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Posts Tagged ‘Faith’

THE LOGIC OF A LEAP OF FAITH

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2012| 11 Comments »

While on the Internet the other day, I found a website that discussed the problem of young people abandoning the Christian church.

Interesting stuff, but what really grabbed my attention was this comment made by an anonymous reader:

Christianity is based on a leap of faith, right? Islam is based on a leap of faith, right? All religions have no empirical proof and are based on a leap of faith. How then can one religion possibly claim that any other religion is wrong, since they are all based on the same leap of faith?

Perhaps you agree with these thoughts. I can write, quite easily, that I’ve never had a problem with the lack of “empirical proof” in Christianity or any other faith. Do you really think this is an accident? I don’t. Consider this: If we had empirical proof of God’s existence, wouldn’t that deny our freedom to be atheists?

If I know anything about God, it’s that He has a rock-hard commitment to free will. That means you and I can deny His existence or, even more dramatic (and sad….), we can commit unspeakable evil in His name. And, to the casual, superficial observer, we can do it without any sort of penalty. We can also do extraordinary good in His name and live lives of amazing influence and value. I think the late, great Mother Theresa tops that list.

What about one faith group claiming to be exclusively right? The faith I belong to certainly advances that point of view. But that’s not something conjured up on a whim; serious followers of Jesus of Nazareth trust in the words He tells his followers “I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.”

Am I supposed to ignore that? Was Jesus just a little full of himself that day? If I go down that path, then Jesus becomes nothing more than a cool dude with some good ideas. Maybe that works for some people, but it’s hardly the basis for a faith that’s going to help people like me deal with our faults and seriously consider what happens after this life ends.

Serious Jesus followers are not interested in occasionally checking in with a funky guru; we want a transformed life, now and after this existence is done. In our better moments, we want to leave behind the “it’s all about you” mentality of our culture; that’s a point of view that discourages thinking about serious issues and insists “whoever has the most toys (when he/she dies) wins”.

In your better moments, do you also see the emptiness of this kind of thinking? Post your comments and let’s have a conversation.

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A QUESTION OF GENDER

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 14, 2012| 4 Comments »

Is God male or female? Does it matter?

It certainly did to a blogger with Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald. I stumbled upon one of Lawrence Money’s essays, called “We need to upgrade God”, and am fascinated by the points he made.

Money read an article about an unspeakably sad funeral of a two-year-old Australian girl. He reacted ferociously to the story’s mention of a sign that hung on the wall of the church that said Our God Reigns From Above With Wisdom, Love and Power.

“Surely if the God above had such wisdom, his power would have been be used to protect such an innocent life,” he wrote. “And love? You create a little life, allow just enough time for her family to embrace her, then sit by and watch her slaughtered. That’s some weird kind of love.”

Money pinned the blame for all this on the fact that God is usually seen as a male. “Would a female God, who gave her only begotten daughter, have allowed such atrocities? I doubt it,” he wrote.

In the end, he declared “I’d like a female god, please. I want an upgrade.”

I understand where Money is coming from. Sometimes, when I look at our broken world, it seems so many problems are rooted in the male gender.

But should I, or Money, be attributing human (male or female) weaknesses to the creator of the universe? Doing so would reduce God to little more than a Clark Kent-style superman (or woman). That’s why I don’t think the issue of gender is worth debating.

So then, what about God allowing the murder of children or terrorist attacks or the flourishing slave trade?

Money believes a God of wisdom, power and love would stop such horrors in their tracks. Okay, let’s suppose God does what Money demands. What then?

  • Should He stop marital infidelity? (It does lead to broken families, psychological trauma and sometimes murder.)
  • What about speeding? (It often causes accidents and death.)
  • Shouldn’t He also take away beer and wine? (They contribute to alcoholism, broken lives and death.)

Where should it stop, Lawrence? All these things come from a gift of freewill – a gift that many people believe God proved for all time when He allowed the political and religious authorities of the day put His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, to death.

Do you really want God to take back that gift? Do you want to be a robot? Because without freewill, we’re just a race of goose-stepping, brain-dead automatons.

Yes, without freewill, we would not turn our backs on God, His gift of Jesus and His plan for each and every life. But the evidence makes it clear that God is not interested in such a soulless and unhuman arrangement. He wants a real relationship with us that we’ve entered with our minds and hearts fully aware and alive.

Do you want that kind of relationship? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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THE UNPAYABLE DEBT

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

In 2012, I stumbled onto an amazing online article about – get this – Germany finally paying off its war debt. Think that’s amazing? Well, hang on; the article was referring to Germany’s *First World War* debt.

According to The Local, a German online newspaper, the final payment, about $94 million, was handed over in 2010 to private investors. Those investors held bonds issued by the German government many decades ago to help pay for damages the victorious Allies charged Germany after the First World War ended in 1918.

That initial bill? A stunning 132 billion Deutsche Marks, or 89 billion Canadian dollars. Does that sound onerous? Well, in today’s world, a comparable figure is more than $200 billion. Yikes.

At the time, the cost was crippling to the German economy and that’s just how the bitter Allies wanted it, in part to ensure Germany could never recover enough to re-arm and start another war. No comment is needed on the success of that policy.

But something did strike me as comment-worthy and that’s the comparison with my life and yours.

Like it or not, we’ve all done wrong somewhere, sometime in our lives. In fact, I’ve dropped the ball more often than National Hockey League star Sidney Crosby scores goals.

Like it or not, there’s a penalty to be paid for all those bad things you and I have done or, just as important, the good things we haven’t done. And that penalty is far worse than what was forced on Germany. Even 90 years of payments wouldn’t be enough to get rid of it.

I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do, when this life ends, is look God in the face and try to avoid that debt by conjuring up a pile of believable excuses. It’s just one reason why I decided to follow Jesus of Nazareth. And it’s a good reason for you to consider it.

People like me believe Jesus is God’s Son and He died for all the wrong things we did and for all the right things we failed to do. When we believe in Jesus and claim Him as our savior, the penalty is wiped off the books. He paid it for us.

I found this proof in a letter written by a man who had a life-changing spiritual encounter with Jesus: “If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. God’s Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death.”

That sounds pretty good to me. So, are you thinking about how to rationalize your misdeeds? Or does it make more sense to join folks like me, claim Jesus for yourself and walk away from a German-sized debt?

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THE THANKSGIVING CHALLENGE OF GRATITUDE

Posted in Special Days, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 2, 2012| 13 Comments »

I almost missed the irony. There I was, at my car dealership, pondering a Thanksgiving blog while mentally fuming about the repair cost and what I thought was the endless wait for my Ford Focus.

Finally, a few synapses in my brain connected and I grudgingly admitted how thankless I was for having a career and the resources to buy and maintain a vehicle.

Famed novelist Aldous Huxley (best known for Brave New World) once said “Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.”

I think I’m a charter member of that group.

Journalist Robert Brault notes, “There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed.  If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.”

Wow, I have a gold-plated, lifetime membership to that club, too.

This past summer, my wife & I visited an RV dealer to inquire about repairs to our two-year-old, storm-damaged tent trailer. While there, we happened to check out some new models on the showroom floor and fell in love with a trailer which didn’t have to be put up and taken down, and came with the luxury of a full bathroom.

Were we grateful for the tent trailer we already had? Are you kidding? We talked about that showroom model for weeks, examining potential payment schemes, considering our other  financial obligations, how much we could get in trade for the tent trailer, how much longer and more comfortable our camping season could be, and on and on.

Gradually (I think the glaciers lost a few inches while this process meandered along), we concluded the purchase didn’t make sense and the tent trailer was quite adequate. Indeed, we used it in September for a wonderful week of mountain camping.

What happened to us? For awhile, we bought into the message our culture pushes with hurricane-like relentlessness: You deserve it. Go ahead and be selfish.

This message suggests we should have everything. Now.  No matter what the financial, relational, or environmental cost. Because we’re worth it. And – goes the subtle inference – since we’re worth it, why should we be grateful?

My commitment to following Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) tells me that, on my own, I don’t deserve it. I drop the ball more often than a bad outfielder. I’m worse than a blindfolded darts player when it comes to hitting the target of what I’m meant to be.

But consider this excerpt from one of the primary source documents about Jesus: God loves the world [that includes me and you] so much, “He gave his Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”

This means Jesus, God’s son, makes up for all my screw-ups, all my pettiness, all my selfishness. And by following Jesus, I’m opening the door to Him making me a better person.

So, when my wife and I sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, we know we have a lot more than a tent trailer to be grateful for. And we’ve figured out to whom we should express thanks. Have you?

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BAILING OUT OF “ORGANIZED RELIGION”

Posted in It's Not About 'Religion', tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 26, 2012| 7 Comments »

Is this a story of doom and gloom? Or something else altogether?

The article, on CNN’s Belief Blog, recounts the results of an international census study by a team of mathematicians. The study concludes, “Organized religion will all but vanish eventually from nine Western-style democracies.”

Those countries, according to the mathematicians, are Ireland, Canada, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.

The study’s authors base their report on two assumptions:

  1.  It’s more attractive to be part of the majority than the minority and in the countries named, people who are not part of any organized religion are the fastest growing group.
  2.  In these nine countries, there are “social, economic and political advantages” to being unaffiliated with any organized religion.

What attracted me to this article is the whole idea of belonging to an “organized religion”. I don’t think I’m stating it too strongly when I write that those two words are even less popular than “tax increase”.

And I have a pastor to back me up.

Ross Carkner, of Whitby Baptist Church in Ontario, told me this study isn’t even mildly alarming.

“You could be talking to a real Jesus follower and ask them about organized religion and they’d say ‘I’m not interested’. So I’m not in the least bit concerned.”

There’s something else at play in this study, something the authors don’t bother to consider. They seem to assume that being part of a religious group is the same as belonging to the Kiwanis Club or a lawn bowling league. For some people, that may be the case and they might, indeed, drift out of “organized religion” based exactly on the authors’ two assumptions.

But were those people ever really part of a faith group? For serious Jesus followers like the ones Ross was referring to, it doesn’t matter how popular the group is because it’s not about the group. It’s about a living, day-to-day relationship with God through His son, Jesus. And that transcends any popularity contest or sociological label.

I would be a pretty sorry Jesus follower – and a despicable example to people who don’t follow Him – if I examined the state of my faith, decided it was as solid as Jello, then bailed out.

So what about you? Are you interested in being part of a group? Or are you intrigued by a living faith that transcends groups, disregards popularity, and ignores study results? If you’re reading this because you’re willing to consider the latter, then ponder what Jesus told one audience: “Are you tired? Burned out on religion? Come to me . . . and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.”

What do you think? Post your comment below and let’s have a conversation.

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‘I’M DAMAGED GOODS’

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2012| 6 Comments »

For a few years, I didn’t much like Kiss singer/bassist Gene Simmons. At the time, his epic ego and claims of endless sexual conquests (which, thankfully, we no longer hear about) were major turn-offs.

All that said, I felt like I was downing an ice-cold drink on a sweltering day when I read an article about his 2011 appearance on the U.S. cable TV talk show Chelsea Lately.

Interviewed by host Chelsea Handler, Simmons was surprisingly frank and humble when put on the spot about his sexual infidelities.

With longtime girlfriend (and, since 2011, wife) Shannon Tweed in the audience, Simmons said “I’m damaged goods, and I need Shannon in my life. I need her to fix what’s wrong with me.”

Wow! For a man who has bragged about bedding more than 4,000 women, this confession is simply astonishing. And it opens the door to explore two important ideas.

1. “I’m damaged goods.” Gene, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. Like it or not, every person on this planet is damaged goods. Every one of us has somehow dropped the ball and missed the target of what we could be.

Looking for proof? Consider this revealing statement from a man who had a deep and life-changing spiritual encounter with Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s Son): “Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Oh, our damage may not be as obvious or as potentially hurtful as Gene Simmons’, but please notice that the statement doesn’t address degrees of damage. Why? Because in the end, it doesn’t matter. And that fact alone should keep the rest of us from feeling smug.

2. “I need her to fix what’s wrong with me.” Shannon, are you feeling the pressure yet? I know I would be if my wife made this declaration about me. Think about this: if all of us are damaged, then how is Shannon supposed to ‘fix’ Gene when she has her own failings?

Still, this doesn’t mean Shannon can’t do anything for Gene, just as it doesn’t mean my wife is incapable of helping me.

Serious Jesus followers believe two things: that God cares about every person on this planet, and God can — and does — work through all people, no matter what their issues, to achieve His goals.

When my wife & I got married, our pastor told Lori that I would be the prime resource God would use to repair her hurts and eliminate her weaknesses. Then he told me the same thing about Lori. All the two of us had to do was let God have His way.

So, do you want to let God fix you like he’s fixing me? Then invite His son, Jesus, into your life and let Him have His way. If you’re serious about it, and get hooked up with a Jesus-following church, then you’ll soon start to experience positive changes in your life.

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WHEN WINNING DOESN’T MEAN MUCH

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , on September 8, 2012| 1 Comment »

 

I am finding out, to my utter astonishment, that I’m good at board games.

Well, not all board games; just one that has become quite popular in the last decade. Settlers of Catan has been translated into 30 languages and was called the “board game of our time” by the Washington Post.

For awhile, my family played Settlers of Catan at almost every gathering. Each participant is a colonist settling an island (Catan) and the idea is to reach 10 points first by building settlements, cities, and roads using cards representing the island’s natural resources. Along the way, you can trade cards with other players and buy cards that give you armies or the right to steal resource cards from other colonists.

As you can tell, there are plenty of variables, but the game is a lot of fun once you understand everything.

For awhile, that was the problem. I just couldn’t deal with all the dynamics, so a blind man could drive a car better than I could play Settlers of Catan. And it made me more depressed than a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

But somewhere along the way it all came together, and I won games like retired hockey great Wayne Gretzky scored goals.

Trouble is, as soon as someone reaches 10 points, the game is over. We put our roads, settlements, cities, and cards back in the box and in just a few minutes, my great accomplishment is forgotten.

It occurs to me that life is pretty similar. Wayne Gretzky won a ridiculous number of awards, but now he’s retired and his talent remembered only by hockey fans. More often than not, Wayne walks the streets in anonymity, just like you and me.

When I consider this, I’m reminded to ask the sort of questions that our culture discourages: Why am I here? To win board games? To consume, watch TV, sleep, have kids, go on vacations, and die?

For atheists, the website allaboutphilosophy.org answers my questions this way:
“If God doesn’t exist, that means life must have come about through some impersonal, unintelligent, and ultimately purposeless process.”

I really hope that explanation leaves you feeling emptier than a shopping mall on Christmas day.

Perhaps you are here just to enjoy the ride and not think about it any further. Our culture encourages that answer, but would you be reading this essay if you were that superficial?

Consider this from the biggest possible point of view: maybe you’re here because God created you. Maybe you were, as an ancient document puts it, created in God’s image—meaning you are able to love, laugh, feel, and think.

If you’re still with me, maybe you’re here so you can connect with God, find out about an amazing guy named Jesus, and be that guy’s ambassador to a world we both know isn’t doing well. Does that make sense?

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TWITTERING ON THE DIVINE

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

Most people with an X/Twitter account know there are always ‘trending topics’ – subjects that attract thousands or even millions of tweets, often from around the world.

Those trending topics range from silly (Things I’m Scared Of, for example) to stargazing (when I wrote this, Dear Taylor Swift was trending; I’m not kidding) to the latest news items.

But recently, I was astonished to find Thanking God was trending. And not just for a few minutes, but for more than a day.

Just as interesting were the tweets on this subject. Some were amusing, such as thanking God for Justin Bieber. But others used the topic in startling ways.

One man wrote “There is nothing more selfish than the privileged thanking God while so many starve and die terrible deaths as their God does nothing.”

Then there was the person who typed “Thanking God for AIDS, hunger, and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Some top managerial decisions there, man.”

These tweets address an age-old challenge for anyone who believes in a creator: if this creator is good, as many claim, why is humanity stalked by AIDS, hunger, SIDS, and ‘terrible deaths’ – and why has God apparently done nothing about it?

Before I address this, please know that people who claim they can fully, credibly answer these questions are bigger fools than TV bad-boy Charlie Sheen was in his worst moments. An ancient prophet addresses the mystery of these questions like this: “I [God] don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.”

That said, is God really doing nothing about starvation? Aren’t governments, churches, aid groups, and others helping in poverty-stricken areas of the world? If you claim that’s not God at all, but just charitable people/institutions, can you prove it? Just as important, are YOU part of God’s work in this broken world?

As for terrible deaths, while I wouldn’t dream of trying to explain most of them, how about those committed by evil people? Does it really make sense to blame God when sick, twisted men in Norway (2011), Las Vegas (2017) and Nova Scotia (2020) use God’s gift of freewill to commit mass murder?

It’s these kinds of horrifying events that truly, truly test that gift.

Many people know there’s another such event: the death of Jesus of Nazareth, who they believe is the Son of God.

Jesus followers know He died to pay for the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we haven’t done. What if God prevented the Roman authorities of the day from carrying out that murder? Even Jesus knew it shouldn’t be stopped. He told His followers that He “didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give my life to liberate many people.”

So, is thanking God a waste of time (and X/Twitter space), or does it make sense? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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RITA’S SECRET ALLY

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2012| 4 Comments »

Rita Chretien had an ally that helped her survive 49 days in the wilderness of Nevada with nothing but her van (which was hopelessly stuck in mud) and carefully rationed road trip snacks.

It’s an ally that might surprise you, but it made all the difference in the world to Rita: it was her faith in Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s Son).

According to a Calgary Sun article, Rita and husband Albert were on a road trip from their Pentiction, B.C. home to Las Vegas in March 2011 when they took a sightseeing detour and became stuck on a remote logging road.

After three days, Albert left to find help (a 35-kilometre trip to the nearest major highway), while Rita read books, took daily walks, and studied her Bible. She rationed her meagre supplies and drank melted snow.

Rita was discovered May 6, 2011 by men riding ATVs. A doctor at a hospital in northern Nevada said she probably had just a few days of life left. That said, her recovery was astonishingly fast and according to the Sun, the doctor, James Westberry of St. Luke’s Hospital, gave at least some of the credit to her faith.

“I must say, it is unusual for us to see someone in this type of situation to not only survive, but to be doing so well,” Westberry added.

News like this doesn’t surprise me; I’ve read about studies that connect faith with resilience and health. Indeed, a 2000 Health Psychology magazine analysis of 42 studies involving more than 125,000 patients found that those with some sort of “religious” involvement live longer.

So, what do you think of this? Does a neutral analysis of so many studies have credibility in your world?

There are lots of places in ancient documents where God is represented as a place of refuge and a solid foundation. During her endless days of worry and creeping fear, Rita must have read and relied on passages like this: “GOD is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight”. Or maybe Rita was encouraged by this: “We who have fled to God for refuge can have great confidence as we hold on to the hope before us.”

Now, you may be scoffing at all this, because Rita’s husband was finally found, dead, in September 2012. So in light of that, what credibility or hope do all those quotes have? If you believe there is nothing after this life, that when we die everything comes to a breathtaking halt, then those quotes may, indeed, strike you as meaningless.

But if something inside you says there has to be more than 70-odd years on this planet followed by decaying in a grave, then what I quoted above is worth seriously considering.

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WHO IS UNLOVABLE?

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2012| 16 Comments »

The newspaper headline instantly grabbed my attention: “Demi worries about being unlovable”.

The article, published in early 2012, highlighted an interview actress Demi Moore did just a week after she filed for divorce from actor Ashton Kutcher, star of the TV sitcoms That ‘70s Show and Two and a Half Men.

Moore, best known for movies such as Ghost, A Few Good Men and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, said this to Harper’s Bazaar magazine: “What scares me is I’m going to find out at the end of my life that I’m … not worthy of being loved. That there’s something fundamentally wrong with me…”

It’s a startlingly frank statement for a media star like Moore to make, but it addresses a common human fear. There were many years of my life when I felt exactly the same.

But here’s the thing: since deciding to follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s Son) in 2002, I’ve learned that it’s not all that important whether I feel unlovable. Because it’s simply not the truth.

The evidence? Consider these words from one of the primary source documents of Jesus’ life: “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.” I know ‘the world’ includes me and I’m pretty sure Demi Moore makes the cut, too. (In fact, EVERYONE qualifies, whether we like it or not.)

How about this, written by Paul, a missionary who spent much of his life telling others about Jesus: “Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much He loves us.” Once again, there are no qualifiers. Everyone can accept this gift, from Demi Moore to the worst person you can imagine.

Finally, this quote from an ancient prophet may be the most amazing of all: “You are precious to Me [God], and I have given you a special place of honour. I love you. That’s why I am willing to trade others, to give up whole nations, to save your life.”

When I read these excerpts, I’m reminded all over again why I decided to follow Jesus. By accepting the gift of His death and resurrection for all the wrong things I’ve done (and all the RIGHT things I HAVEN’T done), I give my love to the One who loved me first.

Jesus’ sacrifice addresses another part of Demi Moore’s statement – feeling like there’s something fundamentally wrong with her. That’s not just a feeling; it’s dead-on true. But not just for Demi – for me, too. And for you.

Indeed, there’s something ‘fundamentally wrong’ with every person on earth: we think we’re God, that we don’t need our creator and we can do whatever we want. So many of our planet’s problems are the result of this selfish thinking.

But rather than simply judge and convict us, God showed how much He loves humanity by reaching out and offering us the gift of Jesus. What’s keeping you from accepting it?

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