(Which, strangely, is some of the same advice that some adults give me when giving advice (unasked) about how to find a spouse...)
“HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHOM TO MARRY?”
No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with. -Kirsten, age 10
“WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?”
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then. -Camille, age 10
“WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?”
Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough. -Lynnette, age 8
On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date. -Martin, age 10 (wise beyond his years)
“WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?”
I'd run home and play dead. The next day I would call all the newspapers and make sure they wrote about me in all the dead columns. -Craig, age 9 (extreme, but likely effective)
“WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?”
When they're rich. -Pam, age 7 (we all know a "Pam")
“IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?”
It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them. -Mike, age 4 (bless you child)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Grace Abuse
It seems that we sometimes take the idea of the grace of God and amplify it beyond what is Biblical. The Bible says in Romans that where our “sin abounded grace abounded the more” (5:20). It’s true, and God is really a God of grace and a God of mercy, but at some point along the way, if we are not careful, we may shake off the memory of Mt. Sinai and lose our sense of the holy. That attitude can lead to flippant worship.
We can come to Him with boldness, but not carelessness.
I need to be qualify that phrase above:“lose our sense of the holy,” I don't mean that we should be legalists. That's not what I'm stating at all. What do I mean by legalism? Majoring on the externals and making the non-essentials vital. Oftentimes people elevate preference to the point of the truth. When that happens, they have committed a sacrilege by legalism. I’m reminded of the Pharisees who took the traditions of men and taught them as the command of God...
Matt. 15:7-9 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
Some may take the holy and make it profane, but some take the profane and make it holy.
So when I speak of "losing the sense of the holy," I'm not speaking of reverting to legalism (which, in itself, is a slap to the holiness of God in that legalism basically says that we can do enough good things to earn, nay, deserve the approval of God. I'm reminded of the statement that one made: "If holiness were just a matter of following a set of rules and doing certain things at a certain time in a certain way, then a computer could be programmed to be holy.")
I'm glad that God relates to us with the grace found in Christ. Grace is shown in Jesus taking my own sinfulness upon Himself and giving me His righteousness. It’s the Grand Cosmic Exchange. I can't very well be proud, simply because I didn't do anything to earn His righteousness and holiness. It is a gift from God.
When I came to Christ, it was not a matter of God becoming less holy than He is in the Old Testament, but about a human becoming a new creation for His glory and being given His holiness. He is still holy.
Is. 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones."
In the past, people would go to God and fall before Him, weeping over sin, mourning over those things displeasing to Him, shaking in the presence of One who is completely holy.
Unfortunately, when we think of holiness we don’t usually equate it with being broken, instead, we immediately think of “you must do this" or "you must not do that" and push ourselves back into legalistic thinking.
Remember: Our life with Christ is not a series of regulations that we attempt to follow, but it is a relationship to enjoy. There are things we should keep ourselves from, and certainly there are things we are to do in order to be obedient to him. But that is not the whole of it; we can't reduce a life with Him to a checklist.
Far too often we leave the doctrine of the Cross at salvation, and fail to apply it to the rest of our lives. Our lives as Christians are wrapped in the Cross. I often ask, “When does eternal life begin for you as a Christian?” It does not begin when you die; it begins at the moment of salvation. You become a new creation, and you start living eternally from that very moment. Our eternity is wrapped up in what Jesus did on the cross. But we often fail to live like it now.
So how are we to live with this knowledge of the Cross? How is it that we are to approach living this life with that mindset? The answer is found largely in the idea of sacrifice.
Just as on Mount Sinai blood was shed to consecrate and purify, in the Temple blood was shed for the same reason essentially: to cover and atone for sin. And Jesus shed His blood on behalf of our sin. Yet there is a difference in these sacrifices that we find in the book of Hebrews in that the blood of these animals was shed year after year, after year, after year. Jesus offered a once for all sacrifice, a sacrifice that need not be repeated because it was perfect (Heb. 9:11-15).
Do you think those bulls, those oxen, the sheep and goats, and the doves that were sacrificed under the Levitical system understood why they were being sacrificed? Do you think they had a comprehension of that? Of course not.
They didn’t...but Jesus did. Jesus understood. You don’t find Jesus on the Cross saying, "I don't really get why I must go through this; this makes no sense. I don't really understand this ‘sins-of-the-world-being-placed-upon-Me’ idea." We do find Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane, agonizing over what is before Him, facing the dread of being separated from the Father by bearing the sins of humanity. Matthew relates:
Mt. 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
“Not My will but Your will be done.”
We find Him saying earlier that He had come to do "the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34; 6:38). Unlike the sacrificial animals, Jesus knew exactly what He was facing, He knew why He was dying, He laid His life down on His own accord…He said so (John 10:18). So just as the animals were sacrificed, their blood was sacrificed, their lives were taken, their physical life ended...they did not understand.
Christ sacrificed His body, His physical life, and shed His blood, but you can’t ignore the fact that He also sacrificed His will. His sacrifice was voluntary. He surrendered to the will of the Father. So the Cross then is not just the surrendering of His physical life, but the surrendering of His very will.
And it's the same for us. Sometimes we get so caught up in the externals, the trappings, the appearance of Christianity that we don't focus upon our wills and what’s going on inside of us. Jesus did not die so that you can have better self-esteem, and so that you could look better to those around you, and be well-liked, more appealing, accepted by society, and have your “ticket punched” so that you would have eternal life when you die.
Approaching a holy God means that you not only surrender your physical life, but that you surrender your personal will. Your desires, your glory, what you believe is best...you sacrifice all of it for His desires, His glory, and what He knows is best. That's not legalism, that's living a crucified life.
The writer of Hebrews gives us an understandin of how we approach our God...The Holy One:
Heb. 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
We have been given grace, but let us never separate that grace from godly fear. Why? “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Ex. 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
He’s still the Holy One.
He says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). He doesn't say, "Act holy, for I am holy."
Don't just do, be. Live a life crucified, in body and will, to the Holy One.
We can come to Him with boldness, but not carelessness.
I need to be qualify that phrase above:“lose our sense of the holy,” I don't mean that we should be legalists. That's not what I'm stating at all. What do I mean by legalism? Majoring on the externals and making the non-essentials vital. Oftentimes people elevate preference to the point of the truth. When that happens, they have committed a sacrilege by legalism. I’m reminded of the Pharisees who took the traditions of men and taught them as the command of God...
Matt. 15:7-9 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
Some may take the holy and make it profane, but some take the profane and make it holy.
So when I speak of "losing the sense of the holy," I'm not speaking of reverting to legalism (which, in itself, is a slap to the holiness of God in that legalism basically says that we can do enough good things to earn, nay, deserve the approval of God. I'm reminded of the statement that one made: "If holiness were just a matter of following a set of rules and doing certain things at a certain time in a certain way, then a computer could be programmed to be holy.")
I'm glad that God relates to us with the grace found in Christ. Grace is shown in Jesus taking my own sinfulness upon Himself and giving me His righteousness. It’s the Grand Cosmic Exchange. I can't very well be proud, simply because I didn't do anything to earn His righteousness and holiness. It is a gift from God.
When I came to Christ, it was not a matter of God becoming less holy than He is in the Old Testament, but about a human becoming a new creation for His glory and being given His holiness. He is still holy.
Is. 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones."
In the past, people would go to God and fall before Him, weeping over sin, mourning over those things displeasing to Him, shaking in the presence of One who is completely holy.
Unfortunately, when we think of holiness we don’t usually equate it with being broken, instead, we immediately think of “you must do this" or "you must not do that" and push ourselves back into legalistic thinking.
Remember: Our life with Christ is not a series of regulations that we attempt to follow, but it is a relationship to enjoy. There are things we should keep ourselves from, and certainly there are things we are to do in order to be obedient to him. But that is not the whole of it; we can't reduce a life with Him to a checklist.
Far too often we leave the doctrine of the Cross at salvation, and fail to apply it to the rest of our lives. Our lives as Christians are wrapped in the Cross. I often ask, “When does eternal life begin for you as a Christian?” It does not begin when you die; it begins at the moment of salvation. You become a new creation, and you start living eternally from that very moment. Our eternity is wrapped up in what Jesus did on the cross. But we often fail to live like it now.
So how are we to live with this knowledge of the Cross? How is it that we are to approach living this life with that mindset? The answer is found largely in the idea of sacrifice.
Just as on Mount Sinai blood was shed to consecrate and purify, in the Temple blood was shed for the same reason essentially: to cover and atone for sin. And Jesus shed His blood on behalf of our sin. Yet there is a difference in these sacrifices that we find in the book of Hebrews in that the blood of these animals was shed year after year, after year, after year. Jesus offered a once for all sacrifice, a sacrifice that need not be repeated because it was perfect (Heb. 9:11-15).
Do you think those bulls, those oxen, the sheep and goats, and the doves that were sacrificed under the Levitical system understood why they were being sacrificed? Do you think they had a comprehension of that? Of course not.
They didn’t...but Jesus did. Jesus understood. You don’t find Jesus on the Cross saying, "I don't really get why I must go through this; this makes no sense. I don't really understand this ‘sins-of-the-world-being-placed-upon-Me’ idea." We do find Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane, agonizing over what is before Him, facing the dread of being separated from the Father by bearing the sins of humanity. Matthew relates:
Mt. 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
“Not My will but Your will be done.”
We find Him saying earlier that He had come to do "the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34; 6:38). Unlike the sacrificial animals, Jesus knew exactly what He was facing, He knew why He was dying, He laid His life down on His own accord…He said so (John 10:18). So just as the animals were sacrificed, their blood was sacrificed, their lives were taken, their physical life ended...they did not understand.
Christ sacrificed His body, His physical life, and shed His blood, but you can’t ignore the fact that He also sacrificed His will. His sacrifice was voluntary. He surrendered to the will of the Father. So the Cross then is not just the surrendering of His physical life, but the surrendering of His very will.
And it's the same for us. Sometimes we get so caught up in the externals, the trappings, the appearance of Christianity that we don't focus upon our wills and what’s going on inside of us. Jesus did not die so that you can have better self-esteem, and so that you could look better to those around you, and be well-liked, more appealing, accepted by society, and have your “ticket punched” so that you would have eternal life when you die.
Approaching a holy God means that you not only surrender your physical life, but that you surrender your personal will. Your desires, your glory, what you believe is best...you sacrifice all of it for His desires, His glory, and what He knows is best. That's not legalism, that's living a crucified life.
The writer of Hebrews gives us an understandin of how we approach our God...The Holy One:
Heb. 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
We have been given grace, but let us never separate that grace from godly fear. Why? “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Ex. 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
He’s still the Holy One.
He says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). He doesn't say, "Act holy, for I am holy."
Don't just do, be. Live a life crucified, in body and will, to the Holy One.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Jesus, Etc.
Once, a friend of mine was at a concert at a church where a well-known singer was playing. Her friend in high school had come along with her and had been asking people questions about following Jesus. When he asked this visiting singer (on his way to the stage), “What does it cost to follow Jesus?” the answer was: “You have to give up everything.” My friend, who was the only other person present at the conversation, said, “I didn’t appreciate him saying that! I really lost a lot of respect for the performer. My friend might have come to Christ if that singer had not said that! You don’t just tell a lost person that you have to give up everything when they ask!”
Or do you…?
When someone says, “I’m not ready to give up everything.” We essentially say, “Well, just give up as much as you can right now, maybe later God will help you to be willing to surrender more.” That’s not Biblical.
We’re just so casual about our worship, about our service…Minimum standards and thinking like that. “What’s the least that I can do to get by?” is the question we ask. If you look at His words, Jesus didn’t say anything to cushion the blow. In fact, Jesus seems bent on driving people away.
He talked about hating your father and mother when comparing your love for them to your love for Him:
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
He continued in the passage to talk about counting the cost of following Him.
He spoke of putting your hand to the plow and the necessity of not looking back:
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
He spoke to the rich young ruler and told him to sell at that he had:
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
When the disciples left their nets, we find that “left” was a word that meant “to totally forsake” something. They left them to follow Him.
Why, why then do we expect our lives to be any less radical?
Maybe it’s because we like comfort, or maybe we like to “keep our options open.”
That applies to our acceptance of Biblical teaching as well. When I teach, I sometimes have some likely (well-meaning) people make comments to me that run something like this: “You don’t really appeal to many people because you break down the verses. You should try to teach the Scripture in a pure narrative format; people want to hear stories. Because if you say that the Bible is completely authoritative you’re going to scare some people off. Nobody wants to feel confronted with a truth they have to line up with; people need to feel relaxed, like you’re sitting across from them drinking a cup of coffee sitting on a comfy sofa, just having a comfortable conversation, no pressure, nothing expected, no authoritative truth brought up. Just tell how it applies to your life, but don't suggest that there are universal truths…That’s what will really engage people. You should be that casual about it.”
How do we expect to worship God in the way He calls us to worship Him, yet refuse to listen to Him and apply His truth if it runs contrary to our schedules, desires, prejudices, plans and our pre-determined way of thinking?
We make Him out to be less than the King of the Universe, then blame Him for His perceived shorcomings or His apparent inability to make things comfy for us.
“Where does God fit into what I’m doing?” is the question many ask. That’s the acme of selfishness. “Where do I fit into what God is doing?” is the real question.
Or do you…?
When someone says, “I’m not ready to give up everything.” We essentially say, “Well, just give up as much as you can right now, maybe later God will help you to be willing to surrender more.” That’s not Biblical.
We’re just so casual about our worship, about our service…Minimum standards and thinking like that. “What’s the least that I can do to get by?” is the question we ask. If you look at His words, Jesus didn’t say anything to cushion the blow. In fact, Jesus seems bent on driving people away.
He talked about hating your father and mother when comparing your love for them to your love for Him:
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
He continued in the passage to talk about counting the cost of following Him.
He spoke of putting your hand to the plow and the necessity of not looking back:
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
He spoke to the rich young ruler and told him to sell at that he had:
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
When the disciples left their nets, we find that “left” was a word that meant “to totally forsake” something. They left them to follow Him.
Why, why then do we expect our lives to be any less radical?
Maybe it’s because we like comfort, or maybe we like to “keep our options open.”
That applies to our acceptance of Biblical teaching as well. When I teach, I sometimes have some likely (well-meaning) people make comments to me that run something like this: “You don’t really appeal to many people because you break down the verses. You should try to teach the Scripture in a pure narrative format; people want to hear stories. Because if you say that the Bible is completely authoritative you’re going to scare some people off. Nobody wants to feel confronted with a truth they have to line up with; people need to feel relaxed, like you’re sitting across from them drinking a cup of coffee sitting on a comfy sofa, just having a comfortable conversation, no pressure, nothing expected, no authoritative truth brought up. Just tell how it applies to your life, but don't suggest that there are universal truths…That’s what will really engage people. You should be that casual about it.”
How do we expect to worship God in the way He calls us to worship Him, yet refuse to listen to Him and apply His truth if it runs contrary to our schedules, desires, prejudices, plans and our pre-determined way of thinking?
We make Him out to be less than the King of the Universe, then blame Him for His perceived shorcomings or His apparent inability to make things comfy for us.
“Where does God fit into what I’m doing?” is the question many ask. That’s the acme of selfishness. “Where do I fit into what God is doing?” is the real question.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Distance
I was reading today in Exodus 19 about God telling Moses to set boundaries around Mt. Sinai to keep the Israelites from approaching. God gave specific instructions regarding this prohibition: “You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain" (19:12-13).
Did you get that? God shows that He is holy, so much so that if someone broke this rule, then no one would even touch that person…He would be stoned or shot with an arrow instead.
Moses then climbs the mountain to meet with God, and while he probably huffs with his hands on his knees, God tells him, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish” (21).
Moses states the obvious and reminds God of His earlier command. After all, surely His people wouldn’t transgress a clear message from the mouth of God, right?
God insists, and Moses trudges back down to the people to remind them of the serious nature of God’s holiness.
When God said, “Don’t come any closer!” the reaction was to do the thing He said to not do.
Now this holy God is the same God that we serve, the same God who has placed His Spirit into every believer, the same God we can approach with boldness because of the sacrifice of Christ…And we so often ignore Him and neglect spending time with Him, even though He made a way for us to know Him.
Given an advantage unheard of throughout the Old Testament, we chose to undervalue it.
There’s something patently wrong about that.
Did you get that? God shows that He is holy, so much so that if someone broke this rule, then no one would even touch that person…He would be stoned or shot with an arrow instead.
Moses then climbs the mountain to meet with God, and while he probably huffs with his hands on his knees, God tells him, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish” (21).
Moses states the obvious and reminds God of His earlier command. After all, surely His people wouldn’t transgress a clear message from the mouth of God, right?
God insists, and Moses trudges back down to the people to remind them of the serious nature of God’s holiness.
When God said, “Don’t come any closer!” the reaction was to do the thing He said to not do.
Now this holy God is the same God that we serve, the same God who has placed His Spirit into every believer, the same God we can approach with boldness because of the sacrifice of Christ…And we so often ignore Him and neglect spending time with Him, even though He made a way for us to know Him.
Given an advantage unheard of throughout the Old Testament, we chose to undervalue it.
There’s something patently wrong about that.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Cleaner
"NO EXTRA CHARGE FOR FAST SERVICE"
That's one of the signs over the counter at the shop of my new cleaner. I smiled when I saw the sign. Half of the smile was due to the jovial way that this small-statured man of Asian ancestry went to find my suits from the rack. The other half of the smile was due to the reminder that people assume that service is an "add-on" and not the norm.
What is assumed at the cleaners is too often also assumed in the Church.
That's one of the signs over the counter at the shop of my new cleaner. I smiled when I saw the sign. Half of the smile was due to the jovial way that this small-statured man of Asian ancestry went to find my suits from the rack. The other half of the smile was due to the reminder that people assume that service is an "add-on" and not the norm.
What is assumed at the cleaners is too often also assumed in the Church.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Premodern, Modern and Postmodern Thought: A General Comparison
PREMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural exists; God exists.
o He has perfect knowledge, and we can only know what He reveals to us.
o Humanity is, at the most basic level, bad, and is subject to God.
o Meaning and purpose come from Him.
MODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural and the natural are on two different levels. If humans are rational, and we depend upon what we know, then the supernatural is seen as being irrational…therefore inferior. Eventually, this idea moved deeper into…
o Naturalism (nature/the physical world is all that exists). Therefore God, being non-material, is obviously a creation of the human mind (so too for all religions).
o We can use observation, methods and cause/effect relationships to build upon the foundation of our knowledge and eventually achieve certainty. We don’t need revelation from God.
o Humanity is the measure of all things (we don’t exist to serve a higher being, we alone determine truth, and any authority can and should be questioned and tested).
o Secularism—there is no eternal, only right now. If there happens to be a supernatural world, it doesn’t have any impact upon reality in the present.
o At the most basic level a human is full of vast untapped potential to discover, tame and harness the unknown...we are, at heart, good.
POSTMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural may well exist. But there is no one overarching purpose or meaning or universal foundation (authorities, including religion, exist to create a contrived hierarchy for the means of domination).
o We can never know anything for certain, and history itself is subject to interpretation and reinterpretation. Our set of knowledge arose from our society and culture alone.
o Truth is determined by whatever community you are in and is adopted for the community. There are multiple “truths.” Objective, absolute truth simply does not exist.
o Relativism—each person adheres to a personal system of values that “work” for the individual, and each value system is “right” for that person.
o Pluralism—all ideas are equally valid, except those that would claim superiority over another (those are wrong). No one religion is right.
(Check out Radically Unchurched by Alvin Reid and Thinking Against the Grain by N. Allan Moseley for a more detailed treatment of the topic of worldviews...Excellent resources...)
To use a metaphor…In Pre-modern thinking, God is the captain of the ship, standing at the helm, wheel eternally in hand. He supplies the wind, the ocean currents, knows the direction and destination, and we serve as His crew having been liberated from our chains of sin.
In Modern thinking, humanity is functioning as the captain of the ship, wheel firmly in hand. By reading the winds and predicting the currents with scientific accuracy we can discover the direction by science and reasoning and then chart a new destination to explore.
Postmodern thinking lowers the sails, cuts the anchor free, disables the rudder chain, lets the wheel turn as it may all while cursing the meaninglessness of the wind and waves as they push the ship randomly about…and casting furious opposition at those who might suggest that they must choose a captain.
Characteristics:
o The supernatural exists; God exists.
o He has perfect knowledge, and we can only know what He reveals to us.
o Humanity is, at the most basic level, bad, and is subject to God.
o Meaning and purpose come from Him.
MODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural and the natural are on two different levels. If humans are rational, and we depend upon what we know, then the supernatural is seen as being irrational…therefore inferior. Eventually, this idea moved deeper into…
o Naturalism (nature/the physical world is all that exists). Therefore God, being non-material, is obviously a creation of the human mind (so too for all religions).
o We can use observation, methods and cause/effect relationships to build upon the foundation of our knowledge and eventually achieve certainty. We don’t need revelation from God.
o Humanity is the measure of all things (we don’t exist to serve a higher being, we alone determine truth, and any authority can and should be questioned and tested).
o Secularism—there is no eternal, only right now. If there happens to be a supernatural world, it doesn’t have any impact upon reality in the present.
o At the most basic level a human is full of vast untapped potential to discover, tame and harness the unknown...we are, at heart, good.
POSTMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural may well exist. But there is no one overarching purpose or meaning or universal foundation (authorities, including religion, exist to create a contrived hierarchy for the means of domination).
o We can never know anything for certain, and history itself is subject to interpretation and reinterpretation. Our set of knowledge arose from our society and culture alone.
o Truth is determined by whatever community you are in and is adopted for the community. There are multiple “truths.” Objective, absolute truth simply does not exist.
o Relativism—each person adheres to a personal system of values that “work” for the individual, and each value system is “right” for that person.
o Pluralism—all ideas are equally valid, except those that would claim superiority over another (those are wrong). No one religion is right.
(Check out Radically Unchurched by Alvin Reid and Thinking Against the Grain by N. Allan Moseley for a more detailed treatment of the topic of worldviews...Excellent resources...)
To use a metaphor…In Pre-modern thinking, God is the captain of the ship, standing at the helm, wheel eternally in hand. He supplies the wind, the ocean currents, knows the direction and destination, and we serve as His crew having been liberated from our chains of sin.
In Modern thinking, humanity is functioning as the captain of the ship, wheel firmly in hand. By reading the winds and predicting the currents with scientific accuracy we can discover the direction by science and reasoning and then chart a new destination to explore.
Postmodern thinking lowers the sails, cuts the anchor free, disables the rudder chain, lets the wheel turn as it may all while cursing the meaninglessness of the wind and waves as they push the ship randomly about…and casting furious opposition at those who might suggest that they must choose a captain.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Things I Don't Like So Much...At All...
Since some have asked (and since I've been posting those things that I do like), here, in no particular order, are some things that I've come to realize that I do not enjoy...
1. Flossing (though I do it daily...actually, multiple times daily...which may be why I don't like it).
2. Music by Tiny Tim.
3. Garbage Truck noise early in the morning.
4. Weeks when I don't have some time to be alone and recharge.
5. When people don't celebrate others' success.
6. Keyboards that have a key that's a little too hard to push. Sometimes my "A" KEY IS THAT WAY AND i OVERCOMPENSATE AND HIT CAPS LOCK BY MISTAKE.
7. Dried ketchup (or "catsup," if you like) collected around the mouth of the ketchup bottle. What's worse is catsup on the ketchup bottle...How'd that happen?
8. False humility (aka masked pride).
9. Theft.
10. Laziness.
11. Kimchi.
12. Driving anywhere for a long period of time.
13. Insecurity in leaders.
14. When a wrench slips off the nut or bolt head and your knuckles get bashed against something.
15. Sitting next to someone at a red light while they have their music up way too loud...So I turn up mine...Usually it sounds something like Biggy vs. Bach. (Bach, by the way, always wins...I mean, who will be listening to Biggy 300 years hence? No one. Point made. And yes, I know that few, other than me, use the word "hence" anymore...alas.)
16. Building kingdoms of our own instead of His Kingdom...Or worse still, building our little kingdoms and proclaiming them to be His. I mean, what part of "majesty" and "sovereign" do we not get?
17. The fact that few people read classic books. And by "classics," I'm referring to something older than the 1960's...much older...
18. Writer's block.
19. The fact that I can't paint well (I'm not talking about walls).
20. The reality that I let things bother me...
1. Flossing (though I do it daily...actually, multiple times daily...which may be why I don't like it).
2. Music by Tiny Tim.
3. Garbage Truck noise early in the morning.
4. Weeks when I don't have some time to be alone and recharge.
5. When people don't celebrate others' success.
6. Keyboards that have a key that's a little too hard to push. Sometimes my "A" KEY IS THAT WAY AND i OVERCOMPENSATE AND HIT CAPS LOCK BY MISTAKE.
7. Dried ketchup (or "catsup," if you like) collected around the mouth of the ketchup bottle. What's worse is catsup on the ketchup bottle...How'd that happen?
8. False humility (aka masked pride).
9. Theft.
10. Laziness.
11. Kimchi.
12. Driving anywhere for a long period of time.
13. Insecurity in leaders.
14. When a wrench slips off the nut or bolt head and your knuckles get bashed against something.
15. Sitting next to someone at a red light while they have their music up way too loud...So I turn up mine...Usually it sounds something like Biggy vs. Bach. (Bach, by the way, always wins...I mean, who will be listening to Biggy 300 years hence? No one. Point made. And yes, I know that few, other than me, use the word "hence" anymore...alas.)
16. Building kingdoms of our own instead of His Kingdom...Or worse still, building our little kingdoms and proclaiming them to be His. I mean, what part of "majesty" and "sovereign" do we not get?
17. The fact that few people read classic books. And by "classics," I'm referring to something older than the 1960's...much older...
18. Writer's block.
19. The fact that I can't paint well (I'm not talking about walls).
20. The reality that I let things bother me...
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