CLAPTON IS GOD

Don't get me wrong: I love the mess out of some Eric Clapton, but I'm not quite up to deifying the man. The title of this post just refers to a graffito first seen on a wall at the Underground station in Islington, a borough of London, in late 1967:

As you can clearly see, God enlisted some help from man's best friend in making known His feelings towards the slogan, if not Clapton himself, although I seriously doubt God doesn't love Clapton. #1 - He's God, and God is Love. #2 - We're talking about the Eric Clapton here, and God is bound to have excellent musical taste. After all, He's the one who gave us the ability to create music as well as appreciate it.

Now, I'll readily admit that I don't know a lot about Clapton's own personal religious beliefs. This article paints a pretty positive picture, largely with Clapton's own words, and the Clapton-penned "Presence of the Lord" from Blind Faith definitely speaks volumes to the idea of God's role in Clapton's life, even though Clapton himself has stated that the song was inspired by the emotions of owning his first house. I certainly hope Clapton is in good standing with God, as I sincerely doubt I'll ever really get a chance to hang out with him in this world.

But to get to the whole reason I even brought any of this up in the first place...

I was driving around the other day, listening to Derek and the Dominos' Live at the Fillmore, which is a particularly excellent snapshot of Clapton's skills as not only a guitarist but also a very powerful lyricist. In particular, the song "Got to Get Better In a Little While" - the first track on that album - was the one baking my noodle at the moment when a thought struck me.

Don't you know what's wrong with me?

I'm seeing things I don't want to see.

Sniffing things that ain't no good for me.

I'm going down fast, won't you say a prayer for me?

It's got to get better in a little while...

That "sniffing things" line is a reference to Clapton's heroin habit. Yes, he did plenty of cocaine (the traditionally sniffed drug), too, but heroin was the drug that altered the course of his life, especially around the period of Derek and the Dominos. But notice that the line comes in the middle of a confession on Clapton's part that things aren't good, and that the only remedy available for him is the prayer of others.

The last verse in the song fits right nicely with that idea, as well:

Still one thing that you can do;

Fall down on your knees and pray.

I know the Lord's gonna answer you.

Don't do it tomorrow, do it today.

It's got to get better in a little while...

Again, Clapton makes the case very plainly evident that - at least in the belief system he presents in the lyrics of this song - the only thing that can actually improve one's life is a surrender to God, especially via the avenue of prayer. The middle verse of the song actually contains lines that even prescribes specific morality in order to help things get better in a little while: "Please don't hurt nobody, don't knock them down/Give them a helping hand to get off the ground."

So, to recap, the three verses of the song, in order, say the following: 1) I've ruined my own life and prayer is the only thing that can save me. 2) We should all help others. 3) If you want God to save you, sincerely ask Him to do so, and He will.

Nothing earth-shattering, but still, very true sentiments, right?

Now, here's the thought that struck me: what if God wants to talk to me through Eric Clapton?

Before y'all get to thinkin' I've completely lost my grip, don't worry, I'm not saying that I believe that Eric Clapton is/was an inspired prophet of God, speaking the holy and inspired Word of God anew and fresh, like Elijah with a customized black Fender Stratocaster. I'm just saying that maybe there's some truth to be found in some surprising places.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

- Philippians 4:8

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

- James 1:17

To get His points across about God to the people listening to Him, Jesus used salt, birds, flowers, planks, sawdust, trees, pigs, jewelry, fish, money, fish with money, old women, young women, rich men, poor men, dead people, living people, children, marriages, parties, wine, water, bread, hair, and anything else around Him to illustrate a point.

Paul pulls his illustrations from other places: the pagan philosophy around him. In front of the Areopagus in Athens in Acts 17, Paul quotes the Cretan philosopher Epimenides and the Cilician Stoic philosopher Aratus. Epimenides comes up again in Titus 1:12, and in I Corinthians 15:33, there's a line from the Greek poet Menander.

Even further out there, we have the letter of Jude, in which the author quotes the non-canonical Assumption of Moses (verse 9) and I Enoch (verses 14-15). As far as I know, it's not clear whether anyone in the era of the first century church thought that these books were "Scripture" in the same way as the Torah, or if they were more on par with "popular" theological writings, like C.S. Lewis is for us today. But in either case - we don't recognize it as canonical, and yet, there it is, right smack in the middle of a quite canonical book of the entirely canonical Bible.

So it seems evident to me that there is plenty of precedent for finding truths about God in the world around us. There are GOOD THINGS going on in this world, and - according to James and Paul - if it's good, it's from God, and therefore is worth thinking about, reflecting on, and appreciating.

The value is not only in the aesthetic appreciation of some non-divine creation, but also in the spiritual application. Even if Clapton didn't believe in God at all, he still wrote a song that contains some perfectly valid truth and understanding about how God works in relation to His world and the people in it.

This idea - looking for God (and finding Him) in the world outside of church and the Bible - ties into what I was talking about two weeks back in "Seeing What I Want to See." Again, if you're looking for God, you will find Him. But I am hoping to specifically encourage you to not just look for God through a deeper knowledge of the Bible and/or personal application of spiritual disciplines, although those are still going to be your primary sources of developing Christian maturity; what I'm specifically trying to say is that if you're focused on knowing God, trying to see His work in your life, searching for His presence in everything you do... Well... You're gonna see Him, and you just might be surprised by where He shows up from time to time.

And it's not just for your own personal benefit that you should be doing this. As Christians, we are called two do two things: Love God and Love others. Part of Loving God and others is to introduce others to God. Evangelism is a hugely important part of living the Christian life in the right way. Remember what I Peter 3:15 says:

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

It's part of your responsibility as a Christian to have answers for what you believe so that you can better fulfill your obligations to the mission of the "royal priesthood" (I Peter 2:9) - bringing the Word of God into the hearts and minds of those around you, proclaiming His Kingdom on this earth.

While we were still in high school, my buddy Jeremy once noted the parallels between the story of Mr. Anderson - better known as "Neo" - in The Matrix and the story of Christ. Now, the two don't exactly line up word for word or anything, but there's enough similarity to solidly hold on to. It's not grasping at straws to make the connections. But what's important is that it is the connections that Jeremy made between The Matrix and the Bible that allowed us to have a conversation that I believe paved the way a bit further towards Jeremy's eventual decision to follow Christ and begin his current walk with God.

So I guess The Matrix can't be all bad, even if the sequels are unfathomably horrid.

Optimists are described as people who look around themselves and see the best in everything. Pessimists are described as people who look around themselves and see the worst in everything. I don't know what the word for it would be, but I want to be the kind of person who looks around myself and sees God working in everything.

(I would like to make a very important distinction here: I don't want to promote the idea of seeing God in everything in the sense of saying that God is in the trees or in the beauty of His Created Nature or in Eric Clapton - beyond the sense of God's Spirit living in those who accept Him into their lives - as I don't want to be promoting a sort of pantheism that sees God inside everything and therefore begins to worship everything as an extension of God. What I'm specifically advocating here is that we look for, and therefore find, the things within the Creation that specifically point to the Truth of the Creator, enabling us to more fully worship Him by further appreciating the work He has done.)

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

- Romans 8:5, emphasis added

It makes sense to me to think that one of the things that the Spirit desires would probably be an appreciation for the Truth, no matter where it is found. It follows then that seeking the Truth, even in surprising places, would be a pretty sound bet for a Spirit thing. In being led by God, if our faith is strong enough to trust that God will not allow us to be led astray so long as we are wholly focused on Him, I think it's a fairly sure thing that we're going to see God express Himself in some pretty unexpected ways.

Elijah expected God to be in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. I would say he was probably surprised to hear God in the gentle whisper. Moses probably didn't expect to hear God talk to him through a burning bush. Paul most likely didn't expect Jesus to knock him down blind on the road to Damascus. Peter almost certainly didn't expect Jesus to tell him that unclean animals (and Gentiles) were OK. I completely didn't expect God to talk to me through Eric Clapton, and yet here we are.

God is the ultimate source of all goodness and truth. Love is from God. Joy is from God. Peace is from God. Anything that helps you, me, them, or anybody else get closer to Love, Joy, Peace or God... is from God. Even if there's bad stuff in the way - and as a good Christian thoroughly grounded in a clear understanding of Christian character and Godly virtue, you'll be able to spot the bad stuff among the good, right? - there's still plenty of Truth to be found in all sorts of surprising places. To deny the validity of Truth just because it's not in the Bible would be to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world, immediately frustrating any attempts we could possibly make to communicate the entire Truth of God to those we are specifically called to bring into His presence.

Dear Lord, give me strength to carry on.

Dear Lord, give me strength to carry on.

My home may be out on the highway,

Lord, I've done so much wrong

But please, give me strength to carry on.

- Eric Clapton, "Give Me Strength"

And I, for one, say "Amen."

Seeing What I Want to See

I don't know about you, but 2010 was awesome for me.

Was every day of the year blue skies and rainbows? Oh, merciful goodness, no. By no means! There was heartache all over. There was impatient anger and indignant fury. There were lies and betrayals. There were lots of disappointments on some seriously fundamental levels. BAD STUFF HAPPENED this past year, make no mistake.

But 2010 is going to go down in my own personal history books as the year I finally let God take full control of my life, and that fact alone has made it by far my best non-1983 year to date.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

- Matthew 7:7-8

I will give thanks to You, LORD, with all my heart;

I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and rejoice in You;

I will sing the praises of Your name, O Most High.

Those who know Your name trust in You,

for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek You.

- Psalm 9:1-2, 10

I will extol the LORD at all times;

His praise will always be on my lips.

I will glory in the LORD;

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.

Glorify the LORD with me;

let us exalt His name together.

I sought the LORD, and He answered me;

He delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to Him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.

This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;

He saved him out of all his troubles.

- Psalm 34:1-6

You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek You;

I thirst for You,

my whole being longs for You,

in a dry and parched land

where there is no water.

I have seen You in the sanctuary

and beheld Your power and Your glory.

Because Your Love is better than life,

my lips will glorify You.

I will praise You as long as I live,

and in Your name I will lift up my hands.

I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;

with singing lips my mouth will praise You.

- Psalm 63:1-5

But if you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

- Deuteronomy 4:29

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

- Hebrews 11:6

I hope you picked up a theme in all of that. In case you didn't, let me sum it up:

IF YOU LOOK FOR GOD, YOU WILL FIND HIM.

Before I go any further, let me make something perfectly clear: I do not understand atheism.

Yeah, I know what atheism is. I get that.

And yeah, I can see how it came about. That's not a problem.

But what I specifically don't understand is this idea that it's up to God to show us He exists instead of being up to us to find Him - especially when God specifically says, "If you look for Me, you will find Me," as I've already pointed out.

Bertrand Russell - 20th century British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, prolific writer, and renowned atheist - was once asked what he would say to God if, after his death, he found himself standing at the Judgment. How would he explain his staunch atheism?

"I will say: ‘I’m terribly sorry, but you didn’t give us enough evidence.’"

Now... I don't know what would have qualified as "enough evidence" in Russell's mind. Paul makes an appeal in the beginning chapters of Romans that earth itself is enough to point to God, and a similar theme is brought up in the first six verses of Psalm 19.

And I don't have any problem admitting that I'm not entirely up to snuff on the textual criticism of the Bible. I do not personally possess the knowledge sufficient to defend the early dates or the traditionally ascribed authorship of the New Testament. If there are doubts about the historical legitimacy and authenticity of the text, there will be doubts about the veracity of the text. This is an entirely understandable objection.

But let me, in my objection to the atheistic requirement that God provide the evidence for His existence, provide some evidence on His behalf.

I looked for God.

I found Him.

(This happens to be exactly what God said would happen.)

Now, it makes all the sense in the world to me to think that this would be enough to turn even the most stubborn of atheists, but of course, that's not the case, so let me go a little further.

You know those little sausage balls that show up every once in a while at the good church get-togethers and Christmas parties and wedding receptions and all that? The unbelievably delicious little perfect mixture of sausage, cheese, and crispy breading? You wanna know how to make those? Get ready, because here it comes:

3 cups Bisquick

1 lb. sausage

1 lb. cheese

Mix all ingredients. Scoop out mixture into little sausage ball-sized sausage balls.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until sausage balls are a crispy golden brown, like sausage balls ought to be.

You have now made sausage balls. Congratulations, everybody loves you.

Now... if you try that recipe and green bean casserole comes out of your oven, one of two things will be true. Option number one is that I lied to you. Option number two is that you didn't follow the recipe. Which of those two do you believe to be more likely? Would I have any reason to lie to you about how to make sausage balls? Come on. Think about this. I am a fat dude, and there is always the possibility of you sharing with me, so I will do everything within my power to ensure the existence of sausage balls.

It seems to me that the atheist position of asking God to prove Himself (when God has said that if we look for Him we will find Him) is a lot like someone saying that the recipe for sausage balls can't possibly be true because the sausage balls don't make themselves. If you're not willing to follow the recipe, you can't ever know if the recipe is actually right.

The big objection to me tying the theory of the recipe for sausage balls to God is, of course, going to be that we all know sausage balls exist because we've all seen them, smelled them, eaten them, thrown violent temper tantrums when we ran out of them... (Well, maybe not ALL of us have done that.)

But God - whom even the Bible says no man has ever seen (John 1:18, I John 4:12) - cannot be proven in the same way as sausage balls, right?

Well...

God says, "If you look for Me, you will find Me." I looked for God and I found Him. Turns out God was right! Isn't that neat?

Now I know that argument would probably never hold up against a committed atheist, especially an atheist who already knows that there's not even a possibility of a God. The atheist rebuttal to my "finding" God would inevitably boil down to the idea of my living under a delusion, separate from reason, in defiance of evidence to the contrary... After all, if I'm seeing God at work in my life, then I'm only seeing what I want to see, so it can't be true.

This is another one that blows my mind.

Dad and I wanted to see True Grit. So we went to the theater and saw True Grit. We both really enjoyed it.

Did we see what we wanted to see? Yep. Sure did.

So does that mean that we didn't actually see True Grit?

I could go on, but I think you get the picture, so now I can move on to the point I really wanted to make.

I've been framing this whole thing since the wall-o'-scripture in a Christian-versus-atheist light because it allows me to use really broad strokes and get the BIG idea across. But now, I've got to do some detail work and talk Christian to Christian.

If you're a Christian, I know you already believe in God. I know you already believe in Jesus. I know you already trust the Bible to be accurate.

But what I don't know is if you're actually taking it seriously.

Let me stress the "I don't know" part of that last sentence. I'm not saying you're not taking it seriously. I'm just saying that I don't know. You're the only one who can.

Well... You and God.

Ask yourself... Do you actually believe Jesus when He says, in Matthew 6, that if you seek God first, everything else will fall into place?

Do you actually believe Him when He says, in Matthew 7, that if you seek Him, you will find Him?

Do you actually believe what the writer of Hebrews says, in the 11th chapter of the letter, that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him?

Now... If you actually believe these things, do you actually live it out?

Is God really your first priority? Does God win out over your job? Your hobbies? Your family? Your own life?

You're the only person who can answer those questions, and God's the only other one who'll know if you're telling the truth.

If God IS your first priority, I don't doubt at all that you're seeing a lot of the same things I've been blessed enough to see over the past year. I don't doubt that you're seeing the fruits of the Spirit borne in your life. I don't doubt that you're overcoming evil with good. I don't doubt that you're finding yourself stronger and stronger in the face of temptation. I don't doubt that you're finding more and more each day that God is the only thing in your life that really fulfills you. I definitely don't doubt that you're overflowing with joy and can't keep from telling people just how amazing God is.

But if He's NOT... Let me encourage you - as someone who very, very, very recently did not have God anywhere near the center of his life - to seriously consider making 2011 the year that changes your life. Look for God. You will find Him. And when you do... words fail me for expressing the way the Glory of God will manifest itself in your life in a very real, very powerful, very holy way. I wish I could tell you in a way that you could truly understand. I wish I could just GIVE it to you, because it would change everything for you.

I just really wish you could see what I see, because I'm seeing exactly what I wanted to see, and it's better than I could have ever imagined.

As 2010 comes to a close, my prayer for myself is that I will not just hold firm to the faith that has completely redefined my very existence, but that I will continue to go deeper in that faith, deeper into the very heart of God, led by His Spirit, following His Son, and encouraging everyone I come in contact with to do the same. My prayer for you is similar: I pray that each day brings you closer and closer to His Will for your life than you were the day before.

I love you so much.

Happy New Year.

The Safe Bet

In his unfinished and posthumously published Pensées, 17th century French philosopher, inventor, mathematician, theologian, writer, physicist and all-around smart guy Blaise Pascal wrote out what has since become known as "Pascal's Gambit" or "Pascal's Wager."

Pascal presents the gambit as an argument not for or against the actual existence of God Himself, but towards faith. Pascal argues that reason cannot be trusted to determine the truth of an idea -the existence or non-existence of God - that is within a realm completely separate from reason by its very nature.

"God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

So it's down to a coin toss, and we have to make a bet on where the coin will land. Either it's heads and God is real (specifically, the God of the Bible), or tails and He's not. And the thing is, you can't not bet. Like Canadian progressive rock power trio Rush says, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." Pascal points out that we are all each of us already living out our choice on where the coin will fall.

And here's where I think things get particularly awesome.

Pascal says that if the God of the Bible is real and we live our lives like we believe it, then we stand to win an infinite gain - Heaven.

If God is real and we live like He's not, we stand to lose an infinite loss - Hell, the second death, darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, etc...

If God isn't real and we live like it, well, we'll be wrong in the end, but if we're actually living like God is real, then we're living lives dedicated to being people filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control... and what's bad about being that kind of person? Isn't that what we wish everybody else would be like? Aren't those exactly the kinds of words we all want people to use when they're describing us at our funeral? So it's still to your gain to live as though God is real, even if He's not, because in the end, it just makes you a nice and well-loved person.

And then, of course, there's the fourth possibility - God's not real, and you don't live like it anyway. Well, if that's true, you live however you want and then you die. The end. The gain here was that you got to do what you wanted.

But of the four possibilities, the safest bet is to live as though God is real, simply because the amount you stand to lose (your life, sacrificed in service to God) is completely worth the amount you could potentially win (infinite bliss). The only way you can really lose is if God's real and you don't live like it. That's the only option in which there is an actual BAD THING that happens to you in the end. So just from a probabilities standpoint, it makes more sense to live your life as though there is a God, because even if there isn't, things work out pretty well for you anyway.

(What I'm presenting here is a very, very, very simplified version of Pascal's original writings, but it still covers the basic thrust of the idea.)

I used to play a whole lot of poker when I was in college. I don't want to sound arrogant, but truth be told, I was pretty good. I didn't always win, but I won more often than I lost. With the guys I played with, we only played for five bucks each - small enough that you're not really gonna miss it if you lose, but big enough that if you win a game with 6 guys, it's 30 bucks in your pocket.

One of the guys I played with - I'll call him Keith, since that's his name - had this particular betting style that always messed with my head. Once the cards were dealt out and everybody had made their piddling little 25-cent bets and 50-cent raises, Keith would come out swinging with three dollars (out of an initial five!) on top.

It was always, always, always the last thing you expected him to do, even though he'd done it countless times before. It was always, always, always an impossible situation to react to, as well, because you never knew if he was putting on a stone-cold bluff or if he actually had pretty good cards.

I seemed to have the exactly worst possible luck in those hands because I would invariably fold my pocket 10s when Keith was only holding a 4 and a 7, or I'd wind up calling with two pair, Jacks and nines, and then look up to see Keith's full house, Aces over Jacks, and... uhhh... well, there went all of my money.

Now, that bet didn't always work for Keith. In poker, there is nothing that always works. But when it did work... Yeah, it paid off really well for him. Part of the reason that it ever worked out for him was that he was the only guy at the table willing to make such an insane bet in the first place. Some of us (me) were dumb enough to call, and occasionally - seldom is actually a better word here - it would work out, but most of the time, the boldness of the bet itself was enough to scare everybody else out, leaving Keith to rake in the chips.

No matter what you or I choose to believe about God, morality, faith, Heaven, Hell, or anything else, there is risk involved. The risk is that we might be wrong. It doesn't matter what you believe - it might be wrong. Whether you believe God is real or not, you might be wrong. It's definitely a possibility.

But that's where faith comes in, isn't it? It is our faith that assures us that God is real, that the Bible is an accurate relaying of His message to us, and that our sins have been forgiven because of the sacrifice of Jesus. Remember the words of Christ to the apostle Thomas: "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29) We who call ourselves Christian are definitely blessed because we are in a relationship with God that is not based on sight, but on faith - on a trust in the existence not seen by human eyes or made with human hands, but above nature, supernatural, divine... something distinctly "other" from everything else in this world.

But are we really doing enough to say that we're living by faith?

Or have we allowed our faith in God to become more like an insurance policy - something that we don't really ever think about, and hope we don't ever have to deal with, but we keep paying the absolute minimum just in case things go wrong?

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you — you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:19-34, emphasis added

Did you notice how Jesus pretty blatantly said we're not supposed to worry about money? Or clothes? Or food? Or tomorrow?

So what if we actually started doing that?

What if we actually started focusing on the things Jesus told us to focus on - His Kingdom and His Righteousness - and actually had the faith that God would provide the rest?

What would that look like? Would it look crazy? Well, Paul says yes.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

I Corinthians 1:18-31

"Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?" Isn't following after what the world says is the right way to live out your life kind of dumb once you believe in God? Isn't the whole point of this God thing that we listen to God instead of... well, anything that isn't God?

What's the point of believing in God if we're not going to live like the God we believe in is actually going to do anything for us?

If we believe in God, wouldn't that mean we believe what He says?

Isn't that the whole point of faith in the first place?

Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying.

As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”

Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.”

They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Luke 8:40-56, emphases added

What did Jesus say to the woman? What was it that healed her? Was it God? Was it Jesus Himself? Was it the woman touching His cloak?

Or was it her faith?

(In case you missed it, here it is again - "Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." Luke 8:48, the Bible, the Holy Inspired Word of God, the people-I-promise-I'm-not-making-this-up book.)

And what about Jairus? What was it He told Jairus?

I'm not gonna give you the answer this time, but I'll give you a GREAT BIG HINT: it's on this page already. It's just a few lines up. It's RIGHT AFTER Jesus tells the woman that her faith healed her...

"Just believe and she will be healed." Luke 8:50, once again, the Bible, the Holy Inspired Word of God, etc... (I know I said I wasn't going to tell you, but whatever, I'm trying to make a point here.)

And then there's...

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.

Matthew 8:5-13, emphasis added

But there's also...

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”

“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:14-20, emphasis added

Oh, and let's not forget...

When Jesus had finished these parables, He moved on from there. Coming to His hometown, He began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t His mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Matthew 13:53-58, emphasis added

Are you picking up on a trend here? Have you noticed that there's something of a correlation between how much faith someone has in Jesus and how much crazy awesome stuff He does in that person's life?

Do you think that we've been given any reason to believe that things work any differently today?

Did the rules change anytime in the last 1,970-ish years, or is God still in charge?

No matter what you say or think you believe, you are living out your life according to what you actually believe.

So take a look at yourself. Take a goooooood look. Are you living your life as a bet that the coin is gonna come up heads and that God - the God of the Bible, the Father of Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Universe - is real and that those who actually have the faith in Him to deny themselves and the "wisdom" of this world will have a part in Eternity with Him?

Or are you just making the "safe" bet and hoping everything works out, just in case He's actually there?

It takes a lot of faith to just give up on the world and let an invisible God who revealed Himself to people thousands of years ago take care of everything, and I realize that's a big step. Thing is, God realizes that, too, and that is exactly what He's asking us to do anyway.

God wants to be a part of your life in a huge, crazy, big, amazing, powerful, undeniable, holy, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, life-changing way.

But it's up to YOU to have the faith to let Him do it.

Album Cuts and Lactose Intolerance in the Name of the Faith

I love me some Jimi Hendrix, but Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix just makes me mad to no end.

Yeah, yeah, it's got "Foxey Lady" and "Purple Haze" as well as all the other Hendrix songs you're gonna hear on any classic rock station across the country in any given day. And if you've somehow managed to go through your whole life to this point never hearing a single Jimi Hendrix song, Experience Hendrix would definitely be a decent start, but if that's the only Hendrix you ever hear... Oh, you just don't know Jimi Hendrix.

Where's "Third Stone from the Sun"? Where's "Wait Until Tomorrow"? Where's "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"?

If you actually want to experience Hendrix, Experience Hendrix is not the place to go. Go pick up Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland, give those a listen, and then you can say that you've scratched the surface of knowing what Jimi Hendrix's music really meant. But even that's really just a start. You still haven't heard Band of Gypsys, or the Live at Woodstock recording, or any of the hundreds of hours of material available outside of the confines of those original three studio albums.

And again, it's not like there's anything on Experience Hendrix that isn't good. It's just that it's missing the crazy awesome stuff. The only way to hear the crazy awesome is to really get into the original albums and live recordings and rare bonus material and all of that. That's when you can know Hendrix.

As you may have gathered, I am also kind of a fan of God. But there's a sort of "greatest hits of God" mentality out there that I'm not really comfortable with.

Don't get me wrong, salvation is pretty awesome. Heaven will be better than I can imagine, and I've got a pretty awesome idea or three about how it's gonna be up there. But there is more to the story. There is more to this faith than the simple ideas of sin and redemption, Heaven and Hell, good and evil...

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.

- Hebrews 5:11-6:3

Did you catch that? Repentance from sin, faith in God, eternal judgment... child's play. Infantile material. Milk.

I am ready for some meat.

It has become painfully obvious to me that there are a great many people in today's Christianity who are complacent with their faith. They may have a far better grasp than some (including myself) on the idea of approaching strangers with the Gospel of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth... but that's kinda where it stops for a lot of people.

That's not where it stops for me, and I don't think that's where it stops for God, either.

In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once when I had been giving a talk... an old, hard-bitten officer got up and said, "I've no use for all that stuff. But mind you, I'm a religious man too, I know there's a God, I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night; the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!"

Now in a sense I quite agree with that man. I think he probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man has once looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he will also be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of colored paper.

But here comes the point. The map is admittedly only colored paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place, it is based on what hundreds and thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would only be a single isolated glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere, the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.

Now, Theology is like that map. Merely learning and thinking about Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experiences of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God--experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused.

And secondly, if you want to get any further, you have to use the map. You see, what happened to that man in the desert may have been real, and was certainly exciting, but nothing comes of it. It leads nowhere. There is nothing to do about it. In fact, that is just why a vague religion--all about feeling God in nature, and so on--is so attractive. It is all thrills and no work; like watching waves from the beach. But you will not get to Newfoundland by studying the Atlantic that way, and you will not get eternal life by simply feeling the presence of God in flowers or music. Neither will you get anywhere by looking at maps without going to sea. Nor will you be very safe if you go to sea without a map.

- C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity

As I've been looking for work in a church setting, I've come across an oft-quoted statistic that says that anywhere between one-half to two-thirds to seven-tenths of the kids who grow up in church wind up leaving by the time they're out on their own. Why is that? I think it's largely due to the fact that the church at large is promoting a type of mentally hollow Christianity.

I've been to the big youth rallies and the late night communion services and the sunrise devotionals... And I'm not about to say that those are not good things. They are wonderful. There is absolutely nothing wrong with those... Unless they're simply attempts to emotionally manipulate the audience into feeling a connection with God.

If a youth minister delivers a devotional thought that has all of the kids in his youth group crying their eyes out but doesn't actually engage their minds, what good does it do? As soon as there's something funny to distract from the emotional manipulation, the focus on God is completely gone.

I don't feel a connection between two and two that feels like four. I know it. So, in the same way, I want people - myself very much included - to know God.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

- II Corinthians 10:3-5

It seems to me that we have come to a point in modern Christendom where we've stopped trying to KNOW more about God. We've become content with the things we already think we understand, confident that we've studied enough to pass the test, and conceited to the point of blindness to any further understanding of what the Bible is actually talking about.

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

- Romans 10:1-4

Paul's beef with the Israelites was that they had become complacent in their knowledge of God. Their hearts - their feelings - were all ablaze for God, and that's definitely a commendable thing But their minds had become closed off to true understanding of the deeper truth of who God is and who He wants us to be, and so they wound up condemning themselves.

Let's not do that.

It seems to me that the only way to really get this is to go deeper. Deeper into the Bible, deeper into the understanding of God, deeper into theology... Deeper. Just go deeper.

We're not meant to keep repeating the same things over and over and over.

Yes, Jesus died for our sins.

Yes, adultery is bad. So are murder and car theft.

Yes, faith in God is essential.

Let's get past that.

That's infantile material in the growth of a Christian. Those are elementary steps. We should all be way, way, WAY past that.

I'm not saying we've all got to sit down together and start reading the works of Kierkegaard, although that would definitely put a smile on my face (and an ache in my head). But can't we maybe start looking at the true definition of righteousness? Can't we start working towards a deeper understanding of the nature of God? Can't we start looking at the eschatological framework of the repatriation of post-exilic Israel and how the rebuilding of the temple is meant to show us a glimpse into the forgiving nature of God?

Can't we get past the easy stuff?

We aren't making mountains out of molehills - we're making sermon series out of simple elementary truths that we all should have understood once we actually became Christians. So why do we wind up running over these things again and again and again?

Look, all I'm saying is that the foot-washing devo can only be done so many times before it starts to be repetitive. (So many times = once.)

There is MORE TO THIS than most people are willing to accept. Why? Are they happy with where their faith is? Do they think that it's good enough to just accept Jesus and move on with life?

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

- Romans 12:2

In Deuteronomy 6:5, Moses tells Israel to "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." However, in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27, Jesus adds one... "Love the Lord your God... with all your mind."

Christianity is not a religion of stupid faith. We are called to a higher understanding, a deeper knowledge. There are some hard things in the Bible. Don't be afraid of them, but embrace them openly that you may become better acquainted with the whole of who God is, and then be able to distinguish - for yourself - the difference between good and evil.

The World - like, the evil thing we're supposed to be in but not of - says that Christianity is a religion that suppresses reason and education and learning and wisdom and free thought. My Bible says fairly differently. I'd like for us to all start proving the World wrong.

May God bless your mind as you seek Him with your whole being. Amen.