Confess your faults one to another that you may be healed

When was the last time you said “I was wrong,” and why is it so hard to say “Sorry” (except when you were just being polite – we're Canadian!)? I guess that at least part of the answer to the last question is that in order to say sorry, we have to admit that we are wrong. But being unwilling or unable to admit it when we are wrong, does terrible things to our relationships. The Scriptural promise/principle that healing comes when we are willing to be open and vulnerable with each other has a converse.

If we are not willing to confess our faults to each other, we inevitably finish up confessing each others faults (either “you did this or that,” or “Do you know what he/she said /did.”). Believe me (I think you will) this is not so healing.

Modern research into such things as conflict resolution, and the discovery of what and how intimacy works, has discovered the Biblical principle at the head of this post. It phrases it differently but it's the same thing. Openness and transparency and the willingness to take responsibility for our poor choices promotes bonding and intimacy. Is is any coincidence that principles that work in the study of human behaviour, all seem to reflect Biblical promises/principles? I don't believe it is. If all else fails read the (God's) instructions!

The world wants you happy but not holy, religion wants you holy but not happy. Jesus came to do both! - Bill Johnson

Some people have the view that God is a kind of Scrooge in the sky, and that whenever He sees someone down here having fun leans over the balcony of heaven and shouts down “Cut that out.” Nothing could be further from the truth, though it is unfortunately true that the Pharisee (those who feel self-righteous because they think they obey all the rules) are alive and well and living on planet earth. They do not however represent Him!

The World, often in reaction to the Pharisee, wants to throw out all rules, and sees all attempts at restraint as oppressive, old fashioned and guilt inducing. The problem, when we do this, is that we find that there are unwanted consequences to our behaviour. Some of us have learned from the school of hard knocks that when God says “No,” He does it for our provision and protection. Protection in the same way a parent tells the child “Do not touch the hot stove.” Provision because the things which entice us so often keep us from true freedom, true intimacy and the joy and peace that a relationship with God brings.

Jesus told us that the thief comes for no other reason but to kill and to steal and to destroy, but that He came to bring fullness of life. The thief stole a lot from me, but the Lord brought me a joy and a peace that I would not trade for anything. It is available to all, but we need to let go of the things that hinder and embrace His way, His will and His free gift of life. His invitation remains, He is waiting to be gracious to us!

Everything in life happens for a reason! Really?

Through no fault of your own, you lost your job, but there's a reason for it! No matter how hard you try, you can't seem to make ends meet. God is trying to tell you something! Your child has cancer, and so God is obviously punishing you for something. Really? That would be child abuse in my book!

If I believed that, I would be mad with God, and I am not! Certainly God allows this or that, but to say that such or such a thing happened for a reason, has the implication that God did it for that very reason, and I am not at all sure I could worship a God like that! To say that God allows this or that, is not the same as saying that He caused it.

It remains something of a mystery as to why He allows the things He does, but at least part of the explanation is that we are in a war to the death with the enemy of our souls. In the West it is often thought to be naive to believe in the devil. Not so in Africa, they know His power! He has (at least) two modes of operation. Here he seeks to persuade us that he does not exist. When he succeeds, he can whisper evil thoughts into our minds and we think it is our own thoughts. Sometimes it is, but I am thinking about the thoughts you (I) hope nobody ever finds out that you (I) have! In Africa he uses his power to seduce or cause fear. Ask our African brothers!

Jesus put it this way, “The thief comes for no other reason to steal and to kill and to destroy, but I am come that you might have life in all it's fullness.” The thief seems to be doing a good job. If it's all true would you not want to stop him stealing and robbing and destroying in your life? We need to get mad with him! It's not rocket science - God good, Devil - bad!

We are also told that “God works all things together for good for those who love Him.” This is not saying that bad things are good, it is not saying that God caused the bad things, and it is not saying that we will necessarily always understood how that can possibly be true. How can God possibly bring good out of the death of a child or out of any other incredible and devastating loss? He does not even promise that we would agree if we knew (at least not in the here and now). But He does promise that He is working and does work all things together for good for those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

What I do know is that when I chose to trust Him, He used all the things that cause me pain to draw me closer to Him, and that I am finding the fullness of life that He promised. Sometimes the pain is (was) a direct result of something I did (we reap what we sow). Sometimes it is the result of someone else's choices, something someone else said or did! Life is not fair, the good guys do not always win. If there is no hereafter, then certainly there is no justice, period! But God is just, and He has promised that in His time He will right every wrong, dry every tear, and mend every broken heart.

What if it's all true, and that the main reason we are here at all is to choose, to choose to follow either the thief or Him? What if there is no fence? Jesus told us there is not. “He who is not for me is against me!” What I know for sure is that my choosing to trust Him with the bad things that happened, and staying close to Him has allowed me to not only survive, but to live in hope and peace and even joy at times, starting to enter into the fulness He promised.

So does everything happen for reason? Not in the sense of the first paragraph. But can God bring meaning and reason into our suffering? Yes indeed He can, and He does when we choose to trust Him and to stop fighting the people and circumstances He allows!

The angst of not being allowed to warn of what we, rightly or wrongly, see as very real danger

There are times when being a Christian who takes Biblical revelation seriously (as in believing it to be true) is very hard. So hard that I can honestly say that if I am wrong in what I believe, I want to be gotten out of it. I will say more in a minute, but I do need to say that if you want to try to dissuade me, it will not be an easy job (British understatement). You see I am very, very convinced, not of every tiny detail (I do not by any means believe I have all the truth), but certainly of the basic essentials outlined, for example, by Inter-Varsity (can be Googled). For me the essentials are sure, some of the denominational distinctives, less so!

To come back to why it is hard, it's not only difficult to behave myself at times (I can resist anything but temptation :) ), but believing what I do about the existence of the afterlife with its two alternative destinations, has been and is unbearable at times. This is especially so, since there is more and more pressure to zip the mouth (or the pen!).

The way I think about this, is of it being Winter, there being slippy roads, and of knowing that down the road there is a bridge, round a sharp bend, that has been washed out. You see loved ones laughing and carrying on in a truck headed in that direction. They are having a whale of time, ignoring your warnings, telling you not only to mind your own business, but getting mad at you for trying to warn them.

We are told that there is a way that seems right to a man (or a woman), but the end thereof is destruction. It's not only the consequences of what we reap in the here and now, but, if is it true that there is a Holy God and we ignore His offer of forgiveness, we will remain unforgiven. Some see this belief in and of itself as self righteous and judgemental, but I have nothing to be either self righteous or judgemental about. The only real difference between me and the unbeliever is that I am forgiven and they (you?) are not. Considering the consequences of being wrong, and our propensity for all of us to be in denial, these things are surely worth investigating with our adult minds. It would lessen my angst, if there was more of it! Would the New Year not be a good time to do this?

Homophobic - Hetraphobic

One good thing the Duck Dynasty dispute has done is to spark debate, at least for me. If we can listen to each other this will always be good. What tends to happen most of the time is that we hear only from the extremes, from the fanatics on both sides. In this scenario the one side cites violence against gays, the other the very existence of NAMBLA (North American Man Love Boy Association) whose stated goal (on it's web-site) is to legalize sex between adult males and underage boys.

When we listen only to those in our own camp we tend to make over generalized statements. “All religious people are homophobic, gay haters,” or “All gays are trying to push their homosexuality down our throats.” But not all religious people hate and fear gays, and not all gays want to seduce our children and ram their choices down our throats. But let's be honest, there are those I just described in both camps and such attitudes and resulting behaviours are wrong on both sides.

But where, when experimentation is increasingly being presented to our children as harmless, wholesome and healthy, are we allowed to to express concern over where we are going with this? Can anyone dispute the fact that the safest sex is abstention and/or life long monogamy between virgins. Is it hateful to say such things? Are such things in and of themselves homophobic? Why is it not also classified as hetrophobic? One has to wonder if we are afraid of the truth (aleuthiaphobic?)

Life long monogamy has been described as unrealistic, but Zulus and Puffins seem to have managed it. I admit that it is more difficult in the pornographic, hyper pseudo sexuality of our culture which, as I say, is increasingly encouraging our children to experiment with their sexuality! And how harmless is that when, for example statistics show that there are approximately 19 million new cases of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) per year in the US.

On of the thing that greatly concerns me, is the move to ban “reparative therapy” for teens with unwanted same-sex attraction. This is already in place in California, and New Jersey. It is of course being challenged. My understanding is that currently is has been upheld in California, but not in New Jersey. Such laws would (do) apply even to those who are experiencing sexual confusion as the result of abuse.

Surely we need to talk about these things, even if the tyranny of Political Correctness would seek to intimidate any and all opposition to its views into silence!

Should we tolerate intolerance?

It is not that long ago that I was convicted of judging those who judge. We are told not to judge lest we be judged. Judging is not the same as discerning that something is wrong (or disagreeable), judging adds the element of condemnation. We (I) get very close to obnoxious self righteousness when we (I) do this, and at the same time illustrate the truth of the saying that the condemnation of those who judge is just, because we do the very same thing!

Tolerance is different from judgmentalism. Tolerance allows that there is something wrong (or disagreeable), but neither judges nor sets up a campaign to wipe it out. Thus we do not want to tolerate child abuse or bullying, but we should certainly (with some qualifications) tolerate in society, such things as divorce, adultery, different religious beliefs and lifestyles that are different from ours.

The doctrine of Political Correctness (PC) started out right in that it wanted to correct certain injustices and intolerances. It was right to decriminalize homosexuality and to preach tolerance to (especially) religious communities which, at many times and in may places, were (are) not only intolerant but also judgmental. The problem with Political Correctness though (as with 99% of all movements that set out to correct injustices) is that the pendulum has swung over too far in the opposite direction. The thing about the pendulum, when it is swinging, is that it passes the point of balance at maximum speed!

In the case of Political Correctness, in the name of tolerance it has demanded nothing less that total agreement and full acceptance not only of persons, but of the accompanying teachings and lifestyles. When this is not forthcoming it accuses the opposition of fear and hate. Certainly these things exist but again it goes too far confusing disagreement with fear. It cannot see that you can disagree and still love, so it also confuses love with agreement. Thus PC demands dominance not tolerance, and in doing so, at many times and in may places, engages in flagrant intolerance, judgmentalism, fear and hate, the very things it accuses the opposition of.

In a nutshell Political Correctness in just about all its forms is intolerant of anything that does not fully embrace everything it advocates. In particular it is intolerant even of tolerance. I started off by asking if we should tolerate intolerance? The biggest problem I have with PC is that it does not even tolerate tolerance, and in the process it too does the very thing it condemns!

So obviously false, it had to be true!

I was being too clever by far. It was an ice breaker for a gathering of Celebrate Recovery. We had to say two things that were true and one thing that was a lie (good Christian game :) ). He was an MD and told us he had three kidneys. Possible, but a tad unlikely. It was so patently false, it had to be true!

This morning as I was reflecting on the Christmas story and how outrageous is it to expect us to believe it. Expected to believed that He was born of a virgin; that the blind saw and the lame walked; the lepers were cleansed the deaf heard; the dead were raised up and the poor had the gospel preached to them. Expected to believe that He was crucified for us for the forgiveness of our sins, that He was dead and buried (blood and water had separated as they pierced Him) and then He himself rose from the dead. Unbelievable or is it? Is it a complete fabrication, or so obviously false it has to be true?

So, was I just being naive to believe about the kidney, or was I being patently gullible? My problem is that I have seen so much. I have seen the blind see and the lame walk. I have been used, in Jesus name, to open the ears of a man who was 80% deaf (Proof? We found him later covering his ears to protect himself from the noise of the gathering). No I have not seen the dead raised, but I know people who I trust who have (the Bakers of “Iris ministries,” - I trust them implicitly).

One reaction to telling of miracles that I have seen, and others I am convince about, was to to be told “If all this were true, we would have heard about it." My answer is “We do hear, but we don't believe it. And we don't see as much, for example, as Iris ministries do, because we live in a culture of unbelief. So we don't expect, and we don't pray, so we don't get!” Even some Christians don't believe, even though we are told that such signs will follow those who believe! (Mark 16)

Consider this, most people have never really examined any of this with their adult mind. It is easy to dismiss Sunday School type versions of Christianity. One of the greatest pieces of evidence for its truth is found in Judaism. The scriptures foretold so much of of what I have mentioned above – the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) – miracles (Isaiah 35:4ff) the crucifixion and raising from the dead (Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53). The unfortunate divide between Christian and Jew ensures that Christianity has not meddled with the prophecies.

But consider also the very existence of Israel. I will scatter you (Jeremiah 9:16;13:24; 18:17 etc) ... I will gather you from the 4 corners of the earth (Isaiah 11:12, Isaiah 43:5 etc). How can a scattered nation survive 2,000 years of being scattered? And how about this "Can a nation be born in a day?" (Isaiah 66:8). Based on this, and long before it happened it was predicted and aided by leaders and friends of Israel such as Chaim Weizmann, Lord Balfour, George V and scores of others. Well it happened on May 14, 1948. There is so much more to say, but hey – this needs to be kept reasonably short or you'll stop reading. :)

So did buddy have three kidneys? No, I was being too smart for my own good! How about you, are you too smart for your own good dismissing Christianity out of hand? In terms of miracles perhaps as much as 2/3 are fake, but 1/3 genuine is a lot of genuine! I challenge you to check it out, there is so much to gain, peace and hope and joy and healing of the soul. Have a good “holiday-mas.” :)