enjoying the wastefullness of grace

The Shack by William P. Young

How does it feel to have a personal relationship with God? William Young has written a story that has made me truly believe that God can and will approach any one of us...and not be surprised if the way He does is unorthodox.
The complete heart of God is revealed in scripture. The immensity of fully knowing this on a personal level is a challenge that has not been completed in the time the Bible has been available. It is why Gods' word is vibrant, alive and responding to each new generation as it come along.
The Shack takes the reader on an incredible journey. Reinforced through Biblical truth the reader is conjoined to a chain of life changing events in Mack's life. Events that show the reader how to comprehend the way God might work into our very own lives and do it in away that could change our lives forever.
In a note on the book cover, William Young portrays his own life these days as 'enjoying the wastefulness of grace'. For anyone that is thinking at all about the meaning of life in this hectic world of ours, The Shack will start you on a journey to understand what that phrase means.
I believe that understanding Gods grace and the abundance of it, is the beginning of living life the way it is intended to be lived

Jesus and the Rosetta Stone

Recently a friend asked me if I had heard about a translation of one of the languages on the Rosetta Stone that told a story that paralleled that of Christianity there by proving the Jesus never lived and Christianity was basically a hoax.
I had not heard this story and probably wouldn't have thought much more about it except for the fact the the friend is someone whose opinions I take seriously.
So I decided to inform myself and came up with the following information. It is nothing I wrote or revised just copied to pass along the 'rest 'of the story.
I of course passed it along to my friend.


The Pagan Christ: Recovering the Lost Light by Tom Harpur. Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2004. pp. 244. $34.95
The title hints at the enormous task that Mr. Harpur has undertaken, which is nothing less than the radical transformation of Christianity as we know it.
His thesis is that there is nothing original in Christianity, since it was copied or plagiarized from the ancient Egyptian religion. He adduces an impressive list of parallels between the life and teachings of Jesus and the primordial mystery religion, that, if true would silence most skeptics.
For Harpur, the gospels were originally intended to be mythological, expressing deep spiritual truths flowing from the ancient religion. A combination of the machinations of fanatical ecclesiastics and colossal blunders resulted in the gospels being interpreted in historical fashion, thereby robbing Christianity of much of its spiritual power. In a fraud unparalleled in history, the evidence of this deceit was destroyed or covered up in the early centuries of the Christian era, and the pagan roots of Christianity repudiated. The historical Jesus never existed; he is a mythological expression of the god in every person. The events related in the gospel stories describe archetypal interior experiences common to all humanity, and the Jesus story is a spiritual allegory of the soul.


These are serious charges with enormous consequences, requiring a meticulous assemblage of evidence. This is where the problems with the book begin. There is virtually no dialogue with current mainstream scholarship. Much of the book draws on outdated or fringe work. It is questionable whether Madame Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, should be considered a suitable source for a work of this nature (page 165). The bibliography is weighted very strongly in favor of esoteric and theosophical works, and relies very heavily on the works of Gerald Massey (1828-1908) and Alvin Kuhn (1881-1963), two orientalists who wrote extensively on esoteric religion.
Their works, however, are idiosyncratic, and not accepted within the field of Egyptology. One can see why: both of them work from the narrowest range of sources, making tortured and questionable word etymologies and esoteric interpretations of hieroglyphics and Egyptian art. We are asked to accept their interpretations at face value with little or no supporting evidence or proof.
Little supporting evidence
Harpur repeats these interpretations with little further supporting evidence. It would be expected that one could confront and cross-examine the statements offered as evidence; in fact, it is very difficult and in some cases nearly impossible. For example, on page 77, he states that Massey has found 180 correlations between the lives of Horus and Jesus, proving the identity between the two. Neither the name of the work nor the page numbers are given to us.
In numerous instances, bold and sweeping statements are made with little or no supporting references, and there is often the same problem with extended quotations. The startling statement by Meister Eckhart on page 41 begs for a reference, but in vain.
Over the last 50 years, a tremendous amount of research has been generated on both the historical Jesus, Second Temple Judaism, and the social and economic conditions of the first-century Roman empire. Mainstream scholarship has situated Jesus securely in the context of Second Temple Judaism, Greco-Roman society, and the structure of empire. Additionally, it has revealed the social and economic impact of the early Christian proclamation and the religious currents that nourished the life and message of Jesus. With the exception of references to the work of the Jesus Seminar, most of this research is absent from this work. Ironically, even the work of the Jesus Seminar is dismissed by Harpur, because they still mistakenly believe that Jesus was an historical person. A failure to anchor the argument in sound historical research leads to assertions such as on page 5 that there was a 'Jesus' in Egyptian lore as early as 18,000 BCE--astounding when one considers the fact that the earliest pre-historic sites in Egypt date to about the 6th millennium BCE with the familiar Egyptian civilization beginning about 3500 BCE.
Several striking quotations from the Church Fathers admit that Christianity is not new. The statement by St. Augustine on page 27 is a fine example: the true religion has always existed among the ancients, and began to be called Christianity with the coining of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This line of argument was quite common during the patristic era, for one of the most uncomfortable accusations against Christianity was that it was new. The peoples of the ancient world, unlike modern people, revered old and venerable traditions rather than innovations, especially in the area of religion. Apologists had to prove that Christianity was not new, but had an ancient and respectable pedigree. These quotations do not imply that Jesus did not exist or that Christianity was a myth.


Start with the bibliography, and it reads like a Rogue's Gallery of Scholastic Incompetence: Freke and Gandy, Acharya S, Tim Leedom, T. W. Doane, Earl Doherty, Helen Ellerbe, Kersey Graves, John Shelby Spong, Godfrey Higgins, Gerald Massey, Alvin Boyd Kuhn. These last three (in reverse order) are Harpur's most favored sources; throughout Harpur expresses bewilderment that these three "scholars" (the word he applies liberally to just about anyone, regardless of credentials), especially Kuhn, have been so vastly ignored. The very idea that they have been ignored because of their incompetence and inability somehow never manages to cross Harpur's uncritical mind.
Some critical work backing this up was done for us by W. Ward Gasque, a Canadian Biblical scholar, who reports that he emailed 20 Egyptologists to get their view of these last three writers. Of the 10 who responded to Gasque, only one had ever heard of any of them. I think it worth reporting much of what Gasque reports, in full:
Harpur refers to Kuhn, Massey and Higgins as 'Egyptologists'; but he does not quote any contemporary Egyptologist or recognized academic authority on world religions, nor does he appeal to any of the standard reference books, such as the magisterial three volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (2001) or any primary sources.
He is especially dependent on Kuhn, whom he describes as "one of the single greatest geniuses of the 20th century" -- [one who] "towers above all others of recent memory in intellect and his understanding of the world's religions." Further, "Kuhn has more to offer the Church than all the scholars of the Jesus Seminar together. More than John Spong, C. S. Lewis, Joseph Campbell or Matthew Fox." Harpur declares himself "stunned at the silence with which [Kuhn's] writings have been greeted by scholars."
As it turns out, Kuhn was a high school language teacher who earned a PhD from Columbia University by writing a dissertation on Theosophy; his only other link with an institution of higher learning was a short stint as secretary to the president of a small college. Though he was a prodigious author, most of his works were self-published.
I emailed 20 leading international Egyptologists, regarding the contributions made to the field by Kuhn, Higgins and Massey. I also asked their opinion of the following claims by Kuhn (and hence Harpur):
* That the name of Jesus was derived from the Egyptian Iusa, which means "the coming divine Son who heals or saves."
* That the god Horus is "an Egyptian Christos, or Christ . . . He and his mother, Isis, were the forerunners of the Christian Madonna and Child, and together they constituted a leading image in Egyptian religion for millennia prior to the Gospels."
* That Horus also "had a virgin birth, and that in one of his roles, he was 'a fisher of men with 12 followers.'"
* That "the letters KRST appear on Egyptian mummy coffins many centuries BCE, and . . . this word, when the vowels are filled in . . . is really Karast or Krist, signifying Christ."
* That the doctrine of the incarnation "is in fact the oldest, most universal mythos known to religion. It was current in the Osirian religion in Egypt at least 4,000 years BCE."
Only one of the 10 experts who responded to my questions had ever heard of Kuhn, Higgins or Massey! Professor Kenneth A. Kitchen of the University of Liverpool pointed out that not one of these men is mentioned in M.L. Bierbrier's Who Was Who in Egyptology (3rd ed, 1995); nor are any of their works listed in Ida B. Pratt's very extensive bibliography on Ancient Egypt (1925/1942).
Since he died in 1834, Kitchen noted, "nothing by Higgins could be of any value whatsoever, because decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs was still being finalized, very few texts were translated, and certainly not the vast mass of first-hand religious data."
Another scholar responded: "Egyptology has the unenviable distinction of being one of those disciplines that almost anyone can lay claim to, and the unfortunate distinction of being probably the one most beleaguered by false prophets." He dismissed Kuhn's work as "fringe nonsense."
These scholars were unanimous in dismissing the suggested etymologies for 'Jesus' and 'Christ.'
Peter F. Dorman of the University of Chicago commented: "It is often tempting to suggest simplistic etymologies between Egyptian and Greek (or other languages), but similar sequences of consonants and/or vowels are insufficient to demonstrate any convincing connection."
Ron Leprohan, of the University of Toronto, pointed out that while sa means 'son' in ancient Egyptian and iu means 'to come,' Kuhn and Harpur have the syntax all wrong. In any event, the name Iusa simply does not exist in Egyptian. The name 'Jesus' is Greek, derived from a universally recognized Semitic name (Jeshu'a) borne by many people in the first century.
While all the scholars agreed that the image of the baby Horus and Isis has influenced the Christian iconography of Madonna and Child, this is where the similarity stops. The image of Mary and Jesus is not one of the earliest Christian images -- and, at any rate, there is no evidence for the idea that Horus was virgin born. Further, the New Testament Mary was certainly not a goddess, like Isis.
There is no evidence for the idea that Horus was 'a fisher of men' -- or that his followers, the king's officials, were ever 12 in number.
KRST is the word for 'burial' ('coffin' is written 'KRSW'); but there is no evidence whatsoever to link this with the Greek title 'Christos,' or Hebrew 'Mashiah.'
There is no mention of Osiris in Egyptian texts until about 2350 BCE, so Harpur's reference to the origins of Osirian religion is off by more than a millennium and a half. Elsewhere, Harpur refers to "Jesus in Egyptian lore as early as 18,000 BCE"; and he quotes Kuhn as claiming that "the Jesus who stands as the founder of Christianity was at least 10,000 years of age." In fact, the earliest extant writing that we have dates from about 3200 BCE.)
Kuhn's redefinition of 'incarnation' and his attempt to root this in Egyptian religion is regarded as bogus by the Egyptologists I consulted. According to one: "Only the pharaoh was believed to have a divine aspect, the divine power of kingship, incarnated in the human being currently serving as the king. No other Egyptians ever believed they possessed even 'a little bit of the divine'."
Virtually none of the alleged evidence in The Pagan Christ is documented by reference to original sources. The notes -- which refer mainly to Kuhn, Higgins, Massey or various long-out-of-date works -- abound with errors and omissions. Many quotations are taken out of context and clearly misinterpreted.
The book is chock full of questionable claims, such as: that "Christianity began as a cult with almost wholly Pagan origins and motivations in the first century"; that nearly all of the most creative leaders of the earliest church were pronounced heretics and reviled by "those who had swept in and grabbed control of [church] policies"; that "apart from the four Gospels . . . and the Epistles, there is no hard, historical evidence for Jesus' existence coming out of the first century at all."
Harpur claims that "the greatest cover-up of all time" was perpetrated at the beginning of the fourth century; and that thousands of Christian scholars have a vested interest in maintaining the myth that there was an actual Jesus who lived in history.
Presumably, the Jewish, Unitarian, secular and very liberal Christians who happen to be recognized scholars have no axes to grind regarding whether or not Jesus actually lived, or whether most of the ideas found in the Bible stem from Egyptian or other Near Eastern religions. It would be unlikely that you could find more than a handful who believe that Jesus of Nazareth did not live and walk the dusty roads of Palestine.
Harpur's book is based on the work of self-appointed 'scholars' who seek to excavate literary and archaeological resources of the ancient world the way a crossword puzzle enthusiast mines dictionaries and lists of words -- rather than by primary scholarship.
While this was an extensive quote to use, it corresponds with what will be shown further: Harpur, though once a minor Biblical scholar himself, has clearly hoist his integrity upon the petard of gullibility. Even the few real scholars he uses (Crossan, Borg, Funk, Pagels, etc) are used sparingly, would powerfully disagree with his sources like Massey and Kuhn, and themselves are considered to variable extents "fringe" by the mainstream. There is not a hint of any knowledge of specific evangelical scholarly responses (just vague references to angry "conservative" respondents). In this book and in his columns, Harpur merely uncritically follows preferred sources and pretends that contrary material either does not exist, or is just sponsored by fundamentalists. Not surprisingly, Harpur reacts like a spoiled child when called on his errors; you can see this below with Gasque. Willful and gullible misinformers should never be permitted any leave to get away with anything, and that includes Harpur. We will also be responding to his common retort that his critics simply need to read the works of his sources and appreciate their genius, by indeed looking at these sources and exposing their nuttiness. Here is what we have:
· Alvin Boyd Kuhn -- includes a look at one of his works on a marginally related topic, The Esoteric Structure of the Alphabet. The insanity of this work alone should put intelligent readers off Kuhn for a lifetime.
· Gerald Massey -- three items here, two from work done prior to out work on Harpur.
· Godfrey Higgins -- his work is hard to come by, but we managed it.

Healing Through God's Love

White(count me) Christians need to hear what this man says.

James H. Cone
'The Father of Black Theology'
The Cross and the Lynching Tree
''Work to make the world the way it ought to be”
I listened to Mr. Cones' 2006 Ingersol Lecture at Harvard and made these notes.
It is exponentially more powerful to listen to this speech on the Internet.
There is White Gospel and Black Gospel
Black Church Worship transforms a nobody in white society to a somebody in black society.
The contradiction – How is Gods' Love explained to black people over 400 years of white supremacy.
What is the truth of the Gospel-Many preachers, black and white, claim that they have special communication with God. Be wary of these people.
Faith is the primary way to gain knowledge of the gospel, not by how intellectual you are.
The Gospel (Gods Word) is not in this world.
Everyone is corrupted by sin-even theologans and preachers and disciples.
Paul said it this way: Romans: 7 :15-20
I do not understand what I do.
For what I want to do, I do not do,
But what I hate I do.
And if I do what I do not want to do,
I agree that the law is good.
As it is, it is no longer I my self who does it,
But it is sin living in me.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is,
In my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good,
but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do;
No, the evil I do not want to do-
this I keep doing.
Now if I do what I do not want to do,
It is no longer I who do it,
But it is sin living in me that does it.

Jesus is the physical slave form of the oppressed.
It requires a powerful religious imagination to find life in death and hope in tragedy.
Linking the cross and the lynching tree presents the audacity to challenge supremacy.
Their (the cross and the lynching tree)obcenity(in the original way) is linked.
Black gospel makes beautiful what white supremacy made ugly.
The gospel of Jesus on the cross is not a happy story. It is a story of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat – finding life in death- transforming lynched blacks into a symbol of victory.
The paradox -physical, ugly bodies can be transformed into beauty through faith.
Todays lynching tree- one half of 2,000,000 people in jail in the U.S. Are black.
If you have never been lynched by another group it is hard to understand the need to remember it.
Jesus did not want to die on the cross and blacks did not want to be lynched.
In confronting the legacy of white supremacy there is hope beyond the tragic for all humankind.
Hope beyond the lynching tree.

The Myth of a Christian Nation

The Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory A. Boyd

Excerpts and thoughts…

P. 135
If we loved as Jesus loved we would become humble servants of humanity.
If we offer unconditional love, worth and acceptance that can’t be found any where else, we would become known as people who do not judge, who make no claim for themselves but who simply live to serve others.
People will want to hang out with us just as they did Jesus.
“If we would simply internalize Jesus’ teaching that we are to consider our own sin to be tree trunks in our eyes and other people’s sin – whatever it is – to be a mere dust particle, we would quickly become known not as self righteous judgers” (as is too often the case when we say we are “Christians) “but as the most humble, self-effacing people on the planet.”

“If you want to judge someone you have to be sinless. Of course, if you are sinless, like Jesus, you won’t have any inclination to do so.”


P. 27
“Any peace achieved by violence is a peace forever threatened by violence, thus ensuring that the bloody game will be perpetuated.
Followers of Jesus must realize – and must help others realize ….the hope of the world lies in a kingdom that is not of this world, a kingdom that doesn’t participate in tit for tat, a kingdom that operates with a completely different understanding of power. It is the kingdom established by Jesus Christ and a kingdom that is expanded by people committed to following him. It is the kingdom of God…it is a kingdom where greatness is defined by serving and sacrificing for others.”


I have had my beliefs in the roots of democratic government (mainly North American) changed by reading Gregory Boyd’s viewpoint.
I had always reasoned that democratic law was rooted in biblical law and that is why we enjoy the security and freedom we do in North America. The erosion of those laws I saw as fueling the downfall of our society. Thus I favored actions that defend our laws. I assimilated the sacrifices that both my parents made in WWII with the need to fight against those who seek to destroy the freedom that comes with democracy.
Mr. Boyd clearly defined that the way of the sword is an historical and ongoing abuse of assuming that we are fulfilling God’s commission when we use violence.
If we do not look like Jesus then we are not fulfilling his commission.

Salute To Dad

Whenever I go back to Prince Rupert I like to make a point of visiting my Dad.
His spirit has remained part of me since September 12 1982. But I still like to visit the veterans section of the Prince Rupert Cemetery. I usually clean away the encroaching moss from the small rectangular granite grave stone that bears his name, military information and the quotation, A Proud Canadian.
This summer I decided to ask someone to join me. My cousin, Carroll, was always like another son to my Dad. It was Carroll who took on the unenviable task to call me when Dad died suddenly and unexpectedly. He and I have carried on that spiritual connection we seem to have even though our lives have often go in different directions.
Now Dad was a proud Canadian who served overseas for 5 years but there is an underlying significance to this tribute. There is a Canadian Whiskey called Royal Reserve and on the back of each 26 ounce bottle was a removeable sticker the read A Proud Canadian. There were a number of these stuck on various things and places around my parents house.
So when I asked Carroll if he would be interested in visiting Dads place where his earthly remains lie, I already had in hand a bottle of Royal Reserve and a couple of Cokes. So we drove up to the Cemetery one afternoon. We had a ‘snort’ as Dad would have called it straight from the bottle. Then dumped some of the Coke to make room for the other liquid. We stood with Dad and talked about the good times we remembered with him, his sense of humor, how we remembered his life, his never complain attitude even though the last 12 years were diminished somewhat from the effects of a heart attack that shortened his life to 63 years.
His was a simple and sometimes difficult life, yet surely not forgotten by many who knew him. Not perfect by any means. A teeshirt given to Carroll by a close friend had these words, which I think fit my Dad as well: I’m not for everyone, but those who like me like me a lot.
It probably explains why Carroll and my Dad were so close.

We poured some of our drinks around the grave stone in a loving and sharing way that a lot of people might not understand. Mighty irreverent by some standards. But no true Christian is perfect and in that time Carroll and I spent with Dad that afternoon we discovered something pretty amazing ….that each of us in his own private way yet in a real and meaningful way know that we will be together again some day.
It’s the best news I could have ever prayed to have.

If we obey just one of Gods Laws: love our neighbour as we love ourselves, it would solve nearly all of the worlds strife. Think about this in the context of a news story about Muslims in a California town who requested a day off from school to honor a Muslim holiday and in reaction to the school board that voted to eliminate all religious holidays including Christmas and Easter.
From a Christian viewpoint it is a terrible infringement on something we thought was our right... is part of who we are. Additionally there is a likely hood for Christians to blame Muslims for the elimination of Christian holidays.
This whole question of religious difference is something that is really tearing apart people who essentially are worshiping the same God. Along the way Jesus Christ set a new covenant that Jews chose to disregard and over a twelve hundred years later Mohammed began a new offshoot when he believed that God had spoken to him about another way to be in relationship with Allah.
These differences really are at the centre of much of what is going on in the world today. Fighting in the name of the God they believe in. No one knows Gods plan in this. Great harm is being done to those people living outside of any of these belief systems. Many young people choose to not have any belief system because they don’t want to take part in fighting over who is right.
As a Christian I believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and will return one day and Bible prophecy says that day will be when Jews believe he is their Saviour.
In terms of how we are going to get to that day these religions , these people who worship the same God have to find ways to respect and acknowledge their differences and do that while worshiping God in their way and loving one another as they would want themselves to be loved…obeying Gods Law. Ultimately that is how we will get to the day when we all are under one roof so to speak.
When that happens the whole world will see a new way of understanding that we are all children of one God one Creator. New desire for worshiping God will flourish.

Maybe this issue of Christian holidays can lead us, since our laws, in our democracy set standards that come from Biblical belief. Daily we see those standards being chipped away by secular reasoning and that is way out of the comfort zone.

If we’re going to be a leader in change, Christians needs to show mercy, forgiveness and grace and love for our neighbours, our kin who believe in the same God but at this time in history just don’t see it in the same way. In terms of Christian holidays democratic countries possibly need to learn to accept and honor other religious holidays.

Today in Muslim countries just the admission that you are a Christian could be life threatening. This does not add up with the ultimate truth of Gods will through Jesus Christ. The extremist Islamic belief that they are on a world mission to wipe out Christians and Jews creates extreme wariness. If peaceful existence and tolerance is truly a cornerstone for doing Gods will, whether Jewish, Islamic or Christian those forces need to step forward and make themselves known to their brothers and sisters.
Change is slow and difficult. Christians and Muslims do not know each other well and we hear much that is not true about the other. If we are to find common ground it must come from making Gods Love the major force….God centered love in the hearts of many will create acceptance of one Creator.

God’s plan for us and Christ’s promise to us is based upon the reality that we do have to change the way we look at things. We as believers in God our Creator must initiate and grow this change that is going to come about as history unfolds so that one day we can worship our One God.
As Christians we must avoid the self righteousness that we were right along and it just took the rest of you a while to come on board. We must grow toward that place where we all recognize the same path to salvation.

Once we become a united force in love, only then can we see the forces of Satan incredibly weakened. As long as this fighting among ourselves is so prevalent we give great power to the choice to not acknowledge God in any framework.
There needs to be all Gods children under one roof for the days of glory to come upon us.

The faith of the original disciples, especially Peter and Paul carried the story of Jesus Christ forward for 60 years after His resurrection. The writing down of the words of Jesus in to the Gospels occurred in the last half of the first Century.

This clearly tells us that the events witnessed by the disciples were so life changing that they were compelled to be the seed planters of Christianity until their deaths. It is a powerful experience if we can put our selves in that place where we can imagine for a moment witnessing events that are so important that we would spend the rest of our lives
telling as many people as possible of their importance in the face of incredible hardships including persecution and horrible deaths.

The teachings of the disciples were assembled into the Gospels we recognize today, essentially after their deaths. The story of Jesus Christ, the beginnings of Christian faith were preserved in the second half of the First Century. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were likely written between 60 AD and the early part of the 2nd Century.

In the Bible, the path to salvation runs through Jesus Christ. When we believe that the Bible is God breathed, that what is in the Bible is there because it is the truth, it decrees that we must set aside controversial challenges such as the Nostic Gospels, written many years after the original Gospels had come into existence.

With a Bible to create an organizational focal point, the church as we know it began to emerge and with it the establishment of a power base that attracted those seeking spiritual enlightenment.

When the Romans began severe persecution of the Christian faith, centered around life after death, they created an army of martyrs to further the spread of the Jesus message.
And when the plague in the 13th century wiped out 75 percent of the worlds population there were still strong forces trying to wipe out the Christians, essentially because they were people who were upsetting the apple cart so to speak.

What history tells us is that violence has been associated with God from the beginning.
The love of Jesus is what changes the equation. Even when we are spiritually reborn in that faith it is not a guarantee that we will live a perfect life on earth.
As saved souls we still continue sinning. Thank God for his love and patience as he says how we too often continue to live. Our salvation really is only in heaven. Only then do we reach the platitudes that Jesus asked us to reach out for.

This is really the only explanation that makes any sense of the history of violence that we see throughout history in the name of Christianity and in the attempts to wipe it out.
Religious ‘experts’ always get caught up in trying to find answers with human-based critical thinking. The search for historical affirmation of the Bible story always produces rich confirmation. But in trying to carry through a variety of scenarios about what the Christian faith is all about they invariably lose sight of the single most import fact. The story of Jesus Christ is not about a human. It is about God coming to earth in human form through a virgin mother and returning to earth in human form through resurrection after death. If this is ‘not’ true then the whole story of Jesus is nothing more that a fascinating tale.

The Nicean Creed, written in the 13 th Century during the time of Constantine, legalized Christianity and formalized who Jesus Christ is…the Son of God. And when the Roman Empire collapsed the Christian faith emanating for the same geographical focal point spread through out the world.

Today, we see escalating violence that at its core is more and more emerging as a global battle for religious superiority as seen through the eyes of Islamic faith and interpretations of the words of the Prophet Mohammed.

The battle for truth is one that will go on until an unchallengeable event occurs to establish what is truth. But until that happens the most important search for every person needs to be a recognition that we need to know what is true.

It is said by many in these life and times that each of us is entitled to believe what we think is right or wrong. This thinking is strongly rooted in the denial of a God or Creator and leans more toward the concept of evolution, that we humans have no substantial difference from animals other than being more intelligent. And then of course it sensibly follows that there is no guiding set of moral values.

That thinking is seen by many as the more destructive force.

shuttle view

How many of us Christians fully understand Gods word ? My answer is; none.
How many Christians believe that it is crucially important to believe that the Bible is Gods breathed Word where lies the truth about the way God would have us live our lives?. The most knowledgeable person on earth is delusional if they believe they have figured out more than small portions of Gods plan. But a dramatic shuttle crash gave me a thought about how me might look at Gods plan.

Our destiny is laid out in precise detail in the Bible and explicit occurrences that are going to happen or have already happened are numerous. I am not qualified to detail all of them but
the disciples clearly asked Jesus about the end of the world and what the signs would be. In Matthew 24:4-8 He answers that many shall come saying I am Christ, and he says there will be wars and rumors of war. Famines, pestilences and earth quakes. But this is just the beginning…to use another description, the birth pangs and Jesus said in Matthew, don’t be frightened because these things must take place. But it is not the end and he offers hope to those who are faithful.

There are two other significant events which fulfill the prophecy of end times and Jesus’ return. They concern Jews.
First was Christs prediction that Jeruselem would be taken by the the Gentiles and at some point in time they would regain it. Well the first event occurred only 40 years after his death. The second event became fact in 1948 when the state of Israel came into being nearly 2,000 years after Jesus said.
Against all odds, the second part of the prophecy was now able to unfold.
For Jesus said, you will see me no more until you (meaning Jews) say, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt:23:39)
It is an emerging reality that Jews for Jesus is a growing movement. There are Jewish Christian churches. There are increasing testimonials of Jewish acceptance of the Messiah. This quote appears in a book titled Future Hope. A Jewish Christian look at the end of the world.
“When I accepted Him it was strictly because God showed me, yes Jesus is the accepted Messiah and that was reason enough to believe in him. The realization that I had become a Christian has never made me doubt for a moment that I was still Jewish. My belief is the natural result of my search for God and fulfillment of my Jewishness. This was spoken by Dr. Vera Schlamm, a holocaust survivor.

This view tells us is that God already knows the final outcome. In the world we live in today, it might seem like we are closing in on that time but only God knows and in the interim he need to put our trust in Him.
When the shuttle Columbia crashed and seven lives were lost, Americaan President George Bush quoted scripture in his first words. At the time, having just read a book titled How Now Shall We Live, which calls on Christians to develop their worldviews as a vehicle to point to Christianity and the Bible as the source of truth and purpose of people, I was quite surprised by this bold statement from the leader of the world’s most powerful country. With potential warfare in the Middle East overshadowing even the stunning shuttle crash, as a Christian, I was lifted up by the American President taking such a high profile opportunity to state the ground on which he stands. History books will confirm it is the ground on which America was built but it is not fashionable to make that point in our age of person rights instead of human rights. In our age of denial of wrong doing, even if you are caught and convicted, judges may decide they know a better way to exercise justice where there is no real expectation for the wrong doer to admit his wrong and be punished accordingly.

I’m certain it was not lost on world leaders that heard President Bush’s message. In context, I am one Canadian, with one small opinion, an opinion that probably is not held by the majority in my country.

However getting back to the shuttle flight, I listened and watched on radio and T.V. to the aftermath of speculation about what happened, to cause the disintegration, on re-entry of the Columbia to the earths’ atmosphere. I heard one ‘expert’ describe how the flight may have been doomed 80 seconds after lift off when chunks of insulation ripped off the launch rockets fuel tank and hit the wing of the shuttle, possible tearing off some of the tiles that form the protective shield on reentry and possibly even doing worse damage. The gentleman further described that even if it had been determined that re-entry was not a possibility due to the damage, the orbit of the shuttle was considerably lower than the orbit of the space station. This meant that the crew on Columbia did not have the capability of docking at the space station and awaiting rescue. It has not been common knowledge as to whether any conversation along these lines took place between Columbia crew and Mission control. Regardless, the decision was made to return to earth, but as the fellow on a radio program that i listened to, described it, there really was no other choice.

Thinking about that option, there is no other choice, caused me to reflect on the Bible and how it describes events that will come to pass in the final days before the return of Jesus.
These are specific, historically significant events and since so many astounding prophecies of the Bible have come to pass there is no reason to logically conclude that what is described in Revelations will not come to pass as well.
Since these are pretty horrific developments in terms of human suffering, they are not dwelled upon in much of Christian teaching because it is intrinsically more important to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and lead others to do the same.

What I think most people that have a problem with God have the biggest problem with is fully accepting that God, Creator of heaven and earth and everything within it is in control of everything that happens.
If you have a secular point of view, it is paramount to believe that humans are totally in control of outcomes.But we see such huge examples everyday that humans aren’t in control of much, it seems more and more like a seriously flawed theory.

I believe that many Christians, Jews and Islamic believers also do not fully understand that Gods will is what will be done and the chapters of planet earths' history will unfold to prove Gods word - that which we have had in front of us for thousands of years in the Bible simply foretold of mankind’s battle against sin and the ultimate outcome. There are many differences and religious struggles because each group believes that it has cornered the truth.

We have no option but to go forward. Our destiny was cast shortly after we first walked the earth in the Garden of Eden. There is no short cut that mankind can create to escape the inevitable. And as that realization comes to us we have no cloice but to continue the journey, like the space shuttle crew, knowing that our time is coming to an end, and even as they did, with their last voice messages, showing calm and resolute belief that all would be well.
For all those with trust in the Lord will pass through the fiery end into peace and calm.
And it is important to realize that as time goes on we may just be messengers to spread the miracle of Jesus Christ, the plan that God created so that all who choose to follow have an escape hatch.

We do know that there were Christians on board Columbia and the first Jewish person in space. We do not know all their relationships to the Lord but as described in the Bible when the day came one brother was called and the other left behind. One person in the field was taken and one was left.

Standing back to look at the shuttle flight, I think it is a good example of a way to look at God’s destiny for mankind. Our flight was predestined at the moment of creation.
Our end is foretold in Gods word. Our hope is the last words of the Book of Revelations: The grace our Lord Jesus Christ is with you all. Amen.

Gulag

When we hear of arrests in western society…
When we hear what is described as unfair treatment abusing the ‘rights’ of the arrested person…
It would be enlightening to know what being ‘arrested’ can mean.
The meaning of arrest cannot be more graphically explained than through the words of Alexandor Solzhaneetsyn in the opening chapter of Gulag Archepalego, his Pulitzer Prize winning book about life in Russia. Then, “arrest” terrorized to tens of thousands.(Page 3)

He described arrest as’ a blinding flash and a blow which shifts the present instantly into the past….The traditional image of arrest became trembling hands packing for the victim and no one knows what is permitted.’ His words scorch the pages as though synapsed from raw nerve endings to raw nerve endings, arking from memory to fingertips, to be revealed stark and real on the page so that the reader is conjoined to Solzhaneetsyns’ soul searching account of what life in Russia became after 1917 when Tzarist ruled was ended by the rebellion and take over by the workers.

He revealed a history of decades of human suffering that surpassed any before it and yet was unknown to the rest of the world And how did this man describe it?

“We didn’t love freedom enough. In 1917 we hurried to submit. We submitted with pleasure. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

“The principal revulsion you feel is against the humiliating, repulsive spiritual baseness that once was pride and implacability.”

Solzhaneetsyn asks the questions: What do you need to make you stronger? How can you stand your ground when you are weak and sensitive to pain, arrests, interrogations and prison conditions that we cannot imagine were the formidable weapons? Page 130

The reply of an old woman who held fast TO HER Christian and moral principals describes how victory comes. “There is nothing you can do to me even if you cut me to pieces. After all, you are afraid of your bosses and you are afraid of each other and you are even afraid of killing me. But I am not afraid of anything. I would be glad to be judged by God right this minute.”


Power is a poison well known for thousands of years. To the human being who has faith in some force that holds dominion over all of us and who is therefore conscious of his own limitations, power is not necessarily fatal. For those however who are unaware of any higher sphere it is a deadly poison. For them there is no antidote.

Solzhaneetsyn saw first hand evil working at its most revolting level. AS Christians we identify and knowledge where good and evil come from. God and Satan respectively. But it is difficult to describe how these forces work within us. Solzhaneetsyn says, if only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.

There is irony in these sentences because it actually describe what those in power in Russia at that time said they were doing. A human solution to the problem which we now understand to be an evolution based line of thought which assumes that all life emerged from the slime and humans are the most intelligent level of slime. Thereforeit is inherent within us to devise the perfect solution to the problem.

A.S. goes on to write; But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? One and the same human being is at various ages, under various circumstances, a totally different human being. At time he is close to being a devil, at times to sainthood.

He acknowledges God in his writing. But it seems that in this writing he chooses not to acknowledge Satan and how he flourishes in an environment and ideology that has no God present.

It is through this window though that there is stark insight that unmasks the terror and havoc that Satan creates.. The freedom we experience in the western world is built around Gods principals but they are being eroded from our laws and we need to make sure we love our freedom enough that we don’t throw it away to those who are trying to convince humanity that it’s the smartest and most intelligent force.

About the three Bibles on my nightstand

Let me tell you about the three Bibles on my nightstand.

Hands down, the Bible is the world’s most popular book. It is also maintained that many Bibles are never read. In our house, there are at least 6 and I’m pretty certain that if I searched a bit there are two or three more.

Probably the most and best used of these is that of my mother-in law, Rolette Proskiw. It was literally worn out from daily use over many years. I wish I could say that the three next to my bed are witness to her level of devotion to God’s Word…but I can’t. The reason these Bibles are there is because they do represent compelling evidence that the Lord watched over me during too many years when I most certainly never considered Him to be the master of my life. Not that I wasn’t presented with opportunities but my human weakness –my human nature- mistakenly thought it was me in control of all the important decisions in my life.

The oldest of these Bibles is a black, hard covered New Testament. The binding is broken and it must be carefully held together when picked up. Incredibly, no pages are missing. Inside the front cover is the name M.H.D.Allen, my grandmother. I remember her with the memory of a boy between the ages of five and 13. During those years, we lived in the same home in southeastern Nova Scotia in a tiny village named Sable River West. It is the only time we ever spent together except through photographs, letters and possibly the occasional long distance phone call. Sable River West is also inscribed on the inside cover of this New Testament, printed in London, England in 1921. I did the math to figure out that my grandmother would have been 34 or older when she received this Bible.
I don’t know a lot about her Christian life, but I do remember an extremely warm-hearted person and enough family history to know that she held firm Baptist beliefs. The signature and the writing of Sable River West in the New Testament I recognize as her distinctive elegant penmanship. Inside the next blank page is a handwritten Bible verse that is obviously not her writing. I assume the person who gave her this New Testament wrote it. There is no identifying signature. The verse from the Old Testament is Psalm 1-3.

And he shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The giver of this Bible seems to have carefully chosen a verse that points to the enrichment and reward that lies within the wisdom of God. Whether or not this particular gift opened the door for my grandmothers’ life with Christ I can’t say but it seems there was clear Christian intent and knowledge from some one.

I’m sure my grandmother had other Bibles although this one was obviously well used and at some point had been scotch taped by what must have been some of the earliest scotch tape ever made. This New Testament was among my Dad’s personal possessions. My mother gave it to me along with other items. My Dad has been gone for a number of years. I really had no clear recollection of having it in my possession until this past year.

An authorized King James Version in extremely fine print is the second Bible on my nightstand. Given to me by my grandmother, the first page, in perfect lettering says presented to: Glenn Terrence Allen by Grammie Allen Date March 3, 1958. That was 19 days before my 10th birthday. Regrettably I have no recollection at all of receiving this gift. There are a few verses marked or highlighted in red pencil that could have been marked during Sunday school at the Baptist church in Sable River West or verses she wanted me to read. This Bible spent many, many years lying alone in drawers or boxes. All I can say with certainty is that some of the seeds of my Christian beliefs were planted with the help of this Bible and the person who gave it to me.

Inscribed inside the cover of the third Bible, also a King James Version but larger than the previous one and with bigger print are the words:
Presented to Glenn (Valerie) Allen and family
By Mother Rolette Proskiw
Date January 20, 1977.
Please read often to the family.
I have often described Rolette as the perfect mother-in-law. God presented her with many challenges including that of raising five children with out their father –taken from them by cancer when four of them were challenging teenagers. Rolette had a faith so large and strong that she was able to know that her heavenly Father would see her through the most difficult of days and give her many days and moments of joy. So the fact that her second youngest daughter married a hippy looking guy, going to college who would ultimately take her several hundred miles away did not prevent her from loving her son-in-law and never having a harsh word for him even though he probably didn’t fit even her wildest dream of a fitting husband for her daughter.

The events of this gift of a Bible, which was given to us 5 years after our marriage, are also not significant in my memory. But these days, sometimes during Bible study in our home I will bring out this Bible to read a ‘classic’ version of scripture we are studying to contrast the NIV study Bible we use.

It has been over 5 years now that Val and I have rediscovered and recommitted our lives to service in Christ and more significantly for my self I now clearly understand that the Lord must be put at the head of my personal life and I work to fulfill that commitment every day to the best of my abilities. This includes daily Bible verse reading and prayer.

And these Bibles on my nightstand, well they are a small token of appreciation to my Heavenly Father. His greatest and free gift to me is salvation through Jesus Christ,
But the ‘Bible gifts’ inconspicuously accompanying me along life’s path ensured that I would come to the time in my life when I would finally know His incredible and unconditional love for me and fully accept Jesus as the unchallenged leader of my life.

And he shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The prophesy of these words written some 80 years ago enriches the knowledge of Gods plan for each of us and the incredible detail he prepares in advance.

God and his infinite love gently guided me to the circumstances where I could become a new improved Christian over the past few years. I have never been so filled with joy and I am overwhelmed with the certainty that it was no accident! He just waited for me to throw open the door to my heart and let the light flood in instead of seep in through a tiny little crack. I praise God and I love His Son with all my heart.

The Spirit within us...

6 years into the 21st Century, it seems that God is guiding history in a direction that is going to draw Christian, Islamic and Jewish believers closer than they’ve ever been.
Geographically we see increasing migration into each other’s dominant territories.
Philosophically we have historically high exposure and access to information and views that validate these three different belief paths that ultimately lead us back through the descendents of Abraham to Almighty God.
Fearfully and sometimes accusingly the world witnesses the horrors of angry conflict that accompany extreme rigidity in the belief of absolute right and wrong and the influence of those who exploit these differences for their own agendas.

As if to prove to those who claim that the human race has defied all common sense odds and reason, to evolve from single cells in slime to the top of the intelligence ladder, God seems out to demonstrate we are His Own creation in His Own image and within us, there are complexities to humanity far, far above our ability to comprehend.

Until about 5 centuries ago there really was no credence whatsoever given to the concept that there is no such thing as an unseen or “parallel” universe…a place wherein a power resides that rules over everything in the world that we live in. From the question: “What if there is no god?” grew the concept of evolution.
In its extreme implementation, the world witnessed the horrendous flaws in this concept when Lenin was able to achieve control of a disillusioned population in Russia and ultimately failed to snuff out the undeniable reality that God is encoded within us.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries another more subtle approach to godless thinking concentrates on ‘factual proof’ of evolution, a university centered sociological bias that empowers and entitles each and every human being to have an opinion that is right and that wrong is not your fault or a sinful nature but more plausibly a bad decision that can usually be blamed on how your mother raised you, a corporate evil empire that controls privilege or chauvinistic intolerance. This is proving to be a powerful argument in the sense that it desensitizes the concept of right and wrong which is a cornerstone of religious belief.

However there is increasing statistical validity to an increasing gravitation toward the original human sense that there is a spiritual component within us that is not touchable or visible but undeniably truthful in its existence. Of course if that is true then it is also true that there is undeniable ‘untruth’.

There are also more controversial confirming statistics that indicate that the most growth in spiritual belief is that as described in the Christian Bible and specifically in the Triune God as told through the story of Jesus Christ.

Trinity is not an easy concept for the human mind to wrap itself around even for most Christians. Ultimately and firstly, it requires the acceptance of an Almighty God with whom all outcomes rest or are known in advance. Secondly we believe that Gods’ omnipotence, Jesus Christ, came to earth through a virgin birth, walked among humans as one of them and conscripted the disciples who would spearhead the deliverance of His message to future generations. Thirdly we believe that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and His ascension to Heaven, the Holy Spirit was made available to every child of God for the rest of time for the rest of their lives from the moment of salvation. This free gift accepted through faith in what is unseen guarantees our ticket to eternal life.

One of the best introductions to Jesus Christ is presented through the Alpha program which has spread exponentially around the world as a non denominational, exceptionally frank and truthful look at the incredible story of Jesus and his life guiding, life changing message.

The truth in the story of Jesus is what Christians hold up as Gods’ Living Word in comparison to the Laws of Moses and the writings of Mohammed.

The strength of belief is super human. There is no measuring the strength of belief established in a fully mature expression of faith whether it comes from a Christian, Jewish or Islamic belief system or for that matter other religions.

Changing beliefs also requires superhuman achievement or divine intervention. Ultimately it must be rooted in a pursuit and desire to go in the direction of what is the truth.
The most controversial of these truths requires examination of three central figures: Moses, Mohammed and Jesus. If Jesus is who He claims, God made known to us in perfectness, albeit in a human form by all earthly standards, then He is delivering the truth.
Moses and Mohammed make no such claims to divinity. Their credence is empowered through direct wisdom from God.
Believing that Jesus too was ‘just’ a man makes the leap of faith that He asks for a much more difficult or even impossible decision to make.
Obeying Laws and measuring heavenly worth in deeds seem better measuring sticks of allegiance to God or Allah.
God as our all powerful creator and heavenly Father, would not mistakenly open the gates to our heavenly home by earthly means and actions. The truth is we must believe in what is not seen and know the truth that he sent Jesus for our eternal salvation.

Why Read the Bible

In his New York Times bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren explores the question, What On Earth Am I Here For?
In answering that question he says our time on earth should be used to “practice” the kinds of things we will do during our eternal life in heaven and he defines those activities worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism.
Rick Warren quotes nearly a 1000 Bible verses from 15 different Bible translations in his book. He makes the case that the Bible is the Manual God provides so that we make the best possible use of our short time on earth.
Rick Warren has endeavored to broaden for his readers the meaning of Bible verses by comparing translations and paraphrasing in an attempt to let readers view Gods truth in a broadened perspective.

My incredible realization that the Bible provides every guideline to live the life God intends for us has been a springboard for me to work harder to fully understand this Manual.
I think I’m like a lot of people who consider themselves Christians. Through faith, I truly have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior but in no way can I consider myself devoted to studying Scripture to a level where I freely quote it and intimately know the structure of the Bible.
In my mind I’ve often made the excuse that I just am not the kind of person who memorizes easily. And I am deeply moved when Scripture is explained and brought alive by people gifted with such ability. But I personally struggle to read and receive deep understanding when its just me and my Bible. It just always sounds better coming from someone else.

I don’t know if there are others like me….. I struggle with all Manuals unless they are very simply constructed with lots of simple drawings to explain the instructions. Most pieces of new technology that become available these days..and there’s a steady stream of them, come with a thick manual. I know that I manage to get the bare basics out of them but more often than not do not get the full understanding that is available.

So if I understand and believe that the Bible is the most important manual I will ever lay my hands upon I had better figure out how to use it to its maximum capability.

In knowing that it truly is Gods’ handbook for our lives, it is amazing how new and deeper meaning keeps coming out of its pages even as civilization challenges and expands the boundaries of knowledge at record pace.

I read Hemmingways’ explanation of good writing once. He described it as the ability to explain something very complicated in a simple easy to understand way. I think that is what God has done as He uses easy to understand examples to explain what He is trying to get across to us. But sometimes his examples are not easy to understand at least from a laymans point of view.

Does the Bible Explain Evil and Suffering?

Many people share this predicament when considering Christian faith. If God is good and has power over all, why does he allow evil and suffering? Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of the last Century saw the orderly and designed nature of the universe as revealing intelligence superior to all of human intelligence – the result of a mind not coincidence. But Einstein could not come to understand the contradiction of why a God this powerful would allow evil and suffering. A deeper look at Einstein’s premise that humans are essentially robots severely limited his ability to think his dilemma through to a Christian conclusion. Any conclusion is only as good as the premise on which it is based. A number of books are available which explain Einstein’s’ grappling with God. However this is a problem people throughout history have tried to answer with something other than a biblical solution.

In their book, How Now Shall We Live, Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcy detail five of the most common false solutions and the explanation that comes from Scripture. This is just one chapter in a powerful book. Briefly here are their points.

The most common false solution is that God doesn’t exist. This means that events are just natures’ random actions, not good or evil. So look at this. If we’re just part of nature (which is what we are if we are not created by God and put on this earth by Him for a purpose) why does evil and suffering deeply disturb us? Why do we cry out, “Why is this happening to me?” Why do atheists get angry at a God that doesn’t exist or out of instinct point blame for bad things at some unknown force and possibly look skyward when they do it?

There are others, and this is the second false solution, deny suffering exists. This is a particular view point of Christian Science and other religions. This line of thought literally convinces you that it’s all in your mind. Denying reality can have serious consequences. You probably don’t know that four of Richard Nixon’s closest advisors were Christian Scientists. Charles Colson mentions this fact in the book I referred to a few moments ago. Mr. Colson admits he made his own mistakes, as a close Nixon advisor and he went to jail for them, but his observation is insightful, that if we do not believe in evil we cannot cope with reality when it hits us in the face. Realistically, do you think you can make suffering go away by convincing yourself it doesn’t exist?

The third false solution some people come to is that God is at a place totally above anything we humans can comprehend. So what’s the point of getting angry with God if he’s not even connected to our reality? How could God understand our pain and our suffering if He is a universe unto Himself? If that were the case talking to God wouldn’t change anything.

Solution # four: God’s power is limited. This line of thinking rationalizes that God is still working on becoming all-powerful and that someday he will be able to prevent bad things from happening. Like He’s still trying to figure how to be all-powerful. That won’t make us feel any better today or maybe for generations. Be patient. I’m still evolving. It sounds a little bit like Tim the tool man Taylor.

The fifth false solution is that God created evil to achieve a greater good. Philosopher John Hick has described this position in a book titled Evil and the God of Love. He states that struggle for good is necessary for us to freely choose God. However this draws the conclusion that God created evil. What would be the sense or logic in worshipping a God that requires evil as part of human destiny? This is not to say that God doesn’t get good things from bad. But that is different than saying God put the bad things there as part of the plan.

So none of these explanations properly answer what every sensitive person asks. Why does God allow evil and suffering?

What the Bible teaches is that God is good and he created a universe that was very good.
Scripture also teaches that the universe is marred by evil and suffering. For both of these statements to be true then there must be a source of sin, outside of God. And that is what the Bible tells us. A part of human intelligence is freedom. This is the right to choose to obey or disobey the goodness and the perfection of God. When Adam and Eve made their first decisions to disobey, sin was created which is the spiritual realm of Satan. This establishes that sin entered the world at a particular point in history, not in the beginning.
The reason God can comfort us is because he did not create evil. Don’t you think that God hates what sin has done? However, fully creating humans meant that they must be able to make choices and therein lay the risk of choosing between good and evil.

Being that he is the God of goodness also meant that when he looked ahead to the evil and suffering we would suffer in consequence to sinfulness, he decided to create us anyway. The alternative would have been to end human history with Adam and Eve.

In addition He turned sin into the means of salvation. He took on all the punishment Satan dished out through the God-man Jesus Christ. Who but God could have figured out a Divine Justice whereby Jesus would die on the cross for all sins until the end of time?
This is how much God loves us.
Only the Bible explains the true meaning and true significance of evil and suffering
When we fully trust this truth, we can come to worship our Creator with every fibre in our being.
We can submit to a feeling of completeness that no other lesser explanation achieves when we accept Jesus Christ dieing on the cross and being resurrected as the single expression of God’s will that reconnects us to the good and perfect creation that we were in the beginning. It is nothing that we can earn. It is a gift given to us by our Heavenly Father. All we must do is accept it.

DON'T LEAVE ANYTHING TO CHANCE

Don’t leave anything to chance…
Isn’t that an expression we use when we’re trying to make sure something works out?
We try to foresee every possibility; pay close attention to the smallest detail.
Isn’t this really a process whereby we see ourselves achieving perfection which we believe represents the highest level of success…when what we are trying to do works out perfectly.

When I heard this phrase used recently, it resounded as a piece of potentially irrefutable evidence in the ongoing discourse that debates the origin of the human race.
Did we evolve – are we the result of random, sequential events against all reasonable mathematical odds…

Or:

Are we Gods’ creation - begun in the Garden of Eden as described in the Bible; part of an exactly executed plan by the Lord of the universe?

Sometimes rational people try combining these divergent lines of thinking. I have heard a ‘devout’ Christian express the belief that evolution occurred as the scientists say but at a certain period in history God entered the picture and in a magic kind of way changed these evolved creatures into His people and at that point the story in the Bible began.

Is this not a severe questioning of the Bible?

Non acceptance of God as Creator and Ruler of the universe was less challenged by Albert Einstein. As he developed his deep knowledge of the universe around him he became convinced that the perfection he always discovered was no accident. It had to be the work of someone with a master plan.

Einsteins’ problems with God laid within his inability to reconcile that kind of power with the realities of good and evil and pain and suffering he saw in the human condition and why if there was a God with such power He allowed pain in the world.

The fact we as humans desire perfection is a total validation that humanity is a God Creation. Perfection leaves nothing to chance.
Whereas if you truly believe we have evolved – by chance- why would your core belief not be that random, accidental chains of events over time are what produces perfection?

I think that when we believe: Thy will be done…………..Gods’ will be done;
That is the acknowledgement of the real truth at our center – from the day of our creation onwards.

When we attempt to apply a human standard of perfection we are falling far, far short of what perfection really means.
Doing what comes natural to us is to try for perfection.
Knowing and understanding that only Jesus Christ who walked as one of us achieved that goal frees us from the bondage of believing that perfection is attainable on earth by humans.
Believing that human endeavor can encompass and envision every eventuality goes against the very supposition that the human process began in the slime and followed along an evolutionary pathway leading to a time of human perfection.

Leaving nothing to chance mean the exact opposite. It means putting trust in our Creator who controls the final outcome and already knows what that outcome will be.
Leaving nothing to chance is the way we should try to live our lives especially because we are dealing with our eternity. We are more than a microscopic, evolutionary pixel on the high resolution screen of nature. We are Gods’ children and he wants us all, of our own free will to turn towards Him.

When you truly aspire to leave nothing to chance, you reach for perfection in every thing you do knowing Gods will means understanding that you will not achieve perfection until you move up to heaven. God put the quest for perfection in our hearts and he allows us to see glimpses of it in the universe that surrounds us..

Finding Faith

Finding your faith

Do you feel that God is in your life?

Do you thank Him nearly every morning for a new day?

Do songs from church cause you to sing them or hum them or whistle them throughout the day?

Do you have spiritual reading material?

Do you read the Bible because you want to?

Does Gods presence help you enjoy your workday and the people around you?


Or is your life a little different than that?

You feel no one understands the problems in your life and there’s no one that you can turn to.

The act of waking up and getting ready for work puts you in a bad mood.

Your favorite rock radio station that came on with the alarm gives you some obscene words to sing.

Reading is restricted to only what is required and certainly not something to be enjoyed or enlightening.

You have a Bible given to you by your grandmother when you were young but you haven’t seen it or even remembered it in years.

Work is something to be endured and from which there is no escape because it makes the money you need to survive and stay ahead of the bill collectors.

Putting up with the idiots is worse than the work.

Taking the first step toward finding your faith is asking God to tell you about himself. This acknowledgement allows Gods presence, which by the way is available to everyone of us, to enter your life. When you turn toward God you turn away from yourself in the sense that when you accept Gods plan fro your life, hand in hand comes the realization that the reason for feeling unable to make your life joyful is mainly caused by following the wrong plan. Like it should be you at the center of your world.

When you drive by a construction site and see a new project rising out of the ground, whether it’s a house or a high rise you see workers busy at many different jobs. If you continue to drive by that site every so often you will see whatever it is they’re building, take shape and eventually all signs of construction disappear and they’re this new facility complete with landscaping, and regular looking people coming and going.

The reason those workers complete the job properly is because there’s a plan for them to follow, a set of blueprints, a thick sheaf of engineers drawings covering every detail of what is required to achieve the finished product. And don’t believe they get it perfect. As the workers follow those plans they find errors and omissions and sometimes they come up with better ideas that cause the plan to be changed. But imagine if those workers showed up and were simply directed to build say a 10 story building and given only a few photographs of something similar to go by. What kind of building do you think they could build…without knowledge of exact dimensions or the specific structural requirements and buildings codes?

That is what choosing to live you life without Gods plan is like. When you choose to fully accept Jesus Christ as your only savior and you fully accept that God has a specific and exact plan for you personally, you want to know how to follow that plan and know its details. God’s word is the blueprint and once you begin to trust and understand that His plan for you will make itself known to you each and every day for the rest of your life here on earth.

Trusting God, loving Jesus and having the Holy Spirit working within you will bring you a life with riches you could never imagine when you were trying to live life with only your own insights and capabilities at you disposal.

How Life Fits Together

Today I experienced what it feels like to tie together pieces of your life that until that moment have just dangled there in your memory. And its difficult to explain to someone other than yourself. That’s because, other than God, no one else really knows your life or how you interpret yourself, and the moments and events in your life that stick out.

My friend Richard, lost his wife 2 years ago. Just when they figured that everything was in place to enjoy the rest of their lives together, she died from lung cancer. An ironic death to add to to the agony because she was an athlete, a nurse and had never smoked.

Richard and I have played hockey on the same team for about 10 years. But our lives seldom crossed if it were not related to hockey.

3 weeks ago he attended the church my wife and I attend. We discovered that he had been invited by a lady from our church who was a friend of his wife and works to counsel people as well. Richard came up to me after the service, surprised to see me there. I am a strong enough believer to express how great it was to see him there. The next Sunday I saw him sitting alone and invited him to sit with us. This Sunday he and his lady friend sat with us on their own accord. The worship music was very moving. Pastor Art gave a very touching and powerful sermon message around the fact that going to heaven was a final step, but Jesus encourages us throughout our lives to see, feel and understand how He is always with us along lifes’ journey. Pastor Art concluded with a brief summary of his mothers life. She had passed away at 98 ½ the previous week.

Having listened many times when Pastor Art shared emotional, challenging, painful and joyous moments of his personal life with the congregation at our church, I as many others were lifted and moved by his ability to bring us closer to the fire of Christ that burns within him.


Richard stood up with the rest of us when the service ended. He was in need of some one to talk to. We stood together for about 20 minutes. Richard touched on the loss of his wife and he wanted to express some feelings about his parents who are living in Northern Ontario.

I hoped afterward that I had been able to be a comfort to him. I said that when you believe in God you come to know that everything happens for a purpose and maybe he and I sitting together in church today was no accident. I hope that in some small ways I will be able to stay connected with Richard.

During our conversation, I talked about losing my father and some of the circumstances around that.

Later at home as I ate lunch and flicked through the channels on T.V., I stopped when I recognized the movie, Field of Dreams. It is a baseball story by Canadian writer W.P. Kinsella, turned into a movie. It’s the only movie I’ve ever bought a copy of. I caught it near the end when the central figure, Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner is having surrealistic meeting with his father who had died when Ray was a young boy. Ray is now fully understanding a vision he had and a voice he heard saying “If you build it he will come.” Until this moment Ray believed that the person who would come was Shoeless Joe Jackson, a baseball player form the 30’s who was caught up in an infamous baseball scandal. But now Shoeless Joe who did come to life in the movie points to another figure on the ‘field of dreams’. Ray instinctively knows it his father as a young man, in his prime as a baseball player. He tells his wife he had only known his Dad as a shadow of this figure… worn down by life.

In the emotional conclusion Ray asks his Dad to play catch with him and they do.

In that moment I seemed to realize for the first time that I had only known my Dad worn down by life, not that he acted that way because he always showed the brighter side of his life even though I knew that as an adult, most of his energy had been given to fighting in WWII for five years and then shortly after returning home an unexpected start to marriage and family meant he was destined to provide enough to raise a family of four kids and he only knew ‘hard work’ as means to that end.

And I wondered, forcing back a tear or two of my own, what I would do with my Dad if I were given the opportunity that Ray Kinsella was given.

Although hockey is really the only sport I’ve played I knew my Dad had played a bit of baseball when he was young and in his prime and I remember him saying that my Uncle Mel had been a real pro prospect but didn’t want to leave home back in Nova Scotia in the 30’s.

So I thought that playing catch with my Dad in his prime would be a pretty good wish.

Our last plan before he died was a fall hunting trip. It never happened so as I think about possibilities, I think spending time with my Dad in his younger days in the bush of Nova Scotia in autumn would pretty much be a dream day with him.

As Pastor Art told us that his Mom was now in a glorious place meeting again her husband and others waiting in heaven, I know that my faith in our Lord needs to stay strong and grow, so that I will know without doubt there is a day when my Dad and I can begin spending an eternity together.

Richard has known tragic loss and I believe fears further loss such as his aging parents. I will pray for Richard that through the grace of Jesus Christ he can prepare himself in strong faith to understand that the plan God has for us reigns over our best abilities as human to understand the real meaning and purpose of life.

As I look back on today, it is overwhelming to see the journey that the Lord has planned for me in these past few hours. None of it is anything I planned or thought about. I am strengthened to be shown Gods’ hand on me and to gain a little more wisdom that will lead me to trust this truth even more. As God ties the dangling moments of my life together, I feel there are many more days to come during which I will feel His presence and His peace within me.