The best season of my life

Bad theology is like porn

“Bad theology is like pornography—the imagination of a real relationship without the risk of one. 

It tends to be transactional and propositional rather than relational and mysterious. You don’t have to trust Person, or care for Person. 

It becomes an exercise in self-gratification that ultimately dehumanizes the self and the community of humanity in order to avoid the painful processes of humbling and trusting. 

Bad theology is not a victimless crime. It dehumanizes God and turns the wonder and the messy mystery of intimate relationship into a centerfold to be used and discarded.” (Richard Rohr)

Watch Out for Gorillas

Nobel Prize winning economist D. Kahneman proposes a simple puzzle. "A bat and a ball cost $1.10. The bat costs one dollar more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?" He states that most people come up with a quick answer - 10 cents.

The distinctive mark of this easy puzzle is that it suggests an answer that is intuitive, appealing, and wrong. Do the math and you'll see. If the ball costs 10 cents, then the total cost will be $1.20 (10 cents for the ball and $1.10 for the bat), not $1.10. The correct answer is 5 cents.

If you got the puzzle wrong, don't be discouraged. According to Kahneman's research, more than 50 % of students at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton gave the wrong answer. At public universities, over 80% of students failed the puzzle. Solving it doesn't depend on intelligence as much as it depends on our willingness to slow down, focus intently, and pay attention.

Kahneman describes also the “invisible gorilla test” - a team of 3 people dressed in black and a team of 3 people dressed in white passing a basketball to their teammates. The volunteers watching the game were told to keep track of how many times some basketball players tossed a basketball. While they did this, someone in a gorilla suit walked across the basketball court, in plain view, yet many of the volunteers failed even to notice the beast.

What the invisible gorilla study shows is that, if we are paying very close attention to one thing, we often fail to notice other things in our field of vision—even very obvious things. Our senses can play tricks on us - “inattentional blindness”. It can have serious implications, even life-threatening implications.

Three scientists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston wondered if expert observers are also subject to this perceptual blindness in diagnosing cancers. They recruited 24 experienced and credentialed radiologists—and a comparable group of naïve volunteers. They tracked their eye movements as they examined five patients’ CT scans, each made up of hundreds of images of lung tissue. Each case had about ten nodules hiding somewhere in the scans, and the radiologists were instructed to click on these nodules with a mouse. On the final case, the scientists inserted a tiny image of a gorilla into the lung. They wanted to see if the radiologists, focused on the nodules, would be blind to the strange and easily detectable gorilla.

The gorilla picture was about the size of a box of matches, or 48 times the size of a typical nodule. It faded in and out—becoming more, then less opaque—over a sequence of five images.  There was no mistaking the gorilla: If someone pointed it out on the lung scan and asked, What is that? – everyone would answer: That’s a gorilla.

After they were done scrolling through the images as much as they wanted, the scientists asked them three questions:

- Did that last trial seem any different?
- Did you notice anything unusual on the final trial? And finally:
- Did you see a gorilla on the final trial?

Twenty of the twenty four radiologists failed to see the gorilla, despite scrolling past it more than four times on average. And this was not because it was difficult to see: When shown the image again after the experiment, all of them saw the gorilla. 

Bottom line – it’s very easy for us mere humans to get deceived, to miss things and/or just not pay attention that well. The invisible gorilla shows up in many workplaces too. Being  focused on doing more we tend to miss some of the very important details that might change our outlook and approach towards those things we are so focused on.

When you read your Bible, take a step back. As Jesus says in Mathew 24:15  “whoever reads, let him understand”.

Take also a step back in your life and look for that gorilla.  Maybe your gorilla won’t be as easy to see it from the first attempt but there’s one there…if you look hard enough. 

The Sabbath for Mediaholics

Sabbath afternoon visiting Grandma

During the seventh day of the week, the earth manages to keep revolving right along on its axis without me.

It’s a blow to my pride, perhaps, but surely that’s the point. The point is the temptation to keep revolving the smart phone 24/7, in an unsmart way.

They are millions of mediaholics worshiping their Note5 and iPhones6, but very few using the  iRest7 software. 

The constant connection, constant pull, constant noise, constant interaction of this always-online world is crushing my inner peace.

So, once a week I need to shut it down and shut it out. It’s a way of fasting, going without so I can re-focus on God. I have the time then to be still and rest in His presence. I may miss out on a crisis or two of the same blah-blah-blah with bu-hu-hu Facebook drama. But the world goes on. At least His world.

I’m reminded that: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-4)

He may have been talking to Israel about golden calves and carved idols, but I know this means electronic gods, too. Somebody said: 

One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that our lack of prayer was not from lack of time. (John Piper) 

Social media 24/7 became the acceptable addiction of our modern society. Slavery 101101101... 

This world is noisy and information-heavy. How would we even know if God is speaking to us? We’re far too busy and surrounded by noise to notice.

Watching TV or reading secular newspapers and magazine during His time is a no-no since I became a Christian. But my smartphone still pushing me into the temptation of believing that I cannot survive without it. So… after the Sabbath morning worship and fellowship lunch, I am going out walking around city parks and along trails. Unplugged. Letting the world keep going without my clicks.  

My plea to you - be more purposeful about a medialessness Sabbath rest and intentionally fill this space-time continuum with Him. Lingering in His Word, enjoying His creation, resting with family, reading spiritual books, visiting the ill, the discouraged and those afflicted by their FB Joneses. 

Unplugged from the noise and plugged into the essentials, into what really matters. And then stride down the Main Street of my town. Join the ranks of mediaholics who choose to unplug themselves during the 7th day. 

His day.

(Heather King adapt.)

Thou Shalt Read Your Bible

Reading the Bible without a good plan and a right spur can become unexciting. Our eyes are on the page but our minds are wandering back and forth… That black book without pictures just isn’t quite so exciting as the black or white iDevice that can show us anything in the world in just a click… Here are some ideas for re-ignite the Bible reading.
1. Schedule. If our Bible reading is not fixed for a particular time each day, and we’re just hoping a time slot appears, we’ll end up squeezing it into too small a space. Best to pick a time and get into a habit of reading each day at that time. If you are already in a good habit of reading at the same time each day, and your reading has become boring, the worst thing you can do is give up your routine and only “read as the Spirit moves.”
2. Sleep. No, not during your reading, but before it. Many times boredom sets in because we’re shattered with exhaustion and we just don’t have the energy to read in an interactive and profitable way. Get yourself a good seven to eight hours of sleep each night and you’ll find that a much brighter mind will produce much brighter reading.
3. No cell phone. If you check your phone before you check your Bible, the Bible is going to lose. The Internet and social media are crack cocaine for the brain. The Bible requires careful cutting, chewing and digesting. The former is quick thrills; the latter is a slow roast. Check your Bible first and it won’t feel such a let-down to your brain. And put your phone away as you read; even if it’s not pinging and buzzing, the brain sees it and is expecting it, causing further distraction.
4. Read a different version. Sometimes we’ve become too familiar with the words we’ve read many, many times. Why not read a different version alongside your favorite one, to jog your mind out of its normal ruts and make you see words and sentences in a fresh light.
5. Personalize the reading. Look for Jesus on every page of your Bible. And also project yourself in these awesome Bible stories. You are Noah, Joseph, Esther, Moses, Daniel, or (God forbids!) Pharaoh, King Saul, Judah, the seven-heads beast…
6. Use a study Bible. I don’t advocate this as something to use all the time, because it’s important that we learn to think for ourselves when we read the Bible and not just have others think for us. Also, people can spend more time reading the notes than the Bible itself. But, now and again, for a few weeks at a time, you could use a study Bible like the Andrews NKJV Bible to help you get excited about the Bible again.
7. Remember who is speaking. Our listening depends on who is talking and what he is talking about. Before you start, remind yourself of who is speaking—God—and what He is speaking about—your eternal salvation.
8. Pray. Confess to God that sometimes you find reading the Bible boring. Ask Him to show you if it’s because you are unconverted and you need to repent to get the spiritual sight and taste buds to make you savor and relish His Word.
9. Serve. If we’re only eating and not exercising, we’ll soon lose our appetite. But if we are serving God, seeking opportunities to bless His church, or witness to others, we exercise our souls, get hungry, see our need of strengthening and guidance, and we devour God’s Word always hungry for more.

(Adapted after David Murray)

Thou Shalt Not Dilute the Gospel

A church member sent me a YouTube video with a message about what Christians are not. I watched it – it is typical trendy rhetoric that you hear everywhere today Made in Bible-Belt-Land. While perhaps had good intentions in breaking down the prejudice fence between the Church and the world, the message was very problematic: “I’m a Christian and I’m queer. I’m a Christian and I like Beyonce.”

I am not writing a critique of the video but I’ll do my best to respond to the challenge. I do understand that this trendy diluted Gospel is popular especially among the millennials (the word describes people born between 1980 and 2000). Often they sacrifice Christian values for the sake of being relevant to the world.

At this point I have to remind you, beloved children of God, millennials or perennials, that Jesus himself said that the world will hate you because of your love for Him. You can love the world like Jesus loves the world and still be hated. It’s not your fault, so don’t change your method in order to be accepted or to be relevant. Your advocacy for Christ should never come at the expense of your relationship with Him.

Here are four ways that many Christian millennials are hurting their delivery of the gospel to a world that desperately needs it. I used some lines from John Wesley Read seminar and also Phillip Wrigley notes on Evangelical millennials.  

Tolerance flies in the face of the Gospel because it is apathetic both to brokenness and holiness. When we don’t recognize our brokenness then we will never recognize our need for holiness… and thus Jesus becomes, at best, superfluous. Millennials have it in their minds that hating people’s sin means hating the individual. This message is due in part to the liberal media but many young Christian millennials sing the same tune. Instead of hating sin for the separation that it causes between us and God, they accept the sins of others in the name of “loving them for who they are.”

But the problem with that is when we accept people for who they want to be, we neglect the people that Jesus made them to be.

Jesus was the prime example of love, but never does He display an ounce of tolerance. Indeed the cross was proof of His INtolerance. What type of tolerance prompts a king to step off his throne to die for his people? Tolerance was never part of the story! The gospel does not boast “come as you are, stay as you are” but rather “come as you are TO BE RESTORED!”

We don’t get to make up the narrative here, friends! The story has already been written- and it is beautiful!

Neglecting Theology. Consider the etymology of the word theology; theo- God, logy- study: the study of God. A trendy message among young Christians these days is “theology is good, but loving like Jesus is better.” The problem here is that the two are not mutually exclusive. Not only are they not mutually exclusive but rather they are dependent on each other. The more we know Jesus, the more we love Him and the more we love Him the more we want to know Him and so the cycle continues. Our desire to know him (theology) should be an implication for our love for Him. And the more this continues the more we will desire to live like Him and thus love His people AS HE loves them.

You wouldn’t show your love for a spouse simply by how you talk about them - you’d show your love by knowing them, spending time with them, and serving them. “If you love Me, keep my commandments” John 14:15. That’s theology at work.

But when theology is neglected, the ramifications are made known in the way we treat others. Even with a Christian label we only love on them with a wishy washy love that promotes no agenda for change and restoration.

When theology is neglected Christian millennials succumb to weak cultural ideas and defective scriptural interpretation such as “Jesus just said to love people, so why should we be opposed to gay marriage?” and “the Bible says not to judge, so don’t tell me that I shouldn’t be sleeping with my boy/girl-friend!” when the Bible actually tells Christians to judge each other (Matthew 7:24, 1 Corinthians 5:9-13). A good theology will inform the individual that not only are they wrong in their sin, but that Jesus wants so much MORE for them; more joy, purity and intimacy with Him. Also studying the Bible prophecies is going to play a big role here…

Separation from the World. You are not of the world, so don’t act like you are (Romans 12:1-2). “But John, Jesus partied, so I can party!” Well, sure I guess you can say he partied because He did attend parties in order to win people for the Kingdom, and even contribute wine to one (hey, it was non-alcoholic grape juice and I can prove it!)

As Christians we are to be light and salt to the world (Matthew 5:14). Salt gives flavor to bland food, light gives vision in darkness. See the analogy there? We are to be different and we are to be good. Good in behavior and good in our advocacy for Christ. Does it mean we can’t get drunk and cuss and make poor decisions with people that we likely wouldn’t have without the influence of alcohol? Yes, it absolutely does if our agenda is to represent Christianity.

But even the movies we watch and the music we listen to are important. If it has an explicit language sticker on it then there’s really no justification to be listening to it. It needs to be tossed. “But I’m an adult.” Yes, which means you’re a Christian and you’re old enough to know better. Not to mention you’re supposed to be setting the example. Junk in, junk out no matter your age.

We’re quick to sing popular worship songs like “O To Be Like You” and “Jesus, Be the Center Of My Life” but how practical do we allow this to be? We need to be Daniels, Esthers, and Joshuas. People of faith who love without ceasing and represent without compromise. 

Bashing the Church. Christian teens and young adults are quick to throw the Church under the bus. Blogs are constantly cycling the internet like “3 reasons why I left my youth group” (and, off course, it’s the youth group leader or the pastor’s fault, not the student who left). While the Church isn’t perfect, I feel it is much more effective to celebrate the good that the Church is doing than the negative, which a lot of times isn’t even negative, it’s rhetoric. For example, it is easy to knock your church for putting money into project with no immediate result for themselves, but how many church bashers have actually researched the energy, time, and money the church is giving to local ministry and overseas missions?

The church, enfeebled and defective though it be, is the only object on earth on which Christ bestows His supreme regard. He is constantly watching it with solicitude, and is strengthening it by His Holy Spirit. Will we, as members of His church, allow Him to impress our minds and to work through us to His glory? (Sons and Daughters of God, p.13)

What else to do, but repent? Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace, to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16. It’s overwhelmingly comforting that WE, sinners made pure through Jesus, are not only allowed to but are ENCOURAGED to enter the highest of throne rooms to receive mercy and grace from the Almighty.

Undiluted mercy and infinite grace.

Yes, We... Can't

I’ve been reading Steps to Christ again lately. I noticed a word that kept popping up repeatedly. Intrigued by the thought, I decided to search how many times the word was used in the small book and the context in which it was used. What I discovered was fascinating. And critical.

The word is “cannot,” and Ellen White uses it over and over again. It’s as though she is desperately seeking to help us understand something. So many times we think we can, but Ellen White wants us to understand that we cannot.

What is it that she wants us to understand we cannot do? Check these out and look them up for yourself so you can see the full context; the page numbers are in the parentheses. According to Ellen White, we cannot:

§  Change our hearts (18)

§  Purify the springs of life (18)

§  Control our thoughts, impulses, affections (47)

§  Change our hearts (47)

§  Give to God the heart’s affections (47)

§  Atone for our past sins (51)

§  Change our hearts (51)

§  Make ourselves holy (51)

§  Resist evil (52)

§  Originate or produce love (59)

§  Make ourselves righteous (62)

§  Perfectly obey the holy law (62)

§  Become partakers of the life which Christ came to give (67)

§  Bear fruit of ourselves (68)

§   

It’s like a broken record – especially the idea that we cannot “change our hearts,” which she says so many times! And this doesn’t even take into account other phrases she uses that are of a kindred nature, like “It is impossible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the pit of sin in which we are sunken” (p. 18)

Do we get it? Do we understand that we are completely powerless – in and of ourselves – to do anything good? That we can’t save ourselves, fix ourselves, change ourselves, even give God our affections!

This tells me, among other things, that simply telling people what to do is not enough. Because simply telling them what to do does not give them the ability and moral strength to accomplish it. They will simply become better informed sinners.

What we thus need is someone else to do it for us. We need someone to obey for us, to make us holy, to produce love in our hearts. Indeed, we need someone else to change our hearts – since we cannot do any of these things ourselves.

That someone is, of course, Jesus.

Such a thought is beautifully and succinctly explained in two places (among many other) – one of them in Steps to Christ, and another from another source. First, from the other source. Notice how Ellen White explains justification by faith:

What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself. When men see their own nothingness, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. (Manuscript Releases, vol. 20, p. 117)

Secondly, this beautiful paragraph from Steps to Christ:

When, as erring, sinful beings, we come to Christ and become partakers of His pardoning grace, love springs up in the heart. Every burden is light, for the yoke that Christ imposes is easy. Duty becomes a delight, and sacrifice a pleasure. The path that before seemed shrouded in darkness, becomes bright with beams from the Sun of Righteousness. (p. 59)

When we recognize our inability and cling to Christ, receiving His pardoning grace, it changes our sinful hearts, and those things we once found impossible to do in our own strength become very possible by the grace of God. But this can only happen when we first recognize what we cannot do – indeed, when we first recognize the utter impossibility of doing any of these things of ourselves.

We can...not. But God Can.  

Thank you "Mr.NewEnglandPastor" :)