My latest thoughts:
When we sinned, we abandoned God, we rejected his love and protection and told Him that we, the human race no longer needed Him and could do things for ourselves. We said we could look after our children without His help.
We were God's children, subject to His love and protection.
We then decided to orphan ourselves.
God allows suffering in this world, because we told Him to.
But...
...God didn't completely do what we wanted. He sent us an invitation to call Him Father again, and be adopted back into His family. To live in His love, to have our identity completed within Him, and to have His protection and authority over evil, as we re-surrender our lives to Him.
That invitation, is in Christ.
25 March 2013
KISS: “Treat others as you would have them treat you.”
Christ said: “Treat others as you would have them treat you.”
... in church, when the older folk treat younger with the same respect they wish to receive themselves, when people who condemn others face church discipline as an adulterer would (1Cor5), when snobbery (going both ways) between the uneducated/educated is corrected, when women stop trying to out-dress each other, when the men stop thinking life is about the things they own, when the older wives stop whallowing in pride over their husbands and when you teach them they were never meant to submit to abuse from their husbands, when you actually have to be committed to obeying Christ to be called a Christian, …then we might think a church is actually a Church.
In my recent experience, non-Christians know the verse, “Do as you would be done by” and they correctly judge the church as not obeying it. I no longer waste my time, and lose my credibility, trying to defend the church; I simply tell people about who Christ was/is and that they don’t need to go to ‘church’ to know him.
... in church, when the older folk treat younger with the same respect they wish to receive themselves, when people who condemn others face church discipline as an adulterer would (1Cor5), when snobbery (going both ways) between the uneducated/educated is corrected, when women stop trying to out-dress each other, when the men stop thinking life is about the things they own, when the older wives stop whallowing in pride over their husbands and when you teach them they were never meant to submit to abuse from their husbands, when you actually have to be committed to obeying Christ to be called a Christian, …then we might think a church is actually a Church.
In my recent experience, non-Christians know the verse, “Do as you would be done by” and they correctly judge the church as not obeying it. I no longer waste my time, and lose my credibility, trying to defend the church; I simply tell people about who Christ was/is and that they don’t need to go to ‘church’ to know him.
29 October 2012
16 August 2012
Why does God allow suffering? Part 2
The first step, I believe, is to consider what the question actually means to the person. The answer, "Because God has given us free-will," whilst correct, is so simplistic/trivial and academic that it's of no use.
So let's consider it:
Person: "Why does God allow suffering?"
By which they mean: "Why does a God of love allow suffering?" (because of course if they believed God was evil the answer would be obvious)
If the person is asking genuinely, this probably actually means:
"If God loved me, why did He allow me to suffer as I did?"
implying that:
"If I had God's power, I wouldn't let innocent people suffer."
and maybe in their case:
"If I had God's power, I would defend the children in this world from abuse."
To be continued... !
So let's consider it:
Person: "Why does God allow suffering?"
By which they mean: "Why does a God of love allow suffering?" (because of course if they believed God was evil the answer would be obvious)
If the person is asking genuinely, this probably actually means:
"If God loved me, why did He allow me to suffer as I did?"
implying that:
"If I had God's power, I wouldn't let innocent people suffer."
and maybe in their case:
"If I had God's power, I would defend the children in this world from abuse."
To be continued... !
16 April 2012
Forgiveness - I don't like that word!
I don't use the word forgiveness at the moment; it reminds me too much of my childhood understanding of it: "I'm sure he didn't mean it", "he'll know better one day", "it was just an accident", just pretend you're OK and carry on the friendship/relationship with the person.
But of course you can't carry on in the same relationship until they repent to you!
My understanding of forgiveness now is 'releasing them from what they morally owe you'. Now they only owe God.
I pray something like this nowadays (very useful I've found for dealing with childhood hurts):
"Lord, what you suffered on the cross is sufficient punishment for what they have done to me; I am satisfied that their sin against me has been paid by you. So, I release them from what they owe me, they now only owe you for what they have done to me."
I think this is what God means when He tells us to forgive people.
But of course you can't carry on in the same relationship until they repent to you!
My understanding of forgiveness now is 'releasing them from what they morally owe you'. Now they only owe God.
I pray something like this nowadays (very useful I've found for dealing with childhood hurts):
"Lord, what you suffered on the cross is sufficient punishment for what they have done to me; I am satisfied that their sin against me has been paid by you. So, I release them from what they owe me, they now only owe you for what they have done to me."
I think this is what God means when He tells us to forgive people.
06 March 2012
Why Does God Allow Suffering? Pt 1 (of a life-long pursuit of better answers)
Had a sudden thought during my last Dance meditation group:
"Jesus still regarded God as being a God of love even when He was being tortured to death by flogging and the cross."
I was thinking about when a child gets hit, for whatever reason, it can produce a feeling of rejection; "This pain means I'm not loved."
God does allow suffering. (Obviously, we've all suffered.) But does this mean God isn't Love? Christ was the person who trusted God and knew God closer than anyone in history. He still believed God was a God of love even when suffering the cross.
(I don't mean we should now feel condemned and rubbish because we're not like Him. It's just another place to start from when trying to answer this question to ourselves.)
"Jesus still regarded God as being a God of love even when He was being tortured to death by flogging and the cross."
I was thinking about when a child gets hit, for whatever reason, it can produce a feeling of rejection; "This pain means I'm not loved."
God does allow suffering. (Obviously, we've all suffered.) But does this mean God isn't Love? Christ was the person who trusted God and knew God closer than anyone in history. He still believed God was a God of love even when suffering the cross.
(I don't mean we should now feel condemned and rubbish because we're not like Him. It's just another place to start from when trying to answer this question to ourselves.)
09 February 2012
Don't say "Go away!", instead walk yourself away
The harder you try to let go of something, the more bound you become to it.
"Go away, go away, grrr really GO AWAY..."
To let go of something, just walk away from it. Let it be what it is, without trying to change or destroy it, and just walk away from it. (Don't go back to see how it's getting on.)
Rather than commanding the 'thing' to go away, as if you have some authority over it. Exercise the authority you actually have, i.e. the authority you have to remove yourself from the thing.
(won't work it cases where the thing can follow you of couse - perseverance and/or authority required for that.)
"Go away, go away, grrr really GO AWAY..."
To let go of something, just walk away from it. Let it be what it is, without trying to change or destroy it, and just walk away from it. (Don't go back to see how it's getting on.)
Rather than commanding the 'thing' to go away, as if you have some authority over it. Exercise the authority you actually have, i.e. the authority you have to remove yourself from the thing.
(won't work it cases where the thing can follow you of couse - perseverance and/or authority required for that.)
Intuitive sense
"Whenever I try to follow my intuitive sense of what to do, I become self-conscious of what I'm doing and so lose touch with my intuition."
Most notice this when dancing. Sometimes I can feel how the dance should move next, and I start doing it. But I then get overwhelmed with consciousness of what my body is automatically doing that I'm then back to being in conscious control again.
AARRGGGHH! most annoying...
I use to get this problem when learning to touch-type. Looking at the screen, not the keys I would suddenly realise, "I'M DOING IT! This is amazing!" and then it would suddenly stop - because I'd become conscious of it again.
I think I was brought up to not trust intuition; if you can't be in control of it, it must be a bad thing.
God designed our intuitive brain, so surely we should allow ourselves to develop it as fully as possible.
Most notice this when dancing. Sometimes I can feel how the dance should move next, and I start doing it. But I then get overwhelmed with consciousness of what my body is automatically doing that I'm then back to being in conscious control again.
AARRGGGHH! most annoying...
I use to get this problem when learning to touch-type. Looking at the screen, not the keys I would suddenly realise, "I'M DOING IT! This is amazing!" and then it would suddenly stop - because I'd become conscious of it again.
I think I was brought up to not trust intuition; if you can't be in control of it, it must be a bad thing.
God designed our intuitive brain, so surely we should allow ourselves to develop it as fully as possible.
29 December 2011
Christ's Loneliness
Jesus was aquainted with loneliness of a sort:
Luke 9:57 As they were walking along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 9:58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
The NET translation notes add: Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).
Many times Jesus would try and explain something to the disciples and they couldn't understand. And during the crucifixion his friends didn't stay awake with Him in Gethsemane and most left him at the cross.
So, I think in following Christ we can expect to be alone in different ways, as others don't understand what God has called us to do or what we go through is too hard for them to cope with.
If you've ever been left alone whilst going through something because the people around you couldn't handle it, then Christ knows what that is like and went through the same. We don't have to deny or hide such loneliness, we can allow ourselves to connect with Christ and allow His presence with us in our pain. (Which doesn't necessarily take the pain away, but it does mean we don't have to be alone with it.)
Is 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Luke 9:57 As they were walking along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 9:58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
The NET translation notes add: Jesus’ reply is simply this: Does the man understand the rejection he will be facing? Jesus has no home in the world (the Son of Man has no place to lay his head).
Many times Jesus would try and explain something to the disciples and they couldn't understand. And during the crucifixion his friends didn't stay awake with Him in Gethsemane and most left him at the cross.
So, I think in following Christ we can expect to be alone in different ways, as others don't understand what God has called us to do or what we go through is too hard for them to cope with.
If you've ever been left alone whilst going through something because the people around you couldn't handle it, then Christ knows what that is like and went through the same. We don't have to deny or hide such loneliness, we can allow ourselves to connect with Christ and allow His presence with us in our pain. (Which doesn't necessarily take the pain away, but it does mean we don't have to be alone with it.)
Is 53:3 "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
24 October 2011
Practical Predestination
A. There are verses in the Bible that indicate that it is God who chooses us, that only the 'elect' are saved, it appears to not be up to us.
B. There are verses which indicate that we have a choice on how to live. That "anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" and that we are responsible for obeying God's commands.
B. There are verses which indicate that we have a choice on how to live. That "anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" and that we are responsible for obeying God's commands.
A. Everytime you thank God for saving you, you are saying it was His choice; you don't deserve any credit for finding faith in Him. So, every time we do this we are practically believing in some form of predestination.
B. Everytime I repent of my sin, I'm saying it was my choice and not down to God, so I'm practically believing in free-will.
B. Everytime I repent of my sin, I'm saying it was my choice and not down to God, so I'm practically believing in free-will.
I think that this is something we humans are incapable of fully understanding. The expanations we come up with never totally cover everything.
So, what I do practically is:
1. Accept and thank God that He chose me and others (the elect). Rejoice in the confidence that this gives me that His acceptance of me as I am right now, full of sin and hurt, is therefore not dependant on my performance. And in evangelism, I'm not responsible for saving others as if it were down to my persuasive abilities. (The practical results of a predestination belief.)
2. Live as if I am responsible for everything I do. Take the attitude that all who call on Him will be saved and so never allow predestination ideas to stop me telling others about Christ. Never assume that what has happened is just God's will - it might be down to my failure or someone else's - fight injustice. (As if it were all free-will).
In others words, we can't get a middle ground understanding that explains everything. I think God did this intentionally so that we have to stay dependant on Him. We can't get our theology all exactly correct and go off and do Christian life by ourselves.
So, in our minds we hold these two extremes in tension, and so have to look to God Himself afresh in each thing that comes up in our lives.
11 August 2011
Tithing - Masking the amazing thing God actually wanted to do with church finances
Modern tithing: the principle where every earner pays 10% of their income to the church group that they belong to and this pays for the up-keep of the building, the ministers' wages, admin costs and maybe church ministries. Sounds good in principle: 10 earners in your church and you get an income equivalent to one average wage.
However, it gets taught as if this were the same thing as the Old Testament (OT) system of tithing. In the OT there are cases of people tithing (giving 10%) to priests (e.g. Abraham tithing to Melchizedek) and of course the whole system of tithing to the OT temple, the Levites (the priests who ran the temple) and the poor. Thus, a Jewish man would be giving 3 tithes of his income away (plus whatever the king then taxed him on).
When Christ died on the cross and rose again, the whole OT order of things finished; no more priests or temple. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is now the equivalent of the High Priest Melchizedek. So, it is now impossible to tithe in these new-covenant times. (Call it what you want, it isn't technically a Biblical tithe!)
In fact if you do a word search in the NT there is no mention of tithing in the early church. The only time it's talked about is when Jesus is telling people about still following the OT law before he had died, and hence when they were still in OT times.
So, tithing does not apply in NT times and should not be part of our churches.
The NT tells us we should give sacrificially and in a planned way. Of course, pastors need to be paid, church organisations need to be administered and lots of church groups have buildings to look after.
So, why not just be honest about what these costs are, tell people roughly how much they need to be giving for the church group to run and make adjustments along the way.
All this Bible bashing about tithing in unbiblical. But most importantly, because it's not actually God's will, it must therefore be masking the truth of what God wants us to be doing with our finances in church.
The Western church is not living in God's will for giving and receiving money because it has settled for the pseudo-religious cop-out of a OT-style tithe. It's easier to bash people over the head and condemn them into paying your pastoring salary than it is to trust God to move in people's hearts and let them give as He directs.
However, it gets taught as if this were the same thing as the Old Testament (OT) system of tithing. In the OT there are cases of people tithing (giving 10%) to priests (e.g. Abraham tithing to Melchizedek) and of course the whole system of tithing to the OT temple, the Levites (the priests who ran the temple) and the poor. Thus, a Jewish man would be giving 3 tithes of his income away (plus whatever the king then taxed him on).
When Christ died on the cross and rose again, the whole OT order of things finished; no more priests or temple. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is now the equivalent of the High Priest Melchizedek. So, it is now impossible to tithe in these new-covenant times. (Call it what you want, it isn't technically a Biblical tithe!)
In fact if you do a word search in the NT there is no mention of tithing in the early church. The only time it's talked about is when Jesus is telling people about still following the OT law before he had died, and hence when they were still in OT times.
So, tithing does not apply in NT times and should not be part of our churches.
The NT tells us we should give sacrificially and in a planned way. Of course, pastors need to be paid, church organisations need to be administered and lots of church groups have buildings to look after.
So, why not just be honest about what these costs are, tell people roughly how much they need to be giving for the church group to run and make adjustments along the way.
All this Bible bashing about tithing in unbiblical. But most importantly, because it's not actually God's will, it must therefore be masking the truth of what God wants us to be doing with our finances in church.
The Western church is not living in God's will for giving and receiving money because it has settled for the pseudo-religious cop-out of a OT-style tithe. It's easier to bash people over the head and condemn them into paying your pastoring salary than it is to trust God to move in people's hearts and let them give as He directs.
18 July 2011
Seeing Things Correctly
it was troubling to me.
and understood the destiny of the wicked. (NET)
The writer of this Psalm talks of his jealousy of the arrogant and wicked (why do evil people prosper, and the good suffer?), but then the understanding and peace that came when he got in touch with God again.
The only viewpoint from which we can see the truth of a situation is from God's sanctuary; before we can see correctly we must first get back into fellowship with God.
24 June 2011
Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
One of the problems with 'wolves in sheep's clothing' is that,
When they are shown a mirror
All they see is a sheep.
Very few people are fully aware of the evil they do, they are mainly following their feelings and programming. The first person they deceive is themselves.
When a Pharisee (arrogant, judgemental religious leader) approached Christ in humility, He reasoned with them and taught them the error of their ways. Otherwise, he just confronted them as one would an attacking wolf ("you hypocrites, brood of vipers", etc.).
I used to try to help everyone, thinking I could reason with all people, no matter how manipulative or bitter they were. This is not the example Christ showed us.
Now I think, help people if they come for it; but only help them as you judge best, not necessarily as they want. Otherwise, leave 'fools in their own foolishness'; unless they are harming others, in which case prepare to confront them head on. This may not seem 'nice', but this is what Christ did; this is therefore love.
17 June 2011
East from the West
“As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our sins from us.”
Psalm 103:12
Great verse to meditate on. Imagine God sending your sin and guilt an infinite distance away from you. Picture it in your mind and let the feelings of guilt disappear into infinite space.
Of course, make sure you are thinking about this as the Jews would have originally understood it. Nobody would use this analogy nowadays - east and west meet round the other side of a spherical world!
It is a fantastic verse, one my favourite on the subject of forgiveness. It also shows that God communicates with us according to the current understanding that we have. They (2500 – 3000 years ago) of course believed the world was flat. No one would use this analogy now.
Faith & Earning Relationship with God
People want to know God and so look for the faith they need. But faith is not a thing in itself. Faith is objective, i.e. it has an object that it relates to, that its existence depends on. Look for God and he will proof himself to you (Jn 14:21). That is, he will then give you faith in him. This faith is a supernatural gift from God that convinces you of his existence and of the sort of person he is.
But rather than look for God himself, people look for faith. Thus, they avoid having to look directly at him, with all the fear of conviction of sin, exposure of guilt, fear of rejection that brings. Looking for faith in itself, faith so that we can know God, means that if we find it then credit for our faith will belong to us. It will be something we have earned, something we have achieved.
Our search for faith is yet another attempt at earning a relationship with God. Instead of accepting his grace, in this case his free gift of faith.
“I don't need God to give me faith, I can find it for myself.” !!!
“I don't need God to reveal himself to me, I can find him for myself.”
There is a sadness to this, the unloved trying to win his or her father's approval.
There is also an evil to this, “I don't need God's grace and mercy, I am like God myself, I can do this without him.” Idolatrous, arrogant, and, ... ironic, “I don't need you to love me, I can get this intimate, loving friendship with you by my own effort, without your help.” It makes no sense! “I'll so impress my dad that he won't be able to stop himself loving me”; Er! no, if you defeated such an unloving parent, you wouldn't get approval from them, all you would earn will be their grudging admittance of defeat.
If God gave in to our attempts at earning his favour, He wouldn't be a God worth getting to know in the first place. He would be a pathetic friend that we had successfully manipulated.
We waste our time and effort trying to earn things from God; approval, love, hearing His voice, gifts of the spirit, a ministry, something to do with our lives. But if He were a being that we could earn something from, then we wouldn't find what we wanted in Him anyway.
10 June 2011
"Abraham my friend" - Isaiah 41:8
God doesn't seem particularly interested in me being his slave or servant. He seems to be only interested in me being his friend. And it seems that even if this means I do very little for him, he'd still rather have me as a friend, than someone who strives to do lots of things for him.
He refuses to allow me to earn his love or acceptance. Which is a good thing, because I think now that even if I did one day do something in his kingdom so amazing that I finally won his approval (!), I would just resent it anyway. A Father should love his kids regardless. Earning your father's love seems impossible anyway, but if just suppose you did manage it ("Wow, that's so amazing son, now I accept you and affirm you as my son"), you would just resent it, because if it's not free, if you had to earn it, then it's worthless. You're not being loved for who you are, but for what you've achieved.
A love that has to be earnt, isn't worth a thing.
(So, why do I still resist receiving God's love before I feel I've earnt it?)
He refuses to allow me to earn his love or acceptance. Which is a good thing, because I think now that even if I did one day do something in his kingdom so amazing that I finally won his approval (!), I would just resent it anyway. A Father should love his kids regardless. Earning your father's love seems impossible anyway, but if just suppose you did manage it ("Wow, that's so amazing son, now I accept you and affirm you as my son"), you would just resent it, because if it's not free, if you had to earn it, then it's worthless. You're not being loved for who you are, but for what you've achieved.
A love that has to be earnt, isn't worth a thing.
(So, why do I still resist receiving God's love before I feel I've earnt it?)
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God only forgave us when we repented.
(I do not believe in universalism, people must repent before they can be forgiven and know God!!)
So, in the same way, for someone to receive our forgiveness, they must first repent to us and then we can give them our forgiveness and decide to what degree the relationship can be restored.
So, I think we must be careful by what we mean by forgiveness. Do we mean preparing ourselves to forgive if they repent (as God is ready to forgive any sinner who repents), or do we mean the final restoration of relationship when they do finally repent.
Giving someone our forgiveness before they repent can lead to:
1. offending them because you are saying they have sinned against you, when perhaps they don't think they have.
2. carrying on in relationship with them, still trusting them, when they have every intention of continuing to sin against you (e.g. the battered Christian wife thinking forgiveness means not prosecuting her husband and letting him freely carry on abusing her.)
3. the non-Christian, who just sinned against you (stole, bullied, cheated), thinking that Christianity just means weak people turning a blind eye to sin (and so him thinking we obviously don't really believe in God and end judgement).
Perhaps a reason we have such a problem with 'forgiving' people is because in trying to do so we are actually trying to excuse what they did (which God will not support us in).
Release people to God and don't seek revenge; but don't pretend there isn't still an issue that they must repent of - God will not forgive them for what they did to you if they don't repent of it.