Thoughts, Speech, and Grace

  

Whenever we speak and whenever we act, we are doing so, hopefully, with the best of intentions. We speak or act those things that we believe to be the best word or action for the moment we are in. But far too often, this is not actually the case because we are very limited in our wisdom and understanding.

Realizing this, we should be far more gracious toward others. We can easily see, and critique others mistakes but, for some reason, we want grace and sympathy from others when we err. Our grace to others should far, far surpass the grace we give to ourselves.

Truth in the Arts

 

Over the years I have argued for the importance of truth in art. Every song, every story, every movie, every sculpture or painting or photograph needs to be true. And when I say true, I don’t mean ‘historically accurate’, I mean that the story that is being told by the work of art must be foundationally (or to use a technical term, metaphorically) true.

For example, the “Lord of the Rings” books are true works of art. Obviously, they are not historically accurate but the foundational story that they tell is true. When a work of art is true, it faithfully represents human nature, it exists in a world in which evil is truly evil and has ultimately been defeated and God is in control.

This is the real danger of American culture. So much of the music that is made, the books that are written and the movies that are created do not tell the truth. When we subject ourselves to a steady diet of untruth, we are shaping our thinking to align with falsity. We are slowly confusing ourselves and moving ourselves away from the pursuit of holiness.

We have one thing to do in our time on this planet, we are to love others. That’s it. That’s all. And by all means possible, do not let the worldview of American culture define “love” for you. God is love, not lust, not emotion, not happy feelings. To love someone is to do what you can for them that will move them toward holiness.

Life, Death, and Eternity

 

It is unfortunate and misleading that our existence after death is so often presented as terrifying and dark. So much of what is believed about our state after death was fabricated in the last 500 years by those who did not understand the nature of God and the nature of his relationship with man. Jesus Christ, because of his resurrection and ascension, defeated the power of death, freeing us from its grasp.

Our state after death is based on two things. First, our life after physical death is eternal. Death was defeated so death will never overpower us. We will never cease to be. Second, the way that we choose to live our lives in this lifetime will form our souls into the state we will be for eternity. If we have chosen to serve only ourselves, if we have chosen to seek after pleasure, and if we have chosen to ignore the pursuit of holiness, we will endure an eternity in the presence of the one holy God that will feel unbearable. If we spend our mortal lives ignoring God and living in selfishness, our eternity in the immediate presence of the one holy God will be contrary to how we have formed ourselves.

When we read of an eternity in the fires of hell, it is important to remember that this is a metaphor, an illustration to help us understand how unholy men will feel in the presence of holiness. It is not literal fire, it is not suffering at the hands of demons, and it is certainly not suffering under the wrath of a vengeful God. God is love and the suffering we will endure will be because we neglected to receive the love and relationship that he offers us.

Our state after physical death is eternal life, temporary disembodied but eventually reunited body and soul. But the quality of that experience is our own responsibility. Whether our eternity feels like heaven or feels like hell our eternal state is simply the fruit of a lifetime of response to the love of God.

Self Assessment and Judgment

     Take a thorough look at your life and assess if you are growing or not. Do you see change in your life? Do you see yourself becoming stronger, smarter, wiser, or more loving? Has your thinking changed since you were in high school? Are you less judgmental and more considerate? Do you have sympathy for others and their shortcomings? Do you judge yourself more harshly than you did when you were younger?

    A life that is changing in comparison to one that is not, can be likened to a river that is flowing, shifting, changing and finding the best path versus a pond that only sits stagnant and generates scum.

Identifying Christian Belief and Practice

 

If someone said, “I believe that the rules for the NFL are “x, y, and z” and someone else says, “No, you’re wrong, they are “a, b, and c”, only one of them is correct but they could both be wrong. Why is that? Because those who are the actual authorities over how the NFL is defined have clearly articulated the rules. The understanding of and articulation of, those rules are up to just anyone but those in authority.

In the same way, when one group of people who call themselves Christians say that Christian belief and practice is “x, y, and z” and another group says, “No, you’re wrong, they are “a, b, and c”, only one of them is correct but they could both be wrong. How is this resolved?

It is certainly not resolved by appealing to “well, the Bible says this”, or “well, this is the way we have always done it.” One cannot simply appeal to the Bible because sin the Protestant Reformation, the idea of private interpretation has become the presumed right of every believer. But this, in itself, is a presumption that may or may not be correct. And as far as antiquity of practice goes, simply because one branch of Christians has believed and practiced a certain thing for a long time does not make it true.

I argue that we are approaching the question from the wrong direction. If we start at the beginning, we end up in a very different place. Beginning with the belief that Jesus Christ is a real person who actually exists, we can build an interesting argument.

1)      Jesus taught his disciples specific truths.

2)       His disciples, becoming apostles, took those teachings and began to teach others across the known world.

3)      That teaching became known as ‘Christianity’ and was embraced by some and rejected by others.

4)      That teaching, over time, began to be twisted and maligned so that the leaders of the church (a hierarchy established by the apostles), needed to articulate, and identify what actually was Christian belief. We see this in the seven ecumenical councils of the first eight centuries of the church.

5)      Jesus promised his followers that he would not leave them alone but would give them the Holy Spirit to guide and protect them.

6)      Jesus promised his followers that hell would never prevail over the church.

So, we have to ask, because Jesus said and did these things, do we believe what he taught them about faith and practice, and do we practice these things ourselves?