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Posts Tagged ‘theology’

HITTING THE ‘DELETE’ KEY

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 23, 2013| 8 Comments »

DeleteKeyI think all us email users can agree on this: often, there is no better button on our keyboard than ‘delete’.

“Earn your degree while you earn a living!” DELETE.

“Browse local Asian singles near you!” DELETE.

“Prepare for a job in law enforcement!” DELETE.

(Ever notice how these spammers are addicted to exclamation marks?)

“Don’t pay your next cable bill without reading this!” DELETE.

As we go through this routine, it occurs to me that most of us probably wish we could whack a delete key on some things that we’ve done and said. Or things we should have done & said, but didn’t.

  • I’d love to erase the hurtful things I’ve said to my wife.
  • I wish I could delete those times I’ve cut off other drivers.
  • I’d sure like to wipe out all those negative thoughts I’ve had about my abilities.
  • I wish I could delete those times when I’ve reacted hastily without getting all the facts.
  • Wouldn’t it be great to erase that dumb thing I did at work last week?

For people like me, who’ve decided to follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God), there’s a great thing to know and make a part of our lives: God’s favourite button is also DELETE.

The mistakes I’ve made? Gone. Those times I should have said something helpful to a co-worker, but simply walked away silent? Wiped out.  That relationship that went sour because of me? Eliminated.

How about you? The contractor you paid under the table to avoid taxes? It could be gone. Those nasty things you’ve thought or said about your relative? They could be wiped out.

How far can this go? If you believe in a creator who cares about everything that goes on in our lives, then all the way to something this trivial: all the occasions when I carelessly deposited perfectly recyclable things into the garbage? Deleted.

How do I know this? Well, consider these words from an ancient Jesus follower: “Jesus was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people.”

One of those people is me. And it could be YOU, too.

If you accept this sacrifice, another ancient Jesus follower wrote “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

As a pastor friend, Adrian van Giessen, told people once, “When you belong to Jesus, then all the stuff that God can look at and say ‘you did this and you did that,’ he wipes it away and says, ‘I see you as I see Jesus’.”

I looooooove having God see me, with all my glow-in-the-dark imperfections, just as He sees His Son: perfect, without a single blemish. It empowers me to do better, to try to live up to how God sees me – even as I know that when I fall short, He hits the DELETE key, because, as Adrian put it, I “belong to Jesus”.

What do you think…does this make sense? Post a comment below and let’s have a conversation.

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A TASTY CARROT OR A NASTY STICK?

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2013| 2 Comments »

HeavenAndHell2Now this is a curiosity.

I wrote a Frank’s Cottage essay about a survey indicating the promise of Heaven is far more motivating than the fear of Hell in encouraging church attendance and prayer.

Kinda makes sense, right? The tasty carrot is better than the nasty stick, goes the thinking.

Then I heard from an old friend, Tim Callaway, who’s doing university research and stumbled upon statistics that indicate a very different story.

These stats are by no means a definitive indicator, but they are consistent. In the 1930s and ’40s, surveys of 100 to 200 students somewhere in North America (sorry, this ancient stuff has no further details) consistently indicated fear of Hell was far more motivating to become a follower of Jesus of Nazareth than the love of God. In many of those years, the numbers were so lopsided that the love motivation was less than 10 per cent.

Huh? The huge difference between then and now is so puzzling that I bounced this disparity off a pastor buddy, Ross Carkner, to get his feedback.

“I wonder if the change has more to do with the nature of society at large,” Ross emailed me. “I think in the 1930s and ’40s, there was a different mindset.  The world had just come through one war and was posturing or in the middle of another.  The planet was covered in gloom.”

Between the wars and the ruined dreams of the 1930s Great Depression, Ross wondered, “If there was a sense that all you could do was make the most of what you had. This was the builder generation. Work hard and you might get by. This is very different than the baby boomers … the builders were set on making the most of what they had, the boomers were about getting more.”

This makes sense to me. As Ross put it, “I think against that kind of a backdrop, perhaps the builders were open to hearing that ‘things could get worse’ [i.e. the nasty stick of Hell], while the boomers wanted to hear about how ‘things could get better’ [the tasty carrot of Heaven]”.

If this assessment is accurate, then it comes with a subtle suggestion: many people’s ideas about God depend on the world around them. That’s not surprising, but then I remember something an ancient follower of Jesus wrote: “Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.”

I also think of a story about Jesus defending a woman who was brought up on charges of adultery. He told her accusers, who wanted to stone her to death (fooling around on your spouse was serious business in the ancient world), that anyone who’d never done anything wrong could go ahead and throw a stone.

Eventually, all of the woman’s accusers walked away. That left Jesus to do nothing more than tell the woman to go home and don’t commit adultery again.

For me, this event is a powerful example of who God is. And when I realize that he doesn’t change, I see that the ultimate picture of God is incredibly positive. And that’s a picture I want to keep, no matter what happens to me or to the world.

So if you believe in God, what’s your ultimate picture of him? And does it motivate you to do something about your spiritual life?

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VALENTINE’S DAY & THE GIFT OF ACCEPTANCE

Posted in Special Days, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 9, 2013| 27 Comments »

heartFebruary 14 is almost here and that leads me to asking all the guys out there a question: how many of you like Valentine’s Day?

Now that I’m a happily married stepdad, I don’t mind the day. Much.

But when I was single — and most of the time that meant unattached — Valentine’s Day was something to be endured and ignored. Like a split lip or a bunion.

I felt as if I was walking around with a neon beanie that screamed “I’m alone! I suck! I’m not good enough for anyone with two X chromosomes! Even the neighbour’s cat hates me!”

And feeling left out? Let me tell you about that. On February 14, guys like me stood outside, peering in the window at all the attached people inside the grand Valentine’s mansion. They all seemed to be floating on happy pills. I was still hobbling with that bunion.

The day can be treacherous for attached guys, too. The marketing world works hard to convince women they need and deserve certain gifts (or ‘experiences’) on Valentine’s Day. And in some cases, if they don’t receive those gifts, the guy gets a couple of nights to share fleas with Fido. In other words, the best some attached guys can do, is NOT get into trouble. And they can sweat away several pounds thinking, consulting, and shopping to make sure they don’t fall short.

If you consider these scenarios carefully, you’ll probably come to the same conclusion as me: they all address the need for acceptance. Male or female, most single people want a relationship — or at least the opportunity for one — and with that, the collective voice of society assuring them they don’t suck.

For attached people, there’s the desire for acceptance from their mate. And often, this world suggests that acceptance — and, therefore, value — depends on what they received compared to their attached friends. Did they get a singing card and Toblerone bar, or 48 roses and an expensive night out?

All this certainly seems fraught with peril, like walking through an emotional minefield waiting for something to blow up in your face. Then I remember a pretty cool thing written by one of the earliest followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God): “In Jesus’s family, there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us, you are all equal.”

In other words, God accepts us exactly as we are, with all our imperfections, fears and life stories.

We don’t have to give, or receive, gifts or ‘experiences’ to be accepted. In fact, we don’t even have to have a special loved one to be accepted. That’s not what our culture may tell you, but it’s already happened with the most important person you can ever know: Jesus of Nazareth. So if Valentines’ Day brings on decidedly mixed emotions, this may be good to keep mind.

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THE CARROT OF HEAVEN, THE STICK OF HELL

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2013| 5 Comments »

HeavenAndHellReady to take the world’s briefest psychology test? Okay, here goes: which would persuade you to become a person of faith – the promise of Heaven or the threat of Hell?

According to the results of a 32-country study by researchers at universities in Spain and Israel, it’s no contest.

“When heaven and hell are considered valid final destinations, researchers find the notion of eternal bliss is three times more powerful than that of eternal damnation in shaping church attendance and frequency of prayer.” This is from a story in the Windsor Star, a Canadian newspaper.

Is this surprising? When I read the article, I was taken back to the beginnings of my own faith journey. I’ve always believed in a creator, but I decided to follow Jesus in 1990, mostly because I started listening to spiritual rock and pop music and, through that, discovered a positive, loving, closer-than-close God.

Since then, the trip has had rocky moments, primarily because I had faith issues which I didn’t think I could bring to anyone without them wondering about my “salvation”.

In other words, I thought someone was going to tell me if I kept asking hard questions, I could end up in Hell. So I went from embracing the ‘carrot’ (the attraction of a loving God) to running from the ‘stick’ (the threat of God’s damnation).

The story didn’t end there, of course. (If it did, I wouldn’t be writing this essay.) After a long time and many discussions with intelligent, compassionate, non-judgmental followers of Jesus of Nazareth – there are more of them around than you might think – I came back to Jesus.

If I had returned to the faith because those discussions centered around the ‘stick’ – avoiding Hell – I would likely be the poster boy for judgmental, unpleasant religion. I’d be following Jesus only to appease an angry God who doesn’t love me – or anyone else, for that matter – and doesn’t have my best interests at heart.

But he does. One of Jesus’ earliest followers wrote “God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death [to pay for all the bad things we did and still do] while we were of no use whatever to him.”

It’s this love, plus the promise of a life-long, day-by-day relationship with Jesus, and a future in Heaven, that brought me to this place of faith.

I’m not about to deny the truth and suggest there isn’t a Hell and that it doesn’t influence people’s faith journeys. But more importantly, there is a God who wants every single person on this planet – including YOU – with Him in Heaven.

Does that suggest it might be time to rethink your priorities?

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AN ‘IMAGINARY’ RELATIONSHIP?

Posted in It's Not About 'Religion', tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 26, 2013| 13 Comments »

ReligionThe other day, I encountered a blog by someone named David Foster who disputed the claim I and many others have made: that Christianity is about a relationship with God through Jesus of Nazareth, rather than an ‘organized religion’.

“Even if this ‘being’, which you claim to have a relationship with, does exist, your worshipping of him or her still constitutes a religion,” David writes. “I would say the same about people whose praise of their boyfriend or girlfriend crosses the line into worship.”

An interesting point. But just because many people worship God and his son, Jesus, doesn’t make it a religion. Many people believe God made this entire universe, including the air you are breathing as you read this essay. You and I would not be alive without some sort of creator, so why shouldn’t He be worshipped? And that’s the precise reason why worshipping God is nothing like worshipping your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend.

Another point from the David Foster blog:  “To me, it seems that Christians are simply believing in something they were indoctrinated to believe in, usually since childhood.”

Okay, then, David. How do you explain me? My entire biological family bought into the ridicule our culture has for Jesus and abandoned Him decades ago. Until 2002, I was with them 100 per cent. Yet, I changed – and it wasn’t because of an awful crisis, either.

So my question remains, David: how do you explain me and so many others who were NOT ‘indoctrinated’ into following Jesus, yet they still made a life-changing commitment to Him?

Finally, David Foster makes this assertion: “To me, the relationship Christians have with Jesus is in no way distinguishable from the relationship children have with their imaginary friends. I’ll change my mind in the event a Christian demonstrates that Jesus can do something tangible that an imaginary friend cannot.”

There are all kinds of examples of Jesus doing what most of us would consider nearly impossible. Off the top of my head, I think of Michael ‘Bull’ Roberts, a man who graduated from a horrific childhood to become a gang leader who ran most of the drug trade in the Canadian province of Alberta.

Michael’s ‘friends’ in the drug world eventually turned on him, beating him savagely and leaving him for dead. In the aftermath, he turned to Jesus.

Today? No more gang activity. No more drug dealing. No more violence. In fact, Michael now spends his time helping street kids, society’s outcasts and people in prisons.

I suppose if David Foster and other skeptics want to credit Michael’s new life to an ‘imaginary friend’, they will find a way. But wouldn’t that position smack of the very desperation that David attributes to Jesus followers?

So what about you? Where do you stand on the notion of Christianity being a relationship rather than a religion? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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THE MYTH OF SUCCESS

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 19, 2013| 11 Comments »

PatrickSwayzeI was reading a revealing and intimate Rolling Stone magazine interview with TV star Don Johnson (Miami Vice, Nash Bridges) when one quote struck me hugely.

“I remember a seminal moment, standing on the back deck of my ranch in Aspen. I’m a big star, I’ve got all this s..t, airplanes, cars, boats, a stream running down by my house and I’m going ‘Wow, this is really f…ing amazing. Why am I so miserable?’ ”

Then I recalled something from The Time of my Life, the biography written by movie star Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Ghost) and his wife, Lisa, before his 2009 death from pancreatic cancer.

Looking back at the life-transforming success of 1987’s Dirty Dancing, Swazye wrote, “When the thing you’ve been fighting for is suddenly in your grasp, it’s all too easy to look around and say – is that all there is?”

What fascinates me about these quotes is both men achieved exactly what our world says is the pinnacle of success. International fame, good looks, adoring fans and endless financial riches were theirs. As if that was somehow inadequate, Johnson had all the women he ever needed and Swayze had a rich, life-long marriage.

DonJohnsonSo what’s the deal with these puzzling quotes? How could these men be thinking such crazy things when our culture insists they couldn’t possibly need anything more?

Let me venture to write that our culture is dead wrong. No matter who we are are or where life has taken us, we DO need more – even more than the love of a spouse and family.

Where am I going with this? Consider these words, written more than 300 years ago by Blaise Pascal:

“There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

Think that’s just crazy talk from some dead guy who didn’t know much? Um, Pascal was a mathematician, a physicist, a philosopher, an inventor and a writer. According to Wikipedia, he invented the mechanical calculator, the hydraulic press and the syringe. So it might be time to revise that opinion.

Beyond Pascal’s resume, consider how, all these centuries later, people like Patrick Swayze and Don Johnson are continuing to prove him right.

So what about you…Do you figure more money, a promotion at work, a new house or a ‘significant other’ upgrade will make everything good? Maybe it’s time to seriously ponder what Pascal said. Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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THE SNOW ON OUR LANDSCAPES

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2013| 2 Comments »

SnowFranksCottageThere’s nothing like a blanket of fresh snow to get the nature photographer in me excited.

That snow creates endless picture opportunities because it covers up all manner of unappealing features (a majority of them man-made, I’ve found) that ruin otherwise good photo subjects.

Covered with snow, they disappear and landscapes are transformed into smooth, white wonders that dazzle even the most cynical, unartistic eye. I’ve come to realize this reality is also a metaphor for our lives.

My less appealing characteristics – pride, jealousy, selfishness, lack of communication (I’m sure you can name a few that apply to you) – are like ugly piles of smelly garbage on a pristine landscape.

So what is the ‘snow’ that covers them up? It’s nothing you or I can provide, no matter how long and hard we try. But consider this quote written by an ancient prophet: “Even if your sins are as dark as red dye, that stain can be removed and you will be as pure as wool that is as white as snow.”

That’s a pretty important statement because it tells me that God, my creator, can undo everything I’ve done to ruin the landscape of my life. He has a standing offer to transform the ugly parts of all our lives – the bad things we’ve done and the good things we’ve failed to do – through Jesus of Nazareth, an amazing guy who many people believe is His Son.

Jesus paid the price to have ugly parts of our lives removed from God’s sight through His death and resurrection. He’s the snow that transforms our landscapes and God offers Him to every person on this planet because God knows us better than we know ourselves. And He knows we can’t fix things on our own.

Want evidence? Then how about these words from one of Jesus’s earliest and most influential followers: “There is only one God, and there is only one way that people can reach God. That way is through Christ Jesus, who as a man gave himself to pay for everyone to be free.”

So, how is your landscape looking today? Like it or not, I’ll bet it needs some cleaning up and I’ll bet you haven’t been able to do that. So, is it time you checked out God’s offer to do it for you? Post your answer below and let’s have a conversation.

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JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER

Posted in In The News, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 5, 2013| 5 Comments »

Do we judge a book by its cover? Check out these unbelievably different ways of living in this world and decide for yourself.

The first is illustrated by a short and horrible 2009 news story about a 38-year-old former Miss Argentina who left her twin children without a mother. Why? Because she died from complications after undergoing cosmetic surgery to improve her behind. Yes, she gave up everything in this life to get a tighter butt.

What’s just as sad is this article was classified on the website as ‘weird news’. I wouldn’t call it weird and I doubt her children would. How about you?

Then I read an email about aging that was forwarded to me by my dad. A very telling paragraph says this: “I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.”

Which philosophy do you think dominates North American life?
Which point of view keeps the wheels of commerce moving?
Which approach is celebrated by clothing designers, fashion magazines and entertainment TV programs?
Which segment of the population is on the receiving end of barbs from many comedians and talk show hosts?

I’m as guilty as the next person of giving a thumbs-up to butt-tucks, botox treatments, breast implants and teeth-whitening procedures. Oh, I may not consciously support this kind of shallow-as-a-mud puddle thinking which declares whoever makes the most attractive corpse wins (wins what??). But I’ve grown up in middle-class society and often can’t detect how I’ve been guided down this path.

Then I recall something from an ancient writer: “You [God] know me inside and out, You hold me together, You never fail to stand me tall in Your presence so I can look You in the eye.”

This tells me God doesn’t look at me the way this world does. God sees me primarily from the inside: my personality, attitudes, prejudices, motivations, decisions, likes and dislikes, etc. And unlike our culture, He’s not fooled by cosmetic surgery.

Better still, wherever I stand with God’s ‘assessment system’, I can be forgiven, strengthened and turned in the right direction so I can look Him in the eye. All I need to do is follow His Son Jesus of Nazareth, whose sacrificial death and resurrection made up for all the wrong things I’ve done and the right things I haven’t done. And it won’t matter if my butt is big or my teeth are stained or my face is wrinkled.

I call this good news. Do you?

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YOUR 20-DOLLAR VALUE

Posted in Me & The World, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2012| 10 Comments »

moneyIt’s a refrain many people have said (or thought) and it usually goes like this: “I’m a screw-up; God doesn’t want to bother with me.” Or how about this variation: “God doesn’t care about me ‘cause I’ve done way too much bad stuff.” And finally, this one: “I can’t do any of that religion stuff ’til I get my act together.”

To all these statements, I present this neat little story: the pastor stood before many hundreds of people and asked if anyone had a mint-condition 20-dollar bill he could borrow. Someone put up their hand and handed over the cash.

The pastor held up the money and asked how many people saw value in this piece of paper. Hands shot up from all around the church. Great. Then he scrunched up the 20-dollar bill, tossed it on the ground and vigorously stepped on it.

After that, he picked up the beaten-up bill, held it high and once again asked how many people saw value in it. The same number of hands shot up.

Well, how about that? In perfect shape or beaten up and tattered, the congregation still saw the money as having worth.

If that’s the case for people and 20 bucks, why wouldn’t it be the case for the creator of the universe and us incredibly imperfect humans?

Looking for evidence? One of the earliest followers of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) wrote this:  “God showed his great love for us by sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners.”

See? He didn’t hold back his compassion for us and His interest in every part of our lives until we cleaned up our act. God moved FIRST, knowing that we can never truly get our act together enough. God moved FIRST, knowing that something had to be done so people like me can have all our wrongs righted by believing in and following Jesus.

I’m about as imperfect as the most tattered, dirty and beaten-up 20-dollar bill you’re ever going to see. But to the creator of all that is good and right, I’m as valuable as the newest, cleanest, most perfect piece of currency you could possibly find.

The same is true for YOU. God proved it through Jesus and offers YOU a place in eternity with Him. Interested in knowing more about this offer? Post your questions below and let’s have a conversation

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‘TIL THE SOUL FELT ITS WORTH

Posted in Special Days, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 22, 2012| 4 Comments »

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

I’ll bet you don’t have to think long to match the melody with the lyrics of this well-loved Christmas carol. I’ll also bet that like me, some of the subtleties of the words have passed by unnoticed.

But someone brought up the verse above at work the other day and pondered the line “‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth”. Any idea what it means? Here’s my interpretation: ‘He’ is Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is the Son of God. The inference in this lyric is that His arrival, and all that it meant, caused people to feel valued in a new way.

The lyric makes sense to me because according to original-source biographies of Jesus’ physical time on earth, His birth was first announced not to the Brad Pitts, King Charles or Taylor Swifts of that time, but to a group of smelly sheep herders. It was the first of many, many times when Jesus would level the playing field between the haves and have-nots of this world.

Some faiths adhere to a “caste” system that ranks people’s value. Others faiths advocate violence against those who do not agree with their beliefs.

Meanwhile, those original-source biographies describe how Jesus casually did the unthinkable for a Jew in ancient Israel: he had a very public conversation with a non-Jewish woman, and she was of questionable repute, too. Because of what he did, her soul felt a new worth.

Is that model being carried out today by followers of Jesus? Yes. Consider that a majority of prison ministries are run by Jesus followers. Why? Because the criminals we’ve locked away as dangerous and useless are of huge value to God. In fact, they have the same value as you and me. Looking for proof? One of Jesus’ earliest and most influential followers wrote this: “Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God’s glory.”

Notice how it doesn’t say criminals have sinned more? Notice how it doesn’t say religious leaders or Nobel Prize winners have sinned less? That statement is a great equalizer for all of us, just as it was a great equalizer for the woman Jesus encountered.

The good news that Jesus followers celebrate at Christmas is God sent Jesus for all people. The evidence is this excerpt from one of His biographies: “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.”

Again, notice there are no exceptions listed? That’s the unique thing about following Jesus. Because our souls have equal worth to God (regardless of who we are or what we’ve done or haven’t done), we all have a chance to accept God’s extraordinary Christmas gift and find new meaning in our lives. So what’s holding you back?

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