The Power of Choice

We all have choice. This awesome gift from God we call freewill is a mind boggling conundrum form many Theologists. The question many of them ask is this, "Since God choose to give us choice, then aren't all of our decisions really just the ones He allows us to make?" While at first this may make some sense, it is like saying if your parents hadn't chosen to have you, you would not have the choice to disobey them, therefore you aren't to blame, your parents are. This is complete hokum. We all know that a child can choose to obey or disobey a parent of their own freewill. Similarly, we try to blame God at times as well. We want Him to take the blame for our shortfalls and our laziness when really we are just trying to find an excuse to do what we desire.

So is God at fault for giving us freewill? Not at all. The fact that God is truly omnipotent means that He can indeed create beings with the power to reason and choose for themselves. This is what he elected to do with us. He choose to allow us to choose. Without His choice we couldn't make ours, but that does not mean He takes away our choice. It really is quite the opposite. With that choice that some see as limiting we have the power to make true choices. God makes specific references to these choices in the Bible and even mourns for the poor choices of His people.

In closing, these are the words spoken to God's people. Joshua24:14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Clean Slate

“Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth.” -Ecclesiastes 12:1a

Clean Slate?

 We often hear the new year referred to as a clean slate. Nothing has happened yet and we could, apparently, do or become anything we want if we just work hard enough. People make New Years’ Resolutions and talk about all the changes they are going to make. As pretty and nice as this sounds, is it really true? Is the New Year a clean slate? I don’t know about you, but even after New Years’ Day my life was pretty much the same. I had the same family, same job, same friends, and even the same name. So it seems like things don’t really all reset on January 1st every year, but it is a good time to look at the choices we made last year and see where they will lead us in the upcoming year.

Choices and Consequences 

When I was a kid, I remember the year that we switched from 1999 to 2000. Everyone was sure are the computers would shut down since they kept dates in a MM/DD/YY setup and some computers would erase their data or it would be rendered unreadable because the computers didn’t register 99 as after 00. They we sure the world would end and we would be thrown into apocalypse. Some people made some very foolish decisions in December of 1999 because they thought that the end was near. As it turned out, a couple of computers did have some glitches, but with programmers working around the clock, all in all things worked out fine. 

The choices we make, both those that we made last year and those that we will make this year, have permanent consequences. The choices we don’t make have consequences as well. Every year, every day, has choices that cannot be undone, and we need to realize that we don’t have a ‘clean slate’ to reset things when we mess up. There is forgiveness, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t deal with consequences. Samson repented of his drinking and womanizing, and God did forgive him, but Samson remained blind. David was forgiven for his sin with Bathsheba, but their first son still died. 

The teen years are very important times for making choices. The habits that you pick up now will be carried throughout your entire life. The years from 13-20 are some of the most habit forming years of your entire life. 45% of teenagers who start drinking alcohol at 13-14 years of age will become alcoholics. FORTY FIVE PERCENT! Think about that. No one looks at an alcoholic and says, “thats who I want to be.” Instead, the choices people make at your age lead them there. 

This doesn’t just apply to alcoholism, it is just one of the easy things to measure. This applies to all sin in our lives. If you choose to do it today, it will be harder to choose differently tomorrow. Thankfully though, this doesn’t just apply to sin, but also to the good habits you form now as well. Do you memorize Scripture? Good, that will stay with you a long time. Do you read and meditate on God’s Word? That habit is one that will stay with you. Do you spend time alone with God in prayer? If you make it a priority now, it will stay with you. The choices you make this week, today, and even tonight can stay with you for a lifetime.

Make Decisions Ahead of Time 

The Supreme Court's leading case on the use of deadly force is Tennessee v. Garner. In that 1985 opinion, the court invalidated a state force statute in a civil suit where a burglar was fatally shot in the head while trying to escape over a backyard fence. The Supreme Court said the use of deadly force in these circumstances constituted an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The court gave guidelines for evaluating the constitutionality of the use of deadly force in any given case, which would include situations in which "reflex fire" is directed at the suspect.*

The court first defined the circumstances under which the use of deadly force would be considered unconstitutional:

"Not withstanding probable cause to seize a suspect, an officer may not always do so by killing him. Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so. A police officer may not seize an unarmed, non-dangerous suspect by shooting him dead."

Then, Garner set forth examples of circumstances in which deadly force could constitutionally be used: "Where the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others, it is not constitutionally unreasonable to prevent escape by using deadly force. Thus, if the suspect threatens the officer with a weapon or there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a crime involving the infliction or threatened infliction of serious physical harm, deadly force may be used if necessary to prevent escape, and if, where feasible, some warning has been given."*

People do terribly under pressure. In that case in 1985 the police officers had only a split second to decide what to do with the escaping criminal. In that short timeframe, they shot and killed him. Pulling a trigger is easy, knowing when is not. This is why we train police officers and military. DRILL, DRILL, DRILL. Under pressure people may freeze, panic, or attack. Practice and study help soldiers and officers to handle the unexpected. As Christians, we need to drill as well. Temptation rarely comes when we want it to or when we have time for it. Instead, it comes when we aren’t ready, when we don’t have a plan. We need to prepare for these situations.

It's not uncommon to hear or read about officer-involved shootings where multiple officers emptied their loads into the suspect and anything within 10 feet of him. Asked about why they opened fire, bystander officers may reply, "When another officer started shooting, I just reflexively started shooting, too."

Sometimes referred to as "sympathetic fire" or "contagious shooting," this phenomenon can have implications not only for officer and public safety, but also for public relations, internal discipline, civil liability, and even potential criminal prosecution.*

Sometimes we do this with sin as well. We see someone else is sinning and we don’t know what to do. Instead of stopping and thinking, we join in. The choices we make in moments like that can be just as permanent and just as deadly to our souls and policemen all opening fire on an unarmed suspect. If the policemen were ready to make a choice, if they had made a choice before they were in the situation, then maybe they would not have all opened fire. 

How to Make Positive Change

King David tells us, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.” PSALM 119:11

This is an important key to making right choices. We must prepare ahead of time. David choose to study God’s Word so that he knew what choices he was going to make. 

Another thing we can do, no matter what age you are, is choose a person you respect and copy their behavior and choices. When I was about 16 a preacher came to our hometown in Kansas and gave us that advice. I respected the speaker greatly and choose to try to copy his speech patterns, behavior, his patience, and even the way he walked. The speaker I choose to copy was a really quiet fellow so I guess I failed in that part, but I do firmly believe that choosing someone we respect and trying to be like them in some ways is a good way to form good habits. Paul told the Corinthian church, “Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.” I COR. 11:1

Choosing a Godly role model is an excellent way of forming good habits and making Godly choices. We need to be more like Christ, and sometimes the best way to do that is to follow someone who is doing that already.

Conclussion

A New Year is not a totally clean slate. However, it is a good time to review our choices and change some of them. We will always have places we can improve, the important thing it to remember to do so. In closing, I would like leave you with a few verses out of Galatians chapter 5.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

* from http://www.policemag.com/channel/careers-training/articles/2008/05/reflex-fire.aspx

Loving our Neighbor

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14 

This a continuing theme in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. We are to love our neighbor. But what does that mean? How can we love our neighbor? What does this look like?

Sometimes, when we love our neighbor, we think that means we would let them do whatever they want. This almost ties in with nonresistance if you don't look carefully; but it doesn't, not quite. Instead, we need to realize that sometimes when we love, we have to be honest and even confrontational. Both love and nonresistance are not about avoiding confrontation, but instead doing so in a kind and gentle way. It is much like running a business. If we see some random employee at someone else's company not doing their job or behaving in a nonprofessional manner, we tend to shrug it off as not our problem. But if that was our employee we would be concerned about addressing the situation. Avoiding the problem is not helping the person, addressing is. In the same way, in our interactions with people, we need to address situations without being self-serving or 'holier than thou.' This is a challenging situation. It would actually be much easier if loving our neighbor meant ignoring them, but we cannot do so. Nor should we even desire such a thing. We love ourselves, yet we do not tolerate sloth or evil just because of that. No, we tend to be less lenient with ourselves. I do not mean we should be condemning, not at all. Instead, I am merely suggesting that we should confront in order to help.

"How do we confront without condemning?" you may ask. Well, honestly sometimes confronting is condemning. Sin is wrong and we can't wish that away. However, we need to make sure that the person we are helping is actually being helped by our input. Prayer is vital in these situations, as in all of our Christian existence. We also need to be able to admit that we too are flawed humans who have to go to God for help. We cannot act like we can solve or 'fix' other people; we cannot. Instead, we should lead them to the only source of help we really have - God Himself. So in loving we do confront and sometimes even condemn, but it should always be for the benefit of the person we are interacting with, not for our own.

But what about people who don't want our help? What about those who take offense to any correction at all? This is a tricky situation. We are to help, and that can mean to speak up. That being said, sometimes people have wounds in their past, spiritual or emotional, that they have not addressed. These wounds may even be half-forgotten, visages of a dark time in their past. These types of people, Christians and otherwise, can be very hurt when corrected. It often has little to do with the current situation, but they may lash out at the very person trying to help. Wounded people wound others, the saying goes, and it is quite true. The hurt person may not be able to see or admit that they are hurt, but they are. So what do we do?

We pray. This type of situation cannot be solved by our attempts at helping. No, this is a problem that can and should be brought to the very Person who created them. Very little can be done by mere humans to fix such things. God, the great Physician, can and does heal such wounds, but it is not our place to try to speed things up by creating our own 'home remedies'. We can and should keep these precious brothers and sisters in prayer, but we should remember not to become condescending in our relationship with them. We too have had wounds like these, and it is only by God's grace that we can work through them. So remember, love is also patient.

In the end, loving our neighbor isn't really about ourselves, emotion, confrontation, or even our neighbor. It is about God. His will and provision for us all. If we keep our focus on Him and not just our imaginations of Him, we can indeed love our neighbor.

Favorites and Flaws

This Christmas I got a new Bible. It is quite beautiful, with leather binding and room on each page to keep notes. I soon started transferring some of my notes on my favorite verses to my new Bible and that got me to thinking, "Is it really a good idea to transfer these notes? Am I just cutting and pasting my old thoughts, and by that ignoring the rest of the passages?"

I think this is a fair question. We all have our favorite verse, chapter or book of the Bible. We go to them frequently when we need a bit of regularity or to strengthen our conviction on a particular point. However, if we focus too much on what we have already extracted from the verse and build only on our own interpretation or understanding of the passage, we run into the danger of merely creating a man or self centered doctrine. This happens far too frequently in my personal life, I fear.

So how can we avoid this type of problem? Well, one thing that I have started is that I never write in my Bible with ink. This is because my thoughts change, situations change, and also to remind myself that though I may have thoughts and opinions, they are not on par with Scripture. I'm not condemning writing in one's Bible with pen, not at all, but it is just one of those little things I do personally to help remind myself that God is God and I am not.

Another thing that I am trying to work on is reading more than just my preference into my reading. We often come at Scripture with the assumption of what it should say, not what it does say. Being human, this is something we all struggle with. Realizing that we do so is one of the first steps to correcting bias and understanding the message behind what we are reading.

So am I going to copy all my notes into my Bible? I don't know, however, I do know there are some things that I will copy, not just for preference, hopefully, but because these are passages and notes that are relevant to what I teach and speak. In the end, we can do with this what we are to do with all our concerns: we bring it to God  in prayer.

Duck Disaster

My online life has been invaded this past two weeks by the Phil Roberts/Duck Dynasty controversy. For those who don't know, Phil Roberts is a star on the 'reality' show Duck Dynasty, which in turn, is about the company by the same name and the family who runs it. They are conservative Christians who are all about "guns and God." Recently, the father was interviewed by a magazine and gave a short, firm anti-gay statement. He was then pulled from the show and now everyone is up in arms saying his right to religion and free speech was taken away. But was it?

Well, does he have the right to make anti-gay comments? Yes, and he did. He is allowed to, but seeing as his show is owned by a liberal gay-friendly company, they do not agree with him. They do not have to either. So they run into an impasse. He will not back down so they fire him. This is not an attack on religion or free speech, but instead, they do not want to be associated with such ideas as 'gay is wrong'. They did not say Phil couldn't say that, they just said he couldn't work for them then. If a conservative church had an employee, like a pastor, who suddenly said something that was against the grain of the church, like Jesus is just another of many gods, then the church would have the right to fire him, on the grounds that he was misrepresenting their beliefs.

Phil Roberts does not represent what A&E wants to represent. Therefore, they are allowed to let him go. He was not persecuted, nor was he threatened. Phil is allowed to preach all the time on his off time, in other words when he does not represent A&E. But as their spokesperson, they do not want him to be 'anti-gay'.

Personally, I think that A&E are fully in their rights to fire/suspend Phil. Not that I agree with A&E, but I believe they have the right to choose who represents them, just as Christians have the right to choose who represents us as well.

Here's another question: Is Phil being an accurate representation of Christ? This is not one I will try to answer with a simple yes or no. But we need to realize this: being gay is not the sin that condemns people, being a sinner is what condemns them. (see this post for more on our Christian reaction to gay people) What I mean is this, if all the gay people in the world were suddenly "not gay" (if that is possible) tomorrow, it would not grant them all salvation. Salvation is through Jesus, not through being straight. I believe some well-meaning Christians have the idea that being gay is somehow more wrong than being unfaithful as a straight person, married or not. But I do not believe that God views it that way. God tells us that He views lust as adultery and anger as murder. If we draw an imaginary line of 'bad sin' and say that being gay is the 'bad sin' all we are doing is condemning without helping. That is the most unChristlike thing we can do. In the end, pray for your enemy, and love them. That is what we are called to do.

Ice and Storms

This past week, we suffered a massive ice storm. The trees in the area were covered with ice, power went out, and vehicles were covered. Many trees were damaged, and some were even destroyed. The sheer weight of the ice did its work quite effectivly. There is a massive tree in the back yard of the school that was split down the middle and uprooted by the weight of the ice on it. It got me to thinking about our own Christian life and how we are compared to trees.

As you may know, trees that are shallowly rooted often don't stand up to the weather well. We hear about this all the time. But in an area like the one where we live, there are trees everywhere. These trees don't all need deep roots because their roots mix and the sheer density of the forest saves them from most of the damage of the wind. This is very much like our Christian walk. Groups of Christians can indeed lean on each other and thereby stand against trials and temptations in many situations.

But what about sudden terrible things in our Christian life? Death, serious injury, trauma, or some other disaster? These are more like an ice storm than a windy day. Although wind is common and trees grouped together can weather the storm as a group, iced trees must each bear their own weight. They must rely on their own roots too keep them standing. They may loose branches, or they may fall entirely. They may crack, like the tree in our back yard. Other trees cannot help in this situation, only the roots that the tree has already put down. By the time the ice starts to form it is too late to start worrying about their roots. What has grown has grown and whatever is there is all that is there.

In the same way, some temptations and trials we go through are things that other Christians can help us bear, like windy days for trees. However, there are problems and trials that no other person can help us with. These situations are something that we can bring to God and Him alone. The roots we have in Him are what matter at these times. These roots need to be put down before the ice and storms come. If we wait until they are already there it may be too late. Let us lay our roots now, while we have time.

Colored Christianity

I recently covered the concept that there is more than one absolute "correct righteousness." In viewing morality we often fall into a mode of judgment that views everything as black, white, or somewhere in between.

However, seeing that God has each of His children at different places in their spiritual walk, we often find it difficult to see the 'color' of someone else's faith, if you will. We would like to point to a place on the picture above and say, "this is how pure your faith is." We would like to easily judge spiritual life of another and give an exact judgement, then move on in our faith to see what else we can find to classify and judge.

However, there are two key flaws in this approach. First, we find that morality is not really a greyscale pattern that goes from black to white with some grey in between. Instead, we find that it is more like a color wheel, where it is not always easy to see if your yellow is as close to the white center as my blue.

We find that it can be much more difficult than a simple black and white judgement, but we find that God, and by extension morality, is far more complex then what we first assume or perhaps desire it to be. And in desiring the simplicity of judgement on our peers and their lives, we run into the second major flaw in greyscale morality: Love, or more accurately, the profound lack thereof once we find ourselves so enamored with judging other people's spiritual state.

"Wait a minute," you may be saying, "Are we not told to judge the fruit of others in the Sermon on the Mount?" Indeed, we are told to judge. But we are told to judge the works of these people on the basis of being good or bad, not the level of goodness or level of badness. Our flesh so often creeps in and want to be the best at whatever we are doing. This can apply to our spiritual walk far to easily as well; we want to be the most holy, or most wise, or ironically, the most humble. We go to great lengths to judge others walk with God in order to lift our own up. This is a struggle that happens daily, and we are called to daily deny ourselves, and put that part of us to death.

So wether you are on the blue side working up and to the right, or on the red side working toward the left, we need to remember that our position, and even the position of others is not the focus. The focus is to be Christ, the perfect center. If we keep our focus there, we are bound to improve. If we focus instead on others and their errors, we will only try to correct their mistakes in our lives. It may be that someone in the green area needs to go further down on the 'color scale of holiness' but if the person in the purple sees this and tries to correct themselves by what they feel the green needs, they will end up further away rather than closer to the center. We cannot easily correct others, nor is it often our job; this belongs to the Holy Spirit.

The point I am heading toward is simply this - If we try to judge other's spiritual walk by where we are, we will fail. We cannot easily see other's place. Often we cannot comprehend why others do what they do, but we judge them anyways. We are to judge the fruit of a person by its good or bad state; we are not supposed to rank the taste of each fruit to our own liking for then our personal bias has far more of an effect than actual morality does. If we each strive to become purer and more like Christ each day and see that others are doing the same, that is be best fruit we can ever wish for.