As a junior high teacher at a Christian School, I get to see how faith and philosophy play themselves out in developing minds.
For me, I know that God called me and saved me when I was in eighth grade after my dad passed away. I needed God desperately and in Him I found very real comfort and peace. Emotion played a huge role. As I continued to commit to knowing God, I grew in the logic and reason I had to defend my Christian faith. I certainly didn't know a lot of theology (the study of the nature of God and religious belief) when I first committed my life to Him. But, one of the truly fascinating pieces to knowing God is seeing that there is rationale to the Christian Faith.
This is what I believe is lacking in Christ followers today (myself included, I'll admit!). We are saved out of darkness (we accept Christ for our lives), but no passion for the logic and reason of God follows.
2 things must be said here:
1) Faith will always be faith. I truly and ardently believe that I serve a God and a Christ who through physical, archaeological, philosophical and moral reasoning, and simple logic can be seen as real. But, at the end of the day, faith would not be faith if it could be completely and 100% be proven. (Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.") There will always be an element of mystery to God. We cannot know everything (otherwise why would we need God?).
2) The Holy Spirit must call you to know Christ. Reason and logic certainly have a place, but a heart that is softened and ready for Christ must happen through God alone.
That being said, a knowledge and zeal for the logic to defend our God and our Christ is missing today. What I see with the kids that I teach (and with everyone!) is that they want to see that God is real and that God has answers to hard questions. And He does! We do God a disservice by not being able to logically defend our Christian faith to others.
I observe my students saying the following things on why they chose Christ:
1) They are afraid of hell.
2) It is the right thing to do.
3) They feel they need to be a good person (see post here on why this is false thinking: http://lifewiththeluikens.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-danger-of-having-it-all-together.html)
4) They state they are from a Christian home (i.e. their parents told them to believe it)
These kind of answers scare me. Not only because they show of lack of understanding of the gospel and all we have in Christ but also because they don't hit on the real and honest answers that others are seeking. When you look at the historical, philosophical, moral and logical evidence for Christ and for God, you can't help but believe in a real, good, and incredible God.
Without the logic and reason to defend our God and our Christ, we are left with viewing religion as self help. We are coming to Jesus to fix _________________. (self image, depression, divorce, etc)
And while we CAN trust that Jesus IS the ultimate healer, fixer, helper, and answer, we also trust in Jesus because we have good reason to! Kids want to know that we believe in Jesus because we have a logical and knowledgable reason to do so and not just because "I told you so".
We live in a culture where the bumper sticker "COEXIST" reigns. Our culture says "Christianity is fine for you, but _____________ is what I believe. And let's just love each other for who we are and not try to change each other. Who are you to tell me what to believe?".
If we believe all that the word of God says, Christ can't just be a compartment of our lives. The gospel should and will change every area of our life. It is not just a Sunday thing. It is not just a "to each his own" thing.
Thus begins my Renewing Reason series. My fervor for revealing the logic behind the Christ I serve has inspired me to write a blog series on the following topics:
1) why the bible is a legitimate source (and ultimately guide for our lives)
2) the problem with moral relativism (which states that there is no absolute moral law that applies to all people)
3) the problem with scientism (which states that science has more authority than God)
4) the problem with skeptics (who need lots of proof and love the question why)
The truth is we act according to what we believe. So we should know what we believe and why. And have legitimate reasons for our beliefs.
I don't have all the answers, but I serve a God who certainly does.
A little footnote:
A book that I highly recommend and that sparked my interest and excitement for this topic is called Love the Lord Your God With All Your Mind, by J.P. Moreland. It's a great resource!
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Saturday, April 4, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
The Danger of Having It All Together
All across the world Easter will be celebrated this weekend. It is one of those Sundays that a person who does not regularly attend church may take a risk and give it a whirl. Moms will dress their little girls in sweet, perfect little yellow and pink and bow and frilly filled dresses. All in all, we want to present with our "best foot forward".
Man, I love Easter. And heck, I like to look good on Sundays too.
But, there is a message I fear will be 1) verbally presented in a sermon or 2) non verbally communicated through church goers.
The message is this: Be a good person.
Or maybe: Be just good enough that others and God see how awesome you are.
Or possibly: I've got it all together. Why don't you?
Jesus Christ never said we need to be good enough and have it all together. In fact, the opposite is true. He gave us permission to be free of the need to be good enough. None of us have "got it all together". Not one.
"For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sin sweeps us away like the wind." Isaiah 64:6
The message I wish I heard more on Easter Sunday and every Sunday in between is that the whole reason we are all going to church in the first place is to recognize the fact that every single one of us is a sinner, a "bad" person. But also to wildly and joyously celebrate that miraculously, amazingly, that is NOT the end of the story. Jesus died that we may have eternal life, despite the fact that we are sinners. Through HIM we can do righteous things. Yes, we can do morally good things. We can chose to be kind, loving, patient, forgiving, and generous. And when we step out to say boldly that we claim Jesus, God calls us to live in a way that reflects that exclamation. But NEVER do those righteous things merit eternal life. Not before you accept Christ and not after.
Instead, the message of "be good enough" is plastered across Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. And the message is look how successful, put together, perfect my family is. We live in a very individualistic world where it seems we all fall into the struggle of trying to gain our own glory, instead of God's. When we compare each other and judge each other and rank each other silently and try to one up each other, we are not living how God intended us to.
When we try to be superior, supreme, and satisfactory in our own right, we are walking in what I sometimes like to call "anti- gospel". We are listening to, living out, and preaching the absolutely wrong message. We can't ever be good enough. We have to stop trying to earn.
Instead, I propose that we are honest, vulnerable, and open about the fact that we DON'T have it all together. We are genuine and authentic about our shortcomings, sins, failures and weaknesses. We are warm and welcoming to others, no matter what they are wearing, their career is, their education is, their past is, or even their blatant sin is. We are straightforward and sincere about our enormous need for Jesus and HIS righteousness, love, and forgiveness. Because this IS how we are called to live.
"Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." Isaiah 26:19
Happy, happy Easter. May the message of the HOPE we have in Christ fill you. He is Risen!
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Man, I love Easter. And heck, I like to look good on Sundays too.
But, there is a message I fear will be 1) verbally presented in a sermon or 2) non verbally communicated through church goers.
The message is this: Be a good person.
Or maybe: Be just good enough that others and God see how awesome you are.
Or possibly: I've got it all together. Why don't you?
Jesus Christ never said we need to be good enough and have it all together. In fact, the opposite is true. He gave us permission to be free of the need to be good enough. None of us have "got it all together". Not one.
"For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sin sweeps us away like the wind." Isaiah 64:6
The message I wish I heard more on Easter Sunday and every Sunday in between is that the whole reason we are all going to church in the first place is to recognize the fact that every single one of us is a sinner, a "bad" person. But also to wildly and joyously celebrate that miraculously, amazingly, that is NOT the end of the story. Jesus died that we may have eternal life, despite the fact that we are sinners. Through HIM we can do righteous things. Yes, we can do morally good things. We can chose to be kind, loving, patient, forgiving, and generous. And when we step out to say boldly that we claim Jesus, God calls us to live in a way that reflects that exclamation. But NEVER do those righteous things merit eternal life. Not before you accept Christ and not after.
Instead, the message of "be good enough" is plastered across Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. And the message is look how successful, put together, perfect my family is. We live in a very individualistic world where it seems we all fall into the struggle of trying to gain our own glory, instead of God's. When we compare each other and judge each other and rank each other silently and try to one up each other, we are not living how God intended us to.
When we try to be superior, supreme, and satisfactory in our own right, we are walking in what I sometimes like to call "anti- gospel". We are listening to, living out, and preaching the absolutely wrong message. We can't ever be good enough. We have to stop trying to earn.
Instead, I propose that we are honest, vulnerable, and open about the fact that we DON'T have it all together. We are genuine and authentic about our shortcomings, sins, failures and weaknesses. We are warm and welcoming to others, no matter what they are wearing, their career is, their education is, their past is, or even their blatant sin is. We are straightforward and sincere about our enormous need for Jesus and HIS righteousness, love, and forgiveness. Because this IS how we are called to live.
"Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." Isaiah 26:19
Happy, happy Easter. May the message of the HOPE we have in Christ fill you. He is Risen!
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