Yes.  He did.  And we are here, only by His gracious act of creation.  If you have been following along with the posts and especially the commentary the last couple of weeks you are aware that creation has been discussed and I hope will continue to be.  No one is denying the fact of creation, just how to interpret the narrative we have that portrays it.  This post is not about creation in a wider sense.  It is about the many questions I have read out there in cyberspace asking what God created.

There is the question asking, did God create evil?  Another asks, did God create sin?  What about, did God create time?

Some believe He created evil and sin for example, so that we can experience good and His mercy.  Some believe He had to create time because He does not experience duration or sequence because He is infinite, but because we are finite we had to have time created to experience the same.  Some of these concepts are definitely brain twisters and the most vocal of the believers in these things end most of the discussions with the argument of God being so far beyond, above, mysterious, and such that we should not attempt to even ponder them.  Logic seems to have no place for determining what God is like.

I have other questions.  If we need evil to experience good, then how in the heavens are we going to experience good in eternity?  Isn’t the promise that evil will be gone?  Is evil a noun; is it something with independent existence?  Or is it just what occurs when Gods ways are not followed? The same goes for sin.  Isn’t it really just a turning from the path God set before us, missing the mark, as it is defined?

God is good because he said so.  Good has independent existence because God exists.  But God never, ever, said He was evil.  Isn’t evil really just a measurement, as is sin, of how much we are unlike God or how far we or our actions are from Him.  Did God create large, small, sweet, sour, pretty, ugly and such, or are these just descriptives and measurements of the things He did create?  Evil and sin are not things.  They are what things that are created do.

Time is in the same ballpark.  It is a measurement of sequence and duration.  Again, do we say that God created height, or depth, or diameter?  Or aren’t these just concepts that we use to relate to creation?  To me, time fits this description.  I once thought of God as timeless and above and outside time and it gave me nothing but headaches.  Upon further study, prayer, reflection and discussion I have come to the conclusion that this is a manmade concept and is not only unbiblical, it actually goes against much of the biblical witness.

As I read the love letter to mankind that we call the bible, I see a God that desires relationships with His creations.  I see a God that experiences sequence and duration.  A God that asks things like, how long?  How much?  When?  All of these things point far away from timelessness.  In eternity, if God does not experience time, meaning duration and sequence, then how will we relate to Him then?  It will be no better than it is here.

God is everlasting to everlasting.  God simply always was and always is and always will be.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, which are actually finite terms meaning the beginning and the end.  These do not point to timelessness either.  They actually point us to the fact that we find our beginning and ending only in Him.

Did God create…?

As far as evil, sin, and time go, I say no.  It just does not fit the picture of the Father that Jesus painted for us.  Instead we find that He is good, He is perfect, and He will be there with us and for us.  Hallelujah.

Love you all

Tags: alpha and the omega, Beginning, Bible, Creation, Discussion, Ending, Eternity, Evil, Father, God, Good, hallelujah, Heaven, jesus, King, Mercy, Perfect, relationship, Relationships

Divide and conquer.  I am sure you have heard the term.  It is a term for a tactic that is used to defeat an enemy.  The concept is that if you can successfully cause a group of enemies to turn on each other it is easy to sweep in and conquer them.  It is the oldest battle tactic of all.  The enemy used it in the beginning to divide the created from the creator and it has been used ever since.  And very successfully.

One aspect of using this tactic successfully is to deceive your enemy in a way that they do not always see the division.  Until it is too late.  Our adversary has continued to use this tactic since that first epic division with great results.  There are many that have entered into an eternity without God because of it.

I am following a lot of discussions and situations in the body of Christ that are causing dissension, distrust, confusion, and anger between the participants.  It seems most are not even aware or concerned with the harm that is being done or how the arguments over things that are either not essential to the mission or just blatantly wrong are helping to divide us.  When I try to determine essentials as it concerns the Gospel I actually see it as rather simple.

Joh 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Mat 22:37-40  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Mat 28:19  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

These three things are the essentials.  These three are all we really need to know to stay on mission.  The rest of the bible can be seen as instruction on understanding and learning to apply these three.

God loved us so much He was willing to become one of us in the person of Jesus so He could rescue us from the clutches of the enemy that we had allowed to enslave us, then He instructs us to love Him and each other, and finally to go and tell all about this great love of His and to show them how to spread it also.  So the real essential is the mission of spreading love.  And nothing else.

I see more dissension being sown than love being spread as I look at the body of Christ.  One of my main objections to God even existing for most of my life was that I saw very little love, hardly any sacrifice, and only token agreement within Christianity.  This is a historical and a present reality even now.  I am a part of the body now and still see the same things.

Luther, Calvin, Arminius; no agreement there.  Spurgeon, Moody, Wesley, Finney; no agreement there.  Piper, Wright, Pinnock, Conn, Spong; no agreement there.  Baptist, Episcopalian, Catholic, Pentecostal; no agreement there.  COG member and another COG member; no agreement there.  Not only is this sad, not only is this divisive, this is dangerous.  Hatred is being spread, intolerance is being observed and souls are being lost.  The mission is not being done because we are too busy telling the other how wrong they are.  We must wake up to the tactics of enemy that is walking among us.

The arguments and the view of essentials in my own denomination and even my own church are very disconcerting to me.  Tongues as initial evidence, alcohol consumption, missional or Pentecostal, and a misplacement of love are just a few areas where lines are being drawn and the enemy sits back laughing while watching us pound on each other.  I am sorry but I can’t even find the scripture where Jesus spoke in tongues, I can show you where He drank wine, His focus was wholly missional and relational, and He point blank told us who to love.  Take notice where our love is supposed to be applied.  It is to persons and not things.

Instead I am reading declarations of steadfast love for a denomination while those same advance no attitudes of love or outreach for the ones outside the Kingdom.  In fact, some of the things they are arguing against in their unyielding traditional, denominational defenses cause those we should be reaching from even giving us a chance to spread the love we are supposed to be spreading.

The Church of God is an institution, an organization, a denomination; and I do not love it.  I love the people in it.  I also love the people in the Assemblies of God, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Catholics, the Muslims, the Hindus, and the list goes on and on to include even the agnostics and atheists.

We have people that won’t accept anything but the style of preacher that they want, the music that they want to hear, the order and method of service they grew up with, and even the times the services must be done.  When are we going to wake up to the machinations of our enemy?  When are we going to realize the necessity of unity even if it means sacrifice?  When are we going to discern our own self-centeredness?  When are we going to apply our misplaced love appropriately?

If the lost in my community want to sing reggae, country spirituals and this will keep them in church long enough to become disciples, then shouldn’t we be willing to throw out the hymnals and praise choruses?  If the lost in my community want to sit on couches with the lights turned down a notch and have a spiritual discussion instead of a pulpit pounding, corn shucking, belt jerking, spittle spewing preacher yelling at them, then shouldn’t we be willing to give it a try?

Mat 28:19  Go therefore to church, sit on the pews, sing only what you like, keep a pastor and stand behind him only if he preaches to you and only if he does it the way you want him to, and do not in any way suffer the person that does not agree with you, in the name of (insert your own name). (Self-centered interpretation)

This is how we read this commandment today for the most part.  Isn’t it time we went to war, got back on mission, and at least tried to do what Jesus said?  It will take sacrifice.  But He sacrificed Himself so you could sit there on that pew and be wrong.

What if that lost person that won’t come to church because of your self-centered requirements is your grandchild?  Will you sacrifice then?

I love you all (and hope you can still love me)

Tags: atheist, Body of Christ, Calvin, catholics, Christianity, Church, Church of God, Creator, dissension, Enemy, eternal life, Eternity, Holy Spirit, Love, muslim, Pentecost, piper, Self

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Rom 12:1-2

My pastor used the text from Romans quoted above for his sermon this morning.  He focused on how a lot of us have not had our minds transformed.  Then I watched a video on Shannon’s site and read the comments there concerning homosexuality and how we react to this sin in ways that are very different from the ways we react to other sins.  (Another free plug, Shannon)

I agree with my pastor’s sermon this morning and I also agree with much of what was said on Shannon’s blog but I still have problems with all of this.

God did not make any of us the way we are.  We all come into the world through the act of procreation and not creation.  God stopped creating after He finished up the sixth day and then He has placed the rest mostly in our hands.  He still, I believe, steps in and works in this realm at times but it is mostly up to us.  We choose to be, do, say, and act out of who we are; which is a reflection of many things such as environment, how we were raised, the attitudes of our parents, culture, education, and lots of other things.  We live in a fallen creation and start out as slaves to sin.  This cannot be denied.

We need to learn to love.  We need to practice love.  We need to embrace each other as Christ embraced us.  And that includes homosexuals.  We have way too many fundamentalists in the Kingdom that are hypocritical and judgmental.  The sins that offend them the most are the sins that they believe offend God the most.  This is just not true.  So I would say that I agree with most of what I have read today.

But the problem I have is that most all of those trying to find another answer seem to want to just overlook sin in its entirety.  I am not saying this about those whose comments I have read today but I have been thinking this way myself a lot lately.  But is that going to do those in sinful lifestyles any better than the fundamentalist viewpoint?

Let’s say the fundamentalist is wrong and God loves everyone enough that no matter what they do He will not turn them away.  Then we really have to introduce these people to Christ so they can have a chance.  It is not up to us who is in and who is out.  It is up to God.

But look at what happens if those who want to say sin is alright and all things are forgiven and covered by the blood of Christ are wrong.  We may share some warm and loving moments while we reach out to those living in sin while we are on this planet, before eternity, and then have them turn to us at judgment and ask why we did not warn them.

I just don’t know.

This whole issue is tough.  I am of the opinion that neither side is right but I admit that I do not know where to draw any lines.  I do know that we must all, me, you, adulterers, homosexuals, liars, thieves, etc., present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.  We must also not be conformed to this world, but instead be transformed by the renewal of our minds.  And this is the only way that we can even begin to try to discern what the will of God is and what is good and acceptable and perfect.

One thing I do know is that we better get serious about finding out what God wants us to do about all this.  Just feeling good about our own beliefs is not the answer and there is more at stake than causing anyone to feel ostracized or unloved here.  There are eternal consequences to our answers to these dilemmas.

This is serious and I believe must be concluded but as I said, I just don’t know.

Love you all

Tags: attitudes, Belief, Culture, eternal consequences, Eternity, fundamentalists, Good, homosexuals, Judgment, living sacrifice, Perfect, procreation, Self, Sin

I asked a question a couple of days ago and invited all of you to participate.  The response was not overwhelming and I kind of expected that.  The question, while simple, was a decidedly hard one to answer.  Not because most of us do not know the answer but because we are not that willing to share it.  The question was, “What is wrong with you?”

The simple facts surrounding the answer to this question is that most of us are unwilling to share with others what we feel are our deficiencies, flaws or defects.  And there are some who do not even recognize that they have any.  I know that I do and I also believe when we wake up to the fact that we have these shortcomings, we can begin to deal with them.  Further, I believe when we are transparent about them, when we share them with others in our Kingdom family, we can not only find help in dealing with them but we will find out we can help someone also.  A lot of us might think we are the only ones dealing with a certain flaw.  That is not so.  We all have them and there are a lot more of us than there are flaws.  So someone out there has the same problem that you and I have.

I am going to share one of my own here.  I am at times too confrontational.  I sometimes feel that I do not come across as the loving person that I want to become known as.  I teach a couple of classes a week at my church and I am sometimes too direct and always very plain spoken.  I might occasionally use a “big” word but it is usually because I am trying to incorporate it into my speech.  It is not to impress and definitely not to confuse.  If there is one thing I want it is that I want everyone to understand or “get” what I am saying.

I am also passionate about the things of God.  I get loud and even heated sometimes even when there is no one arguing, disagreeing, or even talking for that matter.  And I have told my class many times that I don’t care.

When I say those words, I don’t care, my wife hates it.  She is the one that cares about me the most and she does not ever want anyone to think less of me or see me in a negative light.  And I just don’t care.  She has scolded me and offered suggestions for better ways to say what I mean such as “it doesn’t matter.”  And believe me, I have tried.  But it doesn’t matter because I don’t care.

No one has to say anything to me to get me to declare this and it is not what you may think.  I blurt out those words when I think that some might have an objection to what I am saying.  I also use them when I am describing something a well known theologian or an early church father has said and I believe they are wrong.  An example would be; I don’t care what John Calvin concluded, God is not some sovereign, unloving toymaker in the sky remotely causing every act that people perpetrate on this planet.

Sure, it doesn’t matter might sound better in this instance but is there really any difference.  I don’t think so and I don’t really care if there is.  I am blunt sometimes, to the point and even a little hurtful.  I wish I wasn’t.  I have a friend, Shannon, that seems to be able to respond in a way that is not confrontational to everything and everyone.  He can comment about things that I know are directly opposite of what he believes in a way that lets you know he disagrees but you still come away with a smile.  With me it is probably a frown.

One of my flaws that I am working on is to be less confrontational and to not be quite as blunt as I am.  I am not overly concerned about this though because of one thing.  That is that my Lord and King could be blunt at times to.  I believe Jesus did not really care about Peter’s feelings when He said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” in Mark 8:33.  Or at least it didn’t matter.

Even if this is a flaw that I have, a defect in my speaking technique, it is something that I can live with while I try to change.  And as Jesus demonstrates, sometimes we just have to not care whether feelings are hurt when eternity is at stake.

When I am teaching or discussing the things that pertain to the Kingdom and I say that I don’t care it is actually because I do care.

Love you all

Tags: Calvin, deficiencies, Eternity, God, Kingdom, Love, shortcomings, Work