Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

In the Bible it makes it clear that Adam and the human race were created to be the caretakers of the earth. Would God be happy with the mountains of trash on the planet?  Obviously, some trash is always going to be created no matter how conscientious the human race is going to be about the environment.  But when people do not make any effort to even consider the environment (either in the things they create or in the things they purchase), we wind up producing more trash or more emissions than we need to. I don't think that is being a very good caretaker. I'm not intending this to be a politically-slanted topic at all. I dislike politics myself and can't bring myself to identify with any type of political party. I'm talking purely from a Biblical perspective, I feel like we as humans have not done a great job at being caretakers of the planet. What is even more puzzling to me is that there are many individuals who are Christian but who readily admit ...

Even if you are not concerned about your own soul, what about your children's? Did you know that there is a huge battle going on, over your child's soul? I know that to you, it seems literally unbelievable. But if you will, just for a second, pose the (admittedly scary) question "What if?" Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it's not real. Imagine us trying to explain the existence of the atom to someone from the Middle Ages. We can understand why that person simply won't believe it, but the atom was still 100% real in the Middle Ages - regardless of whether the people of that time could a) detect it or b) believe in it. Let's switch over a little. Have you ever watched the movie "The Matrix"? It is set in what seems to be a very real world, but in fact turns out to be a virtual world surrounded by an external, real, world. Right now, the Earth, planets, galaxies and everything in it are like the inner world o...

When serving in some volunteer capacity as I do at the church, I occasionally have hurt feelings or feelings of conflict if someone has a criticism toward me that is not worded in a constructive or loving manner. To be fair to my church family, this is a rare and unusual occurrence, but when it happens it can feel jarring to me. In this situation it is all too easy to get take it too personally and have negative feelings - whether toward the other person, the church, the volunteer role itself, or whatever. That is a trap that Satan would love for us to fall into. Instead, we need to remind ourselves that when we are serving in any capacity, we are there to serve the Lord as best as we can. We are not there to control everyone else's reaction to our serving role!  If we keep the focus on the fact of our serving role, and on God, that is going to be a lot better than focusing on what others think of us or of our own hurt feelings. But it is all too easy to wind up wit...

Besides Jesus, there are 3 other people in the Bible I would most like to ask questions of. These are Eve, Lazarus, and the apostle Mark. How I wish that more had been recorded in the Bible from each of these people! But of course I have to remember that the fact that there wasn't more is because it wasn't strictly necessary for us to hear more from them. The Bible is sufficient to generate faith. Eve For Eve, the questions I'd want to ask are not "why did you do it?" because I too disobey God every day. The question of why she ate the apple is exactly the same question we could ask ourselves "Why was I judgmental toward this person?" "Why did I not listen to God about this situation?", "Why did I allow myself to fall into temptation?" and so on. After thinking about it, I knew it would be hypocritical of me to blame Eve for mankind's fallen state ( see my other article about that ). What I would ask is that I would be real...

I came across a Bible verse that to me was very powerful. I read it three times because I was so struck by it: Seek the  Lord  while he may be found,      call upon him while he is near; 7  let the wicked forsake their way,      and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the  Lord , that he may have mercy on them,      and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8  Isaiah 55: 6-7 This verse is immediately followed by what to me was a much more familiar verse: For my thoughts are not your thoughts,      nor are your ways my ways, says the  Lord . 9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,      so are my ways higher than your ways      and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55: 8-9 Verses 6 and 7 in the first passage spoke to me so much. This was because the importance of seeking the Lord now (an...

Every election year, I notice that many people get very vocal for or against a particular candidate. But   we should never put all of our trust in human leaders . Even the best human leader is flawed and imperfect. Even the best candidate of the century pales in comparison to Jesus. It's good to carry out our civic responsibilities: carefully considering the candidates and their policies, and picking which one we feel is best for the country at the time.  It is wonderful to live in a democracy where we have choices. At the same time, I find it hard to get passionately behind any candidate, because I have yet to find one that isn't flawed. I'm flawed too, an imperfect being, a sinner. We all are. It's part of being human. But just as I would not find myself worthy of leading a country, I find it hard to find anyone worthy of leading the country. In the second coming of Christ, we can look forward to a new Heaven and a new Earth, with God and Jesus as our leaders. Now...

I was recently reading the fiction novel "The Book of You" by Claire Kendal. Disclaimer: this book has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity, whether for or against. Its plot is about a woman who is being stalked by a man she has no interest in, and what she does when she realizes that the stalking is escalating. This story made me think about the nature of love. The male villain in the story professed to be in love with the female protagonist. However, his treatment of her (stalking, and worse) was far from what anyone would call love. In reality, love is a two-way street, requiring the permission of both (not just one). You don't tell someone "Surprise! We're getting married today!" You ask, nicely. And you would understand that no means no. Likewise, Jesus wants us to come to him freely, out of choice. God will not inflict himself upon us like a crazy stalker who doesn't want us to have a choice. He gives us the greatest gift of all; the po...

Sometimes it feels like there just isn't time to pray! I used to think things like "I'll pray when I get time, when it gets less busy." I know now that this sort of thinking is a sign that my priorities are not right. I need to be praying in the midst of everything. I don't mean we should all drop everything for days and do nothing but pray. What I'm saying is that we should still talk with God at some point(s) every day, no matter how busy we are. Why? For several reasons, but the foremost one is that God wants a relationship with us. We don't tell our spouse "Hey, I'm busy right now, but I'll talk with you again about a month from now when it gets less hectic." How ridiculous would that be?! We shouldn't be doing  that to God either. Furthermore, God doesn't do that us. He doesn't remove himself for months at a time because he's busy attending to other things. Yes life can feel like that to us at times, but he isn'...

When reading the parable of the lost son, I am always grateful that the younger son returned to his father (Luke 15: 11-32). But sometimes can't help but feel sympathetic to the older son's point of view. The older son had not strayed, and yet no-one celebrated his faithfulness. When he pointed this out to his father when they were celebrating the return of his brother, the father said: “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15: 31-32 The first words of the father resonated with me: "You are always with me, and everything I have is yours." Wow! That's God speaking to us! This made me feel so much less jealous of others. I realized that God values us equally, whether we stray or not. Sure, the younger brother had a big celebration made for the occasion of his return, but honestly...

Whenever there are times that I don't have the best attitude about life (e.g Monday mornings), I remind myself of the following. Any that have links refer to an experience that you can explore in more detail: I'm alive! I'm on the planet! I'm human, which means I'm one of God's chosen people . Jesus paid the price for my sins already. It's already been paid up. My chains are broken, and I've been set free . Evil has no long-term power over me unless I choose to let it. My chains are broken! I have nothing to lose (except for earthly things which are anyway ephemeral) and I have everything to gain. I need to live accordingly! By the time I've gotten through this checklist of reminders, WOW, I feel like a whole new person all over again. If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog: Straying Blindly Does Reading the Bible and Praying Have Results? Are We Today Those to Whom Much Has Been Given...

I have written a previous post about how our Earth and universe is actually a relatively small, ephemeral setup that is part of a much larger Universe that God made. In the previous post, I mention the film "The Matrix" (1999) as the analogy . But now in 2016, there is a whole generation growing up that have never seen that movie and won't understand the analogy. Minecraft is a similar analogy.  I'd like to use it to illustrate that our Earth which seems so real and permanent, is not as real or as permanent as Heaven. Note: Minecraft not quite as good of an analogy as "The Matrix", because in The Matrix certain characters come to realize that there is a bigger world out there - which doesn't occur in Minecraft. No-one has yet broken the 4th wall in Minecraft, right?! Still, Minecraft will work fine for our purposes. In Minecraft, you have a character who can dig, build, take care of animals, and so on. Your character may interact with other chara...

I used to be jealous that I wasn't "chosen" by God for things. I used to be jealous of Adam and Eve , of Jesus' disciples and apostles , and of the Jews (God's chosen people). Since I was none of these people, I used to feel like I wasn't chosen by God for anything. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. As members of the human race, all of us are chosen by God to be his people. He even sent his only Son to die for our sins on the cross! His love and his grace and mercy have been given out to us, to humans. It doesn't matter if we do not play a role that is written in Christian history. And frankly, I know that I wouldn't have always been willing to choose to follow God in those roles even if I had had the opportunity to experience them.  So instead of being jealous of how many things I wasn't chosen for, I now am so joyful to be a member of the human race. I'm part of God's chosen people: we all are. He wants a re...