Extreme Makeover ?

What if you spent one year following every rule in the Bible? A. J. Jacobs did exactly that. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20910659/site/newsweek/from/ET/

If ever there was a quest doomed from the beginning- this is it! I have yet to meet anyone (myself included) who can honestly say that he has obeyed the first ten! Let's go look at them in Exodus.

The Ten Commandments (God's good person test). Exodus 20:1-17

Here's how it works:

1) Choose any three numbers from 1-10.
2) Reference those numbers in the list below. Be sure to read the comments included with each, then ask yourself "have I ever broken this commandment?"
3) Scoring will be a simple pass/fail on each one- God does not grade on a curve.

1
And God spoke all these words:
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
"You shall have no other gods before me.

What other gods do you have in your life? Your house, car, spouse, job, bank account? Or sports, TV, recreational activities. Do any of these hold a higher place in your life than God?


2 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

People I talk to try to define God in terms of their own preferences "The God I worship would/would not- fill in the blank." Any time man tries to define God in his own terms or frame of reference, the result always looks like the person doing the defining. This is idolatry pure and simple. God is God and I am not!

3 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

What did you say the last time you smacked the nail right on your thumb with the hammer, or someone cut you off in traffic? These days, the most common way a child hears "Jesus Christ" or "God" used is in a string of swear words.


4 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

On the surface, this looks like an easy one, a day of voluntary rest- who can't do that? Do you make it a holy day dedicated to communion with God your creator, or do you use it to worship your other gods- see question 1 above?


5 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Oof! another one that looks easy on the surface, but what have you done to honor your father and mother lately, or have have you even said "hello" or "I love you" lately. It isn't just the younger generation that is disrespectful these days.

6 "You shall not murder.

Finally an easy one- right? Very few people I talk to have commited murder- but.... How about that person who cut you off in traffic, or the one who cheated you out of hard-earned wages? In the Sermon on the Mount (Mathhew 5) Jesus said that being angry with someone is the same as commiting murder in your heart. More about this one later.

7 "You shall not commit adultery.

Again, in the Sermon on the Mount... If a man(or woman) looks at a man (or woman) lustfully it is the same as adultery in the heart

8 "You shall not steal.

Even so much as a paperclip? "In for a penny- in for a pound"

9 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Some equate this one with lying, I think it is more akin to gossip.


10 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

It seems like our favorite pastime is keeping up with the Jones'. Nuff said.


Honest answer now- how did you do? Yeah, me too!

If you chose questions 3, 7, and 9 at the beginning, then in God's eyes you are a blasphemous, lying or gossiping, adulterer at heart by your own admission.

If you chose 2, 5, and 8, then you are an idolatrous, disrespectful, thief in His eyes.

About now somebody is saying "Hold on, you can't judge me like that! You don't even know what my answers were!"

First off I am not judging anyone- that is why the test is "open-book" (I did not write the book- I just read it and believe it). If you answered the questions honestly, you have judged yourself in God's eyes.

Second, I don't have to know your answers because I know what my answers were, and you and I are the of the same nature.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote:

9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15"Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16ruin and misery mark their ways, 17and the way of peace they do not know." 18"There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3: 9-18

About here is where people want to tell me "well, everyone does it". Yep, everyone does do it- that does not make it acceptable in God's eyes.

Again in Romans:

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23

and the net result:

For the wages of sin is death... Romans 6:23a

We are presented here with a delimma- we all have broken God's commandments and deserve God's just punishment-death.

What can we do about our problem?

The answer will be in the next post.

Believe What?

I meet people every once in a while who claim to be atheists. Interesting term a(no/not) theos (god), but logically unproveable. Claiming that there is no God is like claiming that nowhere on the face of the earth (or any other planet in the universe) is there a stone that is exactly square, 1 foot per side, made of granite with stripes on one side, circles on the next, and triangles on the other four sides. One problem is that nobody has been everywhere in the universe to see if God exists, except for God himself! From the standpoint of human experience and scientific observation nobody can claim that God does not exist- so the term atheist has no real meaning. Another problem is that of defining the characteristics of God, thus my rather whimsical description of the square stone. From human experience and scientific observation it is impossible to describe or define God- no man has looked at God directly and lived to tell about it. Luckily, those of us who believe in Him have a description of God and his character written down for us in the Bible.

If there logically can be no such thing as an atheist, then what are we left with? In terms of human experience and scientific observation we can only say we don't know, thus the term agnostic- a(no/not) gnosis (knowledge). There really can't be any such thing as an atheist, but boy there sure are a whole lot of agnostics! If one can admit that he doesn't know, then he must also admit that he can know- if he looks in the right place. I have found that the Bible is a good place to start looking

I have observed that there are several types of agnostics and will try to describe and define some of them here.

First there is what I will call the basic ignorant agnostic. I do not intend the term ignorant here as a slight or insult, but merely as a description of the one who- through no particular fault of his own- just does not know that God exists, or who He is. This person just can't seem to put the concept of God together in his mind, even though he has ample witness in the very existence of himself and the whole universe around him. The Psalmist has said:

1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19

The ignorant agnostic is capable of seeing God, he just needs a nudge or two from someone who does believe and knows where to look, then God will reveal Himself to him.

Then there is the unconcerned or apathetic agnostic, who sees the works of God's hands every day, but for some reason just isn't moved by the beauty of God's creation and the stunning complexity of nature- even his own body. David said of himself:

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139
Maybe this agnostic is too caught up in the trials and cares of this life to appreciate this life, but the apathetic agnostic is still capable of seeing and recognizing God, if someone who does believe cares enough about his neighbor to invest time and energy and love into him and point him to the God who made him and loves him without limits.

Next is the unconvinced or searching agnostic, the one who has seen the works of God's hands and honestly and carefully examines the evidence, but is just not convinced, yet. Maybe he is put off by the confusion of claims put forth by others who think they know God, but are really serving empty philosophies or impotent idols. This person has a problem seeing God because he has a distorted frame of reference caused by too much information and not enough substance. Paul described him this way: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.2Ti 3:7

I respect this type of agnostic the most because I was once in his shoes- see the previous post. I believed because believers who loved me spent time on their knees beseeching God to draw me to Himself. Because of those prayers God pursued me relentlessly with his Word and his Holy Spirit until I just could not run any more.

Unfortunately there is another type of agnostic, the one I will call the intentional or wilfull agnostic. This is the one who does not want to know that God exists, who will grasp at any excuse, put forth spurious arguments, make up any kind of fable or lie to deny the existence of God in spite of any evidence he is shown. He will mock anyone who does believe in God and claim to be so intellectually enlightened as to not have any need of God. From his self-erected tower of enlightenment he will look down his nose in scorn at anyone who dares to put forth evidence for God's existence.

This is the person the Psalmist described this way:

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. Psalm 14:1

Pretty harsh words, I know, but the last time I looked up the word "fool" in a dictionary this was still listed as one of the definitions.

I think the key part of the description is that the fool says in his heart (not in his mind) that there is no God. Following the observable evidences in nature (God's Creation) always leads an honest thinker to the existence of God. Now, some would put forth different theories of how the universe was created (Darwinistic Evolution, etc.), and I will state thoughtful scientific objections to these theories in later posts because I classify them as adult fairy tales that require much more faith to believe than the Bible does. For this discussion I prefer to comment on what it is in the heart of a man that causes him to deny the existence of God.

When you acknowledge the existence of God, or creator, it follows that man is subject to God and his will. The wilfull agnostic will not see himself as being subject to anyone. He will use the pretense of intellectual enlightenment to justify himself, his deeds, and his desires to anyone who will listen. He will follow the dictates of his own heart, without knowing one very important thing:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jer 17:9

Man's heart is the most deceitful thing that exists in this world and no man is capable of knowing his own heart without God's help:

I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Jer 17:10

The Apostle Paul had this to say about the wilfull agnostic:

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1

I have observed that those who deny the existence of God from the pretense of intellectual objections have something in their lifestyle that is in direct opposition to God's character (what the Bible calls sin) that they will pursue no matter what they are told.

So, friend and brother, what do you believe? Or do you believe anything? Or do you just not know what to believe? I can only urge you to sincerely and honestly seek to know God. He calls out to you from his creation. He calls out to you from the Bible:

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

...for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 1 Chronicles 28:9b

In further posts I will share how to look for God, where to find Him, and what the rewards are of knowing Him.....

I believe!

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6

People I talk to assume that I am a Christian because my family was Christian and I grew up in it. Nothing could be further from the truth. More about that later... First let me tell a little about myself now. I am 53 years old, married, with two grown children and three grandchildren (still counting). I am a customer service representative for a major manufacturer of airport ground service equipment. In my life I have completed three apprenticeships, electrical, millwright, and machinist. I am working on completing a degree in applied science.

I started out working in electric generation plants, where I learned every aspect of the process of generating electricity, from where the fuel and water come in one end to where the kilowatts go out the other end. I can sit down and write out all the formulas for how electricity works, and draw diagrams from memory of all of the equipment involved in the process. I can tell you why the light bulb comes on when you flip the switch on the wall and name several reasons why it also may not. You might say I have faith that electricity exists, even though you can't see it or touch it or smell it.

All the things that I have learned about electricity and how it works are not the reason that I believe that it exists. That goes back further than any training and education I have received, all the way back to when I was four years old. I found one of my mother's bobby pins on the floor and decided that a good place for it to go was into the electrical outlet on the wall. When I woke up and could breath again and stopped blubbering, I found that I had an everlasting faith in the existence of electricity. I had moved from just believing that I was not supposed to play with the electrical cords and outlets like my mother had repeatedly told me to an absolute faith that I could get hurt doing so. All the things I have learned about electricity since then have just reinforced that faith.

Now about my faith in God...

I grew up a child of divorce- my parents split when I was four years old also. Coming up in a good Southern Baptist background, I had a hard time reconciling what I heard in Sunday School with the reality of my home situation, where I was shuttled back and forth between two households at different times of the year and different ends of the continent. A further complication was my mother returning to college to finish her degree and forsaking her Christian upbringing to search through other religions for "enlightenment".

I was dragged through various different cultic and occultic explorations through most of my school years. We had seances with the "table knockers", peote dances with the Hopis, Joined the LDS (Mormon) church when I was eight, then the Unitarian Church five years later. By the time my mother and stepfather came back to their Christian roots and really got saved in my high school years, I was desperate to get away from anything religious. My father was no help because he is a lifetime member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, a "service order" with secret ceremonies of their own that they claim are not religious- but are. More about secrets later...

I went off to college with the intent in my head to get away from anything religious and do some "living". My lifestyle degraded over the next few months to where I had dropped out of school, taken a job and worked 12 hour days to support my "party time" evenings of dancing and drinking. Then I found methamphetamine pills to help me get through the days so I could party all night.

On November 18th, 1972, I came home at 3:00 am and sat down on the couch to try to wind down from the marijuana,speed, and alcohol that I had consumed all night. To keep my thoughts from suicide, something that had started popping up quite regularly ( If this was all there was to "living" why bother?), I picked up my Bible from the end table. Yes, I still had one. I opened it up to the first place the pages fell open and this is what I read:


1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 2Timothy 3:1-7

I felt like I had run full tilt, face first into a mirror! Nobody but God could have written as accurate of a description of me at that moment. I was so distressed by my condition that I fell to my knees and cried out for God to forgive me. When I got up, I was stone cold sober and straight. I went to bed for four hours and felt like I had slept for a week. I got up in the morning and knew that I had to talk to somebody who could explain what happened to me, so I went to church at the place where my parents had taken me when they were in town. The pastor there prayed with me and advised me to go home for a while and grow up in Christ, so I did. What I have learned from the Bible in the last thirty six years has only reinforced my faith in the God who loves me.

In later blogs I will share more about what I have learned and how anyone who honestly seeks God can find Him and have faith also.