The Grafting

This is a great video that shows the value of adoption over abortion.  The song gives a perfect example of what God has done for those who are His children.  He accepts them and grafts them into His family just like an adopted child is grafted into an earthly family.  Great word picture by one of my musical heroes, John Schlitt.  He was the lead singer of Petra, and now has a successful solo career.

Truth - Part 2

In a previous post I talked about absolute truth, and gave a general description for what kinds of truth there actually is.  In this the second part, I am going to respond to objections that people might have to there being  such a thing as truth, and hopefully this will help bolster your position when you meet people who object to what you believe. 

Many people believe that moral truth cannot be tested by science.  While it is true that morality can’t be detected by the scientific method, so what?  There are many truths (historical, relational, etc.) that can’t be tested by science.  While moral truths also do not appear to the physical senses, they appear to our inner sense – conscience.  While we can’t prove scientifically that love is better than hate, we are still justified in claiming that we know it to be true. 

I hear many people say, “It may be true for you, but not for me.”  Although this is a commonly used phrase, we must ask, can truth exist solely for the person who believes it?  Can something be true for one person and not the other?  Underneath this phrase is a deep confusion between truth and belief.  While we are entitled to our own beliefs here in America, does that mean we each have our own respective truths?  Objective truth is independent of our beliefs.  Imagine that you and your friend find an apple on the table.  Your friend believes it’s rotten on the inside, while you believe that it is good on the inside.  Can your different beliefs create two distinct truths that each of you experience as reality?  The only way to solve the dilemma is to slice open the apple and see what it’s like on the inside.  By doing that you’ll be able to discover the truth about the apple – if it’s rotten or not.  The instant the apple is sliced, the truth will be revealed and the false beliefs will be exposed.  The truth about the apple exists independently of you and your friend’s beliefs.

Someone might say that, “I can create my own truth.”  Society creates rules that we are to follow, but truth is not invented, nor is morality.  We can’t invent the length of a day, but the standard for driving in America, for example, says we drive on the right side of the road.  We can’t make lying right, and we can’t make murder good.  We are not free to create our own values, and we are not free to create our own truths.  We are free to accept or reject truth, just as we are free to obey or disobey moral laws.  We don’t invent the law of gravity, but we are free to disregard it and believe that we can fly by jumping off a building.  Our disregard for the truth does nothing to change truth itself.  We don’t create truth, we discover it.

I often hear, “It doesn’t matter what people believe, it’s how sincerely they hold to those beliefs.”  People of all religions demonstrate the same degree of zeal as the best of Christians.  So how can we, as Christians, criticize such commitment?  Shouldn’t sincerity count for something?  It’s important to remember that sincerity is necessary for salvation but not sufficient.  If this objection were true, then the sincerity of the 9/11 terrorists would be admirable.  But we all know that their actions – despite their sincerity – were wrong.  As integral as sincerity is for belief, it cannot be alienated from truth. 

Many young people say, “If it works for you then it’s as true as it needs to be.  No one has the right to judge you or question what you have chosen as true for yourself.”  There are two significant problems with this philosophy.  First, some truth doesn’t “work”.  The truth that there is no largest prime number has no practical use, but it is true.  Second, sometimes falsehoods may actually “work” in our favor (“The dog ate my homework”).  Although truth does work (as God intends it to), what “works” is not always true. 

One of the most common ways truth is attacked is the claim that it changes over time.  What is true for people today was not true for people in the past.  Obviously, if what is true now was not true in the past, then what is true now may cease to be true in the future.  If we follow this line of reasoning, truth quickly loses its practical importance.  The classic example is the flat earth vs. round earth dilemma.  The key is the distinction between belief and truth.  While people may have believed that the earth was flat, common sense tells us that the earth has always been round, despite changing beliefs. While beliefs may vary, truths are constant.

Life without truth is a life of tragedy. But when we know truth we are equipped to make wise decisions and to flourish as human beings.  While truth occurs when our beliefs match reality, truth is also much more than that.  Scriptural commands and rules are not merely instructions to obey, but rather ways to deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ.  When we personally experience the truth of Jesus Christ, we will be empowered to live a bold and meaningful life.

Truth - Part One

We celebrated the greatest single event of Christianity just a few days ago…so now what?  Are we at all changed, or are we different for a few days after, but then go back to the mundane of life?   As believers in Christ, we can’t ever go back, we must be always moving forward.  I say it’s time to take a risk and be bold in a “whatever” world.  I’ve been reading a book by Sean McDowell, the son of Josh McDowell.  It’s inspired me to urge all of us on to engage the culture with the Truth of the Gospel.  

Speaking of truth, that is where all spiritual conversations should start.  We need a basis for building our case for Christianity.  Deep rooted in the hearts of men and women is the awareness that truth is the bedrock for life. 

Without truth we live in a world of tragedy.  We are on a journey where we have the choice of following truth or experiencing tragedy.  More feelings have been hurt, lives have been lost, and damage has been done because people sidestep the truth.  The apostle Paul tells us that people perish because they avoid the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:8-10).

Truth is a compass for our lives.  We need a standard in our decision making.  This standard is truth.  Truth, like a compass, helps us make wise and informed decisions.

Truth has consequences.  The Christian faith, as well as its rivals, essentially contains claims about the world, which are either true or false.  In addition, competing worldview truth claims have very different consequences for life.  In C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity he writes, “We are now getting to the point at which different beliefs about the universe lead to different behavior.  Religion involves a series of statements about facts, which must be either true or false.  If they are true, one set of conclusions will follow about the right sailing of the human fleet; if they are false, quite a different set.”  Your view of relationships, sex, money, and the future all depends on your view of truth.  

The commonsense view of truth is “telling it like it is”.  But what most Christians don’t realize is that many people change this definition of truth when they start to talk about morality.  There are three types of truth: subjective, objective and absolute.  

Subjective truth is based on preference or feeling and can easily change.  It’s like choosing a flavor of ice cream.  One person might like strawberry, and another person might like vanilla.  There are no right or wrong answers in subjective truth, just personal preferences.  

Objective truth is based on the external world.  One plus two equals three is an objective truth.  Similarly, moral choices are choices between what is objectively right and what is objectively wrong.  That’s why we feel guilty when we make wrong moral choices as opposed to wrong non-moral choices.

If we stop and reflect for a moment we realize that our entire existence relies on standards.  A society without standards is in disarray.  In order for a society to thrive there must be common standards of conduct.  The standards set by our government are merely conditional standards.  They can be changed by the people who set them.  However, we need to realize that our conditional standards point to a higher standard beyond our control – an absolute standard.  We can measure distances by inches, feet and miles.  But can we change the distance from the earth to the moon?  The standards of distance, as well as many other standards, point us to a higher standard – an absolute standard, beyond our control.  Absolute truth is true – whether or not anyone believes it.  Absolute truth is true – whether or not anyone follows it.  Absolute truth is true – whether or not it is discovered.  Absolute truth is true – whether or not it “works” in the way we want it to.  Absolute truth is true – whether or not we agree with it.

In the coming days, I’ll blog the second part. 

 

Kurt

Peter – Part Two

Peter is a unique character of the Bible.  I’ve given him the title of one of the most interesting men of the Bible, and I do so because of the passages studied today.  I’m taking a look at Peter and what his concept of Christ was.  I don’t think Peter’s concept of Christ was much different than ours today.

Taking a look first of all at Matthew 16:13-16, Christ asks Peter this very question; “Who do you say that I am?”  Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”  Back in this time, the word Christ (or Messiah) denoted the ideal king anointed and empowered by God to rescue his people from his enemies and establish his righteous kingdom.  The ideas that clustered around the title “Messiah” tended to be political and national in nature.  What Peter and the disciples were basically looking for was for someone to come and establish an earthly kingdom with an earthly leader that would take over the world and reign.  That’s what we see with James and John in the book of Mark as they’re asking to sit on either side of Christ when he reigned in what the two of them believed to be an earthly kingdom. 

We see this same mindset in Mark 8:32-33 also.  Here Peter has just heard that Christ is predicting His death and Peter pulls Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Him.  In Peter’s concept of establishing a kingdom, there isn’t any room for suffering and rejection like what Christ was talking about.  He seemed to think that this was inconceivable and wrong.  In the next verse we see Christ adamantly telling Peter to “get behind me Satan!”  Strong words to call one of your men “Satan”.  However, the reason for this is Peter’s attempt to keep Jesus off the cross was the equivalent of the temptation by Satan at the outset of Christ’s ministry.  What Peter was unknowingly trying to do was keep Christ from fulfilling His mission. 

The last passage we’ll look at is in John 6:68.  We see that Peter finally gets it.  In the verses previously, many people who were considered followers of Christ decide to up and leave.  They deserted the Son of God.  In verse 67, Jesus asks the disciples if they want to go as well. That’s when we see Peter, speaking for the other eleven disciples says to Christ; “Who would we go to? You have the words of eternal life.”  They had finally entered a state of belief and knowledge that this was the Messiah that they had been looking for.

So what is the concept of Christ that we have?  Is He a “genie in a bottle” that we keep bottled up until we need something then “poof” He appears and grants us our wish?  Is He a “just a good man” who lived life as perfectly as he could.  Is He a “perfectionist father” who is never pleased by anything you do?  If your concept of Jesus  is anything other than the Son of God who will be returning to take us to Heaven, you’re not seeing the Jesus of the Bible.  He came to die for my sins and the whole world’s sins.  That’s who Jesus really is.

Think about it

Kurt

Peter – an introduction to one of the Bible’s most interesting men

If you’ve ever watched television for any period of time, you’ll undoubtedly have seen the commercials for the “most interesting man in the world’.  While we laugh and chuckle at those ads, the sad reality is that the average Christian knows more about people like that than they do about the truly interesting men of the Bible.

 

I’ve decided to take up a challenge by one of my professors at Grace University.  Jon McNeel, the Dean of Men and my professor for both the Old Testament and the New Testament, would continually talk about Peter in our New Testament class.  At one point he made the suggestion to no one in particular in the class that a study of the apostle Peter would be an interesting study for someone to do.  I’m not sure how many blogs there will be in total, but I now have my next subject to blog about.  Thanks for the encouragement John.  I won’t get anywhere near the “meat” that you gave us during class, but I’m going to try and come close.  I learned a lot from you. Thanks again Jon.

Peter is one of the best known figures in the early church.  He is mentioned over 150 times in the New Testament.  He grew up in Bethsaida along the coast of the Sea of Galilee, where he and his brother Andrew were fisherman (John 1:44).  He was introduced to Jesus by Andrew and given a new name (John 1:40-42) – his original name was Simon; Jesus renamed him Petros, or “Rock”.  Later, when living in Capernaum, he was called to the ministry by Jesus himself (Mark 1:16-18) and appointed as one of the original twelve apostles (Mark 3:13-16).

The first contact we have between Peter and Christ is when Christ point blank tells Peter to follow Him.  Not to consider the possibility of following, or even giving Peter the option of thinking about it for a week, is an amazing reality for me.  How often do I feel God’s promptings, and never act on them.  Basically, Christ is telling Peter “Receive My doctrines, imitate me in my conduct.  In every aspect, be my disciples.”

Right away, Peter leaves his occupation as a fisherman; didn’t even sell any of his equipment off and didn’t even think twice about it.  You have to admire the man for seeing something that he wanted and going after it, but whatever would his friends and family say?  We know that his brother Andrew went right along with the decision, so not everyone thought he was crazy, but seriously, who does that sort of thing in today’s society?  In today’s economy, it would be sheer lunacy to pull a stunt like that, however we know that following God is no “stunt’.  If there is ever a more “sure thing”, following after God is it.  You probably won’t be the “most interesting man” in the world’s eyes, and following after God probably won’t make you rich, but the Heavenly pension plan He has in store for you is out of this world!

Think about it,

Kurt

John 14:1-3

I'm taking classes at Grace University to finish up my degree in Business Leadership, and I have one semester left.  The first class of the semester is on the four Gospels and the book of Acts.  The professor has been to Israel many times, and has great insight on passages of Scripture dealing with the Jewish tradition back in the time of Christ, and it puts a whole new perspective on some of the familiar passages of Scripture.  The one that is most memorable to me is the passage of John 14:1-3.  

To set up the passage, Jesus and the disciples were in the upper room for the last supper.  Judas had just left to go set up the betrayal of Christ, and the other eleven were still in the room.  Jesus had just mentioned that He was going away, and all the disciples were up in arms about it.  Now we come to chapter 14 in John, and Jesus mentions that He is going to prepare a place for them and that He will come back to take them with Him.  Those words in itself are comforting to any of us when we hear them, but they become more alive when we actually see what He is saying, according to Jewish tradition.  

According to Jewish custom, when a bride and groom wanted to get married the groom makes the dowry arrangements with the bride's father.  At that point the groom leaves and goes back to his house and builds a room at his parent's house for the married couple to live in after the ceremony.  Tradition was that the newly married couple lived in the house of the groom's parents.  The bride is left at her parents house to wait until the groom arrives for the wedding ceremony, meaning that the room is finally complete.  She has no clue when he will come back, so she must be ready at a moments notice.  On the other hand, the groom must get final approval of the room that he built from his father, who will then give him permission to go get his bride, since he has signed off on the fact that the room is fit for them to live in.  

Going back to John 14, Jesus is basically telling them that He is "marrying" them.  Of course they were probably so confused they wouldn't know what to think.  For us today, we can look back at this passage and see that Christ is making a room ready for His bride.  As long as it has taken Him so far to get it ready, and it still must not be ready because He hasn't come back yet, it must be some kind of place that He is making for us!!  The challenge for you and I today as the bride of Christ is this: what am I doing to make myself ready for the return of my Groom?  We have been pledged to Christ when we accepted Him.  How would it look for us to be "adulterating" ourselves with lesser things when Christ comes for us?  God let me not settle for cheap imitations of You.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!!

Think about it,

Kurt