The mechanics of Christianity

In Colossians 2: 8, (translation from The Message), it says: "Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual arguments. They want to drag you off into endless debates that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and empty superstitions about spirituality".

Since we can't physically prove the existence of God, nor bring down fire from heaven to smite said unbelievers (humour!), our defence against all of the above is to have our facts straight in the first place.

Know what you believe. Know where it comes from. Know how it all fits together.

The more I study the bible, the more I see how well it all fits together, how it has a beautiful internal logic and consistency, in stark contrast to the contradictory nature often ascribed to it by atheists or theologians.

Remember that we don't just face challenges from atheists; there are sects passing themselves off as true Christians, and also Christian theologists who study the bible intensely, but don't actually believe in God (or whose faith is weak and intellectual, rather than deep and relational), and delight in casting doubt on its authenticity, telling you that "oh, this verse was added 200 years after the original passage was written", or that this or that translation of the bible (e.g. KJV or NIV) or a passage "is not faithful to the original Aramaic/Greek and hence can't be trusted.." or that "there are books of the bible not included in this version which ought to be" etc.

Now, any or all of these things may or may not be true, but to me, it's an irrelevancy; we have to remember what and Who we believe in, and choose the one in Whom we are going to put our trust.
Don't we believe that God is in control of everything? I believe that He has given us an amazing gift in His word, and that He is powerful enough (and loving enough!) to ensure that it will always be available in all its truth to those who seek it.

How can I justify this? Firstly, remember that reading the bible is NOT the same as reading any other book - God bequeathed us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and states clearly in the bible that the Holy Spirit will guide us in our reading, supernaturally enabling us to understand God's intended meanings, and even using it as a direct conduit to speak God's messages to us, so that we can be guided by the Holy Spirit to bring us understanding of what we read, to draw our attention to see what God wants to show us. To illuminate the plain text into the divine word of God. It is a 'mechanism' which overrides any small translational differences between different forms of the bible, or any 'missing books' giving us the confidence to trust fully in God's word.

Remember, we're talking about a God of divine power here; who spoke to His prophets by means as varied and unfeasible as carving words into rocks with fire, or in the braying of a donkey. As an example of my absolute confidence in this principle, I am quite convinced that even if some one found half a bible lying in a ditch, old or new testament or an incomplete mixture of both, that God could still lead that person through the Holy Spirit to faith in Christ and grow their faith accordingly afterwards.

Be aware that in developing countries where bibles have been banned, entire Christian communities have thrived, based on only a rudimentary knowledge of a few bible verses!

(Read "The Heavenly Man" by Brother Yun, an amazing book about God bringing revival and sustaining Christians in China over the last 30 years)

We follow a LIVING God, a RISEN Christ of unimaginable power and love! Are we really going to let dried up, cynical theologies and empty philosophies tell us that our God cannot control the Word that He gave us? That His grace is not sufficient for us all?

So, put your trust in the almighty and ever-faithful God, not in the arguments of man, however intellectually persuasive or scientifically sound.

I note that prior to becoming a Christian, I felt that Christianity was full of inconsistancies (e.g. God's love and the suffering in the world), and theological conflicts (e.g. the aforementioned ones about whether the bible can be regarded as the unadulterated truth and the Word of God).

But since I became a Christian, what I realised is that all these 'issues' are merely a result of trying to apply an atheistic logic to a religion which is based on the central theme of a living God who provides supernatural guidance and intercession to His followers, and has assured them that He is real and has an active interest in their lives and in pursuing a relationship with them, and that furthermore, His plans are good, and designed to help us grow into better people and into a better relationship with Him (of course, this is often a slow process, and dependent on our willingness to LET Him do so).

There's dozens of examples that could be given to discuss this issue, but let's take as an example the much scoffed-at principle of 'no sex before marriage'; most non-Christians I've spoken to have regarded this as an outmoded and ridiculously contrictive law; another example of religions trying to get people to suppress their natural desires or make them feel guilty for having them etc and taking all the fun out of life.

And, if you examine the principle from an atheistically logical perspective, it's easy to see why they would think in this way:

What if you marry the wrong person? What if the sex is rubbish? How will you know if you're truly compatible with them (i.e. in bed, as well as out) without trying it first?

And why deny yourself all the pleasure in the meantime?

And numerous other reasonable concerns and criticisms!

However, to state a brief and modified creed of what we believe as Christians:

God is a living God, who has a good plan for our lives, and is involved in ALL aspects of our daily lives, including relationships, sex, and marriage!

He has assured us that if we live according to the Spirit (i.e. supernaturally guided, strengthened and enabled to follow God's otherwise demanding requirements by the Holy Spirit) then, we will be guided into making the correct decisions in life, into choosing the right person (that God had already planned for us to meet and marry).

God knows us totally, even better than we know ourselves. For those whom God has planned to be married, you can be assured that He knows (even better than we do) what kind of person is truly going to make us happy and fulfilled.

Finally, God cares about sex lives as much as we do, and designed it to be fantastic and free; only between a husband and wife as opposed to with anyone we feel like (two great books on this are 'Girl Meets Boy' and 'Sex is not the problem; Lust is' by Joshua Harris).

I fully encourage skeptics to read the book in the bible called Song of Songs, which is basically an erotic love song, describing the beauty of the female form and the sexual acts between man and wife, but with holy passion and cautionary advice to wait until the time is right.

The bible makes it clear that sex and desire are totally Godly, natural and to be enjoyed and embraced, but, within the appropriate time and circumstance!

God's good plan (if you are walking in accordance with Him so that He can guide you into it) is not going to lead you into a marriage with a rubbish sex life, or at least one that can't become great through communication, prayer, experimentation and love!

Also consider the romantic joy of being able to truly give yourself to one person only, body and soul, and know that you both had the exclusive pleasure of sharing this level of intimacy with each other alone; it's quite a wedding gift!

And, in further demonstration that God's plans are "to prosper us and not to harm us", consider:

In an ideal world (the way God intends for it to be, and indeed the way it is prophesised that it WILL become - the bible does indeed discuss heaven, but states that we will live on a new Earth, will all death, disease, evil and sadness eliminated and God living among us - Eden restored) all people would be true Christians, living spiritually and receiving the full life that God intends for them.

If we followed God's will and plan, and no-one had sex outside of marriage:

No one would need to worry about being an inadequate lover. Size envy/concerns would pretty much disappear. Sexually transmitted diseases would not exist. So many of the sexual hang-ups and insecurities that people suffer from would not exist.

So, it's not all bad, right? Perhaps (gasp!) God actually knew what He was doing all along? :p

NB:

The link for the sermon in the post below did not appear correctly.
Freedom From Idolatry, Take Two:
www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=124

Idols of the new generation

Recently, I listened to a sermon "Freedom from idolatry" (parts 1&2) by an American evangelist named John Bevere. Here is the link:

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=124

I would STRONGLY recommend all Christians to read it. It is in two sections of around 35 mins each, but it's absolute gold. I have rarely been so convicted, rebuked and refreshed by a sermon before!
Bear in mind, when I listened to the first 10 mins or so, I was tempted to switch off; he has that cheesy American preacher style. He says "Amen, haaaa-lelluia!" at the end of approx 50% of his sentences. And he says a few things about Catholicism at the start which some may find annoying or misguided.

However, once he hits his stride, all that goes out of the window, and he focuses solely on preaching God's word; proceeding to illustrate exactly what it means in today's age to worship idols. Frankly, it was my intention to write about it here, but for all my eloquence in writing, I think I would not do his critically important and urgent message justice, so please just make the time to listen! This one sermon could fundamentally change your Christian life, and your perception of a lot of things!

So, that saves me (and you, my longsuffering and possibly non-existent readers) a long blog!
Always remember that Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to help us. On our own strength alone, we cannot hope to live up to God's requirements; we cannot hope to truly love God with ALL our hearts, ALL our minds and ALL our strength.

But this is where the Holy Spirit comes into the equation, and the new life we have in Christ; a supernatural life, where we are assisted by the aforementioned divine agents in the task of doing what the Lord requires of us, in a lifelong journey towards the ultimate goal of growing into the likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Even just writing those words stirs something in my heart. I feel hugely encouraged and uplifted. We are not in this alone. We have the maker of the heavens and the Earth backing us up, and our own spiritual family at church! So, as Paul urged, let us encourage one another. Let us grow and abound in knowledge, in love and in faith. Amen.

The Rejoicing of Angels

I was in the city centre a couple of weeks ago, and in a large city square, I saw a group of people with a big sound system, performing live rap music and singing. The rappers were freestyling (for those of my readers who are not 'down with the kids' that means rapping with no preplanned lyrics). And they were funny, inventive and verbally dexterous rappers, with great flow (the hallmark of any talented rapper).

But they were not rapping about guns, drugs n hoes etc, but about rather about Jesus Christ and how their life had been transformed since they accepted Him.
A crowd of about 50 people had gathered, and the head rapper then began to preach. His sermon was relatively simple.

I didn't think his words or preaching were particularly persuasive, nor containing much that might sway a non-believer; I remember feeling that his arguments in favour of Christianity could have been said in a far more convincing or effective way. Nevertheless, as he built up to asking if anyone would be willing to accept Christ, I began praying that the Holy Spirit would speak through him, and soften the hearts of those listening, that God's grace would be abundant in this unlikely place.

And to my amazement, as he asked people to raise their hands "if they wanted to confess their sins and accept Christ as their saviour", people started putting up their hands. Even despite being in full view of the public, and some with their friends looking at them in amazement, people put up their hands, and even came forward, and bowed their heads to say the sinners prayer!

Tears sprang into my eyes, as I saw the most beautiful sight in the world; sinners accepting Christ through God's love and grace. 25 people out of about 50 accepted Christ! These people were predominantly black wannabe gangster types, with hoods pulled over baseball caps, bling aplenty and tears in their eyes.
Also there were chavs, a middle class lady with a shopping bag and a group of trendy looking friends in their early 20's. God's grace was poured out abundantly there for all to see.

What I learned that day, was that I was placing too much reliance in my mind on persuasive arguments and powerful speaking (although of course I accepted the Holy Spirit would be necessary even so). With a heart of faith and simple everyday words, God used this man to lead 25 people to accept Christ that day.

So, the most powerful thing I learnt that day, was to humble myself. Stop subconsciously putting limits on God's power and relying on human ability. God's strength is perfected in our weakness. What God wants is a humble, faithful and obedient heart.
And in trusting God instead of relying on ourselves, not only can we give God the opportunity to truly use us for His glory, but also, we can stop being held back or intimidated by our own perceived shortcomings and learn to rely on the Lord, whose power is more than sufficient for whatever He requires of us!

Shadows under the sun

It's late, and I'm extremely tired.
It's about 5 years since one of my best friends died of cancer, aged 27.
She was married to another one of my best friends. The pain has passed, but a small scar of residual sadness is etched into my soul. This happens in life; there are some things you can never completely forget..

But what it makes me aware of is how much we take for granted.
There are people in my church life, some close friends, some mere acquaintances, but all of whom have variously been a huge source of inspiration, encouragement, motivation and love.
Most of them will leave my life sooner or later, generally from relocation. I hope before this happens that I can let them know how much they have impacted my life and that I am a better person, and more passionate about living for Christ and growing deep in the Word because of them.

So, I am reminded to thank God, for his blessings and great provenance in providing me with such people in my life. I suspect many of these people would never have realised that they had done so much for me just by the way they live their lives, and may even be reading this now, assuming that I am talking about someone else. I hope to let them all know individually in the coming weeks.

For now, I just feel suddenly aware of all the things that the members of my church family, past and present, have given me, and how much they have inspired me, and I really thank God that in His wisdom and love, He led me here to this church, to this family.
I pray that He will mould me into a man of God who can serve Him and his church so faithfully one day. God bless you all.

When I survey the wondrous cross...

Hello again to my faithful reader(s?) :P
Today was a great day at church, except that going there directly from a not insubstantial lunch at a certain Chinese restaurant (which cannot be named here for legal reasons, ho ho) made me more inclined to doze off contentedly than stay alert to receive the teaching. Luckily, the worship was great today (as ever!) and the preaching better yet.

You will be delighted to hear I am trying to practise what I preach by making efforts to chat (beyond small talk!) to at least one new person each time I attend church (and more if possible) and build better fellowship with those around me, as well as continuing to try and encourage those newer Christians wherever the opportunity arises. Pray that God will strengthen me to continue; that His grace will be sufficient for me.

This evening, I have been reading from the book of Isaiah, which I absolutely love. Back before I started reading it properly, I had glanced at it a few times, and noted the following things:
1) It consists of 66 chapters. Yes, that was not a misprint; 66! :-O
and
2) It seemed that each one of those chapters followed a standard format:
"Woe to (insert hard-to-pronounce Hebrew place name of choice), who have (insert flagrant sin of choice); for I will rain down (insert punishment/pestilence/plague of choice) upon them (and their goats)".

However, upon further reading and meditation, church leaders and eminent theologians worldwide may breathe a sigh of relief, since I can now report that this book is actually chock-full of some of the most grade A, top-drawer, prime biblical quotes known to to mankind :D
Yes siree, some of the all time great quotes and wisdom are to be found in this book, so if any amongst you have not made the effort to read it, or felt like fleeing for the hills when you saw its size and tone, let now be the time :)

Of course, I hope and trust that most of you reading will already be familiar with this great book and excuse my jocularity on the subject, but I hope this post might encourage those who may have been avoiding part or all of the Old Testament up til now.

Since I do need to sleep at some point within the next week, I will not attempt to discuss the whole book of Isaiah, but rather I will focus on today's stand-out chapter, Isaiah 55 (abridged):
"Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money; come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price!"

I feel like Rolf Harris painting one of his pictures here;
"can you see what it is yet?" :)

Sadly for my weekly shopping bill, but happily for my eternal soul, God here is not talking about free food and drink for all, but rather describing His grace, given freely to us.
He continues, saying:
"Why do you spend money on what is not bread, and your wages on what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear and come to Me. Hear and your soul shall live; and I shall make an everlasting covenant with you".

God is forever telling us in the bible what He wants from us and what we should do, not to nag or chasten us, but because He knows so well what will ultimately fail to satisfy us and what will truly bring us happiness and growth through Him.

So many times, I've dismissed the Christian ideals of behaviour, choosing to go my own sinful way, only to realise the hard way that it only led me to harm or sadness, or to hurting others inadvertently.

I've had to learn the hard way that God has given us these commands and guidelines in order to protect us from harm, from that which lures us in, like a parent would discipline and warn a small child who was reaching up for the kettle or trying to poke his fingers in the plug socket. It's a remarkable fact that those children will never turn around and thank you for this possibly life saving advice but will generally wail and gnash their teeth (much like people did in biblical times) at the unfairness of it all :p

So when the bible tells us to "flee from idols" (to be continued in a future post, methinks), to "abstain from all sexual immorality" and to forgive one another as Christ has forgiven us, don't underestimate the seriousness and urgency of these commands!

Do bear in mind that it's one thing to intellectually agree that these things are all for our benefit, which is what I would have done in the past, in the same way many motorists would intellectually agree that the national speed limits are designed to protect us, whilst happily assuming that it is OK to break them when it suits them, and railing at their draconic unfairness should they be caught or punished.
It is another thing, when, either through the consequences of our sinning or through God's grace, we truly come to realise how our loving Father is trying to protect us and let us live a life of true freedom.

Luckily, we have His promise of forgiveness through His son Jesus Christ; although again, many Christians will intellectually acknowledge that our sins are forgiven, whilst carrying round a burden of guilt or shame inside them for years, when all they need to do is to repent, confess and be forgiven. But we can get trapped into self-recrimination and feelings of unworthiness.

An often quoted verse of scripture is used to illustrate God's greater wisdom and omniscience:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts"
This gem comes from (wait for it...) Isaiah 55: 8-9, but if we read the preceding verses 6 and 7:
"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near.
Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God who will abundantly pardon".

Now, if you put the four verses in the correct order, what we find is that verses 8-9 are in fact testifying to God's amazing grace! When we cannot imagine how something we (or someone else) has done could possibly be forgiven, the Lord points out how HE handles such things.

Finally, in a wonderful precursor to the coming of Jesus, the Word made flesh, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who follow Him, it goes on to say in Isaiah 55: 10-11
"For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it".

I particularly love the analogy of the Word giving seed to the sower (God's word and the Holy Spirit, to be used by those preaching the gospel), and bread to the eater (the bread of life, the life saving word of God). Sometimes, the mind cannot even begin to fathom the depth and breadth of God's love, His goodness, His mercy and His glorious works of grace.

The plan for us all to be reunited with him, that He had in mind before the creation of the universe, and that reached fruition on a cross 2000 years ago, and is still being played out all over the world today, and in which we, even we, are privileged to play a part, for His glory!
Praise the Lord! We've been been blessed beyond anything that we can comprehend or that we deserve in receiving Christ as our Lord and saviour, but there are billions out there in the world who still don't know Him or know the good news!

At times like this, I feel deeply ashamed of my complacency, and shyness to share the gospel with people. Missionaries can face persecution and dire physical hardship, but what they DO have is that they generally go to a place where nobody knows them, nor has any expectations regarding our behaviour.

But here, when we're at home, how many people have missed out on God's forgiveness and salvation because I was too shy to share the gospel, or too worried about what people would think of me or say about me afterwards? Lord forgive me, and I pray that you will help me to always remember what an amazing, priceless, yet free gift You've given me, and give me a heart that cries out for those who are still trapped in the darkness and still living as slaves!


You alone

Let everything that has breath
praise Your holy name,
You alone are God,
You alone are my Rock and my salvation,
You alone make me complete,
You alone give true purpose to my life,
In You alone will I trust.
You alone are my shield and my strength,
My heart cries out to you O Lord!
You're the reason I can't contain my joy,
You're the reason that I live,
You're the reason my soul sings within me.

21/04/07

Today, I feel an ache in my heart that I can't drown out with music, food, chocolate, funny films or any other means (I haven't yet tried hitting the crackpipe, but I hear it is mightily efficacious!). (ps: that was humour, in case you are a random reader.. Drugs are bad, kids, mmmkay?).
As you get older, things accumulate. Not just physical things, stored away at the backs of drawers and in dusty boxes, but memories, scars (physical and emotional), and wisdom, usually born of our mistakes.

Sometimes life can be so complicated, and the sad truth is that, much of the time, it is we ourselves who make things so complicated. Today I feel an overwhelming urge to just draw close to God, to lay all my cares and troubles at His feet.. I want to rest in His presence, but I can't depend on being filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, or being on a spiritual high.

But what I CAN depend on is God's word. Sometimes, sadness, loneliness, desperation or hopelessness will strike. Sometimes, when we need Him more than anything else in the world, it seems He is silent, and there is just a blank where that sense of God's presence used to be.
But, we always have His word, full of His promises to us, reassuring us of His covenant with us.

I feel quite ashamed that I have so often just left my bible lying unopened nearby, finding anything to do BUT read God's word. It's a subtle attack, when thing after thing becomes somehow more appealing or absorbing than spending time seeking more after God.
When I think about it, it's easy for us to feel sad or frustrated, feeling that God is distant when we need Him most. But what occurs to me as I write this is; what about how WE make ourselves distant to God?

God has so much to show us, to teach us, to correct us about.. He longs to draw closer to us, to reveal more of His character to us, but what do we do? He has given us His word, like His own personal diary to read, full of details about who He is, what He really wants from us, what makes Him happy, what makes Him sad, all the things He longs to give us and teach us, and the way He intended us to live our lives.

I imagine you could count on one hand the number of Christians in our church old and new, who haven't at some time or other neglected their bible study. It's the great secret we tend to hide, and it seems no-one wants to own up to it, but if this is you, rest assured we all do it at some time or other. Although, as we all know, two wrongs don't make a right :p

So, I confess to whoever is reading, that I am fully guilty of this.
But I set myself a goal this year, to set about equipping myself to do God's work, not waiting on the next church workshop but taking this as both my own responsibility and indeed my duty. And the method is twofold:
1) To draw closer to God through prayer and obedience, growing the inner man.
and
2) To become firmly rooted and established in God's word, in order to grow in knowledge, and to be convicted and enabled through grace to grow correspondingly in living it out.

And I have found my bible study to be essential in all of this. When I hear questions asked by new or non-Christians that I don't know the answer to, I want to get the answer straight from the source. When I feel my understanding of a certain topic is lacking, I know that the answers I need are all in there somewhere. It would help if I had a study bible or concordance, but I don't so I have to find things the hard way.. Guess what my next book purchase is going to be? :p

And a free lollipop to the first one who can tell me how many times I said "God's word" in this blog entry :D