Tag / Jesus

by Greg

When Jesus Is Powerless?

I was reminded of a time from the book of Mark where the Bible says Jesus was not able to perform miracles, and could only heal “a few people”.

When I first heard that again, it struck me as quite odd. Here is the Creator of all that is, and he is actually limited by a group of people’s lack of faith? Couldn’t he work around that somehow? It says he was only able to heal a few people. How strange.

In other instances, Jesus does say, “Your faith has made you well.” But, I guess I always just glanced over that a bit. I mean, really. It’s not our faith, but God’s power, right? Isn’t it? Well, if it is… how was it that Jesus was unable to perform miracles in his hometown? How is it that he was so limited?

I think this is a neat reminder that though Jesus certainly was the Word through whom the universe was created, he was also fully, 100% man. He did nothing without the Father’s lead. That concept just doesn’t make sense. You can’t be 100% of two things. That would be 200%, and that’s not possible by definition. But Jesus is, and was, and that’s just a tad confusing. 🙂

Just a little something to get you thinking…

by Greg

Our Only Rule Book

Our Only Rule Book?Inspired by recent readings, hearings and various thinkings floating through GregsHead, I have thought again about our push for being right. For knowing the truth and letting others “have it”. I read a column this morning by a local radio talk show guy who was certainly convinced that he had the “right” answer for what the church should be and do. (Now, I know… that’s his job… but still, furthers my point that we all love to be right.)

Maybe Christians are the worst at this. From early on, most of us are taught that there is a right, and definitely a wrong. Actually, many wrongs. We recently heard the Bible referred to as “our only Rule Book”. Ouch. Is that what it is? What about all the people who interpret it differently than you do? They have rules, too… just different from yours. In most cases (in the view of both parties) the other guy is wrong. And you’re right.

This obsession with being right actually removes us from relationship with other people. We focus so much on having and knowing the “truth” that we must first verify that those with whom we associate are “with us”, and “doctrinally correct”, and if not, we must instruct them accordingly. There is always a bit of an angst as errors in thinking must not be tolerated. At least when it comes to Christianity.

And there’s the rub. We have something (Christianity) that we need to protect, not Someone we want to introduce. An institution is defined. It has a Rule Book. It’s easy (at least, sort of) to protect and preserve. A Person is not. Someone who is alive and dynamic (yet the same “yesterday, today and forever”) is not easy to define, protect or preserve. Many have said, “You can’t keep God in a box.” Of course, they were probably referring to “the other guy’s box”… but, I believe that statement is true.

For some reason I was reminded of a strange rule we have made up today. Perhaps it’s due to hearing of marriages and other similar relationships dissolving for one reason or another. I remembered a “proof text” that many use for when it’s “OK” to divorce. Remember when Jesus said that divorce was bad… unlesssss… the WIFE has been unfaithful. Don’t you know that people (your intrepid author’s former self included) use that to say that if there has been infidelity (perhaps especially from the woman???) that divorce is OK. And hold mightily to the words Jesus said previously that divorce is always bad. Which, I believe is correct, since Jesus seemed to say it as truth… but we leave out the “context” part where something that’s bad might be better than something that’s worse.

On many such occasions, we take the Rule Book and we bash it over each other’s heads… saying my way is right. I got it from the Book! You must be wrong! (Even though our “adversary”) is many times doing exactly the same thing. They just view it differently.

I am coming to understand that it’s not my job to interpret the “Rules” for someone… for anyone else. My job is to be faithful to my understanding of what God wants from me, and then to love other people as I have been loved. Yes, sometimes love is “tough” and requires an uncomfortable confrontation – BETWEEN FRIENDS. It seems a confrontation is only effective (and then only sometimes) if relationship already exists. If not, why should the confronted change their “aberrant” behavior based on the “Rules” of a stranger?

The Bible is not a Rule Book. God doesn’t even want us to live by Rules. The Rules were fulfilled by Jesus. It is finished. That doesn’t mean it’s not good to live as God intended us to… certainly God’s law will last forever. BUT, we were never meant to keep the law… never able to do that. I’ve been reading Romans again, and Paul emphatically states that:

For no one is put right in God’s sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make us know that we have sinned. But now God’s way of putting people right with himself has been revealed. It has nothing to do with law, even though the Law of Moses and the prophets gave their witness to it. God puts people right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all: everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. … In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus. What, then, can we boast about? Nothing! And what is the reason for this? Is it that we obey the Law? No, but that we believe.

Taken from Rom 3:20-27, Good News Translation.

If you try to keep the Rules, and make others do the same, you’ll only be butting your head up against a wall that won’t ever be knocked down. We’re meant (I think) to live in the fullness of a restored relationship with our Creator, and then to love the other Createds he puts around us. Rules work perhaps in a computer program… where everything is always (supposed to be) the same. But when people are involved, Rules almost never work. We’re too unique. Principles, that can adjust to the context of a situation are more applicable, to be sure. But… maybe we could just make our only “rule” the rule to love everyone we meet, as we have been loved.

At least then the Rule Book would be a lot smaller. 🙂

by Greg

God Can Throw You Into Hill

Following our morning Bible reading time the other day, Jen was eating breakfast with the kids – may have been also reading a book to them – when Alex interrupts to inform her that, “God can throw people into Hill.” She was probably a bit curious as to where that originated… 🙂 Earlier that morning, the little story we read had Jesus reminding us that we don’t need to fear anybody because “once they kill you, they can’t do anything else to you.” (That was a loose quote…) “But,” he continues, “God is the one you should fear. Not only can he kill you, he can throw you into hell.”

As I finished saying that, both the boys looked at me wondering, and finally said outloud, “What’s ‘hell’, Dad?” Let me tell you… that’s not an easy thing to explain to an 8 year old and a 5 year old. 🙂 So, I think I kinda did… and they went on their way. But apparently, that little statement from Jesus made an impact on little Alex… who now knows that God can throw people into “Hill”.

There is never a shortage of entertaining moments around here… 🙂

by Greg

Damage Control

I have been refraining from any comment on the events that transpired at Virginia Tech last week. I did post the one e-mail we received from our friend at VT. I thought it was a good “different” perspective on what happened. There was no need to rehash the events “news-style” here. It just felt over-done in every media “outlet” anyway.

But I have heard some interesting things in regards to the reactions to it. From applauding the professor in his 70s (who was a holocaust survivor) for barracading the door – giving his own life – in an attempt to save the students in the room… to decrying the networks decision to air the videos the killer submitted to NBC. (I think it was NBC.) All sorts of emotions, all sorts of thoughts.

One thing I heard while listening to the latest God Journey podcast struck a chord with me, and perhaps it does with you, too.

I had read several comments on the news sites I was browsing that read something like this, “Hundreds of innocent Iraqis die every day and we don’t see news coverage like this!” There was some frustration over the “overreaction” by US media regarding this killing of “lesser” significance (number-wise), and the diminishing of the lives lost in Iraq. That angered me a bit, as I do understand the sentiment, but can we please drop our political agendas for just one moment???

But the God Journey guys were talking about it and they commented on how the rest of the world deals with tragedies like this very differently. Here in the US we are scrambling to find a “reason”, or a “motive”, or even someone (or some system, or someones) to blame for it. We can’t accept such a thing. Our lives are so in our “control” (or so it would appear) that clearly an event like this reveals an error, or a mistake, or some form of blame be placed somewhere. Certainly on the killer… but there has to be more. He can’t be solely responsible for his actions.

Maybe it’s gun control. If we would just tighten that up. Or maybe it’s his parents. If they would have loved him more. Maybe it’s that the University should have shut down the entire campus, because they surely must have known he was going to go on a killing spree. Surely. Maybe if the other students – who had noticed he was different – had stepped in earlier, instead of allowing political correctness to govern their actions. Maybe it could have been prevented if US immigration laws were more strict, not just allowing visas to anyone who wants them.

Maybe… maybe not.

See, bad stuff happens. People die. People do bad things. What happened last week was bad. It was ugly. It was horrible. Just like the stuff that happens in Iraq and Darfur and everywhere else around the world every day. The human condition is marred by sin. People can make bad choices that hurt other people. And really, there is no amount of laws or training or educating or any preventative methods that can curtail that.

We are not in control. We may think we are. We may think we can be. But, we are not.

So, best you can do (in my estimation) is live your life to the fullest. Live everyday enjoying where you are, and who you’re with. Love as you have been loved. You never know when you’ll breathe your last breath here. And if you know Jesus, you can trust him that it won’t be your last. You can’t control what other people do, but you definitely have a say in what you do. (Sin kinda messes that up on occasion, but at least we have some say) 🙂

Love God, and love people today. Don’t worry about what might come tomorrow, or what has happened yesterday. Any control we think we have is mostly an illusion. Trust the one who holds all things together, and follow him where he leads.

Maybe that’s the best damage control.

by Greg

I Guess I’m Emergent?

Not too sure about the results here, but saw this on Chris’ blog and thought I’d take a crack at it. Last time I was Seventh Day Adventist, which was awesome. 🙂

You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don’t think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.

Emergent/Postmodern
71%

Neo orthodox
68%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
57%

Charismatic/Pentecostal
50%

Fundamentalist
39%

Classical Liberal
36%

Reformed Evangelical
32%

Modern Liberal
21%

Roman Catholic
14%

What's your theological worldview?
created with QuizFarm.com

by Greg

Three In One

This morning the boys were in my office to read the Bible, and we got talking about one particular line we read.

Soon after this, Jesus was going through towns and villages, telling the good news about God’s kingdom.

Luke 8:1

So many times we take the good news out of the “good news”! I told the boys that sometimes we make knowing Jesus about knowing what not to do, or what to do, instead of the greatness of a God who loves us. The story we read yesterday was about the woman who came and poured expensive perfume on Jesus, and was crying on his feet, wiping away the tears with her hair. Jesus told the astonished “holy dude” who was with him that someone who is forgiven much will celebrate that forgiveness much more! That’s the good news! God’s love and forgiveness are available to all!

Somewhere in the conversation we started talking about how the good news is that we get to be close with God, like he’s our Dad. And then I said, “And Jesus is like a brother, which is cool.” The brothers smiled. “And Jesus, who is God, who is also the Father, is like our Dad, which is cool.” I started losing them here. “And then God is spirit, too… and that’s like, you!” I was sort of confusing myself, but stick with me here… “It’s like God can be so close that he is inside us, where only you can be. No one else can be inside you except you… and God (the Spirit) who lives inside of us.”

At this point Ian said, “Yeah, he can get inside through our ears! Or, our nose! Unless… if we have a cold.” 🙂

(That was awesome.)

But I thought that was pretty neat. God in his three persons is as close as a brother, as a father, and even as ourselves as the Spirit, living inside us. I hadn’t ever though of that before. But we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, he is actually inside us. Our relationship with him is that intimate. No one else can be there. Just God.

Neat.

No super-amazing conclusion from all of this, just thought it was interesting enough to share. And, the line from Ian was classic. 🙂

Happy Easter, everyone.

Go Sabres! 🙂

by Greg

The "Word Of God"?

The last two podcasts from The God Journey have been on the topic of Scripture. Good stuff. A few moments that might have challenged me before, but I have been thinking about what the “Word of God” is recently as well. We read through John not too long ago, and everytime you read that phrase there it’s referring to Jesus. A person. The “living & active” Word of God. (Ref: Heb)

I went to Bible college. I learned to revere the Book as many Christians do. But I think I have come to see that the Bible is a very special book that helps us to know God’s heart for us – but we can easily be tricked into worshipping IT. (Rather than the God from whom it comes.)

Good line from one of the podcasts (the second one) was when a friend of one of the hosts was asked, “Do you believe in the inerrancy of Scripture” his reply was, “I believe in the infallibility of the God who gave it to us.” 🙂 That was good.

I do not believe in the super-holy-magicness of the book that I hold in my hand. I do not believe in the “power of prayer”. My hope, my trust, my life is in the One whom I know through those things. God is not limited to the pages of my Bible (nor are the pages actually limited to the type that is on them, which is equally cool!) He IS the Word. (Well, Jesus is, anyway) and that is way cooler than a book 🙂

(Don’t worry… I still think the Bible is the super coolest book… I just think that sometimes we give it more credit that God intended it to have.) 🙂

I’ll take him any day.

Links?
The God Journey Podcast
The Wonder of Scripture (3/23/07)
The Wonder of Scripture II (3/30/07)

by Greg

Judging You, Judging Me?

The other day as we were reading through the book of Luke, the boys and I heard Jesus say, “Don’t judge other people and God won’t judge you.” I stopped when I said that and said to the boys, “That’s crazy! What does Jesus mean by that? Does he really mean if we just don’t judge other people, then God won’t judge us???” And I thought, How does that get us out of it??

And I think I was revealing a misunderstanding of God right there.

Is God really the big mean judge just waiting to condemn us? Or is he rightfully judge, but willingly grants us a completely restored relationship with him through Jesus – “There is no now condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”?

Today I happend to be thinking of an instance or two where I was feeling “judged” and that reminded me of these words we had recently read, that Jesus spoke long ago. I was thinking about when I felt judged and trying to figure out why I was being judged in the frist place. And all I could think of was that the person(s) I was thinking about just might not understand the God who does not demand perfection from us? Perhaps they just don’t know that God does not look at everything as “right” and “wrong”?

And then the verse made sense! Maybe Jesus didn’t mean the cause and effect version I thought, where when we don’t judge, God doesn’t judge us. Perhaps he meant that if we understand that he doesn’t judge, and so we won’t judge others, then we will feel less and less “judged” by him. As we treat other people as he does – then we can understand the Father who does not “judge” us?

Perhaps I’m just rambling… or just not saying well what I think I realized today. If you have any thoughts, please add them to this. That’d be great.

But also, please know that he does not judge your every move. You are loved by your Father, and there is no condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus.