February 13, 2006

What has happened to America's Jesus?

By Rob Borsellino
Mon Feb 13, 7:12 AM ET (From USAToday)

I remember when Jesus Christ was about religion.

That goes back to when he was caring and compassionate all the time, not just during the political campaign season.

He used to bring people together and give them hope. He wouldn't have his people get in your face and tell you to fight gay rights or you'll burn in hell. That's not what he was about. That's not the Jesus who made folks such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson rich and famous. He was a different guy from the 21st-century American Jesus Christ.

When I recently visited Sicily, Italy, the old Jesus was all over the place. His statue was on the counter at the restaurant and the coffee house. His image was on the wall at the clothing store and in the hotel lobby. And there was a huge painting of him on the side of an apartment building.

Sometimes he was with his mom and dad, and sometimes he was sitting with his pals - the apostles. Mostly he was hanging from the cross. Whatever he was up to, it was all about religion.

It was interesting because I didn't go to Sicily looking for a religious experience. I went looking for what's left of my family. My grandfather and his brother came to the United States in 1904 and left behind their parents and two sisters. The sisters had kids, grandkids, great grandkids.

I never met any of those people, and I knew nothing about Sicily except the obvious - pizza and the Mafia. My wife thought it was time to connect. She made some calls and let the family know we were coming.

We landed in Palermo, got our bags and were met by my cousin Peppino Rizzuti, who was holding a handwritten sign with my name on it.

He was there with three other cousins. They hooked us up with more family and spent the next seven days driving us all over the island and stuffing us with mozzarella, prosciutto, olives and about 50 kinds of pasta.

My cousin Maria made the sign of the cross before she ate. My cousin Antonio's car had a figurine of a saint on the dashboard. My cousin Gian Marco had a beautiful cross hanging from his neck.

But nobody was going on about God, Jesus and religion. It didn't come up. I saw all that and was reminded that you can be a decent person - a good son, husband and father - and still oppose the war in Iraq. You can be a caring, thoughtful member of your community and still question whether Justice Samuel Alito should have been confirmed. Jesus won't get mad at you.

Several times during the week, I thought about telling my family what's happened to Jesus in the United States - how he's been kidnapped by politicians and preachers who decide what he does and doesn't think. They speak for him, and it doesn't always make sense.

They say Jesus is "pro life," but he doesn't seem to have a problem with the death penalty. And he thinks stem cell research - something that would save lives - is no different from murdering babies. They say he's the embodiment of kindness, love, decency and compassion. But he hates gays, lesbians and Muslims. And he's not too crazy about Buddhists, Hindus and the rest. Jews? He can put up with them if he has to.

The Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka claims to speak for Jesus and goes around the country talking about how "AIDS cures fags." Pat Robertson says it would be a good idea if the United States killed the president of Venezuela. It would be a lot cheaper than starting another war.

All week I went over that stuff in my head and decided not to mention any of it to the family.

It would make America look ridiculous.

Rob Borsellino is a columnist for The Des Moines Register and author of So I'm talkin' to this guy ...

Posted by at 10:03 AM | Comments (7)

January 31, 2006

What did Jesus really mean?

I was reading this morning in John 14, and I had forgotten how some of the statements here puzzle me. The chapter is a part of Jesus’ final teaching to his followers, still in the upper room on the eve of his arrest. In this teaching, Jesus makes some astounding statements. Some of them are very difficult for me to understand, and I don’t know if the reason is because of the apparent implications of what He is saying, or because I am think-headed, or what. But it is certain that He said these things, and they cannot be disregarded. Here are portions from verses 6-26.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. 7 "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father '? 10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.

This passage is the first one that intrigues me, but it’s actually fairly straightforward. First is Jesus’ claim that there is only one way to God, and that is through him. That creates a problem for those who hold that there are “many paths to God.” Apparently, according to these words from Jesus himself, that just isn’t so.

But the question arises, what about those who have never heard – had no opportunity to hear – the name of Jesus. What about “the native in deepest Africa,” or an indian in the remotest jungles of the Amazon, for example. If they have never heard of Jesus, and have never had the opportunity to accept or reject him, are they condemned out of hand for a lack that is not of their causing? Many say yes. They say that unless a person consciously “accepts Jesus as his savior,” he is lost.

How do we reconcile that with a God who tells us that He is loving, and even more, that He is a God of justice?

Perhaps what Jesus had in mind was not that his name would become a sort of “magic word” that opened the gates of heaven, but rather that it is only by the death and resurrection of Jesus that we have entrance to the Father. Perhaps the truth of God is that He will turn away no one who sincerely cries out to him, marking down the blood of Jesus next to their name on the rolls of heaven.

I suspect we will be surprised at who will be – and perhaps not be – in heaven.

12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. 13 "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

This is a biggie for me. What can Jesus mean when He said that those who believe in him – that included me, and perhaps you – will do greater works than He did? This is mind blowing. It’s a simple straightforward statement, and it doesn’t seem like it should be some sort of theological mystery. Does it mean that we will reach more people than He did? That seems a possibility. After all, Jesus only reached a few thousand people in his fairly short and local ministry. So does He refer to numbers? Perhaps. What if He is talking about a qualitative comparison, and not a numerical one? Could He be saying that we will do the kinds of things – works, He called them – that He did, but that we will do many more of them, because there will be many more of us doing them?

Jesus healed scores of people – it was a central part of his ministry – and set people free from demon influenced. He raised the dead, and He demonstrated in a variety of ways his authority over the physical world. Are we expected to do those kinds of things, too? If that’s his intent, it seems to me that we have missed the boat, big time.

Posted by at 09:41 AM | Comments (11)

January 20, 2006

What's so hard about being a Christian?

Some years ago, I was asked to speak at a mid-week service of a very conservative church. I chose as my topic the struggles of being a Christian. I talked about Paul's writing in Romans 6-8, and about being in a conflict between righteousness and evil. All in all, I thought it was a passably good teaching.

After I finished, the chairman of the deacon board got up (he was leading the service) and told how he knew nothing of the things I talked about. The Christian life for him, he said, was pure, unadulterated joy.

Who's right? Is it a struggle, or is it just one big hallelujah party? What is easiest and what is most difficult about being a Christian?

Posted by at 04:52 PM | Comments (18)

January 09, 2006

Is God dead in Europe?

From USA Today; 1.9.2006
By James P. Gannon

Two snapshots from a recent tourist trip to Europe: We are in Prague, the lovely and lively capital of the Czech Republic, where the bars and cafes are full, the glitzy crystal and art shops are busy, and the dozens of historic cathedrals and churches are largely empty - except for gawking tourists snapping photos. In The Prague Post, an English-language weekly newspaper, a front-page article reports, in titillating detail, how the city has become Europe's new capital for pornographic filmmaking, while an op-ed examines why only 19% of the people in this once-religious country believe that God exists.

Change the scene to Rome. We are at the Vatican, swimming in a sea of 150,000 people waiting in St. Peter's Square for Pope Benedict XVI to appear at a special celebration for Catholic children who have made their first communion in the past year. Rock bands and kids' choirs entertain the faithful until a roar sweeps through the crowd at the first sighting of the "Popemobile," carrying the waving, white-robed Benedict down barricaded lanes through the throng. The crowd goes wild.

For an American Catholic visitor, Europe is a puzzling and sometimes discouraging place these days. Is God dead here? Many signs suggest that Europeans think so.

Decline in attendance

"Common wisdom has it that alcoholics outnumber practicing Christians and that more Czechs believe in UFOs than believe in God - and common wisdom may be correct," wrote Nate and Leah Seppanen Anderson in a Prague Post commentary; he's a freelance writer, and she's a political science professor at Wheaton College in Illinois and a specialist in Czech politics and society. Surveys show a sharp decline in church attendance and religious practice in most European countries. A series of Eurobarometer surveys since 1970 in five key countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy) shows that regular church attendance fell from about 40% of the population to about half that figure. Declines were sharpest in predominantly Catholic nations.

Even so, how do we account for the extraordinary outpouring of grief at Pope John Paul II's death in April and the enthusiasm that his successor seems to evoke? Are these mere public spectacles, signifying nothing about Europe's drift from its religious roots, or are they signs of yearning for something more than peace, prosperity and la dolce vita?

As only an occasional visitor to Europe, I claim no expertise in these matters. But some who do see the emergence of a post-Christian era in Europe that has profound consequences for the continent and perhaps is an ominous portend for the United States. Where Europe has gone, America could be going - and that is a prospect that is frightening Christians and sharpening the religious divide in this country.

Western Europe, the cradle of modern Christianity, has become a "post-Christian society" in which the ruling class and cultural leaders are anti-religious or "Christophobic," writes George Weigel, a Catholic columnist and U.S. biographer of Pope John Paul II. In his new book, The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God, he argues that religious differences help explain the policy tensions between Europe and the United States.

"It would be too simple to say that the reason Americans and Europeans see the world so differently is that the former go to church on Sundays and the latter don't," Weigel writes. "But it would also be a grave mistake to think that the dramatic differences in religious belief and practice in the United States and Europe don't have something important to do with those different perceptions of the world - and the different policies to which those perceptions eventually lead."

A fierce controversy over any mention of Europe's Christian heritage erupted in 2004 when officials were drafting a constitution for the European Union, Weigel notes.

Any mention of the continent's religious past or contributions of Christian culture - in a preface citing the sources of Europe's distinct civilization - would be exclusionary and offensive to non-Christians, many argued. Former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who presided over the process, summed up the dominant view: "Europeans live in a purely secular political system, where religion does not play an important role."

'Demographic suicide'

Among the consequences of Europe's abandonment of its religious roots and the moral code that derives therefrom is a plunge in its birth rates to below the replacement level. Abortion, birth control, acceptance of gay marriage and casual sex are driving the trend. Europe is "committing demographic suicide, systematically depopulating itself," according to Weigel.

United Nations population statistics back him up.

Not a single Western European country has a fertility rate sufficient to replace the current population, which demographers say requires 2.1 children per family. Germany, Russia, Spain, Poland and Italy all have rates of about 1.3 children, according to the U.N. The Czech Republic's is less than 1.2, and even Roman Catholic Ireland is at 1.9 children. (The U.S. rate, which has remained stable, is slightly more than 2 children per woman.)

Fifteen countries, "mostly located in Southern and Eastern Europe, have reached levels of fertility unprecedented in human history," according to the U.N.'s World Population Prospects 2004 revision.
As children grow scarce and longevity increases in Europe, the continent is becoming one vast Leisure World. By 2050, the U.N. projects, more than 40% of the people in Italy will be 60 or older. By mid-century, populations in 25 European nations will be lower than they are now; Russia will lose 31 million people, Italy 7.2 million, Poland 6.6 million and Germany 3.9 million. So Europe is abandoning religion, growing older, shrinking and slowly killing itself. These are signs of a society in eclipse - the Roman Empire writ large. Is this any model for America?

In his 2001 book, The Death of the West, conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan argues that a European-style "de-Christianization of America" is the goal of many liberals - and they are succeeding.
Court decisions that have banned school-sponsored prayer, removed many Nativity scenes from public squares, and legalized gay marriage are part of that pattern, as is the legal effort to erase "In God We Trust" from U.S. currency and "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.

Europe is showing us where this path leads. It is not the right path for America.

James P. Gannon is a retired journalist and author of A Life in Print: Selections from the Work of a Reporter, Columnist and Editor.

Posted by at 08:47 AM | Comments (6)

December 20, 2005

How do we know? How do they know?

How can the world know the church is the people of God? In fact, how can we – those in the church – know we are the people of God? Surely there is a better way than to simply assume it. “Well, of course that’s who we are. After all, we are Christians, aren’t we?”

But the question is a good one: How can we know and how can the world know we are the people of God? This is too important to simply assume.

In Exodus 33, God told Moses that He would no longer go with the people, because they were so stubborn that if He came among them again, He would kill them. This was very bad news for Israel. Moses’ response to God is very interesting (v.15f): “Then he said to Him, ‘If your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how can is be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going up with us, so that we, I and your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?’”

When God was present with Israel, there were evident manifestations of his presence and his power. Nobody missed them, because they were obvious and evident to all.

In Matthew 11, the disciples of John come to Jesus, sent by the imprisoned John, wanting to know if He is the one they have been looking for. Jesus replied, “Go and tell John what you see and hear.” What was that? What they saw and heard was the lame walking, the sick healed, and more. They saw, as did Moses, evident manifestations of the power of God. There was no question that something supernatural was going on.

How do we know? Do we just assume?

Jesus said in John 13 that the world would know we are his followers by the love we have for each other. That we would love each other the way He loved us.

So it seems that there are two things that characterize God’s people: A deep love for each other, and the evident presence of the transforming power of God in the lives of people.

To presume God’s presence and approval is unthinkable and beyond arrogant. But we continue to do so. I wonder if that's the reason most of the world has no interest in us.

Posted by at 08:36 AM | Comments (14)

November 02, 2005

The end of all Christian belief and obedience...

The end of all Christian belief and obedience, witness and teaching, marriage and family, leisure and work life, preaching and pastoral work is the living of everything we know about God: life, life and more life. If we don’t know where we are going, any road will get us there. But if we have a destination – in this case a life lived to the glory of God – there is a well-marked way, a Jesus-revealed Way. Spiritual theology is the attention that we give to the details of living life on this way. It is a protest against theology depersonalized into information about God; it is a protest against theology functionalized into a program of strategic planning for God.

--------- From Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, by Eugene Peterson.

Posted by at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2005

Does God have friends?

I had yet another birthday recently – a good thing, I suppose – and as I get older, each of these “special” days gives increasing occasion to look back on my life. And so, with some trepidation, I reflect back on the years I have lived, on the things I have done and the things that have been done to me. And as I look, I don’t see what I would like to. If I set up a scale, and put everything that I am happy about on one side, and the things I wish I had not done on the other, I don’t like what I see. I don’t see a life that I want my children or anyone else to model. Too many mistakes and bad choices. Sad.

But there is one exception in that mix.

For as long as I can remember, it seems like I have had something pulling me toward God, and I have had a deep longing for a relationship with God. I am happy for that. I have wanted to be, like some biblical figures, a friend of God. This is something I pray for my children.

But, as I think of the question, “What is it like to have God for a friend?” I have a lot of questions, and not many clear answers. It would seem, from my perspective, that being God’s friend would result in a life that “worked” and was generally recognized as a pretty good life, something worth having. But it doesn’t often seem to happen that way.

As I try to understand this, and try to not get discouraged about things in life, I have to look at scripture, because it’s about the only place where I can see “case studies” of people who seemed to want God as their friend. Or, wanted or not, they wound up with some sort of more substantive relationship with God. Three guys come to mind right off: Abraham, Moses and David.

Abraham had a strange pattern in his life. First, God called him to pack up and move, a long ways, with only uncertainty ahead. He did that to me, also. Then, he was way rich. Well, one out of two is still batting .500. Abraham lacked for nothing in the material world, considering the resources of the time in which he lived. Finally, he left a legacy that was beyond awesome. No single individual in all of history has made as great a difference in the world as Abraham and his progeny. And yet, he made some really big mistakes – I like that – and he had to undergo some really hard times of testing.

His mistakes – three come to mind – included letting his wife be taken into a harem, not once, but twice. (And the first time, in Egypt, I believe there is a good argument that she was sexually compromised.) What could he have been thinking? This sort of action is utterly incomprehensible to me by any reasonable standard. And the third was giving in to his wife and agreeing to father a child by a servant. What kinds of problems came from that! Abraham comes across to me as sometimes lacking character and backbone. Yet, God continued to use him, despite his very human failings.

We see another side of him at the “binding” of Isaac. This account – so horrific to us that we simply cannot agree on what really happened – is beyond imagination. If I were in his place, and my daughter on the alter, what would I do? I honestly cannot say. I don’t know. The entire scenario is too hard for me to imagine.

But as I look at Abraham, I see something we have in common: An ability to do the right thing paired with an ability to really screw up.

Then there was Moses, whose relationship with God was simply breathtaking. He was another example for us, but from a little different perspective. Moses was God’s unwilling friend. Moses was not like Abraham: He did not hear the call of God and obey. Rather he heard the call and said, God, I don’t want to do this. Call someone else. But God was not interested in what Moses wanted.

And so it appears that it’s possible to be a “friend” of God by God’s choosing, and not ours. Putting them together, it seems that God uses people who have major “flaws” – they are seriously screwed up – and He is not above going out and recruiting them, even against their will. Seems that, for the big jobs, He does this more than He uses volunteers. Hmm. An army with drafted leaders.

David is the third case that comes to mind. Here was someone with the natural gifts and talents that make him a logical choice for leadership. And God chose him. And then, after God assured David of his choosing, He let him wander about in the wilderness, hunted like a wild animal, for nearly 10 years. And when we look at David we see a man whose heart was clearly God’s, but who often didn’t live that out well. Ever hear of Bathsheba?

As I have considered David, it seems to me that one might make a case that he was an illegitimate son. I have found that this idea really raises the blood pressure of some folks, but I think it explains some things. First, his father didn’t even consider him when asked to bring his sons to the prophet. Second, David wrote a song about “being conceived in iniquity,” which we take to mean having a sinful nature. But what if this is not a profound theological statement, but rather a simple statement of his own origin? Then there was David’s own parenting record: He was a great poet, musician, and military leader. As great as he was in these areas, he failed equally as a father.

Everything about David’s history as a father suggests that he had no idea what he was doing. Could it be that he had never experienced a real father? Who knows, but it seems plausible.

And all that is very encouraging to me, because my father died while I was still a young boy, and I grew up in a home that could only be called strange and malfunctional. I have not made every boneheaded mistake possible, but I have overlooked only a few. And yet, for whatever incomprehensible reason, God has chosen me to bear his name and carry his appeal to the world. For whatever reason, God has chosen me to be his friend. And that leaves me speechless.

Posted by at 09:45 AM | Comments (12)

October 15, 2005

Teachable...by whom?

We all want to learn and grow in our faith, but here's a pitfall, in the words of Beth Moore: “Our teachability most often depends on our teacher. If we respect the teacher, we might accept the teaching. If we don’t, we dump it.” More accurately, our teachability depends on our perception of our teacher.

How many of us would rush to church if we saw an announcement that the apostle Paul was the guest speaker? Standing room only, right? But if Paul walked into our church unannounced and anonymous, how many would listen to him? Remember, tradition tells us that Paul was a slightly built, scrawny guy with a head several sizes too big. And he had a bad speaking voice, and probably eye problems, so that he couldn’t see well. The bottom line is, in our charisma-driven society, Paul would never make it. And yet, think of our loss by not hearing him.

If we were asked whether we could accept it if God told us something new, the answer would almost certainly be yes. And if the “teacher” was someone like Moses? Again yes. And even if it was Paul, with his charisma problem, we might still agree to listen. What if it was Avi, the writer of these words? To be honest, he isn’t all that charismatic, either. Here it gets tougher, but some might still say yes. But now, what if it was someone whom you consider less mature than you, or less educated, or less spiritual, perhaps less attractive? Someone that you might even look down on, just a little? Could someone we think of as a nobody help us hear from God and know him better? That’s a teachable spirit.

Posted by at 07:32 PM | Comments (3)

October 11, 2005

Do Protestants have a better life?

As I was working out today, I was watching TV, because it serves to distract my mind from what I am requiring of my body. Some will understand. In any case, the TV had a program on the relationship between “natural disasters” and religion.

There have been many occurrences in the past year that have killed horrendous numbers of people. Last year’s tropical storm season was terrible, devastating parts of the southeastern U.S., and killing many thousands of people in even more vulnerable places. Then there was the tsunami the day after Christmas, and this season there have been still more tropical storms – of which Katrina and Rita are only two of many – along with mudslides wiping out entire villages, and now a devastating earthquake in south Asia. The people on the program were discussing those – of every theological bent – who cry that natural disasters are God’s judgment on infidels, whether the infidels are Muslims or Christians.

To that idea, I say nonsense. People who run their mouths like that are demonstrating their own stupidity.

But this idea of a relationship between religion and the life of the people got me thinking about this issue from another direction.

I took a map, and marked those countries where the people have a high degree of political and religious freedom, a stable society, high levels of economic and educational opportunity, and a high material standard of living. Generally, it’s western Europe, North America (U.S. and to a lesser degree Canada), and perhaps Japan. And even western Europe is spotty, with a great difference between Germany, for example, and Portugal.

Then I looked at the same map, and outlined the areas that had their roots in the Protestant Reformation. In other words, what areas had a population that in general has a Protestant Christian heritage?

It’s interesting that there seems to be a fairly close correlation between Protestant Christianity and the more “advanced” cultures. One exception might be Japan. However, post-war Japan was the creation of a Protestant American, Douglas MacArthur. And in fact, Japan is in the past decade or two having serious problems, and one might ask if the influence of the “transplanted” Protestant roots are wearing off, and without that foundation, the culture cannot sustain an American-style free-market economy and democracy.

I don’t know if this holds water. But it seems that there are some very interesting coincidences. Perhaps it’s really true that “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord.”

Posted by at 04:50 PM | Comments (5)

October 10, 2005

Some thoughts on knowing God ... and each other

As I look at my life, I see one thing – actually, I see a lot more than one – that puzzles me. It’s my relationship with God.

At the core of my being, I truly want to know God, serve him, and live my life in a manner that honors him. But in the actions of my life, I fall short again and again. And there is something in me that looks at God and the idea of being close to him, and draws back. Know what I mean?

As I have considered this, it has occurred to me that a large part of my relational problem might be found in shame.

In The Gospel According to Judas, Ray Anderson writes about the nature of betrayal. He says that in every betrayal, there are two problems for the betrayer: guilt and shame. First, he is guilty. He has to deal with the issue of guilt. The second is shame. He has to deal also with being ashamed of his conduct.

He gives an example of a prominent man who was caught in some serious transgression, and publicly exposed. He confessed and asked for forgiveness, and his family and friends gathered around him, accepted him back among them, and all was well with the world. It was a wonderful testimony of love and forgiveness.

Some months later, the man killed himself.

None of his friends or associates understood, and his family was devastated. Anderson says there is a simple explanation: shame.

Guilt is a legal matter. It has nothing to do with our feelings; we either are guilty or we are not. And guilt is resolved either by penalty or forgiveness. Any offended party can resolve the issue of guilt by forgiving the offender. But not shame.

Guilt is outwardly focused, and involves a relationship with another. Shame is inwardly focused. Shame deals only with me, and if left unresolved, it can be fatal. Shame kills.

Anderson says that every betrayal involves shame. I would add to that and claim that every sin is a betrayal. It’s inborn in us to want to do well, and when we do not, we have reasons to be ashamed of ourselves. We have betrayed our own expectations. We have betrayed the one least likely to forgive us.

Can it be that a factor in hindering our growth is this shame? Is it possible that the reason we act with such hostility and self-destructive behavior is because we have so many times screwed things up that we are deeply ashamed of ourselves, and so keep everyone else at arm’s length?

You know: “If they knew what I am really like, they wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”

Posted by at 04:10 PM | Comments (3)

October 01, 2005

Why is life sometimes so hard?

As I reflect on recent months of writing, it seems like I am spending a lot of time writing about relationship, especially our relationship with God, and our understanding of the sort of God we think is there. This is unusual, because I like variety both in my life and in my writing. I am normally not a “one-song Sam” kind of guy, and it is unlike me to remain focused on one area for this long.

However, I keep coming back to this topic because I keep wrestling with these questions, even though my faith in God is pretty deeply rooted. I think it’s because as I talk with people I hear these questions over and over. People are struggling with the pain in their lives, and the seeming failure of God to answer their prayers, or to rescue them from intense suffering. I hear of loved ones dying a slow, painful death. I hear of jobs unjustly lost. I hear of spousal abandonment. I hear, in short, of lives fallen apart, and people who have been committed Christians despairing of life itself. I hear of struggles to continue living a life that seems devoid of meaning.

Some years ago, I heard a teacher talking about the biblical character Job. He that Job teaches us this: “Just because your life is falling apart doesn’t necessarily mean you are doing something wrong. It might mean that you are doing something right.”

At the time, I was in a hard place. I was unemployed, having followed what I thought was the voice of God. After I committed myself to a course of action, absolutely nothing happened as I had expected. On top of that, my wife was using the “d” word a lot. Further, I was dealing with a teenager who seemed determined to wreck his life and mine, too. And I confess, the statement about Job was music to my ears and it lifted my spirit. Yet, for many long months, nothing changed in my circumstances.

And the questions came, legitimate questions, of where is God in all this? Where is the God who said he wanted to bless me and not curse me? Where is the God who said that as I delight myself in him, he would give me the desires of my heart? Where is the God who claimed to love me enough to die in my place? He’s hard to see in these times.

It seems to me that the God that many Christians claim to worship, and the Christianity that they claim to follow, doesn’t work very well in the real world. By that I mean that it’s a good thing to be a “Christian,” when everything is going our way. It’s even a good thing even if only some things are going our way. And perhaps it’s still a good thing when little or nothing is going our way, as long as it doesn’t last too long. You know, we can tough it out through some pretty hard times if we know there is an end to them -- one not too far down the road -- and that we are headed straight toward it. It’s like going to the dentist for a root canal: We can stand it for a while because we know it has a good purpose and it will end, but even the dentist doesn’t want to live in a dentist’s chair. But when we hurt and we don’t know why, and we don’t know when – if ever – it will end, then is the test of our faith.

Most of the rest of the world would find this a strange attitude, indeed, this idea of things going our way. Christians in most of the world suffer greatly precisely because they claim the name of Jesus. An expectation that a Christian would not suffer is incomprehensible. Christians stand – by their very existence – against evil. Of course they will suffer. And this was the attitude of much of the early church, as well.

How do we deal with these things? They are important: matters of life and death. And, I fear, the “solution” for many of us is to live in denial. We have no answer, and the question is just too hard to think about, so we block it out. However, denial doesn’t work. The questions are real and will not be denied. One way or another, sooner or later, we have to address them. Either we reconcile this conflict, or we will walk away from the God of the Bible. And many have indeed walked away. They have chosen to live with their own God, in their own reality, if that is possible.

I think part of the answer is to try to understand the nature of this world and what God is doing in it. Why does he let hard things happen to us? What is the big picture that all of this fits into? To know the answer to that, we have to go to the Bible. Anything else leaves us with only speculation and opinion, not good materials on which to build a life.

We must point out first that God never intended for us to live in a world of pain and suffering. That came about as a result of our ancestors rebelling, and saying to God, “We don’t trust you, and we don’t need you.” And every generation down to our own has endorsed their decision. We have said, by our own words and lives, “God, I think I can live a perfectly satisfactory life without you. So please go away and don’t bother me.” Here is sin, and here we find the source of suffering, not in some malevolent “will of God.”

God’s intent was that we live in a place of intimate fellowship with him, loving him and being loved by him, knowing him face to face. It was his further intent that we be his partners in transforming the earth from chaos to order and productivity. Read the first two or three chapters of Genesis.

And now, since the option of spreading the Garden of Eden to cover the earth is long past, his intent is that we be his partners in redeeming what was lost, and bringing about reconciliation between people and God (II Cor. 5). It’s important to know and remember this when trying to understand the world around us, and the hard times in our lives.

I recently hired a person for a new supervisory position where I work. I didn’t have the budget to hire highly experienced applicants, so I looked for potential. I wanted someone who was smart, motivated, of high character, and someone whose personality clicked with me and the rest of my staff.

The person I hired is in fact doing well, and will very quickly be an asset. But part of her training process is to spend time knowing me, learning how I think, facing problems, learning ways of dealing with difficult people, and more. Before I “turn her loose,” I will have to know that I can trust her, and that she knows me well enough to know what I would want done in situations where I am not available.

God faces the same situation. He wants someone to be his junior partner in managing the world. But he has to “hire” potential, since experienced people are in very short supply. And complicating things more, the job description calls for only members of the family in these positions. So he puts those who join his “staff” -- those who are adopted into his family -- through a rigorous training and testing time, to know him and how he would have them act on his behalf. Before we are entrusted with God’s authority, we have to truly know him, we have to be found utterly trustworthy to represent him, and we have to understand the task to which we are called.

And the task to which God calls us is unimaginable. How awesome is it to be called by the True and Living God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, to be his sons and daughters, and his partners in the task of reconciliation of creation? If that idea doesn’t stop you for a minute, you aren’t paying attention. But the nature of that call has another side: It means we will suffer. Read the accounts of what happened to various of God’s people. Look at the prophets in the Old Testament. Look at the apostles in the New Testament. Look, especially, at Jesus.

So, if we consider the end for which we are preparing, and that the reconciliation process is in fact a war for the lives of people, how can we be surprised that we suffer? How can we be surprised that we are called to a life of trial and toughness, and yet a heart of tenderness? Fluffy, ease-loving people are not much good for important tasks, because such tasks are never easy.

So, I ask the question, “God, why is there so much pain in my life?” And I hear the answer, “Why should there not be pain in your life? Look at the world you live in, and the mission on which you are sent. Look at the one who is your redeemer and leader.”

The life of a follower of Jesus is sometimes a hard life, but the high calling involved makes it worth it all. Don’t give up. Ask God to build your strength. Ask God to show you that his strength is your strength, and your task is to remain snuggled as close as possible to him.

And he is faithful. He never fails. Hallelujah.

Posted by at 04:58 PM | Comments (9)

Just a hassle? Perhaps, but…

It was a fairly stressful time for me, looking at a 1000-mile move in a large rental truck, while towing a car, and doing it pretty much alone. So I planned and I prayed. A lot.

I was concerned because I knew it would take me a week to load the truck by myself, and people we expected would help had other commitments. So, I finally got a crew of 6 lined up, plus myself. One was a woman who was a couple months off of major surgery. Two more were her teenage sons. Another was a petite Chinese woman, who also volunteered her husband. “We are very hard workers,” she insisted. Correctly, it turned out. Then there was a young man who worked for me and who was strong, a hard worker, and a real asset. And finally, there was me, an aging man with a problem knee. There was room for concern.

I thought we could handle it, though, starting at 9 a.m. and finishing up at about noon, before the day got seriously hot. I wanted to leave after lunch get as far as I could to the east, and even perhaps turn north, before I stopped for the night, perhaps somewhere in Mississippi.

Problem number one: The woman and her two sons didn’t come. Problem two: The temperature rapidly soared into the high 90s, with a heat index over 100 and a blazing sun. It was, in a word, miserable.

So, working until we thought we would drop, we finally got everything loaded, and the truck was full to the tailgate. And it only took us -- one strong young man, two hard-working Chinese students, and me … seven and a half hours! So much for my good start. We finished just before dinner time, and were fortunate to do that.

Then, the car carrier trailer broke, and we couldn’t move it for over an hour. After we finally managed to work around that, but before I had gone a mile, the gauges on the truck began to malfunction. I had no idea how much oil pressure or fuel I had, and had to stop. It was still over 90 degrees, now dinner time, and I was stuck. The rental company didn’t offer any hope of help before two more hours. Was I unhappy? Well…

So I went to a motel, while it took until 10 p.m. to get service to the truck. At the motel, I turned on the Weather Channel and was surprised to see the change in that “little storm” in the Gulf, the one named Katrina. She had become a monster, and was headed precisely to the same place I was! And the roads were jammed with people trying to escape, all using the same highway I had planned!

So, being an astute young lad, I got the message immediately and changed my plan. I left at first light, driving straight north, getting as far away from the coast as I could.

To say I was frustrated is a big understatement. I thought several things about the truck rental company for which I had to seek forgiveness. However, my intense frustration over their junky equipment was easing now, knowing that if the truck had run properly, I would have driven straight into the teeth of the storm.

And as I began to think a little more rationally, I was somewhat chagrined as I felt compelled to thank God for an unreliable truck. Could it be that God had a hand in my getting that truck and trailer? I mean, it was really junk, even though it was new. Besides the broken trailer, malfunctioning gauges, and marginal brakes, it ran out of fuel on me in the middle of a construction zone, while the gauge said I should have 20 gallons of fuel left. Give thanks? For that? Yes.

That brings up the question of all the times when things don’t go as we plan or expect in our lives. Could it be that we get caught up with frustration over things not going as planned, or not going our way, when in fact, God is working for our good and we don’t see it? Are we ascribing things to the devil -- or anything else unpleasant -- when in fact it is God at work? I don’t know a nice, neat answer to that question.

But, especially after my recent “moving experience,” I wonder how many times I might have missed the still, small voice of God, to the point that he had to throw all sorts of obstacles in my path to get me to turn away from disaster. Have you ever considered that?

I wonder how many times God uses the problems in our lives -- illness, broken cars and trucks, “natural disasters,” even death -- because we are so spiritually hard of hearing? It’s a sobering thought.

It is pretty clear from reading the Bible that high on God’s priority list is having a close relationship with you and me. Someone has called it a “conversational relationship,” and it is that, but I believe God seeks something far more intimate than a “conversational” level. It doesn’t take a very close relationship to have a conversation, does it? (Though, as I consider it, not many of us even have conversations with God.)

I wonder how much heartache and frustration we would have avoided if we listened and responded to the “still, small voice” of God in the first place? I am certain that in my life it’s a considerable amount.

Posted by at 08:23 AM | Comments (1)