History of the Faith

So I just learned recently that the Universal Church was Orthodox for 1000 years after Christ. Then the Catholic Church split off. Then 500 years later the Protestant Reformation took place. I'm on a journey to learn from the Church Fathers and see how we've ended up where we are. Giorgios Mantzarides, an Orthodox Christian theologian, says, "those who are intolerant cannot be Orthodox, however orthodox might be the words which they use." (Pg 3, Orthodox Spiritual Life).

My questions:

1)What is the core of belief, life, and doctrine for Christians that transcends Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox by which we can champion what God is doing through our brothers?

2)Is it possible for Christians in the world to link arms and get the job done of making disicples of every nation?

How does hell affect us in heaven?

Life can be a funny thing. You work so hard to try to do things and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. What exactly is the problem? Could it be that if we had the proper perspective that everything would be fine? What might life look like from God’s perspective? How does God view life? How does God view me is an easier question?

According to the scriptures, God knows what is going on. He is quite in control of all things. In fact, all things will acknowledge that He is God over all. He is creator. He is in charge. He is in control. He is all-powerful. He knows the way to wisdom as the book of Job says. That is why Job says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

How does God view life, though? Is He satisfied? Does He look on all things with pleasure? Is He excited with where life is going? He must be. There is deep love between the father and the son. If fact, it is perfect. It is intense and alive. Could it be that all His satisfaction comes from this interaction between the Father and the Son? How intense is the love between them? The same love is talked of being toward us.

Could the love between the Father and us be so overwhelming that the satisfaction of life exists? Can satisfaction exist when the story turns out incredibly happy and exactly perfect, but completely horrendous for the rest. We all deserve wrath and are offered a chance at complete salvation and complete forgiveness of all that we have ever done. It all makes sense that those that don’t receive the gift of salvation are quite like a group of people who have the opportunity to hop on a bus. Those that don’t obviously face the consequences of not being on the bus.

So those on the bus go onto absolute paradise and intimacy with the Almighty while those outside the bus go onto absolute judgment. I guess that those who choose not to be on the bus are quite aware of what they are doing. Perhaps they don’t want to turn over control to anyone else, least of all God. They refuse to repent. They refuse to accept the gift. And simple humbleness results in unbelievable exalting by God. Heir with Christ. Relationship with God. Complete freedom. A life of hope. Purpose.

Perhaps we all really receive what we want. Okay, let’s go with that. We all receive what we want. Of course, what you receive is a bit more than you expected, that’s for sure. God’s way is so unbelievably amazing. Not God’s way is so unbelievably bad and horrific.

The point of all this is that how do you not feel quite bad for those who choose not to get on the bus? How do you let them go and deal with the loss of letting them go? How do you properly mourn for them? Oh, this brings me back to our original question of God’s satisfaction and our satisfaction. How is God satisfied with this situation? How am I satisfied with this situation?

It’s like eating at a feast. Huge tables of food. Lots of family. Plenty of those pies and desserts. Lots of meats. Tons of sides. Also, there are starving people outside who refuse to come inside to be satisfied. They are eating scraps or dirt or poison. They are shriveled from lack of food. Their faces are empty. No amount of pleading or persuading will convince them to come inside. It’s also quite impossible in the economy of things to pick them up and carry them inside. And now the admonition is to go inside and enjoy the marvelous feast. Is that possible to do while people outside waste away moments from being exposed to the worst kind of wrath possible?

Hell cannot control heaven like that. Somehow it is impossible. Misery can’t enter God’s domain to pour out misery on those there.

A rich man came up to Jesus and asked to follow Him. Keep all the commandments. I have. Sell everything and follow me. The man leaves sad because he was rich and was unwilling to sell all. How does Jesus deal with this? Does He stop His ministry? What are Jesus’ emotions to all this? Well, what are they? In Luke 18, the writer notes that Jesus was looking at him with sadness. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all note that those around ask who then can be saved. Then they compare themselves saying that they have left everything.

Paul talks of those who are coming against him in Romans 3 and concludes that their condemnation is just. In another place, though, he says that he wishes that he was accursed that all the Jews might receive Christ.

So, we know that judgment comes on all who oppose Jesus. Do we like it? Does God like it? It says in Romans 9, “What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory – even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles.”

There seems to be a picture of God’s righteous standard and having to carry out the sentence quite aside from emotion or desire. Discipline of a child must be like this. Only in this case, the discipline is absolute judgment.

But here is the truth. Jesus loves all and wills that none should perish. He desires all to be saved – so much so that He came and died on a cross and is the way. He is among those that need Him most and beckons me to join Him in the saving of many. My life is not my own. This horrendous situation cannot thwart me from the task of loving God, making disciples, and being a witness. The truth is that not all will be on the bus, but Jesus would like them on. Many will perish in the ocean of sin and destruction, but Jesus is in the heart of that ocean showing the way to salvation. He desires that I join Him in the ocean. Let’s save many. Let’s join Him in the work.

Some of this comes back to the question of methods. How do we save those in the water? We must identify ourselves with the truth. Those that are saved easily forget about the struggle that of those in that sea, and we tell them about it. Many in the ocean are quite unaware of their plight. To some, the message of salvation becomes the very point of judgment and results in really bad news for them. But there are those out there who are begging for help. Jesus, that we may join You in this quest to save souls.

Calvinism and the 3rd Wave

Last night I received a phone call from a friend venting about Calvinism. He said that Calvinism highlights how bad God is instead of focusing on how good God is.

Generally, from my work on a campus, people who need Christ could care less about some of these issues that receive a lot of heat on different web forums (look up names like Ken Silva, Jack Deere, Rob Bell to investigate some of the issues in controversy). For instance, while in college, eschatology was our big thing. We were stanch pre-tribulation pre-millennialists and were quite against anyone who believed otherwise. I'm familiar now with the pre, post, and a-millennial views, but the average guy in the frat house could care less about the issue. However, they think it is important that Jesus will return.

But there are some issues that should garner little debate from those that hold a high view of scripture - like the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. In reference to my friend who called last night, my first thought is to not get too hung up on these issues, but rather to help those around you walk with Jesus - that these issues can consume too much time.

After spending an hour or so myself this morning reading articles and listening to some web casts, I realize that I'm quite ignorant of these hot issues. So here are some of my questions:
- Does Calvinism remove any free thought or will from man?
- Why is the Emergent Church a threat?
- If I'm constantly around guys who have no spiritual background, what is vital for them to do or know in order to be on the path of walking with Jesus all the days of their life?

I know more questions will arise, but that should be enough to get us going. Thanks for input.

The beat goes on

Why might we be afraid of anyone challenging our idea of truth? I think of Copernicus:

Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician who was a proponent of the view of an Earth in daily motion about its axis and in yearly motion around a stationary sun. This theory profoundly altered later workers' view of the universe, but was rejected by the Catholic church.

But nevertheless, truth prevailed.

Jesus never worried about proving His deity to the religious leaders of the day who constantly asked Him to show signs or something to prove His claims.

Am I scared of someone proving me wrong? Truth cannot be overturned. Perhaps I actually don't believe that which is true. How can we know?

God is Judge

Is the fact that God is the ultimate judge a good or bad thing? That we are accountable for every action?

It is the best thing that God is the judge. Because He is the judge, He is also the one to make provision for mercy and to provide a substitute that satisfies His justice. There is no guessing as to what it takes to appease Him. He did it Himself. Also, this means that if God declares you or me as guilt-free then we are truly guilt-free.

Suppose you had received a speeding ticket (wrongly, I'm sure:) ). Then we cross paths, and I tell you that you are no longer accountable for your ticket. It has been forgiven. While that might sound great, I have no authority to really do anything about your ticket. Even if I pay for it, you will still receive points on your license or have to attend a safety driving class.

Romans 8:28-38 asks a couple of questions:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Who can bring any accusation...? God is the one who justifies.
Who is the one that condems?

So, God as the Heavy actually turns out to work in our favor (assuming of course that we've cried out for mercy to God). Once He forgives and provides substitution, there is no more red tape to go through.

God is the judge of all people. Pass on the good news!

A challenge

A speaker shared from Psalm 90 where David says that he will, he will, he will. David makes no mention of things that he might do. As I thought of my lack of commitment, I thought of Brad. We're wanting to make a documentary, and he wants me to fly up to Rhode Island over Christmas. Actually, I think that I mentioned the time frame. But then it's easy to keep telling him maybe and letting the date approach slowly. I told him that I would give him a definite tonight.

All this talk of "I might" to "I will" has made me consider to what I proposing my time. It drives me nuts to have so many things hang in the balance, but I do an outstanding job of helping people to dream... and then not really committing to anything. Their spirit says, "Argh."

So, I am moving toward saying, "I will," a bit more often. Thoughts, rebuttal?

Discipline

I can't believe that I'm just now beginning to see the need for discipline in my life. If I don't schedule something in it does not get done. I was about to say that life is busier than it's ever been, but who decides whether or not it is busy? What is the primary thing that I go after? Can I say what it is? Am I going after it?

Where there is freedom, there is responsibility. The scriptures say that in Christ, we have freedom. We have the responsibility to do right, not what necessarily feels good.

Continue on

Welcome to Sunday night. It's interesting how I can do things and develop a big complex over whether or not people respond to what I say. But since this site fights against being a victim, I will continue on and continue to do things. I shared my testimony with a group of people and just had tough-to-read response. Was I a failure? Who cares! I shared about how much the love of Jesus has affected my life. I'll continue to do that.

Why wait?

I've found that I consistently wait for someone to tell me what to do. Do you notice that that lacks initiative? I am beginning to make recommendations to the higher-ups and the powers that be. It requires much more brain thought and takes a bit of risk to pull off. Why? Because what if someone likes my idea and lets me impliment it. Will I succeed? And that is where my famous line of "risk failure" comes into play.

Risk big; win big!

A New Year

It's been over a year since the last post, and it's high time for a fresh post.

I would like to mention the word, "victimization." They should have come sooner. This should not have happened to me. It never works out for me.

These all imply that certain things are due certain people. What are those certain things? Who are the certain people? Who decides? Because if there is some standard that we agree on, I can almost guarantee that we will be light-years ahead of most of the world. Is it our responsibility to help others? Because of his theories on the Superman, Nietzche said that Christianity needs to be destroyed because of its notion that the greatest are those who serve.

However, others are always our responsibility. To suggest otherwise become survival of the fittest. Maybe we should begin to discuss what is meant by being selfish and just how much needs to be provided for self before self can help or serve others. And is serving others really a good thing?

September

Probably one of the biggest questions that gets asked is, "What does God want me to do?"

Now, we're probably all familar with the spiritual gifts inventory and our natural abilities, our SHAPE. So we press on in that direction. Consider Abraham. God initiated. Same with David, Job, Jonah, Jeremiah, Paul, and you see the point. And back to David - God prepared him for the journey as well as having him run for his life for years to break him and form into a usable mold. And at age 30, he was ready. And Jospeh has a similar story.

Why would God's call on our life be so intense or mesmorizing or empherical. Is God's call being cloudy even biblical?

As for me, God has laid on my heart the nations and I plan to do missions all throughout my life. I have seen God's hand quite clearly on my life in His guiding and more importantly, in His training.

Thoughts?

The life of a blog

It only took three minutes to create and that is the reason that I now have my own personal blog. I wanted my name to appear in a post on a friend's site instead of anonymous.

Well then. I've titled this site "No Responsibility" (I think) because most people spend life trying to prove that all they do is actually not their fault. The end of all this is that they are not accountable for their life. But think about it? Lawyers, blaming, complaining - the fault lies somewhere else, doesn't it? The line is taking forever because there are so many people in it. I would have been on time to person X's house if they had been ready to leave at person Y's house to get to person X's house. My life would not suck if I had married this person instead of this person. Or maybe you have problems with a team that you are on.

Well, the old cliché goes something like - you can't change others, only yourself. Great! What does that mean? PMA? Is that all that's needed?

So anyway, this Blog will be dedicated to the quest of "What is my role in this story of life?"

Good luck - Joel