August 31, 2013 by Frank King Photos
When I talk about spirituality with people, the conversation train often runs smack into a wall when the notion of forgiveness comes up.
It seems that, unless you’re referring to Criminal Code convictions, many folks don’t think they need to ask anyone, God included, for forgiveness.
“What have I done wrong that needs forgiving?” seems to be the prevailing point of view. “I’ve never broken any major laws. I’ve never robbed or beaten up anyone. Asking forgiveness is for people who’ve done bad stuff. Not for me.”
Well, I guess that depends on your point of view. And for many of us, me included, our viewpoint is often shaped by the world in which we live. Even though we often don’t realize it.
A quick example? Downloading music without paying for it. People do it all the time, including followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God). The rationale, technically speaking, is it’s not illegal and everyone’s doing it. So what’s the problem?
Well, having an affair on your significant other isn’t illegal, either. But would any of us ever figure it’s OK – even if they had an affair on us first?
As a person of faith, I know there are all kinds of things I’ve done and not done that require forgiveness. I ignore my wife or, conversely, overreact to something she’s said or done and become unreasonably upset. I don’t maintain steady contact with my brothers – neither do they, with me or each other, but that’s not the point, is it?
I can’t control others, but I can try to control myself. And when the inevitable happens and I fail to control myself adequately, I can turn to God for forgiveness and help. And, thanks to the death and resurrection of Jesus, forgiveness of ALL sins is possible for ALL people (in fact, read this blog for an example of incredible forgiveness: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-6K).
Why do I need forgiveness from God when it appears my poor actions weren’t against Him? Because He knows my potential; in fact, He put that potential in me (and YOU). And, more than anyone else (me included), He knows when and why I fall short.
I know this because an ancient writer put it this plainly: “You [God] formed the way I think and feel. You put me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because You made me in such a wonderful way. I know how amazing that was!”
For me, acknowledging the necessity for forgiveness, from people around me AND from God, is an important step in humility. It doesn’t mean I’m a wretched person, it just means I’m a work in progress. Are you? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in Me & The World | Tagged Bible, Christianity, Faith, forgiveness, Frank King, Frank King Christianity blog, Frank King faith blog, Frank King religion blog, Frank King spirituality blog, Frank's Cottage, God, Jesus, Psalm 139:13-14, religion, spirituality, theology | 4 Comments »
August 24, 2013 by Frank King Photos
I found this graphic on an internet community for atheists and wow, did it ever get my brain in gear. I could see how people would spend a few seconds looking at it, nod their heads in agreement and go on with their lives.
For the most part, I also nod my head in agreement because, sadly, “religion” often has little to do with ethics (and that’s why I’m not into “religion”). But think about this: maniacal Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was a Christian? Really??
This continuing myth comes from two things:
1. Hitler’s parents were Roman Catholics and raised him in that Christian denomination.
2. Hitler’s 1926 autobiography, Mein Kampf. There are more than two dozen references to God in that twisted, difficult-to-read book – just use Google to find them, if you’re interested.
If you look up all those excerpts, you’ll notice only two mention Jesus Christ, who many people believe is the son of God.
But whether He was mentioned twice or 200 times, the fact is this: you don’t become a Jesus follower simply by writing about Jesus. Indeed, a Muslim recently published an entire book about Jesus.
People like me know that once we become followers of Jesus, we welcome Him into our lives to change us – always for the better (you can read just one example here: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-5g).
Does following Jesus mean we become perfect people? Well, you know the answer to that. But if I’m committed to following Jesus with all my heart and soul and spirit, then I will come closer to being like Him.
And in the meantime, by accepting the gift of Jesus, His followers know that the bad things they’ve done and the good things they’ve failed to do are wiped out by Jesus’s sacrificial death and resurrection.
Now consider this: in 1936, Hitler – by then Germany’s supreme leader and preparing his country to launch a horrific war – told his parliament “I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews, I am fighting for the Lord’s work.”
Statements like this have nothing to do with what Jesus is all about. Hitler apparently ignored the fact that Jesus was born a Jew, lived his life as a Jew, died as a Jew and came back to life as a Jew. There’s no avoiding it, unless you’re a deluded hate-monger like Hitler.
Indeed, it’s the contrast between Jesus and Hitler that should make it glowingly clear what it means to be a Jesus follower. So if you’ve ever heard someone declare that Christianity is bad because of lunatics like Hitler, please don’t let it keep you from doing the most important thing you could ever undertake: investigating for yourself what it means to be a Jesus follower.
Agree? Disagree? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in Me & The World | Tagged Adolf Hitler, atheism, atheist, Bible, Christianity, Faith, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, Hitler, Jesus, Jew, Mein Kampf, religion, spirituality, theology | 39 Comments »
August 17, 2013 by Frank King Photos
E
ver heard of a black rabbi? Me neither. That’s why I read, with endless fascination, a National Post interview with Rabbi Capers Funnye (how’s that for a name?).
The 60-year-old Chicago resident converted to Judaism as a young man when he began having serious doubts about the Christian faith of his birth. He now runs one of the largest black synagogues in the United States.
Interviewed just before a Toronto speaking engagement, Rabbi Funnye told the Post that one of the reasons he converted to Judaism was, “I couldn’t understand how if Jesus was God, and then He was dead for three days after the crucifixion, who was in charge? I also couldn’t understand the idea of the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Ghost [Spirit]. That idea was developed 325 years after Jesus, so I doubted the Trinity was true.”
I can tell you right now that Rabbi Funnye is hardly the first person to stumble over the idea of one god who is three distinct persons, all united in purpose. Many Jesus followers, me included, will testify that quantum physics is easier to understand.
And yet, the reality of the Trinity is written in one of the original-source biographies of Jesus’s life on earth. He told His followers to “go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” This quote not only connects the three persons of God, it puts them on the same level of importance.
So when Rabbi Funnye says he can’t understand who was in charge in the days between the death and resurrection of Jesus, the answer is simple: God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Rabbi Funnye told the Post something else that caught my attention: “Judaism does not put limits on God, [but] Christians do. To me, God is limitless.”
What’s so fascinating about this is that by denying the possibility of one God existing as three distinct persons, Rabbi Funnye has put a limit on God. And he apparently doesn’t realize it.
So what about you; is the Trinity a gigantic boulder in the middle of your road to faith? If it is, the word I just used – faith – is of key importance. Our limited minds struggle to understand this mystery and that’s why serious Jesus followers accept the Trinity by faith.
And whatever you do, don’t underestimate the importance of accepting by faith, rather than scientific fact. One of Jesus’s earliest followers wrote “Without faith, no one can please God. Whoever comes to God must believe He is real …”
Does this make sense to you? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in In The News | Tagged Bible, Capers Funnye, Christian trinity, Christianity, Faith, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, Hebrews 11:6, Is there one God or three?, Jesus, Judaism, Matthew 28:19, one god or three, Rabbi Capers Funnye, religion, spirituality, theology, Trinity | 5 Comments »
August 10, 2013 by Frank King Photos
It took up barely two minutes in a 90-minute movie, but it left me scrambling for a pen and paper to record everything I was seeing and hearing.
The film is 2007’s The Bucket List, about two terminally ill men (Edward Cole, played by Jack Nicholson and Carter Chambers, portrayed by Morgan Freeman) who go on a round-the-world trip with a wish list of things to do before they “kick the bucket”.
The scene that grabbed me with pitbull intensity was during a evening plane flight over the North Pole. Freeman’s Chambers is gazing out the window and commenting on the stunning starry sky. He finishes by declaring what he’s seeing is “really one of God’s good ones.” This spurs a fascinating conversation with Nicholson’s Cole:
Cole: So you think a being of some sort did all this?
Chambers: You don’t?
Cole: You mean, do I believe if I look up in the sky and promise this or that, the ‘Biggie’ will make all this [both have lung cancer] go away? No.
Chambers: Then 95 percent of the people on earth are wrong.
Cole: If life has taught me anything, it’s that 95 per cent of the people are always wrong.
Chambers: It’s called faith.
Cole: I honestly envy people who have faith. I just can’t get my head around it.
Chambers: Maybe your head’s in the way.
Chambers’ suggestion at the end of this exchange truly connects with me. For many years, Cole and I had the same thought about faith. Part of that comes from ego; we humans think we’re so smart, so developed, so sophisticated that we can get answers to everything. Whatever we can’t – well, we just kick it to the side of the road and pretend it doesn’t exist.
The other part comes from the battle between heart and mind. While intellect definitely matters in a big way, when all is said and done, faith is a heart matter. That means it’s primarily not scientific and it’s not quantifiable. It’s “fuzzy”. And in our culture, fuzzy is bad.
But maybe fuzzy is good. Fuzzy allows room for mystery and God (along with Jesus, whom serious Christians believe is His son) definitely comes gift-wrapped in mystery.
Mystery takes us out of our comfort zones and that’s another good thing because it makes us open to new ideas. Such as the concept of a creator who actually loves us and offered the gift of His son to live, die and be resurrected for anyone who accepts that gift.
Does this make any sense? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in Movies & TV | Tagged Christianity, Faith, faith in movies, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, God in movies, Jack Nicholson, Jack Nicholson's movies, Jesus, Morgan Freeman, Morgan Freeman's movies, movies about faith, movies about God, movies about religion, movies with Jack Nicholson, movies with Morgan Freeman, religion, religion in movies, spirituality, The Bucket list, theology | 4 Comments »
August 3, 2013 by Frank King Photos
I’m not much of a hockey fan, but I do keep track of the Montreal Canadiens. That means, like fans of the other National Hockey League teams he coached (the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils), I was saddened by the death of Pat Burns in 2010.
I was impressed with the former cop’s tough-guy approach which rallied my Habs, then went on to rally the Leafs before finally winning a Stanley Cup with the Devils. Burns wasn’t an NHL player who was handed a coaching career; he worked his way up the ranks with determination.
He was weakened, gaunt and admitting the end was not far off when the Toronto Star’s Rosie Dimanno wrote a wonderful column about him. In it, she mentioned a recent interview in which Burns, 58, “spoke even about a newly realized appreciation for religious faith, because a person gets to thinking about God and prayer and the hereafter when staring straight into the abyss.”
This stuck with me, because the majority of my life is now behind me. That certainly changes a person’s perspective and I’m glad to have come to an “appreciation for religious faith” without having to stare into the “abyss” first.
That may not seem important to some folks. They’re busy with family or careers or pursuing fame or riches at the gambling table or extreme sports. The list can go on and on.
And yet, even in wealthy North America, with our massive healthcare systems and long lifespans – much longer than the age of Pat Burns – the end can come upon us with the shock of a shovel in the stomach.
I didn’t need such a shock to be reminded of that fact. I just read a ‘tweet’ on Twitter from Rick Warren (he wrote a book you may have heard of, The Purpose Driven Life) that simply stated, “When I’m tempted to be prideful, I just remind myself that I cannot even guarantee my next breath.”
That’s right, folks. It doesn’t matter if you’re battling cancer like Pat Burns did, or you’re a disgustingly young and fit triathlete. The end can come before you finish reading this sentence.
I think Jesus Christ (who most Christians believe is the son of God) knew this. That’s why, in the Bible, he told his followers, “Don’t hoard treasure down here, where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
It seems to me that if our “treasure” is in the right place, then the end won’t be an “abyss”. In fact, it won’t be the end at all. It will just be the end of the beginning.
Do you agree? Yes or no, post your response below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in In The News | Tagged Bible, Boston Bruins, Boston Bruins coaches, Christianity, Death of Pat Burns, Faith, former National Hockey League coaches, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, Jesus, Matthew 6:19-20, Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Canadiens coaches, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New Jersey Devils coaches, Pat Burns, religion, Rick Warren, spirituality, Stanley Cup, The Purpose Driven Life, theology, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Maple Leafs coaches | 8 Comments »
July 27, 2013 by Frank King Photos
Actress Keira Knightley has earned adulation for the great movies she’s done since coming to fame in 2002 with Bend It Like Beckham. But do her thoughts on atheism and faith reflect reality?
I’m sure some folks agree with her. But for those who follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God), forgiveness and guilt simply don’t work that way.
For Jesus followers, life isn’t a game where you do whatever you want, then sleepwalk through a hollow ritual of asking for forgiveness and assume God is a kindly, but dimwitted dolt who can’t see through your deception.
Consider these words from an ancient writer:
You [God] know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts from far away. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, you know what I want to say, even before the words leave my mouth.
Does this sound like a creator Keira Knightley or anyone else can trick?
Forgiveness is available to everyone who accepts the gift God offers the world: Jesus. Primary source documents about His life indicate that Jesus died to make up for the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we’ve failed to do.
What Jesus did is a big deal. And those who truly accept that gift and make Him their lord and savior understand that. So they don’t treat it with contempt. In fact, a guy named Paul, who helped spread the good news about Jesus through the Mediterranean, addressed this very notion in one of his letters:
So, do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more forgiveness? No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin?
Now, what about Keira’s assertion of living with guilt? If you’re still with me, you may have figured out by now that forgiveness is real and important and all-encompassing. In fact, for some people, it’s a life-changer and you can read one example here: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-6K
Forgiveness also means you’re no longer guilty. If you follow Jesus and sincerely ask for forgiveness, you’ll get it and the wrong you’ve done is wiped from the books. So there’s no need to “live with guilt”, as Keira puts it.
Does this make sense? Yes or no, post your comments below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in Me & The World | Tagged atheism, atheist, Bible, Christianity, Faith, forgiveness, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, guilt and God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Keira Knightley, Keira Knightley atheism, religion, Romans 6:1, spirituality, theology | 16 Comments »
July 20, 2013 by Frank King Photos
The headline said ‘Extremism’s appeal for Canadian radicals’. That didn’t sway me to read the article in the National Post, one of Canada’s major newspapers. But what did intrigue me was the one-word “subhead”: ‘Superiority’.
A police officer, trying to figure out what was turning some young Canadians into violence-supporting radical Islamists, did extensive interviews with seven young Toronto men (six of them born in Canada) who fit the bill.
After the interviews, the officer came to the conclusion that they were deeply troubled men who, the reporter wrote, “found, in extremism, a reason to feel superior. In their minds, the had joined an exclusive fraternity that knew the truth. They weren’t losers after all; they were better than everyone else.”
Two things strike me about this:
1. The contrast of being a “loser” and feeling “superior”. Our culture loves nothing more than to constantly rank the value of people. It’s one of the main reasons that I decided to take my own radical turn and declare myself a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God.
Jesus followers know that we are neither losers nor superior. The evidence for this can be found in a letter from one of Jesus’s earliest and most influential followers: “There is no difference between Jew and Greek, slave and free person, male and female. You are all the same in Christ Jesus.”
This may not be important to many people, but I need that reminder for those times when I see someone do or say something stupid. That’s when the Bible reminds me that I, too, do and say stupid things. The key difference is that, as a follower of Jesus, I welcome Him into my life to make me more like Him. And He never did or said a single stupid thing.
2. Can there be a more obnoxious word in our dictionary than “exclusive”? It comes from the word “exclude” and when it comes to thinking about my brothers and sisters in the human race, I have trouble understanding what possible good can come from excluding anyone.
Now you might be thinking “Well, you Christians think you’re in an exclusive club, that only YOU get to go to Heaven.”
To that I write that yes, when I’m done with this life, I have a certainty about where I’m going and I feel sure that I’ll see other followers of Jesus there. My confidence comes from one of the four original-source biographies of Jesus’s physical life on earth’: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost, but have eternal life.”
But exclusive? Not on your life. There is no lock on the doors to Jesus. In fact, there are no doors at all. The way is wide open to anyone who wants to enter.
That openness is why I’ve written this blog – to invite YOU to enter and have your life changed for the better – now and for eternity – by Jesus. Will you accept the invitation? Yes or no, post your response below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in In The News | Tagged Bible, Christianity, Exclusivity, Faith, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, Galatians 3:28, God, is Christianity exclusive?, Jesus, John 3:16, open door, radical Islamists, religion, spirituality, theology | 7 Comments »
July 13, 2013 by Frank King Photos
Like death, taxes and reality TV, giving someone or something the benefit of the doubt is an ever-present part of life, even when we don’t know it.
I like Wikipedia’s definition the phrase: A favourable judgement given in the absence of full evidence.
My wife did this the other day when, while at work, she emailed the names of a half-dozen fruits and vegetables to add to my grocery shopping list. She gave me the benefit of the doubt that I’d see the email and buy those items without her having to phone and check up on me. (A risky move on her part, I’ll admit.)
This approach is the foundation of most of our thinking:
- We fly thousands of feet above the ground without evidence that every bit of the airplane is in perfect working order;
- We drive our cars without being absolutely certain the muffler won’t fall off;
- We marry someone even though there’s no scientific way to prove they will always be faithful;
- We pay to watch a movie with only the presence of a favourite actor as evidence we’ll enjoy it.
Giving benefit of the doubt is also the meeting point for me and Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God). Before deciding to follow Jesus, I had many tough, in-depth debates with some brave Jesus followers who were willing to field my questions and charges.
I still recall one conversation with a friend who, like me now, didn’t understand everything about his faith and didn’t have all the answers to my questions (or his). But he did ask me this: would I be willing to give God the benefit of the doubt, just as he had?
I didn’t answer immediately, but over time I said yes because I figured it would put me in a much better place, now and for eternity. And that’s exactly what it’s done.
Since then, I’ve come to realize that giving God the benefit of the doubt, day after day, is part of following Jesus. Why? Because it’s a powerful and necessary reminder that God is God and I am NOT. I like how an ancient writer defines it: “Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.”
Spiritual faith is such a tough concept for our culture that many people would rather put their faith in a parachute or a bungee cord. But if you want it – if you’re ready to give God the benefit of the doubt, just as you do for countless other things – then you can have your life transformed. And you can be where Jesus most wants you to be: by His side, in Heaven, forever.
Do you agree? Do you think I’m crazy? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in Me & The World | Tagged benefit of the doubt, Bible, Christianity, Faith, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, giving God the benefit of the doubt, God, Hebrews 11:1, Jesus, spirituality, theology | 13 Comments »
It’s safe to write that this was not the kind of international media attention the Canadian city of Abbotsford, British Columbia wanted to achieve.
Like most large cities, there are homeless people in Abbotsford and they like to gather in a spot called “The Honey Tree”. Apparently some folks weren’t happy about that because city workers dumped chicken manure at the site.
An attempt to drive the homeless away? That’s certainly the logical answer, but nobody at the city said so. Especially when the move attracted international attention and widespread criticism. Instead, city officials scrambled to undertake an investigation and the mayor held a news conference to apologize.
As I read articles on this controversy, I was forced to confront my own discomfort with homeless people. Often, they are unkempt and smelly. Often, they are mentally ill. Often, they want money from me – to buy something I may not approve of.
But I follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God), and one of the original source documents about His life on earth says “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life.”
As far as I’m concerned, that statement means God loves the homeless people of Abbotsford, British Columbia every bit as much as he loves me or Taylor Swift or the British Royals. That also means Abbotsford’s homeless have the same intrinsic value as billionaires and Hollywood royalty.
Our culture doesn’t think so – the actions of Abbotsford’s city staff are certainly evidence of that – but it’s why I follow Jesus. He hung out with the marginalized people of ancient Israel and He often made it clear that the “in” people of that place were the ones he had issues with.
My own discomfort aside, I want to be more like Jesus. I want to pay less attention to what our broken world thinks is “cool” and pay attention to what He thinks. Because like all serious Jesus followers, I believe he lived, died and came back to life for people like me. And people like the homeless of Abbotsford, British Columbia. And people like YOU. All you have to is accept the gift.
Agree? Disagree? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Posted in In The News | Tagged Abbotsford, articles about homeless people, Bible, British Columbia, Canadian homeless people, chicken manure, Christianity, Faith, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, homeless people, Homeless people in Canada, Jesus, John 3:16, religion, spirituality, stories about homeless people, The Honey Tree, theology | 4 Comments »
June 29, 2013 by Frank King Photos
Ye gotta like it when innocuous little moments shine a light on something big in your life. That happened one winter day when my father-in-law helped me install a plastic insulation barrier on a wind-blasted bedroom window.
We were applying two-sided tape to the window frame—it holds the barrier in place—when Fred complained that every time he unrolled the tape, it would wind itself up again.
I heard his words and instantly realized: this is a metaphor for my life. So often I launch self-improvement projects to:
- listen better;
- remember more (just ask my wife about my horrible memory for anything recent);
- become more aware of when I’m being petty;
- stop giving with my hand out to receive thanks/praise and;
- value family relationships more (gee, Frank, would the occasional phone call to your brothers kill you?)
Guess what happens to those initiatives? Like the two-sided insulation barrier tape, every time I unwind them, they spool back up and I have to start over.
I sense this happens with a lot of people. We’re taught to do everything ourselves because only incompetent people ask for help. And we keep on believing this, even though our failed projects stare us in the face like a blinding spotlight.
When I consider the spooled-up tape of my initiatives, the conclusion is obvious: I can’t improve myself alone, no matter what any self-help book says. I don’t believe any of us can. We’re just too burdened with leftover childhood issues, with relationships that leave us burning with anger or disappointment, with unbreakable bad habits, and with emotionally crippling betrayals.
Does it make sense to write that we need help from someone more powerful; someone who’s not battling emotional issues; someone who always, ALWAYS has time for us, no matter how annoying or frustrating we can be?
I found something written by an ancient follower of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) that refers to this help: “Jesus has been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to Him and get what He is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.”
For me, I simply ask for that assistance through prayer. And if you don’t feel capable or ready to pray, one of Jesus’s earliest followers talks about that, too: “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. God’s spirit does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.”
After praying, things can start to happen. It might be something supernatural—suddenly, your desire to listen better is actually fulfilled. Or it might be God working through a colleague or relative who has surprisingly sage words of advice, or makes an unexpected commitment to hold you accountable.
I don’t have to pray about the insulation barrier; Fred and I got it nicely installed. But all my other, more important improvement projects? That’s another matter….
Posted in Me & The World | Tagged Bible, Christianity, Faith, Frank King, Frank's Cottage, God, Hebrews 4:15, Jesus, religion, Romans 8:26-27, self-improvement, spirituality, theology, window barrier, window insulation barrier | 8 Comments »
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When I talk about spirituality with people, the conversation train often runs smack into a wall when the notion of forgiveness comes up.
Frank's Cottage 