SCHOOL OF PRAYER

"Teach me how to pray."

I am guessing that over the long run, making a habit of this simple, straightforward request of God along with daily contemplation on the words of the Lord's Prayer will prove to be the most important development of my past year. 

It got started back in June when I came to the painful realization that I was woefully underqualified to preach on prayer - while I was in the pulpit with Luke's account of Jesus' teaching on prayer in front of me.

It was disastrous.

But the next morning, I began to ask the Lord to teach me and I began to meditate on the words of the Lord's Prayer. 

And now?

After years of stagnation, I am in the school of prayer. 

(OK, it's kindergarten, but I'm on the right path!)

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD

Another major take away from 2023:

Author David Allen says, "Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them." 

After nearly three years of daily writing, I can attest to this truth. 

Like you, I often have profound insights concerning life, work, faith, or relationships while in the shower. 

How often do they remain past stepping onto the rug to grab a towel?

Holding ideas requires writing them down.

Now that I am daily on the lookout for writing material, I do a better job of capturing my thoughts and ideas - so I can get some use out of them. And that has been a game-changer for life.

Ideas which once were fleeting, are now preserved. And more: tested and expanded by making myself write about them.

And here's the greatest testament to how useful I have found this: I couldn't break this daily writing habit if I tried. 

"BELIEF" PROPER

Another significant lesson from 2023:

It has become clear to me this past year (and I have written about it several times here) that we as Christians are deeply confused about what is involved in "believing in Jesus". 

Mere mental assent to propositional truths - "God is three persons in one", "Jesus was like us in every way but was without sin", "Regeneration precedes faith"*, etc. - is not what Scripture means by "believe". 

We can argue doctrine all day long, but orthodox doctrinal statements do not save anyone.

Belief IN JESUS is at the core of salvation and it is a "belief" which goes far beyond "belief" in His existence or "belief" in this or that doctrine.

The belief in Jesus at the heart of Christianity is a love and trust that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as the Son of God, is a definitive demonstration of God's great love for humanity. 

And something which you have experienced as life-altering!

It is the difference between me saying "I believe my wife exists" and me saying "I believe in my wife". 

"I believe my wife exists" requires nothing of me beyond mental assent to the obvious.

"I believe in my wife", on the other hand, assumes her existence as a matter of fact but then goes on to express so much more: my love, admiration, and trust of her. 

And where does that love, admiration, and trust come from? 

It isn't something conjured from my imagination.

It comes from relationship. 

(* It doesn't. 😉)

BEGINNER'S MIND

"Be willing to scrape away those old assumptions, to embrace new beliefs, to feel new ideas, and to lean into being wrong about things." - Sahil Bloom

One of the ideas I have latched onto this past year has been "The Beginner's Mind". To learn anything new as an adult, it is not only useful - it is essential. 

It involves embracing uncertainty.

(And that might be the hardest part.) 

We like certainty and we like being sure of our own understandings of reality. If I find myself debating someone about a topic, it is quite obvious that "I am right and he is wrong."

The beginner's mind learns to ask, "What if I am wrong about this?"

Here's a useful thought experiment relating to faith and orthodoxy:

Ask yourself, "How likely is it that my doctrinal beliefs are 100% on target?" In other words, If God Himself gave me a True/False quiz over things like infant baptism, predestination, the nature of hell, women in ministry, and every other hot button discussion Christians have, would you likely receive a perfect score?

Most are humble enough to admit their score is not likely to be perfect. 

But how many mistaken beliefs do you currently hold to? One? Two? Twenty?

(Shouldn't I be much more interested in correcting my own mistakes than in correcting my brother's or sister's?) 

And how would you ever locate those mistaken beliefs and then correct them?

It would be quite impossible to do - unless you have a beginner's mind. 

TIME TO PIVOT

Over the last several years, I have grown ever fonder of the day after Christmas.

All the stress of Christmas preparation has passed, everyone is content with their new stuff, and it's a good excuse to sleep in and be lazy.

But the best part of December 26th is that I can now officially shift my attention to preparing for the new year.

If I were a cooler guy, you might think I am referring to planning a spectacular New Year's Eve party. 

But not me - I am talking about reviewing the past year and then setting goals and making plans for the year to come. January is a great time to pivot.

Over the next few days - the last of 2023 - I plan to post about the most significant things I have learned this past year (or so). 

I want to do this to solidify the lessons in my own consciousness - before a new year of learning begins - but perhaps you will find them beneficial as well.

PRESENTS FOR ME

Here are a couple of my favorite Christmas gifts this year. On the left are two small bowls that Sarah made in her high school ceramics class and on the right is a vase that Hannah made in her college ceramics class.

Beautiful treasures!

This note from Samuel made my day, too. I love my conversations with all my kids as they get older and wiser - it's good to hear Samuel say he enjoys them too.

Maybe someday soon in the new year I will have reason to explain the party and harmonica references.

I don't mean to leave Caleb out - his gift is on its way. It's a bluetooth speaker that will fit nicely with the aesthetic of my home office. So that's very practical - and "practical" is right up there with "homemade" when it comes to my tastes in gifts.

All in all, it was a truly wonderful day even outside the gift-giving. Here are some random images from Christmas 2023:

The dogs enjoyed Christmas as much as we did.

Stockings are a big deal around here and they come first. 

The kids all did a great job in finding meaningful gifts for each other. And I love that some of those gifts were handmade works of art.

A few gag gifts, too.

Dinner at Grandma Trudy's house with all the cousins and their kids.

And then the chance to get a little one-on-one time with Grandma once all the other families left. 

MERRY

Merry Christmas one and all!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I am excited - I get to preach in the morning and then lead an evening candlelight service.

While I tend to be a bit Grinchy about Christmas itself (I am working on this!), I somehow always forget how much I love Christmas Eve. 

Especially the evening church service. 

By then - God willing - most of the hustle and stress are finished.

Or at least the end is in sight. 

And there is an hour of quiet reflection.

Carols are sung, candles are lit, and the most familiar sacred texts are heard once again. 

Hope for the future reaches heights unavailable throughout the rest of the year.

And, for all you know from your seat in the sanctuary, the entire world is united in wonder at God's gift to humanity.

DAY TOGETHER

We did Christmassy things together as a family today.

Shopping at the Carmel Christkindlmarkt. Dinner at The Willard. Watching Die Hard at the Artcraft Theatre.

It was wonderful and tiring and now I have no time or energy to write about it.

So a few unedited photos will have to suffice for my post today.

I am a blessed man. 

THE FIRST TO HEAR

The Gospel of Luke opens with three visitations from angels - first to Zechariah, the second to Mary, and the third to the shepherds.

These visitations have at least three things in common with each other:

1. The human reaction is fear. 

    -Zechariah was "startled and gripped with fear". (1:12)

    -Mary was "greatly troubled". (1:29)

    -The shepherds "were terrified". (2:9)

2. The angel leads with "Do not be afraid". 

3. The gist of the angel's message each time is: "You have found favor with God."

This is Luke's record of the first individuals to hear of God's plan to bring redemption to the world and they all hear the same message:

"You don't have to be afraid. God is not against you. You have favor in His sight."

Favor!

Can you feel it?

2 HANDSHAKES

Maybe it's a combination of end-of-year musings with the reality of now being in my mid-50s, but today I was thinking about how short history is.

When I was younger, I thought 2,000 years was a super long time - in fact, a suspiciously long time - to pass without seeing Jesus' Second Coming.

Nowadays, two thousand years seems quite a bit shorter.

Just as a thought experiment this morning I did some math and realized it would be possible to have only 2 handshakes separating me from George Washington. 

Say Washington shook the hand of a 3-year-old boy even before the American Revolution. That boy could have lived through the Civil War and beyond. And what if he had shaken hands in 1879 with a 3-year-old girl who then also went on to live to a ripe old age and shook my hand when I was 3 in 1971?

Just two handshakes could separate me from old George, the father of our nation! 

Time flies. 

No wonder God laughs at the scheming of the nations. 

THE SECOND DEATH

Regarding yesterday's post on Jesus' words to Martha in John 11 - 

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. 26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

a friend commented:

"I’m curious to know how you understand the phrase “never die” in that passage, given that it is clear in the context that Jesus is not referring to physical death? In the context of the Gospel of John (5:28-29), Jesus also refers to a universal resurrection in which some experience a resurrection of life and others a resurrection of judgment. This passage is a clear allusion to Daniel 12:1-2, which speaks of some awaking to everlasting life and others to everlasting shame and contempt. How does one understand such passages from within a conditional immortality framework?"

Excellent! I need pushback and challenge from the outside in order to think this through thoroughly, so I appreciate his question.

Here is my response:

Physical death is the death of the body but it is not ultimate death - which will be the destruction of both body and soul. I believe this is what is referred to in Revelation as "the second death". The fact that some significant aspect of us survives the death of the body is acknowledged by all. So it is not surprising that Daniel and Jesus speak of a time when individuals have their souls and bodies reunited to face judgment. For some this is a temporary state because they then perish in the flames - the second death. For others, this is an everlasting state.

As far as "everlasting shame and contempt" being difficult to comprehend from a conditional immortality position? It strikes me as a great example of how our presuppositions color our reading of Scripture - and we see things "clearly" that are not necessarily there at all. "Shame" is something that is felt internally, so yes if one is to feel shame forever, then he must exist in some sense. But the Hebrew translated as "shame" could also be "reproach" - which comes from outside one. The second word, "contempt", clearly is coming from outside the one who is damned. If the phrase is translated as everlasting "reproach and contempt", well, one does not have to be in existence for outsiders to experience a feeling of reproach and contempt toward that person. In other words, I don't see any reason that Daniel and Jesus couldn't be saying that the damned will forever be remembered with nothing but reproach and contempt by those who are still living.

Am I totally off base here?

How does a proponent of Eternal Conscious Torment interpret the phrase "the second death"? (Revelation 2:11, 20:6, 20:14 and 21:8)

THE LIFE

I end 2023 still chewing on one of my top three theological realignments of the year: the nonbeliever's afterlife being annihilation vs eternal conscious torment.

And I continue to lean heavily toward annihilationism - a position also known as "conditional immortality". That is, human beings are not inherently immortal - only those who place their faith in Christ gain everlasting life.

Others simply do not.

As always, I could be wrong, but I currently do not think hell as eternal torment is what the Bible teaches. You don't get to build such a horrific scenario out of a handful of prooftexts (many of which are tied to the book of Revelation).

Texts which uphold conditional immortality are plentiful, we just don't notice them because we have read the New Testament with our fire and brimstone lenses on.

Take for example what Jesus says to Martha after the death of her brother Lazarus as recorded in John 11:

25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. 26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

If whoever believes in Jesus will live, even though he dies, what does this imply about the experience of those who don't believe in Jesus?

When they die, that. is. that. 

They don't have any means or expectation of living again, right?

And if Jesus is "the resurrection" and "the life", what does one have apart from Him?

No resurrection. 

No life. 

CALENDAR

I finished some of my Christmas "shopping" this evening - I always create a calendar on Snapfish for everyone in the family. 

I've been procrastinating on this project (like I do every year) because it's time consuming, but once I get started, I enjoy the process. 

For one thing, I was glad to rummage around in the cloud and pull a few of the better photos from last year to get a little more exposure.

Even better, putting the calendar together reminded me that 2023 has been a great year. Outside of my mother-in-law's cancer diagnosis, the year was full of significant positive milestones and some memorable times out of town. 

• Melissa switched from her kindergarten classroom to first grade.
• Caleb graduated from Wabash College and started his service with the Army.
• Hannah spent 5 weeks in Rome.
• Samuel made more than $10,000 over the summer selling books door to door.
• Sarah got into two show choirs as a high school junior, took leadership as a dance captain, got her driver's license, and bought her first car.
• And I finished up two years of doctoral level classes and started into my dissertation while learning how to juggle missionary work with pastoring a little country church.  

There were trips to Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida with lots of time among family. 

But best of all, I feel I made some real progress spiritually this past year. 

God willing, there's much more ground to cover in 2024.

NOTHING FOR CHRISTMAS

Melissa, the kids, and my mother-in-law are all a bit frustrated with me.

And it's because I can't answer a simple question: "What do you want for Christmas?"

I hesitate to write about this since it will undoubtedly come across as holier-than-thou, but it's what's on my mind tonight: 

We're about a week out from Christmas - and I can honestly say that I want nothing.

Absolutely nothing. 

I have all I need and more. 

The one exception is handmade gifts. They are always welcomed and cherished.

However, if someone feels the need to spend money on me, rather than buying some thing, I would prefer they give the money instead to Mission Resource in my name. Or I can point them to several missionaries I would like to be able to pass some money to: Kate and Storly, Kacie and Mikken, Joel, Joshua, or Kelli. 

On Christmas morning, support for a missionary and a chocolate covered marshmallow Santa would make me the happiest. 

And the Santa isn't necessary. 

THANKS, YOUTUBE MECHANIC

Tonight I am thankful for YouTube and all the YouTubers who take the time to film themselves fixing things.

I am not sure why they do it. I am just glad they do. 

This week, Sarah faced her first mechanical challenge since taking ownership of the little VW Beetle convertible. She drove home from showchoir practice after school with neither headlight working.

Since she leaves for school in the dark and returns in the dark, the headlight issue made the Beetle undriveable. 

I know very little about car maintenance but I do know that the chances of both headlights burning out at the same time is pretty darn small.

So I looked it up on YouTube and found several videos on how to fix this particular problem on a 2006 Beetle. The most competent videographer filmed his solution a year ago and 10,000 people have watched it since it premiered. 

It turns out the problem isn't too difficult to correct - the repair cost me nothing but time - but I wouldn't have known how to diagnose the problem without YouTube's lead, much less how to remedy it.

It's interesting to me - the internet has fragmented our society in one sense. There was more cultural cohesion when families sat down in the evening with only three choices for entertainment: ABC, CBS, or NBC. (PBS didn't count, although it did have The Lawrence Welk Show on Saturday nights.)

But even as it has fragmented the population, the internet has brought together individuals within those fragments - like owners of 2006 VW Beetles whose headlights have suddenly died - and helped them solve each others problems. 

Strange dynamics for a culture!

NAIL THAT POTATO TO A CROSS

While listening to a James Altucher podcast, I heard Scott Adams say something simple, true, and profound:

"Your ego is not your friend."

Adams then went on to explain how much of our fear day to day is due to our efforts to protect our egos from harm.

His suggestion? Put your ego into proper perspective. Do not overvalue it.

He illustrated the concept with a word picture: Imagine you are asked to deliver an object to a business across the street.

First, imagine that object is a Rembrandt worth $40 million. 

You would be nervous and thoroughly stressed. On high alert. Eyes darting this way and that, watching for approaching danger. Even for a short distance, it's a huge responsibility. There is risk involved.

But now imagine the object you are asked to deliver is an ordinary russet baking potato. No stress in the least. As you walk, you are tossing it in the air and catching it again. If you lose it or damage it, the worst case scenario is spending a dollar on a replacement.

So Adams recommends valuing your own ego like the potato instead of the Rembrandt. 

I think Adams is inches away from an important New Testament principle.

Jesus, I believe, takes ego valuation one step further. 

He says, "Pick up your cross and follow me. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it."

Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

I think they are talking about egos here. What do you think?

HERETICS

I continue to watch a lot of theological debates on YouTube. Many of them on doctrines of Calvinism, but some also on hell vs. annihilation and, lately, on the nature of God's omniscience. 

Which is really a struggle over the question, "If God knows the future, is everything necessarily already predetermined and set in stone?"

(I have to limit videos concerning the omniscience debate, though. Large doses give me headaches.)

In watching these various debates, I have come to realize that the label "heretic!" is the Christian world's version of "racist!"

• Every once in a great while it is accurate.
• Nobody cares about the dictionary definition.
• It is deployed like a grenade. 
• It is intended to end the conversation.
• It is a pronouncement based not so much upon solid evidence as upon the accuser's questionable ability to look into the heart and mind of the accused.
• It is apparently difficult to make the accusation without smug superiority dripping from the accuser's tongue.

And ... it grows tiresome quickly. 

A LITTLE HOPE IN THE MIDWEST

Last weekend Melissa and I met up with another couple for dinner and a movie a half hour north of here in Franklin, Indiana. 

The restaurant is one of our favorites. The same can be said of the movie - It's a Wonderful Life. And the couple are good friends we don't see often enough. So I was looking forward to a pleasant evening.

What I didn't expect was the experience of watching a movie at the Artcraft Theatre.

The Artcraft is a 101-year-old theater that seats 625. Saturday night nearly every seat was taken for a showing of a 76-year-old movie. 

A little after the advertised showtime, a relentlessly upbeat emcee with a flawless NPR voice entered the stage with his microphone to thank all the volunteers and sponsors who keep the doors open. 

Then he proceeded to give away a few door prizes before searching through the audience to find the individual who came the furthest to see the movie. A woman from Serbia was invited to come forward and place a thumb tack in a map of the world. She also won a lightbulb-shaped cup filled with Indiana-raised popcorn kernels. 

At one point, the emcee asked how many in the crowd had never seen It's a Wonderful Life. When about 75 hands went up, the rest of the crowd applauded and smiled, confident the movie would be gaining 75 new devotees.

And then - get this - before the lights went down, the audience was asked to stand and join voices in singing the National Anthem. Which we did - enthusiastically and unironically!

Finally, the emcee introduced the projectionist, a position which apparently brings the privilege of choosing the pre-feature cartoon. This projectionist chose classic Bugs Bunny: The Rabbit of Seville.

Chef's kiss!

When the movie ended, well after 10 o'clock, the crowd broke into applause.

I'm not sure if it was in appreciation for the movie or for the unexpected and much-needed lift in cultural optimism. 

 

MY EYES

Mission Resource received a gift of $12,000 from a South Dakota businessman over the weekend! 

I sent him an email this morning asking if I could talk to him on the phone - I was curious about his connection to the microfinance work we are doing in Ghana.

I was glad to see him oblige my request immediately. On the call this man explained how he had made a trip to Ghana ten years ago and met a man who is one of our loan officers. The two stayed in touch over the years and now the businessman wanted to enable his Ghanaian friend to make a greater number of loans.

The businessman quoted a portion of a Bible verse which I had not heard before: "My eyes affected my heart". (Lamentations 3:51)

I could list all kinds of statistics about microfinance and the impact it has on those living in poverty, but there is something about seeing - truly seeing, with your own eyes - another human being's desperate circumstances that can move the heart to action like nothing else can. 

HOUSE OF PRAYER

I have been praying "Lord, teach me to pray" for the past few months.

And as a result, my prayer life is growing more consistent. And that's progress.

But, I am also feeling a gnawing conviction that I am experiencing just the tip of the iceberg so far. I know my prayer life falls far short of the ideal.

And it would be one thing if it were just for me personally, but now as the pastor of a church, I feel the burden all the more.

Here's the incident that keeps nagging at my spirit: when Jesus clears the moneychangers out of the temple, his words are as follows: "It is written that my Father's house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." (Matt 21:22)

Now, on the bright side, my church is definitely not a den of robbers. So we have that going for us.

But is it a "house of prayer"?  

Sure, we pray several times throughout the service each Sunday morning. And we keep a prayer list with requests going out by text messages throughout the week. Prayer is not absent, but I don't know that anyone would describe us as "a house of prayer".

The American church in general has always elevated preaching far above prayer in importance. 

Is that the reason the American church is in the state it is? 

I guess the question I have is what would it take on our part for Jesus to give us a thumbs up and certify us as a 'House of Prayer'?

CHRISTMAS AS AN ADULT

Do you remember how long the month of December was when you were a kid? 

December 25th approached at the speed of a combine on a country road. 

One which seemingly stalled out frequently along the way.

And now? 

Christmas is a bullet train.

GAINING GLORY?

The Calvinist God apparently says, "I do not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). However ... it sure does wonders for My glory to send them to everlasting torment in hell." 

Among the many philosophical weaknesses of Calvinistic theology, the question of God's motives for "passing over" the reprobates ranks pretty high in indefensibleness. 

In the midst of explaining the doctrine of unconditional election, the Calvinist has to anticipate the question, "Well, if it glorifies God to save some people, why not go all the way and save everybody?"

I have only ever heard four responses from Calvinist teachers and not one holds water:

1.  That some are saved demonstrates God's mercy. That most are damned, his justice.
2.  God gains glory by saving some but He also gains glory in damning some. 
3.  "Who are you, o man, to question God?"
4.  Since humans are such vile, sinful creatures, what's really amazing is that He chooses to save any at all!

Only a fellow ideologue imagines any of those to be valid and legitimate defenses of the Calvinist position. 

MY FATHER HAS A NAME

Jesus taught us to begin our prayers with these words as our pattern: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." (Matt 6:9)

Recently as I was praying this, I was struck by the juxtaposition of "Father" and "name". 

I thought of my own earthly father. 

It was my custom to address him as "Dad". In all the years I knew him, I never called him by his first name, Major.

That would have been weird.

On the other hand, I was aware that even though I had this special relationship with him, and though I am sure he valued that relationship very much himself, there was so much more to "Major Gross" than being "Steve's Dad".

He was Dad to 3 other sons, a husband to Carla, a member at First United Methodist Church, a business owner, plus all the personal attributes which made up his reputation with every person he ever met - integrity, common sense, patience, and wisdom. 

It seems like Jesus is inviting us to remember something similar about God when we begin a conversation with Him: our personal relationship with Him and Who He Is.

God invites us to call Him "Father" - and that is a close and loving relationship - but we are reminded of His name, and thus His reputation - "Yahweh" - the Creator, the One Who spoke to Abraham and Moses, Who sent His Only Son to take away our sins - a God slow to anger and abounding in love, righteous and holy. 

And THAT is a good place to start the conversation. 

MARY ADDAE

Emmanuel, our Mission Resource director in Ghana, sent a WhatsApp message that Mary Addae had passed away unexpectedly.

Mary was the devoted wife of Pastor Francis Addae. 

I met her last year when she and Francis hosted Emmanuel and me for a couple of days while I was in Ghana to meet some of our loan clients.

Mary was incredibly gracious and hospitable. And a good cook. Their house is very humble, yet they were sharing meals not only with me but with three neighbor children whose parents were struggling to put food on the table at home.

Pastor Francis is a remarkable man. He has planted 12 churches in the tiny fishing villages around his area and he manages about 55 Mission Resource borrowers. Life has been very difficult as of late in his community - his clients are the fishermen we have been raising funds for after the recent flooding washed away so many houses and boats and fish traps.

If you think of Francis, his children, and the church, would you say a prayer for God to work in and through this tragedy?

Mary and Francis outside their house:

Mary was much loved by Emmanuel, too. She and Francis have been his longtime friends.

 

FISHERS OF CHARACTER

Mission Resource raised money over GivingTuesday to support some of our fishermen and women who lost nets and boats and houses in recent flooding in Ghana. 

Emmanuel, our Director in Ghana, has recently shared two bits of information about these men and women which speak volumes about their character.

First, he says the fishermen are losing sleep due to concern over their ability to repay their loans to Mission Resource since they have lost the means to make an income. 

In the midst of the devastation, they are determined not to default! 

(Hopefully, the money folks gave on GivingTuesday will allay their fears and get them back to work.)

Secondly, Emmanuel reports that for the last two years, two of our clients, brothers John and Emmanuel Tetteh, have organized their fellow fishermen to dedicate one day a month to "fishing for the Lord". On that day, all the fishermen give all they earn from their fish to build a church building in their village. 

In two years' time, they have constructed walls and put on the roof through this simple once-a-month tithing of fish!

Incredible!

ECHO

For the past few months I have been using a free prayer app called Echo. I was not familiar with it until I was looking for resources to share in the weekly newsletter I write for Mission Resource.

I have tried multiple times over my life to keep some sort of prayer journal but it's not a habit I have ever managed to make consistent. There was something about physically writing in a little notebook that just caused too much friction. The book would get messy fast and required a lot of flipping pages back and forth. 

But the Echo app now allows me to keep all current prayer matters in one list that comes in random order each day in big bold print. I move through the list with a swipe instead of flipping through the pages of a notebook. 

And when a prayer has been answered - like for my great nephew Max who was miraculously healed of a serious heart defect - I can mark it as answered and it is filed away as a testament to God's goodness. 

There's one other thing that I like about this app. It's a little psychological trick and maybe it shouldn't matter. 

But it does.

There's a little counter on the home page that keeps track of how many days in a row I have prayed. And, when evening comes, if I haven't yet opened the app throughout the day, a notification will pop up on my phone reminding me to keep my streak going. 

That sounds a bit cheesy, but it has kept me consistent in prayer, even on days when I get busy and forget. 

And that is what counts. 

Look it up, try it, and let me know what you think.

EQUIPPED

I have been staring at an empty screen - and doom scrolling on Twitter - for over an hour now.

Sometimes, when I am sleepy or feeling run down, instead of writing a post, I waste a lot of time.

And that, obviously, is not useful.

So tonight I am admitting defeat and simply posting a quote from C.S. Lewis that I have been chewing on. It seems to be in alignment with my recent concerns: 

"If Christianity should happen to be true, then it is quite impossible that those who know the truth and those who don't should be equally well equipped for leading a good life. Knowledge of the facts must make a difference to one's actions." C.S. Lewis, "Man or Rabbit?"

I don't know a thing about "Man or Rabbit?", but this quote has me curious. 

LET THE OTHER COME TO EXAMINE

Proverbs 18:17 - "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

When it comes to various beliefs and doctrines within the Christian faith, I am a proponent of plenty of debate and cross-examination.

As the church currently operates, though, local and denominational leadership are almost universally guilty of saying to the congregation, "Here's what you need to believe. Case closed."

If you grew up in church, who knows how many doctrines you hold onto based on the first (and likely only) interpretation you were exposed to. You may not even know which doctrines are debated, why there are disagreements, or how far back the arguments go. 

• If you believe hell will be eternal conscious torment, are you also familiar with the alternative interpretations of Scripture?

• If you believe the creation account of Genesis must be read literally, do you know the pros and cons of alternative readings?

• If you believe in penal substitutionary atonement, have you heard the alternative models of how Christ's death accomplished our salvation?

A few weeks ago I ran into a woman who was bemoaning the state of American culture and earnestly hoping she would soon be raptured from the earth. I am guessing her church has never discussed the fact that no Christian ever believed in "the rapture" before the 1800s. Or that this belief is based solely on the misreading of two short passages in the New Testament. 

It would serve the Body of Christ well for us all to be a little more inquisitive and quite a bit more hesitant to bang the gavel and announce "Case closed!" 

And if church leadership won't acknowledge these various debates, the lay people should be investigating for themselves ... and then peppering their leaders with questions. 

GOVERNMENT ON HIS SHOULDERS

In Isaiah 9:1-7, the prophet's famous words regarding the birth of Christ employ a term that is used twice here and nowhere else in the Old Testament: misrah, "government".

 6  For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
and the government will be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7  Of the increase of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness
from that time and forevermore.

Misrah means "rule" or "dominion". I'm no Hebrew scholar, but as far as I can tell "government" is a fair and accurate translation. 

The problem is that "government" is kind of a dirty word in modern American culture. It is a punchline, a term conjuring the opposite of respect. Even back in the 80s, I remember my dad cringing at government officials being called "public servants". 

But government is necessary. And it can be done well.

To govern simply means "to rule over by right of authority". 

This is a large part of what Jesus came to do. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah saw it clearly. 

But it's certainly not an aspect of the Christmas story we tend to highlight. 

4 CONVERSATIONS

(A short post tonight - it's been a crazy few days.)

Somehow, opportunities arose this week for me to speak with four missionaries. Three current and one former. 

These four conversations had some things in common:

• None descended into small talk.

• Each was longer than my normal day to day conversations. (The longest was several hours.)

• If time had allowed, all could have gone much longer.

• Each wrestled a bit with how to recognize God's will and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

• Any discussion of other people was done with nothing but compassion.

• Each challenged me and stoked a desire to go deeper into my own experience of faith. 

• And finally, each gave me hope.

Maybe I should make this a regular habit!

PLAGIARIZED THEOLOGY

Before the advent of AI, plagiarism was the English teacher's reigning "bane of existence".

I spent hours warning students against plagiarizing the work of other authors. 

From a lawyer's perspective, plagiarism is theft of intellectual property. And it carries a penalty. 

It is not illegal to steal ideas, of course - those are there for the taking - but one cannot "borrow" someone else's words or even their sentence structure. (You don't avoid a charge of plagiarism by using a thesaurus to swap out a few of the original words with their synonyms.)

I would often push the possibility of legal consequences of "copying and pasting" to instill a bit of fear in my students.

But my real concern over any student copying his source was that it proved the student had been lazy and had not really gained understanding of the concepts under review. 

This is the reason English teachers repeat the refrain "Put this in your own words". It is proof of comprehension.  

So the first problem with plagiarism is that the student has not actually learned anything at all.

A second and related problem sometimes occurs: With no understanding of his own, the student has no way to judge his source's expertise or veracity. He can only hope it is valid and relevant information. Every English teacher heaves a great sigh at finding Wikipedia in a student's bibliography. 

I say all this to draw a parallel to how theology and doctrines are conveyed and "learned" by most Christians: 

• Being able to parrot your sources - books, podcasts, or your own preacher - does not prove you have true comprehension. You will not be able to fool the Teacher. 

• Worse yet, if you possess no independent, firsthand understanding of Jesus or Scripture, how do you know you can trust your sources? 

CAN YOU EXPRESS IT?

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.” - Mortimer Adler

If this happens in the context of Christian beliefs, it's a sound bet the person conceives of faith as primarily a mental assent to various propositional truths. 

He can repeat "what" he has read in books or heard from the pulpit, especially if it has been repeated often. 

But if you ask him the "how" and the "why", you will get nothing but stammering or shrugging. 

In the best case scenario, that momentary embarrassment becomes the impetus for digging into Scripture with a genuine desire to gain a firsthand faith. 

In the worst case scenario, the status quo of the American church is preserved at least one day more. 

WRITING TO LEARN

This is true and it's one of the main benefits I have discovered from writing daily:

"Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Of course, you can learn a lot about something without writing about it. However, writing about something complicated and hard to pin down acts as a test to see how well you understand it."

From The Farnam Street Blog

Every believer would benefit greatly from daily journaling, even if nobody else ever laid eyes on it. 

NEEDING TO BE CONVINCED

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

Peter almost ended his relationship with Jesus before it got off the ground.

He listened to Jesus' teachings for a short time, and then Jesus caused Peter's fishing net to overflow with fish after being lowered into waters where the experienced fisherman knew there were no fish to be had. 

A miracle.

And then?

Overwhelmed with the sense of his own sinfulness, Peter wanted to put distance between himself and the Son of God. 

It's almost as if Peter, anticipating God's rejection, decided to beat Him to the punch. 

Preachers and evangelists are always saying "People have to hear the bad news before they're ready for the good news".

By this they mean "I need to convince unbelievers they are God-haters, incapable of good, and unworthy of God's love." 

Worthy, in fact, only of death and hell. 

(I can't imagine a better foundation for a close, lifelong relationship with God!)

What if the thing people really need convincing of is that God has not rejected them? 

FEAR NOT

When Jesus first used Peter's fishing boat as an impromptu pulpit and then commanded him to put down his nets for a catch, the haul was so large that the nets began to tear under the weight.

What happened next seems to be the climax of the story. And perhaps the most significant aspect was what did not happen.

Note carefully: It was not that Peter asked to follow Jesus - only to have Jesus respond, "Depart from me, for you are a sinful man".

No, it was the exact opposite. 

Peter fell on his knees and pleaded with Jesus, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man" ... only to have Jesus invite him to follow. (Luke 5:8) In fact, Jesus promised to put Peter to work as a "fisher of men". 

After the very first sin, it was Adam who hid from God.

Not vice versa. 

Jesus told Peter, "Fear not". 

DIRT OR DUST?

Certain preachers (especially those of the Calvinist persuasion) paint humanity as dirt - foul and worthless.

Certainly not something to be loved. But something to be disdained. And punished. Avoided, maybe, too.

Even from birth.

Voddie Baucham likes to say that babies are "vipers in diapers". 

And his audience laughs and applauds.

He speaks this way of Yahweh's image-bearers!

The ones whom He made "a little lower than the angels" and then "crowned ... with glory and honor". (Psalm 8:5)

Inspired by the Holy Spirit, King David reminded God's people:

"As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He knows our frame;

He is mindful that we are dust." (Psalm 103:13-14)

God doesn't see dirt when He looks at us. 

He sees dust. 

And that's not to say He sees us as filthy and disposable. 

It means He sees us as fragile and needing extra care.

BLESSED

So many reasons to consider myself blessed this year. But much too tired to list them all. So here's one:

Thanksgiving Day was our first full day together as a family since last May and it was a good one. Here are a couple of photos of the four siblings enjoying a ride together in Sarah's little convertible. 

Imagine that: the baby of the family driving the other 3 home from Grandma's house after a big turkey lunch! Times are a-changing.

ASYMMETRY

I came across a concept that might help explain the present state of American culture. And much of life in general. 

I heard it explained on Chris Williamson's Modern Wisdom Podcast #675.

Since this is a family-friendly blog, we shall call it The Bullsnot Asymmetry Principle.

Simply stated, the principle goes like this: 

It takes far less energy to produce bullsnot than to refute it. 

Therefore, the world is filled with unrefuted bullsnot.

When I was younger, I often wondered, if the Truth is the Truth, why does it always seem to be the minority position? 

The BS Asymmetry Principle says there will always be much more BS in this world than Truth. 

(At least until the trumpet sounds and a certain Someone comes down on the clouds.) 

[P.S. Melissa and I will head to the airport in about 30 minutes to pick up Samuel - returning from a trip to Mexico - and Caleb - on a short leave from Fort Moore, Georgia. Though unplanned, they will land within 30 minutes of each other. What are the chances? Hannah is already home, so the whole family will be together for about 3 days, starting Thanksgiving Day and we are thrilled.]

THE MORE I LEARN

I listen to theological debates on YouTube sometimes in the mornings while I exercise or get myself ready for the day.

A large part of the fascination for me is how two people can confidently hold diametrically opposed opinions, try to persuade each other ... and not gain an inch of concession.

I always end up rooting for the one who strikes me as most humble.

Albert Einstein famously said, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.”

Too many Christians seem to operate more like this: "The more I learn, the more arrogant, condescending, and dogmatic I become."

SCIENCE SET TO THE RIGHT JOB

In my dissertation I intend to put what social scientists have learned about habit formation, willpower, and self-discipline to use in helping believers achieve a healthy and consistent personal study of Scripture.

I anticipate needing to make the case that science is not opposed to faith and is not to be distrusted. 

(I know this because one of my professors already expressed reservations about my using scientific findings in this way!) 

I came across reinforcement for my approach while listening to C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity today:

"Christianity has not, and does not profess to have, a detailed political programme for applying ‘Do as you would be done by’ to a particular society at a particular moment. It could not have. It is meant for all men at all times and the particular programme which suited one place or time would not suit another. And, anyhow, that is not how Christianity works. When it tells you to feed the hungry it does not give you lessons in cookery. When it tells you to read the Scriptures it does not give you lessons in Hebrew and Greek, or even in English grammar. It was never intended to replace or supersede the ordinary human arts and sciences: it is rather a director which will set them all to the right jobs, and a source of energy which will give them all new life, if only they will put themselves at its disposal." (Emphasis mine, page 82)

Isn't it strange? If we applaud the expertise of linguists and historians and gladly use their discoveries to further our understanding of Scripture, why would we distance ourselves from the expertise of the social scientists and neurologists who can give us insight into developing the discipline needed to do that study on a regular basis?

Science is not the enemy of faith. 

It can and should be the servant of faith and "set to the right job". 

EZEKIEL IS INTERESTING!

Can anyone point me in the direction of a Calvinist sermon on Ezekiel 18?

Particularly verses 20 to 23:

20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of his father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous man will fall upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked man will fall upon him.

21 But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. Because of the righteousness he has practiced, he will live. 23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?

Or 30 to 32: 

30 Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall. 31 Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?

32 For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!

Actually, I would love to hear ANY preaching on these verses. They seem a little problematic for lots of traditional approaches to theology. 

"Fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit" sounds rather monergistic, but with the human doing all the work rather than God! It is certainly not a verse you would want to rip from its context and build a systematic theology around.