It All Good!

It's a "Good" Life. That was the title of one of the most bone chilling episodes of The Twilight Zone that I ever watched. If you haven't seen it then stop reading right now and look it up! You can find it on YouTube.

Ok, welcome back! Ok so Anthony is the very substance of a parents nightmares. A being able to create of destroy at desire and unteachable. What do people do in reaction to him? They blur their thoughts and do what they can not to think and they go through every day saying "Isn't it 'good'?" when it is clearly NOT good.

I was sitting with a friend of mine in the middle of Duncan Donuts while she did some business over Skype. While I was waiting I pulled out my Kobo and began reading my way through the Didache (the earliest written book on the teachings of the Apostle's outside the New Testament). One of the primary statements that stood out was the authors statement of "accept all things that happen as good for nothing happens unless God allows it". That is a hard pill to swallow...

How do we say that all things are "good"? Is it not obvious that there is in fact evil in the world and that evil things happen? Of course there is. When I read the command for declaring all things "good", I found myself thinking back to Anthony. How many Christians live as if God is like that demonic little 6-year-old who could read minds? Going around saying that everything is "all good" or that they are "too blessed to be depressed" despite the agonizing weight of struggle and stress that is currently weighing upon their minds? Is the author stating that we should numb ourselves to the darkness of the world or that we should "fake it till we make it"? I don't think that this is the case.

The command to accept all that happens as "good" under the understanding that nothing happens without God is not denying that there is evil or that evil things occur.  I think that there is significance to the command and it is not just going through life lying about one's circumstance. Instead we recognize that God is not a puppet master or just dishing out blessings or wrath for the sake of dishing out blessings or wrath! There is purpose in what happens.

Additionally, I do not believe that God is causing all things that happen to happen. He allowed for sin to come into the World and to reek havoc, but it is not the same as causing bad things to occur. God does, however, use evil and tragedy to to display His glory and to do great things! We do not numb ourselves to the pain and the reality of evil around us, but instead we take joy in the awesome power of God and rest in the knowledge that He is love; that He sees us and knows all that was, is, and will be. We look to the future with faith, hope, and trust in God that He will always act according to His nature, His superior knowledge, and His flawless logic.

For those who have been redeemed and are now a part of the Church, should we not expect good things from the God we love and serve? The One who has us call Him Father and King? Indeed. Additionally, He has proven Himself to be good. He is not just the "most good", be He is the very definition of what "good" is.

God is good, not because He does "good things", but instead what God does is "good" because God did them. Unlike little Anthony, God is love and He is full of compassion, understanding, and is without the flaws of a sinful, human soul. We can rejoice that we do not serve a tyrant that oppresses, but instead we serve a King who serves and leads His creation with grace, mercy, justice, and understanding.

Peace be with you,

Stephen

TedTalk Tuesday: How to Ask

Hey y'all! It's that time of the week for TedTalk Tuesday! This is the day I choose a Ted Talk that really stood out to me or enhanced in my life. This weeks choice is the tale of an musical artist and her journey to learning about connecting, learning, and asking. Her story is an absolute inspiration and I believe she has some pretty amazing insights to share from her encounters.

I hope you enjoy it! Have a great Tuesday y'all!

Peace be upon you,

Stephen

The Risk of Logic and Academia

In my 23 short years of life, I have had the privilege of reading, listening, and interacting with hundreds of Christians. I grew up in the Church of God of Cleveland, the denomination identified by it's Pentecostal roots and their...rather excitable worship services. My worldview was formed around the paradigm of the CoG and it has had a significant affect on my current worldview.

When I left for college I was asked many times if I was going to go to Lee University, a nearby college associated with the CoG. I replied, "No I'm going to Bryan", which always got me the response "oh, isn't that a Baptist school?" or "But aren't they Presbyterian?" Quickly I would respond with "they're non-denom" so that I could save face and reassure my fellow church members that I wasn't going to a school that taught "false teaching" of the Holy Spirit and that I wasn't going to fall away from Pentecostalism. Once I got to Bryan, however, God took me through a journey that I would never forget.

Life is not always as "black and white" as we would like. There are not always clear cut answers, especially when it comes to spiritual matters and Christianity. Many people don't like this...not at all. I am one of those people. I like clear cut answers, but experience has left me questioning clear cut answers whenever they arise.  Within many church paradigms, including the one I formally associated myself with, academics and theological pursuit are looked down upon. Why?  I think that there are a lot of answers to this. The most obvious one being pride, but one of the most significant ones is comfort.

Health, wealth, and prosperity teaching come out of this, as does a lot of "seeker friendly" churches. I had a friend of mine tell me of a church that bothered him greatly because the pastor consistently stated he wanted a church that didn't feel like church and that anyone could walk in off the streets and understand whats going on. He wanted everyone to feel comfortable. As a result the pastor sacrificed deep teaching and discipleship for foolish, American Christianity.

Another reason, which is related to the first, is the false belief that if someone is wrong about one thing, they are wrong about everything. No one really says that they believe this, but it's evident in their actions. For example, "Catholics are wrong about their beliefs about Mary, so Catholicism as a whole is a cult and should be rejected" False. It's funny that if Pentecostals and Catholics took the time to compare beliefs they would actually find that they are closer in theology than they think, especially in terms of the role of the Holy Spirit and His influence in our lives.

No one wants to be wrong, and many are afraid that if they are wrong about one thing then they are about everything. I had this fear as a college freshman who found out that there was strong biblical evidence for predestination, as well as for a high view of sacraments. I found out that Catholics were Christians and that there were people making a difference who never spoke in tongues or "fell out in the Spirit". Christianity was not what I thought it was, and my world was shaken by it. I had to realize that I didn't have everything wrong just because I didn't have everything right! No one is 100% accurate.

The risk of being logical and academically honest is having to question ones upbringing and to be willing to take a hit to one's pride for the sake of seeking truth. To ignore logic and to reject intellectual study of the scriptures and of God is just as sinful as rejecting emotions within worship and not being sensitive to the workings of the Spirit in our lives.

If you were not taught to be logical or to question your beliefs and understanding of scripture it is never too late to start. Don't, however, seek to do it all alone. We grow and learn from others and from community of thought and interaction. Be honest. Be logical. Ask questions.

Peace be with you,

Stephen

The State of Me

I am a prideful person. Most people I know say that I'm not a prideful person, but I am. I may not be arrogant and display pride openly as many do, but below the surface it lies. I will choose to do or not do various things because of my pride, including withhold my personal thoughts and feelings on a topic matter to save face or for reasons to complicated for me to explain at this time. 

It's hard to believe how fast this year has flown, and that I've been graduated for a whole year! This last year has been a humbling year for me. I left my church, I wandered from church to church and denomination to denomination trying to sort through all the questions I had and to find my place. I moved to Knoxville and took a job in collections, which ended with an request for me to voluntarily resign. Then I moved into a part time position as a sales associate. whoop whoop. I have been proverbially stabbed in the heart many times and beaten down.  

God has lead me through a year of trial and reflection. I have been forced to look at my life in ways I hadn't before and to question myself and everything I've ever learned. I ran from my problems, not to escape them and make them disappear, but instead to process them and to be able to handle them. Instead my problems chased after me and I had to fight more than I thought I would have to. Now...I am stronger.

I have experienced great mercy and great horror at the hands of human beings. I have wrestled with the lies that were etched into my mind by those I held dear and by my own habitual false believing. I've learned that God is merciful. 

I have recently come to the conclusion that I have not even scratched the surface of what God is doing in me, and I have a long way to go. I look forward to the years that lie before me and the change that will be instilled in me. I have also concluded that I have not been as open and honest as I could be academically and spiritually, or even as I SHOULD be. This is an issue I seek to cure in the weeks to come, for the sake of integrity and of character. 

I can't wait :)

Peace be with you,

Stephen

"More? More did you say?!"

Over the years, many song have become distasteful to me because of biased opinion and/or bad experiences that I associate with certain songs, or sometimes I just get so sick of hearing that same song all the time, especially the super repetitive songs.

In my desire to be honest and fair, I started thinking about some of the old songs that I never sing anymore with the intent of separating my biases and my distasteful experiences from the songs that I believed I was being unjust to. I did not get very far.

Most people that I know are familiar with the old song "I Need You More". I grew up hearing the song often, and I myself fell into the mesmerizing lyrics of the song that displayed a great devotion and an "ever increasing need" for Christ and His grace. I have seen many teary eyes and expressions of serenity and false wonder among the worshipers that surrounded me singing this very song.

As I was meditating on the words of the song, I was suddenly hit with the realization that the song, while passionate and full of good intent, lacked critical thought and theological care. It appeals to emotion far more than the intellect, and by default teaches a false understanding of the relationship between God and man.

The chorus is where I find my dissonance. It reads as follows:

"I need you more. More than yesterday I need you Lord. More than Words can say. I need you more than ever before. I need you Lord. I need you Lord."

Now, I obviously have no argument with the statement that words are insufficient to describe the need we have for Christ. The world is full of darkness, hunger, hatred, sorrow and humanity all across the World suffer in a variety of ways. It's the "more than yesterday" and "more than ever before" parts that I am calling into question.

I can think of a couple people whom, if i were to tell this to them in person, would produce tears and begin talking about how they "need Him more" every day, and they might even be offended by my saying this. Perhaps they would accuse me of not having a good "relationship with Christ" or that I am not "in tune with the Spirit".

You might ask "what's wrong with these lyrics? Isn't the writer just being honest about how he feels or about with his relationship with Christ?" At one time I would have asked the same thing, but now it is not so.

Critical analysis leads me to ask this question instead, "can I truly need God more?" I believe the answer is "no." Scripture teaches that God is the creator and sustainer of life. In Him "we live and move and breathe", and outside of God's permission and will we cannot exist. For it was through Christ that we were made and it is through Christ that we remain, that even as He was hanging on a cross with nails in his hands and flesh ripped from His bones He held us in existence.

Given all this, can we say that we need Him more? If our breath, food, water, our very existence relies on Him being Him can we need Him more? I say no. For since before we were conceived in the wombs of our mothers we needed God to the absolute utmost. We always need God and we always will. We do not "need Him more", instead we become more and more aware of our need! We learn to rely on Him more, to trust Him more, and to turn to Him in struggle and in our lacking. We need God just as much when times are good as we do when they are bad.

As you seek and become more and more aware of the human condition and our need for God, I pray that you will desire, trust, and cling to Him who alone can redeem and sustain.

Peace be with you,

Stephen