photo credit: janusz l ( away for couple of weeks 
)
The other day I heard someone remark after being wronged, “That’s ok, nobody’s perfect.” Fair enough statement. I haven’t met any perfect people either. Or have I?
How do we know that no one is perfect? Would we recognize a perfect person if we met him? What would that person look like? What kind of morality would they exhibit? How would they act?
Forget the obvious, “Well, Jesus is perfect.” That’s not what I’m trying to get at. There seems to be something within all of us that states, “The way this person is acting shows me that he/she is not perfect. This is not the way it’s supposed to be. There’s a higher standard that this person does not meet.” The bible states that God’s law is written on our hearts, and that’s where I think this statement of “Nobody’s perfect” really shows this to be true. If God’s law is written on our hearts, then whether we acknowledge it our not, we’re going to be looking at things through God’s morality, regardless of whether or not we conform to that morality.
So if this perfect person exists, does it also mean that this person meets everyone’s standard of perfection? After all, if I say, “This person is perfect” and another says “This person is not perfect,” one of us has to be wrong. A person can’t be both perfect and not-perfect at the same time (the law of non-contradiction). It also then means that anyone else displaying traits that aren’t inline with that person isn’t perfect.
And thus, the crux of the issue. If a person is to say that “Jesus is perfect,” he has now made a exclusive truth claim. That person is saying, “Jesus Christ is the ultimate display of morality and character. Everyone else falls short.”
And that’s what we don’t like to hear. We’re pretty comfortable with everyone not being perfect. We’re used to that. But to accept that Christ is the bar by which all other moralities are judged rubs us the wrong way. We like to think that everyone is a good person. We like to think “to each their own.” We shy away from from exclusive truth. But if we know that “Nobody’s perfect” that means that there must be a morality out there that does represent that perfection. It’s just a matter of finding it.
May 14 2008 | Christianity and Truth | No Comments »
photo credit: ptufts
I’ve heard it said that if God were all-loving, He wouldn’t possibly allow pain. And while there’s a lot of apologetics about this topic, I recently heard one really good one from my pastor, Steve Dewitt. I don’t have the exact quote, but you can listen to the sermon here. Too sum up, he basically challenges us to put the hypothesis of ‘a good god wouldn’t allow pain’ to the test when looking at the person whom God loved the most: Christ. Did Christ, God’s own son, have a life without pain? Absolutely not! Ridiculed by others, sought to be imprisoned by the Pharisees, leading to his capture, mockery of a trial, then a severe scourging (watch ‘The Passion of the Christ’ if you don’t know what a scourging is. Needless to say, it’s really brutal), after which he is forced to carry his own cross down the street and up a hill to where the Romans nailed him to it, then hung him there until he was dead. Sound like a life without pain? You see, the hypothesis of a good God not allowing pain fails right in the example of Jesus. The hypothesis is wrong. God, in fact, disciplines those He loves:
6 “FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” (Hebrews 12:6)
Christianity doesn’t suport the idea that believers have all their problems whisked away and you like a care-free lifestyle. Far from it. In fact, we are promised the opposite. Jesus tell us that, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
So then, what’s the point of the pain that God is causing us? The answer lies in Hebrews 12:7-11:
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
I’m sure anyone who has kids can relate to this passage. Kids need to be disciplined. They just don’t seem to listen, behave properly, etc etc. So much like grown-ups in the eyes of the Lord. We sin. We don’t listen to Him, nor to we obey when we do listen! We need discipline, and God knows it. And that’s why there’s pain. But take heart, it’s only temporary. And the lessons learned from it are given to us so that we may become more like Christ.
April 13 2008 | Christianity and Pain and Problem of Evil and The Bible | No Comments »
photo credit: anomalous4
(Ok, this might be in bad taste, but it’s just too funny not to link to) If you’re a cat person, you’ll probably like lolcats.com. It contains really cute pictures of kittens and cats and such. Along with those pictures there are little captions, something like “i can has cheezburger?” or “oh hai, im in ur fridj, eatin ur cookees.” These little captions have now become their own language, and as such, someone has begun (and maybe finished) translating the bible in LOLCat. I’m an insane nerd, so I got a big laugh out of it so go check it out, or at least check out lolcats!
LOLCat Bible Translation Project
Revelation 1:1-3 : “John haz sum revelashunz. Tehy frum teh Bebeh Jebus, but wuz furst frum Ceiling Cat, an tehy to show what iz comin. Teh Ceiling Cat sended hiz angel to John to give revelashunz. John sez iz all totally troof, zactly what teh Ceiling Cat and Bebeh Jebus sayed. He no lie. Srsly.
Everwun what reedz these wurdz will has cheezburgrz and everwun what heerz theez wurdz will has cheezburgrz. Also, pay attenshuns, cuz iz comin. Habeeb it.”
I can has eeturnl lief?
April 04 2008 | Bible Study and Humor and The Bible | No Comments »
photo credit: e-magic
There’s a lot of questions going around these days with all the political types wonder who’s going to be the democratic nominee (boring), how McCain got the republican nominee (go Ron Paul!), and what they both hold for the future of our country. Personally, I don’t see it mattering much unless Obama gets elected. He seems like a strong leader from what I’ve seen of him (I don’t agree w/ where he stands on a few issues; isn’t it always the lesser of two evils when picking candidates anyways tho?), whereas the other two just seem like more of the same of what we’ve got the past 8 years.
Other questions float about as well. Theological questions. Philosophical questions. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more important question that what Jesus asked of Peter in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13 through 17:
13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
‘What about you?’ indeed. This might be the most important question facing us today. Who do we say that Jesus Christ is? Is he the son of God, as he claimed to be, or maybe just a prophet or good teacher? What does it mean for our lives, our future, our past?
If you’ve ever wondered about these questions, or any other theological or philosophical question, I’ve added a new page to my site, aptly titled “Ask a Question!” Feel free to ask whatever question has been floating around your mind!
I’ll give you a little tidbit on the answer to Jesus’ question tho 
16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
Enjoy!
March 26 2008 | Christianity and Internet and The Bible and Who God Is | No Comments »
photo credit: kruemi
A little insight on my life and what I’m up to: My small group has recently being doing a Voddie Baucham study called “The Ever Loving Truth.” It’s a study on apologetics, christian worldview, contending for the faith, etc. It consists of a workbook and DVD, which contains 10-20 minute sermons by Voddie over the topic at hand. The workbook goes over 5 days of material, with each day taking anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
So far, I’m immensly pleased with the material. Voddie is very astute and practical, and delivers a great message each time we’ve heard from him. He delivers his messages with great passion, but also in a way where the material doesn’t overwhelm you and it can make sense to the regular person.
The workbook I thought be overwhelming for me, but I felt I needed to challenge myself and my group. Much to my surprise, the material didn’t really overwhelm at all, but I felt myself wanting to continue on through it! And my group has really enjoyed it as well! Really good stuff!
When my group meets, we typically listen to Voddie’s 10-20 minute sermon, then go into a discussion time on the things discussed, things we learned, questions we had, etc. This time has gone very well so far, thanks to an excellent leader’s guide with a lot of thought-provoking questions.
I would greatly recommend this study for any small group wanting to know more about apologetics and christian worldview. It’s already opened my eyes to a lot of issues out there, and has given fresh perspective on issues I had already heard about and/or studied.
And if you can’t get enough Voddie Baucham, he has an excellent podcast on his website.
Enjoy!
March 22 2008 | Bible Study and Christianity and Review | 2 Comments »
Next »
