Answering Questions

When I first became a Christian I gave a lot of my time and brain power to apologetics.

Before going any further, to clarify, this isn’t the art of apologising. Christianity is big on forgiveness, but that doesn’t mean you have to perfect saying “sorry”.

Apologetics is a particular strand of Christian resources based on 1 Peter 3:15 regarding having a defence of the faith. I’ve written elsewhere at my uneasiness of how this verse has been the foundation of massive books, but that is not for here. What I write today is around the answering of questions. I was well equipped to answer questions for all kinds of people about the existence of God, why there are so many wars in the Old Testament, and why Jesus had no idea who “Brian” was.

However I have moved on; grown up, if you will. My explanations of the faith have changed and developed, and the canned responses I once had have led to more of an ear to what people are really asking. I would sit for hours with Mormon Elders arguing, when they were in no mood to be proven wrong, which left it a bit of a thankless task.

Arguments about the existence of God don’t interest me anymore, and neither do postman pat toys (actually… they do). And I think that’s a healthy comparison in the face of a maturing Christian. Like any good cheese, it must be savoured instead of slapped in the middle of 2 slabs of bread and scoffed before rushing back to the desk for a conference call. So I spend a lot more time thinking; and less time firing thoughts at the internet.

With all of that together, I’ve been looking for questions to answer. It won’t be frequent or scheduled, but, I hope, thoughtful and reasoned. I have seen questions asked, asked questions myself, and, like any good listener, will welcome those who have questions in order to give what this blog has missed for much of its life: interaction.

So you have questions?

Email me, or comment, or whatever… I’ll try to satisfy your curiosity with more questions and we can discover that the Jesus I believe in, who has embodied the God of the Bible, survives all of these and continues to get brighter and brighter; more attractive and glorious, in the face of an ever passing, less secure, world.

 

Thought for the Weekend

“Paul declared marriage as a ‘great mystery’… We cannot discard it, as it is too important, but it overwhelms us.”

Taken from “The Meaning of Marriage” by Tim Keller.

 

Unrest…

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” – James 4

A challenge in light of all that has happened in London and the UK in the past few days is simple; all the planning in the world doesn’t remove evil doings from our midst. As my wife and I travelled back from Essex on Monday night, after seeing so many disturbing images of the city of London being torn apart from the inside, I contemplated all that could happen… Buildings burning, destruction and chaos, police resource thinned like a disappointing slice of jam on toast; I was thinking of nothing but the unpredictability of the whole situation. I can’t live as if nothing bad will ever happen.

I certainly don’t plan for it. I don’t have plans for evil to pervade the streets. I plan for a good and successful life. Tonight I was going to do some preparation for Sunday and enjoy some time with my wife. But now as a church we have decided to get together and pray for the city. I had prepared a study for last night and we were going to break bread together, but the uncertainty of what could happen meant we cancelled the group, hopingto meet tonight and pray instead.

We are creatures of habit. Breaking news interrupting our evening of light entertainment of the TV programmes we love is a nuisance. Shops that close early are annoying. All the O2 stores within the M25 were closed yesterday which is one of the few signs that people are important than money. We love to know and plan and predict and expect. Jesus teaches to take each day one at a time.

It’s not wrong to plan, but in light of the events you can realise that taking each day on its own with grace sufficient for the 24 hour period we have, makes each day easier to deal with.

As a final thought, when Jesus turns up throughout the Old Testament, he says “do not be afraid” every time. It is more terrifying to see Jesus than the violence on the streets. Evil is a horrible thing,but Jesus is bigger, more powerful, and in control in ways we could never imagine.

“The government is upon his shoulder,

and his name is called

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

(Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

 

The Golden Rule

I have been reading an excellent book which studies the sermon on the mount called Voice From the Hills (Greenslade).

I highly recommend it. It is very well written and incredibly insightful. It’s not a light read, and I do, at times, think he takes a metaphor too far, but it’s no reason not to read the book and let the content shape you.

It did make me think, though, as I read the Golden Rule: “Love others as you love yourself”, at just how twisted our culture has become in London, as we take these words of Jesus, and apply them to our lives.

How self centred are the cultural influences to read that passage and then inform those wanting answers to tell them to “love themselves.”?! Is that really the answer? Jesus asks us to love God, first, and then us last; and we take it to mean we must love ourselves! I am truly astounded.

This is not what Jesus was teaching. He’s not really into the self centred attitude that comes from these uncomfortably wrong applications. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but Jesus knows how dreadfully sinful we are, so for him to say love others as you love yourself means we should love others. Full stop.

Why?

Because we love ourselves. All sin is based around a self-centred attitude that we know better than Jesus how to love our lives. Even if it seems self-sacrificial it is based in the motivation to build our pride. We all know those people who don’t know Jesus and are endlessly selfless, and yet there is a lack. In all of it: we know how to love ourselves.

This leads to the related train of thought; hurt people hurt people. In their love of others they only know how to love by hurting people. Because it’s how they’ve been treated it moves down the chain…

Ultimately, we must remember that Jesus’s command to love others as we love ourselves is supposed to give us a reference for loving others; we should put the energy we usually put into selfish sin into loving others. Losing oneself. As Keller says regularly, the Gospel brings a humility that is not “thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.”

Don’t be fooled by the western trap to bring the imperative “love yourself”. Jesus loves you more than you know, and thought of himself less and less as he was walking from the cradle to the cross.

 

Grace as Wrecking Ball

This morning I read another installment of Tom Wright’s Galatians for everyone. He describes continuing in the spirit in a vivid way. It showed me something new about how amazing Grace is.

A tight rope walker from 19th century was famous for walking on the Grand Canyon. He became so proficient at it he would walk into the centre of the rope and eat meals, carry chairs, all sort of incredible stuff. His true challenge came when he said he would carry someone from one side to the other. That is asking insane trust. You are truly putting your life in his hands.

But imagine halfway across, this man thought, “thanks for taking me this far, I’ll go the rest of the way alone.” How foolish! How utterly stupid.

This is what it would be like for someone to start in Grace, but try to finish with the obedience. To start with faith, but finish in the flesh.

Reading that this morning changed my view of Grace again. It’s at times like this, I love the analogy of Grace as a wrecking ball. You can never go back to your old mindset as new revelations of Grace appear. And that is the Grace of God. Utter forgiveness, redemption, freedom, under the cross of Christ, and His resurrection.

Amazing.

 

The Importance of Feasting

“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.” – Exodus 12:2

What is he talking about?

Passover.

The Israelites, in Egypt, in slavery, some 5000 years ago, were being told of the second greatest redemption in all of history. At it’s preparation the instruction from God was that their whole calendar would change. It would begin their year afresh and they would celebrate with a feast. Nothing had happened yet. The Passover was to come (where the angel of the LORD would pass over the houses covered by the blood of the lamb). But the blood of the lamb couldn’t be there unless they prepared the feast. The terrifying events to come were foreshadowed by the feasting involved in bringing people together.

Not to drag this through history and make a terribly obvious observation; Christmas isn’t dissimilar to it. The Christmas story has created a preparation feast for us, that even though the terrible and awesome act that Jesus (the lamb whose blood was shed) did on the cross was to come, we would celebrate all that will happen.

The change in calendar won’t go unnoticed; though the Israelites were told to start their year, the birth of Jesus restarted our year count to 0(ish). The great parallel between the two only further shows how Jesus is the true lamb of God whose blood was shed for the salvation of God’s people.

 

Thought for the Weekend

How many friends on Facebook represent active relationships?

Some people don’t have Facebook.

 

The Voters have Spoken

A lot of controversy covered the events following Thursday’s vote, but none so interesting as the requirement Nick Clegg felt to take the result personally. It was as if the question on the ballot read: “Do you like Nick Clegg?” Of which the 3 options were:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Hell No!

I only have a few short comments to make on the matter. The first being it isn’t personal, Mr. Clegg, we just don’t want what you want. The turnout for the vote was higher than usual, and the majority was self explanatory. I’ve already stated my opinion of democracy, but the numbers show what can be done with the power of a vote.

The higher than average turn out shows that people wanted to be heard on the matter. And the margin by which the resounding “NO” was said only further shows that this country will listen when it matters. It actually points to the involvement of the country on policy change as being more effective than voting for a party.

Whatever the motive behind each vote it wasn’t another back stabbing action to the deputy prime minister; he didn’t have enough votes the first time round for that to be the case!

 

Thought for the weekend

You know my opinion on AV.

What is yours?

 

Kingdoms: I like them

I never took much interest in political debates. I found them boring, strangely depressing, and I didn’t know enough about the subject to offer anything serious to a discussion. I knew my vote was important, and gave what little attention I could to make my vote marginally worthwhile. I’m not really a party supporter, through and through, but if there are key things I disagree with I move away from supporting them each time a vote comes round. In the last election, as the Lib Dems gave the impression they were gaining ground, I couldn’t help but feel cheated that they prioritised lower taxes (more money for everyone) over abortion rates (increasing the period a child can be killed while in the womb) – I didn’t vote for them. Who in their right mind would think money is more important than life? Well, we have seen that the Lib Dem banner is as confused as a flamingo in a board meeting; distinctive colour and following whoever will let them into number 10.

Anyhow, a kingdom is vastly different. It isn’t about voting but about choosing. Those who are recognised are chosen to have more responsibility. The “King” (I would say monarch but I’m not talking about a monarchy) has close council; friends and advisors who help him do the best job he can do. I’m currently reading through Exodus and Moses was asked to stop taking all the responsibility on himself and to share it with those who he thought could lead, and that they in turn would choose who could lead thousands, hundred, and tens. The whole idea of this kind of organisation is responsibility. Taking responsibility for people and actions, and seeking help when you’re not sure what to do. It’s about a humble, servant heart, to get the best out of all people. This is how a kingdom can truly operate.

Although it isn’t perfect, the example of English monarchs, who had knights, barons, and other people watching over areas of the country shows a veering towards a kingdom that reflects what is truly best for the people. The blame culture we live in today creates a massive gap between truth and responsibility. With enough information, the blame for any bad news can be shifted from person to place to event to object to city to thought to book etc… until the actual point being made is lost. Responsibility can be taken by those unafraid of losing their position because they have been chosen, incredibly privileged because they’ve been given responsibility, and incredibly humble to see that they cannot do what they are asked without the help of others.

This is the form a true church government should take, and a kingdom on a larger scale would make this be something entirely different.

I am an idealist, and kingdoms are a long way off, if at all possible. But they are what I see as the way to see this country (and any other with a mind to put things right) take governmental structure in the right direction.