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Posts Tagged ‘spirituality’

THE TRUTH ABOUT INDOCTRINATION

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 1, 2015| 3 Comments »

10440724_10152229802268262_1660947865292267107_nIndoctrination: the act of indoctrinating, or teaching or inculcating a doctrine, principle, or ideology, especially one with a specific point of view – Dictionary.com

I found this graphic on an Internet atheism community, so it’s probably aimed at people of faith. The inference is clear: believing in a loving creator is false, so the only way to make it acceptable is to brainwash young minds that don’t know any better.

If that’s true, then how does one explain Rosalind Picard? According to Wikipedia, she’s a professor of media arts and sciences at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Picard is also director and founder of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab, co-director of the Things That Think Consortium, and chief scientist and co-founder of Affectiva, an emotion measurement technology company.

Here’s the kicker: Picard, 60, says she was raised an atheist, but converted to Christianity as a young adult. So is it fair to say she was indoctrinated to believe there is no God? And if that’s true, why did this brilliant scientific mind go in the opposite direction – and stay there?

Let’s be honest here: absolutely EVERYONE gets certain ideas hammered into their minds while they’re young and defenceless. Deny it if you want, but think hard about your life.

  • If you live in a developed country, wasn’t it likely you were indoctrinated with the virtues of capitalism and democracy?
  • If your father abandoned your mother at a very young age, isn’t it possible you were indoctrinated to believe that he (and often, by extension, all men) are self-centred and irresponsible?
  • If you live in certain Middle Eastern countries, isn’t it quite feasible that you were indoctrinated to think of the United States — and by extension, the entire “west” — as immoral and evil?

In each of these cases, the truth didn’t matter very much. The world was seen through biased eyes, just as I believe the graphic that sparked this essay was created with a deep-seeded bias.

So, if you’ve given this some thought and realize you’ve had a long bias against following Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the divine Son of God), then maybe this is the time to investigate this whole Jesus thing with an open mind.

Why Jesus and not other faiths? Consider these facts:
1.  Eight hugely important predictions about Jesus, made in ancient documents, came true. Among these were where Jesus was born, the fact He would be betrayed by a friend, that He would be crucified and that He would be resurrected.

2.  Jesus said that He alone was the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no one can find God without Him. Nice claim, but what backs it up? Original-source documents about His physical life on earth detail all kinds of miracles performed by Jesus, including healing diseases, restoring sight, feeding thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread & fish and coming back from the dead.

3.  As the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (www.carm.org) explains, “Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius and Krishna did not rise from the dead.  Only Jesus has physically risen from the dead, walked on water, claimed to be God and raised others from the dead. Why trust anyone else?”

So what makes all this credible? Simply read about the life of one of Jesus’s most devoted followers, Paul of Tarsus. I write about him, and how he is a testament to Jesus’s reality, here: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-g3

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YOUR PIVOTAL MOMENT

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2015| 8 Comments »

Jennifer Fulwiler atheism ChristianityFor life-long atheist Jennifer Fulwiler, the pivotal moment came when she held her first child for the first time.

“I looked down and thought ‘what is this baby’?” she recalled in a YouTube video. “From a pure atheist, materialist perspective, he is a collection of randomly evolved chemical reactions.

“I realized if that’s true, then all the love I feel for him is nothing more than chemical reactions in my brain. I looked down at him and I realized, ‘that’s not true’. It’s not the truth.”

Jennifer went on to research the world’s major faiths, but considered Christianity not worth the bother. Then her husband suggested she investigate Christianity because one of its most significant claims — that Jesus of Nazareth is God in the flesh — would be easy to disprove if it wasn’t true.

So she did. Jennifer discovered a world of deeply intellectual thinkers (like Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo) who were also serious Jesus followers.

Men like them made such a compelling, reason-based case for the life, death and resurrection of Christ that, in Jennifer’s words, “I started to think something world-changing happened in first-century Palestine.”

Jennifer realized that atheists “don’t have the lock on reason that I thought. Christians had all the knowledge of science, but they have the total picture of the human experience — love and triumph and hope. Christians could articulate that in a way that atheists couldn’t.”

The result of all this is Jennifer went from denying there is a creator, to becoming a serious follower of the man who many people believe is the Son of God.

Why do all this? Let me make it clear that following Jesus can be hard, especially when most of the world (sometimes including your family and friends) doesn’t follow Him and you can be mocked or even disowned for your beliefs.

As far as I’m concerned, the upside more than compensates. When I decided to follow Jesus, little things immediately changed (I stopped cursing and swearing) and bigger things followed (my wife and I have a firm commitment to donate regularly to charities and to our church).

In other words, like me, you’ll get a new perspective on life. The holy grails of our culture — gaining power and prestige, buying a bigger house, going on expensive cruises, having the latest iPhone — will start to look shallow and pointless.

You’ll start living for the approval of your creator, who the Bible says “loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in his Son would not be lost, but have eternal life.”

And as you start living for God and start attending a church regularly, you’ll be surrounded by others who are also in the midst of being transformed by following Jesus.

Finally, when this life is over, you’ll have real and solid hope that you won’t become nothing more than rancid worm food. You’ll become a citizen of Heaven.

Interested? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHAT GETS OVERLOOKED?

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2015| 29 Comments »

Mike O'BrienUntil his death in 2015, I’d never heard of Mike O’Brien. You probably hadn’t either. But something he wrote sure grabbed my attention. This is the start of a story about O’Brien in the Calgary Herald:

In his final blog posting, Mike O’Brien said he exuded faith — faith in his radiologist, surgeons, nurses, pharmacists and counsellors — but not in God.

“Of course, I may be wrong. I often am. Fortunately, if God really exists, I’m confident he’ll look at my overall record and let me slide on the faith/skeptic issue. It just sounds like the kind of decent thing he’d do,” he wrote.

I need to satisfy your curiosity before going any further. O’Brien, who died of cancer at age 51, warranted a newspaper article because of his roles in several Canadian TV series, including the comedy cult favourite Corner Gas.

So, what about Mike’s blog post?

I can certainly understand why a hideous disease like cancer might turn a person into an atheist. A life-threatening condition tends to drive the victim into the arms of God or into the arms of…well, nothing, I guess.

The thing is, Mike exuded faith in an entire team of people. And, sadly, all those people could not stop what was happening to him.

Meanwhile, Mike ignored his creator. Now, considering what happened to him, you might say “well, what good did Mike’s creator do for him? He died of cancer!”

On the surface, I get that. But hang on; what if relieving Mike of his four-year painful struggle meant bringing him home? That might not be what his loved ones wanted, but do we hugely imperfect humans always know what’s best?

Sadly, I’m not sure the story goes like I just put it. I’m glad Mike left this world confident that if there’s a creator, that creator would “look at my overall record and let me slide on the faith/skeptic issue”.

But where on earth would such confidence come from? How does Mike, or anyone else on this planet, know how their overall record really looks?

The God that many people believe in is active in this world. He created us to have a relationship with Him – now and for all eternity. We messed that up by going our own way and, so often, doing what Mike did: claim He doesn’t even exist and this planet – heck this universe – somehow came from nowhere.

To repair that broken relationship, God has done far more than what Mike might call the “decent thing”; He offers us a gift: Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is God’s Son.

Jesus lived an extraordinary life, offered love and forgiveness to folks you and I wouldn’t turn our head to glance at, then died to make up for all the wrong things we’ve done and all the right things we’ve failed to do. To finish it off, he came back to life after three days, showing God’s power to do whatever God wants.

All we have to do is accept the gift of Jesus. Then we can have more than Mike’s vague optimism. We can have complete confidence that when this life ends, God will absolutely overlook our many, many shortcomings and welcome us into His presence forever.

Interested? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHEN LOVE LEADS TO LOVE

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 20, 2014| 3 Comments »

WhenLoveLeadsToLoveHmmm…before my wanderings into atheist internet communities, I’d never heard the notion that loving God means I have less love to give others.

Maybe that’s true for some unfortunate people, who are into “religion” and believe they should sit in judgement of others. But for most of the God-loving people I know, the reality goes something like this:

  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to homosexual people. That means speaking up whenever they are mocked, denigrated or unjustly criticized.
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to homeless people.
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to people who’ve been through the pain of abortion. (Ever met anyone who liked having an abortion? Me neither.)
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to people who don’t care about the environment. (It’s God’s world, not mine, so I need to care about what we humans do to His planet.)
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to people who are arrogant and pretentious.
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving toward people whose political views are diametrically opposite to mine. That means respecting and defending the values of democracy.
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to Jewish people, Muslim people, Buddhist people and Hindu people. That means defending their right to worship without fear.
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to atheist people. That means protecting their right to be atheists.
  • I love God, so I need to be more loving to people who oppose and mock or denigrate my faith.

People like me understand that we’ve been offered a great gift — Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is God’s son. Because we’ve accepted that gift, a perfect and holy God has hit the ‘delete’ key on all the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we’ve failed to do (like not loving others enough, for example).

Serious Jesus followers understand that the gift of Jesus is given out of unfathomable love. And that gift is offered to every person on this planet, no matter who they are, what they’ve done (or not done) and whatever faith they have (or don’t have).

How do I know this? Consider this excerpt from one of the four original source accounts of Jesus’s 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. God did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him.”

That’s why I have more love to give. You can have more love to give, too. Interested? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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THE CONUNDRUM OF LOGIC

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2014| 11 Comments »

Logic 9.14If you know anything about following Jesus of Nazareth, then maybe you’ve thought the same thing as this graphic.

This position advanced here refers to something called the “Trinity”. It states that God, as He’s understood by serious Jesus followers, exists as three equal entities: God, Jesus (who many people believe is God’s divine Son) and the Holy Spirit.

If this leaves you scratching your head, you’re certainly not alone. It’s probably easier to explain nuclear fission.

But let’s think more about the “logic” of all this, since it’s the main point of the graphic. Just because it may not be logical doesn’t mean it can’t be true — especially when even the most logical people accept and live out all sorts of illogical things:

  • Many professional athletes receive millions and millions of dollars per year while social workers, commercial pilots and nurses (who, let’s face it, do far, FAR more important work) sometimes need second jobs just to pay their bills.
  • People still attempt to climb Mount Everest even though it’s long been proven to be enormously dangerous and there is no legitimate reason to bother trying.
  • In Canada, elected politicians who want the province of Quebec to separate receive pensions paid for by all Canadians.

None of these things — and I’m sure you can think of many more without a lot of effort — are even slightly logical, and yet they continue to happen every day. Often without a peep of protest.

So if you are willing to accept the rampant illogic of the world we human beings have created, why aren’t you willing to accept what might seem illogical about the creator of time, space and the universe?

There’s something else to keep in mind here: God will never fit into a tidy box of what you and I consider “logical”. Like it or not, God will always be beyond our full comprehension.

But here’s something that’s easier to understand:
1. God LOVES every person on this planet, no matter their age, gender, sexual preference, place of residence, religious belief (or lack thereof), and behaviour.
2. Because every human being has fallen short of who God designed us to be (through the wrong things we’ve done and the good things we’ve failed to do), we separate ourselves from our creator.
3. God does the heavy lifting to bridge that gap, offering the life, sacrificial death and resurrection of His son Jesus to every person on this planet.
4. Anyone who accepts this gift can find his/her life transformed in the here and now, and in the life to come when our time on this planet ends.

I accepted that gift in my 40s, after many years of reading, pondering and debating with Jesus followers. I certainly don’t understand everything about my faith, but I also know that when this life is finished, all my questions simply won’t matter anymore.

Despite any questions you have, the gift of Jesus is offered to you too. Will you accept it? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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BRAINWASHING? OR SEEING REALITY?

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2014| 3 Comments »

14+-+1-2Have you watched someone give their “testimony” on a TV show and describe being at their lowest point when they became a follower of Jesus of Nazareth?

Did you shake you head and have the same reaction as the words at the bottom of the graphic? Once, I would have been in your camp. After all, that is the easiest, fastest response, right?

So here’s a challenge: skip the path of least resistance, the path that our culture pushes us onto, and really think about this.

Perhaps someone said “I found God at the most vulnerable point of my life” because they suddenly realized that all the ‘stuff’ that’s supposed to be so, SO important is really trivial.

Maybe they realized that in the midst of their vulnerability, nothing that our culture offers us really changes anything. Self-help books can’t help. Friends sending out ‘positive vibes’ makes no difference. And drugs or alcohol will eventually leave them even worse off than before.

Perhaps they figured out that our culture’s focus on being self-reliant in everything just doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s not realistic.

Maybe their vulnerability has made them realize that dismissing/ignoring God and Jesus (who many people believe is His Son) is, in fact, brainwashing. And for the first time, they’re seeing life — and what could happen when this life ends — outside of our culture’s narrow and shallow confines.

I was in my 40s when I stepped off the path of least resistance and really thought about the how and whys of people deciding to follow Jesus. I wasn’t at the most vulnerable point of my life. In fact, I was doing just fine, by the standards of our culture. I had a decent career, parents who didn’t abuse me or abandon me, several meaningful romantic relationships, no serious diseases and a good future.

But I knew there had to be more to life than all this. I knew there had to be something deeper and something that would look beyond 80-odd years on planet earth. After much reading, a lot of thought and many debates with brave Jesus followers, I decided to become a follower of Jesus.

That decision had — and continues to have — a profound impact on my life. It greatly affected who I decided to marry and where I now work. It gave me hope — not in things or in people (the first is meaningless and the second will disappoint and hurt and abandon)  — but in a creator who offered me the gift of His Son.

I accepted that gift. Have you ever thought about doing the same? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WAITING ON GOD

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 16, 2014| 4 Comments »

WAITING ON GODHave you met anyone sitting around, drinking margaritas and watching awful TV shows because they have nothing better to do than wait for God to fix stuff?

Me neither. I suspect this graphic, found in an atheist internet community, is making an offhand reference to prayer. If I’ve learned anything from my interactions with atheist people, it’s that almost all of them believe prayer is an idiotic waste of time.

I’m not going to delve into prayer in this essay; you can read my thoughts on the subject here: http://wp.me/p2wzRb-9a

What I will write, however, is perhaps the reason this world is struggling is because people DON’T stop and wait for God to do something. Consider:

  • If we had stopped and waited for God to fix the problem, would organized crime have come to North America? I’m referring to prohibition in the United States during the 1920s. Human actions to reduce alcoholism not only failed, they created negative consequences that are still being felt almost 100 years later.
  • People brought rabbits to Australia and New Zealand for food. What followed was an explosive growth in the rabbit population to the point where they are now major pests in these countries.
  • Still in Australia, people introduced cane toads to control canefield pests. Bad idea. Canefield pests are still there and cane toads are now a major problem in their own right.
  • How often have people, through their governments, introduced rent controls to deal with sky-high rent increases? How often has that resulted in major shortages of rental units – making it nearly impossible for low-income people to find a place to live?

So it’s clear that ignoring God and doing things on our own often makes this world a WORSE place.

Sometimes, I’m guilty of this very mistake. Because I’m part of a culture that lives as if God and Jesus of Nazareth — who many people believe is His divine Son — don’t exist, I get sucked into that same thinking.

I forget to pray about things. I forget to wait on God — even though a wise ancient prophet tells me “The Lord is good to those who wait for him. He is good to those who look for him”. In case I didn’t get it the first time, another ancient prophet says “Be strong and brave and wait for the Lord’s help”.

Patience is a gift I’m continually learning as a follower of Jesus. There are other gifts, too: seeing beyond my ego to what’s truly important; understanding that this world is NOT how God wants it to be; and allowing Jesus to work in my life to make me more like the person He knows I can be.

Do these gifts sound appealing? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHO’S REALLY TO BLAME?

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2014| 6 Comments »

Who's Really to blame?On first reflection, I imagine this graphic, found in an atheist internet community, might strike a chord with some folks.

I mean, isn’t the world grossly unfair? Why do some people have so much while some have so little? And why does God appear to sit on His hands and do nothing about it?

These are valid, important questions. I asked them all before becoming a follower of Jesus of Nazareth at age 42. Once I decided to follow Jesus (who many people believe is God’s Son), I thought long and hard about these questions from my new perspective, because I still needed them answered.

So, consider this:

Some people have a lot and some have very little because of where they live. It’s a lot easier to make a go of it when you’re not struggling to survive drought, typhoons and earthquakes.

Now before you blame God for natural “disasters”, ponder the notion that the world’s rich nations could take in far, far more immigrants. In addition, they could work through agencies like the United Nations to move people away from disaster-prone areas.

The fact that these things don’t happen isn’t an indictment of God. It’s an indictment of US in the developed world. And it’s an indictment of people who won’t move, no matter how bad life gets.

Who says God won’t give them food? Does God give rich people food? Do you really think that’s how the world works?

Furthermore, God DOES give hungry people food. That’s what organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Compassion Canada, Feed The Children, Oxfam and many more do. They provide opportunities for you and me to be the hands and feet of God by using our riches to feed people AND help them feed themselves.

Consider what Jesus tells His followers: “The truth is, anything you refused to do for any of my people here, you refused to do for me” (from one of the original source documents of His life). And please know that Jesus considers ALL people to be worthy of being His.

So, are YOU part of what God is doing to help the hungry? Before I decided to follow Jesus, I was not. Now I am. That’s no credit to me; that’s credit to Jesus, who I invited into my life to make me more like Him.

There are more results from having Jesus in my life.

I’ve become more aware of my many shortcomings and know that through my wife and other Jesus followers, God is working to change me for the better.

I’ve become aware that this world is NOT how God wants it to be. Since deciding to follow Jesus, my ugly ego has been reduced enough to realize that I’m part of that problem. I seek forgiveness from the One who I believe is the only valid judge of humanity. And because I follow Jesus, I know that His sacrificial death and resurrection makes up for my moral crimes. I receive that forgiveness!

Does this sound attractive to you? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHEN LOVE MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2014| 2 Comments »

WHEN LOVE MAKES A DIFFERENCEIs loving God a waste of time? Certainly that’s the opinion of the atheist person who posted this graphic on the internet. And there are occasions when that person is dead-on right.

If loving God makes no difference in your life, then it’s a waste of time.

If loving God doesn’t cause you to love your friends and family more, then it’s a waste of time.

If loving God doesn’t encourage you to love yourself, then it’s a waste of time.

If loving God doesn’t make you want to do more for a world that’s clearly sick and broken, then it’s a waste of time.

Serious followers of Jesus of Nazareth (and I’m one of them) know that despite this world’s horrible problems, God still loves it. In fact, God sent Jesus — who many people believe is His Son — to this world to help fix it.

I can hear some of you saying “How did sending Jesus making one bit of difference? This world is still a mess.” Yes, this world is still a mess. And sometimes, deeply misguided followers of Jesus have contributed to that mess.

That said, consider this: serious Jesus followers believe He died to wipe away ALL the wrongdoings of people who believe in Him. And by rising from the dead, as the original source documents of Jesus’ life describe, He also wiped away the permanence of death.

How does this make any difference? It’s already made a HUGE difference. Energized by what Jesus has done for them, serious Jesus followers have gone on to build hospitals, start universities and do charity work in some of the world’s most hopeless places. That includes treating victims of the Ebola virus in Africa, helping typhoon survivors in the Philippines and building shelters for earthquake victims in Haiti.

All of this happens because people who follow Jesus know that God loves them (and every other person on this planet) beyond all measure. Allowing His divine Son to die on a Roman cross, then bringing Him back to life, is absolute proof of that love.

  • Because I love God, I love my wife and stepchildren MORE.
  • Because I love God, I care about what’s happening in HIS world.
  • Because I love God, I turned away from my insecure greediness and make regular contributions to charities that do amazing work in the name of Jesus.
  • Because I love God, I maintain this website to tell YOU about how loving God and His Son can change your life just as it changed (and continues to change) my life.

Do you see value in loving God and accepting His gift of Jesus? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHO IS YOUR SHEPHERD?

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 5, 2014| 4 Comments »

sheep-1I’m just dying to know: who is NOT a sheep? That’s the first thing I thought when I saw this graphic on an internet atheism community.

The graphic refers to a number of original source documents which describe followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is God’s Son) as sheep. Here’s an example:

I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. (The words of Jesus.)

This hardly paints “sheep” in a negative light. But let’s leave that point and examine the motivation behind the graphic.

Like it or not — and obviously, the creater of this graphic would NOT — every single one of us are sheep. We ALL follow after something or someone. And often times, we are happy to put on blinders to make sure nothing distracts us from being sheep.

There are endless examples. Here is but a taste:

Some of us blindly run after power (the shepherd) and we’re such sheep that we’ll do anything to keep it. Just look at all the people who’ve achieved great political power — former U.S. president Richard Nixon and former Italian prime minister Enrico Berlusconi are two recent examples — then crashed and burned as their power (shepherd) corrupted them.

Fame is another shepherd and its sheep pursue it with unbelievable passion. They’ll sacrifice years of their life to achieve fame, then watch helplessly as our microscopic attention spans aimlessly drift to someone else. In just a few years from now, will anyone remember reality TV stars Kim Kardashian or Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi? Their ‘shepherd’ has already thrown them under the bus.

Then there’s money, an infectious shepherd that bids even the most unsuspecting person to follow. Consider businessman Bernie Madoff, a sheep who followed his shepherd so religiously that he defrauded thousands of investors out of about $65 billion. Madoff spent his final 12 years in prison.

Perhaps the most tempting shepherd is sex. It whispers sweet nothings to pretty much everyone, turning all kinds of people into sheep who will do its bidding until it destroys them. Remember televangelist Jimmy Swaggart? He was twice caught having affairs with prostitutes. Where is his shepherd now?

So, can someone tell me why it’s so terrible to be a sheep to the shepherd of Jesus? When I follow Him passionately, He enters my soul and helps me become a wiser, more generous and thoughtful person.

And as a sheep to Jesus the shepherd, I come to understand that through His sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection, all the bad things I’ve done (and the good things I’ve failed to do) are wiped off the books. God sees me as He sees His son: perfect, without a blemish, and worthy of spending eternity in Heaven.

Does this make sense? If Jesus isn’t your shepherd, then who (or what) is? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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