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Posts Tagged ‘what is Christianity?’

THRIVING IN A SPIRITUAL “CAGE”

Posted in Me & The World, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2026| 1 Comment »

Hmmm. This atheist meme is a puzzler. Ever since encountering it, I’ve been trying to figure out this cage that me and millions of others around the globe happily call home.

Has becoming a follower of Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) somehow stifled our lives? Do I live a pitiful existence, devoid of intelligence, happiness, achievement and empathy for others?

I wish someone smarter than me would provide the answer, because I’m stumped. I imagine some other folks would be stumped too, people like:

  • Justin Barrett (born 1971): an American experimental psychologist and former director of the Thrive Center for Human Development and professor of psychology at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology
  • Suchitra Sebastian: Indian condensed matter physicist and professor of physics at the University of Cambridge. She was named one of thirty “Exceptional Young Scientists” by the World Economic Forum in 2013
  • Jelani Nelson (born 1984): American computer scientist and professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California.
  • Robert B. Mann (born 1955): Canadian professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. He was president of the Canadian Association of Physicists (2009-10).

Can anyone make a credible case for these extraordinary, accomplished Jesus followers living their pitiful lives trapped inside some wretched spiritual cage? Anyone at all?

Justin Barrett, one of these Jesus followers (and there are dozens of them; just check Wikipedia), said “I believe the purpose for people is to love God and love each other.” How on earth can this belief be part of living in a pitiful spiritual cage?

I don’t know much about the “theology” mentioned in the meme. But years of thinking, studying and conversing with thoughtful Jesus followers has convinced me there IS a creator and this creator knows and cares about me. And about YOU.

Further, my thinking/studying/conversing has convinced me (just like it persuaded all the people in my list) that God has a Son that He sent to Earth to show us how to live, how to treat each other and our planet, and how to think about this life and the life to come.

That doesn’t mean Jesus followers are going to have golden lives untouched by temptation and tragedy. In fact, accepting Jesus as Lord, Saviour and best friend often means we’re going to have MORE temptation. There’s a spiritual target painted on our back and this world (which even the most optimistic person will admit isn’t doing very well) will take aim at that target.

But Jesus followers know two things:

  1. Jesus equips His followers with spiritual strength, endurance, peace and other Jesus followers to deal with our challenges.
  2. There is MORE to life than just 70+ years of eating, sleeping, working, having children and going to the bathroom.

Jesus Himself tells His followers this: My Father’s home [Heaven] is designed to accommodate all of you. If there were not room for everyone, I would have told you that. I am going to make arrangements for your arrival. I will be there to greet you personally and welcome you home, where we will be together.

That sounds like really GOOD news to me. What do you think? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.

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WHAT GIVES YOU HOPE?

Posted in Movies & TV, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2018| 2 Comments »

Celebrated former TV talk show host and political commentator Jon Stewart certainly stirs the pot with this pithy statement. But is it true? There are two important points to unpack here.

1. Perhaps “religion” has given some people hope. But from my perspective, religion is absolutely hopeless. If you know any “religious” people, it wouldn’t surprise me if you found them to be negative, judgemental and intolerant of those who don’t follow their rules.

That’s what religion does; it sucks compassion out of people as it divides humanity into “us” and “them”, into right and wrong, into good and bad. It’s just a small step from there to actually persecuting people who aren’t in your religious group (or tribe).

I can tell you right now, if that’s what following Jesus of Nazareth (who many people believe is the Son of God) is all about, I would never have committed my life to following Him.

Thankfully, following Jesus is about a relationship – something entirely different from religion. When you commit yourself to following Jesus, you enter into a relationship where He comes into your life and begins to make you more like Him.

Becoming more like Jesus means that over time, you become more compassionate, more generous, more trusting, more understanding, more loving – in other words, you become the exact opposite of religion.

There’s another part to this relationship. When you trust in Jesus – His life, His remarkable (and challenging!) teachings, His death and, finally, His resurrection – God no longer sees all the wrong things you’ve done and all the right things you haven’t done. All He sees is the perfection of His Son. That means when this life ends, you’ll spend eternity in the joyous, glorious presence of God and Jesus.

2. I may not have any use for “religion”, but I can write with confidence that this world has absolutely NOT been torn apart by religion. It’s been torn apart by the opposite of all the traits of Jesus – greed, intolerance, hate, fear, tribalism and heartless judgmentalism.

Sadly, these are common traits for every human being on this planet, whether or not they’re involved in any kind of “religion”. The solution, for Jon Stewart, for me and for YOU, is a life-changing relationship with Jesus that starts NOW and goes into all eternity.

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

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