Sometimes I find myself surprised if not down right cynical when it comes to matters of people attending church and who are stuck where they are at. That is, to say, that when you and I visit a church or join a church what is our criteria?For my wife and I (when we first got married) we had some important criteria before joining a church together (as a family) and wanted to worship God:
Are they a Bible believing church?
Do they believe in the Bible and use the Bible as their sold authority?
Is there any compromise to scripture?
Do they have a healthy, vibrant and clean children's ministry (this was important to us because 12 years ago my wife was pregnant and that was really important to her)
Are the children in a safe environment?
Is there accountability in preaching? in Teaching? and in oversight (are there elders, a consistory or a board)?
Is the preaching and worship relevant to our daily lives?
Obviously, we found our current church and loved (love) everything about it. We love the children's ministry, we love the preaching and teaching and the worship and we found our family in community.
As I get older (more cynical) I find myself in tongue in cheek conversations where I hear people say things like:
I like this pastor over these other pastors because....
I like this worship leader over other leaders because....
I don't really feel like the preaching or worship meets my needs....
The men's bible study is too early...why can't they have a different time or evening or daytime?
What's up with the youth these days?
I am not happy with this (fill in your blank)
The cynic in me chuckles to myself and asks the proverbial question(s):
Why do we go to church?
Who are we there to worship?
Is church about my needs and my wants and my desires or is it about my act of worship toward the One who paid it all (for me)?
Are we going to church because of a Mega Pastor or talented worship?
Lance and I were talking the other day about church leadership, church oversight, and mega-churches and their dilemma in legacy plans for who follows the footsteps of these leaders.
These leaders are where we have to honestly draw the line if we are true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Don't misunderstand me in saying this because I love our worship team and I love our pastors and my church and if you were to ask any of these pastors, elders and deacons and worship leaders (and they were worth their salt) they would tell you and I that it is all about Jesus and what the Holy Spirit does. What God has done for us and who we should be there to worship. FYI - our church is not small at roughly 4000 to 5500 between all the campuses.
Please do not take this as me being critical to mega-churches because I am not. There is a lot of biblical and godly preachers that depend on the word and Jesus only - I am not talking about these men. I am referring to those of us who come to be entertained instead of worshiping the one and true living God.
Knowing what He has saved us from, we should not have any other posture in corporate community except to serve and to pray and to worship together even if that requires us to be on our knees in prayer and thankfulness - we should do it!
In Part 1, I explained my departure from the church, belief in God and my worldview while I was an atheist. In Part 2 ,I explained how my new belief in science, logic and reason began to break down when faced with the real world, emotions and personal experiences. In this last section, I'll explain how I came back to Christ, really researched Christianity, the Bible and my faith and ultimately came to the conclusion that what I was really frustrated with...was religion, the modern Church and the hypocritical people who called themselves Christians.
To the outside world, Christians get lumped all together. You, Me and Jesus get lumped together with the Westboro Baptist Church, Creflo Dollar and Ted Haggard. When you or I go to invite someone to our church or share the Gospel message with them, we are contrasted with anyone bearing the name Christian who has hurt, gossiped, judged or turned their nose up at that person. It's really sad.
How have some churches and Christians departed so far from Jesus' messages and the disciples teachings to the early Church?
According to Lifeway research, "a majority of Americans believe in God but do not want to attend or be associated with a Church" because they feel that modern churches do not accurately reflect Jesus' message. Barna Group Research echoes this by stating that "a majority of non-church attending Americans believe the modern Christian Church is known more for all the negative things they are against", than the Fruit of the Spirit and Jesus' message of love.
Despite the early disciples best efforts to explain Christ's message and record it in writings, somewhere around 300 AD - the Christian Church started to implement many of the old, legalistic rules of the Temple Model back into Christianity.
The Temple Model existed before Christ and grants extraordinary power to sacred men in sacred places who determine the meaning of sacred texts and then tell followers how to live and worship God. The obvious flaw of this system is our own human fallibility and the corruption this system entails. Jesus himself cursed the hypocritical pharisees and the Temple Model of His day in Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness."
Despite Jesus curses and the early disciples explicit instructions, ultimately men twisted Christ's message and used religion for their own devises for hundreds of years. The Crusades, The Inquisition, and legalistic rules added for conformity and to give power to the few.
This was once my view of God, Faith and the Church and ultimately why I left. I went to church for 20 some years and mostly heard a list of "Do's and Dont's" act a certain way, look a certain way and look down on those who sin or don't have the same beliefs as our group. Of course it's not often said explicitly but that is the perception I was given.
I know not everyone has had this same experience, but I also know that I'm not the only one who had this same experience with the Church? I hear people everyday tell me the same story but they insert their own personal details and often pain and hurt from the experience. How did we get so far off the mark?
For hundreds of years, we relied on the Temple Model of sacred men in sacred places who read the sacred texts and told us how to live and worship God.
But somewhere around 1530, William Tyndale translated the Bible into the common language - English and for the first time, encouraged followers to read the messages for themselves. How did the Church react? Tyndale was convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation, after which his body was burnt at the stake. He was threatening the power of the Temple Model.
Despite Tyndale's efforts almost 500 years ago, most Christians today are assimilated into the Church, show up on Sunday and listen to the Pastor's message but rarely pick up the Bible and read it or research it for themselves.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great churches who are Bible focused and are doing a great job today in teaching people the Scriptures but I think we often miss the most basic message of Christ.
The arrival and sacrifice of Jesus signaled the end of the Temple Model and the start of something new.
Jesus showed up and threw the Temple Model out. Jesus raised the standards so high that no one could meet them except through Him. The Temple Model is a you-centered approach to faith and the heart of the Temple Model is this question: "What must I do or believe to make things and keep things right between me and God?" It's based on personal works and adherence to rules rather than faith and trust in God and works through the fruit of the spirit.
Jesus came to show us we should be other-centered, Christ-centered. Upward and Outward Focused, not Inward. Everything Christ taught is about love and truth, he taught compassion with compromising truth. He loved and showed mercy and grace to the sinner but hated sin and called us to turn away from it.
When the Early Church struggled with this very issue, Paul got so angry at people who were trying to insert the Temple Model into Christ that he wrote to the Church in Galatia - "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" Galatians 5:6
Forget everything else, if you miss this one - you've missed the entire point.
Instead of engaging in hundreds of rules for behavior modification and sacrifices for repentance, which is simply how to get more out of God for less obedience. With the Christ-centered model - we need to demonstrate, authenticate, and illustrate our love to God by radical service and love of other people - which in turn is obedience.
Trying to maintain the old Temple Model is no longer necessary and works ferociously against living, walking with and serving Christ.
I believe that my own struggles with faith and ultimately why I became an atheist was because I was raised in churches who unintentionally were keeping the Temple Model.
Once I broke free from this, read and researched the Bible for myself and felt the power of God's grace and love in my own life, everything changed. My attitude towards others changed.
The message is so simply. Love God, Love Others.
Christians get so caught up in theological debates, political debates and often times looking down at others that we forget Christ's most basic message.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13: 34-35
Imagine a world where people were still skeptical of Christians because of what we believe...but envious of us because of how we treated and loved others?
I respect my wife and serve her every chance I get, I love my child like I've never loved anyone before, I give my time and money to organizations I believe in, but I'm not much of a man (or so society seems to think). Here's why:I'm not a big sports guy. Motor sports, yes. The typical "ball in play" sports, not so much. I can't tell you how awkward it feels when I'm at work in the morning and people are talking about the game the previous day.
"What do you think about the game, Scott?"
*Awkward silence and crickets*
Me: "I like Formula 1 and Moto GP..."
This is when the crowd dissipates quicker than people headed to the local pancake house after Sunday service.
I own guns, but it has been years since I went hunting. I didn't grow up doing it. At the time of this writing it has been over 6 years since I climbed a tree stand. I wouldn't even know what to do with a deer, or any other animal for that matter, if I ended up getting a lucky shot. No idea how to clean those things.
So What Gives?
I'm not coming to you as an axe wielding, lumber jack beard sporting manly man. Sure, I have a beard but it's nothing compared to Brian Wilson (a reference that I, sadly, had to Google).
What I am writing to you as, though, is a man who realizes he is broken and who needs to find his masculinity in something greater than what team I follow, how much meat I bagged during last season, or what the latest trend says that a man should be.
That "something" I speak of is the man I use as my model and whom I strive daily to be like.
Christ has modeled for us what it means to be a man. I have yet to see any public figure show the humility and service that Christ has.
"You can't polish a turd."
This is a phrase that I constantly heard during my time in the service. It may sound crass, but it has a good meaning behind it. To relate it to this topic, I want us to realize that you may be able to dress a man up and give him all the riches in the world but it's what's inside that really matters.
If a man isn't right on the inside, no matter how much you polish him up on the outside, you're not going to make him a good leader, mentor, father, etc.
Who Are You Really Trying To Impress?
It seems like the definition of manhood changes as each generation passes. How we've gotten to the era of skinny jeans, I'll never know, but that's another story. Regardless, we should refuse to be defined by what's popular.
Paul addressed this very thing in his letter to the Romans, stating, "And do not be conformed to this world (or age), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove (or approve) what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans, 12:2 (NASB).
Let us constantly remember to keep our eyes on Christ and to use Him as our example of true manhood. Newsflash: You're always going to fall short of this! However, if you dedicate yourselves to constantly chasing after God and what pleases Him then I'll tell you that you've already got a leg up over the next guy who is trying to chase the newest trend.
Question to Think About:
- Have you ever stopped to think who your real role model is?
Saturday morning we were blessed to have one of church worship leaders lead our men's group at 6:30am. We were blessed also by the fact that he is the leader of our Reflectors Ministry also leading and beginning our mental health ministry. This man is a very special man, not just because he is a song writer, not just because he has a heart for the broken and the marginalized, not just because he loves the Lord with all of his heart, But because he is a humble man with truly many gifts!His name is Vinnie, and he was asked by one of our leaders to come and lead worship and to bring a message of his heart: REFLECTORS MINISTRY.
Enter his message on the 5 Stages of Changing our Attitudes:
Stage 1: Ignorance - Weaknesses and disabilities are a sign that God either does not care or is not able to fix the situation. In fact, they may be a result of sin or a lack of faith. God is not involved in the life of someone with a disability, because He can’t use people who are so broken. I do not know people with disabilities, nor do I know anything about disabilities. I have no interest in getting to know them or to know more about their life
Stage 2: Pity - I feel sorry for people with disabilities. It’s too bad, really. I am blessed by God and I can help others. I am grateful that my children are not disabled. People with weaknesses and disabilities obviously need someone like me to help them and give them meaning, due to their troubles. I really don’t see any meaning or purpose to their lives.
Stage 3: Care - Like me, people with disabilities were created in God’s image. By that virtue alone they have value. I hope that someone will take the time to show them God’s love, and I will happily support such an effort. In fact, I think we need to find ways to help those people. Maybe we should start a special church education class, or respite care for the sake of the parents.
Stage 4: Friendship: I have come to know and spend time with a friend who has a disability. This person has value in God’s sight, but also in mine, and I know that my life is better for having known this person, and as much as I have helped her, she has also blessed me. In fact, I now like to initiate relationships with people who have disabilities. God brings many different people into my church and community, including people with disabilities, and we all benefit as we grow in friendship with each other.
Stage 5: Co-Laborers - If God has called each of us to serve and praise Him with every fiber of our beings, then He has done the same for our brothers and sisters in Christ with disabilities. I think ministry should not just be to people with disabilities, but with or alongside people who have disabilities. Together, we will encourage and equip each other, with and without disabilities, into every good work to respond to God’s call on our lives. We can all give and we can all receive.
There were two passages that were very relevant to his heart in sharing these 5 stages:
The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The Parable of the Great Banquet (Luke 14)
15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”
When you read these stories, if you profess the name of the Lord Jesus as Savior, you should feel the Spirit move in you with a heart of compassion and the desire for the need is great and the workers are few to harvest the field. The reason why these steps were so relevant to our men's ministry is because Vinnie asked us to take a hard look at where we are, not just with special needs, but with our outlook on people in general and in where we are at in our life and what stage in each of those situations we are at - this was a huge question and great topic for our small groups when we pray for each other and share from the heart.
There were other verses that Vinnie raised for our pathway to care and discipleship:
1 Corinthians 12:12New International Version (NIV)
Unity and Diversity in the Body
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
Love in Action (Romans 12)
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord.20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
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When it is all said and done, we should be left with three things to do for Jesus:
Go- Jesus tells us to go and make disciples. Go and grab people (who are broken and in need of the Good News: Jesus Saves) and go unto the highways and by ways and fill his house for the great banquet
Compel - build relationships with these who are lost and in need of healing and love and community. Compel them with the love of Jesus and what He has done for us. Build relationships through friendships and co-laboring with others to serve and seek those who are lost and broken.
Full House - Fill his house, by doing His work. We are called to share the love of Jesus by loving others. By truth in love. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life and that no man cometh to the Father but by Him.
In Part 1, I tried to give you my frame of mind when I was an atheist and why I left my faith and the church. In this post, I'll share how my atheism broke down and ultimately failed me and how I discovered that what I was really frustrated with, was religion and the Church.
My initial reaction was to write a long, voluminous diatribe trying to explain, in explicit detail, every possible angle to this post as I know many atheists will attack me, these post and my stance. But in the interest of the reader and not dredging up the same debates, I decided to keep it short and leave a lot out. That being said, I know atheists will attack my rational in this post but this is further evidence of exactly the point I'm trying to make. When I was an atheist, I believed that religion is irrational and dangerous and therefore took the approach that anyone who believed in religion needed to be discredited by any means. This meant mocking religious believers and leaders, proclaiming their religious institutions as irrational, and seeking to discredit the Bible by any means. All civility was tossed out the window in order to debate that my point of view was superior.
My atheism worked well for me in my controlled environment but my sole reliance on logic, science, and reason began to break down when I utilized it in human relations with other people in a not-so-logical world, especially in relationships where emotions like love were involved. In hindsight, I now know from neuroscience that although logic, facts, and science are helpful - ultimately the human species makes decisions based on emotions not logic and I found that trying to apply logical and scientific reasoning to the thousand or so decisions I needed to make everyday was not only futile but ludicrous to try. Inevitably, we use "thin slicing" in our decisions and it's difficult, if not impossible, to always remain logical and unbiased.
As previously stated, I also experienced that my atheism made me more confrontational if not militant towards my fellow mankind, specifically those who believed in God and faith. Rather than just living my life (happy in my logic and science) I felt the need to attack, belittle, and debate those who did not share my views. I wanted to prove them wrong thus making myself feel intellectual superior and elevate myself above their irrationality, when in reality, most people perceived me as intellectually arrogant and egotistical.
My atheism ethos often challenged believers to prove the existence of God which I would then debate incessantly in the form of disqualifying all their claims based on the grounds that they could not be proven using modern scientific principles and laws and thus were irrational. But as an atheist, I now realize that I simply replaced my beliefs and faith in God - to belief in science, logic and reason which in itself was making a bold intellectual commitment of faith about the nature of the universe, and I made this "leap of faith" while denying, in science, the same type of insufficient data. As Bill Maher once said on Real Time, “many atheists trade faith in a deity for faith in secularism.”
Ask yourself this question: Throughout human history, has science ever been wrong?
A PhD in Zoology and Professor of Biology for over 30 years at a leading liberal university told me, "Science is what we know about the natural world, given the amount of data available at that time in our human history. Scientific advances in the past have proven everything we know and thought to be fact at the time...wrong. We could make a scientific discovery next week that proves all of our textbooks and theories to be dead wrong." This professor, despite studying evolution for over 30 years, is a Christian.
Plus, there has been more than one study that has shown that even science is incapable of research bias. Most scientific research gets skewed by researchers because of their need for career advancement, funding for research programs, and competitiveness for staff and research facilities.
So putting my faith in science, logic, and reason was really not empirically true and free of outside bias. As Bill Maher alluded to, I simply traded religious mysticism for scientific mysticism.
A Freethinking Society Would Advance Humankind?
I often hear, and thought myself at one time, that if we could rid ourselves of religion and God, our society would be free to advance and evolve based purely on science, logic and reasoning.
In studying countries and societies who were atheist, the exact opposite happened.
Peter Hitchens, brother of outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens, spent a lot of time in the Soviet Union towards it's end. “Godless society was sobering." He wrote of the riots that broke out when the vodka ration was cancelled one week; the bribes required to obtain anesthetics at the dentist or antibiotics at the hospital; the frightening levels of divorce and abortion under their atheist rules. It was not Utopia. Mankind did not advance. Government sponsored killing and human rights violations escalated. In fact, China (a supposedly atheist society) despite being a technological powerhouse in the world, is year after year #1 on the list of government sponsored deaths and human rights violations.
Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stated it this way "But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened"
What's Love Got To Do With It?
Furthermore, my atheism ran into challenges of the heart. As a atheist, I had to prescribe to the idea that humans have no soul, and we are merely evolutionary advanced animals, so love is nothing more than instinct or hormones.
When a mother, father, husband or wife feels love and says, “I love you,” the atheist says they are not expressing anything metaphysical or spiritual. In fact, the atheist believes, they are just verbalizing their instinct to preserve their species or having increased hormones. Wouldn't that sound great on a Hallmark Card?
If we have no soul, then there is only the bubbling of the brain. Love is only a response to stimuli and hormones. Tell that to your wife or girlfriend!
The problem for atheists, is that majority of humans claim that they do feel love in mystical and spiritual ways. Anyone who has ever been in love can attest to this and our sometimes irrational thinking because of it. Christians believe that is because our love is connected to our soul and our soul is a metaphysical reality that assumes the existence of God, or at least the supernatural and points us back to our connection with God, our creator.
I've yet to find someone who has been alive more than a few decades who has not had at least one metaphysical, spiritual or supernatural event in their lives that cannot be explained using the laws of science, logic and reason. Despite what you or I have felt or experienced, my atheists friends claim this is just a momentary lapse of irrationality or that millions of people are just psychological delusional.
I Can't Change, Even If I Tried.
What I found profoundly fascinating (yet its not talked about in atheist and many scientific circles) is that science itself is actually seeing more and more evidence of God and Intelligent Design, specifically in chemistry and in the study of DNA. British philosopher, Dr. Antony Flew, was once a leading spokesperson for atheism and actively involved in debate after debate. However, recent scientific discoveries in the genome project have lead him and many others to question their atheism. Although Flew did not become a Christian or accept Jesus, he did admit he believed in a God. Researchers today are learning that DNA is so complex and contains such a specific, written code that if one mistake was made, we'd be a different mutated species altogether. Our DNA code is compared to the most complex computer program ever written, and in science and technology, a complex computer code has never existed unless it was designed, programmed or coded with an intelligent mind behind it.
Cognitive scientists are also becoming increasingly aware that a metaphysical outlook may be so deeply ingrained in the human psyche, that it cannot be expunged. While this idea may seem outlandish to my atheist friends —after all, it seems easy to decide not to believe in God—evidence from several scientific disciplines indicate that what you actually believe is not a decision you make for yourself. Your fundamental beliefs are decided by much deeper levels of consciousness, and some may well be more or less set in stone. This line of thought has led to some scientists claiming that “atheism is psychologically impossible because of the way humans think,” says Graham Lawton, an avowed atheist himself, writing in the New Scientist. “They point to studies showing, for example, that even people who claim to be committed atheists tacitly hold religious beliefs, such as the existence of an immortal soul.”
Hmm...God is so deeply engrained into our being that no matter how hard we try, we still feel his presence despite all our logical thought processes?
"Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?" - Psalm 139:7
"No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." - 1 John 4:12
"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13
In the Part 1, I explained that these posts were not meant to be an apologetics study or debate of atheism versus faith but my own personal journey. Although I've spent some time researching a lot of the arguments for and against the authenticity of the Bible, the existence of Jesus, and if he really was the Christ or Messiah - There's a lot of evidence, historical writings, anthropological digs, etc. that we could spend hours debating, but I think one of the most compelling arguments for myself and my own faith, has been the early church and the disciples of Christ.
I often hear and believed myself that the Bible we have today and ultimately religion was developed by man in order to control and wrest power from the masses. We could argue that in the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine envisioned a way to garner the support and conformity of the people and put the Bible together, along with other pagan rituals, in order to accomplish this. But none of this stands up to scrutiny or makes logical sense when you go back to the original disciples of Christ.
We now have evidence and fragments of the New Testament dating to within 30-50 years of the death of Christ, some 200 years before Constantine and the Council of Nicea. The writers of the New Testament (through scribes) were the original followers of Christ, the disciples, and they spent the rest of their lives in poverty, persecution, humiliation and were ultimately tortured and killed for professing what they had witnessed with and through Jesus Christ. In the case with Saul/Paul of Tarsus, he went from hunting and killing Christians, to becoming one of it’s biggest spokespeople after Christ had been killed and resurrected. In the same vein, James the brother of Jesus, did not believe until after Christ was resurrected. If Jesus resurrection was fake, why did these men change their beliefs entirely after Jesus was killed and go one to spend lives in persecution and ridicule?
If Jesus or his divinity was conjured up, as some claim, what did these early followers gain? Why would these eyewitness observers be tortured and die for fiction, with seemingly noting to gain?
The early disciples' prolific writings exist as a historical source. These writers also took the subversive actions of writing to women and slaves rather than pandering only to men, which would hardly have made their writings popular according to the culture of the time. Yet we still have these writings preserved and available as well as outside accounts of Jesus from other historical sources. The early disciples did almost everything wrong, according to the culture of the time, in trying to create a following or movement.
So if it was all made up, what did they gain?
These early disciples were pursued and hunted by the religious and government leaders of their day. Yet their lives, actions, writings and ultimately deaths gives us further evidence of their quest for truth and accuracy in proclaiming what they witnessed rather than creating popularity, control, power or a large following.
In Part 3, I finish my story by explaining how I discovered that what I really was frustrated with, was religion and the Church and how despite the early disciples and churches best efforts to keep religion out, eventually the old Temple Model crept back into Christianity and caused a lot of bad things to happen in the name of God and religion.
I'll leave you with one finally thought. If Jesus was not the son of God and even more God in human form and was just some guy killed 2000 years ago by the Romans. If this was the biggest lie ever sold, why hasn't it faded into history? Why are we still talking and debating him today? Why do more people attest positive life changes and supernatural events occurring from reading His book and experiencing His presence in our lives?
"But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.35 Then he addressed the Sanhedrin:.......38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” Acts 5: 34-35, 38-39
If I were to look at the church from the outside in approach (as not being a Christian) in most American churches I would most like being skewed and left with hypocritical opinion of the church. That is, to say, that I would probably ask why do I need God if Christians continue to do the same thing that they did before and continue to sin and keep on sinning. I would say how can they judge me when they keep doing the very things that they say that they are saved from.If I were to look at most men in these churches in America, I would be disappointed by the statistics that compare the world to them, meaning there probably wouldn't be much difference.
If I were to be real with these American churches that were just lukewarm, I would look to the book of Revelation and say to them what Jesus said to one of his churches about being lukewarm - he would rather have that church be hot (on fire for Him and His will) or cold (worldly) instead of lukewarm (which is like vomit in His mouth).
Based on the way that some Christians live, some in the world can conclude that the salvation of that church (living like the world) is like a lottery ticket - meaning that they can be "saved" and also live like they used to live by continuing to keep living the same way as before (this is the world's view). I would caution any church against living a lie such as this...you will be held accountable by misleading others.
Let's test that against Scripture:
Romans 6 English Standard Version (ESV)
Dead to Sin, Alive to God
6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free[b] from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,[c] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Salvation is a free gift from God. The cost of discipleship, however, is a life time process that we strive for as His children through our lives to have our sanctification finally completed by His return.
Please understand this point: Works is not a means to salvation and never will be. The Book of Romans states: Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Bottom Line: No matter what we do, can do or will do, works will never be good enough to earn our way into heaven.
So now I say to the churches that are neither cold or hot, but rather lukewarm. To the churches that compromise biblical truth because of family circumstances and/or worldly convictions and/or worldly condemnation - do not compromise the Bible, do not bend the truth do not accommodate the world's desires if it jeopardizes God's truth!
Some of you may read this and think that I am saying to then persecute those who sin. Stand firm and hate both the sin and the sinners that are transgressing the body of Christ - that is not what I am saying at all. I am speaking to the Church that is lukewarm and not following Christ's will. I am asking them to stick to the truth, to trust the Lord with all their heart and to lean not on their own understanding. To acknowledge the Lord in all that they do and He will make their paths straight. To the church that is cold - Repent! To the church that is lukewarm - Repent!
If the world is asking me to compromise Scripture to be accepted by them, then I am going to deny myself to the world and trust God! Really it is a simple choice. A humble reminder to everyone is that ONE DAY there will be a judgement! One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
Either you know Him and He will testify about you to His Father. Or He will deny you and say depart from me for I never knew you. Some of the churches may be just doing that - playing church and denying the very existence of why we need a perfect Savior (just going through the motions - these are those that Jesus talks about that will say Lord, Lord and He will say to them, 'depart from me for I never knew you').
Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and follow him. Scripture tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Jesus tells us that the world will persecute us just as they persecute Him. If I am going to error, then I am going to error on the side of Biblical truth instead of the desire of the world's version of bent truth.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! What about you and your house?
f you have heard or read my testimony, you know that I was professing atheist for a few years in my early 20's. In this series of post, I'll dive specifically into why my atheism failed me and ultimately why what I really struggled with, was religion, not God and faith.
Many of you have heard me quote the poem, The 5 Watches, from time to time over the past eight years of being involved with Lance and this blog. Lance and I do believe that Character, Integrity, Honor, Courage, Honesty, Gentleness, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness and Self-Control are important to being a Legacy Dad. It is important because that is the call of the disciple of Christ.Many of us, do to the the lack of time, over-commitments, laziness and/or fill in your blank: _________________, do not always measure up to these demands and some may even feel overwhelmed by the God's call for our lives. I think if we are honest and really reflect back, I would believe that a majority of us would realize the answer: It's not because God couldn't do this for us, rather, because we got in the way - we tried to do it on our own. That is, to say, that we gave him a little of our day (our schedule, our sin, and our lives) but we didn't give it all to him.
The poem that I often quote is this:
Watch your thoughts,
for they become words.
Watch your words,
for they become actions.
Watch your actions,
for they become habits.
Watch your habits,
for they become your character.
Watch your character,
for it becomes your destiny.
How about the 5 W's of the Christian Walk:
Who do we worship? (God or god(s) defined as idols that take our attention from who we should worship: God
What do our lives tell others what our priorities our?
Where does our faith belong (where is it currently? do you have faith in God?)
When do we believe God (does he really mean His will be done, His abundant life for us?)
Why should we serve God His way and not ours (not when we want, not how we want, but instead reading His word and serving Him the way that He requires in all of our lives)
What can we do to change our perspective our religion? When I say our religion, I am defining it as this: Our religion is that which is what we only take away from reading the Bible (meaning if there is somethings that convicts us or causes us the desire to repent and we ignore that part). Our religion being defined as we are allowing ourselves to serve both the world (and our own special interests) and God instead of serving him in all that we do. Our religion being defined as when it is convenient for to serve Him and others instead of when He wants us to serve.
Pure religion in the eyes of the Father is that which looks after widows and orphans and turns away from the ways of this world. God's religion is for us to Trust in the Lord with all of our hearts, to lean not on our own understanding, but to acknowledge Him in all of our ways. And He will make our paths straight.
Obviously, we found our current church and loved (love) everything about it. We love the children's ministry, we love the preaching and teaching and the worship and we found our family in community.
Lance and I were talking the other day about church leadership, church oversight, and mega-churches and their dilemma in legacy plans for who follows the footsteps of these leaders.
