Category: Theology and Reflections

God and the Mundane

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Christianity can be boring. It’s not every day you see pillars of fire and smoke, the Spirit hovering around as a dove, and people being raised from the dead. Christianity can be a grind and ritualistic. It can feel flat, very mundane. I get this. You may need to take a break from the grind and ritualism, get some perspective, take a deep breath and reset. Maybe the church your in isn’t right, maybe you’re not spending enough time with other people, maybe your not spending enough time by yourself, maybe your not resting enough or working or being creative enough (this blog, for example, is a great outlet for me). Recalibrate, get some wisdom and insight and go back refreshed.

I wonder though if the mundane is just as important.

I wonder if sometimes my perspective on what the Christian life should be is skewed a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the awe and wonder in the Christian life. However, perhaps the mundane is just as important as the big bang moments we all long to see… maybe even more important. What I mean is this. We read Acts or something and what we see from the author (Luke) is intentional highlight reels in order to report on the progression and expansion of the early Church. Of course, we’re gonna see miracles and revivals, reading about the Church braking bread just doesn’t make for a good story (Acts 2:42). There’s an intent from the author that we sometimes mistake for an exclusive prescriptive text rather than allowing the story to just unfold and live our lives informed by it.

Here’s what I mean. When we read books like Acts we should be saying “there’s the Christian life in all its glory.” But we should also consider the space in between the highlights, the years of downtime between events that God was most likely using to prepare hearts and minds for His Kingdom and mission. Take the Apostle Paul as an example. We read that he was converted in a blinding flash of light, a voice from the Heavens saying “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” and Paul being lead into Damascus where he recovers his sight and is baptised by Ananias (Acts 9:1-19). Very dramatic. I certainly didn’t hear God’s voice when I became a Christian, no dove fell on me, I wasn’t blinded by a light. However, what we don’t often realise about Paul’s experience is that he went to Arabia (Galatians 1:11-2:21) among other places and does only God knows what. What I’m saying is even Paul had to be prepared, he wasn’t converted and then immediately used by God to preach the Gospel and rapidly expand the early Church.

The mundane is important, more important than the high moments. Without them, the bang moments aren’t going to happen. It can be boring, it can be dull but change your perspective. God is sanctifying you (Acts 26:18, 2 Timothy 2:21), conforming you to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29), cultivating your spirit and heart to walk in His will (Ephesians 2:10). He wants to prune off the darkness and the sin, the brokenness and fill you with Himself. This could take time, even years (think how long it took the Israelites the get into the promised land). This all happens through the normality of life, through the daily grind, through relationships, prayer, reading, and doing the mundane Christian life. Let God do His thing because His thing is very powerful even if you don’t always notice it.

When Doing Normal Christianity Just Doesn’t Work

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This morning I woke up just feeling empty. I felt completely disconnected from God, myself, and with the world around me. I knew something was wrong deep within myself. Deep within my soul. Every Christian wrestles with this feeling at times right? It’s not just me? You know the one… it’s that feeling where there’s a huge gaping chasm between how you’re living and your faith. It comes packaged with doubts, fears, depression. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. You can go whole seasons of your life not realising your in it or purposefully ignoring it. Some people call it a dry period, I’ve heard others call it the dark night of the soul experience. Whatever it is, it sucks! Sometimes I feel like looking in the mirror and wonder what’s going on? Do I not pray enough? Do I not read my Bible enough? Do I not have enough faith? Do I not go to church enough, or the right church? Do I not believe in the right set of doctrines? Maybe there’s sin in my life. Maybe God doesn’t love me as much as I thought. Maybe God doesn’t even exist. Doubts and darkness creep in and slip through the cracks and it’s easy to spiral into an unfruitful, loveless, lifeless Christianity. So, what do we do when it feels like we’ve come to the end of our rope?

I’ll be blunt. There’s no easy answer. You can pray, fast, read the bible in a year, go to church and listen to every sermon under the Sun and still not be able to climb out of your spiritual rut. Let me, however, ask another question, what if it’s in the rut that God intends to have you in order to conform you to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29)? I’m not saying God intends to keep you in your sin. God hates sin, He hates when you participate in it, He hates when you sin against others and He hates when you sin against Him. I know it’s hard, sometimes nearly impossible, but even in the dry ruts you can turn from sin and continue to trust in God and what He might be doing in you in the midst of the rut. Sin does not have dominion over you (Romans 6:12), it doesn’t have power, you can say no to sin and yes to God if the Spirit lives inside of you (Romans 8:1-11, Galatians 5:16). What I am saying is even if you are keeping your nose clean, life can still feel pretty rubbish. It is in these seasons however that perhaps God is doing His best work. What better time to trust in God than when there’s no excitement and pizzaz. What better time to trust in God then when you can’t tell He is near (though He’s probably closer than ever). What better time to love God and walk by the Spirit when you just don’t feel like it. What better time to love your neighbors when they’re always grinding your gears. What better time to go the extra mile at work when all you want to do is go home. What better time to lavish love upon your spouse when all you want to do is watch television or scroll on Facebook. What better time to worship the God of the universe when it’d be easier to shelve Him and put Him in the back burner.

The dry ruts are the best times of growth and worship. In your high times you’ll look back on them fully appreciating what God had done for you in those moments, what He had to teach you, what He had to show you. It might even take a few more ruts until you get it, but never forget that God loves you, He is with you, and He is always working things out for your good.

Breaking Pavements & Tainted Wells

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Angles, demons, spirits, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches and wizards. The supernatural pervades our western culture today more than ever. New Age mysticism is on the rise, the occult is coming out of the shadows, the “old gods” are coming back to life. There is, in a sense, a spiritual awakening happening in the Western world. We are moving into a post-secular society where the thirst for the transcendent dominates the hearts and minds of the common man. People crave the spiritual desperately trying to sate their thirst to live for something bigger than themselves, that of life, that offers satisfaction and power, and they will drink from any source that looks pleasing to the eye. Really, who can blame them? For centuries the Church has paved over the wellsprings of life and in a clinical sort of fashion dispensed grace and God out like He was some kind of pill. As N. T. Wright says in Simply Christian:

A generation passed. All seemed to be well. Then, without warning, the springs that had gone on bubbling and sparkling beneath the solid concrete could be contained no longer. In a sudden explosion, a cross between a volcano and an earthquake, they burst through the floor that people had come to take for granted. Muddy, dirty water shot into the air and rushed through the streets and into houses, shops and factories. Roads were torn up, whole cities in chaos. Some people were delighted: at last they could get water again without depending on The System. The people who ran the official water pipes were at a loss. Suddenly everyone had more than enough water, but it wasn’t pure and couldn’t be controlled …

The Church, in its endeavour to do right, has unfortunately done some wrong. Recently, I’ve written an article on how we’ve lost our temple experience when it has come to how we do church. I think this principle applies here. Sunday church, at least in my experience, has become sort of stale, bland, like dry toast. I mean it fills you but it leaves you wanting something sweeter. Why? I dunno. Maybe I’ve just lost touch with what’s important to the Christian experience. Actually, I wouldn’t doubt it. I need God to revive me a clean and fresh heart, one that’s open to His Word, to His sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), to His people (the Church). There is a certain sense in which I’ve probably fallen out of love with it all. The romance has faded. However, when I read Acts… there just has to be more then what we’re seeing. I have to wonder if the Sunday church has lost touch with itself, with its temple vibes. Where’s the fear of God? Where’s the crashing experiences of God’s presence? Where’s the unfettered bold preaching of God’s Word? Where’s the power of the Spirit at work among His people? I’m sure it’s out there but, let’s be honest though, it’s few and far between. Is it a wonder then that people are running and drinking from the muddied explosions of water that pour through our streets? We need to break the pavements, expose the tainted wells, and prove that the waters of life that Jesus offers, last.

Pastor, let me encourage you, preach the Word in and out of season, feed your sheep (2 Timothy 4:2). Evangelise, be bold about your faith (Romans 10:4), the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few (Luke 10:2). Lay hands and pray for healings and miracles (Acts 6:6) even if it doesn’t always happen, God is good and He is in control. Pray hard, God listens and wants to work in your church (1 Thessalonians 5:16). Love others as yourself, because God first loved you (1 John 4:19. Let the rivers of living water flow out from you as you walk in step with Christ and His Spirit (John 7:38).

Mythology, Religions and Christianity Part I: Norse Mythology

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Ok, so it’s time for me to start indulging in my love for other religions. Ever since I can remember I’ve always been fascinated with religions and mythology. In reality, Christianity was always very boring to me, way too structured and monotonous. It lacked that bit of oompf if you get me (reading Revelation now… I was wrong). It wasn’t until I met Jesus that it all changed for me, I wonder if that’s why so many people disconnect with the Church, they just haven’t met Jesus? Anyway, I loved anything and everything spiritual, ancient and different. Egypt and Greek mythology always got me going and more recently I’ve developed a love for Norse mythology as well. To add, I’ve read Buddhist works, Hinduism, Catholic, Islamic, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon and most of the time I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of a lot of these different faiths and worldviews and there’s still so many more to get my head around! So, I’ve decided to write a series on world religions, different faiths, mythologies and spirituality to sate my desire to know about them more. Hopefully, this can give my readers some insight into how we can better understand them and perhaps even reach out to them. Just a little side note all these mythologies and religions I write about, people are involved with today. While not overly popular there are legitimate pagans in parts of the world that worship Odin and Thor and other long forgotten gods and ways.

So let’s start with my latest interest, Norse Mythology.

While I was away at Hideaway Bay I read one of the best books I’ve had the pleasure of reading all year “Norse Mythology” by Neil Gaiman. It was like every fantasy novel I’ve ever read wrapped up into one book. If there was ever an origin to the fantasy novels we have today I thought to myself Norse mythology is it. All the characters we know and love are there. Odin, Thor, Loki, and Frigg. Some I didn’t know as well Balder, Freyr and Freyja, Kvasir, Sif and so many others. It was an epic tale of creation, temptation, love, the afterlife, great battles, and the end of the world (Ragnarok). Every page was exciting as the last, I smashed through the book in a day and a half, I couldn’t put it down. When I did finish it, it left me wanting more, I needed to know more about Norse mythology. Something that jumped out at me almost immediately was some of the similarities Norse mythology has with the Bible (not all that surprising). Take Odin for example… he is the All-Father, extremely wise. Odin hung on a tree for nine days as a sacrifice unto himself, then he had a spear thrust through his side. Odin breathed life into the first male and female (Ask and Embla). Odin rules from upon his throne in Valhalla (the Norse’s version of Heaven). Amazing! You’d have to be as blind as Odin himself to not see some common themes there.

However, there was some huge differences as well of course. For an extremely wise god, Odin lacked compassion at times, made mistakes and even lacked foresight often wondering if he made the right decisions time and time again. For Odin, hanging on a tree wasn’t for anything selfless but in order to gain wisdom (as was the plucking out of his eye). Compare this to Yahweh in the Scriptures and you begin to see some stark differences.

Where Odin is very wise and knowledgeable, Yahweh has perfect knowledge of all things past, present and future (Isaiah 46:10), including the hearts of mankind (Psalm 44:21). When Ask and Embla were created (by Odin Vili and Ve) humanity was sort of left to its own devices. Yahweh, however, time and time again enters into human history chiefly in the person of Christ (John 1), loves them deeply (John 3:16) and carries them to a final hope of a new heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1-4). This is why it all matters. Despite all the epicness of Norse mythology, despite how wise Odin is, how powerful Thor can be with his hammer Moljinr (he like… one-shots everything), these gods cannot save (Odin and Thor actually end up dying) because they are as flawed and as sinful as the rest of us. They’re broken, shattered, and desperately clawing for hope as Ragnarok (the end of days), the world serpent (Jörmungandr), and Fenrir the wolf (he swallows the sun and kills Odin) draws near to them. At their best, they’re relatable because they’re like us in so many ways (there’s a lot of drama, family right?). At their worst (which is often their best), they’re vain shadows (idols) of a holier and more wonderful God who saves the world from its brokenness and sin.

For the Love of God: Love and Violence in the Bible Part II

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If you haven’t yet read part one click here as it’ll help give you context to what this issue is all about. However, let’s jump right into where we left off. Again, I want to make clear the sort of awkwardness that’s in this issue. It would be really easy for me to see God in light of how my own culture defines how a god should act and be, to conform to how it defines love and justice, to run with how it thinks the Bible should be understood. Now, I’m all for looking at fresh ways of approaching God’s Word, I love turning the gem and seeing it from all sides. I welcome discourse, a difference of opinion, and meditating on what the wider body of Christ has to teach. However, I have to be honest, I draw a bit of a line in the sand on this issue. I understand completely and even empathise with people who take a more higher or extreme Christocentric hermeneutic then myself. Jesus, in the Gospels, does seem very inclusive, loving, and nonviolent. It’s true that Jesus said that all the Scriptures point to Himself (John 5:39), that everything written in the Old Testament was fulfilled in Him (Luke 24:44-49), that Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), so if you’ve seen Jesus you’ve seen the Father (John 14:9).

However, it is precisely these Scriptures (and many more) that leads to me reject the premise that it wasn’t God in the Old Testament that ultimately commanded the flooding of the world (Genesis 6-9), the killing of the firstborn in Egpyt (Exodus 11:5, 12:29), the destruction of Canaanite villages in Joshua, who purposely had King David’s son killed because of David’s sin (2 Samuel 12), who had Ananias and Saphhira killed for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5), who had King Herod struck down and eaten alive by worms (Acts 12:23), who will be the ultimate judge of all and will grant everlasting life to those who believe (John 1:12) but will throw the unbelievers into everlasting fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

My critique is thus:

I’ve heard it said, “what we see in Christ in the gospels is the truest picture of God we have in the whole Bible.” I get it, but this is actually a flawed perspective to have in my opinion. While it’s true that Jesus gives us the best representation of who God is (He is the perfect image of God after all), I would say what the New Testament authors say about Jesus, and what the Old Testament authors have to say about who the Messiah is are all as authoritative. The way I see it is if you start to pit the gospels as being more superior, authoritative, and infallible then the other parts of Scripture, how can we even trust the gospel writers to give us an accurate portrayal of who Jesus is and subsequently the entire Godhead? What I mean is, elevating the gospel writers above the others in Scripture is fairly arbitrary. While I agree that the gospels give us the most robust picture of Jesus and subsequently the Godhead, the apostles and the authors of the rest of the New Testament have just as much of an understanding of who Jesus was and is as the gospel writers did.

Why? Take Paul for example who wrote a fair chunk of the New Testament (13 books in total). He saw the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), was called to be an Apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 1; Galatians 1:17), received the Gospel from Jesus directly not from anyone else (Galatians 1:12), ascended into the third heaven where God  Himself dwells (2 Corinthians 12:2), if anyone is qualified to give us the full picture of God and His message its Paul. Yet Paul preaches violent judgement on those who don’t believe (Thessalonians 1:7-9), that salvation is from God’s wrath (Romans 5:9) which is in a sense both here (Romans 1:18) as a result of sin which Paul says deserves death (Romans 1:19-32) and is still to come (Colossians 3:6).

To conclude, I’ve given readers two gospel authors (Luke and John) references on how God can be violent and full of wrath, ultimately judging mankind. I’ve given readers direct references from Paul’s letters where God is furious at sin, willing to destroy any who continue in it. If I were to do a complete study on God’s wrath and violence in the Bible we’d be here all year. The verdict is in. God hates sin, He is angry at people who practice sin, kills them, and will ultimately judge them for it. Why? Well, it’s actually Good News. God is just. He will throw every rapist, murderer, thief, blasphemer, liar, idolater into the lake of fire because separation from God’s goodness is what every sinner (you and I) deserve. But there’s hope, God might be extremely furious at a world that abuses sin, that abuses one another and worships other gods, but He also loves it. We can escape the wrath to come very easily by turning from our sinful ways and trusting in a new way, in a greater person. Jesus. He offers life, peace and love. He offers forgiveness, reconciliation and grace. Trust in Jesus, love Him with all of your heart and no longer will you be a child of wrath.

God’s wrath is scary and rightly so. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom after all (Proverbs 9:10). As C.S Lewis writes in the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe:

“’Then he isn’t safe?’ said Lucy. ‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver; ‘don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.'”