What Does it Mean to be Christian - Part II

A few months ago, listening to a Christian radio station as I drove to work, I heard a broadcast that sent a chill through me. The basis of the sermon was that God had turned away from his people once, and He could do it again.

The concept of such a thing stayed with me throughout the day, and the more I thought about it the more frightening it seemed. It occurred to me, as I contemplated a world without God, just how horrible such an existence would be. I cannot think of anything worse. Indeed, being separated from God might just be the true definition of hell.

If you’ve ever experienced God’s love on a personal level, you’re probably shaking your head, yes, right about now. If you have not, or if you’re just not sure, please read on. Perhaps we can change that.

I often hear comments like: “You so called Christians, act like you’re perfect, and then you do this, and that.”

Or a modified version of the above that goes something like: “I could never be a Christian. I’m just not good enough.”

I’m not amazed at this because I used to be right there with you. Here’s some breaking news: Christians aren’t perfect. Nobody is. What’s more, you’re not expected to be.

Another common misconception is in believing that if you’re a good person, God will see that the good things you’ve done outweigh the bad.

In this case, I do want to be the bearer of what some might consider bad news, and explain that it just doesn’t work that way. It’s not a balancing act. No one is good enough to earn salvation based on their own merit. We are all sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory.

I believe that many of the misunderstandings and misconceptions concerning Christianity actually stem from reading the Bible. The problem arises in reading only pieces of God’s holy word. To understand the Bible, you have to read it in its entirety. I’ll offer some advice that a good pastor once gave me. Start with the New Testament. Read it several times until you begin to understand what the text is saying. The Old Testament deals with harsh times and harsh subjects, and having a reasonable grasp of the New Testament will make it understandable. If you will do this, I believe you will begin to see a pattern. Everything in the Old Testament points to the message of the New Testament: That Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.

There’s another attitude I’d like to address. It’s the old sticking your head in the sand routine. Many people believe that if they just don’t think about it, everything will work out. In light of that, let me offer this. One’s belief or non-belief in God has no bearing upon His existence. With the giving up of Christianity for another religion, or relinquishing belief in anything spiritual altogether, you might experience a false sensation of liberation, but the freedom exits only in your own mind. You are still responsible for your actions and accountable for your sins.

However, I did not create this blog post to be downbeat. There is a path to salvation. I believe in the Trinity, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, and yet are all able to act independently. God realized our imperfections, and in His love and His grace he created for us a way to salvation. God sent his son Jesus into the world. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. In this way, Jesus experienced all that we experience. He experienced birth as we do. He lived life on earth, along with all of the emotions and problems that we face, except He did it without sin. And He experienced death, but He defeated it through His resurrection.

If you believe in God, creator of Heaven and earth, and in His only son, Jesus who came into this world so that we might have salvation, you are a Christian and you are saved. But you have to be sincere in your belief, and in your faith.

I offer you a challenge, if you’re brave enough to accept. Ask Jesus to come into your life and see what happens.

Pray Like You Mean It

Will God give us anything we ask for?

The sheer number of denominations, from Catholic to Evangelical, gives testament to differing points of view within the Christian community. However, with respect to prayers being answered, the concept seems to be divided into two schools of thought:

1.      God will give you anything you ask for, if you have enough faith.

2.      God answers prayers that He interprets as aligning with His plans for you.

While I’m not new to believing in God, and believing in Jesus, I am relatively new to actually getting it, putting it altogether and understanding the true significance of Christ Jesus. In the past couple of years, I’ve read various books on the subject of Christianity, and listened to numerous Christian radio broadcasts. I’m often amazed at what I read and hear. One radio evangelist claimed he’d not only healed a multitude of believers but that he’d actually raised over thirty people from the dead.

I’m not saying God cannot do these things. God can do anything He wants. The key word is want, and what you want might not be in alignment with what God wants for you. I tend to lean toward the second category listed above, though it’s not difficult to understand where believing in prayer concept number one comes from. In the words of Jesus: And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:13, 14. However, in John 4:14, Jesus says: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Was Jesus actually telling the Samaritan woman she would never have to drink water again, or was He speaking in Spiritual terms? Throughout the New Testament, Jesus speaks in Spiritual terms, and I believe the logic should be applied to the verses in John 14: 13, 14 and others in like manner. To put it in perspective, are cars, money, and big houses important to God? I hope that’s a rhetorical question. For a list of what is important to God, read Philippians 4: 8, and 2 Peter 1: 5-7.

With all that being said, do I believe that God answers prayers? Yes, I do. He has answered plenty of mine. But I’ve also had some that seemed to go unanswered.

In summary, I believe that God answers prayers and that faith is certainly involved. However, I think the prayer request must be for something that God deems good for you, and for those around you.

What about you? Do you believe that God will give you anything you ask for?

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Do you believe in the existence of ghosts, spirits, – to slip into a cliché – things that go bump in the night?

While cruising the internet, I ran across several articles concerning the spirit world and the typical Western-World view of such things, and the process reignited a subject of interest that I had not given thought to for some time. People in the Western Civilization have a hard time thinking about, much less talking about anything that they – I want to say: Cannot see, hear, or touch, but reports of such sensory occurrences in the spirit world are not uncommon – cannot physically quantify. And yet, just about everyone I know, if I can get them to talk about the subject, admits to having had at least one supernatural experience.  Here are a few of my experiences:

http://bobavey.blogspot.com/2011/08/shape-shifting-rifle.html

http://bobavey.blogspot.com/2011/07/grandpa-lukes-final-visit.html

http://bobavey.blogspot.com/2011/07/guardian-of-route-66.html

This is an especially puzzling concept when it comes to Christianity. As Christians, we believe in the existence of God, and the fact that He, or a part of Him came to earth as Jesus to save us from our sins. And the Bible is full of references to the spirit world, and to its inhabitants, both good and bad.  However, any mention of ghosts or spirits among Christians is viewed with scorn and ridicule. In my opinion, the sole purpose of God’s Holy Word, the Bible, is to instruct us, to teach us how to live our lives in this temporary world, so that we can be on the right side of things – God’s side – in the eternal world of the spirit.

What caused this seemingly paradoxical Western-World view?

I believe it is due to the practical and pragmatic attitudes passed down to us by our ancestors.

What do you think?

I’d love to know your thoughts on the subject. Please leave a comment, or email me at bob@bobavey.com

Book Review -- My Imaginary Jesus

With My Imaginary Jesus, Matt Mikalatos composed a satire, which works to expose the fallacious attempts by Christians who, through mind games or denial, try to shape or manipulate God, Jesus, and even Christianity into something that better fits their lifestyle, or validates their worldview.

Matt’s unusual humorous style carries the narrative well for the most part. However, about one quarter of the way into the book this began to seem over-the-top, a bit too much tongue-in-cheek for me. Consequently, the book began to drag a little. Toward the end of the book, though, Mr. Mikalatos won me back, especially with chapters like The Center, and Craft Time with the Apostle John, which displayed a genuine belief in and knowledge of the Bible.

I enjoyed reading My Imaginary Jesus, and I walked away feeling that I’d gained something in the process. I would recommend the book to all Christians who have a sense of humor.

For purposes of this review, I was provided a copy of My Imaginary Jesus by the publisher, Barna, a division of Tyndale House. Hello – my

– Bob Avey, author of Beneath a Buried House

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God and Science -- Part III

God and Science – Part III

The God Particle

In the last post we talked about how the human species seems to be hardwired, or coded to believe in God, or a higher power.

 In this segment, we’ll discuss another subject most of us can readily relate to, that being our weight. The reason the pesky pounds pile on is no mystery, but have you ever wondered why anything has weight or mass to begin with? I’m assuming that not many of us have. However, physicists have wrestled with the deceptively simple question since Sir Isaac Newton got bopped on the head with the proverbial apple. In all likelihood, it didn’t happen that way, but at some point during his life Newton ascertained that something caused the apple to fall to the ground, and he determined it to be a force, which he called gravity. Years later, Albert Einstein expanded on Newton’s ideas with his General Theory of Relativity, which basically adds motion – at the speed of light no less – into the mix.

What does weight have to do with any of this? Apparently when weight or mass is thrown into the physicists’ mathematical calculations of how the universe began, nonsensical answers occur, which predict the chances of the universe coming into existence purely through natural causes to be so small as to be infinite. That pretty much means it couldn’t happen, which throws a monkey wrench into the whole idea behind the common model known as the Big Bang theory. In a nutshell, the Big Bang theory represents the possibility of the universe beginning when a singularity – described as a zone that defies current understanding – expanded into what we now know as the universe.

Since scientists attempt to explain things only through natural causes, this presents quite a problem for them. However, in 1964, Peter Higgs, a physicist at the University of Edinburgh, came up with a possible solution. He proposed that a particle field extends throughout the universe, and that when other particles, such as electrons, interact with this field, they acquire mass.

I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Obviously I’m no scientist, but it goes something like this: The universe is made of matter, matter is made of molecules, and molecules are made of atoms. Atoms, like a tiny solar system, consist of a nucleus, made of protons and neutrons, which are orbited by electrons. The components of the atom are called particles. In addition, scientists theorize that other sub-atomic particles exist, some of which are called bosons. Therefore, the particles, which make up the field postulated by Peter Higgs, are called Higgs boson. It’s also known as “The God Particle.”

Most scientists don’t like the particle’s divine nickname, and they blame the media for inventing the moniker. That’s not the case. Actually, physicist, Leon Lederman, coined the term in his book, “The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, what is the Question.”

Research taking place at the CERN laboratory outside Geneva, Switzerland might eventually prove the existence of the Higgs boson particle field. With the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, protons are accelerated to a speed approaching that of light, and then they are caused to smash, or collide into each other, creating energy. The idea is to recreate, or simulate the conditions, which existed in the first moments after the Big Bang occurred. When the energy re-condenses into particles, among them might be the elusive Higgs boson.

Scientists are quick to caution that it is too early to tell if that will be the case. However, some physicists predict that a definitive answer on whether or not the so called “God Particle” exists could come in 2012. Perhaps the Mayans were on to something after all.

Discoveries have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe did have a beginning. There was a single moment of creation. Scientists explain this event through the Big Bang theory, which indicates that the universe came into existence when something caused a singularity to expand. When asked what, exactly, the singularity was, or where it came from, they readily admit that they don’t know.

Mathematical calculations indicate that the chances of life arising naturally from non-life are so ridiculously low as to be infinite. As discussed in God and Science Part II, molecular biologists have revealed that information has been encoded, or designed into our cells. Information requires intelligence, and design requires a designer.

God and Science - Part I

God and Science

A few days ago, something unusual happened. My wife and son were out running errands together, which left me home alone – sounds like a good title for a movie – to fend for myself. This does not happen very often and I must to admit to, with a slight bit of guilt, looking forward to the prospect of getting some work done.

After a conference call with my web person, JP at Collipisis.com, I posted to my new blog – actually it’s the same blog, but now it’s on my website – then crunched in a bit of editing on my long overdue third novel, Footprints of a Dancer. I certainly hope to have the book finished soon.

A few hours later, I turned off the computer and switched on the television, reveling in the idea of watching whatever I wanted. I was not to be disappointed. I stumbled across a program, on the History channel, which grabbed my attention. It was already in progress, but the gist of the piece was whether or not, through mathematical calculations and other applied sciences, God could be proven to exist. The short answer, in my humble opinion, is no. If God wanted everyone to know, without a doubt, of his existence then it would be that way. However, that would negate the need for faith, a crucial element of Christianity. Bearing that in mind, I still enjoyed the program, which had been constructed using several parallel storylines that the narrator would weave in and out of – a study, which explored the possibility that the belief in God, or some form of deity, is coded or hardwired into our DNA; a search to identify an element of matter, a crucial component of the “Standard Model” of physics, which explains how the cosmos works, known as the Higgs boson, or God particle; an expedition to locate and prove the existence of the Ark of the Covenant; and – get ready for this one  -- a study comparing the similarities of brainwave functions between subjects given hallucinogenic drugs and those involved in intense prayer sessions.   

Let’s expand on the above topics beginning with DNA. All civilizations and cultures have exhibited a belief in God, gods, or some form of religion. The idea that people are predisposed to believe in a higher power comes as no revelation to Christians. However, the indication that this tendency might actually be hardwired into our makeup is intriguing.

The study began 59 years ago when, in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the existence of a structure within the nucleus of human cells, a genetic material known as deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known as DNA. Scientists studying DNA probably suspected early on that the double-helix structure contained some type of genetic data. However, recent discoveries indicate the material is embedded with a complex code capable of storing incredible amounts of information. In an article titled, DNA: The Tiny Code That’s Toppling Evolution, published in Good News Magazine, author, Mario Seiglie, explains it like this: “A molecule two millionths of a millimeter thick contains enough information to fill 12 sets of encyclopedias. A teaspoon full of DNA, according to molecular biologist, Michael Denton, could contain all of the information needed to build the proteins for all the species of organisms that have ever lived on the earth and still have room for all of the information contained in every book ever written.”

For me, that classifies as a Wow, Shazam.

I’ll continue the discussion in my next post. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think about the subject. Please leave a comment.

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