Regardless of what Planned Parenthood (may have) Done

                There are many ways to skin a cat, and to best approach the question of abortion in general, and specifically(perhaps) Planned Parenthood, it is important to define and explain the two general approaches to addressing it. 

                One, there is the Christian/Biblical viewpoint that must be explained and defended.

                Two, the pluralistic/agnostic/scientific/sociological viewpoint that must also be explained and defended. 

                I would contend that these positions can, and do, point to the same conclusion.  And I hope to make a compelling case to that end. 

 

The General Christian Argument Opposing Abortion:

1. Murder is ALWAYS wrong. 


2. Life is defined by God


3. God is the one who breathes life into us and knows us in the womb


4. Therefore, willfully taking of an innocent persons life is murder and a sin against God

 

It may be difficult to “scientifically” define when a child in the womb moves from non-life to life, the very fact that we are currently unable to truly “know” at what point that threshold is crossed, our responsibility would be to err on the side of life.  If murder is a sin, and at SOME point there is a life that bears the image of God inside the womb, it is of great and unnecessary risk to accidentally, perhaps, murder a life because your “guess” on the timing of when this threshold has been crossed was incorrect. 

If you were to indiscriminately shoot at a building where people were inside, regardless of your claims to not intending to actual kill someone, you would still be culpable for murder if you did “accidentally” hit someone.  In the same way, it is the height of irresponsibility to play Russian Roulette with children in the womb hoping that it might not actually be a life at the time you destroy it. 

 

Therefore, the risk of murder is so great, and the knowledge, scientifically, is so limited, faithful Christians should indeed advocate for the elimination of abortion.

 

The General “Secularist” Argument Opposing Abortion:

1. Murder is always wrong


2. Life is defined by a few narrow parameters, generally speaking, heartbeats and brainwaves


3. Brain waves are an indication of life and an individual who is known and can be known


4. Therefore, willfully taking of an individuals life(those who can think and feel) is always wrong

 

With the general concept that brain waves are indication of life the secularist argument rests in the “threshold” of the time at which these are observable.  Brain waves are first detected at 6 weeks.  While a secularist argument has a more defined “threshold” moment, there is still one. 

Therefore, abortion past the time of brainwaves is the willful taking of a life. 

 

 

Possible Disagreements and My Response: (Christian views)

1. Rape


2. Incest


3. Life Endangerment


4. Well Being of the future life(poor mothers, bad home environment, etc)


5. We are a pluralist society we can’t advocate for our religious beliefs.

For each of my responses there is one foundational premise that I will state here, and not restate.  If we believe that God breathes life into us and knows us in the womb and He alone is the Author of life, regardless of the tragic circumstances surrounding any specific pregnancy, the life that DOES exist is an image bearer of God and the willful murder of that life is not justified by any degree of tragedy associated with its creation.   The argument against abortion are not reliant, or, related to, the reasons for the abortion.  

Rape: 

The Christian response to a victim needs to be “weeping with those who weep”.  And admittedly there are too many stories of victims who were not lovingly cared for in the aftermath of their situation.  Studies have shown that women who choose abortion after a rape are nearly 80% likely to regret the decision.  70% of women actually choose not to have an abortion, and not 1% of those have stated that they regret the decision. 

The sad reality is that many rape victims are not given the opportunity to know that there is  light on the other side.  While most who are led to believe that abortion will mitigate their suffering find that it increased it. 

While there are obviously those who had an abortion and are “glad” of it, it still doesn’t address the fundamental premise.  Is the value of an individuals life defined by the circumstances related to their creation define their value? 

I hope it is clear that creating an ethic that accepts that some lives are less valued than others by no fault of their own is a dangerous and completely unbiblical position to have.

 

Incest:

Much of this is similar to my response to the rape exception.   The additional point is related to WHY we would contend for abortion in the case of incest.  This is generally presented as a protection against severe defect due to close relatives. 

By accepting this premise we are allowing for differentiation of objective value being ascribed(by our own opinions—not Gods) upon lives who are “not” defective and those who “are”.  I hope that we would weep if we became a nation that began to advocate for the abortions of every child in the womb whose tests have shown defective genes.  The child who is deformed due to incest is no less valuable than the child who is deformed due to other reasons. 

 

Life Endangerment: 

This is obviously a much more difficult question to deal with.  I will say that historically, pre Roe, women who came into the hospital and were literally dying due to their pregnancy DID receive medical help to save their lives.  Doctors did not just sit there and watch them die because they were opposed to abortion.  Extreme, and TRAGIC, medical procedures have generally always been accepted as a necessity. 

A choice of who to let live is thankfully EXTREMELY rare.  To advocate for abortion in general when this accounts for an almost too small to account for percentage of total abortions is disingenuous.  I think a Christian can support the heartbreaking realities of these extreme events without it also including other forms of abortion.

 

Well Being of Future Life---Generally Related to Financial/Life Situation of the Mother

Luckily, for all of us, what is true today, is not guaranteed to be true tomorrow.  The tragedy of this position is that it is advocating for murder for the sake of financial benefit(in reductionist terms).  While it may feel too “hard” today, what if two days later they get a raise.  What weeping should there be?

This position also fails to take into account the literally millions of Christians and millions of dollars that ARE poured into private charities to support these young women and families.  My wife and I personally support and work with our local Pregnancy Crisis center.  They provide clothes, education, formula, parenting classes, babysitting, home placement, etc.  We have even personally offered our home to young women who had no where else to go. 

I am not exaggerating when I say that, due to my communities and connections, that we could find a place and resources for virtually any young woman you could send our way.  If someone’s argument is that they don’t know what to do, I would say, “Who have you talked to???”  In the dozen cities and towns I have worked in EVERY single one has places that provide everything I just mentioned. 

 

We Are a Pluralist Society:

It is true we cannot force our views on anyone, nor should we, this does not change the fundamental reality that a life is a life is a life.  Therefore, should a good society NOT defend and speak up for the most vulnerable lives?  When a culture begins to devalue ANY of its citizens lives for ANY reason, it will begin to rot from the inside.

 

Possible Disagreements and My Response: (Secular)

1. Life isn’t a brainwave


2. Murder isn’t always wrong


3. It’s better for society


4. “Viability” is a more appropriate barometer for life

 

Life isn’t a brainwave:

This would be in direct contradiction to nearly every other medical standard we hold to.  We know that in the womb children; dream, feel pain, laugh, think, learn, etc.  While the degree to which they can do that is not clearly defined by the “amount” of brainwaves, we do know that these are true neuro realities of the unborn.  And even if they can’t “learn” as much as a Three year old, or, a 33 year old, we obviously do not place value on an individuals life by their degree of relative intelligence. 

And if we do not use brainwaves to define life in the womb, by what scientific method shall we then use?

 

Murder isn’t always wrong

Obviously this is a rare argument.  But historically there have been individuals, and whole societies, who contend for the value of eliminating those with “less” value.  Every healthy secularist society rejects this notion.  Though we should always be on guard for the voices that try to slip in from time to time to advocate for such.

 

It’s Better for Society

This is in relation to generally 2 broad thoughts; 1- Better life for the mother/family therefore, better communities, 2- We don’t need more poor uneducated people. 

Communities where abortion is more frequent are NOT better off.  Not that I am saying they are doing poorly BECAUSE of abortion, but, it reveals that abortion is not a catalyst for healthier families and communities. 

This ultimately boils down to a value being placed on someone’s life by the value you perceive them providing for you, directly and indirectly.  To repeat an earlier point let us pray that this type of cultural ethic never gains prominence. 

 

Viability is a better barometer of life

The problem here for a secularist, and especially a Christian, is that this is a moving goal post.  What was viable 50 years ago is radically different to what is viable today.  As medical science continues to progress that “threshold” continues to move ever farther back.  To use the term, “extreme” measures, when evaluating legitimate life sustaining procedures is itself very unhelpful.  A child at 38 weeks could have complications in the womb that means extreme steps post birth are necessary.  Extreme steps that are similar to the steps for an extreme premature birth.  If the degree of effort necessary to sustain life becomes a defining characteristic, does that mean a 38 week child is no more a “life” than an 18 week old one? 

Once we accept that extreme steps to provide viability is not a satisfying standard to define life, we will conclude that is practically a completely unusable one.  And, as technology advances does that therefore change moral standards.  For example, it wasn’t murder to abort a baby at 30 weeks 50 years ago, but it is today….?  A moral standard is not dependent upon technology.  If technology defines morality, than morality means nothing at all.

 

So, those are my thoughts.  Where am I wrong?  Where am I right?  Let me know!

 

 

Trust and Belief

With great confidence I am going to claim that none of my regular readers are PhD's in the field of Astrophysics.  Though none of us have spent the better part of a decade doing the indepth and challenging work associated with becoming an "expert" within this field, there are a number of facts that we will all confidently regurgitate;  Size of the sun, size of our galaxy, distance between planets, the movement of stars and comets, the speed of light, etc.  When we make these fact claims we do so with the utmost confidence that we believe that what we are repeating is true.  Why?  Because we implicitly trust the individuals and organizations that have told us so.

There is a virtually limitless amount of "knowledge" that the modern man possesses that has little to do with personal study and observation.  Though we can quote verbatim a Wikipedia article on the personal feelings of Robert E. Lee during the civil war, few of us have ever actually held in our hands and read physical letters penned by the general.  There is just too much important knowledge and information that we utilize in our day to day lives for us to do the necessary work to prove the veracity of our claims personally.  We believe the work of those we trust. 

But what happens when two honest people have wildly differing positions on a particular issue?  How is it even possible?  It has to do with who you choose to trust. 

"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear"--2 Timothy 4:3

Thanks to the internet whatever your personal values, thoughts, opinions, activities, etc, are, you can find plenty of people to support you.  Not long ago I was reading about the growth of "fetish" communities.  Thirty years ago if you were a pedophile, you tried to get help, covered it up, tried to deal with it, or, acted on it and went to prison.  But what no one ever said, or, accepted, was that the proclivity towards pedophilia was "normal" or, "ok".  Now there are entire online created communities of predatory pedophiles who support each other, give tips and advice, and even plan international trips to countries with laxer child protection laws. 

While a pedophile in 1970 could still do some horrible damage, it was very limited in scope, and many potential predators never became predators because they didn't have anyone egging them on.  Today, if you are a potential predator, you are just a click away from people all over the world affirming your feelings and encouraging you to find ways to act on it.

Our human and self-driven desires cause us to seek out the "expert" advice of those who affirm what we already want to believe.  We start with a premise that whatever I "feel" must be right because I feel it so STRONGLY.  In some instances, there is natural internal and/or public aversion to such feelings.  Instead of responding to that natural aversion we instead look for someone to encourage the behavior or belief.  We TRUST that person BECAUSE they tell us what we want to hear, so we then integrate their affirmation as the foundation of our BELIEFS. 

Let me avoid putting a specific example within Christianity today in the cross hairs.  But ask yourself, what do you(and others) believe today compared to 20, 30, 50, 2000 years ago.  The rapidity in which these consistently believed Biblical positions are being reshaped has been breathtaking.  Why?  Because it is becoming easier and easier to gather around us teachers that tell us what we want to hear.

In contrast to what some "theologians" will argue, 2 Timothy 4:3 has a basic understood assumption built into it.  That there IS a sound doctrine.  And the second truth is that sound doctrine is in direct contrast to peoples natural desires. 

Theology today is crafted by a simple formula;  1- I feel or experienced "x", 2- I want to feel good about myself, not bad,(you can replace "myself" with "others") so I don't want "x" to cause me discomfort.  3-  I therefore subvert plain reading of scripture to be primarily interpreted by what makes me the most comfortable. 

Biblical theology has historically been crafted by; 1- Reading the Bible  2- Feeling or experiencing "x", 3- Shaping my response to "x" by what the Bible says.

We place our trust in what, or, who, makes us feel the best about ourselves.  Or, we put it in whatever or whoever says exactly what we have already decided.  And that becomes our belief. 

At the heart of everyone who rejects the Biblical teachings on any issue is that they are placing their trust in someone who has given them a way that makes them feel more comfortable.  And this happens with virtually zero cross examination.  They said what I was hoping to hear, I will just assume they are telling me the truth.  While they respond to teachers that disagree with their new position by immediately questioning everything, or, outright rejecting it because they don't like their response.  Again, with zero cross examination.  You said what I didn't want to hear, so you must be wrong/lying.

Your beliefs will be the result of who you trust.  Do you trust God's word?  Or, do you trust yourself and others first.

We want the candy so much we ignore important details.....

Bacon

Bedtime stories are a favorite of my son and I.  Recently I began to tell the story of God's people(starting with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat) and have recently arrived at the ministry of Jesus.  Last night we talked about the story from Matthew 8:

²⁸ When He arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met Him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. ²⁹ “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

³⁰ Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹ The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³² He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. ³³ Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴ Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him to leave their region.

At the conclusion of the story I was asking my son about the townspeople wanting Jesus to leave.  Even though what Jesus had done had freed the people from a great problem, they didn't like the results.  My son wisely responded, "Well, where are they supposed to get bacon now??"

I don't think my son was necessarily siding with the townspeople's rejection of Jesus, but it does illustrate an important point....

Do you ever browse through facebook?  You probably notice something that is becoming more and more common:  Complaining, moaning, drama posts, etc.  It seems like half the people in my feed are ever more increasingly unhappy with the status of their current life.  But do you know what I have learned about many of these same people?  They have no intention of making any changes, or sacrificing anything that they want.

We want to do whatever it is we want to do, but we want the world(and God) to make it all work out in our subjective favor.  We want to be thinner while still eating junk food.  We want to be happier, while still making the same emotionally and mentally poor relationship and life choices.  We want to be richer, while still being financially irresponsible.

There is a refusal to ever acknowledge that what we want may come with a cost.  The townspeople were being completely terrorized by the demoniac.  Surely they wanted the problem resolved.  But no one had apparently made any sort of effort.  They just ignored the problem.  It tells us no one even went that way at all.  So Jesus came in and solved their problem.  And, even more beautifully, freed the oppressed man from what he was experiencing.

What was their response?  Was it, "thank you thank you thank you!!!"?  Nope.  It was, "Can you please leave?"

Look at your own life.  As you evaluate the degree to which you have joy, hope, peace, happiness, etc, are you content?  Or, are you struggling right now?  Then look at Christ's claims on your life, and God's revealed truth about who we are, and what we are called to.  Are you truly aligned with it?  I would argue that you are not.

As long as we live unwilling to come to Jesus, even if it costs us something, then we too will have a demoniac type effect in areas of our life that we will feel shut off from.  Bacon is great, but freedom and hope is better.

The most amazing science in the world

Jesus, the Demon

My son has a pretty arbitrary standard for whether or not he likes you....Do you do what HE wants.....  He is a very opinionated and strong willed child(clearly from his mother...) and he has little patience for things that aren't exactly what he wants.  Everything that goes in opposition to his desires creates the most dramatic responses. 

If he does not get what he wants he will go to the nuclear option immediately.  Phrases that he uses way too often are, "You're the worst", or, "I don't want you as a daddy anymore".  While we work on correcting this behavior, it is a very insightful look into our own hearts. 

I know that you probably don't tell people they are the worst if they won't give you a piece of candy....but you do get angry and reject people who do not live up to your arbitrary standards.  We view the worth of a person by the degree to which they please us.  When we honestly examine our emotional responses to people, negative and positive, they are deeply interwoven with how we perceive their actions and their affects on us. 

Ultimately, this heart attitude is a defining characteristic of our response to God, the Bible and Christ.  We ask ourselves, "How does this make me FEEL?"  When we perceive something being in contradiction to how we feel, or, what we want, we become belligerent towards God.  Or, we just ignore Him all together.  While we generally like the concept of a Holy Deity who loves us and has a plan for us, we want that love and plan to be shaped by our desires.  And when it conflicts with those self-centered priorities we say, "you're the worst".

Often the core issue for people's rejection of the claims of Christ and the reliability of Scripture comes from a place of strong personal disagreement and rejection of Truth claims that are in opposition to personal preferences.  I can't count the number of times I have heard the argument against God and the Bible based upon a personal disagreement on "this" issue.  Never is there a willingness to engage in the possibility that a finite, subjective and personal preference is potentially incorrect and mistaken in contrast to the possibility of a perfect and Holy creator King of all the universe. 

My son doesn't yet concede the possibility that it is likely NOT a good thing for him to have MORE candy.  He wants what he wants, and I am his enemy(even though briefly) for being an obstacle to him obtaining his selfish desires. 

In John 8 Jesus finally throws down the gauntlet.  First, he has spent the last few days telling everyone that all their hyper-religious behavior is of no real value, then he calls them children of the devil, and finally, strike three, he claims to be the great, "I AM".  And at this point they decided that it was time to kill this offensive fellow.(vs 58-59) 

As Jesus is doing and saying all of this they respond by saying that Jesus is clearly demon possessed.(v 48)  They don't like what they hear, they don't appreciate that he calls them on their behavior that they are selfishly convinced is the "right" and "righteous" way to behave.  So they become antagonistic towards him.  Their rejection is based upon a purely emotional response to being told that what they like and what they want isn't "ok".  Who is he, they think, to tell us that there is a right way to come to God, and that OUR way is not it??

Either Jesus is who He claims to be(The Great I AM) or he is not.  If He is, we need to humble ourselves, because no matter how firmly we hold onto our preferences and beliefs we are standing in opposition to the Most High.  You might REALLLLY want that piece of candy right now, but at what cost?

Reality; we are like toddlers who are told "no". 

  

Is Jesus' Execution a Moral Act

My son has a strong sense of justice and fairness.  Most 4 year olds do.  When it comes to things related to his little sister everything has to be "fair".  Even if his concept of fair is a bit off, it has to be fair, ACCORDING TO HIM. 

The other day his little sister was upset about something and as a loving and caring big brother he suggested that some gummies might make her feel better.  What a sweet boy!  So as I was getting her a packet he thoughtfully said to me, "You know, it wouldn't be fair if she got gummies and I didn't.  You need to give me some too....."

I'm on to you kid.

As we age and "mature" we don't really change that much.  Our sense of fairness can be very self-centered.  The struggle is found in our inability to evaluate FAIRLY all the circumstances of an event that is affecting us.  There are blinders placed upon our perception of what is occurring that are fundamentally shaped by our ego-centric view of the world. 

If you don't agree with me, let me ask you this.  Have you ever felt angry and offended by how another car is driving on the highway?  Did you yell something at a driver who just cut you off while being self-assured that they are possibly the worst person on the planet? 

Did you ever cut someone off?  Don't lie....you have. 

Everything that happens to us is generally not very far removed from what we have at least one time done ourselves.  But but but, when we did it was an; accident, justifiable, one time, deserving, etc.

The murkiness in evaluating fairness and justice gets quite confusing when we start to evaluate the condition of our hearts and inner selves.  Especially in relation to the God revealed in the Bible.  At the heart of our disagreement in the revelation of God's righteous judgment against sin is the unstated belief that we really are not that bad and what we have done is not too terrible in the first place.

A big sticking place for many people is the Crucifixion of Christ.  Christian theology teaches us that Jesus' act of sacrifice was a necessary response to our sin and God's justice.  Often the self-assured criticism of such an act is that God must be some sort of abusive tyrant that He would demand death for my little white lies. 

A term of what Jesus does for us is "atonement".  Which basically means, to make payment for.  If the Bible is true, then ALL sin leads to death.  1 John tells us that God is light, and in God there is NO darkness.  There is no middle ground.  Either we are perfect, like God is perfect, or Death is the result.  What Jesus does on the cross is to pay the price of this reality on the behalf of those who can't pay it themselves.

Perhaps you have a philosophical problem with the connecting your "lying" to death.  It seems a bit too extreme a response to you.

Let me illustrate this with a reality that you will readily understand.

What would happen if you were angry at your best friend and you hit them?  Probably not much.  They might hit you back.  They might stop being your best friend.  But there wouldn't be much more than that.

What would happen if you were angry and hit a police officer?  You would be arrested and charged with the crime of assaulting a police officer.  Conviction would carry jail time. 

What would happen if you were angry and hit a child?  You would be arrested, not allowed near kids, and be treated as a pariah in civilized communities.

What would happen if you were angry and tried to physically assault the President of the United States?  You would most likely be shot.  If you survived that, you would be tried for treason and it may possibly be allowable to have you executed.

In each scenario the behavior you engaged in is essentially the same behavior.  But the context of the situation, and the role your target has radically changes the outcome.  Your best friend represents your best friend, the POUS represents an entire nation.  The crime "act" is the same, but the heart of the act, and the target of the act are exponentially different. 

While the person of the President is exponentially more "important" than that of your best friend, the person of God is INFINITELLY more important than even that of the President.  While the simple act may be the "same" what it represents is incomparable.  We logically accept the reality that hitting the President rightfully requires graver consequences than hitting your friend.  How much more so when the object of the affront is an infinitely Holy God, Creator of All??

Sin has no other outcome than death.  By God's very nature(LIGHT) all darkness(SIN) will be eradicated.  It isn't just a deliberate petty act to destroy sin.  But by the very nature of things, sin cannot exist in God's presence. 

When Jesus went to the cross He went as a logical response to the reality of Life.  Sin, ALL SIN, carries the penalty of death.  And it is a penalty that we are incapable of paying.  So in an act of absolute Love and Grace, God paid the price we cannot pay.   

The truth, the whole truth, but nothing of Truth

My four year old has a really odd sense of "fairness".  Basically, anything that he doesn't agree with is an indication of being unfair.  Time to eat dinner?  "You're not being fair".  Time to go to bed?  "You're not being fair".  Another common one is the argument about who gets to pick out a tv show between his little sister and himself. By a wide margin my son watches more of "his" shows.  But, let her watch one show that she requests and he is upset about it not being fair.

Clearly this is a problem and we are addressing it.  It has gotten to the point that he has been instructed to not even utter the phrase, "It isn't fair" at all.  He misuses and abuses it.  Here is the real issue though;  He emotionally feels as if what he is claiming is valid and right.  There is no self-introspection or willingness(yet) to accurately measure what is going on.  The feelings he feels are all the argument he needs to declare a statement of "Truth". 

The concept of Truth used to mean something to everyone.  Namely, that Truth was a non-negotiable and reliable claim about observable conditions and reality.  Seeking the Truth was a process of carefully and honestly appraising competing claims against the backdrop of known reality.  With each subsequent discovery of Truth becoming the building block and lens of which following observations must be weighed by.

Now truth has become a fluid and ever changing concept that is redefined daily based upon the desires and perception of those making the statements.  And to disagree with someone's personal statements of truth is the height of impropriety. 

The key factor in determining the truth of something(today) is how the statement effects you emotionally.  Facts, figures, logic, data points, etc, are all secondary in importance behind the emotional resonance of a particular truth claim.  And once you have emotionally made a decision on truth, the facts must be manipulated and conformed to that decision.

This is tyranny.

The prophet Jeremiah reminds us that, "The heart is deceitful above all things"(Jeremiah 17:9)  If you are honest with yourself, and I with myself, we will admit to the constant fluidity of our "feelings" on almost all subjects.  Our hearts and emotions are easily manipulated and rarely do those feelings find themselves safely rooted in non-negotiable truths. 

How would you like your spouse to make the marriage declaration to love you for better or for worse.....as long as they feel then like they do now.....

We need consistency and non-negotiability to safely navigate our relationships, jobs, cultures, physics, and, life in general.  When we become prisoners to the ever changing fickle nature of emotional reactionism we are truly under tyranny. 

But Adam, you say, our hearts and emotions aren't that terrible for making life decisions!!  You're being too critical.

No.  No I am not.

According to the CDC, half of all Americans will suffer at some point in their adult life from mental disorder issues of some sort.  Depression, bi-polarism, PTSD, addiction, etc.  So, in other words, half of every one you know and deal with will have at least some period of time in their lives where they could literally be incapable of making healthy decisions.  If someone is suffering from clinical depression, body dysmorphic disorder, PTSD, and any other number of deep seated issues that reside in chemical imbalances and other brain issues(that are OUTSIDE OF THEIR CONTROL) they are INCAPABLE of even being able to accurately evaluating the reality around them. 

So, how is basing "truth" on unreliable emotions not tyranny?

We need to stop being tossed around and reevaluating truth and our lives through the lens of finite emotional moments.  The hope we have is to root ourselves in absolute Truth.  And then, allowing our emotions to be shaped by Truth, instead of the other way around.

If you are a Christian, let me challenge you.  You aren't called to be "authentic" in your emotional responses and behaviors.  You are called to have integrity to live according to Truth, EVEN WHEN YOU AREN'T FEELING THAT WAY!!!

If you are not a Christian, let me challenge you.   What is Truth.  Big T, non-negotiable, set your clock by it Truth?  What dictates reality for you?  I am convinced that God is reliable and True, and that the Bible is Reliable and True.  Big T True.  It is a bulwark against fickle emotion based reality and a shelter from the storms of life.  If you have any questions, any thoughts, go ahead and ask!!!

Which will you choose?

Why I Judge People, and Good Christians Should Too!!

Matthew 7:1
"Do not Judge, or you too will be judged"

I looooooovvvveeee Judging people.  It is an essential part of my day.  Without it, I don't think I would be a very good parent, husband, pastor, or, pseudo-famous blogger(tens of readers daily).

One quick example of how much I love judging people;

So my son got really mad at his little sister yesterday.  She apparently was sitting too close to him on the couch.  She has a lot of nerve!!!  So, in classic big brother fashion, he hit her and pushed her off the couch. 

In the back of my head I heard that very important refrain playing on a loop, "do not judge, do not judge do not judge!!!"  But, luckily, I ignored it.  I took my son to his room, gave him a stern talking, gave him a swat on the bottom(yes, we are those parents), gave him a hug, and left him in his room for a long timeout.

You know what he has been doing recently when his sister is "bothering" him?  He gets up and goes to another room.  No more hitting(mostly). 

Do you know how idiotic it sounds when people quote this passage whenever they are trying to call out a Christian for "judging".  On a scale of 1 to super stupid, it is massively idiotic.

One thing we are really good at(in my judgment) in todays culture is proof texting snippets of scripture to bash people with.  Especially when that person is in some way speaking about Biblical convictions and Truths.

So here is where Jesus goes with the whole "don't judge" statement;

When you judge(verse 2---He is assuming you do judge), judge in the way you want to be judged.  Meaning, when you get rightfully called out on something, do you want to be smacked around, or shown grace and patience?  The measure you use for others will be the measure  you will experience. 

Right off the bat Jesus is working in the context of the daily reality of judgment.  We HAVE to use it.  You can't do much of anything in life without utilizing wise judgment.  How else are you able to tell your kid that it is wrong to hit his sister?  And as Jesus addresses this He flips the typical way we judge on its ear.

See, we love to be self-righteous and really give it to people when we catch them being wrong.  Guess what a second assumption he makes is?  You need to be judged at times as well.  Give grace when you deal with other peoples sins, and, get grace when your sins are exposed.

One of Jonathan Edwards life resolutions was to..."Act in word and deed as if nobody had been so vile as I, to live as if I had committed the same sins, or, had the same infirmities or failings as others, to confess my own sins and miser to God when I am prone to look on shame at others"

 

Jesus calls us to live in such a way as to give grace for others failings in the same measure that we are desperate to experience in the midst of our own.

 

This passage DOES NOT say, "YOU CANNOT EVER EVER EVER JUDGE".

 

Later on, Jesus adds a bit more to the process of judging others.  In verse 5 He tells us to remove our beam.  Why?  So we can remove our brothers speck. 

 

Again, Jesus is speaking in the context of His disciples actively judging sin.  And on top of being graceful about it, He teaches that unless we are willing to deal with(repent) of our own sins, we can't possibly help our brothers and sisters with theirs.

 

The comedian Kevin James once said, "Nothing is worse than receiving weight loss advice from someone FATTER than you!"  Nothing is worse than hearing judgment from an unrepentant hypocrite. 

 

Where does this leave us?

 

1)  Christians SHOULD judge and speak clearly about sin.

2)  Jesus is pretty clear, you better do it in such a way that it is dripping with Grace, patience and love.

3)  Deal with your own heart, be honest, be willing to repent of your own sins as you lovingly address your brothers.

 

Next time someone tells you that Christians shouldn't judge....Tell them they have no clue what they are talking about and read Matthew 7:1-5 with them.  Do it with love, do it with honesty.

 

Are You Really a Child of God?

Matthew:5:44-45
"But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven"

A Facebook friend of mine recently had a conversation with a True Christian(tm).  It looked like this.....(NSFW language warning)

Yay for my team!

To prove his unassailable moral authority he helpfully utilized graphic curse words to better illustrate his point at how morally corrupt those who disagreed with him were.

In the full sermon that Jesus is preaching in chapter 5 in Matthew we can partially boil down one of the main points to be how our actions do not change that the attitudes and thoughts of our hearts are equally culpable.  Again and again Jesus expands the written law to include our innermost being and behavior.  Here he again flips upside down the "love your neighbor" idea to point out that to love like God has called us to love means extending love towards even those who disagree with us to the point of being our "enemies"

I can only imagine what this "True Christian"(TM) would say to the Romans if he and Jesus swapped places on the cross.  Who wants to bet it would not be "Father, forgive them"? 

The Gospel tells us that even when we were ENEMIES to God, Christ loved us enough to give his life for us.  It doesn't say, because you felt bad enough about your animosity towards God and realllllllly wanted to change, Jesus was like "All right, I guess I can do something for you now......"

While I was His enemy.  He died for me.  He died saying, "I love you, even while you nail me here."

In a polarized culture full of a never ending assault on personal and corporate peacefulness, we are always on the defensive and the assault. 

Their camp.

Our camp.

Their wrong views(evil views)

Our right views(moral views)

There is no qualifier in Jesus's statement here.  He doesn't say, "Be loving so that they stop being so bad".  You are simply called to love with a God centered(Agape) love that does not expect agreement or changed behavior in return. 

Here is the kicker.  The proof of  your salvation is affirmed in how you do treat those who persecute you.  Did you catch that?  When we do not show love to our enemies, we are showing that our claims to being children of God may very well be a lie we tell the world AND ourselves!

This week the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty clan just got suspended for expressing his biblical views on sin and homosexuality.  The response of the Christian interwebs is sadly unsurprising.  One popular blogger, Matt Walsh(full disclosure, I really enjoy and align with about 99% of what he says), just penned a response entitled "Dear A&E,  Congratulations, You Just Committed Suicide"  Guess what my knee jerk reaction was?  YESSSSS!!!!!!

Then I read Matthew........

I don't blame Matt's response really at all.  Because 12 hours ago if someone had asked me to pen my response to the whole thing, it probably would have read just like his.(obviously with less talent and pizazz....)  We fall into this trap all the time.  We experience "persecution"(real and otherwise) and we bring out the big guns.  We are right, so we will prove we are right by destroying those who are wrong.

What is wrong with us?

Sin. 

Why should we be convicted by the challenge Jesus gives us?  Because we are so often just as bad as those we attack for being bad.

The way of the Cross does not call us to be "winners" in the great cultural debates of our time.  It calls us to be gracious and LOVING as we get our teeth kicked in.

There is no limit to the degree in which we have been loved.  There is to be no limit to the degree in which we show love.  Even when we speak truth to those who hurt us.  Do we speak because of love, or because we want to win. 

Here is the challenge for me and for you today.  And we will start it on a small scale.  Who is a person who you feel has kicked you over and over and over again?  Who has taken from you without remorse?  Who could care less if they have hurt you?  Go to the Cross and love them deeply.  Pray for them.  Care for them with a heart that breaks for them.  And, if you speak to them about your disagreements....lets keep the profanity bottled up.

Proverbs 22:12--- Frustrating Your Words

"The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge, but He frustrates the words of the unfaithful"

Have you ever said something you regret?  Done something you are embarrassed about?  I know I have.  And when I am honest with myself, every time that happens(and it is often) it is rooted in self-reliance.  I say and do what I think is right.  And it is always wrong.

True knowledge and wisdom belongs to the Lord.  When He goes before us in speech and action the power and effectiveness of what we are communicating is without compare. 

What does it mean to be unfaithful in such a way that leads to "frustrated words"?  Are you in God's word, are you in prayer?  Are you vetting your conversations and life through a lens that is God's truth?  When Christ is your center, it will define the type of words you will use, and how and when you use them!

Steps this week to speak more wisely:

1)  Get in the word.  When you expose yourself to Scripture consistently it begins to shape the way you think and talk.  Start each morning in the word and let it be the guide to your words.

2)  As you have conversations this week, have a running thought going through your head;  "God, what should I say in this moment?"  And here is the key to that, the one I forget, actually listen!


What are some ways that you seek to have more God centered wisdom in your life?

Knowing God's Will

                Knowing the will of God is one of the most difficult things for Christians to discern.  Well, at least it is the one we like to pretend is the most difficult to discern.   Why do I use the word pretend?  Because I believe that we make how to know the will of God into some elaborate and confusing process (in our heads) so that we allow ourselves to be stuck in either indecision or sinful decision.  Before I explain how and why knowing the will of God is “easy”, let me illuminate what I mean by the two “stuck” positions.

                Indecision:

                When we have a difficult decision to be made it is often the hiding spot of those too fearful of being “wrong”.  Instead of exhibiting an adult and mature attitude towards the tough issues in life people choose to run from any risk.  This can be seen in practice through the lives of people who let life “happen” to them.  Either due to laziness or timidity, they never take ownership of their lives, and if it goes bad, well, it wasn’t their fault. 2 Timothy 2:17 tells us that we do not have a spirit of timidity, but one of boldness!  When we allow life to just happen, we are saying too God that He is a liar.  That when he tells you that you have a spirit of boldness through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your life you are looking in his face and laughing.  Let us not forget what happened to Sara when she laughed at the Angels statements of her future pregnancy!

                I am not advocating a bull in a china shop attitude when it comes to life decisions.  But you HAVE to make a decision.  But I do like what I like to call “Hulk Hogan Life Philosophical Approaches:  Namely, I would rather ask forgiveness then permission. 

                Sinful Decision: 

                I want to believe what I want to believe.  And so I justify whatever decision I want to make by claiming some strange convoluted theology that defends what I am doing.  Example:  I had a Christian friend in college who had sex with every girlfriend he had because he just KNEW that it was God’s will that he was going to marry this girl.  After like 3-4 of them I began to think he might not know God’s will for his life as well as he was claiming…….

                With all of that being said let me address what I would contend is the 2 step surefire way to knowing God’s will for your life. 

                One:  The Bible.  Ok, so no brainer right.  But allow me to clarify this.  First, the wrong way you can take that:  Either looking for some exact word for word statement on how you should handle a specific situation, or, literally opening the bible and reading the first thing you come upon and considering that an answer(people seriously do that….sigh)

                In the first example, it is obvious that the bible is “strangely” silent on whether or not you should sell crystal meth to children.  But obviously you cannot just assume it is ok to do something just because there is not a specific injunction pertaining to that issue in the bible, or, more specifically, because Jesus himself did not speak against it.  When you are deeply familiar with the Word of God you are able to clearly understand that there is an answer to this issue, whether or not it spells it out exactly. 

                Illustrative Example:  My wife does not need to tell me that she would hate a Jean Claude Van Damme film for our date night.  Though she has NEVER said she doesn’t like his movies, because of my intimate familiarity with who she is, I have no excuse to bring home “Time Cop” tonight instead of “Leap Year”(which is another movie she has never mentioned but I guarantee she would like it) And for the second example, opening up the bible and pointing at something, just stop, stop being stupid.

                As we grow in our familiarity with the real and living God as He reveals Himself through His Word, it becomes more and more natural for us to naturally incline towards being shaped and defined by who He is, not who we want Him to be.  If you claim you want to know God’s will better but resist developing an intimate and personal relationship through the regular immersion into His word, then you are a liar and actually are not that interested in knowing His will.  You just want a lazy mans religion, that you can just hear some trumpet blow overhead and everything is answered for you and wrapped up in a nice bow that requires no effort or thought on your part.

                The second step we need to take to discern God’s will in our lives is community.  We are told two things that reinforce this view.  Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that above all things the heart is deceitful.  Our own individualized thoughts are highly deceptive.  That is due to our self-centered sin nature.  Like my Christian friend with multiple sex partners, he WANTS it to be God’s will because he is a horny kid who is willing to believe anything that gives him what he wants.  And then Matthew 18:20 tells us that where two or more are gathered in HIS name, HE IS THERE also. 

                With these two biblical truths we can see that it is people outside of our personal emotional position who themselves are rooted in God’s truth that will be able to speak clear truth to us about a given situation.  How many times have you listened to a friend talk to you about something that was going on and you felt flabbergasted about how obtuse they were being?  From your perspective the answer was so simple.  As your friend tells you that his girlfriend hired a hit man to kill him, but he isn’t sure if he should break up with her or not because he loves her soooo much, you just sit there scratching your head because it is so obvious. 

                We constantly are doing that when we try to discern the will of God.  When we leave ourselves to process the decision singularly and internally, we are setting ourselves up for failure.  We NEED each other.  If you do not have a community of believers who are deeply rooted in the word of God you will always struggle with discerning God’s will for your life. 

                I know that the topic, the will of God is a huge one with many possible facets.  But I think once you remove all the theology and biblical exegesis, it comes down to this:  I need to learn how to hear God speak clearly in my life!