left no room for religion. As far as Kant was concerned, religion was suitable for sensory expeditions, and even provided insight and explanations for human condition, but was incapable of achieving reliability. Essentially, religion was a mode of understanding, not a path to absolute knowledge.

Through this writing, he hoped to analyze and refute the popular notion that all knowledge comes from experience, and show how human experiences and instincts differed in the production of knowledge. In order to do this, he made a case that absolute certainty of knowledge is impossible if all knowledge comes from sensation. In his mind, as he later stated, he was rescuing God from skeptics trying to force the notion of God into the boundaries of reason, but according to his contemporaries he had destroyed the case for God, because an immortal soul and a good God could never actually be proven by reason. He effectively made the situation he was attempting to rectify even worse.

This led to his second major piece of philosophical writing entitle The Critique of Practical Reason. He retraced his steps and claimed that morality was inherent, we are immortal, and thus, there must be a God. He advocated that “Since religion must be based not on the logic of theoretical reason, but on the practical reason of the moral sense, it follows that any Bible or revelation must be judged by its value of morality, and cannot itself be considered the judge of a moral code.”

It is amusing how difficult it becomes to understand the concept of an omnipotent God through the resources of human logic. Kant’s search for truth is similar to the servant who demands that his master travel to his house to issue him the master’s orders.

The Jesus of the Gentiles: Charting the History of how God Brought Salvation to the Rest of the World

The Jesus of the Gentiles
Acts 6-10
Ephesians 3:5-10 says, “5which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 7of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 8To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things 10so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.” When Jesus came to earth, He opened the Gospel to everyone, Jew and Gentile. Although this window was immediately opened, it took time for the church (composed by people of Jewish descent) to overcome the entrenched traditions and notions they mentally depended on, and to accept these Gentiles as brothers in Christ. In describing Jewish sentiment towards Gentiles during the time period Acts was written, Barclay writes that, “at their worst, they (Jewish People) declared that God had created Gentiles to be fuel for the fires of hell; at their mildest they believed that someday the Gentiles would become their servants.” (Barclay 53) Chapters six through ten in The Book of Acts can be viewed as a history of the construction of the bridge that God directed built between Heaven, and all corners of the earth.

Acts chapters six through ten illustrate God’s complete understanding of man by the gentle way in which He primes the Jewish church to accept Christians of all different ethnicities. Toward this end, there are three major cornerstones within the five chapters: Stephen, who articulates a God of all cultures; Saul, who is converted to Paul and raised to be the Gentile’s greatest missionary and advocate; and Peter, who breaks ground at the house of Cornelius, and represents God’s first wave of assault on Satan’s stronghold, the Gentiles.

Stephen was selected among a group of seven (considered to be the church’s first deacons) to resolve a dispute between Hellenist Jews and Hebrew Jews. [i] The Hebrew Jews considered themselves “purebred” and took great pride in their heritage, which led to the discrimination of the Hellenist Jews who spoke mainly Greek and were looked at as half Jews. This is extremely important to understand, because God confronts Judaism’s pride slowly, essentially stating “Hebrews and Hellenists are equal.[ii]” Stephen’s character emerges through the settling of this dispute and he becomes viewed as a leader, teaching and preaching Jesus in the Synagogues, even performing miracles. (Acts 6:8) His emphatic teaching leads to him being setup, arrested and sent to trial by the Sanhedrin. Many theologians consider Acts seven to be “Stephen’s defense,” but it reads nothing like a defense. While he was speaking, he knew that his words could only result in his death. His speech was not in defense of himself for whom he apparently had no regard, but in his God that he followed and for whom he desired to die rather than to have people misunderstand. He used Abraham[iii], Joseph[iv], Moses[v], and The Tabernacle[vi] (God) to construct his argument and condemn their mindset. His three main points to the Jewish religious leaders were: they were resisting the Holy Spirit as they had always done; they were persecuting and killing prophets as they had always done; and they were breaking the laws of Moses as they had always done. (Boice 125) Using Jewish heroes like the father of their race, and the savior of their people to incriminate them, they went berserk and murdered Stephen. Barclay notes that the Sanhedrin had no authority to put someone to death, so this was a lynching, not a legal death sentence. (Barclay 61) The gist of what Stephen was trying to communicate was simple. He advocated a God so big, that he could not be confined to one nation, one people, or one building. His ideology seems a little more progressive then that of his companions, and he should definitely be viewed as “the voice in the wilderness” for open Christianity.

Stephen’s death elicits massive persecution of the Church, presumably led by Saul. The Christian community was comfortable, and had no reason to disperse and spread the gospel. These events show the hand of God, as He merely sends His people out on missions to all corners of the globe.[vii] Among those to disperse was a man named Philip, who was selected along with Stephen as one of the seven to absolve the issue between the Hellenist and Hebrew Jews. He travels to the Samaritans to perform miracles and preach Jesus in what the scripture indicates as a massive revival.[viii] (Acts 8:5-8) This marks another example of Jesus reaching out to people who the Jews considered abominable. They were “half Jews” as well, but because of religious affiliation more than heritage. God is still busy preparing the world for His radical change, and puts one more piece into play here. After starting a revival, the Holy Spirit transports Philip to go talk to an Ethiopian Eunich. Blaiklock points out that Philip was obviously very bold and in tune with God to be getting rides around the universe like that, and compares him to an Old Testament prophet. (Blaiklock 79) He baptizes the eunich (another Gentile) and again gets carried away by the Holy Spirit.

Next, God picks out the man to pioneer His agenda to the world. A massive and daunting expedition, His representative would have to be ambitious, ideologically stubborn, and extremely passionate. Who better then Saul? God waits until Saul is on the tail end of a long journey implying too much time to think, then confronts him. Immediately, he is obedient, almost as if God literally lifted a veil off of Paul’s heart. God audibly tells him, in what Boice declares the summation of all Christianity, to “go into the city and be told what to do.” (Boice 107, Acts 9:6) By combining Acts chapter nine with Galatians chapter one, we can surmise the events of Paul’s conversion and sanctification. From the Damascus Road where he met God, he was taken in by Ananias, recovered, learned, then started preaching in Damascus. The recipients of his message tried to kill him, and he went off to Arabia by himself[ix] to study God. Three to five years later he returns and continues teaching in Damascus. Newly converted and immediately out on his first preaching mission evoking the crowds to attempt to kill him… God found his guy. (Acts 9:20-23)

Everything is in place for God to start his mission. Peter has been traveling around preaching, healing, and raising the dead through the Holy Spirit when he is led to settle down in Joppa is the residence of a man named Simon, who is a tanner by trade. (Acts 9:31-43) A tanner would be considered permanently unclean by the Jewish because of the constant presence of dead animals that the trade requires. (Numbers 19:11-13) Peter’s decision to stay at his house shows the progressiveness in which Peter is growing in the Lord. (Barclay 82) While abiding here, God sends Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, a vision that results in him sending messengers to Simon the Tanner’s door to retrieve Peter. While the Centurion’s messengers are on their way, Peter has three consecutive dreams of God telling him to eat what can simply be described as Gentile foods. (See Leviticus 11) Peter objects, stating to God that he has never eaten anything unclean, to which God replies “What I have cleansed, no man can call unclean.” Peter gets the message; no man is common or unclean. Peter’s understanding and application of this is imminent. When the centurions men arrive they stop at the door because they know its forbidden for a Jew to have unclean men in his house, but peter invites them to enter. (Barclay 82) The men bring Peter back to their master’s house. While Peter is preaching, the Holy Spirit descends on the Roman people. The significance here is vivid. Throughout the book of Acts to this point, the Holy Spirit was bestowed on men by God through the apostles and baptism. In this case, there was no baptism or laying on of hands as of yet for these Gentiles. God simply reached out and visually chose them.

The heart of God is exposed through these five chapters by the methods He used to evoke His will. The Creator of the universe could have easily shook things up and obliterated traditions and cultures in order to get His message to the Gentiles, but He chose to work slowly, tweaking the heart of man, and carefully navigating around cultural boundaries to achieve His will. This demonstrated both His indefinite knowledge of man, and His patient love for man. In chapter six, He shows the Jewish people (the chosen people) that people born of a different heritage that share their faith should be equally accepted; not as Hellenistic Christian Jews and Hebrew Christian Jews, but as fellow believers. Then for the first time in history, chapter seven displays the first recorded speech derived from the notion that God is too big to limit to one group of people. Their pride still remaining perfectly intact, the Christian Jews must then accept the Samaritans, who shared their heritage but not their customs. God was slowly leading His people through this radical change sensitively, in baby steps. While simmering the hearts of His people, He chooses Paul to represent Him and spearhead His message to the Gentiles. While Paul is being trained, God initiates a skirmish at a Roman centurion’s house, and the spiritual war that had been raging for thousands of years was suddenly opened to all corners of the earth. If this cannot portray the love and intricacy of God, then nothing can.

[i] Every Friday two collectors would go house to house to receive a collection of both money and goods for the poor to be distributed later in the day. This was called the “kuppah” meaning “basket.” Also, a daily collection was taken at the synagogue called the “tamhui,” meaning “tray” for families too poor to wait for the weekend. (Barclay 51) The Jewish people understood this as their natural civic duty, but were often chastised by Old Testament prophets for neglecting this. (Boice 112) In this case, the complaint was that the Hellenist widows and poor were getting left out when these goods were distributed.
[ii] Note that at this time, many priests were being converted to Christianity. (Acts 6:7) One cannot help but wonder what role this played later on in the book of Acts as the tension between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians increases. Few Jewish people would be more fundamental and traditional in their beliefs then a Jewish priest.
[iii] Stephen points out that god visited Abraham before He lived in Haran. This is a similar argument to the one he makes about Moses, both illustrated that God has worked and appeared in places other than the “holy land.” Wherever God is present, the land is holy. This point Stephen makes informs us about and event that the Old Testament does not depict. (Boice 121) He also points out that Abraham always considered himself a pilgrim. (Hebrews 11:10) This analogy was meant as a slap in the face to the religious officials that were so comfortable and settled in on earth that they had allowed God’s temporal blessings to eclipse their sense of God’s presence. (Boice 122)
[iv] Joseph was mistreated, sent into a foreign land, and became the Savior of his people. Possibly an inference to Jesus.
[v] Moses was the sacred lawgiver and cornerstone to Judaism, but Stephen points out how he was twice rejected by his people. He also talks about how God personally goes to talk to Moses in Midian, another indication that Jerusalem was not the only “Holy Land.” (Acts 7:30-31)
[vi] The Jewish tabernacle was both the source of, and pet of the immense Jewish pride prevalent in that time period. He compares this magnificent gold-plated building to wilderness tabernacle, which was basically a mobile tent, and states that there is no significant difference between them. He quotes Isaiah 66:1-2 where God asks, “what kind of house can man build for God?” Essentially, the time of the temple had passed, and what they worshipped was nothing more then a few walls and building materials.
[vii] Noteworthy for reflection: The passage talks about a mass exodus of Christians fleeing for their lives, but Jesus’ apostles stayed and preached unharmed. They deserted Him once at Gethsemane but learned their lesson and courageously held fast. These were clearly very changed men.
[viii] Acts 8:13-25 Is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It tells of how the church receives news of the revival amongst the Samaritans, and quickly sends Peter and John to give out the Holy Spirit and minister to the new Christians. They call in the “big guns”
[ix] Paul went to be alone with God. A man of intense Old Testament knowledge, Paul learned about God from God. Not from others explaining God to them. This is a facet of our faith we often overlook.

*I have more of an expositional commentary written about these events and this time period if anyone is curious, or questioning the validity of what is written.