Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Rev. Emily C. Heath: Jesus, Bullies on the Bus and the Rest of Us

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No BulliesReverend Emily Heath recently wrote a commentary on the incident where some boys harassed a bus monitor and posted the video on YouTube. The article can be found here: Rev. Emily C. Heath: Jesus, Bullies on the Bus and the Rest of Us.

I would like to make a pair of points in response to the article.

First, the article purports to be be a Christian response to bullies in general and that instance of bullying in particular. Emily rightly points out that Christians are to be agents of healing and we are called to live above such behavior. I agree with this and applaud it.

My problem is that nowhere in the article does Rev. Heath explain how we can do this. Notably absent is any assessment of the root cause of bullying. That root cause is our sin nature. There is a bully in each and every one of us which can only be conquered through the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. It is Jesus’ death that makes the way for sin to be subdued. It is our individual taking up of our own cross that allows us to live in the freedom from that inner bully.

While culture, upbringing and peer selection can influence a child’s behavior, these are all external and do not deal with the internal problem. Only God through the work of Jesus Christ can begin transformation and transformational change. The Apostle Paul tells us that we are in need of transformation (Romans 12:2) and that transformation comes as a result of surrender on the basis of God’s mercy.

The second issue I have is where Rev. Emily states, “I want to be clear here for a minute that I am not saying this should become a country of Christians.”

Now if she is saying that she does not want the state to force anyone into claiming Christianity then I am completely with her. I do think that our founding fathers were wise in preventing America from having a state church. Every time the church has gotten political power it has been a train wreck for the church and for the people.

Now if she is saying that she does not have the desire for everyone to become a Christian then I must disagree with her. If we have the Truth, then why would we not want everyone to know it and be liberated by it? Yes, we should honor the wishes of those who do not want to hear our message. No-one should be forced to hear what we have to say. But respecting someone’s boundaries does not meant that I cannot wish them to be other than they are.

Our Gospel is truly good news or it is a false hope. If it is not true, they why should I bother believing it? If it is true, how could I not wish others to share the same joy that I have found? If Christianity is just one more social club or one more religious expression then count me out. If Christianity is just one way to gain spiritual enlightenment I don’t want it. I am not a Christian because it is convenient or easy.

I am a Christian because I believe that Jesus Christ truly is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). If he is that then I am compelled to present him as the only way the ultimate truth and the path to life. If he is not then Heaven help us, we have nothing to offer.

The Light that can be found – reflections on a lyric by 3 Doors Down

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3 Doors Down Logo

The song “When I’m Gone” by 3 Doors Down begins this way:

There’s another world inside of me
That you may never see
There’re secrets in this life
That I can’t hide
Somewhere in this darkness
There’s a light that I can’t find
Maybe it’s too far away…
Or maybe I’m just blind…

What struck me about this lyric is the comparison with light and darkness. The Bible uses this same image in describing the light of the Gospel (Gospel means “good news”) shining in the darkness of the world. In Matthew 4:16 it says, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”

There are two problems identified which cause someone to not see the light. The first is blindness: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5). This is the starting point for all of humanity. We are all born in spiritual darkness. God shines the light of his love into that darkness and we have to choose our response to it. The difference between believers and unbelievers is that believers choose to respond to the light of the Gospel.

The second problem is willful blindness: “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Some choose to reject Jesus Christ and remain in darkness. Often this rejection is in reaction to the behavior of some who claim to follow Jesus. I empathize with this reaction and would like to offer a response.

Even though believers have responded to the Light, Scripture teaches us that until death or rapture some of the darkness remains in us and we say and do things that are wrong. True believers do not think themselves better than unbelievers. Even the Apostle Paul, the writer of much of the New Testament, struggled with this. He writes, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Romans 7:19).

The only difference is that believers have accepted the love and grace of Jesus Christ. If we are changed, it is a result of that love and grace changing us; we can claim no credit. While our motives may be improved sometimes our results are not. Some of the cruelest things ever said to me were said by believers. That is the icky truth.

My point is that believers still hurt people, say stupid things, struggle with addictions, act in selfishness and generally struggle with the same stuff the rest of humanity struggles with. This does not make the Gospel less true.

The fact that we are changed at all is testimony to the power of the Gospel.

If you are an unbeliever, I would ask you to consider Jesus based on what He said and did. He is the truth and the light. We believers are sometimes good reflectors and sometimes poor reflectors of his light. Please do not reject Christ because of our poor reflection of him.

I can tell you that life with Jesus, in spite of our failures, is good. Paul follows his lament about his own struggles with this statement, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

No condemnation, peace, forgiveness. Life is good (not perfect) in the light. Please join us. The Light wants to be found and is always available.

Truth Whack-A-Mole – Follow-up to a comment

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Whack-a-moleIn a comment on my blog post entitled Truth Whack-A-Mole a question was raised about Jesus’ claims to divinity. You can read the entire comment, but below is a snippet and my response.

I agree with C.S. Lewis that he was either lying, delusional, or the son of God. I have in the back of my mind that there’s a fourth option, that Jesus did not claim all of the things about himself that his disciples and Paul wrote about…maybe that Jesus was glorified after the fact

Chuck Colson uses the Watergate conspiracy as an illustration of the unlikelihood of the disciples and early church leaders of inventing this story. Mr. Colson points out that soon after the Watergate conspiracy began some of the conspirators revealed the truth to save their own hides. Contrast this with the Apostles who (with the exception of John) all went to a martyr’s death because of their claims about Jesus. It is a remarkable thing that someone would surrender his life for the sake of the truth. It is preposterous to think that all of them would go to their deaths for a lie.

The question I have is what would be the motivation for them to invent this Jesus if in reality he was less than what they claimed? Did the lie get them riches or influence? No, it brought them persecution and martyrdom. Was it wishful thinking on their part? If so then they were delusional.

This leads to a further unlikelihood – that of a whole lot of people sharing the same delusion and being willing to die for it. The church in its entirety faced persecution for the first 300 years of its existence. It is hard to imagine that this persecution would be endured for a lie.

In my mind, this whole line of questioning leads to an evaluation of the resurrection. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:5–8 made the following claims:

“and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Paul most likely wrote 1 Corinthians in the early 50’s which was approximately 20 years after Jesus’ death. Were he to have penned a lie, there would have been people available to refute the lie. Paul even indicates that many of the 500 witnesses were still alive. Paul’s readers had the means available to verify the truth of these claims.

If you rule out the possibility of resurrection, then the only conclusion you can draw is that either Jesus or his disciples were delusional. If however, you are open to the possibility of Jesus being “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:4), then a cohesiveness of the data can be seen.

If Jesus was delusional and his followers cooked up a legend about him, then he is powerless to save either himself or any part of humanity, noble intentions or no. But, on the other hand, if he is who he said he is, if he was proved to be God through his resurrection, then I have hope that tomorrow can be better than today. I cling to that hope, not despite the facts, but with their support.

Getting caught in the blame game – Part 2

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This is a continuation of Getting caught in the blame game – Part 1

CrossThe fact that we are inclined to blame others is an indication of the guilt (sometime legitimate, sometimes illegitimate) or disappointment that seems to be the universal condition.

The Judeo-Christian world view does provide an answer to the question of why humans have a sense of why life should be different than it is. The Bible also provides the answer as to why we feel the need to blame others when things don’t turn out the way we like.

If you go to the Bible, you will find the answer in Genesis Chapter 3, where the first rebellion against God is recorded. If you read this chapter, please note how Adam and Eve responded when confronted with their sin.

Our first forebears tried to blame others for their behavior. Adam blamed Eve; Eve blamed the serpent. When Adam reminded God that Eve was a gift, Adam was essentially blaming God also. We have been blaming others ever since this first sin. We struggle to face up to our own failings and then look to blame others for the mess we find ourselves in.

The problem with blaming is that the person who blames others does not understand that many of his wounds are self inflicted. It is not until we stop blaming others that we begin to see that we cause many of our own problems. I understand that the human psyche is complex and that there is difficulty in understanding what prompts us to blame. We do irrational things when we act out of our woundedness. Yet, we must face up to our own failings.

I’m not saying that any of this is easy. Our desire to blame others is inherent to our humanity. Yet growth requires that we face this tendency and work toward healing.

Not only does the Bible provide a diagnosis of the problem, it also provides the solution to the problem of blaming others. Scripture indicates that the antidote to guilt is righteousness. Furthermore, the Bible tells us that this righteousness is not something that we can generate on our own. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:16-17:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Paul tells us that the gospel is the good news of how to be relieved of the guilt associated with our failures. The gospel contains the power to bring that righteousness to those who believe it.

Later in the book of Romans Paul pens the freeing words, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). In the absence of condemnation, we should have the confidence to get our guilt out in the open and get it dealt with. We know we will be forgiven, so why do we hang on to the guilt? Why do we continue to blame?

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