Just a few resources concerning the initiative below:
Trade In Hope: Fighting Child Sex Slavery In America
Wichita Eagle: Youth Aid Program Has To Turn Away Applicants
Wichita Eagle: Men Charged With Rape, Human Trafficking
Wichita Eagle: Child Sex Crimes Span Sedgwick County
Polaris Project
Friday, May 20, 2011
Sex, Youth, Homelessness, & The City Of Wichita
This is not a happy post. Nor is it a fun post. By the time you read this there will probably not even be a hint of a smile left on your face, and I fully intend to leave anyone who reads this post with a convicted and saddened heart. Why will your heart be saddened? Why would I aim for such a thing? Because I also fully intend to force anyone who reads this to come face to face with reality. So if you would rather turn away and continue to live in a comfortable and happy fantasy world where you can continue to deceive yourself into believing that the world, the country, and the very city that you live in isn’t that bad off and that you are by nature a good person and have fulfilled your obligations to the community by donating a little bit of money here and there during the holidays, then leave now. Go back to perusing facebook. Go back to watching T.V. Go back to your video games and parties. This post is not for the faint of heart. It is only for those who can handle the truth.
This story begins right here in our very city: Wichita, Kansas. Smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. Right in the midst of middle class America. A city packed full of right-wing, church-going, Christian conservatives. And yet somehow, a city where approximately 600 people also reside every year, void of the basic necessities of food and shelter. Don’t believe me? Just take a midnight stroll down by the river and see for yourself. Last night some friends and I walked right past a group of five people gathered under a bridge, four asleep on the ground covered with blankets, another standing in the corner by himself, gazing at us as we walked past, expecting nothing else from us than to do just that. And the saddest part…is that we did just that. As I walked past I thought about how I’d like to help them. I thought about how I wish I had had cash on me to give to them. I thought about how I should at least stop to talk to them and see if they needed anything. I thought about how I could at least go buy some food for them. And yet I continued walking, because for me to have done any of these things would have required sacrifice. I would have had to distract myself from the fun that I was having with the sadness of reality, and let’s face it…reality just isn’t very enjoyable. Could I have stopped what I was doing to acknowledge them? Could I have learned their names and heard their stories? Could I have gone back to my car, driven to a fast food place, and bought them food? Absolutely. But I did not. And I know that I am not alone in my failure to act, because their very presence on the street last night was evidence of an apathetic city who has daily done just the same.
And yet do you know what the real travesty here is? It is not just the fact that these people are on the streets, but more so the fact that we fellow human beings have rid ourselves of our responsibility to care for them. We cry out for the poor and victimized in our politics, yet the only time we rouse our hands and feet to action is when we head to a voting station and cast our ballot for the newest representative who has promised “change.” Then, of course, when the politician we voted for still fails to make the poor richer (or more realistically so, has failed to make us richer) and still fails to keep the homeless out of our sight and out of our minds as we do indeed clearly wish them to be, we simply cry out against these “lying” politicians and demand new policies that are sure to take care of the problem. After all, surely the solution lies with the government. Surely the best way to care for the poor is to bicker back and forth in Congress, in our city councils, on Fox News and CNN, on Facebook and Twitter and in our blogs and newspaper forums about the failures and successes of the government to care for the poor. Surely this bickering will magically build a roof above their heads, put food in their mouths, and put money in their pockets. Surely.
Dear friends, I welcome you to reality. A world where in order for the poor to have money in their pockets, we must first take money out of ours. A world where in order for the hungry to be fed, we must first physically supply them with food. A world where in order for the homeless to have shelter, we must give them a secure place to comfortably rest their heads. A world where in order for the downcast to rise from the ashes, they must first be given hope. You may not particularly like this reality, but it is in fact what is true. And no matter what belief you hold about the poor and your responsibility to them, no matter what excuses you are currently forming in your head to rid yourself from such responsibilities, I’m telling you here and now that reality is not going to magically adapt itself to fit the stereotypes, excuses, and lies that are currently filling your head to justify your lack of action.
“I don’t have the money” you say? Then I ask you, do you not have the ability to sell any of the possessions you currently have? Do you not have the ability to give food from your pantry or clothes from your closet? Do you not have the ability to sacrifice the money you would have spent on Starbucks, designer clothes, the latest movies, expensive restaurants, and fancy vacations for their sake? Can you truly not sacrifice any of your luxuries for their necessities? If you truly don’t have the money, then do you at least have the time? Do you have the time to volunteer in your community? Do you have the time to work in a soup kitchen, to mentor a child at the Wichita Children’s Home, to deliver sandwiches to a man on the streets? Can you sacrifice an hour spent watching your favorite TV show or 6 straight hours spent playing video games for the sake of another human being? Do you have the time to get to know those who suffer? Do you have the willpower to recognize their value and worth? Do you care to love them at all?
Would it help if I told you that it is not just grown men and women on our streets struggling to survive, but children, teens, and young adults too? Would it spur you to action if I told you that at seventeen years of age, teens who were already initially put into the foster care system due to abandonment and abuse are forced out of the foster care system and are again made vulnerable to the very same things that landed them there? Would it hurt your heart to know that these teens are unable to seek refuge in any local homeless shelters due to a required minimum entry age of 21? On average the Wichita Children’s Home itself only has two to three available beds for these youth, forcing hundreds of youth each year to literally fend for themselves on the streets, leaving many of them exposed to none other than the horrific trade of human trafficking. Truly, these runaways and outcasts are deceived by social piranhas intent on destroying them, who dehumanize them and treat them as commodities. Take this to heart:
“Professionals serving on the Anti-Sexual Exploitation Roundtable for Community Action suggest that 300-400 Wichita youth are at-risk of sexual exploitation each year. To demonstrate this, of 250 youth interviewed at the Wichita Children’s Home between 2007 and 2008, sixty-seven percent reported they had been sexually assaulted or raped; forty-six percent had been asked to strip, go on a date or provide sexual favors in exchange for food, shelter, money or drugs; and forty percent reported that they had “agreed” or had been forced or manipulated to exchange sexual favors for food, shelter, money or drugs. Thus, once pursued, 100 of the 250 young people interviewed were forced, frauded, or coerced into sexual exploitation. This is only including the youth we know about, the children who survived and were lucky enough to make it into safe shelter.” (Quote taken from here.)
We are in the top five of originating cities in the U.S. for sexual exploitation, meaning that traffickers come here, seek out the vulnerable youth in our city, and take them elsewhere to sexually exploit them. This business is often more profitable than even the drug trade, for with drugs, you can only sell the product once. With young children and teens, however, you can sell them for sex again and again and again, acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per child. And in the process, you can break their spirit and devalue them so much that they will no longer even have the desire to fight back. They indeed become your slave. This is what is taking place in our city. This is what is happening to our---or at least someone’s---sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, students, friends, and neighbors. This is heartbreaking, and we must not merely sit back, read about it, and think “That’s too bad. I’m sure someone will help.” No. We must take the initiative and act. I am asking each and every one of you to offer either your money, your time, or your very home to reach out to these youth. Offer your church, school, or business as a donation or fundraising site. Volunteer at the Wichita Children’s home, offering yourself as a mentor, tutor, babysitter, or just a general helping hand. Offer your creativity and vision to the cause through your own efforts or by joining those like Jennifer White here.
And here…here is where I am on the verge of making a suggestion that many will not enjoy, because I am about to ask much of you. I am about to ask much of the church particularly. It is a concept that many will deem ridiculous and unsafe, but as I say this I ask you to remember that the very God whom we serve has Himself loved us ridiculously and unsafely. Here is what I must ask of you: to take these children, teens, and young adults into your very homes, offering them food, clothing, shelter, safety, security, love and affection. If there are those on the streets without even the basic need of shelter, why do we so easily assume it to be the obligation of a temporary and capacity-limited homeless shelter or orphanage to care for them? Why are we not offering them our own homes? It is understandable if some genuinely do not have room for them, and it is maybe even understandable for those who are concerned for the safety of their children, but what about the safety of these children? And for those of us with even just one empty room, how is it that we have deemed the junk that fills that room to be more worthy of shelter than a man, woman, or child living on the streets? This very matter is the difference between the postmodern church of today and the early church of the New Testament. The early church didn’t just give the poor, the orphaned, or the widowed a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a sandwich and wish them good luck on the streets. They literally took them into their homes. They didn’t just provide the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, but the basic necessities of love, security, and family as well. They expressed to those who were deemed the “undeserving” of society the undeserved sacrificial love which Christ Himself has expressed to us. Unlike us, they actually took the Word of God seriously, for it says:
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
1 John 3:17. But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Acts 2:44. All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began to sell their property and possessions, and share them with all, as anyone might have need.
Mt. 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
I know I am asking much, but I believe it is the duty of the church to take in these young ones, at least for a little while. I know it is risky, I know it will be difficult and messy, and I know that many of us deem ourselves unfit for such a task. Yet I also believe that God uses the weak to shame the strong, and I believe that we the church are able because we serve a God who is able. Let us be the heart and hands and feet of Jesus to those who are in need in our communities. Let us do what He has done for us, not so that He will approve of us---for He already does---but so that the love of Christ will become evident to a world that does not know Him. Let us do this so that others will come to know this incredible God whom we deem worthy to serve even to the extent of sacrificing our very comfortable lives in order to do so. If you are able, I ask you to prayerfully consider either entering the foster care system, particularly making your home available to those aged between 13 and 17 years of age or at least providing your home for some sort of emergency contact list as the need for shelter for these young people arises. If you are interested in helping in any way at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I understand that many of you are not able to extravagantly give, but even just a little bit of your time or money makes a difference. And I recognize that many of you reading this are probably already involved in some sort of ministry or volunteer work, and I do not dare to ask you to add even more to an already burdensome load. I at least ask anyone reading this to pray for the homeless, orphaned, abandoned, and abused of this city. It is the very least any of us can do.
This story begins right here in our very city: Wichita, Kansas. Smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. Right in the midst of middle class America. A city packed full of right-wing, church-going, Christian conservatives. And yet somehow, a city where approximately 600 people also reside every year, void of the basic necessities of food and shelter. Don’t believe me? Just take a midnight stroll down by the river and see for yourself. Last night some friends and I walked right past a group of five people gathered under a bridge, four asleep on the ground covered with blankets, another standing in the corner by himself, gazing at us as we walked past, expecting nothing else from us than to do just that. And the saddest part…is that we did just that. As I walked past I thought about how I’d like to help them. I thought about how I wish I had had cash on me to give to them. I thought about how I should at least stop to talk to them and see if they needed anything. I thought about how I could at least go buy some food for them. And yet I continued walking, because for me to have done any of these things would have required sacrifice. I would have had to distract myself from the fun that I was having with the sadness of reality, and let’s face it…reality just isn’t very enjoyable. Could I have stopped what I was doing to acknowledge them? Could I have learned their names and heard their stories? Could I have gone back to my car, driven to a fast food place, and bought them food? Absolutely. But I did not. And I know that I am not alone in my failure to act, because their very presence on the street last night was evidence of an apathetic city who has daily done just the same.
And yet do you know what the real travesty here is? It is not just the fact that these people are on the streets, but more so the fact that we fellow human beings have rid ourselves of our responsibility to care for them. We cry out for the poor and victimized in our politics, yet the only time we rouse our hands and feet to action is when we head to a voting station and cast our ballot for the newest representative who has promised “change.” Then, of course, when the politician we voted for still fails to make the poor richer (or more realistically so, has failed to make us richer) and still fails to keep the homeless out of our sight and out of our minds as we do indeed clearly wish them to be, we simply cry out against these “lying” politicians and demand new policies that are sure to take care of the problem. After all, surely the solution lies with the government. Surely the best way to care for the poor is to bicker back and forth in Congress, in our city councils, on Fox News and CNN, on Facebook and Twitter and in our blogs and newspaper forums about the failures and successes of the government to care for the poor. Surely this bickering will magically build a roof above their heads, put food in their mouths, and put money in their pockets. Surely.
Dear friends, I welcome you to reality. A world where in order for the poor to have money in their pockets, we must first take money out of ours. A world where in order for the hungry to be fed, we must first physically supply them with food. A world where in order for the homeless to have shelter, we must give them a secure place to comfortably rest their heads. A world where in order for the downcast to rise from the ashes, they must first be given hope. You may not particularly like this reality, but it is in fact what is true. And no matter what belief you hold about the poor and your responsibility to them, no matter what excuses you are currently forming in your head to rid yourself from such responsibilities, I’m telling you here and now that reality is not going to magically adapt itself to fit the stereotypes, excuses, and lies that are currently filling your head to justify your lack of action.
“I don’t have the money” you say? Then I ask you, do you not have the ability to sell any of the possessions you currently have? Do you not have the ability to give food from your pantry or clothes from your closet? Do you not have the ability to sacrifice the money you would have spent on Starbucks, designer clothes, the latest movies, expensive restaurants, and fancy vacations for their sake? Can you truly not sacrifice any of your luxuries for their necessities? If you truly don’t have the money, then do you at least have the time? Do you have the time to volunteer in your community? Do you have the time to work in a soup kitchen, to mentor a child at the Wichita Children’s Home, to deliver sandwiches to a man on the streets? Can you sacrifice an hour spent watching your favorite TV show or 6 straight hours spent playing video games for the sake of another human being? Do you have the time to get to know those who suffer? Do you have the willpower to recognize their value and worth? Do you care to love them at all?
Would it help if I told you that it is not just grown men and women on our streets struggling to survive, but children, teens, and young adults too? Would it spur you to action if I told you that at seventeen years of age, teens who were already initially put into the foster care system due to abandonment and abuse are forced out of the foster care system and are again made vulnerable to the very same things that landed them there? Would it hurt your heart to know that these teens are unable to seek refuge in any local homeless shelters due to a required minimum entry age of 21? On average the Wichita Children’s Home itself only has two to three available beds for these youth, forcing hundreds of youth each year to literally fend for themselves on the streets, leaving many of them exposed to none other than the horrific trade of human trafficking. Truly, these runaways and outcasts are deceived by social piranhas intent on destroying them, who dehumanize them and treat them as commodities. Take this to heart:
“Professionals serving on the Anti-Sexual Exploitation Roundtable for Community Action suggest that 300-400 Wichita youth are at-risk of sexual exploitation each year. To demonstrate this, of 250 youth interviewed at the Wichita Children’s Home between 2007 and 2008, sixty-seven percent reported they had been sexually assaulted or raped; forty-six percent had been asked to strip, go on a date or provide sexual favors in exchange for food, shelter, money or drugs; and forty percent reported that they had “agreed” or had been forced or manipulated to exchange sexual favors for food, shelter, money or drugs. Thus, once pursued, 100 of the 250 young people interviewed were forced, frauded, or coerced into sexual exploitation. This is only including the youth we know about, the children who survived and were lucky enough to make it into safe shelter.” (Quote taken from here.)
We are in the top five of originating cities in the U.S. for sexual exploitation, meaning that traffickers come here, seek out the vulnerable youth in our city, and take them elsewhere to sexually exploit them. This business is often more profitable than even the drug trade, for with drugs, you can only sell the product once. With young children and teens, however, you can sell them for sex again and again and again, acquiring hundreds of thousands of dollars a year per child. And in the process, you can break their spirit and devalue them so much that they will no longer even have the desire to fight back. They indeed become your slave. This is what is taking place in our city. This is what is happening to our---or at least someone’s---sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, students, friends, and neighbors. This is heartbreaking, and we must not merely sit back, read about it, and think “That’s too bad. I’m sure someone will help.” No. We must take the initiative and act. I am asking each and every one of you to offer either your money, your time, or your very home to reach out to these youth. Offer your church, school, or business as a donation or fundraising site. Volunteer at the Wichita Children’s home, offering yourself as a mentor, tutor, babysitter, or just a general helping hand. Offer your creativity and vision to the cause through your own efforts or by joining those like Jennifer White here.
And here…here is where I am on the verge of making a suggestion that many will not enjoy, because I am about to ask much of you. I am about to ask much of the church particularly. It is a concept that many will deem ridiculous and unsafe, but as I say this I ask you to remember that the very God whom we serve has Himself loved us ridiculously and unsafely. Here is what I must ask of you: to take these children, teens, and young adults into your very homes, offering them food, clothing, shelter, safety, security, love and affection. If there are those on the streets without even the basic need of shelter, why do we so easily assume it to be the obligation of a temporary and capacity-limited homeless shelter or orphanage to care for them? Why are we not offering them our own homes? It is understandable if some genuinely do not have room for them, and it is maybe even understandable for those who are concerned for the safety of their children, but what about the safety of these children? And for those of us with even just one empty room, how is it that we have deemed the junk that fills that room to be more worthy of shelter than a man, woman, or child living on the streets? This very matter is the difference between the postmodern church of today and the early church of the New Testament. The early church didn’t just give the poor, the orphaned, or the widowed a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a sandwich and wish them good luck on the streets. They literally took them into their homes. They didn’t just provide the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, but the basic necessities of love, security, and family as well. They expressed to those who were deemed the “undeserving” of society the undeserved sacrificial love which Christ Himself has expressed to us. Unlike us, they actually took the Word of God seriously, for it says:
Deut. 15:7. If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.
1 John 3:17. But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
Acts 2:44. All those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began to sell their property and possessions, and share them with all, as anyone might have need.
Mt. 25:31-46. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
I know I am asking much, but I believe it is the duty of the church to take in these young ones, at least for a little while. I know it is risky, I know it will be difficult and messy, and I know that many of us deem ourselves unfit for such a task. Yet I also believe that God uses the weak to shame the strong, and I believe that we the church are able because we serve a God who is able. Let us be the heart and hands and feet of Jesus to those who are in need in our communities. Let us do what He has done for us, not so that He will approve of us---for He already does---but so that the love of Christ will become evident to a world that does not know Him. Let us do this so that others will come to know this incredible God whom we deem worthy to serve even to the extent of sacrificing our very comfortable lives in order to do so. If you are able, I ask you to prayerfully consider either entering the foster care system, particularly making your home available to those aged between 13 and 17 years of age or at least providing your home for some sort of emergency contact list as the need for shelter for these young people arises. If you are interested in helping in any way at all, please do not hesitate to contact me. I understand that many of you are not able to extravagantly give, but even just a little bit of your time or money makes a difference. And I recognize that many of you reading this are probably already involved in some sort of ministry or volunteer work, and I do not dare to ask you to add even more to an already burdensome load. I at least ask anyone reading this to pray for the homeless, orphaned, abandoned, and abused of this city. It is the very least any of us can do.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Me, Myself, & I: A Tale Of Utter Selfishness
Lately I’ve been really trying to understand our culture: Trying to understand why our society has become so corrupted, why people do the things they do, how their beliefs tie in to it, what it is exactly that our culture believes to be true, and so on. After finally beginning to have gained some semblance of an understanding, Romans 1 has never made as much sense as it does now. Please, read. And see if you don’t recognize some similarities between the Romans 1 culture and American culture as it is today.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
So, tell me, as you read these verses, what were your thoughts? Did they by any chance go along the lines of this angry rant? : “This is EXACTLY what has happened because of evolutionary theory being taught in our schools, because of the homosexuals fighting for marriage, because of abortion and laws that are being proposed to take God out of the public realm. EXACTLY. When will those Atheists and Agnostics and liberals and homosexuals and drunkards and feminists and sexually promiscuous young people finally realize that what they’re doing is wrong?” I hope that is not what you were thinking, but if you are reading this as a Christian it is very likely that you were. It’s funny, because I used to think that way too. And now let me point out the flaw in that kind of thinking, a flaw that I have very much so come to recognize that I myself hold.
Notice first that the culture Paul is describing here is a culture that initially knew God. They KNEW Him. They recognized His existence, they knew His character, they even personally knew Him. Paul is not describing Atheists or Agnostics or Muslims or Buddhists, He is not describing a culture full of people who do not know God. He is describing the very people of God. Those who knew Him personally and yet still turned their backs on Him. And how did they turn their backs on Him? Just as man always has, as portrayed in Genesis 3. By exchanging God’s truth for a lie one lie at a time. By living independently of God, by functioning solely out of the shame that comes from not knowing Him, by avoiding God Himself and living only to prove to Him that they can save themselves. This first happens by twisting the truth. By taking the very Word of God as we ourselves interpret it and claiming our interpretation to be THE truth. By twisting the purpose of our lives from knowing God to simply pleasing Him. By turning something even as beautiful as the Gospel into yet another rule to follow in order to prove your worthiness to God. “See God. Do you see all that I do? Do you see my faith? I witness to my neighbors, I go to church three times a week, I go to Bible Study and read Christian books. I raise my hands in worship, I pray in public, I am faithful to my spouse, I preach from the pulpit, I teach Sunday School and work with kids at VBS. I am not even remotely like the people of this culture. Look how good I am compared to them, God. Look at all the good that I’ve done.”
And yet as Tim Keller pointed out in a sermon I recently listened to, Religious people and Nonreligious people are essentially the same in that they are all avoiding God. The only difference is that Religious people don’t even realize they’re doing it. Whether you are religious or not, whether you are deemed good or bad by the standards of your peers or society, I guarantee you this: That we are all by nature entirely and completely selfish. Even Darwin and Nietzche recognized this. For when we love, we love only so that we will be loved in return. When we seek peace, it is only so that we will not have to experience the consequences of conflict. When we give, it is only so that we will be given unto. Whether it be a thank you, a gift in return, a high regard, or self-satisfaction, our motives are entirely selfish. This selfishness is the very result of a people who know God deciding that they’d really just like to know Him less, and eventually not at all.
We Christians are not immune to this selfishness and we are not immune to our culture. We did not suddenly become better than everyone else the moment we said the sinner’s prayer. We have not proven ourselves better by living “godly” lives. We do not deserve what God has given us by professing faith. We are still utterly and desperately in need of God’s mercy. I am coming to realize more and more that the only reason I myself am able to ever selflessly love at all---which believe me, is a rare occasion---is because of Christ in me. It is because of the Holy Spirit which God has given to me, who prays for me and keeps me in constant communion with God, even when I myself am not seeking Him. Apart from Him, I truly do no real good.
It is our very pride, the very belief that we are deemed good by what we do that has led our culture astray. We are acting no differently than any other religion in that we are forcing our morality onto others, expecting people who don’t know God to act as if they do, and we are rarely ever showing them through our own words and actions who this great God that we serve really is. We do not show them because we barely know Him ourselves. We are fighting a worthless fight to even attempt to spread the Gospel through the law, because it can not be accomplished through the law. Why are we fighting so hard to keep “In God We Trust” on the penny? Does God Himself dwell in the penny? Will our children come to know Him through the penny? And why must we push so hard to keep “under God” in the pledge of allegiance? Forcing anyone to make a statement of faith which they don’t believe is only to ask them to live a lie. We are not changing the hearts of anyone, we are only changing their actions. Even the battle for public prayer in schools is bordering on ridiculous, because it is not as if we are stopping anyone from communicating with God. Can prayer not be prayed silently? Can students not gather among themselves to pray? This country is not a Christian country, but it was indeed founded on Christian principles: the very principles that all men are created equal, are given the right to free speech and are given a freedom of religion. God Himself has given us this very freedom…in which we can either know Him through Christ and follow Him or turn from Him and ultimately pay the consequences that come from not knowing Him.
Do you know why our culture is going down the drain? Because we ourselves have become influenced by our culture. It is a materialist culture, in which to see is to believe. In which we can only know what is true if it is validated by our very sight. We can not see God, therefore He must not exist. We can not see the battle raging on between angels and demons, between God and Satan, between ourselves and Satan, therefore such supernatural beings must not exist. The battle must not exist. We have never seen a miracle, therefore they must not exist. We have never known a prophet nor seen a prophecy fulfilled, therefore prophecy must be outdated. We’ve never personally had a vision or God-given dream, so the testimony of those who have is rendered irrelevant. We can not see heaven, therefore we must live as though there isn’t one, as though this earth is the only home we will ever know. The spoken word…the written word. Surely such a means can not be reliable. Only that which can be seen or measured can. We are a culture who sees with their eyes rather than through them. We determine the value of a person based on the way they look and act and give no heed to the value that God Himself places upon them. We ignore the fact that God has declared His love for ALL of mankind, and have claimed His love only to be for us. We assume that our culture does so much wrong because they have rejected the Gospel, but in reality many have neither heard nor seen the Gospel lived out by its followers. We no longer see by our faith, nor do we walk by our faith. We are but blindly crawling about with our noses turned up, nobly striving to live a godly life without God in it.
If we really want to see a change in this country, then perhaps we should begin with the advice of Ghandi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Let us begin not with a vote, not with a prayer meeting, but by admitting we can do nothing of our own accord and humbly praying “Lord, have mercy on ME, a sinner. Lord, save ME from MYSELF.” The change must begin in our own hearts, not in the hearts of everyone else…though we would all certainly love to believe so.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
So, tell me, as you read these verses, what were your thoughts? Did they by any chance go along the lines of this angry rant? : “This is EXACTLY what has happened because of evolutionary theory being taught in our schools, because of the homosexuals fighting for marriage, because of abortion and laws that are being proposed to take God out of the public realm. EXACTLY. When will those Atheists and Agnostics and liberals and homosexuals and drunkards and feminists and sexually promiscuous young people finally realize that what they’re doing is wrong?” I hope that is not what you were thinking, but if you are reading this as a Christian it is very likely that you were. It’s funny, because I used to think that way too. And now let me point out the flaw in that kind of thinking, a flaw that I have very much so come to recognize that I myself hold.
Notice first that the culture Paul is describing here is a culture that initially knew God. They KNEW Him. They recognized His existence, they knew His character, they even personally knew Him. Paul is not describing Atheists or Agnostics or Muslims or Buddhists, He is not describing a culture full of people who do not know God. He is describing the very people of God. Those who knew Him personally and yet still turned their backs on Him. And how did they turn their backs on Him? Just as man always has, as portrayed in Genesis 3. By exchanging God’s truth for a lie one lie at a time. By living independently of God, by functioning solely out of the shame that comes from not knowing Him, by avoiding God Himself and living only to prove to Him that they can save themselves. This first happens by twisting the truth. By taking the very Word of God as we ourselves interpret it and claiming our interpretation to be THE truth. By twisting the purpose of our lives from knowing God to simply pleasing Him. By turning something even as beautiful as the Gospel into yet another rule to follow in order to prove your worthiness to God. “See God. Do you see all that I do? Do you see my faith? I witness to my neighbors, I go to church three times a week, I go to Bible Study and read Christian books. I raise my hands in worship, I pray in public, I am faithful to my spouse, I preach from the pulpit, I teach Sunday School and work with kids at VBS. I am not even remotely like the people of this culture. Look how good I am compared to them, God. Look at all the good that I’ve done.”
And yet as Tim Keller pointed out in a sermon I recently listened to, Religious people and Nonreligious people are essentially the same in that they are all avoiding God. The only difference is that Religious people don’t even realize they’re doing it. Whether you are religious or not, whether you are deemed good or bad by the standards of your peers or society, I guarantee you this: That we are all by nature entirely and completely selfish. Even Darwin and Nietzche recognized this. For when we love, we love only so that we will be loved in return. When we seek peace, it is only so that we will not have to experience the consequences of conflict. When we give, it is only so that we will be given unto. Whether it be a thank you, a gift in return, a high regard, or self-satisfaction, our motives are entirely selfish. This selfishness is the very result of a people who know God deciding that they’d really just like to know Him less, and eventually not at all.
We Christians are not immune to this selfishness and we are not immune to our culture. We did not suddenly become better than everyone else the moment we said the sinner’s prayer. We have not proven ourselves better by living “godly” lives. We do not deserve what God has given us by professing faith. We are still utterly and desperately in need of God’s mercy. I am coming to realize more and more that the only reason I myself am able to ever selflessly love at all---which believe me, is a rare occasion---is because of Christ in me. It is because of the Holy Spirit which God has given to me, who prays for me and keeps me in constant communion with God, even when I myself am not seeking Him. Apart from Him, I truly do no real good.
It is our very pride, the very belief that we are deemed good by what we do that has led our culture astray. We are acting no differently than any other religion in that we are forcing our morality onto others, expecting people who don’t know God to act as if they do, and we are rarely ever showing them through our own words and actions who this great God that we serve really is. We do not show them because we barely know Him ourselves. We are fighting a worthless fight to even attempt to spread the Gospel through the law, because it can not be accomplished through the law. Why are we fighting so hard to keep “In God We Trust” on the penny? Does God Himself dwell in the penny? Will our children come to know Him through the penny? And why must we push so hard to keep “under God” in the pledge of allegiance? Forcing anyone to make a statement of faith which they don’t believe is only to ask them to live a lie. We are not changing the hearts of anyone, we are only changing their actions. Even the battle for public prayer in schools is bordering on ridiculous, because it is not as if we are stopping anyone from communicating with God. Can prayer not be prayed silently? Can students not gather among themselves to pray? This country is not a Christian country, but it was indeed founded on Christian principles: the very principles that all men are created equal, are given the right to free speech and are given a freedom of religion. God Himself has given us this very freedom…in which we can either know Him through Christ and follow Him or turn from Him and ultimately pay the consequences that come from not knowing Him.
Do you know why our culture is going down the drain? Because we ourselves have become influenced by our culture. It is a materialist culture, in which to see is to believe. In which we can only know what is true if it is validated by our very sight. We can not see God, therefore He must not exist. We can not see the battle raging on between angels and demons, between God and Satan, between ourselves and Satan, therefore such supernatural beings must not exist. The battle must not exist. We have never seen a miracle, therefore they must not exist. We have never known a prophet nor seen a prophecy fulfilled, therefore prophecy must be outdated. We’ve never personally had a vision or God-given dream, so the testimony of those who have is rendered irrelevant. We can not see heaven, therefore we must live as though there isn’t one, as though this earth is the only home we will ever know. The spoken word…the written word. Surely such a means can not be reliable. Only that which can be seen or measured can. We are a culture who sees with their eyes rather than through them. We determine the value of a person based on the way they look and act and give no heed to the value that God Himself places upon them. We ignore the fact that God has declared His love for ALL of mankind, and have claimed His love only to be for us. We assume that our culture does so much wrong because they have rejected the Gospel, but in reality many have neither heard nor seen the Gospel lived out by its followers. We no longer see by our faith, nor do we walk by our faith. We are but blindly crawling about with our noses turned up, nobly striving to live a godly life without God in it.
If we really want to see a change in this country, then perhaps we should begin with the advice of Ghandi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Let us begin not with a vote, not with a prayer meeting, but by admitting we can do nothing of our own accord and humbly praying “Lord, have mercy on ME, a sinner. Lord, save ME from MYSELF.” The change must begin in our own hearts, not in the hearts of everyone else…though we would all certainly love to believe so.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
I Will BREAK You.......Off A Piece Of That Kit Kat Bar
I'm a little exhausted from all the heavy thinking I've been doing this week. It's time for a little light...o.k., really dark...humor. This dating site murder meme has pretty much made my week. :-) Enjoy.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The Problem of Evil And It's Only Logical Solution
In my attempts to work out the problem of evil, God has continued to amaze me and reveal Himself to me more and more with each and every day. In my last post, I attempted to disprove the conclusion of the problem of evil by saying that the god it describes is a limited god, and that if you begin the problem with ALL of who God says that He is you are faced with the plausibility that God can be all of those things and evil can still exist. And yet, here is where I have failed in my conclusions. I have left out a key characteristic. It is indeed the key to understanding everything, and that is that God is RELATIONAL. And do you know why this is so important? Because it is the very purpose for our lives: To know God and to be with Him. If you take this into consideration it changes everything. Whenever we envision the best possible world that God could have created, we envision a world without evil in it. It is a utopia. And yet, ask yourself this: Where is God in this world? Is He there with you, walking and talking as He was with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Or is this world you envision nothing more than an impersonal God’s television? Is it perfection and goodness outside of God’s presence? Because I am here to tell you that perfection and goodness can not be achieved in a world without God’s presence, and we ourselves can not do good outside of God Himself. God is the very source for which anything good can flow from us. He is the very source for our moral absolutes. Why shouldn’t we steal? Because our parents told us so? Because the government prohibits us? Because if we are caught it results in bad consequences? Because it is our cultural expectation? Because we don’t feel like we should? Because the Bible tells us so? No. We shall not steal because God gives. We shall not lie because God is truth. We shall not commit adultery because God is faithful. We shall not murder because God is the creator of life. We shall not do these things because it does not reflect the character of God, and being made in the image of God we were created to reflect those very qualities which He himself possesses.
And yet what is evil but the result of a separation from God? And what is evil but our response to a relationship with God, who is the very source of everything that we declare good? Evil itself is not a tangible thing. It is a reflection of a broken relationship with God, just as good is a reflection of a whole relationship with God. Evil is the very tie that binds us all together on this earth in which we unifyingly shout “Why does this exist? How could this have happened?” It is the one thing that all people throughout all of history can agree upon as being absolute, and it is our reality.
What solution then does Christianity have to offer the problem of evil? Hope. The very thing which the problem of evil is void of. Jesus Christ. Immanuel---God WITH us. A relational God who has made Himself human, come to earth, suffered, died, and RAISED HIMSELF FROM THE DEAD, thus confirming His power and dominion over life and death, confirming that His purposes have and will be accomplished, confirming that we have a hope and a future in that God will eradicate evil once and for all and create a new heaven and new earth in which we will be restored to Him, confirming that He Himself is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me.” He Himself is the very source of life, He is the truth that you seek, and He is the very way which is paved for you to eternally know God and be with Him. He has not come to condemn you, but to free you from the condemnation that you already face in not knowing Him.
But how can God create hell and condemn anyone to it, you ask? What loving God would do such a thing? I ask you, what is hell but the absence of God? Why do you think it is depicted as fire and brimstone and eternal punishment? Because you are no longer connected to the very source of all that is good. If you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you choose not to believe it and to live apart from Him during your life on earth, then you are left with hell, which is exactly what you wanted in the first place. If you do not desire to know God, then you do not have to be with Him. And that is exactly how a loving relationship functions even here on earth. A loving God would not force anyone who does not desire Him to be with Him.
The problem of evil itself is devoid of hope outside the God of the Bible. It does not take His purposes into account. It assumes Him to have declared this to be the best possible world in which we could live, and yet it is clear by all rationality that it is not. It assumes that the world which God first created, the world without evil, is the best possible world only because there was no evil…not because God Himself was there and mankind knew Him. And now evil exists because it is necessary for God to restore our relationship to Him. That is the whole reason why He has gone through all the trouble to tolerate it.
And how do we know that this is the truth? How do we know that among all of the world’s religions this is the one true religion? We know because those who believe are no longer driven by fear of punishment but by love. What is the one common bond that all religions, including atheism and agnosticism, share? A moral system based upon fear. The fear of death and of hell. A morality system in which you must prove your worth. A morality system in which you must work your way into heaven in order to be accepted by God. In which you must make offerings and sacrifices. In which you must repeat lives until you have become pure. In which you must pray five times a day. Even in Darwinism, a morality in which you live your life in order to avoid death for as long as possible. Fear drives your every whim, your every “good” behavior. And yet I am telling you this. You do not somehow become worthy even if you accept Jesus Christ by faith. A Christian is no more loved or valued by God than an atheist nor a Muslim nor a Hindu nor the mentally ill nor the homeless and weak or the strong and powerful. Jesus did not give his life for you to declare your worth but to CONFIRM your worth, the very worth that is innate within you because you are a Creation of God, the very worth that was given you from the moment you were born, the worth that no one can take away from you no matter how hard they try. You have nothing to prove. This is why we testify not just to love your neighbor as yourself, but to love your enemies. The Creator of the universe has already accepted you. He already knows you fully and completely. He already knows the evil that lies in your heart, He knows the evil that you have done. He accepts you and knows you fully. The question is do you accept Him and want to know Him fully? Because a way has already been made for you to do so. This is the God of the Bible we "annoying, intolerant, and judgemental" Christians speak of. This is the message of Jesus Christ that all of mankind’s attempts can neither quiet nor contain. Do what you will with it, but rest assured that it is the TRUTH. And know that even in knowing God, there is still a deceiver at work on earth. There is still a war raging on in which Satan seeks to destroy all life, to twist every good thing, to tempt us and lead us away from God, to separate us from the presence of God so that we will worship him and only him in hell.
And yet..."Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)
And yet what is evil but the result of a separation from God? And what is evil but our response to a relationship with God, who is the very source of everything that we declare good? Evil itself is not a tangible thing. It is a reflection of a broken relationship with God, just as good is a reflection of a whole relationship with God. Evil is the very tie that binds us all together on this earth in which we unifyingly shout “Why does this exist? How could this have happened?” It is the one thing that all people throughout all of history can agree upon as being absolute, and it is our reality.
What solution then does Christianity have to offer the problem of evil? Hope. The very thing which the problem of evil is void of. Jesus Christ. Immanuel---God WITH us. A relational God who has made Himself human, come to earth, suffered, died, and RAISED HIMSELF FROM THE DEAD, thus confirming His power and dominion over life and death, confirming that His purposes have and will be accomplished, confirming that we have a hope and a future in that God will eradicate evil once and for all and create a new heaven and new earth in which we will be restored to Him, confirming that He Himself is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but by me.” He Himself is the very source of life, He is the truth that you seek, and He is the very way which is paved for you to eternally know God and be with Him. He has not come to condemn you, but to free you from the condemnation that you already face in not knowing Him.
But how can God create hell and condemn anyone to it, you ask? What loving God would do such a thing? I ask you, what is hell but the absence of God? Why do you think it is depicted as fire and brimstone and eternal punishment? Because you are no longer connected to the very source of all that is good. If you hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and you choose not to believe it and to live apart from Him during your life on earth, then you are left with hell, which is exactly what you wanted in the first place. If you do not desire to know God, then you do not have to be with Him. And that is exactly how a loving relationship functions even here on earth. A loving God would not force anyone who does not desire Him to be with Him.
The problem of evil itself is devoid of hope outside the God of the Bible. It does not take His purposes into account. It assumes Him to have declared this to be the best possible world in which we could live, and yet it is clear by all rationality that it is not. It assumes that the world which God first created, the world without evil, is the best possible world only because there was no evil…not because God Himself was there and mankind knew Him. And now evil exists because it is necessary for God to restore our relationship to Him. That is the whole reason why He has gone through all the trouble to tolerate it.
And how do we know that this is the truth? How do we know that among all of the world’s religions this is the one true religion? We know because those who believe are no longer driven by fear of punishment but by love. What is the one common bond that all religions, including atheism and agnosticism, share? A moral system based upon fear. The fear of death and of hell. A morality system in which you must prove your worth. A morality system in which you must work your way into heaven in order to be accepted by God. In which you must make offerings and sacrifices. In which you must repeat lives until you have become pure. In which you must pray five times a day. Even in Darwinism, a morality in which you live your life in order to avoid death for as long as possible. Fear drives your every whim, your every “good” behavior. And yet I am telling you this. You do not somehow become worthy even if you accept Jesus Christ by faith. A Christian is no more loved or valued by God than an atheist nor a Muslim nor a Hindu nor the mentally ill nor the homeless and weak or the strong and powerful. Jesus did not give his life for you to declare your worth but to CONFIRM your worth, the very worth that is innate within you because you are a Creation of God, the very worth that was given you from the moment you were born, the worth that no one can take away from you no matter how hard they try. You have nothing to prove. This is why we testify not just to love your neighbor as yourself, but to love your enemies. The Creator of the universe has already accepted you. He already knows you fully and completely. He already knows the evil that lies in your heart, He knows the evil that you have done. He accepts you and knows you fully. The question is do you accept Him and want to know Him fully? Because a way has already been made for you to do so. This is the God of the Bible we "annoying, intolerant, and judgemental" Christians speak of. This is the message of Jesus Christ that all of mankind’s attempts can neither quiet nor contain. Do what you will with it, but rest assured that it is the TRUTH. And know that even in knowing God, there is still a deceiver at work on earth. There is still a war raging on in which Satan seeks to destroy all life, to twist every good thing, to tempt us and lead us away from God, to separate us from the presence of God so that we will worship him and only him in hell.
And yet..."Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35-39)
Thursday, April 21, 2011
God Is Not A Liar
Today God totally and completely blew my mind. I’ve been studying apologetics pretty hardcore lately. Partly because I’ve been in a friendly debate with a new blogger friend, partly because it’s part of the curriculum we’re teaching in Sunday School, and partly because I just find it intriguing, I’m curious, and I want to strengthen my faith in order that I might be a better witness to those that don’t believe. Anyways, today my mind wandered to the problem of evil. If any argument is the reason for a skeptic’s disbelief of God, or even of His lack of love for all of humanity, this would be the one. In case you’ve never heard the argument, here is the problem of evil:
1. If God exists, then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect.
2. If God is omnipotent, then God has the power to eliminate all evil.
3. If God is omniscient, then God knows when evil exists.
4. If God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to eliminate all evil.
5. Evil exists.
6. If evil exists and God exists, then either God doesn't have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesn't know when evil exists, or doesn't have the desire to eliminate all evil.
7. Therefore, God does not exist.
I’ve heard this argument a million times, and if I’m honest it always throws me off guard, because how can I explain away the suffering in the world when I myself don’t fully understand why it exists? The token Christian response to this question is the existence of free will. The loving thing for God to do is to give us a choice to love Him in return. That proves that God can be omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect and still allow evil to exist. And although I believe that to be a true statement, the result always seems to be so unsatisfactory. It still makes God seem so…small.
Well, as I was pondering all of this, I also happened to be listening to Josh McDowell speak about the attributes of God. And as I listened to him speak about who God is I suddenly saw the problem of evil in a whole new light. The argument is flawed. It sets God up to be a liar and there is no escape route from the argument in which we can confidently declare that either God exists or that if He does he is not a liar…even with our free will argument. I have never in my life reasoned through the problem of evil and come out with even greater confidence in God than when I started...until today. I think what gave me that confidence today is the realization that the God displayed within the argument is not really the God of the Bible at all. Why do I say this, you ask? Blasphemy, you declare! I know, I know. To say that does sound like complete blasphemy. Of course God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and morally perfect. And I say with full confidence that He is indeed those very things which He claims to be. But here’s my point: He is SO MUCH MORE than just those three things.
If we are to look at the character of God, who does He claim to be? He is holy, loving, just, faithful, eternal, impartial, incomprehensible, jealous, longsuffering, merciful, righteous, true, wise, wrathful, self-sufficient, self-existent, sovereign, transcendent, all-present and immutable IN ADDITION to being all-knowing, all-powerful, and morally perfect. When we look at these attributes we naturally assume that each attribute is a part of what makes Him whole, and yet I don’t think we could be more wrong. God is all of these things fully, and He is all of them at once at all times. If I am to ask you, who is God? You would probably say “God is love,” or maybe “The Creator of the Universe.” Those are probably the only two answers that the majority of us would give, yet such answers do not even begin to describe who God is. Is it not possible then, for God to be ALL these things, for evil to exist, and for Him to still never have acted in contradiction to His character because He is ALL of these things? God is so much BIGGER and GREATER than we can even fathom, and we are so tiny and limited and unrighteous, so why is it that when we don’t understand something the first thing we do is jump to the conclusion that God is a liar when it would only make more sense to assume that perhaps we are the ones who are wrong about who He is?
In all of this thinking, I know there are bound to be holes in my argument. And I know that while I am on this earth all my questions will not be answered, but I will keep asking because I know that my God will always speak for Himself and prove Himself true. And now I rejoice because in questioning I have only come to discover that God is even greater than I had ever thought before. And this greatness---God’s very character and nature---it all became evident in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when in His mercy, faithfulness, holiness, power, sovereignty, patience, impartiality, jealousy, self-sufficience, knowledge, and all-encompassing love, He carried out justice and poured out His wrath upon Himself so that we might be declared righteous. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. Christ Himself is the evidence that both evil and a God who claims to be all that He is can coexist.
So if you want to diminish God with limiting arguments, go right ahead, but I tell you here and now that the kind of God who you are imagining would allow evil to exist is no comparison in greatness to who God actually is.
1. If God exists, then God is omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect.
2. If God is omnipotent, then God has the power to eliminate all evil.
3. If God is omniscient, then God knows when evil exists.
4. If God is morally perfect, then God has the desire to eliminate all evil.
5. Evil exists.
6. If evil exists and God exists, then either God doesn't have the power to eliminate all evil, or doesn't know when evil exists, or doesn't have the desire to eliminate all evil.
7. Therefore, God does not exist.
I’ve heard this argument a million times, and if I’m honest it always throws me off guard, because how can I explain away the suffering in the world when I myself don’t fully understand why it exists? The token Christian response to this question is the existence of free will. The loving thing for God to do is to give us a choice to love Him in return. That proves that God can be omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect and still allow evil to exist. And although I believe that to be a true statement, the result always seems to be so unsatisfactory. It still makes God seem so…small.
Well, as I was pondering all of this, I also happened to be listening to Josh McDowell speak about the attributes of God. And as I listened to him speak about who God is I suddenly saw the problem of evil in a whole new light. The argument is flawed. It sets God up to be a liar and there is no escape route from the argument in which we can confidently declare that either God exists or that if He does he is not a liar…even with our free will argument. I have never in my life reasoned through the problem of evil and come out with even greater confidence in God than when I started...until today. I think what gave me that confidence today is the realization that the God displayed within the argument is not really the God of the Bible at all. Why do I say this, you ask? Blasphemy, you declare! I know, I know. To say that does sound like complete blasphemy. Of course God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and morally perfect. And I say with full confidence that He is indeed those very things which He claims to be. But here’s my point: He is SO MUCH MORE than just those three things.
If we are to look at the character of God, who does He claim to be? He is holy, loving, just, faithful, eternal, impartial, incomprehensible, jealous, longsuffering, merciful, righteous, true, wise, wrathful, self-sufficient, self-existent, sovereign, transcendent, all-present and immutable IN ADDITION to being all-knowing, all-powerful, and morally perfect. When we look at these attributes we naturally assume that each attribute is a part of what makes Him whole, and yet I don’t think we could be more wrong. God is all of these things fully, and He is all of them at once at all times. If I am to ask you, who is God? You would probably say “God is love,” or maybe “The Creator of the Universe.” Those are probably the only two answers that the majority of us would give, yet such answers do not even begin to describe who God is. Is it not possible then, for God to be ALL these things, for evil to exist, and for Him to still never have acted in contradiction to His character because He is ALL of these things? God is so much BIGGER and GREATER than we can even fathom, and we are so tiny and limited and unrighteous, so why is it that when we don’t understand something the first thing we do is jump to the conclusion that God is a liar when it would only make more sense to assume that perhaps we are the ones who are wrong about who He is?
In all of this thinking, I know there are bound to be holes in my argument. And I know that while I am on this earth all my questions will not be answered, but I will keep asking because I know that my God will always speak for Himself and prove Himself true. And now I rejoice because in questioning I have only come to discover that God is even greater than I had ever thought before. And this greatness---God’s very character and nature---it all became evident in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when in His mercy, faithfulness, holiness, power, sovereignty, patience, impartiality, jealousy, self-sufficience, knowledge, and all-encompassing love, He carried out justice and poured out His wrath upon Himself so that we might be declared righteous. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. Christ Himself is the evidence that both evil and a God who claims to be all that He is can coexist.
So if you want to diminish God with limiting arguments, go right ahead, but I tell you here and now that the kind of God who you are imagining would allow evil to exist is no comparison in greatness to who God actually is.
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Absolute Truth
The argument for absolute truth has always been one that’s intrigued me, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately as my eyes have been opened to the cultural shift that's been upon us over the past few decades. It’s never ceased to amaze me the amount of people who believe that truth is relative or that it can not necessarily be known at all. I think it would be safe to assume that most Americans travel to the beat of their own drum. What is right for me isn’t necessarily what’s right for someone else. I suppose the easiest examples of this from our culture to use are sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, and abortion. Most Americans would come out and say that if someone wants to engage in any of these acts that it’s okay, because they’re doing what feels right to them, and who are any of us to tell them that what they’re doing is wrong? So basically, with this argument, most people are saying without realizing it that right and wrong are determined on an individual basis. A vast amount of people live by this philosophy and so few seem to realize the arrogance of it. If I am to believe that I can essentially do what I want when I want and that I don’t have to answer to anyone other than myself for what I do, have I not in all reality elevated myself to the same level as a god?
Now some may say that they’re not so selfish to say that they do what they want when they want it. There are still rules to be followed. A few rules may be thrown into their moral beliefs to say that what you do is right as long it doesn’t harm anyone else. But what exactly are the boundaries of what harm is? Is it just physical harm? Emotional harm? Is consentual sex outside of marriage okay since you’re not physically harming one another? What if someone feels used and worthless afterwards? Have you then harmed them? What if a person doesn’t feel hurt until you break up with them months or years later and they realized that they gave themselves away to someone that stopped caring about them? What if one couple has sex outside of marriage and never regrets it and another couple does the same thing and does regret it…was it then right for one couple yet wrong for another? And with all this said, if it’s okay to do what you want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else, is it then okay to harm yourself? Does that mean suicide, cutting, and eating disorders are right? They’re not harming anyone else, so with that thinking it must be okay. And yet, it clearly isn’t.
So what then do we determine we can base our morality upon if we ourselves do not determine it? Perhaps our government or our culture? Well, that would almost seem logical, if indeed our government and culture were reliable when it came to morality. Unfortunately, our laws and our culture are constantly changing. The things that many, including the government, say to be permissible now…such as the previous examples of homosexuality or abortion (sorry, the topics are just easy targets)…were not permissible by law nor culturally acceptable just a mere half century ago. So were these things wrong then but are right now? How can this be? And why does the government, an institution made up of individual people like me and you, have the right to determine this? Now if we are to turn to culture rather than government to determine our morality, then we are in the same dilemma, especially since governments are typically a reflection of cultural beliefs. Cultures everywhere across the globe have repealed laws against sodomy in the last 50 years: Germany, Hungary, Australia, Israel, Russia, Thailand, the U.S., the U.K. and many more. Does this mean that sodomy has always been right and we as cultures, governments, and individuals up until the last fifty years have been completely wrong? Does this mean that cultures such as Malaysia, South Korea, and India which still have anti-sodomy laws in place are now wrong in this matter though they would have previously been seen as right?
I think it’s pretty clear that when it comes to morality, we are not merely accountable to ourselves, nor are we merely accountable to our neighbors, governments, or cultural standards. Just as culture is constantly changing and shifting, so I too as an individual am in a constant state of change. It’s silly and even narcissistic to think that I myself could determine my own morality when I myself am so often proved to be wrong, and it’s just as silly to think that a culture could even determine morality when it so constantly flip-flops on its laws, opinions, and beliefs. So what does this mean then? Who are we then accountable to? Is there even such a thing as morality or truth, and if there is, can we ever really know it? Well, if the answer is that we are accountable to no one and that there is no such thing as morality, or even that there is but we can’t know it, then we might as well just all go jump off a cliff because there’s no point to anything. There’s no point in creating rules nor obeying them, there’s no point in restraining yourself from things like murder or stealing or lying or general selfishness because they might not even be wrong. There’s probably no point in loving one another or doing good deeds. How can you even know, really? So you might as well do what you want when you want it, right?
Well, you can take that stance, as some do. Or there is another option. Perhaps there really is such a thing as absolute morality. Perhaps truth does exist. Perhaps we can even know it. And perhaps there is really a higher power outside of ourselves to whom we are accountable. In the end, it’s the only thing that really makes sense, isn’t it? Because seriously, if I am ultimately my own higher power and determiner of what is right and wrong in my own life, then I would highly advise everyone around me to run for their lives, because I know my own heart and I know the many limitations of my own mind (Yes, tis true, I don’t know EVERYTHING…or much at all in the grand scheme of things), so trust me…I am not someone that anyone would want to determine something as important as morality. And quite honestly, I don’t want any other flawed human being telling me what morality is and isn’t either when they themselves have a limited knowledge and a heart that has committed many wrongs. Isn’t it far better in the grand scheme of things then for someone who is perfect and utterly holy to determine what is right and wrong, and to hold all of humanity accountable for their actions rather than leave them to themselves…especially when we are so clearly in need of salvation from the wrongs we have committed?
I myself firmly believe that absolute truth does exist, that we can know it, that God has already made it known to us, and that we are accountable to God for both our thoughts and actions. I’m interested, though, in what everyone else thinks. Are these plausible arguments? Does Scripture back it up? Does human nature or history back it up? Are there any plausible arguments by which relativism could in turn be truth? Really, I just want people to stop and think for a second. We get so caught up in daily tasks and in absorbing entertainment that we never take the time to contemplate the things that really matter…the basic beliefs we hold that in the end really are a matter of life or death. These underlying beliefs will either lead us toward the Gospel or away from it, so it seems that absolute truth is a good place to start. And for those of us who do believe in absolute truth, particularly those of us who are proclaimed followers of Christ, we must ask ourselves if there are perhaps beliefs that we still hold in which we have made them relative to our own judgement. We must recognize whether or not we are thinking backwards in that we are rejecting teachings of the Bible because they do not fit what we think or feel is true rather than rejecting our own beliefs because they are not aligned to God's truth. Because if the Bible is truly God’s word, and if it is absolute truth, then as it is said in Romans 12:2---Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. THEN you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Something to think about…
Now some may say that they’re not so selfish to say that they do what they want when they want it. There are still rules to be followed. A few rules may be thrown into their moral beliefs to say that what you do is right as long it doesn’t harm anyone else. But what exactly are the boundaries of what harm is? Is it just physical harm? Emotional harm? Is consentual sex outside of marriage okay since you’re not physically harming one another? What if someone feels used and worthless afterwards? Have you then harmed them? What if a person doesn’t feel hurt until you break up with them months or years later and they realized that they gave themselves away to someone that stopped caring about them? What if one couple has sex outside of marriage and never regrets it and another couple does the same thing and does regret it…was it then right for one couple yet wrong for another? And with all this said, if it’s okay to do what you want as long as it doesn’t harm anyone else, is it then okay to harm yourself? Does that mean suicide, cutting, and eating disorders are right? They’re not harming anyone else, so with that thinking it must be okay. And yet, it clearly isn’t.
So what then do we determine we can base our morality upon if we ourselves do not determine it? Perhaps our government or our culture? Well, that would almost seem logical, if indeed our government and culture were reliable when it came to morality. Unfortunately, our laws and our culture are constantly changing. The things that many, including the government, say to be permissible now…such as the previous examples of homosexuality or abortion (sorry, the topics are just easy targets)…were not permissible by law nor culturally acceptable just a mere half century ago. So were these things wrong then but are right now? How can this be? And why does the government, an institution made up of individual people like me and you, have the right to determine this? Now if we are to turn to culture rather than government to determine our morality, then we are in the same dilemma, especially since governments are typically a reflection of cultural beliefs. Cultures everywhere across the globe have repealed laws against sodomy in the last 50 years: Germany, Hungary, Australia, Israel, Russia, Thailand, the U.S., the U.K. and many more. Does this mean that sodomy has always been right and we as cultures, governments, and individuals up until the last fifty years have been completely wrong? Does this mean that cultures such as Malaysia, South Korea, and India which still have anti-sodomy laws in place are now wrong in this matter though they would have previously been seen as right?
I think it’s pretty clear that when it comes to morality, we are not merely accountable to ourselves, nor are we merely accountable to our neighbors, governments, or cultural standards. Just as culture is constantly changing and shifting, so I too as an individual am in a constant state of change. It’s silly and even narcissistic to think that I myself could determine my own morality when I myself am so often proved to be wrong, and it’s just as silly to think that a culture could even determine morality when it so constantly flip-flops on its laws, opinions, and beliefs. So what does this mean then? Who are we then accountable to? Is there even such a thing as morality or truth, and if there is, can we ever really know it? Well, if the answer is that we are accountable to no one and that there is no such thing as morality, or even that there is but we can’t know it, then we might as well just all go jump off a cliff because there’s no point to anything. There’s no point in creating rules nor obeying them, there’s no point in restraining yourself from things like murder or stealing or lying or general selfishness because they might not even be wrong. There’s probably no point in loving one another or doing good deeds. How can you even know, really? So you might as well do what you want when you want it, right?
Well, you can take that stance, as some do. Or there is another option. Perhaps there really is such a thing as absolute morality. Perhaps truth does exist. Perhaps we can even know it. And perhaps there is really a higher power outside of ourselves to whom we are accountable. In the end, it’s the only thing that really makes sense, isn’t it? Because seriously, if I am ultimately my own higher power and determiner of what is right and wrong in my own life, then I would highly advise everyone around me to run for their lives, because I know my own heart and I know the many limitations of my own mind (Yes, tis true, I don’t know EVERYTHING…or much at all in the grand scheme of things), so trust me…I am not someone that anyone would want to determine something as important as morality. And quite honestly, I don’t want any other flawed human being telling me what morality is and isn’t either when they themselves have a limited knowledge and a heart that has committed many wrongs. Isn’t it far better in the grand scheme of things then for someone who is perfect and utterly holy to determine what is right and wrong, and to hold all of humanity accountable for their actions rather than leave them to themselves…especially when we are so clearly in need of salvation from the wrongs we have committed?
I myself firmly believe that absolute truth does exist, that we can know it, that God has already made it known to us, and that we are accountable to God for both our thoughts and actions. I’m interested, though, in what everyone else thinks. Are these plausible arguments? Does Scripture back it up? Does human nature or history back it up? Are there any plausible arguments by which relativism could in turn be truth? Really, I just want people to stop and think for a second. We get so caught up in daily tasks and in absorbing entertainment that we never take the time to contemplate the things that really matter…the basic beliefs we hold that in the end really are a matter of life or death. These underlying beliefs will either lead us toward the Gospel or away from it, so it seems that absolute truth is a good place to start. And for those of us who do believe in absolute truth, particularly those of us who are proclaimed followers of Christ, we must ask ourselves if there are perhaps beliefs that we still hold in which we have made them relative to our own judgement. We must recognize whether or not we are thinking backwards in that we are rejecting teachings of the Bible because they do not fit what we think or feel is true rather than rejecting our own beliefs because they are not aligned to God's truth. Because if the Bible is truly God’s word, and if it is absolute truth, then as it is said in Romans 12:2---Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. THEN you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. Something to think about…
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