"What is so Great about Christianity?"

What Is So Great About Christianity?

Another way to ask the question would be, “What Sets Christianity Apart From Other Belief Systems?”

One does not have to listen long in the arena of religious discussion to hear the idea that all religions lead to God.  If such is so then certainly there must be some common elements to all religions—common beyond there being some acknowledgment of there being a higher being/power.  However, such seems not to be so, at least not to any great degree.

Contemporary Religious Pluralism seems to embrace the notion that everyone from the Wiccan Priestess to the “Christian” minister should be included.  Problem is, today the notion among many is that this inclusion must be based upon commonly shared belief.  Immediately one can see that such belief as is shared would be severely limited at best and extremely scarce at worse.

So since there are these differences why would one choose the Christianity which is based upon the Judeo-Christian Scriptures over other belief systems?  Then of course there is the question of what makes Christianity unique?  Among the several answers are the following reasons.

First, within the Judeo-Christian Scripture there are a great number of incidents of future telling.  It is well beyond any laws of probability that they would come to pass purely through happenstance.  In other words, sometimes hundreds of years before an event, the Scriptures tell of that event.  Then we find that it came to pass just as foretold.  Can that claim be made about other Holy books?

Second, the Judeo-Christians Scripture tells the reader that God would come and live among men.  So it was that in perfect fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus Christ was born, lived, was crucified, and ascended back to the Heavenly Father.  Can the claim of Emmanuel (God with us) be made about other god’s?

Third, the teaching of Judeo-Christian Scripture is clear that the one who would become a Christian does not work his way to some sort of work-salvation.  Such good works as one performs are the result of salvation.  Can others make that claim?

What then has been the outcome of those who have lived out their conversion to the Christian faith?  There are many.  Among them are, the American Red Cross, the education of children, mercy hospitals, the abolition of Slavery, the rescue of abandoned children, and much, much more.

For those blinded by bias and a secular skepticism, there is not, nor will there ever be enough evidence to overcome their assumptions about Christianity.  For this kind of thinking Christianity will always fall short.  However, for the genuine seeker of truth, there is enough evidence to suggest that a lived out Christianity based upon the Judeo-Christian Scriptures is well worth a serious look.

"Does the God Gene Prove God?"

As If God Needed Someone to Prove His Existence!

There are I suppose two positions one might take when it comes to genuine science.  One can join the weight of history and view science as that which reveals and explains Scripture and faith.  There of course is another option.  It is that one can join the relatively recent (post enlightenment) group and seek to discredit Scripture and faith by using Science.

The discredit crowd will choose their particular issue and claim that the Bible in general and Jesus in particular could have said something about it.  Of course, such would turn the Bible into a science book rather than what it is, the revelation of just who Jesus is and what He has done for mankind.

Then too, it really would prove nothing for the skeptical would find some other lack and make the same claim that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures are invalid because they do not treat ____________ (you fill in the blank)l

That being said the Bible does contain a great deal of indirect reference to matters of nature.  For example Jesus talked about the coming day of the Lord in terms of various activities in the Jewish household.  Since the coming day of the Lord is a point in time event and since being in bed, grinding, and being in the field would point to that which we call time zones or different parts of the day occurring at the same time.

Another is found in the Book of Ecclesiastes where Solomon writes of wind currents and the water cycle (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7).

Then too consider that much early science was accomplished by people of faith.  Now there were differences in doctrine but the following men were committed Christians.

Copernicus, the first astronomer of the scientific revolution

Galileo discovered the laws of dynamics and is known for his achievements in astronomy. 

Kepler, the German astronomer, a contemporary of Galileo

 Newton on the Scriptures

Newton's mathematics influences optics, mechanics, and celestial dynamics*

These are but a few of the men who are joined by women who made a difference not because they devalued Scripture by their science but because they valued both Science and Scripture.  In fact, if you read the article cited below you will find that Newton wrote over a million words in his discussions of Scripture.  

Well, then what happened?  Why the change?

 

"Shifts in Thinking"

Perhaps the greatest influence was as the result of the Great Enlightenment and the coming of rationalism.  The point of agreement between Judeo-Christian (European thinking) and Rationalism is that there at least is genuine reality.  They did not agree on what constituted truth but they at least could agree that there was such a thing as truth.  Such difference was largely based upon the difference between revelation and rationalism (Modernism).

Again, there were different beginning points the outcomes were many times divergent but at leas there was an agreement that there was some kind of genuine reality.  However, a third movement would enter the picture--a movement that begin with yet another starting point.  The movement is Post-Modernism and further distanced itself from Scripture and matters of faith. 

Beginning some 150 years ago, the shift became more pronounced with a further move away from the Divine and toward secularism.  Secular Science came to the fore with the result that it was not even willing to exist along the side of Faith and Scripture.  In many cases it sought to discredit the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. 

Hitchens

 

"Extensions of Science"

As many will know, if you follow mathematics, physics, etc. out far enough they begin to merge into a philosophy as opposed to what we think of as algebra or geometry.  When that happens others enter the discussion, philosophers.  So it is that the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens not only enter the discussion but as their thinking gains traction, they begin to influence what happens back up the process and in the arena of research.

Now the outcome of research is that it is not so much science but philosophy and so instead of provable science you now have speculative or theoretical science with it emphasis on probabilities etc.  Of course the more speculative and probability you add to the discussion the more one's biases and presuppositions can enter into the discussion and such is not without influence in the outcomes.  Empiricism is now lost.

 

"The God Gene"

Now add the "God gene" into the discussion.  Of course such spawns a plethora of discussions and debates.  What secular science cannot answer is the reason it is there for it serves no evolutionary purpose.

For those who accept the notions of there being a Divine designer and Creator, the idea of a God gene is not problematic.  Such being a genetic reality (if it is true) is consistent with something that Christians have been saying for years.  God created man with a need for the Divine.  The Bible tells it this way, "...that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." (Romans 1:19).  Once again, the Bible is not a science book but peaking through its pages is science.

On the other side of the discussion the secular evolutionist would say that such is simply a mutation, a quirk of the evolutionary process.  Further they would argue that this is a genetic dead end and that one day it too will mutate away and man will become completely free of the need for religion.

 

"Secular Spirituality"

Of course, this presents another problem.  What is one to do to meet the need fostered by the God gene when it is activated?  The answer is a fairly recent division of spirituality and religion.  That is to say that one can have a spiritual dimension in life without the inconvenience of Scripture, doctrine, creed, and denomination, etc.   

At a recent lecture on the subject, it was presented that things that speak to the deepest parts of man, speak to this spiritual dimension.  Such things as poetry, music, other of the arts, and a whole host of physical experiences will plunge the individual to a revelation, a consciousness of this arena of the individual.  Even Richard Dawkins give some credence to the notion of spirituality calling it "sexed up atheism." 

+ + + + + +

In closing, it seems to me that this notion of there being a spiritual dimension to man even though conflicted still in all takes us back to the beginning point of this post.  It seems to me that it takes us back to the Judeo-Christian notion of revealed reality.  However, since God is not involved this time it is getting in contact with the inner self.

That being said, would it not be easier just to give in to the God that is, rather than seeking the god that is within.  Remember the God that is, is infinite while the god within is finite and temporary.finite and as fragile as our mental capacity to understand and choose our way.


An interesting treatment of the "God gene" may be found at http://www.bethelcollege.edu/users/berkebj/Marian/God%20in%20Our%20Genes%20TEXT%20ONLY.pdf 

___________
* see article at http://www.christianity.co.nz/science4.htm

"Something is Missing from Ministry! But What?"

What does it mean to be mighty in faith and power?

The libraries of the world could not contain all that comes in pursuit of the answer!  However, in the current discussion and pursuit of same...something is missing. 

Of recent date I engaged with another on the subject of supernatural signs and wonders that are to be normative in the Church.  Certainly I agree such is to be so.  Further I agree that these things should not be limited to some move of God here or there.

However, there is a concern!  In the course of the discussion and to no avail, I referenced what one denominational leader had said some weeks earlier, "The Scriptures provide the river banks within which the Holy Spirit flows."  Made sense to me but apparently not to the other in the discussion.

One asks, "What do those river banks look like?"  Such is currently under study for me; however, I can say that paramount is the matter of humbly aligning thinking, belief, and one's life with the principles and precepts set forth in the Scriptures.  In other words studying in depth God's Word and then applying it in the small and the great arenas of one's life!   Applying it even when one does not understand it.  Though out of fashion in many congregations the terms we used to use for such things are dedication, sacrifice, repentance, holiness, righteousness, obedience, humility, etc.

Throughout the history of the Church, known and unknown there have been men and women of power who would die rather than bring any kind of reproach upon the message of the Scriptures as lived out in their lives and situations. These are those who humbly live lives above board and who were and are on a constant hunt for a deeper life that aligns more perfectly with the Word of God and the God of the Word.

These are those who clearly understood that to fail ethically while in ministry was not a matter to be taken for granted nor lightly.   It was not a matter to be hidden but confessed.  It was not a matter to be explained away but prayed through. It was not a matter to be pridefully regretted but of which one humbly repented. It was not a matter to be arrogantly dismissed but submitted to spiritual leaders for such restoration as was possible.  Failure certainly lead to forgiveness but also it was understood that it would put blight upon a person's character and ministry.  Such seems not to be so today as such things are explained away as being "just" one's fallenness, frailty, and fallibility and that we must forgive and forget and move on.

These were men and women who clearly understood that any part of their lives that was not totally committed to being a follower of Jesus Christ would impede the flow of the Holy Spirit of worship, of love, and of power.  They were on a quest for those signs and wonders previously referenced but they understood it all began with one's life being pleasing to God! They understood that such came as one humbled one's self before the Master, Jesus Christ.

These were men and women who clearly understood that one day there would be those who touted their spiritual power and prowess and would hear, "Depart from me, I never knew you."  They purposed to not be among that number but to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

These were men and women who clearly understood that in order to have spiritual might in their lives and ministries, their relationship with God had to go beyond citing some promise or another with an "I deserve" almost prideful attitude.  Even today in conservative Christianity there are those who make demands of God and propose that they know the will of God.  It has gone so far for some that they teach, preach, and counsel that praying; "Never the less not my will but Thine be done" is wrong.  I see such praying as deferring to God's decisions and in that being submitted to His will.  Wonder what they do with the "Our Father?"

If someone cares to look throughout the pages of Church history, on every continent, in every Christian movement, in every age, there are men and women who lived exemplary lives dedicated to serving God and man.  They lived lives of prayer and the Word.  They lived lives of confession, submission, and dedication.  Often they were thrust against their own druthers into the local, national, and international spotlight.  Even so they sought with all of their hearts to be humbly faithful--trustworthy in the eyes of their Lord, Jesus Christ.

These were men and women who clearly understood that one shunned evil and the very appearance of evil.  They took seriously the injunction to "...take up your cross daily..." and thus were denigrated by even their fellow Christians.  No cost was too great a sacrifice for following Jesus Christ.  These are those who chose to sacrifice ease, personal wealth, popularity with the world, position, safety and security, a comfortable future, retirement from service, and much, much more in an eternal cause greater than themselves.  They demanded nothing of God and in fact only demanded of themselves in their service.  They knew nothing of, "You have to love yourself before you can love others."

Some years ago there was a couple at a major Christian University who though wanting to marry realized that to do so would not be in keeping with God's call upon their lives and so sorrowfully parted. There is another who gave up success, power, position, the possibility of marriage, and even his name to become a follower of Jesus Christ.  Indeed to listen to some today is to hear an opposite message. Today's message all too often is, "you deserve."  One can only wonder how that squares with, "Seek you first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness..." which is what that couple and that man did.

Thomas Cranmer Memorial, Oxford

There is great danger in this opposite and wrong message.  Yet the message of plenty, leisure, and pleasure has been foisted upon the unwise by the winsome.  The message is simply unfounded in the Scriptures.  This has been carried to the extreme, teaching that those who belong to God deserve.... (You fill in that blank).  The reality is that because of our own sinfulness we deserve eternal punishment!  That is what we deserve!  Thankfully God in His mercy and grace made it possible for us to escape that which we deserve through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

How inconsistent these new beliefs, with the lives of people such as the Apostle Paul, martyred by Rome; Thomas Cranmer, burned at the stake; David Brainerd, died at a young age, spent serving the American Indians; Jim Elliot and his 4 friends, martyred while seeking to reach the Auca Indians of South America; John and Betty Stam, martyred by the Chinese Communists; then there are those who occupy the pages of Foxe's Book of Christian Martyrs, and yes, the Christians who are even now being persecuted, enslaved, and dying in places such as Egypt, Africa, China, and Iran.

When you think about the sacrifice of these and others, it leads one to conclude that some of us ought to give up the title "Christian" for its use suggests that we with our easy faith are like they who traveled long and difficult trails of travail.  It connects us with these and others who gave so very much.  Most of us, it seems to me, are unworthy of such a connection.  Indeed as with the closing of the Hebrews 11 list of similar people, the world was not and is not worthy of them.  The degree to which the world is in us is the degree to which we are not worthy of them or the name by which they are remembered.

What does it mean to be mighty in faith and power?  That too is to be studied but there are some things we can know.  This comes of submitting to spiritual disciplines to include the following.

Such comes when one in humility seeks to perfectly aligns his or her life with God's Word through the study of the Bible, through the ministering presence of the Holy Spirit, through prayers of repentance, through humble obedience, and through long seasons of intercessory prayer.  It comes of establishing and maintaining the eternal view.  It comes with companions in prayer.  It comes as one seeks God for strength to do the will of the Lord.  It comes of Christian fellowship, and service.  It comes of having those to whom one is accountable for word and deed.  It comes of failure, confession, and restoration.  It comes of selfless obedience.  It comes of implicit trust in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, even when they seem not to make sense.

"Responding to The Intolerance of the Tolerant"

THE CHALLENGE OF GRACIOUSNESS:  May we who have standards and convictions not be intolerant of the intolerant!  What a curious situation the public debate this week as those who accept almost everything reject Chic-Fil-A based upon a thought expressed by its founder.

The owner of Chic-Fil-A simply gave his position on the matter of marriage being as the Bible describes it, between one man and one woman.  Someone said that God established marriage between Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve and certainly he would agree with that idea.  Whether one agrees with it or not is not the issue.  How we disagree is in fact the concern.  Not so long ago the right was challenged with its need for graciousness in difference, now the left progressives need to hear the same admonition.

THE CHALLENGE OF BELIEFS EXPRESSED:  At question is that matter of one's right even responsibility to set forth his beliefs.  Certainly no one seems to object with those on the progressive side of the argument impose their notions but let the other side say something as benign as was said and there is an outcry but it does not end there.  Notice that there was to be a "kiss-in" as same sex couples demonstrate their "love" at Chic-Fil-A locations.

Chic-Fil-A being a privately owned company have not great responsibility to allow this sort of thing to go on however, since they seem to be gracious about this whole discourse I suspect that they will not take action.

THE CHALLENGE OF CONVICTIONS:  Such being so there are some things that we need to think about!  We who take a conservative view of the Scriptures must allow nothing to dissuade us from the position we take of the Scriptures.  The more that we are surrounded by the permissive message, the more those of us who hold to the Bible are placed in difficult even untenable positions.  Such is not so in reality only in perception.

The reality is that the same God who designed each of us in our uniqueness, also moved on righteous men of old to author the Bible.  Personally I do not find anywhere that I or anyone else is exempted from any of the Scriptures.  

There are those who would argue that the Christian's shortcomings are license for others to live outside the guidance of the Bible.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Certainly we all make mistakes but that in no way obviates others from their responsibilities.  In fact that is the value of being in a Christian community for in failure there we find support and care.  Then too there is the support to be found in prayer as we pray the Scriptures. 

THE CHALLENGE OF/TO THE CULTURE:  As alluded to earlier, there is a problem.  It is that we are so surrounded by the messages of the media and academia that we either consciously and rationally or without giving it much thought have come to embrace things that are not acceptable to God.  The drift from what is right and correct is so gradual that it is imperceptible.   However, think back a few years to what was acceptable and what was not.  

Of course the Bible is the same as it always has been.  It did not change but we did and in that course of that change we have reinterpreted the Bible to be what we want it to be. The outcome is as one post-modernist writer put it, “…we see the demise of personal definition, reason, authority. . . All intrinsic properties of the human being, along with moral worth and personal commitment, are lost from view...” (Kenneth Gergen, The Saturated Self)

Is it any wonder that people live largely insecure lives, without a sense of direction, a certain fatalism, and an inadequacy in and of themselves.  Perhaps that is why those who have followed along with culture are so threatened by those with conviction.

THE CHALLENGE OF GRACIOUSNESS:  As the business owner who made the statement regarding the family, let us take our stand wherever we are located but let us do so in wisdom.

Let us do so relationally and not with criticism and rejection

Let us do so graciously not returning evil and insult for evil and insult

Let us do so welcoming the person while disallowing the sin

Let us do so with understanding not condemning for that it is God’s to do.

Remember Jude’s command, “save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear…”  In other words, some we confront others we persuade over time but to all we in some form witness.  (Jude 23).

"Fad of Faith or Balance"

picture from flickr.com

It was a warm day at Andersen AFB, Guam.  An official from the denomination of which I am a part and I were standing on the airfield control tower catwalk looking out over the field.  This man was a pastor to those who pastor local congregational pastors.  To say he had a strategic view of ministry in general and problems of those in ministry would be an understatement.
 
In the previous few years he had been involved in the discipline of two very prominent public religious figures.  These were men who had major international ministries and whose television ministries had touched millions worldwide.  Both had very different problems but both had failed and fallen under not just legal scrutiny but that of our shared denomination. 

As we visited he commented to the effect that the more he saw of Christian service the more he valued balance.  He certainly understood the meaning of what he had better than most.

Balance conveys the idea of equilibrium or "...be equal with... ...bringing into equilibrium..." and "...harmony between parts... ...balance of power..." (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php).  Balance synonymously shares company with words such as poise, steadiness, and stability.


For years the comment of this pastor has been at the fore of many of my thoughts and attendant concerns as there seems to be a need on the part of the Church general and the local congregation to chase one fad or another.  Yet, when we look at the Judeo-Christian Scriptures over and over again we see examples of those who have sought to do so and thus have been rash in judgement, extreme in statement, imbalanced in behavior, and/or have been carried about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14).

Notice that the Scripture just referenced does not suggest that it is errant doctrine.  It was just out of balance doctrine which at first they embraced and then as they became more and more involved it began to control them and carry them just as the wind carries a feather.

This is most troubling in that it involves not just the principles but those surrounding them.  However, those examples are provided for the warning of all who care to heed such.  In today's world there is no dearth of those who even when counseled and challenged do not pay attention and believing they have special light plunge onward in some doctrinal pursuit or another.

Some of the Fads of Faith I have observed are as follows.  There was the Charismatic movement which went and still goes well beyond the Scriptural models of doctrine and ministry.  Later there was the Grace movement and it seemed every one was publishing books on the subject of grace.  The Laughing movement.

Part of the Charismatic movement moved off into new revelation which was at times taken over the Scriptures just referenced.  The Inner Healing movement was popularized by a former President's sister while that President made being a saved Christian popular--somehow we never got around to the Lordship part of being a Christian.

While my Pentecostal theology is well in tact and based on the balances and principles set forth in Scripture, others made speaking in unknown languages necessary for salvation.  Yet others denied the validity of the experience and attendant practices.  The Prosperity gospel with its notions of material prosperity as an end is at this writing still influencing many.  Part of that movement is the notion "...what I speak will be so and I claim it to be so." 

Shall I go on?  There are those who have imported Eastern religion into Christianity and claimed "special" truth.  There is the Soaking movement that seems to be gaining traction, only time will tell where it will take many.  Of recent date I've been discussing with another the his notion that God's will is that all are healed. What has been left untreated in this posting is the various beliefs about the deity and/or humanity of Jesus Christ.

The sad truth is that people make these choices without giving any thought to the consequences and outcomes.  Certainly and has been said by many, "God gives you the power to choose but not the consequences."  It is those consequences that have carried many off into error and ultimately defeat of their faith.

This is not to disparage those who participate in these movements, for I am sure that most are good people who are seeking a deeper religious experience.  However, good people can be deceived as they follow religious tangents.  If one will look at the effects of many of these movements in the lives of people, one will find those who are hurt, disillusioned, and who feel disenfranchised--just plain left out because they have not had some "special" experience or some special "blessing."

As well, within these movements and those like them are the "special" and the "blessed" who have had this or that special experience or revelation of the "truth."  If great care is not taken, that specialness can lead to a spiritual smugness as one falls further into the deception of new revelation and new directions of "truth."

What is needed is a balance of faith.  Just as the pastor said on the catwalk that sunny day in Guam.  It is a grave error to suppose that one can dissect out any of the essential Trinitarian Orthodox doctrines from the others and then interpret the others by that doctrine.  Neither can one legitimately emphasize any one doctrine to the detriment or exclusion of the others.  This would be so much the more so with non-essential doctrines.

Even a cursory reading of Church history past and present will reveal an historical landscape that is littered with movements and those who have populated those movement that have tried to make such doctrinal dissections.  Even a cursory visit with those of the less developed world will reveal that these things do not work in their world.  They have no choice but to cling to the reality of a real faith and not wander off into speculative doctrine.  It seems to me that if it does not work in their world why should we expect that God ordained it for the western church?  Something is wrong!

Further consider that the genuine Christianity that has survived throughout the ages of Church history did perfectly well without these fads of faith, we then would do well to steer clear of them and chart a course back to the pure milk of the Word of God and bath that pure word in generous amounts of prayer.  It is then that the doctrines based upon those words of life, give life!  Living that close to and in conformity to the Scriptures may not be comfortable but it is in that place that we find the comfort of the One who inspired those Scriptures, the Comforter!