The "original" sin

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  Genesis 3:1-6

The first sin made by Adam--and the one all other sins flow from--is the desire to be like God.  That's the root of all disobedience.  That's why the serpent said, "when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5)  That's the whole reason Adam and Eve ate the fruit.  In our desire to become like God we actually replace God in our hearts and put ourselves in his place.  In effect we make ourselves our own idol.  As Paul says in Romans 1, we "exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator" (Romans 1:25; italics mine).

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.  Romans 1:22-25

Whenever we tell God--through our decisions, mindset, and behaviors--"I'm going to do this my way" we put ourselves in the place of God.  And when we take this to the extreme, God gives us up to our desires.  God intends to protect us from ourselves but there is a point in our kicking and screaming "Let go!" where God says, "Okay, do what you want to do."

A rose bush becomes most beautiful if the gardener prunes it regularly by cutting it back and removing all the dead blossoms.  Right after the pruning the bush looks terrible but given a couple months it will be full of beautiful flowers.  God prunes us through the discipline of trials and hardship.  This process is called "sanctification"and through it we gradually do become more like God.  As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18,

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

When God stops pruning us and "gives us up" due to our persistent stubbornness He withdrawals his shears and let's us go wild--and the outcome is never good.  Our desire to be God-like is not the problem.  The problem is in our effort to be God-like we take God out of our hearts and replace him with ourselves.  As C.S. Lewis said in his book The Great Divorce,"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done.""

What wonderful timing!

How often are we grateful for the timing of our lives?  Be grateful you exist today!  It is a blessing to be alive after Christ.  The Bible says being alive today is much better than being before Christ because now the mystery of Christ has been revealed.  Peter says in 1 Peter 1 the prophets of old yearned to see the coming of the Christ for they knew of his sufferings and the glory he would usher in.  He says,

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.  1 Peter 1:10-12

Peter says the prophets sought after the timing and the person of Christ because the Spirit of Christ was in them and preached to them about his coming.  In Matthew 13, Jesus tells his disciples,

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.  Matthew 13:16-17

Astonishingly there was one who did see the Christ.  In John 8 Jesus describes how Abraham longed to see the Christ and actually did (to the Jews' disbelief)!

56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  John 8:56-58

Jesus may have been referring to meeting Abraham in Genesis 18, an amazing story in and of itself.

Whatever else is going on in your life, be glad and thank God that Christ is known to you.  There were many who came before you who longed to know Him and yearned to see His coming but weren't able to.  Now we, along with them, can yearn to see His second coming!

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  Revelation 22:20

Why I appreciate my church

The longer I go to my church the more I profoundly appreciate the teaching I receive there.  The three doctrinal truths that have impacted me the most over my eight years there are:

1. That the power of the gospel (what Christ accomplished for us on the cross) isn't confined to its ability to save souls.  It also has the ability to restore and redefine relationships in the here and now.
2. That perseverance in the faith and the good works done over a lifetime are evidence of being in Christ not the cause.
3. That God is sovereignly active in sanctifying His children through our highs and lows not in spite of them.

"Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who insist on still having jaundice, nor make a midden of the world's garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses."  (C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce)

God did not create us because He needed to

"Tis no argument of the emptiness or deficiency of a fountain that it is inclined to overflow" (Jonathan Edwards, Yale: Works, Vol. 8, 448)

Sweet justice

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.  Jonah 1:1-3

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.  Jonah 3:10

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” Jonah 4:1-10

Jonah and God had different understandings of what justice was.  When God told Jonah to warn Ninevah, Jonah ran away.  It's not until we read chapter 4 that we understand why Jonah ran.  The reason was he felt Ninevah deserved destruction and knew if they repented God would not destroy them.  So Jonah wanted to prevent Ninevah from receiving any warning.  To Jonah, Ninevah's destruction would be justice.  God clearly disagreed or He would have leveled the city despite their repentance.

What is justice?  If you think you know what it is how did you come to that conclusion?

I am going to make one definitive absolute statement.  God is just.  There is nothing that can take away from his "justness" nor is there anything that can add to it.  Consider what God tells Moses in Exodus 33:18-19.  Moses asks God, "Please show me your glory." (vs 18)  God's response is "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." (vs 19)  What this means is that God can do whatever He wants to do.  He does not answer to anyone and there is no one He is accountable to.  He will be gracious to whomever He wants to and He will show mercy to whomever He wants to.  This means He will also decline mercy to whomever He wants to.  And in all of this God is just.  For Him there is no gradient of justice.  There is no sort-of just or injustice.  Anything He does or decrees is just.

So often people tell me, "If God does that then He's not just."  That's a false statement regardless of what the person was referring to.  If God does that then He's absolutely just regardless of what that is.  This is because God is just.  It is only because of Him that we have any understanding of what justice is.

It was this very concept that lead C.S. Lewis to become a Christian.  Here is what Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity:

"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course, I could have given up my idea of justice by saying that it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist--in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless--I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality--namely my idea of justice--was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning." (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

What Lewis is saying is that if you have any sense of injustice in the world it is because there is a God who is just.  We only understand injustice because we have justice to compare it to.  So you can rightly say the world is an unjust place but one thing you cannot do is say God is not just for He is the only one who actually is just.

Does God cause sin?

Does God cause sin?  Arminians say no, God permits sin.  Calvinists say no, God ordains sin.  What do you think?

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.   Exodus 4:21

2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”  Exodus 7:2-5

Let's proceed inductively.

Did God harden Pharaoh's heart?

Was it because of Pharaoh’s hardened heart that he refused to obey God and sinned by not letting the Israelites go?

So we could say God did not cause Pharaoh to sin but rather Pharaoh’s hardened heart caused him to sin.  But then we have to ask did God cause Pharaoh’s hardened heart? Obviously based on Exodus 4:21, God says, "I will harden his heart".  So God did in fact cause the hardened heart.

Why did God cause the hardened heart?  Exodus 4:21 says "so he will not let the people go."  Exodus 7:5 adds, "The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord."  Paul says in Romans 9:17,

"17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

So if God caused the hardened heart which caused the sin then perhaps we would be correct to say that sin can occur as a result of something God causes. So God does not cause the sin but rather causes the circumstances which He in his omniscience and perfect wisdom knows will cause sin through which his purposes will be accomplished.

John Piper's sermon "Does James Contradict Paul?"

I highly recommend you read or listen to John Piper's sermon Does James Contradict Paul?

Thanks for the comment, Jose

I saw an article today on the New York Times website about a piece of papyrus that says Jesus had a wife.  You can read it here.  The piece of papyrus is 4 by 8 centimeters in size and says things like "Jesus said to them, 'My wife ...' ".  Needless to say many books will probably be written about this little piece of papyrus.  As usual I spent most of my time in the comment section beneath the article reading what other people were saying about the article.  Most of the comments dismissed the find as insignificant because the Bible is very clear that the Church is Christ's bride.  But the comment that struck me as funny, true, and touching all at the same time was this one:

I wish I could tell Jose how much his comment meant to me.  Maybe we'll meet up in the Kingdom.

Happiness in heaven

I recently read a blog post that posed the question, "How will I possibly be happy in heaven if I know my friends and family are in hell?  How can heaven be heaven if that's the case?"

Here is my response to that:

The gift of eternal life as described in the Bible is about spending an eternity with Jesus Christ.  That is why Paul says in Philippians 3:8,

"I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him."

Paul said everything is loss compared to knowing Christ and when we leave the perishable and put on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:54) we will be able to know Christ fully and everything you have lost in this life along with every worry, concern, stress, disability, fear, pain you have felt will not be remembered for the joy you will be enveloped in.  Paul called this "an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17).  As Isaiah 65:17 says,

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind."

In his essay Transposition C.S. Lewis observes that for most people "our notion of Heaven involves perpetual negations: no food, no drink, no sex, no movement, no mirth, no events, no time, no art.  Against all these, to be sure, we set one positive: the vision and enjoyment of God.  And since this is an infinite good, we hold (rightly) that it outweighs them all." 

I should also mention that the disciples were not eager to go to heaven--at least that wasn't their ultimate goal--they were eager to be resurrected in glorified bodies when Christ returns.  That's why Paul continues in Philippians 3:10-11 and says his motivation in life is "that I may know him [Christ] and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
    which shines brighter and brighter until full day.  Proverbs 4:18 (ESV)

Why do we need to think about our sin?

People who think they don't sin much don't think they need much saving.

And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."  Mark 2:17 ESV

A promise AND a warning

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:17

Politicians like to extract misleading soundbites from their opposition's news conferences and broadcast them on a never-ending loop in order to cast their opponent in a negative light.  As a tactic it works well because people prefer their information in small pieces that are easier to digest and don't require much time to process.  But we can be easily lead astray if our diet consists only of soundbites.

Like the verse immediately preceding it, John 3:17 is often consumed as a bite and not as part of a larger meal.  The sense you might get from John 3:17, and the way I usually hear it read, is no one needs to be concerned about the sin in their life because Jesus did not come to judge us, He came to save us.  The question should be asked however, save us from what?

Jesus did not come to condemn us because we already stand condemned.  Because of our sin we are like convicted criminals in prison just waiting to be ushered before the judge where our sentence will be pronounced and our punishment enforced.  That's why the very next verse says,

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

And verse 36 of the same chapter says,

36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Notice verse 18 says whoever does not believe is condemned "already".   And verse 36 says the wrath of God "remains" on him. "Remains" means it's already there.  God's wrath already rests on us and if we do not believe, it will remain on us.  That is the warning God gives us time and time again which I fear is glossed-over far too often, thereby giving people a false sense of security.

Hopefully this is a sobering reality.  The great news is that each of these warnings is preceded by a promise that "Whoever believes in him is not condemned" and "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life."  This promise is from God Himself that there will be no condemnation for those who believe and obey God's Son, Jesus Christ.  Christ came to save us from the judgement already resting on our heads.  He did this by serving the sentence our crimes required!

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:8-9

A "chicken or the egg" question

Which comes first, faith or understanding?

In Romans 10:14-15 Paul creates a logical chain of thoughts:

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Then in verse 17 he says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."  So belief comes after understanding and understanding only comes after gaining knowledge.  Yet while you cannot believe without knowledge, knowledge alone will not lead to belief.  Knowledge will lead to understanding and understanding to faith only after God does a work of regeneration on our heart.

Someone might say, "I don't have to understand the Trinity to believe in it," or on a less spiritual note, "I don't have to understand how my car works in order for me to drive to work."  I'd reply, you don't have to understand every detail about how your car works--pistons, carburetor and all--but you do have to have some amount of understanding that your car was designed to transport you from A to B before you can have faith your car will take you someplace.

Consider this story from Acts 8 about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch:

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

You see the eunuch did not receive faith until after he began to understand Isaiah.  This is why it is so important to develop your understanding of Christianity through things like reading the Bible and listening to sound teaching that explains the Scriptures.  It is like putting a plant in an environment where it can flourish, watering it often, and giving it lots of sunlight.

It seems so formulaic but it's important to recognize God's sovereign election and activity in this story because without it the Ethiopian eunuch would not have come to faith--even with Philip's explanation.  God's hand is evident in that a) Philip's presence on that specific road was the result of obeying the instruction given to him by an angel of the Lord, and b) God had no purpose for Philip on that road other than to meet the eunuch.  We know this because after his meeting with the eunuch Philip was immediately taken away by the Spirit of the Lord to another place.

Of Huckleberry Finn and Football

"You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. ..."

And thus begins Chapter One of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain.  Mark Twain was unique among American authors in his ability to make his characters sound like real people.  And each character had a unique voice.  The grammatical errors in the above excerpt are pretty clear.  Let me make an attempt at editing this text to take out those grammatical errors and let's see how it goes:

"You wouldn't know about me unless you read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that doesn't matter.  That book was created by Mr. Mark Twain, and he mostly told the truth.  There were things which he stretched, but he mostly told the truth."

I think we'd all agree that Mark Twain's version is better by far, mainly due to the grammar he used which I called "errors" previously.  In fact, the grammar used gives it many things it wouldn't have otherwise...authenticity, interest, and uniqueness being among them.  The reality is Mark Twain had certain intentions when he wrote Huckleberry Finn.  He wanted to write it a certain way because writing it any other way wouldn't have the same effect.  Because it was written with purpose I cannot call his grammatical use an error.

American football is played on a field and the field is 100 yards long from end to end.  The field is surrounded by a line and that line designates what is "in bounds" and "out of bounds".  When a team is down by a few points and the game clock has just a few seconds left often the strategy employed by the team is to take the ball out of bounds intentionally because that stops the clock and allows the team to regroup.  Sometimes we would call going out of bounds an error but in these circumstances going out of bounds is what the team should do.  It's not an error because it was done with purpose.

My point is we cannot say something is "in error" unless we understand what was its original intended purpose.  If the intended purpose was not accomplished then it is "in error" but if it was accomplished then it was not "in error."

Let's consider the Bible for a moment.  History is loaded with debate about the inerrancy of the Bible.  For clarity, "inerrancy" means "without error".  Now, "inerrancy" is a loaded word because it means different things to different people, and I caution against using words that have become loaded with meaning because while it means one thing to you it can imply something completely different to someone else.  But as with Huckleberry Finn and the game of football the ultimate question we must ask about the Bible to determine whether it has errors is this:  Will the Bible accomplish God's intended purpose?  Isaiah answers this question and confirms why I can believe the Bible is without error:

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

If there is any debate the Prophet Isaiah is referring to the Scriptures found in the Bible, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says,

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We like to make Biblical inerrancy an issue about historicity, authorship, harmony, and any other number of things but those are irrelevant to the question.  Will it accomplish its intended purpose?  The answer is an emphatic "Yes!"

Scriptures that tell the best is yet to come (not exhaustive)

If you have not read my post "The best is yet to come", you may want to read it before you visit these scriptures.

"But your dead will live, Lord;
    their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
    wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
    the earth will give birth to her dead. " Isaiah 26:19

"But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:36-40

"Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." John 5:28-29

"Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong." Mark 12:24-27

"The Lord kills and brings to life;
    he brings down to Sheol and raises up." 1 Samuel 2:6

 "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

"At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." Daniel 12:1-3

"But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.” Daniel 12:13

"Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years." Revelation 20:4-6

"Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
...
"But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

"So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

"I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; 35-52

"But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust." Acts 24:14-15

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." Romans 6:4-5

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death."

...

"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." Hebrews 11:17-19; 32-40

"Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”" John 11:17-26

The best is yet to come

"But your dead will live, Lord;
    their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
    wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
    the earth will give birth to her dead. " Isaiah 26:19

Puffy clouds, harps, cuddly angels in diapers, an eternity of doing...I'm not sure what.  It's no wonder few people get excited about the idea of going to Heaven.  It seems to most people Heaven is a consolation prize rather than the grand prize.  "Well, if we can't continue our life on earth, at least we get to go to Heaven."  Consider these lyrics from Kenny Chesney's "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven",

I said, "Preacher maybe you didn’t see me
Throw an extra twenty in the plate
There’s one for everything I did last night
And one to get me through today"

"Here’s a ten to help you remember
Next time you got the good Lord’s ear
Say I’m comin’ but there ain’t no hurry
I’m havin’ fun down here"

Don’t you know that
Everybody wants to go to heaven
Get their wings and fly around
Everybody want to go to heaven
But nobody want to go now

For most of us Heaven is such an abstract idea that it's hard to get excited about.  I'm humbled by the story of a group of Sadducees in Matthew 22 who came to Jesus and inquired about a theoretical dilemma regarding marriage in the next life.  They began by saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies..."  After asking their question Jesus responded, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."  Clearly the Sadducees knew what Moses said but they did not understand it nor did they really believe it and Jesus admonished them.  We must not be caught in the same error.

In today's Christian teaching I hear a lot about forgiveness of sins.  I hear a lot of teaching about moral and life issues that encourage us to "live in this manner" and not in "that manner".  What strikes me as odd is that I do not hear much about the post-death experience.  In fact, you usually have to attend a funeral to hear anything about it and yet the reality of what happens after this life was the driving force behind the apostles' ministry.  And ironically Heaven was not what they were striving for.  Consider what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-21:

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained. 17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Oh the suffering that Paul endured! And here he states his motivation--that he would be able to attain the resurrection.  What?  Resurrection?  Not Heaven?  The only resurrection most people are familiar with is Jesus Christ's resurrection.  Yet that was only the beginning.  Paul calls Christ's resurrection the "firstfruits":

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

The Anglican bishop NT Wright refers to the resurrection as the life after life after death.  In 2008 he was interviewed by TIME magazine.  Here's an excerpt:

In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children's book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What's Heaven, which describes it as "a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk... If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]... When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him." That, says Wright is a good example of "what not to say." The Biblical truth, he continues, "is very, very different."
...

TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a "distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope."

Wright: It really is. I've often heard people say, "I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.' That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.

TIME: How so? It seems like a typical sentiment.

Wright: There are several important respects in which it's unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, "Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven." It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html#ixzz25dF9OmNG

In Hebrews 11 we have the Christian faith's "hall of fame".  The author lists many of the Biblical individuals you are probably familiar with and describes how their accomplishments were all done "by faith," which the author defines as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  What's most interesting to me is how the author ends the list.  He says, "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39-40)  If Heaven was the end-goal as most people consider it today then when these people died their spirits would have left their bodies, gone up to Heaven and that would be the receipt of what was promised.  But some abstract ethereal place was not the promise.  The promise entails the resurrection of their bodies from the dead and that will occur when Christ returns.  The Bible tells us when Christ returns all believers (all of those who eagerly yearn(ed) for His return) will instantly change into glorious bodies and meet Him in the sky to welcome Him back to claim His kingdom.  Imagine that, all believers from all generations coming together to welcome the King!

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The Bible says there is an interim period between bodily death and the resurrection where believers' spirits are with Christ, but this interim state is what most people think of as the end result.  Jesus called this interim period "Paradise" when he told the thief on the cross next to him, "today you will be with me in Paradise."  As Wright notes, "we must take account of the well-known and striking saying of Jesus to the dying brigand beside him, recorded by Luke (23.43). ‘Today,’ he said, ‘you will be with me in paradise.’ ‘Paradise’ is not the final destination; it is a beautiful resting place on the way there." (reference)  Paul describes it as being with Christ and said that while his first preference is to remain alive until Christ returns and hence be transformed in the twinkling of an eye, if he must die before Christ returns he'd rather be present with Christ now than still in his earthly body.

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

And in Philippians 1:21-23,

21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

John Piper explains it this way (in reference to 2 Corinthians 5:1-5):

If Paul had his preference, he would choose to receive his new resurrection body at the second coming of Christ without having to die. And the reason he gives is that the experience of "nakedness"—that is being stripped of his body—is not something as good as having his body swallowed up by life as he is changed in the twinkling of an eye at the second coming of Christ.

This means that the great final hope of the Christian is not to die and be freed from our bodies, but to be raised with new, glorious bodies, or, best of all, to be alive at the second coming so that we do not have to lose our body temporarily and be "naked" (souls without bodies, cf. Matthew 10:28; Revelation 6:9; Hebrews 12:23) until the resurrection.  

So why is this important? Wright has one view and here is a complementary one.  I do not disagree with what I've read from these guys.  But one additional thought I have is that the resurrection completes the story of God's redemptive plan.  It is the Garden of Eden re-made on the earth.  God created the earth for us to inhabit in relationship with Him, we messed it up, He fixed it, and the ultimate conclusion is that His plan is fulfilled through us inhabiting the place He re-creates (a new Heaven and a new earth; Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:1-5) and being with Him in it forever in glorified bodies.  This new creation is much easier to imagine and desire when I know all the best parts of life--the belly laughs, the cookouts (for those who enjoy food and fret there will be no eating after the resurrection you can rest easy), watching my son play--are mere shadows of the good times to come and they will never be spoiled by tiredness or old age or sickness or death.  And all of those shadows will find their substance, their ultimate fulfillment, because they will all be done in worship and the glory of the Lord.

A crown or a bow

A pastor I heard the other day told a story about when his four-year-old daughter was helping him pass out candy as neighborhood kids were trick-or-treating.  His daughter had eagerly dressed up as Snow White for the occasion.  Somewhere during the evening a girl from down the street walked up to their house also dressed as Snow White.  The look on his daughter's face was that of a teenage girl who arrived at the prom only to see someone else wearing the same dress.  When the neighborhood girl walked away his daughter looked at him and said,

"That girl was dressed as Snow White too, Daddy."
"That's right, honey, she was," he replied, seeing her disappointment.
"She had red shoes just like me."
"Yes, she did," he acknowledged.
"She had a wand too.  Just like mine."
"She sure did," he nodded.
"But she was wearing a bow in her hair, and I'm wearing a crown!" his daughter said happily.

We like to size-up other people.  Even as early as four years old it is the unfortunate reality we are naturally inclined to judge others.  I think this is the byproduct of trying to figure out where we ourselves "fit" in society.  If we see someone we judge as better than us, maybe because they are affluent and can afford things we cannot, we may covet or want what they have.  When we see someone we judge as less than us we may treat them rudely or ignore them altogether because we consider ourselves better than them, albeit perhaps only subconsciously.

In Matthew 7 Jesus said,

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

...
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. -Matthew 7:1-5, 15-20

In this passage Jesus tells us first not to judge other people but then describes the method for making a judgment about whether someone is a true Christian or not.  Why the apparent conflict? 

The difference between the two types of judgments Jesus refers to is one deals with how we treat others and one deals with how we relate to others.  In one case Jesus tells us not to think of or treat someone differently based on our judgments.  In the other case Jesus tells us that we should relate to someone very differently based on our judgments.  In Philippians 2:3, Paul says,

"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."

Paul is saying do not make individual judgments about people but rather make one big judgment that everyone is more important that you.  In this way you will be drawn to serve people instead of bash them and you will treat everyone the same.

What about relating differently to different people?  The Bible never says we should relate to everyone the same.  It tells us not to show favoritism (James 2:9), but that's not the same thing as having the same relationship.  Just as I relate to my mom and my wife in completely different ways, I relate to Christians and non-Christians in completely different ways.  Someone may say, "It's not my place to figure out whether someone else is a Christian."  I would reply that is false.  Only God knows the heart and as such our judgments may be wrong and we absolutely must be humble to that fact, but we are instructed to base how we relate to someone on whether they are "in the family." If they are in the family then there is a case where we are given license, in fact we are encouraged, to alter our relationship with them.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13,

12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

So as Christians we must be very careful not to judge people who are not Christians and as such we must be able to discern, by looking at their fruit, whether they are Christians or not.  For those who are Christians, even in this single case where we are called to be judges (Christian-to-Christian) our judgment has a very specific purpose and that is to restore the erring person (Galatians 6:1) in love and bring them back from wandering. As Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 3,

14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

We should always be acting to bring others closer to Christ not pushing them away and this is true in our judgments as well.  They must never be used to tear down but to build up.

One more thing, what fruit are we expected to see in the life of someone with a healthy tree? Galatians 5:22-23 says,

"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

A square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not necessarily a square

Rectangle - A plane figure with four straight sides and four right angles.
Square - A plane figure with four equal straight sides and four right angles.

You see that a square has one requirement that a rectangle does not have.  A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square.  A rectangle is only a square if all of its sides are of equal length.  So if I'm holding a square in my hand, you know it is correct to say I am holding a rectangle.  But if I tell you I am holding a rectangle in my hand, you would have to measure its sides to know whether that rectangle was in fact also a square.

What is the spiritual significance of this?  Read James 2:18-26,

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Faith will produce good works but good works are not necessarily the product of faith.  Let me say it another way:  Good works are the product of faith; not the cause of it.  However, there are other things that cause good works.  Self-promotion can cause good works.  That's why Jesus said,

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6)

He said if we do things for the accolades of other people then we've already received our reward for doing them.  That is, no reward will come from God.  Self-esteem is another cause of good works.  From personal experience, sometimes I "do good" just so I feel better about myself and then I delude myself into thinking I'm better than someone who isn't as "good" as I am.

Of all the causes of good works only faith is credited to someone as righteousness.  In fact, at the judgment there will be people who have done good--maybe lots of it--and by doing so will think they are in right standing with God only to find out (to their great dismay) Jesus never knew them.  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus makes a frightening statement:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

So you see the motivations behind your deeds is indeed critical.  But here's the thing, while this should produce a holy fear in you to examine your heart, when you look honestly at the condition of your heart I think you will see how corrupt your motivations are--not how pure they are.  For Psalm 14 says,

2 The Lord looks down from heaven
    on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
    any who seek God.
3 All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
    there is no one who does good,
    not even one.

When we truly understand how sinful we are (how much spiritual debt we've accrued), it takes us back to the cross where we remember our Savior died for us and forgave us of ALL of our sins (paid off ALL of our debt).  This will produce a harvest of joy and thanksgiving and out of the gratefulness of our hearts good works will come.

This is not a call to modify your behavior.  If you, like me, find that you just can't muster up the ability to love people who seem unlovable or serve people who need help understand the problem is not a lack of willpower--the problem is we've forgotten how much debt Christ paid off for us.  The process always starts with examining your heart and understanding your sinfulness.

So are you a square or a rectangle?  I hope this helps you see the harmony between the messages (faith and works) of the Bible.

The secret sauce

And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that

“they may indeed see but not perceive,
    and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.”” Mark 4:9-12

It's impossible to believe the Bible if you don't have faith.  It's that simple.  To those who don't have faith, those who trust the Bible look foolish.  Being a religion major at a university impatiently trying to break away from its conservative religious history meant studying under professors who taught the flood could not have happened, the Red Sea did not swallow the Egyptian army (Religion 11), the biblical creation story is just an amalgamation of other cultures' creation stories (Religion 310), the Bible is anti-women (Religion 360), Paul didn't really teach belief in Jesus was required for salvation (Seminar class)...

I'm sure they (the Religion department) knew the vast majority of their student body came from conservative Bible-belt areas and so it seemed their number one goal was to break us out of the Biblical box we grew up in.  In all honesty, I had grown up taking it for granted that animals came two-by-two into the ark, and hearing it was historically preposterous to even consider that as reality caused me a lot of spiritual turmoil.  If that's not true, then what else in the Bible may not be true?  All of a sudden, everything in this book I trusted was open to debate--even the ultimate question of who Jesus was and whether he even existed.

I can tell you that in every conflict of faith I've had the resolution always seemed to come through a conversation.  Not a planned conversation, mind you, but just some casual conversation with someone who was more sure of the Bible than I was at the time.  I still remember a conversation I had while I was conflicted over how I could trust a Bible that was canonized by committee.  What about all those other books that were left out?  How do I know the committee wasn't biased or out to push their cause?  Somewhere in the midst of that conversation the guy said, "The same faith that allows me to believe Jesus is the son of God, allows me to believe the Bible contains the exact books God wanted it to have."  That was all it took.  I don't remember the guy's name but I remember the peace that came over me when he said that sentence.

You see, the answer to "can I trust the Bible?" doesn't rest on the satisfactory resolution of each historical question and qualm.  It rests on whether you have done as Peter instructed in 1 Peter 3:15, that is, "in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy", which is why some people get it and some people don't.  When Christ is not the holy, all-powerful, sovereign God in your heart, your mind will never be open to trusting the Bible.  Your mind will suppress any truth your heart wants bad enough not to believe (Romans 1:18).  That's why to the faithless scholar with the PhD fulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament must have been written after the events occurred because divine revelation isn't an option.  To the faithless, Jesus could not have been resurrected because people don't come back to life after they die and divine intervention isn't an option.

Does that mean I have to just trust what's in the Bible without seeing any evidence, or even after seeing contradictory evidence?  Not at all!  As John Piper writes,

"faith is not a blind leap. Faith doesn't come to Bible and say, "Well I don't know what you say, Bible, but I'm going to believe you." That is not an honor to the Bible or to God...it takes some measure of faith to believe and embrace the inerrancy of Scripture. But it's not blind. In fact, it's rooted most profoundly in seeing, according to 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 especially:

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

In 1 Peter 3, Peter continues his writing by encouraging us to "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect".  Because of this I don't believe we should cast aside researching and investigating the Bible using extra-Biblical sources, but also as Piper says, "faith does have to suspend condemnation when it bumps into a problem that it cannot immediately solve".  Faith allows and requires us to rest in the assurance that one day all our question marks will turn into exclamation points.  As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

Over time I may find a reasonable explanation for each strange story in the Bible that satisfies everyone.  Archaeology may validate every historical detail.  But it probably won't, and I tend to believe that's by design.  Because God has orchestrated His beautiful plan such that faith is the secret sauce.  Faith requires mystery and faith isn't something someone can conjure up by her own effort alone.

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Still to come...

Among the topics I hope to cover in the near future are:

How I view the Bible as a text
Heaven vs the resurrection
The creation account
Does the Church supersede Israel?
The end-times and why I care
...

Knowing the "What" and the "Why"

"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil." 1 Peter 3:15-17

The Apostle's Creed is a fascinating statement.  The early church leaders wrote it because there was a need to establish some definition around what it meant to be a Christian.  I use the past tense "meant" intentionally because I think to call somebody a Christian today tells you very little about what that person actually believes.  Even recently I met someone who defined herself as Christian but told me she didn't know if Jesus was a real person.  One pastor told me that when he asks someone about their faith he specifically asks, "Are you a Christian or a born-again Christian?"  He's had to distinguish between the two because Christianity has become a cultural identification rather than a spiritual one.

Here's the Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
    the Maker of heaven and earth,
    and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
    born of the virgin Mary,
    suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
    and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
    from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
    the holy catholic church;
    the communion of saints;
    the forgiveness of sins;
    the resurrection of the body;
    and the life everlasting.

Amen.

When I read the Apostle's Creed I can't help but think the authors felt it was pretty important to know what they believed.  They didn't just want a hunch; they wanted something they could look at, read aloud, and point to and say "that's what I believe."

In the same vein, I am going to write some posts outlining exactly what it is I believe and why I believe it.  While I can usually identify something I don't agree with when I hear it, I am convicted by Peter's words that I'm not always able to explain the "why".

dream big

Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be.
- William Hazlitt

have you ever felt the rub of things not right? i do. every day. divorce, disease, accidents, road rage. it's just not right. deep down i know it.

think about the law. not the "don't speed" law--the biblical law. the law given by God to moses for God's people. if it's easier, think about the ten commandments.

does the law make you smile? does it bring joy into your life? or does it seem to rip joy out of you, facing the way you are up against a bunch of "should bees" and "ought toos"?

please don't misunderstand the law, or the purpose of the law. hazlitt's quote really resonated in my soul because to me it spoke as to the purpose of the law. the law wouldn't be any good for animals. because animals have no idea what ought to be. it works for humans--at least to an extent--because we humans have some clue of the way things should be. we know how people should act. and we know how they shouldn't. and we know, deep down, that the world we live in isn't the way the world should be. we are, as john mayer says, "waiting on the world to change."

when God gave us the law, he gave us a glimpse of the way the world should be--a world without all the "bad" things. imagine a world where the word "murder" wasn't defined. or a world where marriages were marked with total purity. imagine a world where there was no jealousy, and everyone--everyone--loved God.

sometimes i find myself feeling guilty, and i blame it on the law. i think, "if those stupid commands weren't around, i wouldn't have to feel guilty." that's just wrong thinking. i was guilty before God gave me the law. i fell short long before the law. the law just gave me a measuring stick to see how far i fall short. so nothing really changed condition-wise.

now you may be asking, "what benefit is it to me if i know how guilty i am? ignorance is bliss!" well, not in this case. because understanding how guilty i am is the first step to making the world what it should be...by making my life what it should be. because my guilt makes me vividly aware of my need for God...and more specifically, my need for the work of Christ on the cross--making up for my deficits. and it is only after i understand my need that i can come to Christ. (what good is God's forgiveness for the person who doesn't think they need it? forgiveness in that case doesn't change the life.)

here's a word-picture: which would make me more grateful: if someone paid for my $7 lunch tomorrow, or if someone paid off my $40,000 student loans? you get it now. so the larger the debt, the more forgiveness means to the forgiven.

but we haven't even touched on the best part of the law yet. yes, the law shows me the way the world--and my life--should be--and thus leads me to Christ. but even better, it shows me the way the world--and my life--will be. it's a glimpse of heaven. it's a glimpse of God's Kingdom.

so if the law rubs you the wrong way, just remember, it's not an indictment of the law, it's an indictment of the condition of your heart. embrace that feeling, follow it to the cross, to Christ, and then dream big. dream of heaven.

pick your own

apple picking. my wife and i went apple picking yesterday up in the north georgia mountains. they say you can pick through mid-november, but it was apparent to us that all the easy-to-pick apples were already taken and all that was left was the ones way up in the trees dangling at the ends of fragile branches. they had bags of pre-picked apples we could buy, but if i wanted pre-picked apples i could have gone to kroger a mile from my house. so i climbed the trees. i felt like the guy on that show survivorman. the one who climbs trees and eats bugs to survive. i didn't eat any bugs, so maybe i was only half a survivorman, but still. i would climb and pick and then drop them down to katie and she'd bag them. we picked a peck.

today i'm eating the apples we harvested. these apples are sweeter than the ones from kroger, and not just in taste. we harvested them.

but as sweet as they are, i can only dream of how sweet they would be if we sowed them also. then we would truly be tasting the fruit of our labor.

some people sow, some harvest. that's the way it works. i wouldn't be enjoying this apple right now if someone hadn't come before me to do the hard work of sowing.

i know that some people who plant don't get to pick their own, and so we must be grateful, because we do, and not because we did anything to deserve it.

Contradictory? I think not

Usually, when people think of "predestination" they think "no free will". Actually, the Bible speaks of both. Consider Ephesians 1:4-5, 11-12...

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
...
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

And Matthew 11:27-28 (still predestination)...

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

And Acts 13:48...

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Now for free will, well, I'm sure you know some...

Both choice and election are described in the Bible, so the question is not "do we have a choice?", but rather, how can God choose us yet we still have a choice?

Think of my little 4-year-old nephew, Owen. One night Owen sits down for dinner and his mom places two plates of food in front of him. The first has a handful of peas on it. The second has a cupcake on it. Let's say she gives him the choice of which one to eat. Which one do you think he is going to choose? Probably the cupcake...in fact, that's probably a no-brainer. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that he will choose the cupcake every time if given the choice. Even though the peas are better for him from a health perspective. He will choose the less healthy cupcake because to him it is more enticing. But imagine if Owen was able to truly understand what would happen if he ate healthy food all the time. Imagine if he had the foresight to know what a diet of cupcakes would do to him in the long run... If his "eyes were opened", so to speak, then he'd be far more likely to choose the peas. Not to say the cupcake wouldn't still be tempting. And at times he might still go back to the cupcake, but his overall perception and dislike for the peas would change. He would begin to enjoy eating them because he would know how good they really are.

The same is true in our lives when we have the choice of Christ or self. When we are dead in our sin we look at the plates and self looks far more enticing than Christ. Each time we're given the choice we will choose self. 10 times out of 10. The reason is because we are sinful beings and our master is the sinful nature. When you're dead to sin the last thing you want to do is live for Christ.

Now, once God does an act of "regeneration" in our hearts and brings us spiritually back to life (something only God is able to do) we see the plates a little differently. Once God has brought our hearts back to life, Christ becomes irresistible. Only then are we willing to choose "the peas" (Christ).

So you see, free will and predestination can both be realities when it comes to our salvation. The predestination part is God making a dead heart alive. The free will is there throughout.

The common reaction to predestination is "God is so unfair if He chooses one over another!" Paul confronts this exact thought in Romans 9. The whole chapter is pertinent but I will only take an excerpt...

10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— Romans 9:10-23

Here Paul is explaining why God is not unjust for choosing one person over the other. His main point is that since God is the creator He can do whatever He wants to do. He is the potter. If he wanted to break the pot to pieces he would have every right to do so because it's His pot. He created it. Even so, however, God, out of his mercy--even though he has no obligation to do so--chose some that would be adopted as His children.