Is humanity lost? Have we walked away from God and gone our own way? Is the world really going to hell? Is that fair? Is there any way to return to God? Is God even willing to welcome us back if we tried? Does God require any terms for salvation? Would it even be fair of God to set up terms? Why not just save everyone if He really does love the world? What do you think? Well, not to be rude, but it doesn’t really matter what you think. It doesn’t even matter what I think. What matters is what God thinks. (No one likes to hear this.) And the only way we can know what God thinks is if God reveals that to us. And if He does, our own opinions/feelings/thoughts matter little if they contradict what God says about himself. John Wesley (the founder of the Methodist movement) wrote a commentary on the New Testament, including the book of Romans. In this commentary, Wesley states (emphasis mine): [The Gospel] is the powerful instrument of salvation…by means of faith… The world greatly needed such a dispensation–the Gentiles being in a most abandoned state, and the Jews (though condemning others) are themselves no better…so that all were under a necessity of seeking justification by this method. Why did John Wesley write this? Because it’s what the book of Romans lays out as the condition of the world. The question is, did Paul just write this out of his own thinking? Or is this divine revelation from God? If it’s just his own opinion, there’s no need to affirm it or live by it. But if this is revelation from God about humanity’s state–it demands our greatest attention. In Wesley’s commentary, he also states (I paraphrase): God has an absolute right to show mercy on what terms he pleases, and to withhold it from those who will not accept it on his own terms. God says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy – According to the terms I myself have fixed. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion – Namely, on those only who submit to my terms, who accept of...

The biggest reason why I left Genesis, my former church, was that I believe that putting one’s faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to God, but I was told that this was narrow-minded, judgmental, and arrogant to believe and teach this. Of course, I had been teaching this to the youth, and was dismayed to learn that the church felt this was unnecessary and not beneficial to do so. Through this experience, my eyes have been opened to realize that churches like this really do exist out there. Sure, I’ve always known that, but I never thought it was so prevalent that I would actually be part of one. In addition, I discovered that the arguments given to me for why I was wrong for my beliefs would be rather persuasive to anyone who doesn’t read their Bible, which is very scary to me. Because statistics show (and people’s understanding of the Bible show) that most people who go to church don’t read their Bibles regularly. In the weeks that have followed my resignation, I’ve been looking hard at Scripture–and what I’ve found has amazed me. Of course, I knew that Scripture preaches that Jesus is the only way, etc. so that didn’t surprise me. But what has surprised and encouraged me is how powerful, alive, and transforming the gospel is. It’s like I’m experiencing it anew all over again. A re-genesis of sorts. But I lose sleep almost every night thinking about the people who remain at Genesis. Some of them have come to the conclusion that this issue is unimportant, and amounts to nothing more than simply parsing doctrinal hairs. They would say, “We can get along with you and your beliefs–why can’t you get along with us?” Then there are others who have no clue that the church feels this way about the gospel, because the gospel is never presented. Like me, they probably have wondered why we don’t talk about it, but assume that it’s because our sermons are more seeker-friendly. Yet they don’t realize the danger of not hearing the gospel on a regular basis. Pretty soon, if you’re not careful, you devalue the gospel in your own life, because it is...

I commented to a friend a few days ago that I wondered what would have happened if the Israelites hadn’t complained about no water to Moses (that’s when God told Moses to strike the rock so water would miraculously flow out for them). Would God still have provided water for them? Or would they have had to suffer w/out water for a lot longer? I’ve also thought about the disciples in the boat w/the wind and waves while Jesus was sound asleep. What would have happened if they didn’t freak out and wake up Jesus? Would God have calmed the winds and waves still? Or might the situation have turned out worse before it got any better? Is it possible one of the disciples may have lost their lives? I guess I’m wondering if it’s sometimes better to doubt God is paying attention and cry out to him in panic, rather than trying to drum up more faith and trying to continue to endure the situation. I think I’d be willing to hear a rebuke from Jesus about my lack of faith, if the waves and wind would die...

In the next few blogs,  I will be discussing some of the issues that led to me leaving my previous church. Before I discuss these things, I want to make sure that my heart and spirit are not misunderstood. While I strongly disagree with the beliefs and values being taught there (and the lack of teaching as well), there is no bitterness or hostility that I hold toward anyone there. I think it’s important to remember that when we disagree on such things that we are able to do so without trying to hurt individuals personally, or try to attack them. This is hard to do when you have strong beliefs one way or the other. Yet, it is necessary. The Bible says that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood–so why should we make the other person our enemy? Even if the other person chooses to label us as enemies, he/she has no power over our own thinking. We can still love them and pray for them. Since I left my church over “theological issues,” it is obvious that I have strong feelings over these issues. Strong enough that I felt it was better to part ways with people that I love and miss. I understand how it would be easy for those I’ve left to take this action personally. I hope that one day, they will know that I never desired to leave such good friends, but that this decision was something I felt I needed to do, even at the risk of losing credibility in some people’s eyes. Before I left the church, I had a decision to make: Voice my strongly-held concerns at large in the church, or leave quietly. In the situation I faced, I do not see anything wrong with either option, although my preference would have been to voice my concerns, because I feel the issues are that important. However, I was afraid that this action would have been taken as a personal threat by those in leadership, and I didn’t want my positions to be tarnished by some who would feel I was trying to be mean (dissent is too often taken this way, even when the dissent is legitimate). I...

After hearing the story of how David cut off a piece of Saul’s clothes in the cave, instead of hurting or killing him when Saul was chasing David to try and hurt and kill him. I told Naomi that David was nice to Saul even when Saul wasn’t nice to him, and that’s what God wants us to do when people aren’t nice to us. Naomi: Why does God want us to be nice to people who aren’t nice to us? Daddy: Because God is nice to people who aren’t nice to Him, and He wants us to be like Him. Naomi: David wouldn’t know that if God wasn’t born yet. Daddy: Well, God was never born. He’s the only one who was never born. Naomi: He wasn’t? Daddy: No, He’s always been here. (Naomi is confused.) Isn’t that good? We wouldn’t want to be here if God wasn’t here yet. Naomi: But I thought Jesus was born? Daddy: Well, you’re right about that. Jesus is God’s Son, just like you’re my child. And He was born. But God the Father has always lived in heaven. Jesus is God the Son. Naomi: They’re both God?? Daddy: (oh, dear…how to explain this) Yes. God the Father and God the Son. Naomi: How can they both be God? Daddy: It like you’re a person and I’m a person. Both of us are. I’m your daddy and you’re my child. Both of us are persons. Jesus and God the Father are both God. Naomi: (pause) Why is he called “God the Father”? Daddy: Because He’s our Father or Daddy in heaven–just like I’m your father or daddy on earth. He created us. Naomi: Yes. But why can’t we see Him? Daddy: Because He’s in heaven. That’s why we call him our Father/Daddy in heaven. Naomi: Where is heaven? Daddy: That’s where God lives. Naomi: And that’s where people go when they die, right? Daddy: Yes, if you followed God. Naomi: (long pause) What if you don’t follow God? Daddy: Then you won’t go to heaven. Naomi: You don’t? Where do you go? Daddy: (pause–should I go there?) It’s a place called Hell. Naomi: (long pause again) What’s that? Daddy: It’s a place...

In this post, I am going to approach this from the argument of reason only (not doctrines of innerancy of Scripture, or beliefs in the inspiration of Scriptures, etc.). Not that I reject those doctrines, but I think it would be fun to look at it from this viewpoint. What does a Christian have at his/her disposal to trust and follow? 1. Scripture 2. Oral tradition from the Catholic Church, which they claim came from the Apostles 3. Opinions of Christians down the centuries 4. Opinions of present-day Christians (i.e. pastors, scholars, etc.) 5. One’s own opinions I would much rather trust and follow what the Apostles/Scripture writers taught in their writings than any of the others on this list when they seem to disagree with Scripture. Why? Simply, the Scripture-writers were there at the beginning of the faith and warned us against others who would come after them and would deviate from their teachings. If you doubt the writers, how much more should you doubt any who follow if their teaching seems to disagree? I believe this is one of the reasons why the Jews had so much difficulty accepting Jesus. His coming and preaching made many of the commands in the Law seem trivial. The Jews refused to deviate from their Scriptures, simply because some man who came thousands of years later showed up. The only way they could entertain the idea of adjusting their view of Scripture is if that person had more authority than Scripture itself. That person would have to be greater than the prophets who wrote Scripture. If Jesus was not truly the Son of God, the right thing to do was to continue following Scripture as it had been passed down to them. If you would trust and follow something else on this list in spite of what Scripture says, I would like to know why. Do they claim to be the Son of God? Do you think they, like Jesus, deserve to have more authority and credibility than Scripture? In short, if Scripture is wrong or misleading, Jesus himself will need to clarify–not someone else on that...

I think most people would agree that music can help us worship God more fully oftentimes. After all, if it didn’t, we’d just say prayers at church instead of putting them to music. Sometimes music can distract us, but hopefully it’s actually helping us worship God more truly. This morning at church, the worship team led us in “Revelation Song,” one of my favorite current worship songs. I couldn’t help but notice the deaf section at the church as they were worshiping with us. As the music would pick up during each verse to lead us into the chorus, the whole congregation was “getting into it.” I noticed that the same was true for the deaf. I assumed that they were taking cues from the rest of us, as they can’t hear anything. I watched as they signed more demonstratively, and more forcibly. I couldn’t help but think they have no clue how awesome this sounds, and imagined if all of a sudden they could actually hear what they are imagining in their own minds. I think I would rather be blind than deaf. To not be able to hear the sound of worship would be painful for me. Then I thought–they may be worshiping more truly than we are. They probably assume that we are getting excited musically because of the words to the chorus, as they have don’t have a reference point for why we get excited by the music itself (since they wouldn’t understand how the sound of music moves us). They have no clue what a cymbal sounds like or a crescendo, etc. That’s when I realized that in their worship, the deaf people are probably getting excited over the words themselves: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was and is and is to come With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings You are my everything, and I will exalt You!” That’s when I started to wonder–is the music really helping us worship God more truly? Perhaps we rely on the music to move us instead of the truths we are singing. I would love to see a congregation get moved by simply reciting the text of a...