Christian Living Archives — Page 5 of 6

Whose Money Is It Anyway? (Part 2–Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt)

The wealthy rule over the poor,
and anyone who borrows is a slave to the lender.

(Proverbs 22:7 ISV)

Back in 2013, we talked about the Greek word doulos, which is a voluntary bondservant, or someone who has chosen to place himself under the authority of another.

However, as we also discussed in Part 1 of this series, no one can serve two masters at once. You can’t serve God and be a slave to money at the same time. So how do we become a slave to money?

Debt

When we spend money we don’t have on things we don’t need to satisfy our desires, we are worshipping creations rather than the Creator.

If we are trusting God to provide us with what we truly need, then why would we leave His service to worship at the altar of prosperity? How prosperous are we really, if we have a big fancy house with no furniture in it or a shiny new sports car we can’t make the payments on?

It’s bad enough that our nation has promoted a culture that conditions people to believe that they need. . .no, that they DESERVE shiny, fancy, new, expensive things. However, as if people going into debt for unnecessary playthings weren’t enough, now they are being encouraged to further mismanage their wealth by turning to legalized gambling to solve their debt problem.

The one-armed bandits. . .

In my tiny little town of 4,952 people, we have five locations that have slot machines. (I refuse to call them “video gaming facilities.” Aladdin’s Castle is a video gaming facility. People aren’t going to our bars to play Pac Man.)

In the month of January 2015 ALONE, a total of $100,136 was wagered at these five locations. Let’s do the math.

First, you have to be 21 to play the slots, so that eliminates about 2,300 residents. But not all of the adults in town play the slots either. Indeed, most don’t even frequent the places that have them.

In the absence of an exact statistic, let’s assume that one in five adults in town plays the slots. This estimate is probably on the generous side.

Now we’re looking at an average of $190 a month that each person is contributing to the one-armed bandits. For some, it’s probably higher than that.

So what’s the problem? Well, do YOU have upwards of $200 of disposable income each month that you can flush down the toilet? Some folks do. However, these are not the folks that typically go to bars in small towns to play slot machines.

Over half of the households in our town have a combined income of less than $5,000 a month. A family with that level of income, IF they manage their money well, should have about $100 or so per month after the bills are paid. But again, people that manage their money well are usually not found around slot machines. And remember, the actual amount being deposited here is double that much.

So if people can’t afford to be blowing this kind of cash, why do they do it? Well, duh, because they’re trying to make more. They are under the illusion that they’re going to hit some kind of jackpot and be rich. The reality is they will have even less money to pay the bills they were having trouble paying in the first place.

UPDATE

As of December 17, 2021, our population has decreased to 4535, but we now have 13 gaming facilities with a total of 65 terminals. In the month of November ALONE, over $2.4 million was wagered. The machines in our community have a 92.5% payout rate. That makes it sound like good clean fun with decent odds, but let’s break down that 7.5% loss rate.

At this volume, we are talking a PER CAPITA loss of $40.20 every month. That’s if every man, woman and infant in town were playing the slots. Using the formula from the original post date of January 2015, I come up with $432.73/month lost per adult player. That’s up from $190/month in just shy of seven years. So our population has decreased by 8.8%, but our wage-flushing has increased by 228%!

But hey, look on the bright side! For each person losing $432.73/month, our city takes in revenue of $21.65/month, so at least they’re making a difference in the community, right?

via GIPHY

Lest you think I’m going off on a self-righteous jag about gambling, there are other ways to fall into the trap of money mismanagement. I learned my lesson the hard way with multi-level marketing.

Now I admire people in this country who go into business for themselves and make a lot of money. But it never comes without hard work. If anyone ever tries to show you how you can be rich beyond your wildest dreams without having to suffer for it, RUN! Anyone who gets involved in a scheme like this hoping to “get rich quick” will find themselves getting broke even quicker.

Generally speaking, God has a plan for us each day. We are expected simply to be available, receive it, and obey it, carrying it out to its completion. This method ALWAYS leads to success, though sometimes it takes a long, long time. We may not even see the big-picture results directly. Trying to get rich quick takes our eye off the plan Jesus has for us, which consequently robs us of the potential blessing attached to that plan.

Fortunately, God’s plan for blessing us in our finances begins with a very simple test of obedience.

(Which we will learn about in Part 3—Tithing)

Whose Money Is It Anyway? (Part 1–Stewardship)

Whoever can be trusted with small things can also be trusted with big things. Whoever is dishonest in little things will be dishonest in big things too. If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, you will not be trusted with the true riches. And if you cannot be trusted with the things that belong to someone else, you will not be given anything of your own. Luke 16:10-12 (ERV)

Take a moment to consider this question: What do you have that wasn’t given to you?

We use words like “earn” and “create” to maintain the illusion that we alone are responsible for everything that we have. However, if these things were really ours, then we couldn’t lose them, could we?

Sure, we work for our money, but then someone else has to give it to us. Then either we give it away to someone else by spending it, or we hold onto it forever and die, at which point we don’t take it with us. There’s a reason you don’t see hearses towing U-hauls!

So if it’s not really “our” money, then whose is it? King David answered that question emphatically after taking the offering to build the temple in Jerusalem:

To you, Lord, belong greatness and power,
honor, splendor, and majesty,
because everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you.
Yours, Lord, is the kingship,
and you are honored as head of all.
You are the source of wealth and honor,
and you rule over all.
In your hand are strength and might,
and it is in your power to magnify and strengthen all.

(1 Chronicles 29:11-12 CEB)

Everything in heaven and earth (yes, even the money) belongs to God. Therefore, we don’t really “own” anything. Rather, we are stewards of everything currently in our possession.

Simply put, a steward is someone who is placed in charge of someone else’s stuff. The principle at work here is that at some point, the steward will have to give account of how he or she has managed the property belonging to the Master. A steward that proves faithful is rewarded, but those who aren’t . . . not so much.

You see, how we handle money is an indicator of how we will steward all of the other blessings in our life. Money is just the easiest one to track. So how do you track this in your own life?

The best way to gauge that for yourself is to figure out who it is that you really serve. Are you putting your trust in the provider or the provision? As Jesus said in the verse that comes right after the passage at the top of this post:

You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will hate one master and love the other. Or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Money at the same time. (Luke 16:13 ERV)

If you are primarily interested in serving God by stewarding HIS wealth, then your needs will always be met.

However, if your hope is in the money itself, then you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

(Come back for Part 2—Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt)

Fishers of Men: Part 2–Track Record

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They don’t have any wine.”

Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet.”

His mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby were six stone water jars used for the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about twenty or thirty gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim.Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

The headwaiter called the groom and said, “Everyone serves the good wine first. They bring out the second-rate wine only when the guests are drinking freely. You kept the good wine until now.” This was the first miraculous sign that Jesus did in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11 CEB)

Jesus hasn’t even had a chance to start teaching or building into these guys who are following Him. His disciples have only just met Him and have literally not had time to do anything but get to this wedding, perhaps chatting a bit on the way. They really didn’t have any way of knowing for sure at this point what they were getting into.

But then, Jesus reveals His glory to His new disciples by changing the water into wine. From that point on, the fishermen were themselves hooked.

Now go back to the passage at the beginning of Part 1, where Simon (now called Peter) and Andrew drop their nets to follow Jesus full-time. This event takes place A YEAR after the wedding at Cana.

So Jesus wasn’t just walking along the beach casting hypnotic spells on ignorant and gullible people. First, they knew their scriptures well enough to know that a Messiah was coming. Second, John the Baptist had pointed them directly to Him. Third, they had seen Him perform a miracle firsthand.

So by this time, Jesus had an established track record with these guys.

Luke 5 goes into much more detail than Mark 1 about what Jesus was doing at the lake that day. He wasn’t just walking along; He was teaching people at the water’s edge. Then He gets into Simon’s boat, and has him take it out into the lake a bit, so He is better situated to teach the crowd.

Afterward, He has Simon go out deeper into the lake and let down his nets. This doesn’t make sense to Simon, because they hadn’t caught anything all night. Nevertheless, Jesus already has enough of a track record with Simon that he does it anyway. This is what happens:

They did it and caught so many fish that their nets began ripping apart. Then they signaled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. The men came, and together they filled the two boats so full that they both began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this happen, he knelt down in front of Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t come near me! I am a sinner.” Peter and everyone with him were completely surprised at all the fish they had caught. His partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were surprised too.

Jesus told Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you will bring in people instead of fish.” The men pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything and went with Jesus. (Luke 5:6-11 CEV)

They left everything. Think about that for a minute. Think of your job, your family, your house, your friends, your community—everything that makes your life what it is. Is there anything, or anyone, that could make you leave all of that behind you?

If you said no, then consider these words of Jesus:

Those who love their father or mother more than they love me are not worthy to be my followers. Those who love their son or daughter more than they love me are not worthy to be my followers. Whoever is not willing to carry the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who try to hold on to their lives will give up true life. Those who give up their lives for me will hold on to true life. (Matthew 10:37-39 NCV)

These fishermen were ready to become man-fishers. They were expectant, they were vigilant, and they were patient. And because of this, we are still talking about them 2,000 years later.

So what about us? Are we ready? Are we willing to drop it all and go fishing? Does Jesus have enough of a track record with us that we would follow Him wherever He would have us go?

If your answer is yes, then it’s time to go fish.

Your Will Be Done

Then they arrived at a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to the disciples, “Sit down here while I pray.”

He took with him Peter, James and John, and began to be horror-stricken and desperately depressed.

“My heart is nearly breaking,” he told them. “Stay here and keep watch for me.” (Mark 14:32-34 PHILLIPS)

It’s hard to imagine Jesus, the Son of God and Savior of the world, being “horror-stricken and desperately depressed.” And yet, it happened. Jesus was facing the greatest test of His time on earth, and He was facing it as a human being.

It’s difficult to wrap your brain around the concept of Jesus being both fully divine and fully human, rather than being some sort of a spiritual half-breed.

But if there are any doubts about Jesus being fully human, his anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane should put those to rest. He knew what He was about to face, and He needed strength to get through it. Matthew’s account of this episode words it this way:

He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair.

Then he told them, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death. . . stay here. . . stay awake with me.” (Matthew 26:37-38 TLB)

Despair.

The One who was the Light of the World, who came to bring hope to everyone in it, was filled with . . . despair.

So considering this, is it any great wonder that we can feel despair when we face our moments of greatest testing?

And to take that one step further, usually when we are having our moments of fear and torment, the worst thing that we are facing is the unknown. We are scared, because we wonder what is going to happen. Will I have the strength to endure this trial? What will people think of me if I fail? What am I about to lose? Do I really want to know the answers to these questions?

Jesus didn’t have the luxury of fearing the unknown. He knew EXACTLY what was about to happen. And it scared Him. A lot.

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Let’s be clear about this. Jesus, the Son of God, knew why He had come to earth. He knew He had work to do, and He knew He had to finish that work.

But Jesus the son of Mary and Joseph said this:

“Father, if it is your will, take this cup of suffering away from me. However, your will must be done, not mine.” (Luke 22:42 GW)

Jesus knew going into this time of prayer what God’s answer was going to be. He knew what He had to do, but He was NOT excited about it.

Nevertheless, He submitted to His Father’s will. He did not want to go through with His arrest, torture and execution, but more than that, He did not want to go against His Father’s will.

The Greek word regarding God’s will in this sentence is ginomai. This signifies that Jesus is not only saying that God’s will must be done, but that it must be. In other words, God’s will is eternal, just as God is eternal.

In light of His knowledge of this, Jesus really didn’t have any illusion that His prayer was going to be answered with a “yes.” And yet, He prayed for God to let Him off the hook anyway.

Perhaps this knowing was the greatest reason for His despair? He knew He wasn’t getting out of this. I can’t even imagine what He must have felt like in the garden.

And yet, He remained submissive, because He never lost focus on what His greatest mission was. And that was simply for God’s will to be done. Jesus was sincere about completing His work. He isn’t just saying “Your will be done,” to sound pious, like it’s the right thing to say while praying.

It is, of course, the right thing to say, but it is also the right thing, period.

Because God’s will wasn’t about Jesus the man doing something He didn’t want to do. It was about Jesus the Savior bring God’s plan of salvation to fulfillment:

Jesus Christ did the things God wanted him to do. And because of that, we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ’s body. Christ made that sacrifice one time—enough for all time. (Hebrews 10:10 ERV)

This sacrifice began not on the cross, but in the garden, when Jesus made up His mind to be in agreement with God’s will. Because of this resolution, and the confirmation of His purpose that it signified, we are able to approach God today as His adopted children.

But this is about more than our salvation. Heaven will be awesome, of course, but what about the here and now?

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Do you ever have situations that you know you won’t be strong enough to face by yourself? Isn’t it helpful to know, then, that even Jesus needed to be strengthened not only by angels and the Holy Spirit, but also His three best buds? It is much less difficult to say to God, “Your will be done” when you have your closest friends surrounding and supporting you.

It is not likely that any of us will ever have to face a crucifixion, and we DEFINITELY won’t ever have the weight of the sins of the world upon our own shoulders.

Nevertheless, when I am faced with something I really don’t want to do, and fear is holding me back, it helps at least to know that the God to whom I pray knows a thing or two about fear and apprehension.

But it helps me even more to know that He still got the job done.

DN=: Part 16–Hypocrisy

I find it interesting that the Greek origin of the word “hypocrisy” comes from the theatre. You may know that ancient Greek plays were performed by actors wearing masks. These actors were called hypocrites, not because of any character deficiency, but because they were literally “pretending under a mask.”

This meaning makes sense when you think about people whom you may have considered guilty of hypocrisy. What they are doing is showing the world one face, their “mask,” while pretending to be something they are not. One of these masks is self-righteousness.

Why do you see the splinter in your brother’s eye but not notice the log in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when you have the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye! (Matthew 7:3-5 CJB)

Jesus’ warning against hypocrisy from the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most humbling passages in scripture. However, as is so often the case when people use the Bible as a defense mechanism, many of us want to put a period where God put a comma (or in the case of the translation used here, a semicolon).

Notice that Jesus did NOT say, “You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye” PERIOD! There is a “then” after the “first” and a “so that” after the “then.” The purpose of taking the log out of your own eye is to clear your vision. And the purpose of clear vision is to successfully complete the task of helping get the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

Jesus is clear in noting that the fault does not lie with the person giving correction, but with the spirit in which it is given, namely that people with issues of their own ought to address those before pointing out someone else’s.

Nowhere in the passage above does it say that it is OK to have a splinter in your eye. It also does not state that one must be perfect to remove a splinter. After all, no human was ever perfect besides Jesus. And since He is clearly advocating the removal of splinters from eyes by people who are less than perfect, it should be equally clear that imperfect people, under the right conditions, are qualified to remove eye splinters.

IMPERFECTION DN= HYPOCRISY

Have you ever tried to be perfect or maybe felt that you wouldn’t measure up if you were anything less than perfect? It’s stressful, isn’t it?

Many Christians fall into this performance trap. Sometimes we get the impression that in order to be worthy bearers of the name of Christ, we can’t slip up, lest the onlooking world accuse us of hypocrisy.

I would like to do my part in helping break this cycle by saying that it’s actually a good thing for the world to see us fail. It doesn’t seem so at first, when we are enduring the taunting, the ridiculing and the finger pointing, but when the dust settles, we have a unique opportunity.

We have the chance to publicly demonstrate personal responsibility by swallowing our pride and owning our fail as well as the consequences thereof.

In other words, we can take off our masks and show the world what’s underneath.

He turned now to his disciples and warned them, “More than anything else, beware of these Pharisees and the way they pretend to be good when they aren’t. But such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever. (Luke 12:1b TLB)

The few of you who have stuck with me during the LONG pauses between posts in this series may have wondered what the delay was all about.

I knew that I was going to be closing out my series exposing the hypocrisy of the “=” movement by talking about hypocrisy itself and how those who bring that charge the most strenuously seem to be the guiltiest of it themselves.

Then I looked in the mirror one day and saw the log. So I’ve been spending the past several weeks trying to figure out what to do with this log in my eye.

You see, the thing is, I’m a wanderer. I guess we all are, because we are all susceptible to sin in general and the sin of pride in particular, but I’ve been doing quite a bit of wandering lately. I can totally relate to what Paul was feeling when he wrote this to the Romans:

I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to—what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.

I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.

It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind, I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.

So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? (Romans 7:15-25 TLB)

I think at some level I just knew that I wouldn’t be able to finish this without dislodging my log.

But then I considered the question that ends the passage above. Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Well, duh. Jesus already did. I’m still working on my wood-vision, but at least I’m aware of it. The fact that I want the log out of my eye is the evidence that it is possible. Especially when I consider the alternative:

If anyone sins deliberately by rejecting the Savior after knowing the truth of forgiveness, this sin is not covered by Christ’s death; there is no way to get rid of it. There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible punishment of God’s awful anger, which will consume all his enemies. (Hebrews 10:26-27 TLB)

The unfortunate fact that I am prone to wander from the Truth does not make the Truth any less true. Therefore, it is not hypocrisy for an imperfect messenger to deliver a perfect message to someone that would benefit from it.

For this reason, I will press on, and continue doing what I have been called to do.

Because falling down DN= falling away.

DN=: Part 15–Homophobia

Homo- Greek prefix meaning “same”

-phobia from the Greek ‘phobos’, meaning “morbid fear or dread”

(A phobia is defined as) a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely, the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities. Edmund J. Bourne—The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook

So taken literally, to be homophobic should mean to be irrationally and constantly in fear of being the same, to the point of avoiding conformity even when there is no direct threat to your individualism, and if that conformity proves unavoidable, submitting to it would reduce you to a quivering lump of Jell-O.

The word “homophobic” was invented by psychologist and gay activist George Weinberg in the 1960’s. It first appeared in print in 1972, when the American Psychiatric Association still considered homosexuality a mental illness.

An actual phobia, on the other hand, IS a mental illness. It is a form of anxiety disorder that frequently requires psychiatric intervention to overcome.

Now if a person were to freak out being in a room full of homosexuals, perhaps due to a fear that gayness is contagious, and was unable to function for the rest of the day as a result of that trauma, then yes, THAT would be a phobia. Specifically, a form of xenophobia.

I don’t know any Truthseekers who behave that way.

Therefore, I call B.S.

CHRISTIANITY DN= HOMOPHOBIA

Since a Truthseeker’s habit is to push the boundaries of his or her comfort zone, fear has no opportunity to enter the equation.

For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment. (2 Timothy 1:7 HCSB)

Because fearfulness and sound judgment cannot occupy the same mind at the same time, a Truthseeker could not conceivably hope to correct behavior from a position of fear. This makes the suggestion of a Truthseeker being homophobic, even if that were an actual word, a logical impossibility.

The irony here is that the correction that is inspired by God’s love, which drives out fear, is the very thing that the “=” community regards as being homophobic.

Because of this, some may ask, “What gives you the right to go around ‘correcting’ people anyway?” Actually, it isn’t a right so much as it is an obligation:

“Do not hate your brother in your heart. Correct your neighbor boldly when he does something wrong. Then you will not share his guilt.

“Do not try to get even. Do not hold anything against one of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

(Leviticus 19: 17-18 NIrV)

Notice that “Do not hate” is followed immediately with “Correct your neighbor boldly.” Hatred and correction, then, are clearly opposites.

Therefore, it follows that the absence of correction where it is needed would indicate the presence of hatred. It does not matter whether one actually FEELS hateful or not; it is the actions, or lack thereof, that make the difference.

For this reason, correcting the behavior a homosexual, or that of any other sinner, is an act of love based upon sound judgment. It is not an act of hate stemming from bigotry and judgmental criticism.

Nevertheless, there is still one more hurdle to overcome. It is the nature of all humans, not just homosexuals, to reject correction.

Our pride makes us become defensive when our belief systems are challenged. Frequently the first method of defense that we use is to deflect the correction back at the corrector. Basically, we sweep our own faults under the rug while attempting to drag our neighbor’s faults out from under the same rug.

When Truthseekers are on the receiving end of this defense mechanism, they usually find it accompanied with another H-word.

(Which we will explore when this series concludes with Part 16–Hypocrisy)

DN=: Part 13–Fair Play

“It’s not fair!”

Every child ever

Justice, as you’ll recall, is when we get what we deserve. It’s interesting, though, to note how abruptly our stance on justice and fair play adjusts depending upon which side of the justice we find ourselves.

We sure don’t mind dispensing justice; however, receiving it is a different story.

As in so many other situations, our pride is the problem. If we exalt ourselves to think that we are above justice, and that “the rules” don’t apply to us, then it would follow that we wouldn’t expect to partake in the natural consequences of breaking those rules either.

JUSTICE DN= GETTING YOUR WAY

So although justice is always fair, it only FEELS fair if we have a clear understanding of what it is that we truly deserve:

Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned, and so everyone must die. (Romans 5:12 CEV)

However. . .

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
God won’t always play the judge;
he won’t be angry forever.
He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
or repay us according to our wrongdoing,
because as high as heaven is above the earth,
that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.
As far as east is from west—
that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.
Like a parent feels compassion for their children—
that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.
(Psalm 103: 8-13 CEB)

Did you catch the key phrase there? David repeated it to make sure that you would. Justice is universal, but God reserves grace for those who honor him.

Without this grace, the only thing left for us is justice. The universal natural consequence of our universal sinful nature is death. This is the ultimate Truth of our lives, and complete reliance on Jesus for our salvation is the only way out of it.

Obviously, many reject this Truth. Equally obvious is the fact that we all have a choice to accept it or reject it.

Nevertheless, for some reason the prevailing mentality in this country has become that one can do whatever one wishes, up to and including a complete rejection of universal Truth, and suffer no consequences whatsoever.

FAIR PLAY DN= ENTITLEMENT

We all have desires. However, a person who is ruled by pride will view the fulfillment of his or her desires as the primary goal. Those that are successful in fulfilling a few of these desires may quickly begin to regard this fulfillment as an entitlement.

Then, in their own minds, they will conceive a bogus sense of justice and fair play, in which they “deserve” to get whatever they want whenever they want, and anyone or anything that would deny them that is guilty of an injustice.

However:

Many people vie for special treatment from a ruler,
yet genuine justice proceeds from the Eternal. (Proverbs 29:26 VOICE)

Because God alone is righteous, and because God alone determines Truth, it is only by God’s authority that true justice can be dispensed.

The eternal, indisputable and universal justice that applies to all humanity is not only manifest in our rights, but also in our consequences.

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A majority of humans may get laws changed. A government skilled in social engineering may even be able to get the attitude of a nation changed. But NOTHING a government or its advocates can do will ever be able to change the natural consequences of a choice.

A government can grant or deny privileges. A government can mandate civil responsibilities. A government has the authority to set its own civil penalties for breaking its own rules and laws.

But a government will NEVER be capable of conferring rights upon any subset of the human race.

Yes, this even includes homosexuals.

(Yeah, I went there. Wait till you see where I go next in Part 14–Equal Opportunity)

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DN=: Part 12–Civil Liberties

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV)

I’m free to choose who I see any old time

I’m free to bring who I choose any old time

Love me hold me love me hold me

I’m free any old time to get what I want

“I’m Free” Mick Jagger/Keith Richards

One of the main functions of a father is to establish and enforce boundaries for his children. The intent of setting these boundaries is to protect his children, because he knows more than they do.

There is no condemnation in this, only a sense of love and protection. The child picks up on this, and remains content within the security of the boundary.

Now if an earthly father can manage to set healthy boundaries in love, how much more effective and useful are our heavenly Father’s boundaries! Would it not stand to reason that an omniscient God, who knows every possible outcome of every possible choice we could make, would know what’s good for us and what isn’t?

The most obvious example of this is the 10 Commandments. A lot of people are put off by them because of the “Thou shalt not” tone that most of them have. So why would a loving Father God put such restrictions on the freedom of His children?

One word—consequences.

LIBERTY DN= FREEDOM FROM CONSEQUENCES

Some consequences of violating God’s boundaries are obvious. Take for example “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” If you break that commandment, the most obvious and immediate consequence is generally the breakup of a marriage.

Long-term and indirect consequences are difficult to predict, however. We can’t know for certain how young children will be affected by the divorce—how they will cope with the sense of loss, how they will develop socially as they grow, what baggage they might carry into their future relationships and marriages.

God sees every potential negative consequence, and wants to protect us from them. Nevertheless, our nature instinctively reacts to any kind of boundary as a restriction on our freedom. Christian or not, nobody likes being told what to do, or to have their “freedom of choice” taken away.

But when you stop to think about it, this is a ridiculous notion. NOBODY can take away your freedom of choice, not even God. He’s the one who gave it to you in the first place.

Boundaries

God doesn’t set boundaries to take away our choice. He places them there to assist us in making the right choice, because he knows which choices will have good consequences and which will have bad consequences.

However, somewhere along the line our culture developed a callous disregard for sin, or crossing God’s boundary lines, and its consequences. Our culture has been brainwashed to believe that God’s boundaries, as set forth in the Bible, are out of date and out of touch with progress.

Since the Bible is God’s Word, and therefore our most definitive written source of Truth, this Truth gets dismissed along with the Bible. Inside this moral vacuum, people get the idea that they can create their own truth—a moving target that is relative to whatever suits their whims at any given moment—and anything contrary to that amorphous worldview then becomes a violation of their civil liberties.

Only here’s the problem. Since Truth is universal, and it’s found in the same place where God’s “restrictive” boundaries are, then it would follow that the consequences of crossing those boundaries are also universal.

The consequence of mentally turning sin into civil liberties is that to do so, the concept of civil responsibility is totally abandoned. You can’t be “free to do what you want any old time” and be your brother’s keeper at the same time.

Fortunately, God has a way of evening things out.

(To find out how, come back for Part 13–Fair Play)

DN=: Part 10–Affirmation

For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45 ESV)

If a person’s words are trustworthy, that person will have an established record of trustworthiness. You are not going to be led down a successful path by someone who has never succeeded.

Likewise, a person known for encouraging others likely won’t tell you something that will be a stumbling block to you. Even if it’s something you didn’t expect, or didn’t WANT, to hear.

We all come to a day of reckoning where we realize the direction we’re going isn’t the one in which we ought to be. I can’t imagine anyone going through his or her entire lives without making at last one major course correction. (If you’re reading this and you haven’t yet, don’t worry, you will.)

No matter who you are and what your situation is, that situation, and your destiny, will never change without you making some conscious decision to change your way of thinking and go a way you haven’t gone before. This could mean a slight change in direction, or a complete 180.

The churchy word for a change of mind accompanied by a change of direction is…

Repentance

The important thing to understand is that repentance cannot occur without new information entering the cranium. You can’t change your mind or choose your direction without knowing that you have a choice to make.

The trouble is that the right choice is not always the easy one. In fact, it usually isn’t. The right choice usually results from your having received information that you needed, but not necessarily that you wanted.

Anybody can tell you what you want to hear. If you want your current belief system to be affirmed, the internet is more than happy to oblige. All you have to do is type what you already believe into your favorite search engine. You will find thousands, maybe even millions of people, to affirm your point of view.

There’s just one problem with this. Belief DN= Truth. As such, a quest for affirmation will never lead to intellectual or spiritual growth.

AFFIRMATION DN= INFORMATION

Now don’t get me wrong; I am speaking of affirmation in the sense of affirming a point of view, not one’s own self-worth. The latter is healthy affirmation. I will tell you plainly that I crave that kind of affirmation nearly as much as I crave oxygen.

However, a quick perusal of the Truthseeker Manifesto will illuminate everything that is detrimental about a quest for affirmation of one’s worldview.

You can’t end an argument by attempting to bolster your own position. You can’t establish common ground without leaving your own ground. Seeking to affirm your beliefs does not afford you the opportunity to test them. Also, it is very difficult to explain your own reasoning when all it consists of is quote mining from other people’s reasoning.

Essentially, the quest for affirmation is a rejection of Truthseeking. The desire for affirmation is a symptom of insecurity. Specifically, it is the fear of losing everything that is familiar to you on the off chance that whatever, or whoever, is challenging your belief pattern might have some information that you would have to accept.

The only way to overcome this fear is to have a burning desire to be informed, not just to believe, but to KNOW! But knowledge only comes when you take the lid off the glass.

In a culture that values affirmation, however, this is easier said than done. If we are serious about obtaining information that is worth knowing and passing on, we may have to look to history.

(For a different kind of history lesson, come back for Part 11—Backwards)

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DN=: Part 9–Brainwashing

Brainwashing (n.)

1: a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas

2: persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship

(Merriam Webster dictionary)

Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth,
    bend your ears to what I tell you.
I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
    I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
    counsel we learned at our mother’s knee.
We’re not keeping this to ourselves,
    we’re passing it along to the next generation—
God’s fame and fortune,
    the marvelous things he has done.

He planted a witness in Jacob,
    set his Word firmly in Israel,
Then commanded our parents
    to teach it to their children
So the next generation would know,
    and all the generations to come—
Know the truth and tell the stories
    so their children can trust in God,
Never forget the works of God
    but keep his commands to the letter.
Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
    bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
    who never stayed true to God.

(Psalm 78: 1-8 The Message)

When you see a child who behaves well in public, what is it you always say? “The public school system sure has made a great citizen out of that boy?” Or, “Our governmental programs have certainly taught this young lady how to be a good American?”

No, you say, “Their parents must have taught them well.” If the parents are present, you might thank them directly for being such good parents. Lord knows if the kids AREN’T behaving, it’s the parents you’re going to blame, right?

So if it is this obvious that everything a child is and does is shaped by the examples set by his or her parents, then why does our culture get so bent about Christian parents setting a Christian example for their kids?

School’s in session.

Education, of course, is a good thing. If we never learned anything, then we wouldn’t know anything (duh). And common sense, that is, the collective wisdom of all the I told you so’s from all the parents ever, tells us that the primary source of any child’s education is at home.

Face it; we’re all home-schooled, no matter what our diplomas say.

Our parents have us from day one, when we are completely empty glasses. From them we learn to walk, talk, eat, pee and poo where we’re supposed to. Sometimes they even teach us to read, write and count before we start school.

Most importantly our parents, and specifically our fathers, are the primary shapers of our value system, our moral compasses, our sense of right and wrong.

So is this education or brainwashing?

EDUCATION DN= BRAINWASHING

Look back up to the top at the dictionary definition of brainwashing. It’s not just indoctrination, or even FORCED indoctrination; it is forced indoctrination designed to replace one way of thinking with another.

Parents are teachers, not indoctrinators. They are filling empty glasses. A child does not yet have a way of thinking or a value system to replace.

Therefore nothing, let me say that once more for emphasis, NOTHING that a parent teaches his or her own children can possibly constitute brainwashing. This includes the passing on of Christian faith, the bedrock upon which the family has been established generation after generation.

So if giving your own children a Christian education is akin to pouring the Water of Life into their empty glasses, then by contrast, cultural brainwashing is coercing an educated person of any age to pour out their water, smash their glass, and take a deep drink from this brand new glass of fruit juice.

What do you mean it tastes like Kool-Aid?

(For an alternate beverage choice, come back for Part 10: Affirmation)

The wealthy rule over the poor, and anyone who borrows is a slave to the lender.