Posts Tagged ‘faith’

Unseen & Evil

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 by Matthew Brake

The more I talk to friends who do not share my faith and who lean towards critical realism, empiricism, and logical positivism, the more I realize that there are two problems with my faith.

1. I can’t see God.

I can’t prove God exists. I can infer that God exists because of the grandeur of the universe, but an atheist looks at the vastness of the universe and sees a cold, harsh place that doesn’t seem to point to a personal God.

I can appeal perhaps to personal religious experiences which have been formative for me, but when I look at many of those experiences, while they were personally encouraging to me, they could be as open to interpretation as the ending ofPan’s Labyrinth. (Was she crazy or did she see something? Who knows).

I can appeal to the miracles that friends of mine claim to have performed/seen–but am I unspiritual to wonder if they’re exaggerating?

Even if they were, I can understand the incredulity of someone listening to a third person account of such an event.

The biblical writers seem to ponder the invisible nature of God (warnings against idolatry, Paul’s comments in 2 Corinthians 4:18, Hebrews 11:1, etc.), but is that enough when you’re trying to have meaningful conversation about God with friends who only trust the scientific method (which evaluates the physical seen world)?

 2. The universe is harsh.

Evil, pain, and suffering exist in the world, and if you buy into theistic evolution and an old earth (disclaimer: I do), then you’re left with the problem that for 100,000 years before Abraham, people were dying at 25 of hunger, disease, and brutality.

 Does this point to a loving and benevolent God?

The Hebrews had a couple of different ways of processing evil in the world.

One way was proverbial wisdom (if you do right things, life goes well. If you do bad things, not so much).

Another way of dealing with evil was contemplative wisdom.

Contemplative wisdom acknowledges life as it actually is.

It readily admits that sometimes, no matter how many right things you do, good people still suffer.

Ecclesiastes pretty much says, “None of this makes sense. Obey God anyway.”

Job concludes, “Good people suffer. If God’s real, then shut your mouth.”

This can help one to see that the Bible (thankfully) offers no pat answers to the problem of evil, but it can leave a person dissatisfied.

 Now What?

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Posted in Atheism, Evangelism, Faith & Culture, Theology, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

The Great Experiment

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010 by James Flynn

Have you ever met someone who was terrified of making mistakes?  We have that fear in us to some degree—no one likes to mess up.  You get laughed at.  You feel like a fool.  Your face turns several shades of red and you get all choked up.  You know what it feels like, because you have been there just like me.  But for some, it goes far beyond that.  Fear of failure can literally paralyze you. You feel frozen and unable to make decisions.  The cure?  An attitude adjustment.  Life is meant to be an adventure, and any good adventure gets its thrill from things not going exactly as planned.  God never designed life to work perfectly or even to be predictable.  As my friend Pastor Mark Batterson at National Community Church say “Everything is an experiment.”  Life is a Spirit-led experiment to discover more about God each day.  Jesus said life would be just that.

At the Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would be daily at work in the life of the believer, gently leading and guiding us (John 17:17; 14:21,26). Jesus made the disciples aware of God’s master plan to send the Holy Spirit to dwell with each of us so that He, the Spirit, could translate life, circumstances, and their context into meaning. This kind of experimental living was advocated by Henry Blackaby and Claude King in their book “Experiencing God.”  Blackaby and King outline seven essential “realities” of experiencing God in our daily lives:

  • God is always at work around you;
  • God pursues a love relationship with you that is real and personal;
  • God invites you to become involved with Him in His work;
  • God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways;
  • God’s invitation to work with Him always leads you a crisis of belief that requires faith and action;
  • You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing;
  • You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

 Blackaby and King’s theology is experimental Christianity at its best. It takes into account the sovereignty of God and His lordship by conceiving of a God who takes the initiative in executing His purpose in our lives before we are even aware. Purpose is grounded in His love for us. This experimental approach to living is not an invitation issued by us to God, asking Him to bless our work, but rather an invitation extended to us by God to join Him in what He is already at work doing, thus requiring our submission and obedience.             

Life is unpredictable because God has made it that way.  You can spend your life trying to control things so they will turn out “just right.” Or, you can make provision in your heart to realize that things often will not work out how you expected and that is what gives life its zest.  Stop being so uptight about the way life is.  Learn to relax and yield control to God.  When the wind blows, it is the oak tree that snaps because of its rigidity, but the more humble palm tree that bows low and bends, still standing after the wind is gone.  Bend or be broken.  Bow when the wind blows.  Approach life this way, and you might just rediscover the wonder of your relationship with God, forgive yourself for mistakes God forgave long ago, and look forward to the next “adventure” that comes your way!

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Posted in Faith & Culture, Holistic Formation, Renewal Studies, Spiritual Formation, Theology | 1 Comment »

Musings on My Lottery Ticket

Saturday, September 4th, 2010 by Marc Santom

As I write this, I’m looking at the “lottery ticket” lying next to my laptop. It’s not an actual lottery ticket, mind you, but rather a scratch & win ticket from The Great Grocery Giveaway. Some local grocery stores give them out to customers at the checkout line. For some reason, the checkout gal at Food Lion handed me a stack of 47 of them the other day. So I brought the stack home, handed my kids a few coins and ordered them to start stratchin’ so we could start winnin’.

The goal of the scratcher is to pick three of the nine circles to scratch off—and if all three match, you get whatever is revealed in the prize box at the bottom. After my kids unsuccessfully scratched through half the stack, I grabbed one and, using my fingernail, scratched off three circles really fast and, lo and behold, all three matched! My kids thought I was superman and immediately exclaimed, “Daddy, scratch the prize box to see if we’re rich!” All of a sudden, the possibility of winning up to $250,000 warmed my soul and placed a spark in my eye. I was experiencing hope for a better life as I thought, “I could be rich and things could get real good real fast.” Amid the brewing excitement in my mind, however, I paused long enough to observe what was going in within me…

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Posted in Faith & Culture, Spiritual Health | 1 Comment »

Proposed Islamic Center and Christian Faith

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 by Diane Chandler

In the past several weeks, opposition to the proposed 13-story Islamic Center in New York City near Ground Zero has escalated around the country.  Originally called the Cordoba House, the proposed $100 multi-story building, which formerly housed the Burlington Coat Factory, would include a mosque, memorial for victims of 9/11, and a cultural center, complete with swimming pool, theater, and health club.  However, suspicions that the stated rationale for building the Islamic Center masks unspoken intentions, opponents also cite the insensitivity regarding the planned location and the projected debut date of September 11, 2011. Abit of background about the proposed initiative and also my concern regarding some of the reaction.

Leading the building initiative, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, had previously established the American Society for Muslim Advancement, with the purported aim of enhancing dialogue between Muslims and the West and healing pervasive wounds between Muslims and non-Muslims.  In his own words, Rauf stated, “Our purpose is to interweave America’s Muslim population into the mainstream society.”  He denies that the proposed initiative is a mechanism to gloat over the 9/11 attack but rather desires to portray Islam as moderate. Rauf has refuted terrorism and violence.

Yet even the name of the project, Cordoba House, catalyzed immediate protest, as many perceived Cordoba as referencing the Muslim conquest in 712 of the city of the same name in southern Spain. To dispel the uproar, Cordoba House was renamed Park51.

With questions swirling, reactions run the gamut from acceptance to complete hostility.  Several American values seemingly have collided mid-air.  The first value relates to religious freedom and lawful assembly, protected by the US Constitution.  The second value is the safeguarding of freedom from fear and threat of harm.  Americans remain vigilant against further radical Muslim attacks on US soil and abroad.

However what is especially troubling to me is the response of one church in Florida which has launched a national campaign to burn the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, on September 11, 2010 in protest of Islam.  Dove World Outreach Center of Gainesville, Florida has declared an “International Burn a Koran Day” as posted on their church website and newly established Facebook page. 

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Posted in Faith & Culture, Worldview | 10 Comments »