Attending religious services protects from major depression

That’s what the research is saying.

Researchers from the University of Saskatchewan, utilizing a 14-year study of over 12,000 participants,  revealed a 22% lower risk of depression for monthly attenders (hazard ratio 0.78, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.95), compared with nonattenders, after controlling for age, household income, family and personal history of depression, marital status, education, and perceived social support. The researchers believe that this may be due to attenders enhanced ability to regulate emotion.

So what does this mean? How do you respond to research like this? Below are my thoughts.

This isn’t surprising. In my own life, I’ve found that being a Christian provides me a way of viewing the world in order to handle emotional lows. When tragedy strikes, the Christian response is to still trust in God. In fact, sometimes tragedy causes more trust. And this brings me to an issue that some people have with Christianity; isn’t Jesus just a crutch? I’d say yes. Jesus is a crutch.

And he’s a good one.

There’s about 8% of Canadians struggling with major depression and lots more that deal with depression everyday. There are various legitimate treatment options that I don’t disagree with. But in the thought of preventative medicine, this whole church thing seemed to do okay. I’m not arguing against what a doctor prescribes. But here’s what I think we forget sometimes: we cannot simplify our bodies to neurons, synapses, and chemicals. We are more than a bag of atoms. We have souls. And those souls need God. Everyone needs a crutch. Everyone needs something, or someone, to lean on in times of trouble. And that’s who God is. We were created with a God-shaped hole that too often goes empty or gets filled with a false, unsatisfying “god”. But the real God doesn’t just give you a crutch to hold you up, He actually gives you a whole new life to live.

There are so many other topics that this brings up. Does this research justify putting student funds towards churches that are nearby University campuses? Does this give an evidence-based reason for the government to tell the public to attend religious services? How does this research fit into a church world which is about much more than a Sunday morning service? Can this put the ‘exclusive religions are destructive to society’ arguments to rest? Could this affect your life right now? Could you consider the benefits of attending a Christian service?

All in all, it’s some interesting evidence. It’s something worth thinking about.

Should you fear God?

Yes. And no. It’s more complicated than simply placing the Creator of the Universe in your list of top 5 fears.

Jesus, in conversation with his followers, said the following:

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7 ESV)

Notice something weird here? In one sentence, Jesus says “fear him…” yet in another he says “Fear not…” I told you this was a bit complicated.

When we think about fear, we don’t think about it in the same way Jesus’ audience would have thought of it. We think of being afraid, whereas those in the Jewish tradition think of fear as a reverence and respect. When God shows up in the Bible, people are often afraid at first, but then God reveals his character and they are told not to fear. A quick scan of all the different times “fear” is used in the Old Testament will help you learn more of this.

When Jesus says “fear God”, he is contrasting that with fearing people. You may be afraid of people at times – I know it’s a daily struggle for me. Fearing people means falling under their influence on the actions you take in your own life. It’s changing your computer screen off of reddit.com as soon as your boss walks in the room. It’s participating in a rumour filled conversation despite your inner feeling that you shouldn’t talk about others behind their back.

It’s called peer pressure when your a kid and people pleasing when your an adult. It’s the fear of people and Jesus wants you to have nothing to do with it. Rather, look to God. Don’t look for acceptance in people but look for acceptance in God. Don’t try to please everyone’s wish for you but instead look for what God has for your life. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t love your neighbour – I’m saying that your ultimate authority should come from God.

And when your ultimate authority is God, like Jesus says, that’s not something to fear. Think how God cares for you. Think how God loves you. Think of the gospel. The gospel is Jesus exchanging his perfect life for our imperfect one. We receive the righteousness, the awesome prestige of Jesus’ value, in exchange for our foolishness and flaws.

In day to day life, we should be applying this lack of fear of people, and increasing our trust and faith in God. When people look at you, they may think negative things, they may think “he comes late to work,” or “she isn’t as pretty as so-and-so,” or “he’s all about himself.” People can be mean. Here’s the mind-blow. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see inadequency, He sees awesomeness because He sees Jesus.

That’s an advantage to living life as a Christian – you have Jesus the Son of God in you. Yes, you still struggle, but you get the assurance that God will always love as He love His children. Next time your walking into a stressful fearful situation, it’s a good thought to lean on.

Is Jesus the only way to God?

Jesus is controversial. Really though. He’s got some beef with those inclusive-loving, everybody-goes-to-heaven lovey-dovey people out there. Here’s a couple quotes from Jesus.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. – from Matthew 7

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – from John 14

Not exactly your people pleasing Universalist. 

There are three appropriate reactions to these views.

1. Jesus is a lunatic
2. Jesus is a liar
3. Jesus is Lord

In order to determine which to arrive at, we should look at exclusivity itself. It’s not popular and that unpopularity needs to be combated with some cold, hard reason. A Christian using reason isn’t exactly blasphemy; Jesus used logic all the time.

Is an exclusive way allowable?

People in our culture get a little bit peeved at the idea of someone saying “my religion has the exclusive way to heaven.” Despite the fact that many religions do this, it comes across as arrogant and perhaps a defensive mechanism against some inferiority complex. People will proclaim that religion ought not share their exclusive views. They will say one of two things, either all religions are the same or there is no way to know what’s true. Often, they pull on an old Indian parable of some blind men and an elephant.

A bunch of blind men all touching different parts of the same elephant, or God, will each get different perspectives of the exact same elephant. The one touching the trunk will think of the elephant as a snake, the one by a leg – the trunk of a tree, the one by the side – a wall, and so on… 

The problem with this explanation is that the very point that it is trying to demonstrate commits suicide on itself as soon as the story begins. The point is “no one can have a view of the elephant or God that is correct” and then goes about explaining how different parts of the elephant (or God) look. It’s a story that tries saying “hey, you can’t be exclusive in your understanding of God” and then goes about providing an exclusive prospective of God. Even the person who says “God cannot be known by anyone” is providing a statement that is objective and excludes many religious adherents. Can you justify the exclusion of the exclusive? Can your tolerance of others spread to those who have intolerant views?

An exclusive way is allowable because we are all exclusive in our perspectives on God.

Is an exclusive way knowable?

I have some sympathy for people struggling with this question and in my last post before this one I struggled with the question on a personal level. Here’s a question for us though – what do we really know? A famous philosopher named Zhuangzi came up with the problem of the butterfly dream: how do we know we are not butterflies dreaming we are humans? In a dream, any scientific method and logical proofs are stuck within the dream; we have no way of truly proving we are not butterflies dreaming we are human. So even to say “I exist” we take a leap of faith.

I think it’s okay to do that… to take a leap of faith. We do it everyday. When I sit down in my chair I have faith that the chair can support my weight (but if I keep eating at Bomber more and more I may start to lose that faith). Faith is cool. It’s everyday’s reality. Don’t be scared of faith. But don’t be scared of reason either.

Let us reason together, how do we come to know what is true? Perhaps the media, perhaps science/reason, perhaps a holy book. I think it’s smart for us to come to a conclusion to this question. We must make a decision. The media and science may disagree – which do you go with? So have you arrived at a destination? What is your source of truth? Now that you know that, I must now again ask us to be reasonable. Let’s say you choose a holy book – why do you know that holy book to be the best source of truth? You can’t say it is because of the holy book saying so, that’s circular logic. Same with science/reason, you cannot prove that science/reason is the best source of truth without using circular logic. I hate to break the news to you, but there is no way to arrive at the best source from which to receive truth without taking a step of faith. Embrace it. Don’t be scared of faith. But don’t be scared of reason either.

Jesus is the only way to God

How did I come to the conclusion that Jesus is the only way to God? I already identified above that taking a leap of faith is necessary in most life decisions, and this is no exception. However, when we look at this question, and look at Christianity, I see four quick reasons that reinforce the idea that Jesus really is the only way to God.

1. Jesus’ outrageous claims deserve outrageous attention. If a country was looking for mass murderer and then someone walked into a police station saying “I’m that guy” wouldn’t it make sense to assess that guy instead of going through each member of the population alphabetically? Jesus said he was God, therefore it makes sense to assess him first.
2. Jesus’ way to God is testable. Within Jesus’ Christianity, faith in him is absolutely and admittedly useless unless Jesus historically rose from death (see 1 Corinthians 15). Disprove the resurrection and you disprove Christianity. The problem is that the evidence points to the resurrection being true – unmistakeably true (see the Resurrection of the Son of God, by NT Wright).
3. Jesus champions the most inclusive view of getting to God. Unlike other religions with their rituals, moral practices, and high levels of spirituality needed to enter their version of God/nirvana/etc.., Christianity has the most inclusive way. It’s open for all through faith alone. Faith is incredibly simple. We already established that you do it everyday. Christianity is having faith that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour; the God over all and the forgiver of your sins.
4. Jesus’ way is humbling. People don’t like those arrogant exclusive religions. That’s cool. Religious deeds, based on human effort and moral practice, when achieved, only make one more likely to look down their nose at lesser spiritual people. However, Christianity at its core is about humans saying we have no significance through our own efforts, moral practice, or religious rituals – it is through Jesus and Jesus alone. Christianity’s view on this is unique – and it leads to humility rather than smug arrogance.

In closing, know that we are all exclusive so we must allow exclusive perspective. Know that we all take faith leaps and cannot have anything fully proven. And know that Jesus’ way is humbling, testable, inclusive, and outrageous. Jesus said he was God – it makes sense to consider how to respond to that. Is he your Lord? Or is he a liar or lunatic?

It’s you who has to take the leap of faith.

I’m stuck with Jesus

Is it arrogant for me to think Jesus is the only way for heaven? Have you observed that the faith of a Muslim in their God is just as strong as my faith is in my God? So what’s the difference? Why can’t I jump on board with other religions and respect them like I respect my own beliefs?

I have four options at this point to: a) dismiss my views, b) ignore my views, c) delude my views, or d) keep my views.

I cannot simply dismiss my views because I have been internally convinced of the truth of the message of Jesus Christ. This stems from the answer to the question of why am I a Christian. It is because of two sets of reasons. The first set of reasons is the emotional, existential and experiential reality of the truth of Jesus/God. This is a personal reality that persuades a part of me that cannot be explained on paper.

The other reason why I am a Christian is the logical, empirical, historical, and philosophical side of the truth of Jesus/God. This includes the Kalam Cosmological argument, the historicity of the resurrection, and the moral argument for Christianity. These arguments alone do not lead me to believe all that I believe within Christianity. I cannot lean solely on logic because I know that logic on its own is meaningless. Simply put, there is no good reason to believe logic is the best way determining truth. There is no proof that leads you to the statement: all truth must be logical and proven. This statement sits on its own, as a belief in itself. So even in intense rationality – we need faith. And so I have determined that mere logic will not bring me to the complete truth, but both my emotional heart and my rational brain can lead me to the truth. And so far, that has lead me to Jesus.

I cannot ignore my views and act as if they do not exist because my views are too real to me. They motivate me, influence me, captivate me, and persuade me on a daily basis of their reality. Setting these views aside is not a practical option at this point.

To delude my views I could simply attach them alongside other religions. The views that I am speaking of are the good message of Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ created the world with God, humans are responsible for the way they turned from God, Jesus came into the world to turn people back to God. Is it possible for me to say that this way of Jesus is simply one of many true ways of viewing the world? Although people believe in different things, if I really do respect and admire Jesus [as God] I am always going to be tied down to him because of his message: “I am the way, the truth, and the life – no one gets to the Father except through me”. Yes, there are many ways but the ultimate way is going to be the one my God instructed. I can’t say to my God “oh good idea but my friend has his own thoughts so I’m going to try that out”. That would be dishonest. My views can’t be deluded in order to fit in with the views around me.

Keeping my views is my only option left. At this point in my life, there is no good reason to pursue another avenue of reaching up to God. God reached down to me! Within the world of disunion, I will continue to look to the triune God, and attempt to bring community to the world. Love God, the only God, and love people. I have no other choice.

Different religions for different people?

Imagine you’re the leader of a major world religion. You believe in being humble, kind, and compassionate. However, you know there’s a TON of other religions out there. So you say something like this:

That’s a nice thing to say right? Its humble and shows respect for other religions. “To each their own” right?

No. It doesn’t work like that. Hear me out on this.

When you say something like “there is no one religion appropriate for every type of people” you have just made a religious statement that applies to every type of person! I’ll repeat that again so you don’t miss it, if you say something like “there is no one religion the fits all people” you yourself go against the statement by making every person adhere to your [religious] beliefs.

Its false humility. It seems nice at first but its a religious statement that needs to have higher authority than any other religion (not less) in order to be true. Jesus Christ would be very offended by this statement, not cheerfully impressed. Yes, the statement that was meant to be respectful is actually offensive to Jesus. John, in the first century, recorded this conversation with Jesus:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I don’t think Jesus could be any clearer. One way: Jesus. Jesus is the only bridge that crosses the gap between you and God.

So my point is this, these so called tolerant, respectful, and humble phrases are actually arrogant, and self-righteous because they support their own words and not the words within other religions. It is not different than saying “my religion is better than yours”.

Now that you’ve read this far… let me entice you with another thought:

The Dalai Lama, and all other major religious leaders, have two things in common. 1. None of them claim to be God. 2. When they die, they stay in the grave.

1. Jesus is completely unlike these other leaders. Jesus claimed to be God (which is why religious leaders don’t like him… no one can match that authority!). This is a significant difference because it means that Jesus IS the TOP authority on ALL matters… or he was a liar or a lunatic… God, liar, or lunatic… those are your options.

He proved his Godhood by raising from death. Mohammah, the second greatest religious leader of all time, is dead. You can go to his tomb. In fact, do it yearly and you’re 1/5 Muslim. Jesus, who was publicly murdered, rose again and the tomb is empty! Jesus’ tomb is historically recorded –  Joseph of Arimathea donated it. And  it was guarded by the top soldiers of the day, but the tomb is empty! (Not to mention all the eye-witness testimonies.)

Now I’ll ask you this question, who do you think has the authority to speak on religious matters? The God-man who defeated death itself, or a “humble” moral man who has over 2 million followers on twitter?

Follow Jesus. He’s your leader.

But don’t do it on twitter. Real life works better.

Hey Christians, if I were bold enough, I ask us this [part 2]

7. Every Christian is a gospel minister; a good news spreader; a love enabled lover! The work of God is not solely done by pastors and priests. Infact, Biblically speaking a pastors job is to equip US to do the work of the ministry. (Eph 4)

8. The work of the ministry, that work we do, includes our work ethic, our hospitality to “outsiders”, our honest friendships, and especially our love. This is in our meal times, our bed times, our alone times, and our all the time times. Not just Sunday mornings.

9. Why aren’t we more thankful people? We have an incredible amount of things to be thankful for. Only in North American can we sit in air-conditioned buildings with music playing and complain about the squeakiness of our reclining chairs (again… another personal confession… I struggle with this a lot and by God’s grace I’m working on it).

10. Why don’t we forgive people like Jesus forgave us? What right do we have to hold grudges, or become bitter? It’s like getting your mounds of student debt paid for FREE but you still ask that guy for your nickel back. Really now siblings… let us compare things to the love of Christ to get real perspective in our lives.

11. Why don’t we apologize more often? Do we really believe we are the sinners the Bible says we are? Sin boldly! Let others know you have sinned and don’t be ashamed of admitting it! Unless you desire to keep your sin hidden under your mask of “good moral person”. We are not moral superiors to anyone! We should be the first to admit this, but why has pride griped us so closely!?

12. Why do we worry? If Jesus allows rain for the flowers to bloom, how much more will he provide for those he loves even more? Let tomorrow worry about itself.

Hey Christians, if I were bold enough, I’d ask us this. [part 1]

1. Do we realize Christianity is the most INclusive “religion” in the world? Jesus loves everyone. Even that socially awkward person. Even that professor. God said specifically the government and especially those who are poor. Why don’t we reflect this in our speech and action?

2. Hate is not the opposite of love. Apathy is. We should hate things; the deepest love will lead to hating whatever prevents love toward that thing in which we love.  Jesus hates a lot of things. What are things we should hate more?

3. Jesus is powerful. Why don’t we talk to him like he really is?

4. Jesus is real. Jesus is alive. We should let him directly influence decisions we make instead of giving him a “oh yeah I’m a Christian…” prayer every meal (well… only pray when we’re around other Christians right? Cause let’s be honest, we don’t need thank Jesus when we’re alone right? Or else we’d be doing that a lot more… Maybe this is just a personal struggle. Yeah, my prayer life is sporadic!)

5. “Church” is “rescued people”. The place we go to on Sundays is a building, with the church meeting there inside of the building. Please stop confusing these two very different things. Church is not a building.

6. Just because we say we’re “Christian” doesn’t mean we are. The Bible encourages us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Look at how you live you’re life… do you really see any fruit? Are you sure of your salvation? Know that it is God who works inside of you!

Often it seems, I’m not bold enough yet to actually speak truth to people and rebuke them like Jesus and the early disciples did. So I just write stuff down here, open it to the public and to you… and I hope you would consider the words – just as I do – cause I believe we need these words. We need reminders. We need rebuke. We need mutual exhortation.

Parts 2 and 3 will be posted over the next few days. You can subscribe by email or RSS feed using the link on the right.

“Love, Hope, and Optimism”

When death occurs around me I find it helpful to reflect on my own life. In the aftermath of Jack Layton’s death, it’s no different. To me, Jack Layton was a true Canadian leader. He inspired others with his passion and hope for the future. In his final letter to Canadians, he wrote this:

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

Inspirational.

And it causes me to reflect. How loving am I? How hopeful am I? How optimistic am I? And then it strikes me, and maybe the same strikes you… have I really accomplished ANYTHING in my life?

Jack Layton will be remembered for centuries… what of me and you? What accomplishments can ever compare to his? What can I ever do?

I’ve grown up hearing the words “you can do anything you want”, and the popular slogan of “you decide your future”… but these lines frustrate me. Why? Two reasons.

1. Because I tend to think of what I can do – rather than appreciating the works of others. Even now. Look at this blog post. I’ve made it all about me! How easily I focus on myself instead of others, although its likely only partly due to cultural slogans (I definitely deserve some blame for that).

2. Because I can arrogantly think I am the man who can do everything better than the other guy. Comparison is the poison which has infected our individualistic society by putting our personal report card marks next to “the average”. And that’s just one example. We love comparison. And it’s sickening.

So from this point on, I will try to love more, hope more, and be more optimistic. But what am I to do about my selfishness, my lack of appreciation, and my poison of comparison?

Let’s do this again. From this point on, I will love more, hope more, be optimistic, be selfless, be appreciative and compare less….. But now that I think of it… this all seems a little overwhelming…

This life is so much! One great man dies and can anyone take his place?!? The selflessness, the love for the common person… who is like this? Not I. I know I said I would not compare but the honest truth is that the bar has been set too high for me to reach! Call me a pessimist but I must say this: there are better men than me.

I simply aspire to more than I can achieve!

And you can tell me “be more optimistic”. But that’s the point! I can’t be optimistic all the time; sometimes reality gets to me. So yes. My aspirations and achievements do not line up. Surely I’m not the only one like this. We all are in the process of setting goals for September that likely won’t be kept past the third week of school.

And this is why I cling, with all the strength I have, to Jesus. Because to Jesus, my loving God, it is not about my achievements! It’s not about being the best man or the worst man… Jesus loves me because he loves me. That’s it. So that’s what I need to do. Believe in Jesus! He won’t love me more because of things I accomplish, nor love me less for failing to reach my goals. Its perfect love. And I can rest in that, be motivated in that, and tell others about that.

Jesus is my leader. Who’s yours?

Identity: in work?

By the end of this blog post, you will be asked to make a decision that will affect the rest of your work life.

Charlie Sheen once said “I try to be known more by my work than anything else.”

Everyone has to work a job at some point in their life; everyone thinks about how important work and work ethic is to them. So do you find your identity in your workplace?  This isn’t asking “do people know you have a good work-ethic?” – this is asking “do people know you for your work ethic more than anything else.”

This is identity. What defines you as a person? Is it how hard you work? This doesn’t need to be put on other people’s shoulders – you can decide for yourself what is most important to you.

From my experience, there seems to be two common choices.

One, you can use work to support your life. “Work is a means to get money/experience to support my life.” These people seem preoccupied at work, often texting or on facebook. They take long breaks, only work harder when the boss is around, and care about getting the day over with. When they get home, they complain about how long the day was and how much it sucked.

Two, you can use work to be your life. You can tell this person by their self-motivated dedication. They seem to be on a different gear than their co-workers. At work they take the extra steps to get the best job done, skipping breaks and working from home. They are keen for praise, and believe they are a step ahead of others – often gossiping about coworker’s lack of work-ethic. When they get home (often bringing work with them) they talk about how much they got done and how busy their life is.

Here’s the thing – although these are the most common people at work – they are both annoying to work with. The first person obviously sucks to work with – but you’ve already worked with this person. Lazy. Late. Leaving early. Taking short-cuts. You feel like you have to pick up their slack. You avoid them, you dismiss them, and you may even gossip about them.

Now the second person sounds nice at first – but they suck to work with too. You see, to these people the worth of a person is found in their work. This is a core belief which motivates them to work harder. But, with this comes the fact that people work less then they do. And now they have less worth. They are always pointing out what they did, and what they accomplished at work. Teamwork and collaboration is lost because they are so focused on getting the gold star from their boss. Because identity is found in how much they do, when coworkers do less it makes them inferior. This is prideful, arrogant, and big-headed.

There’s another choice.

There’s a third choice. And there is no cutting the first two choices in the middle. You need the motivation the first person is lacking without the prideful “I’m superior” of the second person. You need a way for that to happen. This way:

The third option. When you believe in the gospel of Jesus you lose any opportunity to say “I’m superior”. Your identity is found Jesus Christ, who did everything for you. No work that you did had an effect on Jesus’ love to save you. You do not gain his acceptance by your work – it is Jesus Christ who died for you. No prideful attitude is present when someone is believing in the gospel.

The motivation is found within the gospel as well. Jesus Christ is the second Adam, the first Adam was created with a purpose: to give glory to God through his life and work (see Adam’s job description in Genesis 2). This purpose was broken by the first Adam, as he decided to believe he was superior to God. The purpose was renewed in the Jesus Christ, who renews the purpose within us.

So believe the gospel. It is important to believe as it will affect how you act. You can go on believing work is just a means to money (and hate work), you can go on believing you are better than your coworkers because of your accomplishments, or you can believe that God made you to work – and Jesus saved you into a job agreement with him where you can never be fired.

For me – I often am the first person. I understand my problem but I’ve not yet overcome it completely. I struggle with belief sometimes. To be completely honest, I need God’s help on it. Even the co-op job I work now can just seem to be a means of further career paths – and yes, it may be. But believing only that just gets me into lazy, long-break, and late habits. I must believe this job has purpose – that I can serve God here in my job – and that is a better way to live.

The Christian life is one of constant belief and repentance.

Believe the gospel of Jesus, understand your identity, live life differently.

Hockey or Hell

Its simple really.

People are hopeful by nature. We need something to hope in – real or unreal. For some people it’s their career, for some people it’s Jesus and for others it’s a hockey team. This hope becomes your heaven. You are waiting for it; you want to experience it; your whole life will be built around this hope.

You will create hell when your false hope for heaven doesn’t come true.

Ever wonder why people seem to take the loses harder than they celebrate the wins?

Ever wonder why we desire more than we have; never finding true contentment?

Ever wonder why this world simply isn’t good enough?

Whether you like it or not, whether you believe in Buddha or hockey gods… we live in a world that isn’t good enough. We MUST hope for something more or else we can lose purpose altogether.

Go ahead… make that hope a hockey victory… make that hope a job offer… make that hope whatever you want. But I hope that you’ll have your hope in Jesus Christ. Because here’s the thing…

he’ll actually win.

Can Christians have slaves? Or kill people?

So in my last post a healthy discussion started between me and Ted. He questioned if the God of the Bible was really that loving. Since in the Bible it appears that God allowed humans to take slaves. I answered him in detail about why slavery was different then… and how Christianity actually caused the end of slavery. But… he asked this last question…

What Stops Christians From Taking Those Verses Literally Now?

I responded with the following:

What stops people from taking this literal now? Well, in order to answer that question my slave boy Tom will write the rest of the email. Just kidding!

Just to make the answer to this harder for me, how about God specifically telling people in the Old Testament to murder entire tribes and peoples. If God permitted that then shouldn’t a Christian feel approved to kill some other people group now?

Here comes the Christian theology that I said would be important before. God works through covenants, or agreements. These agreements are always initiated by God, to humans. Humans do not deserve these covenants (which always are gracious towards humans), as they are made after humans disobey/disrespect God. They are agreements for periods of time. The slavery, and killing of other nations happened within the covenant with Moses. Is it okay to enslave or kill other nations? Well, what do they deserve? Ever since the fall with adam and eve humans have been sinful towards God. Considering God made them, God has ever right to destroy what he has created. God, at times, does do this. Often he is patient, but he is also just/fair. So where are the rights of humans? Well… once sin occurs then they lose any previous rights. God used the Israelite people (in the Old Testament) as a rod of his judgement/justice. So that’s why they killed people – its what God would have done anyways but God used them.

Jesus brought in a new covenant. Within the new covenant the just acts of God are done by God only. So that humans/Christians become non-violent. In fact, they are encouraged to do good to their enemies. This behaviour of forgiving enemies, and loving those who hate, comes from the attitude of God himself who loves those who turn away from him (remember, all turn away from him when they replace God with their own priorities).

So long story short: people should not take those verses literally because it would be misunderstanding the greater story within the Bible. If you were to ONLY have the Old Testament and the Mosaic Covenant – then perhaps you could make a mistake of it – but that’s where Jesus comes in. 

Imagine you were to pick up the Lord of the Rings verse and jump to a section where Sam (a good guy) kills someone. You wouldn’t go around complaining about the immorality of Sam – you would have to read the context of the event and see if it is justified within the story of the book. The Bible is similar, you need to read it like a story and not be so quick to say “oh its the Bible therefore we must act out each verse”.

–

–

Comment. Respond. Share. Below.

We live in a material world. Are you okay with that?

My parents came back from Gauna yesterday. They went for almost three weeks. Half the team built a church and the other half taught English in nearby schools (two Catholic schools and one Muslim school). They did some amazing things; I’m quite proud of them serving Jesus!

My mom spoke of how different people’s “stuff” was over there. She had brought more clothes for herself on the trip then three women together mutually owned. And that wasn’t even all my mom’s clothes. This does beg the question:

Quote by Art Buchwald.

How are we supposed to live in such a material world?

Do we really need all the little items? Even as a University student in debt it’s easy to spend money on pointless things. Do I really need an ipod? Would it be that bad if I donated 50% of my clothes?  A slower internet connection? No cable TV? Going out for wings – is that really a good use of money? Beer can be awfully expensive too. Water is free for me but almost so difficult to get in poor parts of the world.

You know what’s tempting right now? Asking “what would Jesus do?” That’s the Christianity I grew up with. Live life like Christ because that’s what Christianity is all about. Right?

But if I’m honest, that question doesn’t help me. Jesus never needed to contact people over the phone. Jesus’ culture had their own fashionable attire that Jesus blended in with (unlike John the baptist, who forever will embarrass baptists with his awkward style of dress). Jesus would heal people, preach to thousands, travel around, teach lots, hang out with outcasts and ultimately prepare to die on the cross for the sins of many. I don’t live that life. I’m not Jesus. So asking “what would Jesus do” doesn’t seem to get me anywhere.

So what question will help? I think I’ve got one.

Who (or what) do you worship? or… What is most important to you in life?

Everyone has an answer to this question whether they say it out loud or not. The question is not if you are like Jesus (although that is important), the question is: do you love him? If you love Jesus (God) then you will build your life around him and his values.

This is also why theology (the study of God) is so important. Knowing who God is will help you make up your mind on what you should do. Here are things that were important to Jesus:

• Sacrificing self in order to best serve others
• Caring, healing, and loving the sick, the poor, and the oppressed
• Teaching others about God
• Knowing what God’s Word is (the Bible)
• Saving the world – primarily spiritually – through conversation and speaking
• Listening to and following God’s Holy Spirit
• Making disciples
• … and more (please comment on what I missed)

So, if you love Jesus, if you put him first, you will put material things in the back seat. With Jesus driving, material things become tools for Jesus’ mission. So the laptop that I’m typing on can be used to teach others about Jesus. And like the Jesuits many years ago, adapting to the cultural fashion around us can be beneficial to make more disciples.

I find this approach brings a lot of freedom AND a lot of responsibility. Yes. Freedom and responsibility can be friends. Freedom because you have tools, not rules. There’s no contractual obligation against electronics; everything is permissible. The guilt-driven approach is taken away. But your still responsible for your entire life. Unlike a more rule driven, or “Jesus would do this” approach, every single decision you make in life must fall in the context of love for Jesus.

If you truly worship Jesus, material things will be used for him. Love is the basis of your action, not guilt.

So yes, we live in a material world… but I’m not going to tell you that ipods are of the devil, beer is for the wicked and burn all brand-name clothing. That’s not Christian.

However, I’m going to tell you that not everything is beneficial. There may be some things you shouldn’t buy. You may need to get over your fear of human approval and contradict our materialistic, consumer driven culture. Before you make a decision to buy something, ask yourself if it will encourage a love for Jesus. Perhaps all you want to do is love yourself – but Jesus doesn’t call you to that. He calls you to his own nature, which is to love others.

So, in closing. Love Jesus. And remember where that desire comes from: God first loved us, so we ought to love one another.

Related (and strongly recommended) Reading: 1st John 2:15-17, 1st Corinthians 9, 1 Corinthians 10:23-33, Matthew 16:24-26, Acts 17:16-21, Matthew 25:42-45, John 12:1-8