Central High School Shooting and Uncertainty

Well...not even a month outside of a church shooting, some kid made the decision to settle a score that ended in the death of a 15 year old boy. When a commmunity is rocked by violence, I am at a loss as to any explanation or words that provide consolation to all. I am again reminded of the brevity and uncertainty of all life, and how...time holds the unprecedented and unpredictable. Sometimes...I am beginning to think that when God looks down on his creation and sees his children acting in such ways, he must be terribly disappointed with what we have done to ourselves in this thing called life. At the same time, the only place that I do find comfort is in his Word. Psalm 119 speaks of how God is literally every place that humans can go and can't go. He is even in the midst of terrible things like church shootings and school shootings...constantly moving...constantly drawing people to himself in spite of any circumstance. I take comfort in knowing that God is a God of purpose, of love, of mercy, and of justice. This wonderful God that has the ability to take the ugliest events in society, cover them up with the paint of his blood, and start repainting the picture of his kingdom all over again. He never gives up on what he knows is important, and neither should we. Thoughts???

Knoxville Church Shooting - Progressive Theology

George Orwell said, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Once again, Christianity in various forms has hit the news with tragedy. I am sure you all will mourn the loss of the family members and friends at the Unitarian Church. Please understand that though we differ drastically theologically, I still love them as fellow children of God. When the recent news station revealed that the man accused of murdering several congregants did so over an anger at their progressive views, I must admit that I was deeply saddened. I believe that the church has grown way too soft on very important issues that stem from topics as broad as sin and as specific as the role of homosexuals in the church. I am angry that instead of ministering in the culture of this world, we have let the prince of this world and current culture infect the church and our way of thinking. I am angry at the times when we have sat back and watched injustice and done nothing to change the hurt in the world, however; under no circumstances are you ever going to change hearts of people to Christ by shooting at them. What this man has done will have ripple effects for the name of Christ in the media in ways that can only make demons delighted. So people are liberal (whatever that actually means, I find it more of a loaded term) and have poor biblical theology, I am sure that when Jesus looks into the deepest darkest sins in our hearts he thinks we are quite liberal too!!! Please understand that I am not making an argument for tolerance of bad religion and theology, I just do not understand why the man killed people over their religious stance. Jesus ran up against all sorts of liberals and people of other religions. I do not ever remember him killing anyone for not accepting the gospel. In fact, he would tell stories, ask questions, confront sin, but never killed anyone. He never forced his beliefs on anyone. In fact, he loved the very people that crucified and killed him. Yes, the church does need to return to sound biblical theology, but not at the cost of killing other people Thoughts anyone? Why do you feel this man did this?

The Parable of the Two Servants

I would like for as many who wish to read the following passage and tell me what it means. I am preaching on this soon and would like just some other people's impressions as to what Jesus is telling us in this parable. When I have finished my sermon outline, I will post it as well.
Matthew 24:42-51 (New American Standard Bible)
Be Ready for His Coming 42"Therefore (A)be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
43"But be sure of this, that (B)if the head of the house had known (C)at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44"For this reason (D)you also must be ready; for (E)the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
45"(F)Who then is the (G)faithful and (H)sensible slave whom his master (I)put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
46"Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes.
47"Truly I say to you that (J)he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
48"But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,'
49and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards;
50the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,
51and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be (K)weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Response to Critical Comments of Dr. Mohler's Defense of the Resurrection

I posted the following on the ON FAITH website to support Dr. Mohler's understanding of the importance of the resurrection. One guy just quotes a bunch of random biased evidence and then I responded to some accusations of pride and arrogance.

As an evangelical Christian, I openly confess that I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, I would like to make two points and then ask two questions. First, I also can take up a great deal of space with evidence from a wide variety of evangelical authors that supports the resurrection of Christ. Block quoting someone else's analysis of scripture and calling them facts does not really provide a convincing argument. Second, I believe that many misinterpret why Christianity claims to be more than a "mere religion." It is not out of pride or arrogance, although Christians are certainly guilty of these. Our cause is simply this: to preach Christ crucified to the world. We do this out of the love that God first showed us. We are exclusive because Christ says that he is the only way in Scripture, but all people have the potential of coming to faith in him. What we hold to be true in Scripture motivates us to share the gospel with people out of love because we desire that they come into a moving relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In my opinion, it is this unique personal relationship that sets Christianity apart from all other religons. Now for the questions: one, For all those who believe that the resurrection did not happen or do not believe in Christ, in your own religious system what do you hope for? Two, if you do not believe in the resurrection, is your problem really with Christ or with Christians. Just some thoughts.

THE LOVE QUESTION

As some of my students will explain, we have been discussing the definition of love in my different classes. Essentially the debate boils down into to primary points. Either love is a choice and we can control who we love, or the objects of our love are beyond our control. If you can tell, I have defined love as a choice to selflessly elevate some other person above yourself in all things. In addition, I believe that all love springs from the very nature of who God is; he is the ultimate source of it. Therefore, when I John 4: 9-11 seems to support my argument. Though God made us and knew we existed, he (if he wished) could have sent us all straight to hell. However, out of his great love, he sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins as a manifestation that he did love us. I believe love, real love mind you, is similar in humans. We have a choice to love our spouses, parents, and friends. If it is not under our control, then are we blaming God for causing us to screw up when we do not meet his standard of loving our neighbor? Certainly not! We must acknowledge the human responsibility of loving people in the right way, as Christ himself loved us. All right. Now, my rant has been short. Let the discussion begin.

The Road of Faith

The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. - 1 John 2:4-6 (NASB)

Every person on the face of this planet is on a journey. Both the journey and the destination do matter, for one is spent with what reality is and the other is the parody of it. The destination is either complete perfection or complete denial, there is no alternative. I guess I wanted to write today about "walking" as the passage mentions. I believe that I know Jesus Christ as my everything everyday, but I am stricken with my own sin and the things that happen around me. I admit that I do not obey his commandments, but like any person I try. I attempt to walk like Christ. Two things have recently reemphasized my appreciation for the grace with which Christ walked this earth. First, my father has been diagnosed with cancer. I haven't a clue to what type, but to be honest that isn't important. My dad, this man of all men from perspective, is coming to grips with this worst type of news. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I have witness my father sharing his faith in a way that make my heart want to explode. I then realized, would I walk like my father? The answer is only time will tell. I am so proud of him and what he has done, and I am truly humbled by the fact that God showed me grace upon grace by giving a father who walked as he did and is still doing.
Second, I have recently struggled as work with a variety of issues. I know that I am not the teacher I should be, but (primarily because of the example of my father's walk), I will never quit, period. He never gave up on this son (I am talking about my own physical and spiritual father as well), and I will not quit on the young people I work with. I will walk with them through whatever valleys they go through...and yes, I can't help them all. But my father sowed his righteousness into the lives of me and a lot of other people, I want to walk as he walks. So, I will help as many as I can. Because, after all, we are all on the same road...the road of faith. Some are close and some are far from Him who loves them best. I hope my journey can one day be similar to what these verses have talked about. I want to walk with Jesus in the same way my dad does. And just like Psalm 73 mentions, It is good to be near God. That's where I want to end up with everyone I know or can get to know. It's my calling. To walk with people on this road...this road with an infinite destination.

War is Hell

As I listened to NPR this morning, I once again became terrified by the effects that War can have on humanity. The reporters related a story of some army drinking buddies doing what soldiers do when they get home (having a drink with their buddies), when one suddenly shoots the other five times with virtually no hesitation. The report further stated that the shooter had a myspace page dominated by his tattoos that said things like "born to kill" and he also apparently had a Waffen-SS tattoo. Forgive me, but I can't help but see this as another negative aspect of exposing God's creatures to a sin they should have never experienced. Its as though once humanity got a taste of killing their own kind, they have never stopped developing it as some sick art form. War...must be one of the most difficult things for the human intellect and emotion to endure. People go, defend themselves and their country, are exposed to traumatic amounts of violence, and then go home and people expect them to just be okay. Aside from this instance, I recently was reenlightened about the sad state of many of our veterans in the care of our government. I did not know of the Walter Reed incident where many wounded and disabled veterans experienced a new "hell" when they came home. Some had to literally army crawl to the bathroom, and apparently there was even one soldier who had not been given a change of clothes or a chance to go to the bathroom for three days. This is unexcusable. We say that we support the soldiers, concepts like freedom and liberty, and then the very men and women who provide this blanket of protection, we basically just forget about. Once again, this just shows you how quickly Americans forget the freedoms that we have, just like most things in life, are bought with a price. I really look forward to the days when wars are over and the soldiers can return to a state of peace. I have a feeling, and I am not soldier so I don't know for sure, but I think soldiers that have really seen true combat spend the rest of their lives trying to do one of two things: finding peace or re-living the most difficult experience in their lives. I hope in God that one day all of this War will cease. Psalm 46:9-10 states that "He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Let us not forget that War is a terrible thing that should never happen. Sadly because of sin, however, sometimes people have to fight for what is right.