An Evening with Paul David Tripp (Getting to the Heart of Parenting)

Last Night, and this morning, Apex Community Church in Kettering Ohio hosted a parenting conference with speaker/teacher/writer/stylish mustache advocate Dr. Paul David Tripp. We live about 45 mins away, have five children, and are greatly appreciative of Dr. Tripp's teachings. Sadly we were not able to go to the sessions for this morning, but in the opening sessions Paul did a terrific job laying the foundation of the weekend's conversations. My hope is to transfer my notes from the first two session and hopefully it will give you a springboard for further growth, study and evaluation. Also, if you ever have a chance to hear these talks, the seminar was called "Getting to the Heart of Parenting", I highly suggest you go.


SESSION I

What are you doing as a parent? What are you working on? What are you trying to produce? In other words, what is this (Parenting) all about?

The Bible is a Grand Redemptive Narrative, not arranged by topic, every word within has something to say about every part of our life. Simply turning to the passages that obviously pertain to you specific topic of interest means that you will miss the majority of what the bible actually says about that topic. Turning only to the verse that specifically mention parenting or children means we will fail to see the whole picture for God's purpose in parenting.

So, about that. What is God's intent/focus/job for families?

(Judges 2:6-15) What happens here and what does it have to do with parenting? Israel's premiere historical event has just taken place, they have entered that land of Promise and the first generation is passing away. The second generation, those born in the land of promise, have very quickly forgotten their God and are completely pagan. Who failed?

(Deuteronomy 6) Is the list of instruction that God gives Israel as the enter the promised land. Notice specifically verese 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." Essentially when you wake up, go on your way and fall asleep you should be opening you children's eye to the wonders of God everywhere, lest we forget. The failure in the promise land is not in any school, institution or church, but solely on the parents. There are essential facts about who God is that you must download into your child daily, facts that they must know in order to know what God wants. 

So what do these verses start to reveal about God's plan for the family?

1. The Family is...a theological community. That in your family God is THE CENTRAL FACT that everything revolves around. Teach you children that they are NOT the center, that God is the center. If you can look at your world and fail to see the evidence of God to point your children to, well then you are tragically blind. God's glory is revealed everywhere and we are to point our children to his revelation. We need sight to see His glory around us so that we can be instruments to open up the eyes of our children.
Three things children ARE...

• Revelation Receivers. God is everywhere and the brilliance of his mind and creation is displayed in everything, and you children need to be awaken to this fact. We worship and show to them the awe and beauty of God everywhere. If they are not already in awe of God then when it comes time to read the book he wrote they will be completely uninterested in what he has to say. On the other hand, "Oh the God that made the trees, and gives us food and revolves the earth around the sun wrote this book? I better pay attention!" See the difference? It is completely natural to talk about God all the time because he is everywhere, it is unnatural not to talk about Him!
• Interpreters. Children do not base and shape their lives based on the facts, but on the interpretation of those facts. They are constantly thinking, trying to learn, to make sense of, reason and philsophize information. Your children need to understand that the correct place to receive truthful interpretation is at the feet of the creator.
• Worshipers. Worship is an IDENTITY not an ACTIVITY. Like you, your children want to be their own god and make gods of things. Your child needs to understand that only one person is worthy of worship and it is not them! God must always be the center of affection, if not your child will truly insert themselves at the center.

2. The Family is...a sociological community. If being a (theological community) is commandment number 1, "love the lord your God with all your heart", then (sociological) is command number 2, "and your neighbor as yourself". In the family is the best place to learn true love, love that is self sacrificing and, loving others more than yourself precisely because they live in a home with people they did not choose to live with. Children are raised and sent out as adults with no real concept of this type of love or any intention to live in it. Parents, children learn this type of love from your example.

3. The Family is...A redemptive community. Are we modeling the grace & forgiveness in our families when our family members fail? We need to push everything back to the central fact of God. Does our language and actions reflect a God who will never leave us and nothing we say or do can push him away from his children?

SESSION II

Lets rethink our perspective in parenting. Parenting must be about getting to the heart of the issue. The greatest danger to you and your children is not something external, but something internal. (Matthew 15:11)

People live from whats inside their hearts, we tend to believe the opposite, that what we do is due to what has been done to us, but not out of the overflow of our hearts.

Let's DEFINE THE HEART: The Heart is the causal core of one's person-hood. (Where the Heart goes, so the behavior follows)

To often we address the behaviors of our children and not the heart. Our children's sinful behaviors flow from sinful attitudes of the heart. Again, behavior is not the problem, behavior is the result of the real problem, the sin problem that exist in the heart.

Lasting change in behavior therefore always travels the path of the heart. Treat the cause and not the symptom. Usually we are too easily satisfied with exchanging bad behavior for good behavior. Being so easily satisfied does not address the deep inward motives of the heart and doesn't produce real change but just smarter sinners who know how not to get caught. On top of this is un-biblical, an anti gospel, a reveals nothing of the way that God is, for God is NOT easily satisfied with mere change in behavior.

There 3 Main ways we treat the externals only.

(none of these deal with the heart)

1. WE THREAT: "If you don't do what I told you to you'll be in big trouble!" This puts you in the central position of God and demands that your children obey your sovereignty or face you wraith, but does teach them to honor an obey the one true God.
2. MANIPULATION: "If you play nice with your sister you'll get a reward." Now the child is in the central position of god, and they will act favorably towards you if you give them the right sacrifice.
3. GUILT: "I work so hard, and this is the thanks I get!?" Your children should learn about what grieves the heart of God, not what upsets you when your inconvenienced and don't feel like parenting the way that God has called you to.

Your call as a parent does not end when you are tired, when its after bed time and you just want them to go to sleep, or you have work to do and they won't leave you alone.

We have no real ability to change the hearts of our children, we can only serve as eye openers to the way that Christ changes hearts. Christ changes hearts through...

Confession & Repentance: Owning personal responsibility (you can't confess what you haven't grieved; you can't grieve what you can't see; you can't repent of what you haven't confessed) Lead your Children to confession.

5 Practical Questions to help get at the heart

(note, the wording and verbiage of each question is not important, but the order is)

1. (Get a grasp of the situation.) What's going on here/What happened?
2. (point them to examine their hearts, to look inward at the real problem) What were you thinking & feeling as this was happening?
3. (examine the behavior that the attitude of the heart birthed) What did you do in response?
4. (examine their motives and goals) Why did you do it/what were you seeking?
5. (get them to own it) What was the result?

CHANGE IS NOT AN EVENT IT IS A PROCESS

These questions don't lead to regenerate gracious Christian, but help to let them see how God views their sin and responds to it. These conversations with these questions happen a 100 times a day and a million times until they are no longer you children and hopefully the God of heaven will use this inward heart evaluation to reveal to them their deepest need for Jesus Christ. This conversation/question model the way that God shape's our own hearts.

It doesn't matter how well adjusted your kids are, if they don't know how to interact with God then they are anything but "ok"! Addressing the externals and not the heart will make your children like the Pharisees, clean on the outside but dirty on the inside

When we are angry at out children we are never actually angry because they have broken God's law, but because they have broken our corrupt laws.

So as parents we need to examine our children by first examining ourselves and our hearts. Start by humbly confessing that you don't want to parent needy whinny kids in the way that God wants you to parent them. Remember that no one gives grace better than someone who knows they need it and celebrates that they have received it.

Nine reasons you should buy Scott Hubbard's art.

1. It supports local art. Local art is important, it just is. Usually it is the creative types in a community, either directly, through charity involvement, or indirectly, through inspiring those with influence, that move the culture forward. Face it, you are influenced by art in one form or another. Sadly guys and gals like Scott, and his wife Jenni, will go by largely unnoticed except by the few that are inspired and influenced by their art. It is important to support local artist, not necessarily to spread their own agendas as some may think, but to spread beauty. Beauty inspires and energized anyone and everyone from all walks of life.

2. It supports a family. Scott is not a "starving artist", he works full time and supports his wife and three boys (Evan, Koji, Wiley). His art suppliments his hard work. You wouldn't be paying someone to sit around and whine and shun their responsibilities for the sake of their "art". In reality it would be awesome if Scott could work full time arting it up, but he can't do that without your support. Scott uses his art primarily to help take care of, and serve his family, and secondly his community. In all my chats with Scott about art, it always drifts back to using art to help people.

3. Each piece is customizable. The piece my wife commissioned for my birthday was made specifically with me in mind. I love rock climbing, and Scott nailed it! My heart lept when my wife have it to me.

4. Incredible detail.  If you look closely at my original Scott Hubbard art, you'll begin to notice terrific detail. The climbing equipment in the belt, the way the climbers foot is bent, is all incredibly accurate. Most impressive is the rock formation in the background, it is an actual rock formation you can visit at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky,  and I was instantly able to recognize it. "That's Chimney Rock!"

5. Each piece is unique and one of a kind. Even if someone where to request the exact same picture as you, there is absolutely no way that any two pieces can be exactly 100% the same. If anything imagine how impossible it would be to find the exact same type of metal to draw your picture on. There is no way you can mad produce these babies, each one has to be made to order.

6. It's just plain awesome.  'Nuff said.

7. It honors the talent involved. With the exception of an occasional straight edge, all of Scott's pieces are hand drawn. I was sitting next to Scott at a local event here in our beloved city. He took out his pen and scrape metal and began to draw the silhouette of the skyline in front of us, using nothing but his eye and his amazing talent.

8. It is environmentally friendly. Scott's canvas of choice is reclaimed pieces of scrap metal. Discarded for whatever reason, Scott reuses these panels for the unique look they give each piece.

9. Did I mention that they are just awesome?

STOP CALLING HOMOSEXUALITY A SIN

"Stop Calling Homosexuality a Sin"

I guess this is shocking coming from me, a Christian who holds to the historical orthodox views of scripture. However two profound conversations have changed my views, not to the historical teachings of the bible, I still very much affirm them, but to the Christian approach on loving and caring for the homosexual community, and the persons therein. I want to share those two moments with you and then explain how I have decided to respond in my life as a witness of the Gospel, to those who find themselves outside the fold of God, especially the LGBT community.

Honestly I don't think its fair to even say that I've "changed" my views, but more accurately I think the church needs to change theirs. Let me be clear I am a part of the church, and I love God's church. So I ask you to hold on with me and think prayerfully about these two stories, search your own heart and ask the creator "How do I live towards the homosexual community that reflects most, God's desire to love them that they may repent?" A big heavy question. I warn that there is a bit of reading a head so for those with short attention spans I will say from the start that my statement "Stop calling homosexuality a sin", has some parameters around it and by the end of this post changes slightly, don't call me a heretic just yet.

The first of these two moments was a blog posted shared by Justin Taylor on his blog over at The Gospel Coalition entitled ''An Open Letter to the Church from a Lesbian". To save you some effort I'll repost the content of that post here...

To the churches concerning homosexuals and lesbians:
Many of you believe that we do not exist within your walls, your schools, your neighborhoods. You believe that we are few and easily recognized. I tell you we are many. We are your teachers, doctors, accountants, high school athletes. We are all colors, shapes, sizes. We are single, married, mothers, fathers. We are your sons, your daughters, your nieces, your nephews, your grandchildren.

We are in your Sunday School classes, pews, choirs, and pulpits. You choose not to see us out of ignorance or because it might upset your congregation. We ARE your congregation. We enter your doors weekly seeking guidance and some glimmer of hope that we can change. Like you, we have invited Jesus into our hearts. Like you, we want to be all that Christ wants us to be. Like you, we pray daily for guidance. Like you, we often fail.

When the word “homosexual” is mentioned in the church, we hold our breaths and sit in fear. Most often this word is followed with condemnation, laughter, hatred, or jokes. Rarely do we hear any words of hope. At least we recognize our sin. Does the church as a whole see theirs? Do you see the sin of pride, that you are better than or more acceptable to Jesus than we are?

Have you been Christ-like in your relationships with us? Would you meet us at the well, or restaurant, for a cup of water, or coffee? Would you touch us even if we showed signs of leprosy, or aids? Would you call us down from our trees, as Christ did Zacchaeus, and invite yourself to be our guest? Would you allow us to sit at your table and break bread? Can you love us unconditionally and support us as Christ works in our lives, as He works in yours, to help us all to overcome?

To those of you who would change the church to accept the gay community and its lifestyle: you give us no hope at all. To those of us who know God’s word and will not dilute it to fit our desires, we ask you to read John’s letter to the church in Pergamum. “I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore!” You are willing to compromise the word of God to be politically correct. We are not deceived. If we accept your willingness to compromise, then we must also compromise.

We must therefore accept your lying, your adultery, your lust, your idolatry, your addictions, YOUR sins. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
We do not ask for your acceptance of our sins any more than we accept yours. We simply ask for the same support, love, guidance, and most of all hope that is given to the rest of your congregation. We are your brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not what we shall be, but thank God, we are not what we were. Let us work together to see that we all arrive safely home.
A Sister in Christ

For me, my inner skeptic takes over, I want to know the real deal behind this letter. Is it authentic? Does it reflect the hope of other members of this community? That is, are there other homosexuals that feel this way? I think the letter is profound and full of truth, it does show an understanding of the Gospel and the message of the bible, and I think the application is sound. (I'll share a few of my favorite tidbits later.) What makes this letter even more profound is the second conversation I had following it.

I am not going to pretend that I have tons of homosexual friends, therefore I am a great accepting tolerant Christian, I don't, but I do have two that I genuinely consider friends. I would have no problem sharing a meal or my home with them, I would even share what I love the most with them, the Gospel. One of these two homosexual men is actually a guy I grew up in church with, and fortunately is also my best means to verify the feelings and emotions in this article. Here is our facebook convo...

• Samuel ChaseHey JM, I didnt want to post this on your wall and cause any sort of weirdness... but I came across this letter apparently written to a church by a gay woman. A while ago we talked across facebook, and I said that I am always trying to be more compassionate because I think Jesus was always compassionate. So I though it would be sensitive of me to send you the link in a private message and just simply ask your thoughts so that I can be more understanding and caring to all people. I thought the letter was pretty thought provoking. I really appreciate your time and your insights.http://thegospelcoalition.org/mobile/article/justintaylor/an-open-letter-to-the-church-from-a-lesbian
  

  10:17pmJMNot ignoring you I'm out right now, ill read and respond tomorrow10:17pmSamuel Mary Chasethanks bud, no hurry, again I really appreciate it!10:18pmJMAnytime!
  

  • Friday

  1:36pmJMVery interesting article. From my experience with the gay world, most people won't go to church because they either feel like they would be attacked as soon as they walk in the doors or that they know what the bible says so why bother. For me, I still go to church. I've been gay for as long as I can remember, it's like someone telling you that you can't be straight, that it's a sin. To me it's something I can't help. But I still believe in god and I'm still the same person I have always been. I didn't wake up one day and just decide to be gay, trust me, and most of my gay friends agree, we would all much rather be straight lol. As for the church, I think they need to not be "accepting" per say, but needs to have more grace and compassion. If loving another person truly is a sin, than like the letter says, the church needs to realize that everyone sins. That's just my view point lol
  

  • Today

  9:20amSamuel ChaseThanks so much for your input JM! I think you're right on my friend, there is plenty of room for grace and compassion, unfortunately Christians for some dumb reason have a hard time showing it. I think good conversations like this go a long way to changing that.

  
  
• 
  

  
  

Here is his specific response to the article again for you consideration...

"Very interesting article. From my experience with the gay world, most people won't go to church because they either feel like they would be attacked as soon as they walk in the doors or that they know what the bible says so why bother. For me, I still go to church. I've been gay for as long as I can remember, it's like someone telling you that you can't be straight, that it's a sin. To me it's something I can't help. But I still believe in god and I'm still the same person I have always been. I didn't wake up one day and just decide to be gay, trust me, and most of my gay friends agree, we would all much rather be straight lol. As for the church, I think they need to not be "accepting" per say, but needs to have more grace and compassion. If loving another person truly is a sin, than like the letter says, the church needs to realize that everyone sins. That's just my view point lol"

 Now for the tidbits, or my attempt to tie these strings of thought together.

Both responses do not want acceptance, the first letter openly denounces "acceptance", and my friend's facebook response says that it is not necessarily, or as he puts it "per say" what is needed. What both the letter and the response say is that grace, compassion, and the "open letter" would also add hope as being the most needed. The great thing about this is that the bible prescribes these three things to the brokenness of all sinners, the prideful Christians like me, and the homosexuals like my friend. Both sins are just as damnable as the other, both sins, and all sins for that matter, need the Grace of Jesus Christ, both sinners need him to look upon us with compassion, and for any and all between this is our only true hope. That's right, I just dropped some gospel on you.

The problem is not acceptance, although that is the word most would use, what they want is to be loved and given hope, that is what I want most for myself, and I think love and hope is what brings us into acceptance This is hard for us to do, one because of our own sinfulness, and two its just hard to grasp. Its is the same as the very nature of Christendom itself, it is both completely "inclusive", everyone is invited, and completely "exclusive", but not all will come, at the same time. I believe this, Jesus saves both the homosexual and the bigot alike and delivers them from their sin, and further more they are both accepted by the Father based on the acceptance of Jesus, who is fully accepted.

I hope you do not hear me saying that homosexuality is not a sin, or that all people will go to heaven, I do not believe this. I do believe that any homosexual that places their hope fully and truly in Jesus Christ will be given the reward of sons from the Father. That statement will lose some of my Christian friends that are unable to read through the lines and see what I am saying.

Let me start to end with an example from the bible. 

(Joh 8:2)  Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
(Joh 8:3)  The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst
(Joh 8:4)  they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
(Joh 8:5)  Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?"
(Joh 8:6)  This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
(Joh 8:7)  And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."
(Joh 8:8)  And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground.
(Joh 8:9)  But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
(Joh 8:10)  Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
(Joh 8:11)  She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

Jesus had every right to cast the stone, he has never sinned and he is the giver of life and it is his right to take it. Instead, he holds back his right to stone, and sees this woman's need NOT for further condemnation, but for rescue. What if we, as Christians stopped showing our condemnation but instead offered the grace, hope and compassion that Christ has shown us. Stop arguing over whether or not they "choose this lifestyle" or if they are "born that way", and instead identify with our LGBT brothers and sisters in the same thing that is true for both of us, we need grace! In other words, what if we confessed and repented of our sins openly that others might see humility instead of bigotry? Stop using persecution as your excuse to why people don't understand or call you a bigot, you may just actually be a jerk.

Surely this issue is surround by much emotion and passion, but the cross is surrounded by even greater emotion and passion. What I see expressed in both of these conversations is that my gay friend and the lesbian who wrote the letter are very aware of their need for grace, so maybe instead of emphasizing their distance from grace to where they feel further from it, why don't we compassionately tell them of our hope that they would draw near themselves? Remember, you cant save anyone, you cant make someone love Jesus, but you can love them yourself.

So why should I "STOP CALLING HOMOSEXUALITY A SIN"? Alright  time to come clean, let me confess, the title is meant to hopefully draw you into this conversation. So let me offer some concessions. I am not saying the we should stop calling certain actions sin, or sinful, if asked directly we should always answer biblically.  I am saying this "STOP CALLING HOMOSEXUALS (the people involved) SINNERS"! See what I did there. This is not "Hate the sin and love the sinner", I'm actually not a big fan of that idea. This IS remember that you too ARE a sinner, but Christ has called you "Son", and just maybe the homosexuals that we keep calling sinners will one day be called "Son" as well. I believe that heaping more condemnation on a sinner is the least effective way to help them know and trust Jesus, and if it is ever successful they came to Jesus by guilt and not by grace.

I dont need to tell my friend that he is a sinner, or the woman who wrote the letter, I DO, however, need to assure them that their only hope is the same as my only hope, Jesus. Notice that both responses to the issue suggest that the Church lead in confession and repentance of it's sin first. I think they are absolutely right. We are all sinners, I am the worst sinner that I know, and I humbly ask that anyone, regardless of you sexual preference, follow me in repentance, as I try my best to follow Christ. If you are nervous, I understand, it is hard, but Jesus is absolutely splendid, and I cant wait for you to meet him!

I am afraid my stance on this issues is probably not harsh enough for either the left or the right. To sum up my position for those of you who are wondering even though it is not the main thrust of this article...

"I support wholeheartedly any attempt to find meaning value purpose and hope, I may however, disagree on the means that you use to achieve it, and the things that you believe will ultimately give it to you. If Gay Marriage is permitted, my opinions to the matter aside, I will continue to love for and care for and show the greater grace and compassion, that has been shown to me by Christ, to all my homosexual friends. Doing this would have probably prevented much of the fuss that Christianity finds itself in. On marriage I would say this to anyone, hetero or homosexual. Marriage is not held together by love alone, it is important yes, but merely a part of a much larger machine, more than feelings and even desires that lead to love are desperately needed. Secondly all humans desire a few essential things. Meaning, Value, Purpose and Hope.

It has been my experience that marriage does not give any of these things, but exposes my even greater need for them. That is marriage, if understood rightly, pushes us to something beyond itself. What it pushes us too is ultimately up for debate, and I believe this is the real issue. I have found, that in all my vain pursuits, Christ has given to me more meaning, value, purpose and hope than any thing else. Again, the real issue is this. "What can truly add to our heart and soul the ultimate satisfaction that they so desperately crave?" In other words; "What can give us our deepest desires?" Love is not sufficient, marriage is not sufficient, however, Christ is sufficient. Whether you hear me or not, or completely misunderstand what I am saying, I encourage you to do whatever you think will make you the most happy. Do what will give you ULTIMATE meaning, value, purpose and hope. This is where true joy is found. If you find it, please let me know, although if I were you I would not settle for anything less than perfection."

For the Christian Readers...

"Be careful not to label disagreements over agendas, political issues, personal beliefs and silly things like status updates as persecution. As serious as they may be, this is not persecution. Ask the guy with nails in his hand if this is what he meant by persecution."

There, now that I have offended everyone let me end. The Holy Spirit convicts and draws people away from their sin, it just simply is not our job or even in our ability. It is our job to be truthful to the teachings of scripture, to be marked by compassion, overflowing with grace, and ever telling of the greatest hope the world has ever known for its rescue, Jesus. Let me end with the latest message my friend just sent me today.

• Samuel Mary Chase
  

  
  

  Thanks so much for your input JM! I think you're right on my friend, there is plenty of room for grace and compassion, unfortunately Christians for some dumb reason have a hard time showing it. I think good conversations like this go a long way to changing that.
• 11:25am
  

  JM
  

  
  

  I agree, good conversations really do go a long way!

God is Holy, We (especially Christians) are sinful and Christ is sufficient.

Grace&Peace

Slavery and Bondage:Pt3

So I have been away for a while, like over a year while...but seeing as I am the sole contributor, and probably reader, of this blog I guess its not a big deal. The reason I started this blog is two fold; I needed an outlet and secondly a certain life event led me here to start this blog, and similarly a life event has brought me back. As to the first life event you can learn about that here and here, and the second life event is much more simple. I told my wife about the blog, read a couple entries to her, and she said it was good, so if she thinks its good then I will try my best to be a more faithful poster.

This entry requires a brief, or as brief as I am capable of being, explanation. Its actually part 3 of a series (if you cant tell by the title), its not that I didn't have a conclusion previously, its just that my life shifted drastically and my attention was required elsewhere, and with good reason. Now I will briefly sum up the previous two post and their main points, or you can just go back to the archive and read them for yourself. In the first post I question the idea of freedom, freedom nowadays is usually summed up on the ground level as "People should be allowed to do what they want!" which if we really think about it is utterly ridiculous. So to fix this we normally add to it by saying something like "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else." Sounds nice, but this does not fix the problem, you cannot give people the leeway to be completely selfish and permit them to do everything and expect it not to affect anyone else negatively. We could go into endless examples I am sure.

In the second post we dived into the lies that dominate this way of thinking, and how they are kept hidden from us. Things like the illusion that we are in control, that we are basically good and we would never do anything destructive or hurtful with our freedom; in-spite of all human history as evidence to the contrary. Then we talked about the false identity your  "freedom" wants to put on you. Let me give one example of this.

I have now three daughters (prayers are appreciated), I consider it an honor to protect their purity, I hope that all three hold back from sex until they are married. This is not idealism, or some vain hope, but in conversations, even with well meaning people, they always say "well, wait until they are teenagers." They assume that teenagers have to experiment with sex or that they are most likely going to, and here is the thing...That may very well be my daughters story one day, but just because it happens, and even if it happens to the majority, it does not mean it has to be my girls story. I hope that this is something that I make clear to them all of their lives. That the truth is that whatever is considered normal in their culture "does NOT have to be their story." The identity being forced on them is this goofy overly sexualized idea of adolescence, and by telling them that this doesn't have to be their story, I am actually giving them more freedom in how they choose to shape their lives

In a nutshell, our westernish concept of freedom is hacked up in such a way that it actually binds us up. 

So here is the kicker, this is where I attempt to bring it all home. We are all bound, a "slave" if you will, to something. Its just obvious if we ever take a time out to look at ourselves and the world around us. Everyone is living for something, but this false "freedom" wants you to think that you are totally in control, the master of your destiny, which is also a silly notion if we really think about it. The follow through lie then offered to us is that you, unlike everyone else, are serving something positive, that your motives are pure. I want to offer myself up as an example to hopefully disprove this to you.

I previously mentioned my daughters, and I think through very specific and intentional things to hopefully teach, love and serve my daughters well. No one would fault me for this, but I am constantly drawn back to my motives for doing so. The Christian answer is that I do these thing for the Glory of God, because he loves my daughters more than I do, and he gave them to me to learn how to steward hearts and sacrifice and consider others better than myself, and sometimes, by God's grace and not my strength, this is absolutely where my heart and my motives are. However, I would be lying if I said this was the reality all of the time, or even most of the time. Normally its because I want my daughters to comply, to serve my kingdom, I want them to behave to spare myself some embarrassment  or I want others to see how good of a parent I am or I just want them to be well behaved.

So I want you to do two things for me. Examine yourself for a moment and figure out what your master is, and the what are your motives for chasing it down, are they really pure? Go ahead, I'll wait...

Usually people tend to think that the bible is about morality, and although it does contain morals, and does have something to say about morality, this view of the bible is simply lacking and untrue, it is not merely about morality, not even barely about morality. So with confidence, and evidence to show this that can be saved for a different post, I want to share a scripture that proves my point. Maybe you don't believe in all this stuff, then please just humor me and go on this journey in a hypothetical sense. If the bible is the word of God then we should probably pay very close attention when Jesus is speaking. I think this is a fare assumption, so Jesus tells us, recorded in two gospels that we all serve a master, and in fact it is impossible to serve two masters at once, you will hate one and love the other.

How does this tie in? Well Jesus is telling us that there really is no freedom, at least not in the American since. There are masters and slaves, and for those of us that think we are truly free we are really only fooling ourselves. I am sure it wouldn't take too long in conversation to find out what you truly value and how it controls you. You may for instance be a slave to money, so you spend endless amounts of time at work and ignore your family (I know there are variables to this, but this is a pretty straightforward and easy example.) You may get to be closer to your master, and may convince yourself that you did all of this for your family, but the sacrifice you pay is that your kids may not have a relationship with their father. You chased the happiness you thought the money would bring at the cost of the joy you would of had spending time with your family. However, you can go the opposite way and live for and idolize and worship your family, specifically your children. If we want to see this in action go watch toddlers & tiaras, there are just too many problems to name with that show.

So Jesus identifies that we all serve a master, and in his statement he suggest that its either him or someone or something else. Fundamentalist would say the "devil" which may be true in part, but the whole answer is actually much broader. It is that we either serve Jesus or anything else. Whatever we place our ultimate hope in trust in, even if that is ourselves, is our master. So Jesus draws a pretty solid line, and later the apostle Paul clings to this identity that Jesus offers, in his letter to the Romans he even introduces himself as a slave to Christ. The reason you and I dont, is because we dont really understand what is being offered two us, and in our foolish little hearts we think that we can find the goodness that Christ offers in things other than him. It really is that simple.

We want the benefits of serving Christ without actually serving Christ. It's very common, and very appealing. Maybe my hiatus didn't help to tie all three post together neatly, but at the very least, maybe there is some food for thought.

Why Evil Happens (an explanation of the Chistian perspective)

In light of the recent and devastating school shooting in Connecticut, a flurry of chatter has erupted across social media platforms expressing feelings of grief, shock and contempt. As always a specific question arises among these feelings, expressed in different ways, the question is simply "Why?", and in our ever increasingly divided country, the different ways we answer this question inevitably cause even more strife in a moment when we need to be even more unified.

We all speculate over this question pointing to, among other things, the corruptness of society, the availability of guns and proper gun training vs more gun regulation, to mental health issues and whether you are a believer or an unbeliever we always wonder "Why, if God exist  would he let this happen?" I cannot answer all these questions and the endless loop of questions they birth. I also cannot speak for God because as much as I like to act like it, I am not him. However, I will attempt to answer, or at least give some perspective on a root question for all of this turmoil that surrounds us now. I do not think this will necessarily give us all comfort after this tragedy, I do think it may help establish a foundation on which we can begin to ask deeper questions, and to hopefully find answers and meaning in a world that at times like this seems to lack both.

The question is this. "Why does evil happen?" Not where does it come from, but "why". I plan to do so from a Christian perspective for two reasons. 1. Non-Christians get frustrated at Christians (this is due to the second reason) 2. because most Christians lack the ability or understanding themselves to accurately articulate their point of view. This means for me, that I will most likely make enemies on both sides, but you will always have enemies if you are trying to be a friend to the truth. If you are an unbeliever I ask you to suspend your disbelief for a moment and follow the train of thought I lay out, I admit that it may be hard to accept, the truth normally is, but it is not as unreasonable as some would want you to think. If you are a Christian, please try your best to let this sink in, if you disagree fine, but make sure your disagreement is biblical. In both cases please don't ignore the very powerful emotions you have after this event, but allow reason and civil discourse to guide them into their proper place. Here we go...

According to the Christian world view evil comes from sinners who sin. The problem is not society, if society is wrong/evil, then it is only because society is made up of people who are evil, or at least, mostly evil. If this is true then it follows that no societal change will fix the problem. Better education, better laws, better regulation, better awareness, more prayer in schools will not fix the problem, to be fair they may be beneficial to understanding or finding a solution to the problem, but they, in and of themselves, are completely unable to fix the problem because the problem is us. So how does this help us answer the question that this entry is named for? Well...evil is the result of sin, and evil happens because we sin. Sin, according to Christian tradition, became a companion to humanity when our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned. We are now, all of us, implicated by their treason and it doesn't take long before we actively partake in their rebellion by sinning on our own.

This leaves us in a rapid state of decay. Once sin entered the world evil walked right on through the door as well, it only took until the next generation, Adam and Eve's sons, before we see the first murder...again according to Christian tradition. So if this is true I know two things for sure. I am a sinner, and when I sin evil rules, Adam Lanza is a sinner, and when he sins evil rules. Here normally starts the debate on who sin worse, "yes I've sinned, but my sins haven't killed anyone!" We all try to prove our innocence, and since we ignore our guilt we push it onto others.

Here is where we are at. We are all guilty sinners, and our sins make a world were evil can reign. However, God, once evil and sin entered the picture has provided us with grace. God warned our first parents that the punishment for their sin was death, yet when they sinned, God held back his wrath and instead issues a sacrifice, killing an animal in their place, and taking that animal's fur and covering their nakedness with it. Now if you are picking up on the symbolic nature of this, you would be correct. So, for those still reading... Evil enters the world with our sin, God counteracts this by giving us grace and he does this in two ways.

The first is what we call providence, through this God restrains evil throughout the world. The question for Christians is then reversed. I for one, am not surprised that evil happens, although I can be surprised by specific acts of evil, the question is no longer "Why does evil happen?", but "Why doesn't more evil happen?" Why are we not completely evil yet? Well God, if he exists, has every right to abandon us and punish us, yet he doesn't. He holds back evil through his providence, showing kindness and long-suffering to us, instead of his wrath, that hopefully we may repent and turn back to him. Allowing evil to still exist does not mean that he is unable to remove it, but it shows that we will never truly serve God unless we see that we truly need him. So evil exists because of sinners, we are sinners, and evil still exists because we refuse to turn from our sin and to God, and God holds back a great measure of evil through his providence.

The second way God gives grace is also the final way. This is the cross, that first sacrifice we mentioned for Adam and Eve is a shadow of the greater sacrifice of Jesus, who lived a perfect life that we could not, and died a horrible evil death that we deserved, so that we may put on his "fur" (read life) that would cover all of our sins and evil. The cross is the solution for all the sin and evil in the world. Which begs the question, "Then why does evil still exist if the cross already happened?" The best characterization I have heard to answer this is that Jesus Christ, on the cross established the spiritual fulfillment of the Kingdom, but the physical Kingdom has not yet come to pass, and will not come to pass until he returns. This is because when the physical kingdom is established there will no longer be a chance for anyone to turn to Christ, his return waits so that more will come to know him, he is patiently waiting for us to see our need for him and repent.

In all of this bad news the good news is that through the cross Jesus has made a way that we may pass from God's providential grace, that currently rules over all creation, and into God's saving grace. That no matter how evil we or the world around us becomes, we are all under the common grace that is God's providence, but we are not all under God's saving grace, but we all can be. God, through his son on the cross not longer has to either hold back evil, or destroy it, but he can redeem those who cause it, he can renew us. So imagine, if you are still suspending your belief, a society and a world were we stop living in God's providence, ignoring God and think that it is some product of our own effort, and instead we bend a knee to his saving grace. My favorite way the scriptures portray this is God removing our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh.

Societal woes, abortion, gun control, wars, illness both mental and physical simply cannot exist in this world, a world full of people that have hearts of flesh instead of stone, hearts made alive by Christ. I am deeply grieved and dismayed like all of you, but I also cannot help to realize that Adam Lanza was a man who denied God's saving grace, and resisted God's restraining providence. That this did not have to happen, and with all the issues that we try to blame, I cannot help but to feel some responsibility. I am not directly responsible for this tragedy in any real way, but I am as guilty as the rest of humanity in my rebellion against the one who gives, sustains and takes away life. I started this explanation saying that I dont think it will solve all of our problems and make us feel better. I do know, however, that I, like you and the rest of humanity are never going to receive the help we so desperately need until we hate all sin including our own.

If you need a church to help you find some answers and council I suggest this one ... www.myvillagechurch.com

So where does this leave us in our question? Why does Evil exists? Evil exist because sin exist, sin does not come from things but from the hearts of men, so evil exist because we exist. God has restrained this evil by his providence and he will remove this evil completely by his justice for those who rebel and his redeeming grace for those who repent. Lastly this saving grace is available for everyone, even the worst of us. We see our own guilt in a guy like Adam Lanza, we see what we fear and know we could be if we let our evil rule us. I have come to the conclusion that I am not sufficient to rid myself of evil, but Jesus is. I will summarize it this way...

God is holy, we are sinful, but Christ is sufficient.

Grace&Peace to all of us, even the worst of us.

Slavery and Bondage:Pt2

This is the second part of three blogs exploring the concepts of Slavery Bondage and Freedom in scripture.

Slavery and Bondage : Pt2 : Freedom is Deceptive

In the previous post we set up that we, humanity, in our fallen state, are incapable of defining anything. Especially a concept like freedom, in its truest form, apart from the counsel of scripture. That is to say that God is perfect, and that any error, miss-understanding or misuse of concepts in scripture like freedom, falls entirely on us. So when we try to define things without taking in what the bible says, we set ourselves up for failure, and potential, if not certain, spiritual damages. That being said, we are born sinful and under the deception of that sin. Psalms 51:5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. We are unfortunately, born this way, and furthermore, this is crucial to understanding the bondage and slavery we are born into. So with that established, here are a few things about our sin....

1.You are way more wicked than you think.

The reason for this is that scripture clearly points out, that every sin is an act of cosmic treason against God. It is not just a mistake, or doing wrong, it is and act of enmity towards God. Effectively making us his enemies. Part of the deceit we believe here is that our sin is really not "that bad", but scripture makes it undoubtedly clear. Jas 2:10  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. Now, for all of these points I could give several scriptures, but for the sake of brevity, I'll only give a few. The implication from James, is staggering. You may in fact be the best that humanity has to offer, but that one slip, and we all have more than one, that one infraction carries with it the weight of all of God's law. Why? Again, any and all sin is an act of the highest form of treason towards God. He has created everything and set it to bring himself glory, and to give us joy, and he holds it all together by his power, and we, in and with our sin, look at the holder of that power and curse him to his face.

2.You are unable to do anything about it.                                                                                              The narrative of the bible can be read old from new testament, as man trying to gain equal standing with God and failing. Laws and Judges, Kings, prophets and promised lands, and every time we swing back to the default, our sin. Essentially we all are trying to get back to Eden, to paradise, but by our own efforts, not God's, and the bible has shown that all of man's acts have only pushed us further away. Now many of us don't like this sort of teaching, but its is biblical, and I by know means want to cast any more guilt or condemnation on you than you may already be experiencing, however it is necessary to understand the seriousness of our sin. If we don't take our sin seriously, then we will never take God's answer for our sin seriously, Christ and His Cross. The great hope for this is that God finished the story. After all of our feeble attempts God made a way through the sacrifice of his son.

3.Your sin has control over you and doesn't want you to know it.

Tit 3:3  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. See that underlined word there? SLAVES! That's pretty clear, right? Hopefully much explanation isn't needed, but the implications are huge. I don't want to minimize. There is clearly in us the ability to choose to sin, this however makes our situation even worse, this makes us willing slaves to our sin. It works like this, we buy the lie, enticed by our own selfish desires, then we are snared, trapped...in need of rescue. Then after buying the initial lie, more lies come up to distract you from destroying the first. It is a trap. You are in it. 

So...
Have you ever know someone who stays in an abusive relationship, or someone addicted to unhealthy and self-destructive habits? Of course you have, if that isn't in fact you. No matter how much reasoning, or pleading from loved ones, they never seem to get out of the situation they have made for themselves. The reason is precisely this, they are in slavery to sin. They are in a bondage of their own choosing and making, but they are kept there by subtle deceptions by a cruel slave master and accuser. 2Pe 2:19  They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 

Bondage is made strong by belief.

What is the deal with bondage? Why is it so destructive? Why is it so powerful? Why do people in it seem unaware of it, or like they don't even care? Well lets look closer at the scripture from 2nd Peter above. 

1."They Promise", in this case freedom, but always something that God gives us anyway, and God gives us better. In the first post of this exploration, we looked at Adam and Eve's original sin. The promise given was that they could be like God, and they bought it, they believed it; but belief in something other than God requires the sacrifice of true belief in God. It is an exchange, if you want to believe this, then you have to disbelieve God. So for Adam and Eve, and us, if the promise is happiness apart from God, then in order to believe this was must stop believing in God for our happiness. In Fact, we have to stop believing that He wants our happiness, and that He knows how we can have it. We are all believers in something, but not everything we believe in is able to fulfill the promise they make. Jesus, the truth, is the only object of belief able to keep his promises, but our bondage keeps us from believing that he is. "I know God knows what is best...I know if I trust Him I could...but I'm just not ready yet....I dont feel like I should."

These are the patterns of people in bondage. "Sure God can, but..." They simply reveal that their belief is in something else, something that they believe is more powerful than God, more hopefull and true than Jesus. They have, what Romans chapter ones says, "exchanged the truth for a lie." We made the exchange, but now we are controlled by the lie, we believe the lie over the truth. Bondage is made strong by belief in the lie.

2. Not only do "they promise," but they lie. This is the natural outworking of belief in promise apart from God. They let you down, they can't fulfill whatever it is that they offer. Here is the trick. They lie more. So much so that your life and the lie become indistinguishable from each other.

2nd Peter goes onto state that we are overcame by these false promise, and as a result a slave to them. They turn your head, advert your eyes and only let you hear what they want you to hear. So that friend who in love, comes to rebuke you, to ask you to turn and repent, is now "Shoving scripture down my neck", they are just "Harassing me." When, in reality, what can be more loving than offering a solution to someone's sin? Its what Jesus did, and he loved better than anyone.


The main root of the secondary lie is to keep you from seeing your sin as the problem. Trust me, your friend, church, pastor, the bible and God, are not out to get you, but your sin is. If you sin can convince you to look elsewhere, then you never escape, you never get out. Jas 1:23  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. Jas 1:24  For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. Your sin never wants you to really look at yourself, or else you will see your bondage and you might actually cry to God for help. So it is easiest to get angry at that friend who holds up the mirror to your face, then it is to look at you reflection.

3. "Your Bondage wants you to believe this is who you are." Fallen, sinful, unable to choose good, this is who you are! And that is true, but not the whole truth, but you bondage does not want you to go any further. It does not want you to believe the whole truth, that by the death of Christ on the cross that you no longer have to be given over to your sin, that the guilt and shame and condemnation is taken away and replaced with a new heart and a new identity. If you just so happen to catch a glimpse of yourself in that mirror, it wants you to accept what you see. It also doesn't want you to remember, that even though this may be how things are, it is not how they are supposed to be. Most certainly it doesn't want you to know that Christ is redeeming everything back to himself. And it most assuredly doesn't want you to believe that you can be a part of what Christ is doing.

The deception is to make you believe that God is out there, and your sin is here. One is far, but the other is close. It wants you to see enough of God to feel more condemned, but not near enough to be set free. The truth is that this is reversed, God is very near, very close, not "out there", but everywhere. He is unlimited in his scoop, your sin however, is not unlimited. As horrible as it may be, and is, Christ has destroyed it through the cross. You sin is limited in its reach, not God!


4. All of this is made to seem like something you want. It brings you comfort, peace, happiness, satisfaction, but it is all vain and false. Unable to surpass in trial, unable to extend to eternity, unable to satisfy in a way that, as Jesus puts it, "you will be thirsty no more." It is a small taste, a dangling of the carrot, just enough, but not the whole.  It does this so that you'll keep wanting more, but eventually the supplies of that sin run out, and you are left hollow and lifeless. We see the people of Israel do this during their wandering in the dessert. At one point their bondage beckons out to them and they began to say stupid things like "We were better off as slaves in Egypt!" Egypt ended in death, but it was okay cause we got feed better.


This is the truth, you can refuse to serve Christ, but that simply means you are serving your sin. You can be bound to Christ, or to your sin. You have a master, but one is cruel and wants you to believe he is benevolent, the other is benevolent and shows you by his mercy and grace. You will be feed by either master. One will give you crumbs from his table, and every now and then you get to lick his dishes. Your sin and bondage only feeds you above starvation, but distracts by the quality of the food. No real substance, but it taste nice. He tells you how honored you should be that you got this much, and this is great and wonderful.


What he doesn't tell you is that as your master, Jesus Christ would sit you at his table as his equal, and share the fullness of his food, that your rest will be with Him and from him. Don't be fooled, you have a Master. Who is it? If what Jesus offers is unappealing to you, than you are in bondage, and maybe you are so bound that you know you are in bondage, but you don't care. Slavery to sin is death, slavery to Christ is freedom. You are by no means free, in any real meaning of the word...but you can be. You may think you are free, but you are not, your "freedom is deceptive."

Slavery and Bondage:Pt1

In the next three post I want to explore the topic of Slavery, Bondage and Freedom in scripture, not so much the actual acts, but the opposing and complimentary spiritual implications found in scripture.

Slavery and Bondage : Pt 1 : Intro

I often catch some slack approaching scripture with a primarily black and white view. Now I do believe that they're are some seemingly grey areas in scripture, but mostly in application of scripture, not so much in the principles laid out. Scripture handles most issues very clearly, and very black and white, the grey comes in when we try to discover what this means for us to live out and submit ourselves to the counsel those scriptures. This is because the imperfection of scripture application lies with us, not with the scriptures themselves. We are left, with our fallen brains, the immense task of living in obedience to God's Holy word.

Now, every so often, concepts come about in scripture that leave us with two opposing views, that through some studying, actually prove themselves to be complimentary. Such concepts as slavery, bondage and freedom are often misunderstood drastically by Christians. It is easy to see how these three elements found in scripture are related, but scripture would reveal to us that we are all slaves to something, bound to something, and what we are a slave to determines our freedom. It is a misunderstanding of what freedom actually is that causes us to often think that we are free when we are really under the bondage of slavery; slavery that we were not meant to live under. Meaning that when we think we are free, we are actually in bondage, and at other times, what feels like restraint is often really freedom. This is the meat and bones of what I hope to explore in the next two post, but I feel the need to give a little set up. The easiest illustration of this freedom into slavery, and restraint that is really freedom comes from Genesis chapter 3, the story of the fall. Summed up, Adam and Eve exercise certain freedoms and then they find themselves in the bondage and slavery of death and sin. Whereas, the restraint that were set in place by God, "do not eat of the tree...", was really the means to secure their freedom.

Like Adam and Eve, the lie fed to us is that God is taking away our freedom, when He is really securing it. In other words, Jesus knows the way that freedom works best.

There are certain parts of scripture that everyone, believer and unbeliever, all enjoy. This does not mean that they understand it by any means, and both sides would accuse the other of getting it wrong; but again we are all fallen. So both sides are right when they assume that the other has gotten it wrong. Some of the elements in scripture that we all love are things like love, charity, kindness and freedom. Just so you know, the problem in understanding these things rightfully, is always us. We bring to these concepts our own understanding, scripture would warn against "our understanding" on anything, (Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Pro 3:6  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. ) So we define them on our terms and not on God's terms. This is devastating to all of these concepts, but we are going to mainly focus on freedom.

Freedom, is NOT how most of us would define it. Truthfully most of us have never really pondered it, but we would say that freedom is "essentially doing what you want." Does anyone see the danger here? If everyone was "free" by this definition, then we are all in big trouble. Someone who habitually lies is merely expressing freedom, a murderer is only expressing freedom, dictators who kill millions in genocide, are expressing their freedom. This is where we try to then amend the definition. We will then say "doing what you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else's freedom." The problem here again, is us. Every expression of you doing what you want is going to, in some way or another, impact someone else's freedom, there is no way around it. Here is the funny thing, your freedom should impact another person's freedom.

Think of it this way. Jesus is the ultimate embodiment of all concepts in scripture, so by extension, Jesus is the most "free" man who ever lived. Jesus lived so freely that his freedom secured the freedom of the world from sin and death. So for us, maybe real freedom is living in a way, that is not so much a concern for freedom in our lives, but freedom in the lives of others. Live freely in a way that encourages other's to find their freedom in Christ.

This freedom includes freedom from the bondage of slavery in sin and death. This is huge, and we all need this freedom. We are free in ourselves because Jesus took all the guilt and shame of our sins to the cross, so we no longer have to strive for our own acceptance, it is secure, and we no longer have to walk over anyone else's freedom to obtain our own Joy, because Christ, freely laying down his life, has secured it. We are then set free from the fear of losing our lives, enabling us to live freely for other's Joy.

Now the reason this is important for us to ponder and search out, is that we easily drift back to slavery of sin and death. Historically God's people have longed for the false security and fake freedom's of their former lives. This is something we will explore more in the next post. Hopefully, searching the scriptures and laying down our ideas of freedom for Christ' true freedom will help us to live our lives full of joy and lives that call others into the freedom of that same joy.