question of the day: talking about God

“For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

   

I understand this.  There is something that is hard to ‘contain’ when you’ve truly encountered God.  I get giddy (yes, not very manly…) and excited when I talk about God.  It’s hard for me to stop.  In fact, anytime I can talk about him I want to!  But how do you know when to bring up God to other people, especially when they don’t believe?  Can’t you come across as overbearing and turn people away from what you have to say?  Where is that line between enthusiasm, and letting things “slide”?  How about you?  If you’re a Christian, how do you share your faith with others?  Or if you’re not a Christian, how do you feel when someone starts talking about God to you?

what i’m reading: Mere Christianity

“Why didn’t anyone tell me CS Lewis was brilliant?!”

That’s pretty much what I think when I pick up one of his books.  I’ve gone my entire life not understanding what people saw in this CS Lewis guy.  I had read the Chronicles of Narnia and enjoyed them.  But even as a kid I knew they were “simplistic.”  I could never quite figure out why he held such appeal for Christians. To be honest I thought they were latching onto the guy because he was famous.  Little did I know how wrong I was!

Mere Christianity is my second book by Lewis.  And I now fully understand why he’s been important to so many Christians.  Lewis is a master of words, and is able to explain complex Christian theology in a simple and relate-able way.  Every sentence in this book is packed with importance and significance. 

The title of the book is a bit confusing to the modern ear.  And until I started to read the book, I didn’t fully understand what that title was trying to convey.  In essence he really wrote a book that could be called ’simple’ or ‘basic’ Christianity.  In a way this is God 101.  But don’t let that fool you, there is more information packed into this book than most dense academic works.

Mere Christianity is broken into 4 sections.  Each dealing with an aspect of what it means to come into a relationship with God.  In section one he outlines some clues to the existence of God.  Section two discusses what Christians really believe.  Followed by how Christians should behave, and what it means to be a Christian.  The fourth section, which is probably his most ambitious, is an attempt to explain who God is – namely the Trinity (Jesus, God, the Holy Ghost).

Very few writers are more quotable than Lewis.  But that’s not the most striking part of Mere Christianity.  Lewis is a master at using examples to explain his points.  He has a way of taking a complex concept (e.g., the Trinity) and giving simple explanations that really crystallize the concepts for the reader.

Lewis holds a special place for me, because he’s one of those writers that disproves the idea that to believe in God you need to turn off your brain.  As I explore his writings I continue to realize that God wants us to use our brains as much as our hearts. 

hope

Life can be tough. I don’t think I’m surprising anyone with that little bit of insight. It can be easy to give up. Some tasks seem so daunting, so overwhelming, that we can’t imagine finishing them, let alone surviving them. “How do we keep moving forward against those odds?” we ask ourselves. I admit, it’s mornings like that which make it difficult to get out of bed!

Too many mornings like that and we begin to wonder if “it” (whatever “it” may be) is worth the trouble. We ask ourselves, “who am I to do this?”

But in the midst of our suffering, I believe there is hope. And I believe that hope comes directly from God. Psalm 66 tells us, “For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.” (v.10-12)

There are times when God lets us go through trouble. But there is a reason why. God is not a god of pointlessness.

We are tested so we can be refined. We are given burdens so we can become strong. And we can hope in God precisely because we know we’re not doing something that is pointless.

active praise

Some days it’s just hard to be excited about God.  We wake up and it’s raining outside, or we’re feeling depressed or overwhelmed, or we’re facing a major tragedy.  Or worse yet, our fantasy football team just got crushed for yet another week.  In fact there are far too many days that I find it difficult to be excited by God.  Intellectually I want to worship him, but emotionally I just can’t seem to drag myself out of my rut.  I feel tired and I think I lack the energy I need to take another step. 

This is usually where I want to give up, or at least take some time off.  Sometimes I say, “God won’t really notice.”  Or, “I deserve this, I’ve been faithful!”  Of course neither of these are actually true.  And if I am really honest about it, the challenges in my life are often totally insignificant in the overall scheme of things.  There are billions of people who have it far worse than I do.  One of these people happened to be David, King of Israel  You know, of David and Goliath fame. 

David had this knack of always finding himself in trouble.  His life was characterized by people wanting to kill him!  I have yet to face a single death threat, so I think he probably had a few more things to worry about than I do.  And yet what do I find David doing in the midst of yet another assassination attempt?  Praising God.

That’s right, he was actively praising God despite his circumstances.  I’m really struck by the words he uses in Psalm 71 to describe his actions.  He doesn’t say, “I’m thinking about worshiping you” or “sometimes I will praise you.”  He says, “I will praise you more and more” (v. 14), “I will proclaim your mighty acts” (v. 16), “I declare your marvelous deeds” (v. 17), “my lips will shout for joy” (v23).

Proclaim.  Declare.  Shout.  Those are all active words.  David may have been suffering.  He may have been heartbroken by more people wanting him dead.  (You know that has to mess with your self esteem after a while…)  But through it all, and to his core, he actively praised God. 

God is worthy of our praise no matter what’s going on in our lives.  We shouldn’t hold back from telling people how awesome he is no matter what we feel like. 

  

God – You are so awesome that sometimes I forget just what you’ve done for me.  I know my heart is often fickle and I’m easily distracted, but you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I am so grateful for you!

what i’m watching?: The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is set to hit theaters this weekend to much fanfare.  And it’s not just Hollywood Hype that’s driving this movie’s appeal.  If you follow the news at all you’ve probably heard that many Christian groups are encouraging people to avoid this movie. In a way that’s understandable.  You see, the whole point of The Golden Compass (and the two following books) is to debunk Christianity.  The author of the books, Philip Pullman has said as much in various interviews.

Well I’m going to suggest something different.  I say if you are interested in this movie, you should go watch it.

We are not, in any way, helped by avoiding things of this nature.  There are three good reasons why:

1.  Christianity has withstood centuries of literal, physical, attack from groups throughout history (e.g., Romans, Communists, Barney the Dinosaur – okay, maybe not Barney).  Christianity has done quite well in these cultures.  So I think God will be able to handle a Hollywood movie.  

2.  But more than that, God wants us to ask questions, because questions deepen our faith.  Every question I’ve had about Christianity has ultimately strengthened my faith.  When I search for an answer, I find that something amazing happens: I move closer to God.  Not because I’m talking myself into something, but because God is always willing to give us proof of who he is.  Because of this, I’ve found an answer to virtually every question I’ve ever asked.  Even when I don’t find a perfect answer, I’ve learned that there is an answer out there, I just don’t know it!  God wants us to know him, and the only way we can really do that is to engage our brains along with our hearts.

3.  Those of you who consider yourself Christians already, ask yourself this, “how do you intelligently discuss a movie you’ve never seen?”  How do you help your friends understand how God differs in real life from the god of The Golden Compass if you’ve never seen it?

I consider the Da Vinci Code one of the greatest opportunities Christians have had to share their faith.  What better way to enter a discussion about God then when someone comments on him!  I wonder how many opportunities were lost because people refused to watch a (mostly bad) movie.

So I say if you want to watch The Golden Compass go for it.  If you aren’t a Christian ask yourself “what questions do I have?” and “Does the movie accurately represent who God is?”  Then search for answers.  If you are a Christian, go see it so you can talk intelligently about it when someone you know brings it up.  And maybe you can help someone find those answers. 

fear

Today I was going to write about faith and reason.  But I’ve changed my mind because I realized something this week.  I realized that I’ve become comfortable with my faith.  My trust in God has slowly been turning to religiosity in God.

There was a time where I would have happily sacrificed anything for God, because the memory of him saving me was so strong.  But over the last year that’s dimmed a bit.  I’ve developed theological ideas.  I’ve come to conclusions about who God is and what he wants from me.  I’ve become comfortable with my level of generosity.

I don’t think any of those things are bad in and of themselves.  But they are causing me to fear talking to him about things.  I don’t want to hear answers that may challenge my beliefs.  I don’t want to be bothered with changing my life – I’m comfortable now.

But that’s not how God works.  We have to give him our all.  We can’t hold anything back, because if we do it hurts our relationship with him.

To be honest I don’t know what all this means.  I just know, with God’s help, I have to become open to everything he has to say.  No matter how uncomfortable that makes me.

It’s scary to stand before God knowing you’ve been hiding.  It must have been that way for Elijah when he ran away from his job and hid in a cave.  God had to actually go into the cave and call out to Elijah saying, “What are you doing here?”  I’m sure God has been doing that to me, and I have just had my fingers plugged in my ears!

a sick woman and common sense

“She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.  When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’” (Mark 5: 26-28)

   

I’ve seen this passage several times over the years and always thought of it as “just another miracle.”  But one day something new occurred to me: this woman rejected the logic of the world, for the reason of God.  She turned her back on common sense, and took a radical and dangerous step (being socially “unclean” as this woman was, and touching a “clean” man was a major deal, and she could have been in big trouble with the religious police).

The smart thing to do would be to continue with her treatments.  Even though the doctors had failed to heal her, at least she was trying something.  At least she was doing something.  But this woman recognized a truth that most people that day were missing.  She realized that there was something more to this world.  She knew there was something special about this Jesus guy.  She knew that doing exactly what the world prescribed to heal her was the worst course of action she could take. 

So she came up with this idea that if she just touched him, somehow brushed against him, that would be all she would need to be healed.

Think about that for a moment.  That’s completely ridiculous.  If all of the world’s medicine wasn’t helping, why would touching some guy?  But it did, and she was healed!  It wasn’t until she did this radical thing – trusting in Jesus – that she was finally cured.  Her faith, something not of this world, saved her.

How often do we follow the “common sense” path, even though it leads us to death?  How often do we latch onto an idea and refuse to let go, even when it’s painfully obvious that it’s not working?  Sometimes we need to make a radical decision.  Sometimes we need to be revolutionary in our approach, because what the world is telling us to do just isn’t working.

what i’m reading: Jesus Among Other Gods

I think it’s safe to say that we live in a very pluralistic world, where ideas from a wide variety of cultures are shared and believed.  Who among us doesn’t know someone of a different faith or philosophical background?  But that pluralism isn’t limited to just religion or politics.  Choice is everywhere, including our toothpaste aisles!  Because there are so many options out there, sometimes it’s difficult to define our reality, and so we’ve all heard someone ask, “what is truth?”  

Of course it may not matter with toothpaste.  I suppose they may even all be the same.  But is religion?  Do all religions somehow end up at the same place?

That’s the question Ravi Zacharias takes in Jesus Among Other Gods.  Zacharias tackles some of the biggest questions facing religions (Is there a God?  Does God cause suffering?  Is God knowable?) and shows just how Christianity differs from Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Atheism.  In each chapter he discusses the Christian view and then compares it to one (or more) of the other major religions.  By showing that the religions believe very different things on these topics he argues that it is impossible for all religions to be the same.  Either God exists or he does not.  Either God sent his son Jesus or he did not.  If God exists Atheism can not be true.  If Jesus is not God, then Christianity can not be true.

Christianity is often presented as a religion based purely on faith.  But that’s not true.  There is certainly something to be said for “divine revelation” and “understanding through faith.”  Those things help Christians better understand the world.  But God didn’t leave us with only those tools.  He also gives us historical evidence and eye witness testimony. 

I don’t know about you, but I am very much concerned about the truthfulness of Christianity.  I want to know if Jesus was real, or if it is a hoax.  Frankly I have no desire to live my life believing in something that’s a sham.  And that’s what I enjoy about Zacharias’ approach.  He uses logic and reason to make the case for Christianity.  He puts together compelling arguments that answer tough questions.  And in my mind this book definitely proves that all religions are not the same. 

embarrassing Bible stories

At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” (Numbers 16: 34)

     

God used a specific and unique event (in this case an earthquake) to punish the leaders of an open rebellion against him.  But because the people of Israel had lost their trust of God they believed they were in danger.  They either believed they would be punished by God, or else it was a natural phenomenon.  In reality it was God acting just as Moses had said he would. 

What repeatedly strikes me about the Bible is that almost everyone in it looks like a fool at one time or another.  There are countless stories where everyone from Moses to Paul looks like an idiot for doubting God. 

I find that fascinating. 

What other religion does that?  What other religion’s icons are put in such an embarrassing light?  Doesn’t this make the Bible all the more believable?  After all, if you’re going to invent a religion, why make yourself look bad? 

intentionality: do i need to go to church?

In the last few days I’ve touched on the need to intentionally choose God.  I also discussed how we have to make that decision, even when the path isn’t safe or easy.  But there is still another aspect of being intentional: our individual needs.   These are the things I consider the “personal preferences” of faith.  In other words, we need to understand what we personally need in our relationship with God. 

Paul said, “I have become all things to all people” (1 Corinthians 21-23) but he also said we should not cause others to fail (Romans 14:21).  We may have permission to do a lot of things, but doing so isn’t always the best option!  Recognizing what causes us to fail, and then avoiding it by changing our lives is important to our long-term relationship with God.  

I haven’t been to church in about 4 weeks.  To some that may not seem like much.  But to me it’s been a huge deal.  Part of how I’m wired is to need church.  Of course it’s not the building, the free coffee, or even the messages.  What I really need is the sense of community I get from the church.  Something important happens, which I don’t fully understand, when I go to church and see others excited about God.  

For me going to church needs to be a regular part of my Christian faith.  So what is it for you?  What do you need to do that keeps you centered on God?  What do you need to avoid so that you aren’t tempted?

Answer those questions and you’ll have a better idea of how you need to live your life to remain close to God.