Knowing Jesus + Suffering = Joy

Years ago I had a mind to jump out of an airplane with a parachute. I made about four jumps with a static line, which was how one learned those things before the modern method of skydiving training known as accelerated free fall.

Since those days, as I've attempted to grow as a follower of Jesus, when I want to understand in a more real way the meaning of the word faith, I often think back to those jumps. I recall for myself what it felt like climbing out of the airplane at 3000 feet in preparation for hopping into a plummet; the wind, the noise, the adrenalin rush. I'ts actually a fairly well fleshed out understanding of faith I think to remember the trust I felt that the rig on my back would function properly and save me from a very real and present danger of dying.

As of late I was considering this analogy of "faith" when I realized that it didn't really serve to clarify the understanding of faith in a way that I needed it to. You see, the purpose of my parachute, and by extension my faith, was to save my flesh. I am convinced that if this is the reason that I have faith in Christ, I am missing the mark that will give me the kind of understanding that I will ultimately need to bring joy to my heart... in Christ, in suffering.

So I changed the analogy. Now, when I recall those jumps, in order to better understand faith, I rename the purpose of the symbols. Before, the purpose of the parachute was to save my body from certain death. In this new understanding the parachute exists to be known.

In both ways of understanding this the parachute represents Jesus. But in the new understanding I cease to be the reason and the center for the parachutes existence. Instead, the parachute exist to be known by me. In this way everything shifts to make much more sense of the life I experience. This new way of approaching this analogy puts me in a position where I cannot reach my new goal of knowing "my parachute" unless I jump out of the airplane. In the same way, I can't know Jesus properly until I jump out of this life... so to speak. (I will expand on this in the next post.)

I began right away to realize that this was a recurring theme in scripture. It was after Noah built the ark that God's salvation, and thus glory, came. Abraham was not able to see God's glory until after he left his father's land. It was after Joshua marched around Jericho that God's glory was displayed. It was after Daniel went up into his room and prayed that he witnessed first hand the glory of God. It was after Jesus was raised up that he was glorified. On the contrary, the Israelites unwillingness to take the land the first time cost them forty years in the desert. Key to all of this is God's glory; his exaltation, his majesty. Perhaps when we approach these scriptures from this perspective we can begin to see why faith plays such a major role in God's redemptive plan. We believe, then God is glorified, then we get credit for righteousness that we don't really possess. No belief, no God's glory, no redemption.

So, the only way I can know my parachute is to jump out of the airplane. Sure, I can put it on my back in case the airplane falls apart and experience the parachute as a back up plan. I have known Christians who wear Jesus in this way. They all seem to have one thing in common, a joyless existence. I can also take it out of its pouch inside the airplane. I can study it, a tangled mess of thin fabric and strings. I can talk about it, argue about it, hold positions about its construction, but I can't know it as an inflated canopy inside the safety and comfort of the airplane. This misses the parachute's and my reason for existence, at least as it pertains to faith: its reason being to be known, my reason, to know.

With this in mind I read Paul's words and his passion in "knowing Christ, and him crucified", or "I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings," or "I count it all loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ". He is glorified in our hearts when we are knowing him with increasing intimacy, and as we experience his glory on display we experience joy, which glorifies Him all the more. This is our taste of heaven on earth: knowing him. This is the source of our power over sin, knowing him. This our power to consider it all joy when we face trials of many kinds - knowing him. This is our ability to count all the fruits of our efforts to satisfy the flesh as dung - knowing Him. We look up, as a parachutist looks to his canopy, to worship the thing that has happened as a result of faith, the revelation of our savior that we may know and worship Him in ever more ways.

We miss it when we see Jesus as existing to make this life better. Such thinking puts us at the center, and we are not at the center. That's why the analogy of the parachute breaks down. The reality is that the actual material parachute exists to save us from plummeting to the earth. To reflect the spiritual reality of faith it would have to exist solely to be known in its true inflated form, and then worshiped. Actually, for anyone who has jumped out of an airplane, worship is actually not all that far fetched. There is a special feeling one feels, at least the novice, when the transition from hurling toward death to suddenly looking up and seeing the wonderful and beautiful canopy quietly gliding oneself safely to the ground, takes place. There is a sudden realization that the parachute was in fact trustworthy.

I have made thousands of decisions in my life based, not on my espoused faith, but rather on ensuring minimum suffering and increased comfort. More of those decisions than I'd like to admit have been based on not trusting God to take care of me, or avoiding the feeling of discomfort about my "faith" before others. As a result my life more closely resembles a life in which my lips honor God when it is safe, but my heart is far from him. (Mt 15:8) But therein is the whole problem. I am wanting to trust God to take care of me when what I really need from God is that he would reveal himself to me in a way in which I can know him. What I will eat, and what I will wear, and where I will lay my head are all necessarily secondary to that one all encompassing hope: to know Him!

In thinking this through, I discovered that my developing little "parable" could actually be mined for more. In the next post I will discuss how the airplane represents my flesh.

Another Name For Guilt: "A Good Start"

We live in a culture obsessed with the exaltation of self. Of course there are many obstacles to this feat, one of which is "guilt". How can we exalt self when we know in our inner being that we are guilty? The realization of this fact is evidenced in our answer to the question: "Would I feel comfortable asking God to give me everything I deserve?". We all inherently know this would be a bad idea.

The fact is, guilt, just as physical pain, is a good thing. They both keep us from harming ourselves; pain-our flesh and guilt-our spirit. But guilt goes much further than protecting our conscious, it takes us much further by taking us to the cross. And it is there, at the cross that we are able to find the most precious gift of all, redemption.

But the cross stands against the exaltation of self. To reconcile this, the self-exalting individual will seek comfort elsewhere. One of the common places of finding vain spiritual comfort is the words in the Bible: "God is love". Assuming our self is the center it is easy to think that God is love because he loves US. But it should also be considered that God would still be love even if he didn't love US. These comforting words can also be deadly without the full counsel of scripture. There is a down-side of "God is love". That down-side, as well as the glorious side, was put on display at the cross. It is here, at this horrible, bloody and cruel display that we can see the reasons that we know in our inner being not to demand of God: "give me all that I deserve", for we are actually looking at what we deserve.

Our guilt reminds us of our wrong actions to others, which according to scripture, are wrong actions against God. While the self-exalting person is willing to pacify his anger at someone else with the assumption that justice will somehow be exacted by God, or some other cosmic force, he seldom brings to the forefront of his thinking the wrong he has done to others deserving of that same justice. But when he does, it is a good starting point, for it might well be that he has stumbled onto the "narrow path", a path that leads to a place where something this world sees as foolishness and ugly, the cross, is seen as liberating, wonderful and glorious by those who understand what it reveals.

A Horrible God?

Why does watching this NOT challenge my beliefs? Also, to read the comments that follow I'm a non-thinker. Of course I level the same charge at the video's makers as well as it's commenters.

One of the reasons it's easy to sluff this off is that it ignores the basis for evil. Suppose that the Video's maker is correct. Suppose that there really is no God. Does evil suddenly vanish? Does the corporate raider who steals the company's wealth then lays off the employees suddenly stop? Do murders, homelessness or child abuse suddenly just go away? The fact is, if there is no God, not only do these things continue, but any reason that they should stop disappear.

But the video not only ignores the basis upon which to call these things evil by taking the morality left to it by its Christian heritage for granted, it also judges God as evil. Oddly enough even, it destroys any basis upon which to judge anything, then judges God. The video seeks to destroy one standard without providing another standard by which to base its own conclusions on?

How easy it is to reach out from nothingness and smack things that are. It's like the violent invisible man. Really, how difficult is it to pick a part one thing while at the same time presenting nothing worth defending to take its place? This video has the feel of a hand reaching out of the fog of nothingness to give a slap across the face then disappearing again into nothingness.

Though I think it is sad that such attacks are effective on those who don't think these things through, they don't bother me personally. Besides, we were warned in scripture that these sorts of things would happen. Therefore I would rightly have more reason for concern if the makers of this video had simply ignored my "silly" Christian beliefs altogether. By paying no attention to my "folly", they would have proven Jesus a liar. But instead they have showed him to be the light of the world, a light man hates because of his illumination of sin.

confusion, part four

To recap, in part one I started the post with this:

“'For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.'

Working from the premise that deception is a product of confusion about truth, this passage foretells of a great confusion in the world; a confusion that not even the elect would escape save for the supernatural hand of God"

The forth "confusion" I would like to profile comes from more clandestine measures. Such measures make them more dangerous because of the difficulty in detecting the poison that they spread. This confusion comes from assemblies that are on the surface, and in statement, doctrinally sound. On the inside however they have become increasingly ashamed or afraid of doctrine in practice. They have succumbed to the fear of man, and the fear of division, and though they have not perpetrated the lie that truth is unknowable, they have placated the lie by simply avoiding the discussion altogether. These assemblies have chosen instead to focus on man or US, how God is interested in US, how God wants to know US, and bless US, and how WE are important to God. Now while this is true, and it isn't entirely doctrinally unsound, it misses the more important point that these things are not true because of anything we bring to the table. Rather, they are true because of the glory it brings to God. And there is a huge difference. In these assemblies there is a very real feeling that we are redeemed of God because it was the just and right thing for God to do. Such thinking brings about a hideous confusion because it is so close to the truth but veers quietly away from our true state at the last minute. That it is not readily obvious that confusion has even entered the mind and our midst makes this confusion especially dangerous.

Furthermore, this confusion is supported and masked by the comfort of our emotions. These assemblies are very concerned about feelings: good feelings about God trumps the truth about God, and good feelings about ourselves trumps the truth about ourselves. The leaders of these assemblies bend over backward to make God "likable" within the confines of the vain thinking of this age and in so doing confuse many about the Gospel and lead many astray.

Confusion, part three

Below is another thought pattern that brings about confusion. These contemporary patterns make their way ever closer to what is generally consider traditional "Church", and are born out of a desire to make Church more palatable to the masses. This pattern seeks Unity. Now while unity is laudable, it becomes an ugly thing when truth is sacrificed in order to bring it about. We must know that hiding truth leads to confusion.

In more severe cases the quest for unity has given way to a new theology known as "Emergent" theology. The churches that subscribe to this theology appear to have given themselves over wholly to unity, even at the expense of truth. Much of this fact is hidden due to the redefining of words. This can be especially seen in the redefining of Jesus. The real Jesus is exchanged for a symbolic Jesus upon which pet causes such as environmentalism, social justice, and self, can be placed. These causes are then elevated above the actual object of God's love for whom he gave his life on the cross to save: Man.

Except for the use of the same Christian words that have been redefined, this "Christianity" bears little resemblance to true Christianity beyond its worship customs. The redefining of words like love and compassion to suit modern day sensibilities is very confusing. Though such redefinitions help to bring about inner peace when all is well, it does precious little to carry one though the real trials and tribulations that are promised; not to mention the trials brought about by behaviors like premarital sex and divorce that come more easily as the result of a self-centered religion.

To a lesser degree, by giving in to the spirit of the age, many traditional churches are sacrificing increasing segments of truth at the alter of unity as well. They do this either outright, or in more passive ways by simply avoiding certain subjects or conflict. All of this increasingly contributes to an important fact. There is an increasing fog like confusion that now lays thick in Western Society.

Coming To A NEA Unionized, Democrat Controlled Government School Near You

Teaching to not bully--Good
Teaching Homosexuality as normal--Bad
Using Bullied Children As An Excuse To Teach Homosexuality As Normal--Really Bad
Grade For California Schools-- F --

If anyone was wondering why prop-8 was so important for California, wonder no more. I have contended for years that homosexuals need access to your children through the government school system in order to make their lifestyle acceptable and to make those who disagree unacceptable. The extreme leftist California Supreme Court has opened that door. Do not be mistaken. This is coming to your school system, and by the time it gets there it may very well be criminal to disagree. Like it? Keep voting Democrat.



H/T Neil Simpson

Confusion, part two

“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

In my last post I discussed the confusion brought about by Harold Camping's failed judgement day prediction. But if people were able to see Camping for what he is, an outlier to true Christianity, there are still other outliers spreading confusion with much greater efficiency. Some, of one type in particular, have become masters at harnessing the power of television combined with the method of making empty promises. With this powerful medium they are able to blanket the land with their shameless lies of the so called prosperity gospel. For most believers and unbelievers alike the antics of the televangelist, by his making promises from God to some poor soul in exchange for a “sacrificial” check or "seed money", is self-serving of the "preacher". It takes advantage of the weakest of these: the weak minded. Worse yet, it muddies the waters about the real salvation message to all and therefore brings about more confusion as well as more deserved mockery.

Not to be outdone in casting confusion however there is also the confusion wrought by the so-called “social gospel”. This religion is not much more than good old-fashioned communism repackaged in Christian wrappings. As is typical with communism this religion is political in nature and is in its inner workings a thinly veiled arm of leftist party politics. Right and wrong are not determined by scripture but rather is determined by what is in or out of favor at any given time with the party. This is why the social gospel is indistinguishable from its true head, the Democrat party while bearing very little resemblance to Biblical Christianity . It wreaks confusion by exchanging truth for increased government power while parading itself in Christian outer garments. It takes advantage of the least of these, the poor and down trodden, by confusing truth with a lie based on materialistic this-life ends while preaching hate and envy.

These are two more reasons confusion reigns in this day, perhaps more than in previous days. I will be adding several more to this list in the days to come.