The Battle Is The Lord's

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, NIV).  

"The battle is the LORD's," (cf. 2 Chron. 20:15). 

HOW'S THE BATTLE?  We are engaged in great angelic conflict in which we have no chance of coming clean without God's help using the military armor of God.  We sin over and over again to be forgiven over and over again, sometimes for the same old sins (we certainly don't want new ones to worry about). Sin is like the smoking habit:  it enslaves us and alienates us from others.  People don't accept smokers as being "good" or polite company, especially when they light up without permission or even in your face.  Cigarettes can become a god or crutch just like our bellies!

"People are enslaved by whatever defeats them," (cf. 2 Peter 2:19, HCSB). [Smokes!]   Alcohol can be a god but people can become addicted for life as a crutch because they haven't learned to lean on God and trust in Him in times of need, knowing "the central neurosis of man is emptiness"--Carl Gustaf Jung. They need therapy!  NB:  "You belong to the power you choose to obey," (Rom. 6:16, HCSB).  We are bad, but not too bad to be saved!

That's why the first step in recovery is admitting slavery; that you cannot overcome it by yourself and need a "higher power," or a buddy.  It wants to destroy us but we must not let it (cf. Gen. 4:7).   Most men look for some outlet to let off steam, whether in escapism or in fantasies.  They won't admit they "cannot see clearly," or they are clueless.  Drugs seem to offer temporary solutions/fixes but the long-term effects aren't worth it and make one worse off.  We must realize how bad we are to be good, and we don't realize how bad we are till we've tried to be good (a catch-22).

We must realize that our lives our not our own and God has first dibs on our bodies because He owns them.   In God's economy, we must surrender daily; it's not a one-time event done at salvation, but a progressive one never to end.  We are to be continually filled with the Spirit (cf. Eph. 5:18) to live the Christian life, not just have the filling we all received upon salvation as evidence of our initiation into the body of Christ.

When we get saved, we engage in the mop-up effort to defeat Satan, who's already doomed because of Christ's victory at the cross. We cannot do this alone but need the body of Christ and must not become solitary saints thinking we can defeat the enemy on our own. This battle is a joint effort of the body of Christ where everyone has a ministry and mission to complete in God's plan for their lives.   That's where the ministry of the local church comes in to equip the saints.  Hezekiah felt overwhelmed by his enemies and was reassured that the battle is the Lord's (cf. 2 Chron. 20:15)!  God is on our side, He is fighting for us, and He is using us!

The good thing about our so-called slavery to sin is that where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more, as John Bunyan wrote, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, to describe his testimony and his self-estimation.   We must also realize God's grace is not only necessary for us for but we can do nothing without it, but that it's sufficient--we cannot merit it nor add to it nor subtract from it.  Grace means that you don't deserve it!

We don't believe in Jesus and try to be good!  We're a new creation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).   We don't try, we trust because it must be Christ who changes us, not us turning over a new leaf or making a New  Year's resolution, or an AA pledge. God's grace to us is infinite and we cannot exhaust it, He never gives up on us but we can give up on Him!  We are the ultimate works in progress that God isn't finished with yet (cf. Phil. 1:6).

We all have failed the Lord and must realize that we can come clean by confessing our known sins, keeping a short account with God (cf. 1 John 1:9).  Prov. 28:13 says that if we confess and forsake them we shall find mercy and if we hide them we will not prosper!  But if we have unconfessed sin our prayers are hindered and blocked due to us being out of fellowship and in need of restoration or reconciliation (cf. Psa. 66:18; Isa. 59:2). We are to examine ourselves periodically for the sake of fellowship with the body of Christ at least during the Lord's Supper celebration (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28) and we should always examine our hearts to see if it's really Christ living there (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).

We must be in awe of God's economy because the way to be filled is first to be emptied!  The more readily we confess, the easier filled.  As we get closer to God, the more we see our flaws and shortcomings, especially "laying aside every weight, and the sin which easily besets us" (cf. Heb. 12:1, KJV).  "Love covers a multitude of sins" (cf. 1 Pet. 4:8, HCSB).  NB:  But "the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation."  --Henry David Thoreau

All in all, we must give God some credit for delivering us from ourselves, for we are our own worst enemy.  It's not just you and I, that's the way it is and ought to be--to rely on God--we don't try, we trust!   In summation, the way to change our lives is by full surrender and to have a change of heart, (will, attitude, and understanding of our sins)--renouncing them and coming clean.  Soli Deo Gloria!

How Shall We Then Live?...

"And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2, KJV). 
Francis Schaeffer wrote a book by this title too, showing its importance.  The question we all must answer:  "How shall we live in light of eternity?"  Jesus didn't tell us to close shop and stop working to wait till He comes but Matthew Henry said that we should live each day as if it's our last!  Jesus told us to occupy till [He] comes and be ready!  But we are to be ready and watch for Christ's coming and live our life to have maximum impact on eternity. We aren't seeking to be remembered but to be obedient. 

We see eternal results in everything; all we do strikes a chord that will vibrate for eternity.  Everything will either be rewarded or not, and in time we can be disciplined for what we do if not in God's will.   Paul said that to him "to die is gain" not as a death wish but he meant that he saw eternity in a better light than imagined ("what no human mind has conceived"). He only said this because he had a clear concept of heaven with no misconceptions or delusions to live the good life.

Living in light of eternity inspires us to do good deeds and to have a good testimony to the world at large so they get saved as a result.  It helps us in our trials, seeing that they are only temporal and serve an eternal purpose.  In short, we become purpose-driven.  We prove and validate our faith by our deeds--the faith we have is the faith we show and authenticate.   The more we see Jesus coming soon, the more eager we will be to show our faith also because we will see the urgency of the Great Commission relative to our personal lives. We will want to pass it on and become contagious Christians.  We will be eager to make others ready and to stop living for the moment and the here and now.  What we look forward to affects our worldview and how we interpret life in general.  When the "Desire of all nations" (cf. Haggai 2:7) comes at His Parousia, we will be transformed to become like Him, but we can have a taste of the good things to come now:  "Taste and see that the LORD is good." But now we can see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living (cf. Psalm 27:13, KJV).

We are simply pilgrims, aliens, foreigners, and even strangers in this life and to the world, and passing through, not meant to make ourselves at home here--we don't belong here!  But God has a place for us in His plan. God has an eternal purpose for our lives that He will fulfill and not give up on us.  We are on a spiritual journey too, growing in our relationship with Christ--Reality 101.  We should not cling to our mundane lives but see that our spiritual lives take precedence; however, we do not live with our heads in the clouds nor on cloud nine.  What matters is how our relationship with Christ is growing.  It is wrong to think that we should live as if we go around once and should grab all the gusto we can.  We must have an eternal bucket list that involves our beatific vision of God in glory.

Having a true focus on Christ, keeping our eyes on Jesus orients our life and sets the priorities to have spiritual value.   However, we ought not to be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. We must not be known as mere secluded saints but actively involved in the real world.  We can enjoy this life, but without sin, and thank God for the blessings that it gives to all in common grace. We can enjoy life to the max as Jesus promised:  "I am come that they may have life, and have it to the full [more abundant life]" (John 10:10, NIV).  On the other hand, we ought not to "love the world nor the things of the world" because the more we do, the less room we'll have in our hearts to satisfy our spiritual appetites to enjoy all the good things He gives us richly as blessing for stewardship (cf 1 Tim. 6:17).

The good life has universally been defined as an ethical one: our duty to God and mankind.  We do this by loving God with all our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves as exemplified in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  "Mankind, He has told you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you:  to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8, HCSB).  This is achieved by a true sense of "oughtness."  Knowing and believing right doctrine or having one's thinking straightened out is orthodoxy while living right and practicing what one believes and applying it is orthopraxy--both are necessary for the good life (which is not achieving the American dream!).

In the final analysis, when our lives are given their final audit and we go one-on-one with our Maker to face God in the Bema or Judgment Seat, we must ask ourselves whether we are faithful stewards to the blessings God has given us and whether we used them to have an impact. We all will pass on some legacy and people will tend to judge our lives, but what matters most is what Christ sees in us. He isn't going to ask us about our achievements but our obedience and we will realize that success doesn't matter to God because it belongs to Him anyway (cf. Deut. 8:18), but what matters is our call to faithfulness.   Praise the Lord, life is good!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Finding Meaning In Suffering...

PERTINENT VERSES FOR REFERENCE:  
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3, NIV).  
"In their affliction they will seek Me early" (cf. Hosea 5:15). 
"Come unto me all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28, KJV). 
 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18,  NKJV). 
 "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him" (Phil. 1:29, NIV).  
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word" (Psalm 119:67, NIV).  
 "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10, NIV). 
"But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer.  For he gets their attention through adversity" (Job 36:15, NLT.
"He makes these things happen either to punish people or to show his unfailing love" (Job 37:13, NLT).  

"It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God," (cf. Acts 14:22).

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all," (cf. Psalm 34:19). 

"For it is through much affliction that we enter the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22

As Christians, we believe God has a purpose for everything, even our suffering (cf. Prov. 16:4).  It can be used to get our attention (cf. Job 36:15 above) or to even discipline us when we won't learn any other way and are wayward and don't heed the Word.  C. S. Lewis said that God shouts at us in our pains, it's God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world.  Sometimes we turn a deaf ear to God and become hard-of-hearing spiritually and need this little special attention-getting device.

But we know that "many are the afflictions of the righteous," but God always delivers us (cf. Psalm 34:19).  And that God is a "very present help in trouble" (cf. Psalm 46:1).  It's an honor to suffer for the sake of the Name, to be worthy, for which we will be rewarded, remembering that experience is not what happens to us, but in us, according to psychiatrist Dr. Viktor Frankl, himself a victim of Nazi atrocities. We're fulfilling the sufferings of Christ (cf. Col. 1:24).

Paul was joyful to suffer and he probably suffered more than any believer of his day that it was part of the fellowship of suffering (cf. Phil. 3:10) or a red badge of courage, or even a Medal of Honor, or Purple Heart to wear with dignity (cf. Phil. 3:10).  But all in all, only in Christ do we find meaning and purpose in our sufferings and trials and can grow by them. No religion has a complete explanation for suffering but we believe in the Suffering Servant who learned obedience by what He suffered on our behalf.  Christ didn't exempt Himself from any adversity and was honest enough to warn us to count the cost of following Him and to bear our cross--no cross, no crown.  Remember:  Jesus feels our pains and we couldn't believe in a God who couldn't. 

Christ doesn't ask us to do anything that He didn't do or expect of Himself and it all comes with the territory we signed up for a part of Reality 101, THE DIVINE CURRICULUM, as a believer, matriculated in Christ's school.  As believers, we enroll in a ministry of Suffering 101; rejoice in it as Paul did in prison:  "Rejoice in the Lord always."  "... [B]ut we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3, KJV).  Why?  Because they give the opportunity for good and to show the testimony of Jesus and our grit. God doesn't willingly afflict the children of men (cf. Lam. 3:33). 

Job was the example par excellence of suffering in the Bible where God gave him a crucible that tested his faith to the utmost, and he passed and didn't give up even his own integrity.  This story shows that not all suffering is due to sin or because we deserve it, but also that we shouldn't judge another who is experiencing a trial. For it's in adversity that our character grows, not in our good times; show me someone who's never had any troubles, and I'll show you a person without character. 

We don't pray for an easy life but a strong character.  God frowns on those "at ease in Zion," living the easy life or as idle rich.   But God knows our breaking point and we can trust Him to lead us through what He leads us to, just as we pass through the waters, He'll be with us (cf. Isa. 43:2).

In Eastern thought, suffering is due to bad karma and we shouldn't interfere with one's karma when they suffer.  There is no place for charity, relief organizations, and lending aid to those in need and less fortunate, "untouchables," or those "down on their luck." We must always realize that God gives us trials to strengthen us so that we may strengthen others in their trials: "Been there and done that!"  We comfort others with our comfort.

We are capable of enduring any trial as long as we have hope, and there is hope in Christ, but without hope, there's nothing but despair that overwhelms us.  Thus, the more purpose-driven we become in our suffering, the more we can endure and we can see God at work in our lives through it all, for we are assured He is with us all the way to the end for "... he will be our guide even unto death" (cf. Psalm 48:14, KJV).

In sum, we must accept these trials with the blessings of God and realize that no cross means no crown!  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but He delivereth him out of the all" (Psalm 34:19).   It is written in Acts 14:22 that "through many trials, we enter the kingdom of heaven."     Soli Deo Gloria!

Proper Disclosure Of Stigma

"After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, 'See you are well.  Do not sin anymore so that something worse doesn't happen to you'" (John 5:14, HCSB, all italics and boldface mine in verses).  
"I think, 'My bed will comfort me, and sleep will ease my misery,' but then you shatter me with dreams and terrify me with visions" (Job 7:13-14, NLT).  
"Why am  I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad?..." (Psalm 43:5, NLT).  
"Come quickly, LORD, and answer me, for my depression deepens..." (Psalm 143:7, NLT). 

I'm not speaking of popularized behavioral modification or self-help courses but after the onset of serious mental issues (neurosis and psychosis) that require immediate medical or professional advice and/or care.  Mental health (or wellness) awareness has hit an all-time low in reputation because of assault crime committed by so-called mentally disturbed individuals or people with deep-seated personal defects in personality; therefore all mentally ill persons suffer a stigma from society, in extreme cases being ostracized from employment on the level of being an ex-con in rehab, even of being a danger to society.  It is wise not to openly discuss one's disability because of this danger and this is called proper disclosure--only to one they trust "ought" to know or has a need to know.

We must refrain from ignorant, hasty, or uninformed diagnoses.  Unfortunately, one's own family members may have known the legally diagnosed person in the day (and they can never manage to live it down) and nothing erases the memory of the way they were.  No one likes being "labeled," so they try to avoid it now with young children in elementary school--a positive approach.

The road to recovery can be a long one; various coping remedies and strategies are available though.  Mental wellness management of one's issues is not just executed by avoiding bad habits, taking meds, going to therapy or group, or a work therapy program with incentives, but by developing new therapeutic conduct and wellness practices or habits to replace the bad ones--in other words, "positive mental hygiene." 

Education in wellness management is conducive to sound mental hygiene also.  Mental illness should not be seen as merely behavioral disorders which need behavioral correction, (which is not cured, but only treated and managed!) and it is not just a matter of having "unresolved personal problems," (as if mere personal one-on-one counseling is the key or answer) nor is it a matter of being maladjusted, immature, of having a poor father image, or of poor self-image, and so forth, but some people are actually born with a vulnerability (much like alcoholism) to certain stressors and something traumatic triggers it and the onset begins and needs treatment.   

Mental illness is most likely a bona fide disability, not a sin to overcome.  Sometimes it seems like just the symptoms are being treated and a cure is not even sought like this is the way it's supposed to be. We must not remain complacent to medicate people to the point of becoming emotional zombies too.    

CAVEAT:  "It could happen to you!"  All psychological, cognitive, or mood illnesses have stressors and triggers to bring them on.  Some people may be equally vulnerable but never subject to the same level of stress (this is sometimes called PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, shell shock, or battle fatigue by old nomenclature).

It is a known, accepted scientific fact of research and not just my opinion, that biological factors (including several physical factors like diet, exercise, sleep, body chemistry) and temperament have an effect unless you adhere to free will and that one's nature is not predetermined by God.  We are born with a certain disposition, inclination, or tendency, although we may misuse it and let it take over and overcome us, as it's written: "Sin wants to destroy you, but you don't let it--per Gen. 4:7).  Sin, as well as levels of stress, plays a role in developing emotional/cognitive illness or psychological/mental disabilities to become a special needs person or even a vulnerable adult in an institution.  Thus, biology, DNA or nature (temperament), sin, and stressors (nurture) all play a role and are a factor. But God is in charge of our life AND DESTINY by Providence and in a way, people can become the innocent victim of circumstances. 

But don't get me wrong!  We must not blame nature or nurture (a cop-out) for our behavior that we will be held accountable for and judged by.  We are always responsible for our actions (according to our own conscience and awareness) and when someone pleads innocent because of insanity, he is on flaky and flimsy grounds spiritually--although a complete loss of moral compass is possible, and there may be extenuating circumstances.  God has given all men some sort of moral compass.  But all in all, God is the final Judge and we are to "judge nothing before the time."

We all experience spiritual highs and lows too, even occasional mood swings known as the blues or when one is in a depressed funk--no Christian is meant to walk around on cloud nine all day or to walk in the glow of some experience or existential encounter with God forever. We all come down to earth someday and become oriented to Reality 101, the OJT of real life.  Pop psychology can become a crutch if one becomes overly dependent, when not used in combination with other methodologies, as well as an escape from personal responsibility or a way of pointing the finger and blaming others--the old game of throwing stones at glasshouses. Pop psychology is a tool and aid, not a substitute for balanced living. Anyone can go overboard and off the deep end.  It used to be that everything was someone else's fault a la Freud's diagnosis or psychoanalysis!  (It's all your father's fault!).

We must all grow up spiritually to a mature mind in Christ and learn to walk by faith, not sentiment: the proper order is the right knowledge, right thinking, right doing, and then the right feeling.  Our orthodoxy (right beliefs) must align with our orthopraxy (right conduct) to be well adjusted and balanced with holistic health.

We are all spiritual works in progress and hopefully, people will be patient with us, God isn't finished with us yet!  God promises to complete the work of forming Christ in us.  We all have different crosses to bear and without a cross, we have no crown!   We only build character through adversity!  (No one is exempt!)  That's why we must be cautious not to judge prematurely and to try to empathize and put ourselves in their shoes, and walk a mile in their moccasins.  Sin is the ultimate cause of all maladies and illnesses directly or indirectly, as the curse on the earth that entered mankind through the original sin of Adam eating the "forbidden fruit," but we all have sinned and must consider our sins when judging another and their humanness or weaknesses.

But for every illness, there is a cure or treatment option and the Divine Healer can use physicians and therapists to do His will--in essence, all humanity is sin-sick, not just the mentally ill, no one can claim innocence.  As Dr. Karl Menninger, MD, wrote: Whatever Became of Sin?  It is regarded as the ultimate killjoy word.  People must realize their responsibility--no sin equals no culpability either. However, the cure may involve more than just repentance!  As Jesus said, "Repent or something worse will happen to you." In my opinion, it could be the judgment of God or even the test of God like Job's case "When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold," (cf. Job 23:10).  I won't rule out other contributing factors.

In my opinion, Christians can suffer spiritual PTSD or become bipolar but they play the blame game (a cop-out) and don't want to seek help from professionals who deal with these issues all the time. Many are on an identity moratorium and are confused about life and the ultimate questions we all must answer.  It could be as simple and easy as a medication or to "find oneself" and then "be oneself" in some therapy group where one feels "welcome" to express himself freely and open up, learning to trust without fear of disclosure or restraint,  fault-finding, judging, shame, or blame. This is why they are sometimes called "encounter groups" where they can find their voice.  We all have a desire for "touching base" and having fellowship with friends, similar to social media.

If nothing else, one may feel he finally knows himself and sometimes the picture isn't pretty--reality may dawn on him.  He is meeting the group not to judge but to heal and help each other relate to the group as practice in the real world--realizing they need each other to achieve goals.  This is akin to confession and getting it off one's chest, instead of living in denial.  They found someone that will listen.  Why confession and letting it all hang out in the open, showing vulnerabilities?  The Christian sees one culprit as sin and we must recognize, admit, and repent of it.  The first step to becoming healed is to admit a problem and that you cannot deal with it or heal it yourself.  The psychologist cannot heal himself either--we all need someone like in a buddy system or group setting to have accountability and responsibility--two important contributions to healing.

Being open about one's faults is chicken soup for the soul and very therapeutic in itself, releasing a heavy yoke of shame.  Today we see more celebrities even coming out of the closet and admitting mental health issues. That is why we must not be ashamed of our feelings either because we all are vulnerable just like George Whitefield said upon seeing a man going to the gallows:  "There but for the grace of God, go I." It can be good to feel so bad! If you cannot feel another's pain upon being whipped check out where your heart is.   Letting go of guilt also can be therapeutic!   Paul reiterated, "I am what I am by the grace of God."  So, we are all in the same boat and no one is immune from mental illness or in its forms of depression, given certain events: as they say, "Everyone has a breaking point" or the capacity of a nervous breakdown," all things being equal.

But Jesus promised we can overcome the world by faith, and can also be cheerfully doing it.  The best treatment option is work therapy--staying busy--or a structured, organized, disciplined life with accountability--giving them some dignity and worth as individuals go a long way in boosting morale and spirit.  There is no reason a person diagnosed to be bipolar cannot grow in Christ and become a mature believer, living a productive life giving back to the community if given the opportunity because there is no direct link or correlation between mental illness and spiritual bipolar symptoms which demonstrate unstable spiritual lives not grounded in the faith or sound doctrine.

We have no biblical warrant to stigmatize anyone for seeking support for mental health concerns because God has leveled the playing field and it could happen to anyone; it's just "them," a sort of tribalism.  It takes courage to admit our weaknesses, even to boast of them.   We must not be like Job's miserable comforters either.  Today's Postmodern psychologists deny normalcy (What's normal? has become what's normal for you?) and that there is such a thing but that it's relative to person and situation or culture, and it has been said that "in a mad, mad world, only the mad are sane!"  We need to be cautioned not to "define deviancy down" as sociologists do to deviant behavior when they are really justifying sin--which by any other name should still be called sin--call a spade a spade! Calling sin but shortcomings, mistakes, weaknesses, or habits maximized its hazard or danger to our soul; how can one repent if not admitting sin?

In sum, Jesus meant to raise the bar in loving others, and He inspired the highest ethics but also lived to be the greatest motive for them, but the question still remains, "What is the LCD or lowest common denominator?"  How low must we go before denying moral relativism and realize some people aren't sick but evil (as at the trial of the Nazis at Nuremberg using natural law) and they're just sinners--we must not let insanity be an excuse for evil either, reasons are not excuses!   





LET'S SAY AN AMEN TO THIS!  






ADDENDUM: TALKING TO MY THERAPIST, WE BOTH AGREED, AFTER MY SUGGESTION, THAT TREATMENT SHOULD BEGIN WITH BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION AND NOT FOCUS TOO MUCH ON DIAGNOSIS SO AS NOT TO STIMAGITZE RIGHT OFF THE BAT BEFORE ANY MEDICATIONS ARE PRESCRIBED ONLY AS A LAST RESORT AND THERAPY FAILS TO AMEND THE INDIVIDUAL AS OPPOSED TO MEDICATING FIRST AS IS THE CUSTOM.  JUST BECAUSE SOME RARE INDIVIDUAL MAY NEED A SEDATIVE TO CALM THEM DOWN, DOESN'T MEAN THIS SHOULD BE POLICY AS TRIAGE.  

GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO BE HEALED ON THEIR OWN!   IN OTHER WORDS, GOOD PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT JUST THE AVOIDANCE OF "BAD" BEHAVIOR BUT THE PRACTICE OF GOOD AND THERAPEUTIC BEHAVIOR AND HABITS ("POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL HYGIENE").   IN SUM, WE SHOULD NOT SEE THE MENTALLY UNHEALTHY AS JUST NEEDING REHAB OR MEDS FOR SYMPTOMS, BUT ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY, EVEN THOUGH A COMPLICATED ONE, AS A WORK IN PROGRESS!  

We all search for purpose, meaning, and dignity and Christ is the answer to all three, but they are extrinsic solely because we are in the image of God.  

Soli Deo Gloria!  (TO GOD ALONE BE THE GORY!) 

Answering Life's Toughest Questions

All worldviews attempt to answer the ultimate questions of life: where did we come from? how did we get here? why are we here? where will we end up? what makes life worth living? Mankind has always asked these challenging questions. This is where religion came on the scene, for God has put eternity in our hearts from the beginning and man has always wondered about life after death, as the ultimate issue and the big question. All religions and worldviews attempt to give satisfying answers to these questions and to "save" mankind. Some people think religion is just escapism or a crutch, but secular people have crutches too and just put their faith in science that it has the answer or can find them.

Everyone is a person of faith! It just depends on what your presupposition is, i.e., it's not a matter of faith versus reason, but what you are willing to accept as truth, to begin with. We must begin with God and explain our worldview, not start with some interpretative framework and explain away God--for where you begin usually determines where you will end up; even Darwin pondered, "Would you trust the convictions of a monkey's mind?" It has been said that if you teach a man he's an animal that he'll act like one; some men want to believe they are animals so they can have the morals of one.

Man is not an animal in the sense that he seeks the reason for being, meaning, purpose, and understanding in life--we wonder "why" and contemplate ourselves. We not only know things but know that we know and ponder why we know it and what we can know even how we know things. In other words, man is a natural philosopher, while animals don't wonder or think about the bigger issues in life besides their basic needs. 

 Even having an education, a higher standard of living, and freedom, man can be empty inside. Man needs fulfillment and relationships, for we are a social, spiritual, moral, rational creature and have personalities that relate to others on a personal level, giving man the unique ability to know and relate to one another--even laugh together with a sense of humor!

Science can indeed give us the "know-how," but it cannot help us with the "know-why" of life, it cannot give us purpose in life and hope for the future, nor satisfy our longings for truth, identity, impact, importance, guidance, and meaning in life--animals have no such need. Do animals wonder who they are and try to find themselves or get in touch with themselves? Only man wastes time by worrying about the future and regretting the past. Man is by nature a religious being too, and if he doesn't worship God he'll worship something or someone else; on the other hand, no one has ever observed a monkey building a chapel outside of The Planet of the Apes!

It is my premise that Christianity answers these questions better and fuller than any religion or secular worldview. There is a harmony, coherence, and unity in the Christian worldview that lines up with the Bible as the authority. Christianity outshines all other worldviews in reasonableness, personal experience, and foundation in fact and history. The Bible is the foundation upon which the faith stands. Every worldview must have some authority or "scripture," and the Bible is the highest standard attained by man and it's self-attesting.

It appeals to no authority higher than itself for proof and proves itself. This is not circular reasoning to say we believe the Bible is the highest authority because it claims to be, because God has the authority to speak through His Word and if He appealed to anything else or we did, like science or history, God would be taking a backseat to them and not be the ultimate authority figure.

Secularism believes that everything has a natural cause and can be explained naturally--there's no place nor need for miracles! The supernatural is ruled out from the get-go and doesn't enter the equation. Only the strong survive in this dog-eat-dog world of survival of the fittest and the law of the jungle--the real rat race. We are just all lucky to be here due to some great cosmic accident eons ago. They offer no explanation for life and their origin-of-life experiments fail to come off, and they must see the cosmos and life as mere givens, and unexplainable phenomena.

In their view, everything is an infinite series of finite, efficient causes and there was no First Cause, which they refuse to accept as possible and necessary because it sounds too much like God. But students of logic, science, philosophy, and mathematics know that an infinite series of causes is impossible--there must be a first cause! This is called the impossibility of crossing infinity. But they have no room for God in their equation and will not let a Divine Foot in the door, thinking that religion is a neurosis or delusion, a crutch for the weak. Much more they refuse to accept the spiritual dimension of life--everything is material and made up of matter and energy, without any spirit or Ultimate Mind behind it. For instance, the brain is just a cog of machines, made up of electronic circuits, and the mind doesn't exist independently of it, just another name for the brain. We have, therefore, no soul and no spirit worth saving.

The meaning of the cosmos hangs on which came first and which has precedence: mind or matter. Either one or the other preceded: In the beginning ultimate mind; in the beginning ultimate matter. The Bible starts out: "In the beginning God..." John elaborates as "In the beginning was the Word..." The Logos here referred to is the "expressed thought of God." Either mind created matter or mind evolved from matter--there's no other option. It's impossible for there to be nothing in the beginning, for "out of nothing, nothing comes." goes the axiom: ex nihilo, nihil fit.

Cosmologists now reckon a beginning to time, as the Bible has always predicated (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 1:2). Time, being the corollary of space and matter, didn't always exist, and God must be outside of the time/space continuum to be the First Cause and get the ball rolling (something timeless created time!). What or who fired the shot of the Big Bang, who banged the Bang? We conclude that there must be someone behind the cosmos who is responsible and intelligent and programmed the universal constants, called the Anthropic Principle or the fine-tuning of the universe.

All worldviews aim to save the world too and to make a brighter future for posterity. Christians don't believe we can save society and do not attempt to save man through politics. Most secularists are highly utopian and believe man is capable of perfection and therefore so is society. But this kind of dreaming is pie in the sky and gives false hopes, like believing someday man will know how to become immortal. There are those who freeze their bodies in hope of man someday figuring out how to thaw it out and revive it. In the meantime, all members of the worldviews attempt to better themselves and their world and make it better for succeeding generations. Doing good works is a part of every worldview, it's the motivation that differs: Christians do it out of gratitude and love for God and others, while other worldviews want to earn their way to salvation or just make themselves feel good, because of their unresolved guilt. Soli Deo Gloria!

Admitting Our Spiritual Blindness...

"The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world" (John 1:9, HCSB).  
"Jesus said, I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind" (John 8:39, HCSB).  

Like the blind man admitting he couldn't see clearly, we must also come clean and confess our inadequacies, sins, weaknesses, shortcomings, or in short, our sin (calling a spade a spade) to God, and not be engaged in a coverup, hypocrisy, facade, or masquerade.  Why?  "Be sure your sin will find you out" (cf. Num 32:23, KJV).  "You have set our unjust ways before your secret sins in the light of Your presence" (Psalm 90:8,, HCSB).  The primary condition of salvation also is to admit our disqualification for it--that we are wholly blind to spiritual truth without Christ in our lives.  We will never know we are blind until we try to see the light or seek sight!

Light itself doesn't heal blindness, but Christ is the Light who can.  Even believers can have spiritual myopia and not see things the way they should through the lens of the Spirit--having a Christian worldview--having mind and thinking renewed--the lense of our interpretive framework.  The point of healing is to admit we need it, and just like when Jesus healed the blind man when he saw "men as trees walking"; oh, how different his life would've been without this straightforward confession!

He didn't try to see, but had faith he could! I know Jesus had quite a reputation for healing the sick but it still was an act of faith to come to Him for it.  We must go to the Lord.  So, salvation is not trying but trusting, and its the object of our faith that matters for it to be genuine.  Faith doesn't heal or save, Christ does!  Blindness isn't just physical but spiritual--we all are that way without Jesus.  We may not know when we began to see or how we see, just that we do!  We must be like the blind man who said, "All I know is that I was blind, but now I see!" But God is interested in more than physical sight!  Then our testimony cannot be denied or refuted by scholars!  Once the light is in us and we see we have spiritual discernment and our outlook changes and it can have dramatic and radical changes in our lives and testimonies.

We all need to see men as they are in reality, as sinners and God can open our eyes to see the Big Picture with Him in the equation to be oriented to the real world or Reality 101.  The world has too high a regard for man, that he is the measure of all things, that man must be deified and God dethroned, and what they really mean is "glory to man in the highest," not to God alone be the glory--Soli Deo Gloria!  God alone deserves the glory and worship for He alone is worthy, for worship means "worth-ship."

If ever we get healed (and we must want to be healed!), and we will if we believe, we must give God the ultimate and final glory--He only uses men as His instruments and vessels of honor!  But note that spiritual healing is what is promised, not necessarily physical healing with salvation. Then we can overcome our lack of intuition or insight into God's will by following Jesus, which is the essence of ethics (orthopraxy or right conduct).  When our eyes are opened, we can then see God at work and that: when God needs to lend a helping hand He uses ours when He wants to love someone He uses our hearts when He wants to listen to a person in time of need when God listens, He uses our ears!  God is in the business of using us as vessels of honor to accomplish His will and glory.

So how is God moving in our life?  We can only know if we see and our eyes have been opened by grace and when our spirits have been quickened.  "God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform!"  Now, no one sees perfectly in time but we all can use spiritual enlightenment from the Word of God, especially its preaching to illuminate us. Our blessed hope is the beatific vision or the full measure of seeing God as He is with our eyes having full restoration in glory.

CAVEAT:  WE MUST ADMIT OUR BLINDNESS TO SEE, AS JESUS TOLD THE PHARISEES THAT BECAUSE THEY SAY THEY CAN SEE, THEY ARE BLIND:  "'If you were blind,'  Jesus told them, you wouldn't have sin  But now that you say, 'We see'--your sin remains" (John 9:41, HCSB).   In sum, we could say that if we don't come clean we may remain in our sin and not be rescued, for salvation is a form of rescue or deliverance from slavery and blindness.      Soli Deo Gloria!

You Destroyed My Faith!

"Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"  (1 Cor. 10:12, KJV).  
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things you shall never fall" (2 Pet. 1:10, KJV).

"But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved" (Matt. 24:13; cf. 10:22, KJV). 

We aren't born tabula rasa, which John Locke believed, with a blank slate but are naturally creatures of faith as a sixth sense or instinct and that is the primary way we first learn: we take our parent's word for it!  Faith is knowledge acted upon and knowledge used wisely is wisdom.  Both are virtues we should practice as believers.  The definition of knowledge is believed or interpreted as being a justified true belief--we must believe it and it must be for a good reason, as if by some authority.

Faith is putting trust in what we have good reason to believe. It's also knowledge in action.  We have a right to our own opinions about the knowledge we know but cannot make up our own knowledge or fabricate our own truths.  Beliefs can be true or false and are very subjective, while truth itself is what corresponds with reality according to the correspondence theory of truth of John Locke.  To Christians, truth is what agrees with God.  Nothing is true because it's believed or untrue because it's doubted.

Children may learn to believe in Santa (a harmless myth) by being encouraged and they will eventually find out it's all pretend, but they usually know we are serious when we relate the true Christmas story.  We can all learn lessons of childlike faith and innocence from kids (cf. Mark 10:45).    They need to learn faith and put it into practice!   Parents don't destroy the children's faith in Santa, they just outgrow it by being around older and more mature kids or from the real world.  Kids have a big imagination and would probably believe even if not so encouraged.

Many atheists will insist they were once believers who lost their faith (the Bible would call this going apostate and departing from the faith which only proved they never had any according to 1 John 2:19).  They had some traumatic experience they couldn't cope with and took it out on God, developing an animus towards Him and then towards Christians, becoming militant atheists even anti-theists bent on destroying the influence of the church and neutralizing Christian influence.

It should be noted that the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay;  we all either become bitter or better by the same experience and no one skates through life trouble-free without adversity or trials.  Our faith must be tested in the crucible of the trench warfare of real OJT in life.  Even Jesus didn't exempt Himself from adversity and was honest enough to warn us and to count the cost of discipleship. 

You don't need all the answers to believe and just because you believe it doesn't mean you can defend your faith,  But belief without evidence is called blind faith and we are commanded to have a reason for the hope that is in us!  Being apologists is for all believers!   We are to "contend for the faith" (cf. Jude 3) and "in defense of the gospel"(cf. Phil. 1:7)  as Jude and Paul did respectively.

We must remember that no matter how strong our faith, it's still faith and we are saved by faith, not knowledge, which is the error of Gnostics who try to achieve a secret, privileged knowledge of the elite.  We are not saved by intellectualism either--it isn't how much we know, but Whom we know as Paul said in 2 Tim. 1:12 that "I know in whom I have believed...."  Christianity isn't a faith of enlightenment, but of salvation and redemption from the real culprit-sin, not ignorance.  Assurance is not an automatic fruit of salvation but belongs to its well-being, not being and some people need to have a spiritual wake-up call before realizing their precarious faith.

One warning Jesus gave was not to cause a brother to stumble (cf. 1 Cor. 8:12) or a child to lose faith!  To wage war against the saints is odious to God.  We're all supposed to be on the same side as they say in the battle to the troops fighting each other;  "The enemy is over there!"  Note that it's been said that we are our own worst enemies!  We should be fighting sin and evil, not each other!  We ought to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace per Eph. 4:3. It's our job to reassure and foster faith in the weaker brother, but it's not our calling to certify salvation.

Now faith is the "substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen" according to Hebrews 11:1. For illustration purposes, let's say I reach my hand into my pocket and grab something and ask you what it is!  I hold it behind my back and you take a guess or two.  Finally, you come to believe I'm holding my car keys because you can hear them!  That's right, there's evidence for faith!  But this is still faith though you are convinced.  But let's say I open my hand and show you my keys in them; then I've destroyed your faith and given you first-hand knowledge! 

This is akin to getting the first-hand knowledge of our Lord and Savior via a personal relationship with Him--we have encountered Him empirically and know Him like for who He is and what it says:  "Taste and see that the LORD is good"  (cf. Psalm 34:8). The proof of the pudding we'll find out is in the eating!  We need believers with first-hand experience and knowledge of the Lord.  But know this: It's faith till we eat!  What I'm trying to say is that we can know God and be sure of our salvation by the Spirit residing in us: "The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are sons of God" (cf. Romans 8:16).

Let's take another example of faith:  a tightrope walker demonstrates he can walk across the rope with a wheelbarrow and asks how many actually believe he can push a person across in it!  Almost everyone raises their hands and says they believe. Then he asks of a volunteer!  No one is willing to test their faith!   Where's the faith now?  He didn't kill their faith but found out they had none for we must be willing to exercise or put it into practice for it to be bona fide, saving faith.  Anyone can say they have faith but it must be proved by our behavior, conduct, and works--we're known by our fruits per Matt. 7:20. 

A good example of faith in action is a kid flying a kite on a cloudy day: The passerby asks him how he knows the kite is really up there since he doesn't see it!  The kid says, oh, I feel a tug every now and then to reassure me.  Likewise, we feel God drawing us towards Him in fellowship and love.    Faith is like that--God reassures us and keeps us in the faith and doesn't let go.   Experience in flying kites made his faith strong and likewise, an experienced walk with Christ yields strong faith.  The more trials we successfully pass with flying colors the more real our faith to us.   

NB:  Our faith is held by God's power (cf 1 Pet. 1:5) who will not let go of us nor give up on us (cf Phil. 1:6)--we're all works in progress.  Someone hostile to the faith may ask some questions we cannot answer, but no issue or problem with the Bible or the faith is going to bring Christianity to its demise after 2,000 years.  But sometimes God allows us to have doubts and to experience hardened hearts; it is important to realize that doubt is not a Christian problem but a human one, it's an element of faith, not the opposite of it.  It can take courage to doubt. 

But in the final analysis, we should doubt our doubts and believe our tried and true faith, so we can say with Paul's swan song (cf. 2 Tim. 4:7):  "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,"  knowing we are kept in Christ from beginning to end (cf Jude 1: 24).  God doesn't teach us to swim only to let us drown!   

In sum, let me quote the late Rev. Billy Graham:   "If you want to keep your faith, you must give it away!"  Let me add:  A privatized faith is no more than a cloistered faith that cannot reach out to the lost.   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Jesus Doesn't Need To Prove Anything!...

"At the same time, God also attested by signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of gifts from the Holy Spirit according to His will" (Heb. 2:4, HCSB).
"Despite all this they kept on sinning and did not believe His wonderful works" (Psalm 78:32, HCSB).
"You are the God who works wonders, You revealed Your strength among the peoples" (Psalm 77:14, HCB).   

Gideon was known for putting out the fleece and testing God's Word (as Jesus told Satan, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,"), but we no longer need to do this as an act of faith, having the fully revealed Word of God.  God didn't have to prove anything to Gideon but obliged his immature and growing faith.  Likewise, Jesus never had to prove anything to the world, just be His perfect self and that should've sufficed.  There is an anecdote of Muhammad Ali being asked to fight a teen and he refused to go along with the "test" of his greatness; then the teen bragged that Ali was afraid of him and refused to defend himself--actually, Muhammad would not stoop to the level of fighting a naive teen, he was still the champ to anyone who knew better because this was not challenging nor worthy, but he was protecting the kid.  The Word of God speaks volumes and is self-attesting, proof in itself (if it appealed to any higher authority, it couldn't claim to be the final arbiter of truth).

Jesus performed many miracles or signs as John referred to them as, but not to prove Himself!   He met needs and had compassion.  He never did anything on-demand, for personal profit or gain, showy, or any biggie miracle that would erase all doubt and force belief even against one's will.  I'll give you a for instance:  after feeding the 4,000 the Pharisees asked for a sign to prove He was from God.   What was the feeding of the 4,000 but a miracle to behold to the believer?   They should have reasoned He supplies all their needs.

Jesus would not oblige them and their hardened hearts that refused to believe despite the miracles He did perform.  John 12:32 says they would not believe, not that they could not believe--viva la difference!   Miracles are simply unusual events caused by God or they'd be called "regulars."  The thing about miracles is that they only give an appetite for more miracles and skeptics are never convinced, but only harden their hearts with some excuse or doubt.  Miracles don't produce faith, but faith produces miracles!  These Pharisees needed a miracle done in their hearts not a sign from heaven.  They were probably expecting Jesus to prove He could outdo Moses and bring down manna! When a person is stubborn or hardened in heart, no miracle will make him repent and come to Christ for salvation--there would also be some way to explain it away and expect only a bigger one.  Their mistake was to think God must oblige them and be their genie or miracle worker; however, Jesus didn't want to be known as a miracle worker but as our Savior.

In reality, Moses didn't do that but God used him as His spokesperson and God brought faith by performing miracles through him for forty years in the wilderness where they were tested.   If Jesus had obliged them and performed a miracle to prove Himself, where would it end and what about faith.   The biggest miracle is the radical change in one's heart to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and become a new creature in Christ.

Every miracle or sign Jesus accomplished was a lesson to be taught about His divine nature:  He raised the dead to prove He is the life; He fed the multitude to prove He's the bread of life; He calmed the storm to prove His power over nature; He healed the sick to prove He's our Healer; He cast out demon to prove authority over them and Satan.  Every one of the divine attributes of God can be attributed to Jesus and they are illustrated by His sayings and acts.  Basically, Jesus showed He had all authority as the only begotten Son of God.    Jesus went about teaching, preaching, and doing good and also convincing the multitudes of His compassion.   With Jesus in charge, we need not worry or fear that our needs won't be met. 

Not to berate miracles in Scripture, because without Jesus doing them, He'd be but a footnote in history and Christianity would be disemboweled if one removed its miracles.  Note that other religions may have miracles but they remain intact without them--the miracles are believed on account of the religion already being believed--miracles are given to kindle and feed the dormant or nascent faith of believers.  Faith cannot survive on mothballs or in a dormant stage, it must grow and go forward in progress or rest in peace.  No amount of evidence will convince the hardened heart--God must do a work of grace first.  We must not be as clueless in not having eyes to see that God can supply all our mundane needs too ("daily bread").   Soli Deo Gloria! 

You've Come To The Right Man!...

In our time of need we need to know the source of all blessing and comfort, the only One able to heal us of our infirmity or disability and we all have some deficiency that makes us imperfect--we all need improvement and have flaws and can get worse off.  Jesus gave a few commands that illustrate the abundant life in Him:  come to Him, follow Him, obey Him, serve Him, abide in Him, know Him, and even love Him.  These are interconnected or linked to the successful walk with Christ by faith in fellowship, obedience, and good works.  

To Christ there is no barrier to His love and outreach, we are within the boundaries of His grace and never at a distance or removed from grace.  We have all the resources we need if we know the Lord, but we must never get a big head that we are favored in some special way or that God is respecting us or showing partiality.  We all come to God under the same conditions: He has leveled the playing field.

What we need is a great God who can meet all our needs and this knowledge will give us great faith.  If your faith is small, get a bigger God! If you think of just the humanity of Jesus, your thoughts of Him are too human.   Jesus desires to get down and dirty with us to get intimate, sharing our sorrows and weaknesses.  Jesus knew how to get up close and personal with men and to see where they were coming from, identifying with them in their infirmities.  Jesus does care and we can know this by His infinite compassion towards us.  God's mercy towards us has no bounds!  We all come to Him on the same conditions of being sin-sick and beyond cure without His grace. 

God doesn't have to heal us or to have mercy, then it would be justice!  God is bound to save no one!  But no one is ever the same after encountering Christ, He has some impact, good or bad either to soften their heart or to harden it, but change will inevitably happen.  When we are transformed by grace, we cannot but talk of it: we get the "can't-help-its," like the apostles did in Acts 4:20, NIV, saying, "... we cannot help speaking of what we have seen and heard."  This was the effect on the multitudes after Christ would heal someone--though He admonished them not to spread the news, they couldn't help themselves to this wonderful event that they couldn't help but praise.

Jesus praised and recognized great faith when He saw it and would tell them that it wasn't superstition but their faith in Him that healed them.  But Christ didn't want to be known just as a miracle worker--that would not be a reputation that would change the world or save mankind.  He first came to be our Savior and His miracles were only signs of His deity and emphasized His attributes in particular, like being the resurrection and the life, so He raised Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus was the kind who believed in doing it right or not doing it at all and everything He did, He did well and it was of good report.  Anything well worth doing is worth doing well!  He was known for going about doing good.  "Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots?  Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil"  (Jer. 13:23, NIV).   But it is impossible for man to do good apart from God (cf. John 15:5; cf. Psalm 14:3; Isaiah 64:6) but we are only vessels of honor being used by God for His glory to do His works.  We are to be a godly people zealous of good works and we are saved unto good works (cf. Titus 2;14; Eph. 2:10)!  

We can only venture to speak of what Christ has accomplished through us (cf. Romans 15:18; Amos 6:13; Hosea 14:8 Isaiah 26:12).  God is not impressed with our self-righteous do-goodery.  As much as we tend to believe we can be good without God, it's impossible   The good news is that we can be ambassadors of Christ's goodness and mercy to spread the good word to the lost.  As Christ promised:  "Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (cf. Matt. 11:28).   "Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you, I do not give as the world gives.  Your heart must no be troubled or fearful" (cf. John 14:27, HCSB).  

In sum, we must acknowledge Christ as having sole authority to make us whole, complete, and free from any spiritual malady or defect: i.e., we must defer to His power and lordship for this to be effectual, whom alone to know is eternal life!       Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Old Humanism...

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep." --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Humanism isn't a newfangled idea or concept but was an idea concocted or developed by the Greeks in antiquity. They sought to make man the measure of all things or that everything is related to man and interpreted with him in mind (known as Homo mensura in Greek). This was promulgated chiefly by Protagoras. The actual roots stem from ancient times (postdiluvian or after the Noachian flood, aka the Deluge) when the people sought to make a name for themselves (cf. Gen. 11:4). Man has always had trouble with the truth because his pride gets in the way; he tends not to accept the authority of God and seeks to be his own man. Sin is basically that: the declaration of independence from God. As it is written (Rom. 1:28, HCSB): "And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God...." In fact, Voltaire went so far as to define God thus: "Man has created God in his image." And Sigmund Freud went on to insult God as being a "projection."


By definition, humanism is the deifying of man and the dethroning of God! Men have tried to make a name for themselves since the tower of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4). Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed unashamedly that "God is dead," which meant that He either doesn't exist or is totally irrelevant. They exalt man and ignore God or make Him irrelevant, even declaring Him dead. What kind of God dies? But our God refuses to and will not die! What they are doing is worshiping man, because man is by nature a religious creature that is hard-wired to worship someone or something and never can claim to worship nothing even if he's a self-proclaimed nihilist or atheist. They are parading themselves and are braggadocious of their own achievements, not God's accomplishment, and in this way are very religious. John Dewey, who co-wrote Humanist Manifesto [I], in his book Common Faith, posited that we can be "religious" without "religion" or claiming no official or affiliated religion.


It sounds offensive to say, "Glory to man in the highest!" This is counter-intuitive but is what they are maintaining unawares. Man is not worthy of worship but man cannot but worship someone or something. Humanists tend to live in the here and now and refuse to let God into the reckoning. Without God in the equation, man is without purpose and hope and is empty. This void or God-shaped vacuum can only be filled by God according to Blaise Pascal! Sartre said that unless one considers God in the picture, man is a "useless passion." Christians, on the other hand, live their lives in light of eternity, not just for the mundane and the present circumstances--they can live above them and have hope for the future that lifts the spirit. Augustine of Hippo is known for maintaining that man is restless until he finds his rest in God.


Humanists live for themselves like animals in heat avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. But Christians live for God and have a higher purpose in living that brings meaning and definition. They have a destiny to live out and a reason for being. I want to point out that even Christians can become humanists by letting their pride get in the way and becoming self-centered and selfish and losing track of the will of God, seeking short-term pleasure in life instead of a life defeating evil and the power of sin. And when Solomon says that there's nothing new under the sun, he's right in that even Adam and Eve were humanists when they ate of the proverbial apple and sought their own wisdom, pleasure, and meaning in life independent of God's will and love.


We must realize that God has a purpose for everyone and Christians realize fulfillment in God only. God even made the wicked for the day of evil. When we have served our purpose God may call us home to glory, but we're all here for a purpose that we may not be aware of. Paul said in Col. 1:16 (MSG): "...[E]verthing got started in him and finds its purpose in him." We are all here for a reason and must never say as the old proverb goes: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!" Those famous words are in Scripture and man has always been guilty of this kind of thinking.


Julian Huxley wrote Religion without Revelation to point out that we can be good without God and don't need God or believe in absolutes to have ethics or morals. That's basically what Satan has always tried to convince man since the Garden of Eden: We can be good without God, or we can be as gods! This is what's so deceiving of false religions because they may seem good on the outside and people are tricked into thinking that they mean well, but Satan knows how to insert just enough error to be dangerous and inoculate one from the truth and deceive with an element of truth.


In conclusion, we'll never arrive at objective truth (true regardless of whether it's believed and apart from personal input or perspective) unless we start with God in the picture, as Athanasius said, "The only system of thought into which Jesus Christ will fit is the one in which He is the starting point." We must not begin with man and explain the universe or explain away God, but must begin with God and explain everything else: reality, man, the world with all the academic disciplines, current events, and history. The Bible starts out as rational,, "In the Beginning," and it's theological as well as rational, even without realizing it or becoming atheists, they are practical atheists maintaining: "Down with God; up with man!" Au contraire! The divine viewpoint should be: "All the world is relative to Christ," according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Carl Henry said, "The Christian belief system is relevant to all of life." Soli Deo Gloria