A brief theological reflection on Batman

What comes to mind when I tell you to think of Batman? This is actually a pretty important question, because we can't talk about Batman until we've got some agreement on who Batman actually is.

The 1966-1968 Batman TV series, starring Adam West as Batman, is not a good version of Batman. I know there's folks out there who like it, but I just hope that they understand that it's not really the best version of Batman out there. Really, folks, let's be honest - the Batusi is not going to be a recognized action of a man who dresses up as a giant bat in order to more effectively avenge the murders of his parents (which he witnessed at age 7).

But on the other hand, the 1992-1995 Batman: The Animated Series is a very good version of Batman, largely because it is much more in line with the central idea of "Bruce Wayne saw his parents murdered in front of him and now fights a one-man war on crime as the dark-clad spirit of vengeance."

Of course, those aren't the only two televised adaptations of Batman to ever exist. Batman was also portrayed on SuperFriends and all of its spinoffs, as well as spinoffs of the 1992 animated series. And then there are theatrical adaptations of Batman to be considered, as well. The Adam West series had its own movie, Tim Burton directed Batman in 1989 with Michael Keaton, and then Burton and Keaton reunited for Batman Returns in 1992. After Burton and Keaton left, director Joel Schumacher took the reigns for 1995's Batman Forever starring Val Kilmer, and 1997's Batman & Robin with George Clooney. None of those are very good, but I'll allow that some are worse than others.

Then we come to the most recent film adaptations of Batman: Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, both directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman. Both of these have been excellent, and I'm personally looking forward to the third film in the series, The Dark Knight Rises, due summer 2012.

Now, I realize that I'm not the supreme arbiter of taste when it comes to interpretations of Batman - my opinion is just that - my opinion. If someone else thinks Adam West was the best Batman ever, who am I to say he or she is wrong?

Well, for starters, I'm the guy who's read a whole lot of Batman comics.

I won't claim that I've read every Batman story ever, but I've read enough that I have a pretty solid idea of who Batman is, what defines him as a character, what kinds of stories work best for that character, and also what kinds of stories don't work as well for the character.

And sometimes when people get to talking about Batman, it's very important to make sure that everybody comes to the table with a common understanding of what makes a "good" Batman, because it's only after everybody agrees on what's good that you can actually determine what's bad.

Tim Burton's depiction of Batman is no good for a lot of reasons, but there are two huge ones that stick out as flagrant errors in Batmannery. First - the Joker did not kill Batman's parents. That's a pretty cheap storytelling move, trying to tie unrelated elements of the story together in order to create more emotional tension. Second - Batman doesn't kill people, not even the Joker. But hey, Tim Burton has said before that he never read Batman comics, and really, that explains a lot of things.

I'm not saying that you can't enjoy Batman without reading the comics... But that does make it really hard to get a fully accurate picture of the true nature of the Batman.

Movies and TV shows are operating within time-sensitive frameworks where there's not really enough room to put in ALL of the wealth of information and characterization that can be borne out of more than 70 years of work on Batman. In pursuits of a deeper understanding of Batman, however, it becomes necessary at some point to at least read a few of the comics. (I would suggest starting with anything written by Frank Miller.)

Sometimes people have ideas of what they think Batman is like - based on their exposure to various TV shows and movies over the years - that either line up perfectly or don't fit at all with what the real Batman is like. These misconceptions of Batman have a lot to do with how people react to Batman, and it's important to know if somebody's idea of Batman is right or not in order to know what they actually think of Batman.

And now replace "Batman" in that last paragraph with "God" and you'll see what I see in a lot of Christians today.

A lot of Christians today are operating under a set of mistaken assumptions about who God is. The corruptions of the idea of God come from all sorts of places, not excluding movies and TV. And even worse, once we get to the root of the misconceptions about God, we find that they come from someone who hasn't ever actually read the Bible to see what God Himself says about God.

Batman as portrayed by Adam West in the 1966 TV series isn't such a terrible Batman that it's something else entirely. It's just a somewhat goofy Batman with painted on eyebrows and a charming smile, surrounded by caricatures of his villains, all reduced to brightly colored practical jokes instead of genuinely threatening psychotics with seriously altered understandings of reality.

Batman as portrayed by Michael Keaton in the Tim Burton films still isn't so horrible at being Batman that we have to call him Superman, but it's still not a 100% accurate Batman, either. This version of Batman goes too far and crosses lines that the real Batman doesn't, violating one of the central codes of the actual character's definition, leading to a corrupted vision of who Batman is.

Again - that's how some people are with God. Some people - Christian and non-Christian alike - operate with understandings of God that deviate the Biblical picture of God to create something that, although not entirely worthless, definitely isn't completely correct.

God is not the eternal sunshine and rainbows machine, wanting to shower you with nothing but happiness and Lisa Frank stickers; nor is He the universal drill sergeant, barking orders and keeping His troops in line through harsh routines. Both of these ideas of God come from corruptions of aspects of God - both ideas are based on the Truth of God, but still fall so very short.

I'm hoping that the Batman analogy helps you see why it's important that we all have a fully functional understanding of who God really is. While I'll grant that it doesn't matter too much (while still mattering a good bit) what you think about Batman, it definitely matters, more than anything else does, what you think about God.

As I've become more known in social circles as "the preacher," I've found myself having more and more discussions about God and faith in Him. One of the inescapable commonalities among people who hold objections to Christianity is a theologically incorrect picture of God. If God Himself is misunderstood, how can anything else make sense? When I'm talking to non-Christians who object to the idea of a God who tells His followers to bring hateful acts of violence down on - for instance - homosexuals, I try to show them that they're operating with a mistaken understanding of who God is. Once they understand that what God actually asks of us is to love all people as much as we love ourselves, then we are one step closer to sharing in an experience of the Truth of God.

But at the same time, I often have conversations with Christians who are themselves coming from dangerously awry understandings of the true nature of God. When I meet a Christian who is struggling in his faith because God hasn't blessed him with material wealth, it's there that we've got to make sure to look for and find the Truth of God, the Truth that transcends worldly desires and focuses on living by the Spirit. It is only when we come to understand the Truth of God that the Truth can set us free - truly free.

It's no mere coincidence that Jesus refers to Himself as the Truth - there's a very powerful idea contained in that. One person's understanding of God might seem to work for them, but if it's not actually based on the correct understanding, then things fall apart pretty quickly when the questions are asked.

I'd like to encourage you to read the book of Job. I know it's long, and I know not everybody's got just tons of free time, but trust me - if you take the time to read the Bible, God will bless you deeply for it, and you'll be blown away how much you can get out of just reading for a few minutes each day. But specifically and especially in reading Job, I want you to look at the version of God presented in the closing chapters and compare it to your own concept of God. Does Job's God look like your God?

There's only so much any preacher can do. Eventually everything comes down to whether or not the listener is willing to seriously question his or her own beliefs and make adjustments based on the reality of Truth when compared to the illusion of personal preference.

When faced with the choice between a difficult belief that challenges you to take the hard step of living a better life or an easy belief that allows you to stay the same and placate your conscience, it's not hard to see why most people through the history of the world have taken the easy way out. It's easy. Duh.

But following God isn't supposed to be easy. Good Batman isn't easy. But finding - and adhering to - the genuine Truth is what makes all the difference.

When The Dark Knight came out in theaters, the girl I was dating at the time was extremely reluctant to see the movie, citing a huge hatred for Batman. This simply wasn't gonna sit with me, so I had to find out where this hatred was coming from. As I dug and poked and prodded, I found out that she'd never actually experienced any good Batman. Once she saw The Dark Knight, however, she admitted that she enjoyed it - and why wouldn't she? It's awesome! It gets Batman right! I firmly believe that it's next to impossible for anyone to see Batman done well and not enjoy it at least a little bit.

But Batman done wrong? Yeah, that's terrible.

Same thing goes for God. When people are operating with a poor understanding of who God actually is and what He actually does, it's easy to see why they'd reject the idea.

Once the Truth is understood, however, and people have a correct understanding of the Nature and Will and Love of God, then I don't see how anybody can pass it up.

Make sure you know the Truth of who God is. Don't be content with your understanding of God as it stands now - dedicate yourself to a constant search for knowledge of God on the most intimate of levels. Know Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and you will find yourself sharing what you know with everyone around you. Just like Batman, once people see God in the right way, it becomes a lot harder to reject the idea.

The Gospel According to Led Zeppelin

In case you're just tuning in, here's the story so far: my favorite musical entity in the history of time is Led Zeppelin. It is kind of a thing with me.

Led Zeppelin. Just... oh, so good. So very good. My goodness, the goodness of Led Zeppelin. From the first album to the last, including the live shows, the bootlegs, the outtakes, the studio sessions, the rough cuts... everything. If it was Led Zeppelin, I love it. I'll admit that it's kind of an existential quandary whether I love everything Led Zeppelin did because it was Led Zeppelin doing it or if Led Zeppelin just did everything that I love, but either way - I love Led Zeppelin. Quite a bit.

My favorite song is "Over the Hills and Far Away," which is found on Zep's fifth album, Houses of the Holy, which, as it turns out, is my favorite album. Not just my favorite Led song and my favorite Led album, but my favorite song and favorite album.

A buddy of mine once asked me who I'd pick if I could put together the ultimate super-group consisting of my favorite vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer. My answer was Led Zeppelin. He said, "No, no, I don't think you're quite getting what I'm asking. I mean, like, if you could take a drummer from one band... and then a guitarist from another band... and, you know, make a whole band like that... who would you pick?"

Yeah, I got it the first time. My answer is still the same. Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is my favorite guitarist, Robert Plant is my favorite vocalist, John Bonham is my favorite drummer, John Paul Jones is my favorite bassist/organist/horn accompanist/everything-else-he-did-ist. Led Zeppelin is my favorite band.

If you hang out with me in a place where I have any control over the music, ever, there will come a time where Led Zeppelin comes up. It's just how it is. I'm GONNA play some Zeppelin. I don't care who I'm around, where I am, what's going on... If there's music to be heard and I'm at all in a position to choose what is played... Yeah. Zeppelin's gonna happen at some point.

I have been accused before of musical snobbery, and it's not like I can really rebut that accusation with too much truth... Yeah. I'm a music snob. I know what I like, and I'm pretty vehement about it. Is it possible that there is (or will be in the future) a band that I would enjoy more than Led Zeppelin? Well... Yeah... It's possible... But then, it's also possible that the entirety of the British monarchical family is killed in a freak photography accident and I'm crowned the next king of England, resulting in all sorts of zany mishaps with my clumsy attempts at a knighting, applying my own inimitable style to delicate matters of international diplomacy, and dealing with the pressures of being recognized at the Burger King nearest to Buckingham Palace.

Doesn't mean it's very likely.

I could go further, but I figure the point is pretty well made, and I'm definitely aware that most of my posts are long enough as it is. We don't need another 8 pages of me telling you how much I love Led Zeppelin. But what I do need for you to understand - in case you haven't picked up on it yet - is that I am a fan of Led Zeppelin. This point is integral to the case I am presenting in this post.

So now let's talk about God.

As much as I do love Led Zeppelin, God still wins. I know, I know... the previous fanboy rant may have called that into question for some of you, but I don't have a weekly blog dedicated to Zep. God is still my primary focus.

But part of what I've been thinking about a lot lately is the idea of apologetics. I know that's kind of a loaded term for a lot of people, and a confusing one for others. It's always hard to think about "apologetics" and not get to "apology." The two words are related, both rooted in the Greek word απολογία (apologia), which means "speaking in defense." We've come to think of an "apology" meaning simply an admission of guilt and an expression of regret, but the original usage of the word actually meant a formal defense of an idea, and that's all apologetics actually is.

I am specifically interested in the idea of Christian apologetics - a defense of Christianity. Not that I feel that Christianity needs protected, lest it fall apart under the scrutiny of the skeptical world, but a defense based on correcting misconceptions and misunderstandings of the Christian faith (that is - Christianity as I see it, which I would like to think is at least in the ballpark of the way God is showing it to us through Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible).

It is in this same sense that Paul "defends" the gospel in Acts 26:2 and Philippians 1:7, and also in which Peter tells us to "be prepared to give an answer" in I Peter 3:15.

So what, then, are we to do?

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

- Matthew 22:34-40

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

- Matthew 28:19-20

Here's how I see the total sum of the responsibilities of Christianity: Love God, Love others. In Loving God and Loving others, we are tasked with the responsibility of introducing others to God. I briefly touched on this last week, noting that it's important for us to be able to find connections to God in the world outside of "the church" in order to build bridges of communication between ourselves and "the World." But what I want to specifically stress now is that it is every bit as important that we all, each of us, understand (to the fullest extent which we are able) the intellectual reasoning of our Faith.

What I'm saying here is that it's not enough to just say "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." That is an outrageously dangerous theological position to tie oneself to. I'm not saying that it's wrong to have a strong faith in the Word of God - that's very commendable. But to have a singularly directed and blind faith in the Word of God... Yeah, that's pretty dangerous.

It isn't enough that we know the Truth of the Bible and believe wholeheartedly that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We've also got to know why it is that which it is.

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

- I Corinthians 14:20

Within the context of that chapter, Paul is specifically addressing the issue of speaking in tongues. In the Corinthian church, there had apparently been a problem of some members expressing the gift of speaking in tongues through the Holy Spirit to just babble on with nobody to interpret what was being said. While thanks were being given to God for the miraculous gifts displayed, the gifts were pointless because nobody was learning anything.

Paul's exhortation then is a reminder that we are to come together in our worship and fellowship not to praise God for blessing us with things that we haven't bothered to examine and understand, but to encourage, enlighten, and educate one another to the deeper truths of Christianity.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 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 move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, 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

Notice that the writer says that those in his audience should be teachers by this point, and yet they constantly need reminded of the elementary principles of Christianity. This, to me, pretty plainly says that it is not enough for us to accept the gospel as infallibly true and never open our eyes or ears to anything else ever again.

Let me switch back over to Led Zeppelin for a minute.

As I'm sure you'll recall, Led Zeppelin is my favorite band.

Led Zeppelin is not, however, the only band I've ever heard.

Recently, I've been listening to a whole lot of the original line-up of the Allman Brothers Band. Led Zeppelin is still my favorite. I've been digging around and finding all sorts of live material from the early years of Yes that I'd not heard before. Led Zeppelin is still my favorite. Last week, I wrote about Eric Clapton, and the week before that, I wrote about Perpetual Groove. Led Zeppelin is still my favorite.

I've heard Lady GaGa. Led Zeppelin is definitely still my favorite.

I've got enough music on my computer that if I were to put it all into one big playlist, start at the beginning and let it play all the way through, I could go for some three months non-stop and not hear a song twice. Most radio stations have a library of something like 7,500-10,000 songs. I've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000+ songs.

Led Zeppelin isn't my favorite band because they're the only thing I've ever heard, but instead, it's because I've actually heard a ridiculous amount of music that I can therefore say in the face of countless potential challengers, Led Zeppelin still tops my list.

I am not (necessarily) saying here that we can only be good Christians if we go out and research the tenets of other faiths. But I will say that it's very hard to show someone why Christianity makes more sense than other faiths if we don't even know why Christianity makes sense on its own.

Too often I have seen an approach to Christianity that doesn't allow for any questions. It is as though the beliefs of Christianity are so fragile that they can't stand up to even the slightest examination and scrutiny. Don't we believe that this is the Way, the Truth, and the Light? Isn't this supposed to be following after God's own Son, the Word made flesh? Aren't we actually operating under the assumption that our faith is correct anyway?

So what is there to be afraid of?

It doesn't do us a lot of good in spreading the gospel if our only response to an atheist's assertion that there is no God is to run away screaming, or to brand the atheist a heretic, or to quote Bible verses to someone who doesn't believe in the Bible in the first place. We've got to know what we're talking about.

Can you offer any evidence for the existence of God beyond your own beliefs?

Beyond that, can you help others understand why Christianity is the path you've chosen to follow, excluding all of the other thousands of options in the world today?

Or are you still living out a faith that was handed to you? Is your faith your own, or is it your parents'? Or your preacher's? Or your professor's? Or your spouse's?

Do you know why you believe what you believe?

Do you believe that what you believe is able to stand up to the tests of reason and logic? Or do you believe that "faith" is sequestered off in its own little corner of the brain, permanently exiled from rational thought?

What are you going to do when somebody tells you that God cannot possibly exist because evil exists in the world? How are you going to answer that? ("God moves in mysterious ways" is a cheap cop-out, by the way.)

I am really having to fight the temptation to lay out all "the answers" here. It somewhat defeats the purpose of asking if you have any answers of your own if I give you all of mine.

I can (easily) tell you for hours how much I love Led Zeppelin. But if you've never actually heard them, it doesn't make a difference in the world. And if I'm going to be the guy saying Led Zeppelin is so much better than everything else, shouldn't I at least have something to back that up? Shouldn't I at least be able to play a song or two for anybody who asks?

I'll admit here that not everybody likes Led Zeppelin. I can at least acknowledge that fact, even if I don't really get it. I can sit you down and play their entire catalog, from the 1968 Scandinavian tour as the New Yardbirds to the 1982 "leftovers" album, Coda, and you might not enjoy a lick of it. I don't at all see how that could be true, but it is definitely a possibility.

But that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop listening to them, or stop trying to expose every person on the planet to their awesome.

Similarly, I've got to admit that not everybody is going to become a Christian. I could present a defense for the faith on par with Paul in the Areopagus or C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity to every single person on this planet and there would still be plenty of folks who don't see it. There would still be folks who don't believe. That is to be expected. That is Biblically guaranteed.

But it doesn't mean I'm going to stop believing, or stop trying to share my faith with the world over.

There are people in the world - like Brian Flemming, writer/director/narrator of "The God Who Wasn't There" - who will try to tell you that Jesus of Nazareth wasn't even a real person, much less the Son of God.

What are you going to say to that?

Have an answer. Not only does the potential faith of the people you encounter in your life depend on it, but it's very probable that your faith depends on it as well.

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.

Just a Few Questions

I eat too much Taco Bell.

I doubt that's a huge surprise to most of you. Anybody can take a look at me - even just a passing glance, really - and it's not gonna be that much of a stretch to get to "This dude eats too many things that are mostly comprised of meat and cheese."

But the thing about me eating too much Taco Bell is that I actually eat less of too much than I used to. I used to eat way too much. Now... yeah, it's still too much, but it's less than it was. My run for the border occurs a little less frequently than it used to, I don't order an entire side of the menu when I go, and I've pretty much abandoned trying to actually live up to the idea of "Fourthmeal," even with that being as pleasant of a challenge as it was.

Now, the goal here is obviously to get to a point where I don't eat "too much" Taco Bell, but in fact eat the right amount of Taco Bell. (I fully realize that there are some in our world who would suggest that the "right" amount of Taco Bell is no Taco Bell at all, but I don't care about those folks' opinions, because they're also the kind of people who insist that a half-cup of ice cream is a "serving," and we all know that's patently ridiculous...)

I'm not at the goal... And it's arguable that I'm not really even all that close to the goal just yet... But I'm definitely closer than I was... So is that progress?

More than that being progress... is that good?

I know that it is not good in and of itself that I still eat too much Taco Bell. That's bad. I know that.

But is it good that I eat less of too much? Or is it still just hopelessly awful all the way up until I'm only ordering a single "Fresco" burrito once every three months? (This will never happen.)

_______________________________________________

My buddy Will and I went into Dickson the other night to see a movie. Once it was over, we got to doing what we do best - cruising around aimlessly, listening to music and shooting the breeze.

Will was driving, and our wanderings took us fairly deep into what was unfamiliar territory for him: the vast untamed wilds of Dickson County, including but not limited to the sprawling metropolises of Vanleer, Slayden, and Tennessee City.

So once we'd decided that it was time to turn back towards home, Will didn't really know where we were. And it's not like I'm super familiar with Vanleer or anything, but I at least knew how to get back to the house, and gave directions along the way. After a while, though, we came back into a part of Dickson where I thought Will would be able to recognize where we were. We came to a red light and Will asked me which way we should go.

"Dude, don't you know where we are yet?"

Will replied with a tone of humble resignation. "No, man... Not at all."

I pointed out the window. "The high school's right there."

"Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah... OK. I got it now. Awesome."

And then we drove home. End of story. Yaaaaaaaaaaay.

But what I wanna know is this: is it entirely necessary when giving directions to spell out every step that's going to be taken on the drive, or is it good enough to just point out familiar landmarks and let the driver take it from there?

Will didn't know where we were for a good bit of that drive. He had vague ideas of how to get back home - if you're in Dickson County and trying to head to Hickman County, at some point South has got to happen. I gave directions when they were necessary, but for the most part, I let Will do the driving on his own. After all, he was the one driving. I was controlling the iPod, and that's a job that takes some serious concentration.

So did that make me a bad navigator? Or can my success be judged by the fact that we actually got home?

_______________________________________________

When the discussion comes around to which actor had the best portrayal of James Bond, the answer is Sean Connery.

This is not a matter of opinion, it is simply how it is.

Sure, you may prefer Pierce Brosnan or Daniel Craig... Or if you're some kind of weirdo, Roger Moore... (I don't think there's really anybody out there who would pick George Lazenby or Timothy Dalton, but if you happen to be reading this, congratulations, you're a statistical singularity.)

But it doesn't matter what you prefer: Sean Connery is the right answer.

James Bond creator Ian Fleming was not originally sold on Connery as Bond. Roger Moore had actually been considered during production of Dr. No, but was rejected as being too young. Moore later went on to become the oldest actor to portray Bond (58), even beating out David Niven (57) as Bond in the spoof version of Casino Royale. (Niven had in fact been Fleming's first choice to portray Bond in the "official" EON production series.)

After the release of Dr. No, however, Fleming changed his mind about Sean Connery. In fact, he changed his mind so much that he changed James Bond. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the first novel written after the Dr. No movie, Fleming provides details about Bond's lineage, stating that his father was Scottish, which was a change from the earlier novels which provided an Irish upbringing for Bond.

So, yeah. Sean Connery was so good at being James Bond that the creator of James Bond changed James Bond to be more like Sean Connery.

But what about when I do have those discussions with those seldom people who - for some reason - prefer another actor over Connery, what can I say? Yeah, they're entitled to their opinions... but their opinion is objectively not right.

So when are we allowed to say, "You're wrong"? When can we actually bust that out? It seems to me that "You're wrong" is just about the ultimate taboo phrase in today's world. People will insist that there's really no right or wrong, it's all just whatever you believe that works for you.

I dunno about that. You can believe that 2+2=5 all you want. I can't stop you there... but is it part of my responsibility to tell you the actual truth?

_______________________________________________

Consider a man whose entire adult life has been in pursuit of satiating the carnal desires of the flesh. When he meets a woman he likes, he uses all of his considerable charm to land her in his bed. Maybe it's only once, maybe it's several times, but either way, it's sex. That's how this guy operates: he has sex with women. It's his deal.

Now let's say that this man encounters Christ in a way that he never has before and finally begins to understand the point of Christianity. He decides to at least attend services regularly, and is becoming genuinely interested in the message behind each sermon.

As he continues to get churched up, he reconsiders his approach to women and decides that maybe - just maybe - his incessant fornication is not the best choice he could be making. Does he still pick up the occasional girl? Sure does. Is he moving towards monogamous relationships? Yeah, seems like it.

Is his view on sex all the way up to good yet? From a Christian standard, of course not.

But... is it better?

In one's pursuit of holiness, there should never be any mistaking "less bad" for "good," but all the same, "less bad" actually is less bad, and that's a lot to be considered, especially when thinking about those who are considering Christianity.

And with those same folks considering Christianity, do we really have to give them the instructions on how to get all the way home when they're still a long ways out?

From what I've seen, there's this kind of drive in evangelistic or missionary outreaches to get people to commit to Christ immediately, just in case God shows up in the next twenty minutes. As soon as the conversation turns to God, there's a loaded Bible pointed at your head and somebody's hunting down a swimming pool to use as a baptismal immediately if not sooner.

What happened to taking our time? What happened to actually counting the cost? Too many of today's Christians became Christians when they were too young to actually understand what they were getting themselves into. Too many of today's former Christians were the ones who became Christians at a time when their ideas of how people function in the world were still being shaped, and the shortcomings of the Christians around them turned them off to the faith that they had so recently proclaimed.

Is it entirely necessary to make every single attempt of spreading the Gospel a conversion experience? Is planting a seed not good enough anymore? Is there a reason we act like we have to clear the land and replant an entire tree now, all in one move?

And what about the other people sitting around the churches who are imposing impossible moral standards on these new converts? What about the people who are uncomfortable letting the guy in the less-nice clothes with the tattoos on his neck into church because he looks like a sinner? When can we say, "HEY! YOU'RE WRONG!" to those folks?

I know that it's pretty much the worst thing in the world to tell someone, "I'm being a better Christian than you," but sometimes I think I'd be willing to cross that line if I thought it would do any good.

We've come to a point where, like the Pharisees, we expect people to live up to our moral codes and meet our standards for righteousness - a moral code and righteousness defined in most cases by a lifetime of growing up in a church. What about a guy who grew up in the most evil, hate-filled, miserable pit of suffering on this Earth? Should we expect him to immediately conform to our standards of morality? Does God expect that?

Or should we be looking for improvement?

Don't get me wrong... Sin is sin is sin, all the way through. One sin is just as damning as one thousand sins. But in a pursuit of perfection, managing to go from one thousand sins to one sin is pretty commendable. Is it perfection? No. Is it better? Well... I think so.

We've come to a point where, like the Pharisees, we smack people right on the nose with the full out strength of the Gospel as soon as they show the slightest interest in knowing anything about God, and we hold a spiritual gun to their heads, telling them they've got to become Christians NOW because they might die AT ANY SECOND and if they died on the way to be baptized then they'd still go to hell because God is super scary and doesn't actually like any of us. Fear is an awesome motivator for a religion based on love, don't you think?

Shouldn't we maybe just be content to plant the seeds? I have atheist friends. It is kind of silly for me to try to convince them that they should give their lives up to Christ when they don't believe that God even exists in the first place. So maybe there's gotta be some groundwork done. Maybe there needs to be some foundation laid before we can get to Jesus. Maybe we're trying to shove a pre-packaged form of Christian outreach down people's throats so we can tick off "Spreading the Gospel" on our How-To list for going to Heaven.

And maybe that's wrong.

Maybe we've lost sight of the fact that our journey to God is a... uhh... you know... journey. Jesus refers to the straight and narrow path, not the straight and narrow landing platform. The entire point of this whole thing is that we all grow closer to God. If somebody goes from very, very, very far away from God to just far away from God, I think that's a step in the right direction, don't you?

A Simple Prayer

Dear God, Merciful Father, Heavenly King, Lord and Creator of All...

Forgive us.

Forgive us, God, for messing it up.

I don't know where we went wrong, I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I look around and I see what Christianity has become today and I can't help but think that we're not doing it quite the way You planned.

We've come to a point where You are not the foundation of our lives... You're more like the spackle, filling in the cracks that bother us enough to do something about.

We've come to a point where we've decided that the way we're supposed to Love others is by making sure we tell them they're wrong before anything else.

We've come to a point where we don't ask You what we should do, but instead we ask You to bless what we've decided we're doing anyway.

It's almost like we don't even think You're actually there anymore.

It's almost like we're following You just to be on the safe side.

It's almost like we've let Christianity become an abstract idea to be argued and debated instead of lived out in a very self-sacrificing, very loving, very real way.

It's almost like we've started using You and Your Son as an excuse to be indignant towards The World, trying to force it to conform to our sensibilities and morals so we don't have to struggle with the temptations it provides, instead of us being the ones who show The World what it's like when You are actively involved in the lives of the people who have chosen to follow you.

God... Help us.

Help us see each other as equals in Your sight - all equally sinful on our own, and all equally worthy of Your Love.

Help us see past the divisions that we've set up for ourselves - divisions of denomination, of politics, of economics - and unite in Love.

Help us see the Truth that You laid out for us - that You Love us, and that our one task in this world is to Love You.

Dear God, I look around me and I see the world hurting and I see the church failing in its task to show the world Your presence in Love.

I see cities with more churches than gas stations, but the cities are still overrun with people without homes, without clothes, without food, without hope... and I can't help but think that something is wrong.

I see churches fall apart from the inside out because of power struggles and stubbornness and selfishness... and I can't help but think that something is wrong.

I see people on TV assuring me that if I'll just put my trust in You, You'll make me rich and comfortable in this world... Or, even worse, I see people buy into that idea... and I can't help but think that something is wrong.

We complain about the state of the world and we pray for You to be swift in Your judgment of it... but we're not taking the time out of our day to clean the place up before You get here.

We come together in our churches and huddle together to remind each other of how bad it is out there... and then we go home to watch the game, never thinking that maybe it's gotten so bad out there because we've dropped the ball.

We tell each other to trust in You... but we won't trust You enough to take the small steps outside of our comfort zone to interact with The World that is so desperately in need of Your Love, the Love that is our one single task in this world to show.

God...

I don't know how you do it. I look around and my heart breaks, and I know that I'm every bit as much a part of the problem as anyone else.

I can't even imagine what it's like for You.

I can't even imagine how much it hurts You to see Your children - Your CHURCH - sitting on the sidelines, turning a blind eye to the suffering all around us, ignoring the constant plea for help coming from every street corner on the planet.

I can't even imagine what it would look like if we actually decided to do what You asked us to do by Loving others the same way that You Love us.

God... I still believe in You. I still believe in Your power. I still believe in Your presence. I still believe in Your Word, Your Spirit, and Your Love for me and all of mankind.

Help me show the world what You mean to me.

Help me show the church what You mean to me.

Help me show my friends and family what You mean to me.

Help me be the man that You want me to be.

Help us all be the church that You want us to be.

Help Christianity be what You set out for it to be - Love, changing the world.

Father... On my own, I'm tired, I'm scared, I'm lonely, and I'm weak.

But with You... I can climb the highest mountain, I can face the fiercest lion, I am surrounded by Your presence, and I am filled with Your might.

God, please... Show them. Show them all. Show them Your Face. Show them Your Hand. Show them Your Love.

I need You, God. I need You more than I need air, water, food... even my life. I need You.

I want to be Your instrument in this world. I want to be a herald of Your Kingdom. I want to be a servant at Your table. I want to be Your worker.

Please, Father... Show me how to be the man You made me to be.

Show the church how to be the church You designed it to be.

Show us all how to live our lives centered on the Love that You first showed us, the Love that created us, the Love that spared us, the Love that redeemed us.

And please, God... Please... Forgive us.

In Christ's Holy and Wonderful Name,

Amen