Condemning Silence

Listen to: I can’t

There’s a phrase that just drives me up a wall when I hear it.

“I can’t!”

When someone says that, my first instinct is to write them off as either a loser, or someone who just isn’t trying. But then the Lord pointed out that many times it’s true. We can’t!  Coming to that realization in many areas of our lives is exactly what God expects of us. Just as long as we don’t stop there!

The fact is that in so many areas, we can’t. We can’t overcome addictions. We can’t break generational curses. We can’t forgive people like we ought. We can’t love like we should. But God can! God can give us the power to overcome addictions! God can break generational curses! God can give us the ability to forgive! God can transform our hearts to love! God can, and does, take us so far beyond our limitations that He alone can get the credit!

When Moses told God that he couldn’t speak before Pharaoh, Scripture tells us that God got angry at him. After knowing God all his life, and standing before a burning bush, Moses was still so wrapped up in his limitations that he couldn’t see that if God called him to do something, God would give him the power to accomplish it!

We see the same concept repeated constantly in Scripture. Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, Esther, Daniel & Friends, Peter. Everyone of these people were called far beyond what they could do. When we read their stories, we don’t see what they accomplished, we see what God accomplished in spite them!

God calls each of us to something far greater than we can ever dream! We have to acknowledge that we can’t, but we’re willing! From there God takes over, and shows His power and glory to the world through our insignificant lives!

When I started the “Dangerous Christianity” series, I neglected to explain what the series is actually about! So here goes…

To me the term ‘dangerous christianity’ is the intersection of two distinct ideas.
1. Today’s Christianity promotes traditions, and pet doctrines. Churches spend their efforts teaching about, or against, doctrines like healing, fasting, baptism, tongues, and prosperity. These at best are distractions from the life and power that Christ offers. To consume ourselves with what amounts to a selfish gospel is dangerous! It’s dangerous to us, and to those around us. While we create a god that has nothing to do with Christ, our friends and neighbors live in death, longing for a hope that is nowhere to be found in our lives! This kind of Christianity is dangerous!

2. When we move away from this selfish gospel and pursue a real God who is a rewarder of those who seek Him, we find that He offers a fulfilled yet dangerous life! Scripture tells us of a God that calls us to far more than we ever dreamed. He also warns that in order to follow Him, He demands everything! He demands our life, our hopes, our dreams, and our total obedience. We see throughout Scripture examples of the times that He called ordinary people to do the impossible. For them, and for us, taking the step of faith to obey His call would seem to be nothing short of dangerous! But the resulting relationship with our God is more than worth it!

The intersection of those two concepts is where this series lies. Comparing the dangerous selfish gospel with the dangerous power-filled life in God we can see in the contrast where we are and what God offers.

Listen to: Dangerous Christianity: Heaven

How can a good God send good people to Hell?
Can you lose your salvation, or is the sinners prayer your ticket to Heaven?

To hear most Christians talk, the best thing about Heaven is that it’s not Hell! Apparently saying the sinners prayer makes us good people, and that’s why God doesn’t send us to Hell with the rest of those horrible people who aren’t smart enough to follow God. Now no Christian I know would actually admit to the previous sentence, but their lives express it very clearly!

Let’s take a look at what Heaven is, and why you might want to go there.

Heaven is the best of all the afterlife options that you’re offered. It’s a reward for not being as bad as murderers/drug addicts/politicians/etc. It’s the ultimate ‘vacation’ spot. Right?
Wrong!
Heaven is nothing more or less than the opportunity to spend eternity with the One that we love! It’s the marriage, the beginning of the best part of our relationship with the One that we adore! I submit that those who can’t imagine spending an infinite amount of time worshiping their Creator would be absolutely miserable in Heaven!
Heaven isn’t about a lavish retirement place. It isn’t about re-uniting with loved ones. It isn’t about living pain-free. Quite simply, it’s not about us at all! Much of what I hear about Heaven all revolves around us, how wonderful we’re going to feel, how happy we’re going to be, and how comfortable it’s going to be for us.
I don’t buy it! I dream of spending an eternity worshiping and serving in the presence of the One who gave me life! That’s so much more than enough! The happiness, the lack of pain, re-uniting with loved ones all fades into the background when we anticipate bowing down before our Saviour, and worshiping Him! If you could only grasp the magnificence of that thought!

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Phillipians 1:21

How so very true!

Now if the only appeal of Heaven is God’s presence, then why would someone who has rejected God want to spend eternity before Him?
God doesn’t choose to send people to Hell! He offers the choice of living in His presence, or not. The torment of Hell is the separation from His presence and care. On earth, regardless of whether we choose God or not, we enjoy His care, and the bounty of His creation. If we experience His care, and still reject Him, then as we enter eternity, Hell is the only logical option. It’s our choice, not God’s!

When we talk about Heaven, another question tends to quickly arise.
Once we’re saved, can we lose our salvation?
Let’s not beat around the bush. Yes! God tells us over and over that He longs for a relationship with us! He doesn’t say that He’s longing to punch our ticket to His jewelled resort. Anyone can give up on a relationship, and a relationship with God is no different.
I once heard it said that when we ask the question of whether or not we can lose our salvation, we’re really asking how far away from God we can get and still get into Heaven! That’s the wrong question! We should be asking ourselves how close can we get to God! When that’s your focus, you’ll find that a ton of ‘doctrinal issues’ like this disappear, or just look plain stupid!

Here’s what it boils down to: Your life can be full and overflowing by having a real relationship with a real God. When you have that kind of relationship, the anticipation of Heaven is almost unbearable, and the desire for others to experience that relationship is nothing short of overwhelming. On the flip side, if that anticipation and desire isn’t there, perhaps it’s time to do some searching for God!

Listen to: Proof: A Study in Arrogance

Is there a difference between the truth and proof? I have talked to many friends who claim to be searching for God, especially in science. Having pursued a similar life-defining search earlier in life, I can relate well with them. Is God real? Is He worth following? Which religion is right? Can we know? How do the records of history weigh in on our decision? What about science, does it even allow for the possibility of a God? How can we know for sure?

These are real questions, and the answers have major implications not just in our personal lives, but to the problems and heartaches that plague our little planet. As the Bible challenges us, we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

But in some of the discussions that I’ve had, there is a theme cropping up that I’ve noticed. Everyone seems to be looking for proof. Now that seems like a fantastic thing! Really, it does! But there’s a problem. Proof is not the same as truth! Whether or not we can prove something does not make it any more or less true! Regardless of whether we can prove that the earth revolves around the sun, it either does or doesn’t! It did long before we thought it did, and will continue whether or not we believe it does. The infuriating thing about truth is that it stands independent of our ability to understand it.

Now why does that matter in our “God search”? If you’re only willing to believe God when you see the proof, you may never find Him, even though He exists! Especially if you’re only willing to accept certain kinds of proof(I’ll touch on that in a moment)! You see, the problem with searching for proof instead of searching for the truth is one of arrogance. Refusing to acknowledge that God exists until you see proof is saying that you are capable of grasping the full complexity of the universe and able to understand everything that can be known. In essence, you are pre-disposed to never find a God because you have already set yourself up in His place!

The most popular, and perhaps the worst kind of search is searching for proof of God in science. Science being the unbiased observation of the world around us. Now I love science. I love the way the scientific method paves the way for us to extend our understanding of the world around us faster than ever in history. It reduces error, put’s to rest urban legends, and silences old wives tales, leaving in their place innovation, advancement, and efficiency. But there are a few limits to science that we have to keep in mind.

First, science can’t prove anything. It never has, and it never will. Any good scientist can tell you that this is the very bedrock premise of science. It can only eliminate possibilities. Often we say that science proved this or that, but in fact research and observation only eliminated all the other probable explanations that we could think of. In the future, a less probable explanation might rear it’s head after more observation, and be shown to be more accurate!

Secondly, science is limited to our physical world. This is because science relies on repeatable observation by human beings. If something exists beyond our capability to observe, then it lies far outside the reach of science. Now the ‘theory of God’, if you will, proposes that God, as creator of the universe, necessarily exists and operates outside of the universe He created. Thus trying to prove this theory with science alone will always fail and lead to confusion.

Philosophy offers similar limitations. Philosophy relies on our own intellect, and our ability to fully grasp the ideas debated. To rely solely on one or two disciplines to ‘prove’ there is a God, and refusing to believe in Him otherwise is no different than me saying that I won’t believe that Washington was president unless I speak to him in my house! In the end, I would only find what I anticipated finding, simply because I ignorantly eliminated all other possibilities before I even started looking!

So if science and philosophy can’t prove God, then how can we know with confidence whether or not He exists? The ‘theory of God’ proposes that the world around us provides evidence that points towards a God. It suggests that if we look, we’ll see a world created by God, and see the effect of a creator within it. It’s not proof, it’s more like arrows pointing us down the right path. Scripture also proposes that we’ll see evidence of God in those who truly follow Him. It says that we’ll know them by their love. You see when we accept God’s love, it transforms us in a way that nothing on earth can duplicate or explain, and that love radiates from those who love Him to those around them.

Another way that we can know whether God exists is that when we dig past the distractions and lies that we tell ourselves, we see in our heart that there is a longing that can only be filled by our Creator.

So my challenge is this: Search! Search with everything that you have. Leave no stone unturned! But first, answer the question of: what you’re really looking for? Are you searching for an excuse to live life as you please? Are you searching for a way to become a better person? Are you looking for proof that you don’t need a God? Or are you searching for the truth, no matter what it is? The answer to that is a matter of life and death!

This post begins a series called ‘Dangerous Christianity’

For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12

How many times have you heard the Bible referred to as the Word of God? There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but when they become synonymous, there’s a problem. You see, the Bible is part of the Word of God, but not the only part. Why does this matter? Treating the Word of God as the only channel through which God communicates to us is like trying to maintain a relationship on love letters alone. Scripture tells us that God communicates with us in more ways, and it’s critical that we accept this.

I’ve seen to many people that spend their lives reading the Bible, and talking at God, whose lives would indicate that they have no idea that they’re supposed to be in a relationship. I think using the Bible as the only source of information about God is a safety net, and in some cases, a cop-out.

It’s easier for denominations to exist, and churches to operate if we are able to use a god that comes with an instruction manual. It’s easier when we have a God that doesn’t instruct people to do ludicrous things like go bury clothes 300 miles away, marry a prostitute, kill their kids as test of faith, or tell a king to let half a million slaves leave. It’s safer for churches to be able to identify themselves with a certain set of beliefs. After all, we wouldn’t want to go to the wrong type of church and hear something that made us uncomfortable!

As long as we stick to our church doctrines and traditions, we keep God(at least our version of God) in a box . On special occasions we may even ‘bring him out’ for healing, tongues, or soul-winning just as long as He doesn’t do anything contrary to our set of doctrines! And heaven forbid if He meddles with my life outside of Sunday without my request!

But the God that I serve deserves and demands it all! My entire life. My pride. My dreams. And if He asks something crazy, as long as I’m spending time with Him, I’ll know His voice well enough to know it’s from Him, and trust Him enough to do it. What a novel idea!

Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, – 1 John 4:1,2