Removing God From Your Metric...

 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, "Man has forgotten God." What is meant is that the biggest issue today is whether man can live without God because He doesn't think He is necessary to answer the ultimate and big questions of life any longer, as Nietzsche said, "God is dead," or irrelevant and no longer needed!  Evolution seems to make atheists feel intellectually fulfilled and to be able to challenge the religious establishment and elites.  That's quite a commentary even on today's society and that was many years ago.  

Our technical expertise has surpassed our wisdom on how to best use it. We discover that inventions can be used for evil as well as good; the same thing Alfred Nobel wondered about dynamite. He felt so guilty that he founded the Nobel Peace Prize to compensate all the evil that could be done in his name.   We are rapidly seeing and overseeing our own destruction without any outside help and we can blame no one but ourselves. Will Durant said that "no society has been able to maintain morality without the aid of its religion!"  and George Bernard Shaw is said to have quipped, "No nation has survived the loss of its gods."  You must realize that it was the church that kept the Roman Empire becoming utter chaos and lawlessness. 

What can be done? Man needs to realize his identity in God which he has forgotten: he is in the image of God and hot-wired for dignity, purpose, meaning, fulfillment, self-worth, and self-esteem.  Without God, life makes no sense and if you do not reckon God in the dynamic, man becomes a useless enigma and purposeless lifeform, no better than the beast.  Have you ever observed an ape building a chapel? Of course not! They are oblivious to God because they are not in His image and not meant to worship Him. We have a heart to love God, a mind to know Him, and the will to obey Him; animals do not. 

How can we find our purpose or calling? William James said "the best use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.". We must live for something bigger than ourselves!"  We must not then just live for the here and now and eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!  We are meant to live in light of eternity!  We have our identity in God! 

This image we have enables us to have the madness of laughter, the tears of joy and sorrow, the communicative ability to talk to God, the rational mind to reason, the morals to be responsible for our actions, the emotions and love to have a relationship with God on a personal level and find joy in God, the free will to decide if we want to serve God, and the intellect to know God. We have many things in common with God too besides that: we have a sense of humor, we are artistic and have an aesthetic sense, and we are musical and especially that we ae imaginative and creative and can think on an abstract level! This is why we are not stupid like the animals who cannot know God.

Bertrand Russell, atheist philosopher, said that "unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  We simply come from nothing but blue-green algae scum, we have no divine or ultimate purpose in living, we are headed nowhere after death and this means there is no justice because it is necessary according to philosopher Immanuel Kant that God be the Judge that He can make all things right that were wronged in this life.  Too many people get away with crime and evil and never see justice or their comeuppance and God is necessary to even the score and settle matters on Judgment Day.   In sum, consider the wise  words of Dostoevsky: "If there is no God, all things are permissible."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Is Earth Made Of?...

I'm not a scientist, and I certainly don't espouse "scientism," or the belief that science is the only valid source of knowledge, but I do believe that science can find facts, just like the Bible has scientific facts in it without having any scientific absurdities or known mistakes--where the Bible does make scientific statements, it's accurate; though it's not a science manual (though there are several instances where the Bible's knowledge is more advanced than that of current science).  We must make use of all sources of knowledge:  rationality, empiricism, experience, logic, history, philosophy, and revelation from God.  Ultimately, all information is contingent upon its presupposition, and all knowledge depends ultimately upon God, the source.  As Augustine said, "All truth is God's truth."  All truth meets at the top, he would say!  That's why the Bible has the roots of every major academic discipline and has something to say to initiate the study of each one from philosophy, science, logic, ethics, history, economics, theology, psychology, sociology, and even politics.  All these academic endeavors have their fulfillment in the person of Christ.

Science can demonstrate that energy and matter exist, but when they allege that this is all there is, they are presumptuous (you cannot prove a universal negative), such as Carl Sagan saying, "The cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be."  That is a philosophical or theological statement not in the prerogative or domain of science to make.  For instance, when science says that miracles are a violation of natural law, they are saying natural law is God or has His power and that there is no Almighty who is the Lawgiver and is not bound by natural law but can overrule it at will.  And so the question of miracles is really a philosophical and theological one, not a scientific one.

In addition to energy/matter/quanta in the time-space continuum (time being the corollary of space and matter), we see information, design, order, and plans in our cosmos from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest galaxy.  Christians adhere to spirit.  New Agers believe in energy in everything, in fact, everything having a spirit and the existence of a Great Spark of life.  How can one not see the Anthropic Principle on earth, with its many contingent laws and nature's conveniences and not see God's handiwork?  "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork!" (Psa. 19:1, ESV).  Napoleon was asked why he believed:  all you have to do is look to the heavens--"Who made that?"   "The theory of an eternal universe is untenable!" Scientists assume the big bang and "a brief history of time" itself--which the Bible verifies (2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2).  Steven Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time postulating this hypothesis.

Logic will tell you that if there's creation, there must be a Creator.  If there was a beginning or Big Bang, then there had to be a Beginner or One who got the big bang going.  The Big Bang was so fine-tuned that even slight maladjustments would've made the anthropic principle impossible.  One can also reason that there is a plan because of a Planner, a design because of a Designer, order because of an Orderer, and a purpose because of a "Purposer." Just like you assume an artist looking at art and an architect looking at a building ("For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything," cf. Heb. 3:4, NIV).  Now, think of all the information out there!  Carl Sagan said that he'd believe in intelligence if we would get a message of information from outer space.  Well, there's plenty of intelligence on earth to look at to assume a Great Intelligence: every living thing as DNA or the fingerprint of God and is encoded with information, showing "intelligent design" or ID (the human genome has as much info as an entire set of encyclopedias).

Now, the ultimate dilemma or issue:  we have information, which necessitates thought, which necessitates a thinker!  A mind assumes a Higher Mind (the Logos of Scripture) and scientists don't dare go there because they want to deny His existence.  The logical order of events is this:   Thinker, thought, and then, finally, object or thing comprising forethought, design, or plan.   One of Einstein's earlier statements was that God was a "pure mathematical mind." To some astronomers, the universe appears as one gigantic mathematical equation!   Whether one believes in a personal God or not, there had to be a First Cause, Prime Mover, or Causa Prima, of Aristotle, and logic tells us that eternal regression and crossing infinity are impossible: everything cannot be contingent, but there must be something that needs no one or nothing and is not contingent for the chain of events to begin!  We say this because, according to logic, nothing can create or cause itself, and nothing just happens or appears without a cause.  One rule says that everything that begins to exist has a cause--God had no beginning and no cause and the universe began to exist and had a cause!

In sum, we must start with God and explain the universe, not the other way around!  "In the beginning God..." and "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  We must start somewhere with the missing ingredient of information and its Creator, or Thinker--the Ultimate Mind!  Point to ponder:  "The only system of thought that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point."  (Athanasius).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Finishing Our Work

"I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar."  (Alfred, Lord Tennyson).  
Note to the reader: Not to be morbid, but preparing for one's passing involves more than taking care of one's final expenses!  
OUR DAYS ARE DETERMINED AND PLANNED BEFOREHAND!  (CF.  PSALM 119:16).  
"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:  the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness" (Eccl. 7:15, NIV).  [The godly can perish before their time.]
"So He will do to me whatever He has planned.  He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).

Paul thanked God and prayed he would complete his mission, which would be his greatest joy.  King David passed away, but having fulfilled God's purpose and having done all God's will (cf. Acts 20:24, 10:36).  It is true in a sense that we don't pass away till God is finished with us, which should be an incentive to do God's will and be ready.  We ought always to be ready to meet our Lord, for we know not when we will (cf. Amos 4:12).  Now Hezekiah was told directly from God to get his house in order because his time was short!  However, he objected and told the Lord that he was only in the prime of his life (it would be a shame!). Note that Matthew Henry said we ought to live every day as if it's our last.  Only God knows what we are here for and when our time is completed; we only see through a glass darkly--of which we will understand on the other side. (One mystery, or paradox that Scripture mentions, is that people who want to live often die, and those who would die, go on living. )

Now, the great question one must ask is whether the godly die before their time.  Yes, they can!  Isaiah 57:1, NLT, says so:  "Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time."  Some think that when no one needs them they will die, but God can always use a committed believer who is conformed to the pattern of His will.  We have no luxury of judging someone's life by its length.  It is good to live to be old, which is a luxury, but not all become wise.

We must acknowledge the wise wording of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1ff that there is a time for every matter under heaven--including a time to die. Actually, the Bible declares the day of one's death better than the day of his birth!  "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants" (Psalm 116:15, NIV).  Christians have the hope of eternal life due to Christ's resurrection that gave us reason to believe and this should be all the more motive and inspiration to live a life pleasing to Him, and not for the day only, but one day at a time in light of the Word and of eternity.

Therefore, let's all be looking forward to "crossing" (not passing) our bar and meeting the Lord in glory.  In the meantime, we are to live as if it's "one step between [us] and death!"  CAVEAT: WE MUST BEWARE LEST WE SIN UNTO DEATH (CF. 1 JOHN 5:16) AND GOD DECREE TO TAKE US BEFORE OUR TIME AS DIVINE DISPLEASURE!    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Finding Purpose In Life

"Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  (Bertrand Russell, philosopher and mathematician and noteworthy atheist)

"The LORD has made everything for his own purposes..."  (Proverbs 16:4, NLT). 

"Think constantly of him enduring all that sinful men could say against him and you will not lose your purpose or your courage"  (Heb. 12:3, J. B. Phillips). 

"For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep...." (Acts 13:36, ESV). 


"It is suicidal to live for yourself and to know no scheme or interest larger than your own little world--we must think outside the box and have a purpose in life.  We can become very busy with no aim in mind, but it will be futile.  We can become a success in the eyes of the world, achieving the so-called American dream and be a failure spiritually.  Every note we strike in this life makes up a chord that will vibrate for all eternity--we don't live for ourselves, but have an effect on others; i.e., no one lives nor dies unto himself, but has an impact and leaves a legacy, good or evil. Life is only a trust, a staging area, a rehearsal, a test or tryout to set us up for eternity; we fit into God's scheme uniquely. We should all seek to leave a legacy larger than life and bigger than ourselves that will have importance and impact in the future.

The point in life is not to have fun, win a lottery of life, become successful, but to contribute something back to society and leave your mark or lasting influence felt.  Einstein said that we shouldn't strive to be a man of success, but a man of value.  No one wants to be forgotten as if they never lived:  the trouble with most is that they live like they'll never die, and die as if they never lived!   We must live each day as if it were our last and always be prepared to meet the Lord of glory in glory!  We should have no unfinished business leftover, and leave no loose ends to tie up.  When we wake up we should say, "Lord, will today be the big day?"  You really aren't ready to live, till you're ready to die and you aren't really living if there's nothing or no one you would die for.  Greater love has no man than he lay down his life for his friends, according to our Lord.

Everything in the universe was created teleologically (by the intelligent design of a wise Creator),  or with purpose-orientation.  There is a reason for everything in creation, and God doesn't make junk or anything in vain.  That includes you and me and Proverbs 16:4 says God made everything for His purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil!  We should have the conviction that God will fulfill His purpose for us in real time (cf. Psalm 57:2; 138:8, ESV, which says, "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me...."

The very words teleology, purpose, and design are forbidden concepts to secularists who deny there is any rhyme or reason behind creation because these words imply a Designer or Creator.  But you don't have cosmos without logos (the expression or revelation of God: logic)!  If we had no purpose in our cosmos there would be chaos, the enemy of science--but we have laws of the universe to depend on (cf. Job 38:33, ESV, which says, "Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?  Can you establish their rule on the earth?") that we can know and manipulate to serve us, and science would be impossible without these laws, which implies a Lawgiver.

Colossians 1:16, MSG, says that everything "finds its purpose in him."  We are like that:  knowing God gives us purpose and meaning, an abundant and fulfilling life with meaning and direction, not chaos.  We are designed to know God and the God-shaped blank in us is only fulfilled by a personal relationship.  If we don't surrender the ownership of our lives to God, it will be chaotic, and not beautiful.  God does have a plan for us according to Jer. 29:11 and we can relinquish our lives to His lordship and behold the new life unfold.  

For He doesn't just change our lives but transforms them.  We become new from the inside out!  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor. 5:17, ESV).  A full life involves living with a purpose or on purpose, and seeing your mission and finding some ministry to be used by God in service, for we are all servants of Christ in the final analysis.  We live for Christ, not for ourselves and this is the secret of happiness, to get our eyes off ourselves and realize it's not about us!

Nothing in life is haphazard or a fluke (we're no freak accident of nature!)--we are part of an intricate plan and we fit in somewhere because there's no one who doesn't have some special and unique purpose from God.  One noteworthy astronomer has compared the cosmos as one gigantic mathematical equation from the mind of a Great Mathematician!  As Christians, we are vessels of honor, not dishonor or wrath, and rejoice when God uses us to His glory!  

Don't worship at the altar of Almighty Chance and believe in impersonal forces such as fate, chance, luck, nor fortune.  They are all contradictions of God's attributes.  Fate is impersonal, while God is personal and knows us; chance is a nonentity and mathematical odd, while God is a certainty and sure thing; luck is dumb, while God is omniscient; fortune if blind, while God is all-seeing and knows all (Prov. 15:3, ESV, says, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.").

Life is not a game so it isn't all about winning, neither is it a race, that speed is of the essence, and neither is it a marathon, and so endurance and longevity aren't the only factors (we all have an individual race to run tailored for us), it isn't a party either, and therefore having fun is not where it's at, as the main objective; and life isn't a puzzle to figure out and that God is hiding its secrets from us, and only those "in the know" can succeed in life!  Life's secret is in Jesus ("in him was life, and the life was the light of men").

God makes us all good at something and gifted in our own way so that we are suited to do His will and glorify Him:  "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever," according to The Westminster Shorter Catechism!  Let me add that God has no backup plan or Plan B, we need to get with the program and be obedient to the heavenly calling or vision! If you aim for nothing, you will get nowhere!   In conclusion, let's note what Job concluded when God didn't answer his questions about his suffering:  "... 'I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted'"  (Job 42:1, ESV).

In summation, let me quote Isaiah 49:4 (NLT):  "I replied, 'But my work seems so useless!  I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD's hand.  I will trust God for my reward."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Real Reason For Being

The raison d'etre for the church universal and local is more than to provide a sanctuary and home for worshipers to get their spiritual batteries recharged; its main purpose is to infuse truth into a darkened world that doesn't see the light of day.  Just as Jesus said that He came into the world to bear witness of the truth and that he, who is of the truth, listens to Him, so we are to fearlessly proclaim the gospel truth even if it falls on deaf ears.  It is untoward to us that the German church turned a deaf ear to Hitler and failed to expose him before it was too late--let this be an example to learn from history!

Pastors and preachers have the thankless job of preaching truth and the sign of a prophetic message is that it makes the uneasy feel comfortable, and the comfortable to be thrown out of the comfort zone of ease.  We have too many at ease in Zion today, just as Amos observed.  Yes, complacency has set in and we even have few who are willing to stand up and be counted when the truth or true doctrine is at stake; denouncing heresy and apologizing for the faith has become passe and unpopular, and even uncool!

The way of the world is to live and let live and to become eclectic in our faith, but this kind of philosophy may be doable for an individual in his private life, but it is unthinkable that a church gives up the quest and thirst for truth.  We should never think we've arrived at all truth and that it is shrink-wrapped and freeze-dried, so as to need no new investigation.  Yes, we do know the doctrines of grace and the gospel message, but we are not to think we need not learn more and teach more.  The world looks to the church for salt and light or for a cue to what to do in this evil age.

We need to take stands and fly our colors for the Lord, being willing to follow Him no matter where He leads--and sometimes the truth leads to unwanted places.  We must be willing to go wherever the truth may lead, if we want to ever know the truth; i.e., if you won't admit you're wrong you don't have the right mindset for finding truth--we must admit our ignorance, and this is where churches come in, as they boldly proclaim the truth, even if it offends the standards of society and the norms of culture.  The Bible is the guide, not the variables and givens of this world.

We don't need preachers who are people-pleasers and seek popularity or approval of man and not of God.  We need ones who dare to preach the truth when it hurts and even to their own shame.  In summation: we don't just go to church merely to hear a sermon that will make us feel good, but to go to a sanctuary of the truth and not platitudes--if we cannot rely on the church for this, where else can we go?  As Jude was admonished:  "Contend for the faith" in Jude 4, so we also have a mission to relate Christianity to the real world in application to all areas of life.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Having No Vision

   "Without a vision, the people perish..."  (cf. Proverbs 29:18).
  "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people..." (cf. Isa. 10:1). 
  "...Men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do..." (cf. 2 Chronicles 12:32).

By vision, I mean the goal or the understanding and interpreting of reality (not political or economic), as in worldview:  the Muslims have hegemony (or domination) as their vision and will not stop until the whole world belongs to Allah--"Tomorrow  belongs to Islam."  Unless Christians have a common, worldview that encompasses believers all over the world, our faith will not stand the trials to be upon the world in the near future.  Islam is soon to replace Christianity as the world's most numerous religion.

What is it that joins us together, that unites us in Christ?  Fellowship is really two fellows in the same ship, they say.   A Christian in Sweden or Russia should have the same worldview or Christian outlook and I am not talking politics. We have no geopolitical concerns in our faith.   Christ's kingdom is not of this world and we are to build His kingdom, not ours.  How is this accomplished?  By the fulfilling of the Great Commission by the church at large.

Never forget that our mission is to fulfill the Great Commission--don't get sidetracked.  Keep the main thing the main thing and don't major in the minors.  Every other goal we have is to be subjective to this one.  The so-called "social gospel" (a misnomer) is not for the church per se individual believers may be led or inspired to do great works in Christ's name (one only looks at William Wilberforce devoting his life to freeing the slaves).  The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern (Prov. 29:7):  'He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.  Is this not what it means to know Me?' declares the LORD"  (Jer. 22:16).

The government, or the powers that be, are ordained of God, and we are to be obedient unless they directly violate Scripture.   Aurelius Augustine said that "government is not a necessary evil, but necessary because of evil." To be anti-government is to be anti-God just as much as anti-family is. Before you shrug that comment aside and disagree, note that he is considered by many to be the greatest theological thinker of the first millennium.  Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk, by the way.

Our mission on earth is not to make people come over to our way of political interpretation, but to know the Lord.  God's pet peeve or controversy with Israel was this:  "There is no truth, or mercy, or knowledge of God in the land," (Hosea 4:1).  I am not saying it is evil to be a member of a political party, but to associate it with the church or to imply that Christ would join your party is.  This is what has happened in today's evangelical-right movement that tends to have a self-righteous attitude because they desire to judge or condemn others.  They can have their convictions or opinions, but not the right to label them as "Christian."  So many of them are merely geography-related and have prejudices inherent.   Sincere believers in other parts of the nation disagree.

We are to be the salt and light in the world and I mean the world-system or the cosmos ("Virtually every significant social movement in Western civilization--from the abolition of slavery to child labor laws--owes its origin to the influence of Jesus Christ).  We are of the light and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19).  But our light and salt are the Word of God, not some attainment of education, the standard of living, economic system, or political system.  God's people can thrive anywhere and surpasses the world-system that lies in the power of the prince of the power of the air--the prince of this world or Satan.

Are we sowing seeds of truth, not are we affiliates of some party-system?  The problem with too many Christians is that in their misdirected zeal or zeal, which is not according to knowledge, they look at the cosmos and become do-gooders bent on the betterment of society, but losing sight of the Great Commission--turning stones into bread instead of offering a cup of water in the name of the Lord.  Become spiritual leaders and servants, not political activists in league with the world!  In conclusion, let me cite George Bernard Shaw:  "What the world needs is more Christian love."  Soli Deo Gloria!

What Are You Aiming For?

An old motto of the Air Force was "Aim High."  This is very good and practical advice because you can't achieve higher than your goals.  God has a plan for us but we are also to make plans and allow God to fulfill them.  To be specific, if you want to be the president, don't aim to be a state senator--you're aiming too low to ever get there--aim for what you want and if you fall short (for instance, only become governor), you will not be considered a failure even in your own eyes, but if you aim for nothing, that's what you will get--we don't accidentally become someone, as if it was our fate (destiny is different and requires our input and faithfulness as well as God's providence--if it's your destiny to be a piano virtuoso, you must practice!

There are those who don't want much from God:  achieving the American dream, for instance, or getting the mate of their dreams and don't realize that God has opened the door to limitless opportunities.   "Now to Him, who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think..." (Eph. 3:20).  "Rom. 8:32 says likewise:  "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

 Indeed, there is no limit (the sky's the limit!) to what God will give us if we have the faith:  "Be it done unto you according to your faith."(Cf. Matt. 9:29)   How big can you think?  How big is your God?  Don't you realize that we will be of a higher rank than angels in the kingdom of  God and be part of the family of God and not just creatures like the angels who will be our servants and we will judge them?  God never gave such promises to angels!

Abraham was rich in this life and will be greatly rewarded in the next because God gave him a special promise that also applies to us!  "I am thy shield, and exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1).  Jesus is ours and there can be no greater reward but to share in His reign, as we rule over the kingdom of God with Him.  God rewards some people in all ways and all people in some ways, but God is good to all according to Ps. 145:9:  ("The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.")   No one will ever testify that God is not good!   Soli Deo Gloria!