Thought for the day

A good way to look at your relationship with God...

The word usually translated pursue in Ancient Greek, literally means 'to systematically harass, or oppress'.

Paul told Timothy in a letter to "systematically harass/oppress righteousness, faith, love, peace, and people doing the same as you"

See what happens.

Hard Times

I'm writing a post, which interestingly coincides with what went on tonight. It will be published tomorrow lunchtime. Suffering is an interesting topic and this study I am publishing will come back to it again and again as I go deeper into the frustration that has seen the 'prototype of Hope'.

The little broadcasting some of us get branded with...

I've been watching God TV. I confess. It is pretty awful. When every preacher looks at the screen and yells at you to sort your life out it's not a great resource for societal improvement. However, it did get me thinking. The type of programming on this channel is a mix of weird Australian presenters talking loosely about some kind of 'Glory' that floats around, in reach if you pray for enough hours of your day; televangelists with no message worth laying claim to; liars telling you that the Gospel of Jesus Christ found in the Bible isn't quite right, unless you have everything sorted (or the other way round, that the Gospel is supposed to get you sorted in 48 hours of believing, contrary to these texts here, here, and here); and women giving profoundly foolish advice to lower-middle class people about how they could where trouser suits just like her.

It's not got anything worth watching. Todd Bentley was almost getting to a point where people might have invited him to their house for tea, only to see the strain of not taking a Sabbath (which many people learn is a dumb move) put strains on his family. It removes the people following one man, but it's not the best way to see that happen. I saw a trailer the other day to buy a cloth that (for only €50) would heal you every time you touched it. I came to the conclusion that this channel should not carry the name it does, unless it decides to shape up and get rid of the preaching people want to hear, and put in place preaching people need to hear.

This isn't their first criticism and it won't be their last. It makes me mad that people who don't know Jesus might watch this. It's a load of rubbish, and it's only good purpose is to practice discernment. I turn it on and ask myself, "How is this wrong?" It doesn't take me long to find out, and it's upsetting that that's what it's come to.

Enough about that, because on the other side of this chasm is a Channel 4 show called 'Make Me A Christian.' It's brilliant, and based in Leeds (my old home City), so it just makes it that little bit better than the average Channel 4 documentaries. It's not in the same league as Celebrity Wife Swap, but it is very good. There is a small issue I had with an Evangelical (I think) Catholic priest who tried to convince one family to have a picture of the latest pope over their fireplace. But the methods of the 4 church leaders are astonishing. One guy was in a relationship for 2 years, but still spent Thursday nights (Lads' night) going out, picking up girls, and sleeping with them. An unhealthy amount of one night stands (i.e. more than none). A Pastor decided the only way for him to come face-to-face with his blatantly absurd actions was to take him to an STI clinic, and get him tested for sexually transmitted infections. The man in question couldn't go through with it, but I think he got the message.

Another girl was so obsessed with her image she had had plastic surgery in a lot of different places to make herself feel better. She was so materialistic with her outward appearance she was in debt by £15,000. Not good. Another pastor went to her house, asked her a few questions, then realised what her issue was and quoted this from the Bible:

Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. (1 Peter 3:3-4)

The power of these words led her to tears, and she wept for a considerable amount of time. Coming face-to-face with idolatry is a terrible thing, but it showed her, and the guy mentioned earlier, that there is something about Christianity that cannot just be an outward thing. It finds itself outwardly expressing itself in the faith of a believer. But what is ultimately important is what is in the heart. I didn't see any more of the documentaries, but could see the methods: Bring them face-to-face with their way of living to show them just how broken they really are. If someone is brought into a place of brokenness Jesus is a True and Great Hope that no one can turn down.

Returning to routine

As usual, the Summer months dictate over a month between posts. There's been plenty happening that I could have reacted to, or even in my own study there's been plenty to inform you of insight I have seen, read, heard, experienced, in the past few weeks. But I'm looking forward more. I finally bagged myself a room in a house that is far more permanent, and feels like my own. That means an easier discipline, rather than feeling like you're intruding everywhere you tread. Job applications, I've realised, are depressing; especially when you send of 50 CV's a day to various companies, and get 3 phone calls a week as a response. That says to me 'you may be far better skilled than some people, but there is always someone else far more skilled than you.' Thanks.

As far as churches go, there are a far too many to mention in the little hamlet of London. The conference at Brighton, put on by New Frontiers, and featuring Mark Driscoll as guest speaker, finally had a focus I could engage with: mission. The trouble with the conference as a whole was it's formulaic essence. Driscoll was an incredibly insightful and engaging preacher, pushing all challenges beyond the usual 'make sure you keep yourself clean, and tell someone you're a Christian at least once a week.' However, the worship band leading the thousands of delegates played for 30 minutes without fail, even if you could sense the need to wrap up early, or continue for an hour or so more. The prophetic, of which has been recognised as something New Frontiers is strong on, was equally basic. You'd imagine, at a place filled with 7000 spirit-filled, prophetic Christians, there would be encouragement, and vision from engaging with God, but it was quite bland compared with the past. Maybe the visions set by previous years asked for something that could not be given in the same measure as we stopped changing season and started living in it.

London was targeted as a strategic city in the world, and I moved there three weeks ago. Since then, my girlfriend and I visited 2 and a half churches, and stuck with the second one. Our local New Frontiers church gave the impression it didn't want any new people, so we left them to themselves, and found a church plant in Dulwich (South of the river) called Beacon Church. That's about where I'm at. The church has quickly integrated us, and we feel part of the vision.

I've also been writing some comments through 1 and 2 Peter, which I'm writing in a more legible form at my new blog Theological Meanderings. Maybe I'll move over there for a while, we'll see.

SYIAB! (See You In A Bit)

The Pain of Forgiveness

Just to clarify on my last post. I think I made it sound like condemnation is a natural feeling you have to just get over by yourself. I made it sound like, if you're aware you're a sinner then deal with it. Jesus has done the job so get on with real life, man. Well, I really just wanted to get across this immense feeling that forgiveness is not telling you it's ok, and it's not telling you that all is forgotten. The last thing God does is forgive and forget. He forgives you, but that is a pain borne by Christ that makes reconciliation possible. If He forgot you ever did anything wrong, He wouldn't be loving, He'd be utterly dumb.

Jesus knows you're screwed up. He was tempted in every way but didn't sin. It means He knows the struggles faced, so we have someone who can sympathise with us. Sin is bigger than you, but Jesus is bigger than that. If God is in you, which He is because the Holy Spirit indwells all those who believe in His glorious Gospel, then you can beat sin. That's something to have immense peace about. When Paul says don't sin, he knows it's not as easy as ABC, but, to quote the controversial man of the time, Todd Bentley, "I don't think about sinning when I'm singing spirit-filled songs of praise to God."

I have to agree with Todd on that one. That may cause a rift between some Evangelicals, because if a man is slightly wrong on one thing we shouldn't listen to him at all. But I am a firm believer of seperating the wheat from the chaff.

Interesting to feel like I'm side-tracking when in fact this fits right in; God takes your good, that is in you by His grace, and increases it. What is rubbish, worthless, offensive, etc. He burns away with His Holy fire. The pain of forgiveness is like a burning, but it was either Him or you, right? And Jesus took that pain so you didn't have to. So the sin is considered as dealt with, and you can feel free to be burned in a furnace to get rid of the crap, and refine your very self into what God wants you to be.

That's enough clarification for one day.

What God isn't...

The amount of times I go to God, go to Jesus and hope he'll tell me it's okay is beyond the point in counting. I offend God, or sin against Him regularly, every day. It's not something I enjoy doing, but something I have to continue to evaluate. But I still want to go to Him, tell Him I'm very sorry for being a nit-wit, and hope that Jesus will turn to me and tell me it will be okay.

The fact is, it isn't okay. God's never happy about any of the stupid stuff I do. I never hear Him say, it's okay. I learnt a long time ago that saying 'okay' is one of the most ridiculous things to say. My dad would tell me off for lying, or cheating, or breaking something, and then I would say to him, 'okay.' In my ten-year-old way of pretending I'm taking the discipline.

He would say back to me, 'it's not okay, though.' And it would get me every time. Until I started to say sorry instead. It made me think about what I'd actually done, rather than react to what was being said to me afterwards. And when I turn to God everyday, for forgiveness, He tells me it's not okay. It's not okay that I do the things I do that offend Him, or say the things I say that offend Him, it just not okay.

But, and this is a great big but, Jesus is risen! 1 Corinthians 15, in it's mystical power, explains the extent of the resurrection to the point that if it's not true all Christians are to be pitied. I think sometimes I live in a way that is not pitiful if my faith isn't true. But, in that resurrection, I find strength (because God also likes to give that if you go to Him) to live a life that is worthy of the Gospel. It's not profound. It's much more than that. It goes beyond a simple, 'okay, I'll change.' It goes to the extreme that if what is truly on offer explained in that letter to the Corinthians, then it is better to live, leaving behind sinful practices, than, 'eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!'

Jesus loves to offer new life. I need it every day.

Forgiven Much

The forgiveness of God continues to go far beyond what we can think, or imagine. I find it fascinating to look back at that day 2000 years ago and realise more happened than I thought had done yesterday. There are those people (I sometimes fall into this category) that when you become a Christian, God stops being a loving pursuing God, and starts being an angry perfectionist God. "Now you're in my family," I can imagine Him saying, "you go by my rules. My house, my rules."

There are other interesting personalities that get projected onto God, especially when it comes to trying to understand the Trinity. The Trinity is not, although it would be easier if it was, like stuffing three pillows into one pillow case. You look at the pillow and it's one pillow, but it's three pillows. Funny word is pillow.

So the personality is like the angry Father who thirsts for blood at every opportunity, then there's the loving Son who, wanting His Father to stop wanting to kill people (but Dad is being very self-controlled), comes down out of heaven so His Dad can look at Him, kill Him and then, when the Son is back in heaven, every time Dad gets angry the Son says, 'No, look at me instead!" And there's the Holy Spirit who floats around making everyone feel warm and fuzzy because Dad can't hold Him back because the Son is distracting His gaze.

Again, that's wrong.

Actually, Jesus dying was for a purpose, and His rising again was more than a receipt. It's always good to go back to basics, and I've said it before, but the idea of being forgiven a lot is so profound I can't really get my head around it. If believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (that Jesus is the Jewish saviour and King of the whole earth) can't forgive others then they don't grasp it's implications. Obedience comes in the realisation of Jesus as King. Forgiveness comes from the implications of acceptance through Jesus' blood. It's all a bit complicated, but it's as basic as I was forgiven so I will forgive.

What we really need is a bigger, better picture of God, who will pay whatever is necessary to show that He is God. Anyone who leaves Jesus out when talking about God has missed Him. 

Nothing Hidden

Would it be a revelation to say change doesn't happen apart from God?

You can be different and never change. There's something significant about the difference between knowing something and knowing someone. We can have books and books about a person, but never know who they are. And it's the same with ourselves. How do we know about ourselves, though, unless we take a step back?

The idea of worship hits a nerve with quite a few people. If you call anyone an idolater these days you can usually get into a bit of trouble. I see worship like breathing. If you're not breathing oxygen (and various other gases found in our atmosphere today) you're breathing something else. You can't breathe nothing. If you're drowning you end up trying to breathe water. If you're in a vacuum you try breathing anyway. To remove the atmosphere and replace it with something else doesn't mean we would stop breathing, it just means we start breathing something else.

Worship's like that. If you're not worshipping one thing you're worshipping another. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Our bodies were designed to worship. Our souls were designed to worship. To refer to nothing hidden in the title is no mere act of an aim to confuse whoever I can. Nothing hidden is an attitude toward God. God wants us to worship Him, that is how he designed our relationship with Him. The trouble is we have ruined our relationship with Him. Jesus didn't die and rise to help us have a relationship with God, we already had a relationship with Him, just it was rubbish and irreconcilable, we have done some terrible things. I've done some terrible things.

Jesus has done this restoration work, meaning He presents us to His Father, and if we believe Our Father, and we can start seeing Him for who He is and worshipping Him so.

We become what we worship. So the challenge comes when we want to worship God, but there's stuff in the way. Jesus dealt with it, but it must be let out to be dealt with. We must come to God entirely transparent. David's greatest prayers were his arguments with God. "Why am I suffering and my enemies living in abundance?" he would complain to God. Then he would go into the inner sanctuary, go to the presence of the Most High God, and everything would be at peace with his soul. Without the (first) frustration we can't have the (second) peace.

I suppose I'm coming to my conclusion, that we as worshippers must worship in spirit and truth. That means coming through Truth (Jesus) and having or spirits put in tune with God. As a community we must have a transparent, "nothing hidden" attitude, and allow God to shape our lives.

Funny

Vatican says aliens could exist

Oh dear...

One of those email things, that have turned into facebook note things...

I did this just over a year ago...

This is for your entire life:

(X) Smoked a cigarette
(X) Drank so much you threw up HAVEN'T WE ALL yes....but into a pint
glass, or a bin, or over the steps of a posh wine bar in London :(
() Crashed in a friend's car
() Stolen a car
(X) Been in love
(X) Been dumped
() Been laid off/fired
(X) Quit your job
() Been in a fist fight
() Sneaked out of your parent's house
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
(X) Gone on a blind date - that's a funny story
(X) Lied to a friend
(X) Skipped school....
() Skipped an entire semester - Not exactly but it does feel like it at the moment
() Seen someone die
(X) Been to Canada
() Been to Mexico
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country
() Gone to Washington , DC
() Swam in the ocean
(X) Felt like dying - I have also felt like death
() Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers - emabarrassing home video and all
() Recently coloured with crayons
(X) Sang karaoke (Badly!!!)
(X) Paid for a meal with only coins - ohh the shame
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
() Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Made a snow angel
(X) Danced in the rain -
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
() Watched the sunrise with someone you care about
(X) Blown Bubbles
() Made a bonfire on the beach
(X) Crashed a party
() Gone roller skating
(X) Gone ice skating

OK, here are the questions:

What are you afraid of?
I don't exactly know

Most recent movie you have seen in the theater?
Nearly 300...but actually it was 'Bridge to Terabithia' in Canada

Seen a ghost?
Nope

Where were you born?
Sheffield

Ever Been to Alaska ?
No

Loved someone so much it made you cry?
How about something?

Favorite day of the week?
Probably Wednesday, it's the most fun to spell

Favourite Restaurant?
That one in Mark's basement that time

Favourite Ice Cream?
That's a bit silly. I don't have a massive flare for ice creams. Although I used to like those 'Feast' things.

Favourite Shake flavour at a fast food restaurant?
Well...it's Banania.

Favourite food at a fast food restaurant?
KFC...something from KFC

What color is your bedroom carpet?
Brownish...it's not been cleaned in a while

What is your favorite alcoholic drink?
That's a toughy. Red wine? Bordeaux '94 perhaps?

Favourite non-alcoholic drink?
I had an apple pie milkshake once...but it wasn't very good, so not that.

Tattoos?
On me? No

Body piercing?
For a hobby? Never really thought of it.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
I don't think I can answer that

Ever steal any traffic signs?
Did I? I don't remember

Favourite Salad Dressing?
Basic stuff

Favourite Holiday?
Canada was pretty awesome. It shouldn't have been a holiday.

------------

What do you do to relax? Eat. Or walk somewhere a bit picturesque.

Favorite sound? Waterfalls

How do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully as trim and thin as i am now.

Furthest place you will send this? I don't know.

How many times did you fail your driver's test? Nonce. That's quite a negative question.

From whom did you get your last e-mail? Why? Not really something timelessly funny to post.

What do you do when you are bored? Find something funny on youtyoob, which usually takes about an hour, and then I'm late for work or something.

Bedtime? Not yet, thankfully.

Favorite TV show? Hard to say, but I have been enjoying That 70s Show, you know, the one with Ashton Kutcher. But I think I'll have to stick with Arrested Development.

What are you listening to right now? The A/C

How many pets do you have? I went from 0-2-4-5-4-3-2-1-0, death sucks.

The chicken or the egg? Chicken (roast)

What would you like to accomplish before you die? Be the first person to climb Mount Everest. Not going to happen though.