Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

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...

Note: This may be a controversial topic for some. I am not telling everyone else how they should do anything - we are each responsible for our own parenting decisions. I am merely explaining my own thoughts on the matter. Regardless, if this topic does seem a contentious issue, we should keep it in perspective that this should not be a big deal so long as each person follows their own beliefs. If this does seem like a big deal, bear in mind this is a "first world problem". Why this Christmas I'm finally not worried about spoiling it for other kids if my 5 and 7-year olds accidentally blurt out the truth about Santa: I chose to tell the truth to my kids right away about Santa, from when they were really little. I never let them think that Santa was real. I was brought up that same way too, and I can assure you I never felt that I missed out. I definitely find the story of Santa to be fun, for sure! But it is just that: a story, a fairytale. So I tell my kids the st...

In my second time of reading the Bible, I was struck by the readiness of Jesus' first disciples to follow him.   As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.   “Come, follow me,”  Jesus said,  “and I will send you out to fish for people.”   At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.   Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. Mark 1:16-20 Fishing was the livelihood of these men. They were obviously already actively working for the day when Jesus approached them. How did these men have the discernment to realize that what Jesus was offering was more important than what they were currently doing?  I translated the situation into modern terms and mentally put myself ...

I realized that it is easy to be straying from God without even being aware of it, which is why I have called this post "Straying blindly." This is what happened to me for a while. I think in a way, this is a lot more insidious that when we knowingly stray. When we knowingly stray, we might not be going to church for awhile, and/or not be praying or reading the Bible daily - not making the time to have a relationship with God. Or perhaps we might be involved in unethical activities. Either way, when these situations happen, we often feel guilty and are aware this is happening. Sometimes we even feel trapped. In any case, in these situations, we know we're straying. However, it can also happen that we are straying without really being aware of it. Like the sheep who thinks the flock is nearby, we might wander off a little further each time, never really realizing that we are away from the Shepherd. In a sense, that is more dangerous because we don't know we have st...

The scripture about binding and loosing is something which I had always struggled to understand.  I had typically not worried about it too much in the past. But now, on my second time through reading the Bible, I decided that this was something I needed to understand, or at least attempt to understand. I figured this verse was a very important verse, for two reasons: Jesus uttered it himself He actually spoke these words twice, once in each of two different chapters of Matthew in the Bible. I figured that for it to be said twice, it must be very important.  The one which I noticed the most was the second time it was stated, in Matthew 18: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18: 18 So I decided it was time to understand these scriptures. What did I do? Well, first I prayed. I knew I would not get anywhere with this without prayer. Secondly I stu...

I am a worrier. I suspect I am not alone in worrying about things which don't need to be worried about. For the longest time, I used to grapple with this problem. From a spiritual standpoint, we should not worry about things that are not significant in the big picture. Worrying can indicate a lack of faith or too much preoccupation with the things of this world. In theory, Christians should not worry, because the important thing is that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price of our sins so we could have everlasting life with God and Jesus in heaven. Everything else should pale in comparison. But what happens when the things of this world do not pale in comparison to Jesus's sacrifice? I know that this is a big problem for me. For a long time I would try to use the verse in Matthew which exhorts us not to worry.  This is indeed an extremely helpful verse (see below), but I could not seem to let myself put it to use. After reading and re-reading this verse, I would berate...