In many ways it made perfect sense to us. We had a goal, and so we formed a plan. However, the dreams of the young are often bigger than their brains.
At the age of ten, I was far away from being able to reach the basketball hoop in our driveway. No matter how hard I tried, or how much I reached, I couldn't even come close to touching the net. My fifteen year old brother could brush the net with his fingers, but couldn't reach the rim. Fueled by the same dream of dunking the basketball, we set into motion the perfect plan, one my parents were not home at the time to evaluate.
We had a small trampoline, maybe only five feet wide. We pulled it out from the garage and placed it next to the hoop, but it wasn't quite enough to reach the heights we were looking for. So we looked around for something else. What we found were blocks of wood of varying sizes. We brought them to the driveway and built a base to put the trampoline on, and then lifted the trampoline onto our structure. We knew this would work; it should give us the height we needed to be able to jump and dunk the basketball, just like Michael Jordan. It was going to be awesome.
My brother went first. He stepped back, and got a good running start toward the hoop. He leapt into the air, landing his feet on the trampoline.
I was so excited. This was going to be epic.
It wasn't.
The moment my brother's foot hit the trampoline, we got a lesson in physics and architectural design. The entire structure we had carefully built crumbled like it was built from toothpicks. My brother flew through the air, coming down hard on his wrist, fracturing it. I ran to a neighbor's house, and she took him to the hospital. I then put the trampoline and blocks back in their proper place, and it wasn't until several years later (after the statute of limitations had passed) that my parents found out the truth of what happened.
We had a dream. A great hope. Was it a bad dream? No, not at all. It is, in fact, quite common for children of that age to want to do such things. The problem came in the execution. We put our hopes onto something unstable. Even though we did not see the flaws at the time, before the jump, those flaws caused the plan to fail.
We see the same thing in life all the time, but instead of broken wrists, the consequences can include financial hardships and broken marriages. The world is full of people who are living their life on unstable ground, unaware that they are moments away from everything crumbling around them. These are people who are living generally "good" lives in our eyes, but they're missing the one thing that makes everything else work: Jesus.
This isn't about religion. This isn't about following the rules and merely making yourself feel like your life is stable. This is about the true God that created you, loves you, and wants the best for you. God isn't a figment of man's imagination. He's no work of fiction. He is just as real as you and me, and He is the only foundation that is worth standing on.
We live in a world where nothing is ever good enough. We complain about the good times because we still don't have it as good as the guy across the street. When the bad times come, we complain even louder, angrily cursing the universe for being unfair. We wonder what we did to deserve such treatment. When life is rough, we fall back on our own strength, or the strength of our friends and family. When that fails (as it often does), what do we look to then for strength? There are a million options the world has to offer for how to make yourself feel better and how to put your life back together. They may work on the surface, or for a period of time, but only one thing is strong enough to stand on for all the years of your life.
God is the beginning and the end, the great creator, the one who holds all the secrets of the universe in His hands. He will not allow to you fall apart. He will never crumble beneath you, and He will never forsake you. God will work miracles in your mind when you surrender your life to Him. When you give God your life, saying that you will rely on Him instead of this world, He will become everything you ever needed. The way you see things will start to align with how God sees them.
We must bring everything to God: the good and the bad, the joyous and the shameful. He loves us no matter what, and we can live knowing that everything we place at His feet is sitting on a firm, unshakeable foundation. When you place your life on the rock that is Jesus, there is nothing that this world can throw at you that will cause you to fall apart.
The next time you stand back and examine your goals in life, don't simply come up with the quickest, easiest path possible to fulfilling those goals. Pray that God will be your strength and your foundation, and that His will be done in your life. Place your goals at His feet and allow them to happen in His timing.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Ask Cooper Anything 4: Christian Legalism
"We see a lot of Christian legalism in our culture. Many people create extra rules about being a Christian. For example, can Christians get tattoos? Can Christians drink, smoke, or gamble? Listen to secular music? Send their kids to day care? Read Harry Potter (gasp!). What do you think about Christian legalism?"
- Gina C.
Christian legalism in an interesting topic. The term legalism is defined as "strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, especially to the letter rather than the spirit." In Christian terms, it is more specifically defined as "the doctrine that salvation is gained through good works."
On the one hand, I completely and unquestionably reject the idea that salvation is gained through works. The Bible says that good works are the result of your salvation, not the cause of it. I don't believe there is enough time in our lives to do enough good works to earn our way to Heaven. We're not able to live perfect enough lives to undo the sins we've committed. We're saved through grace, through the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross, not through anything we can do.
The question of whether or not we should do certain things then becomes an issue of purity. If we're following Christ, we're aspiring to live as pure a life as we can, not to earn our way to Heaven, but to grow in relationship to God and to allow ourselves to best be used by God for His kingdom. God also has certain laws in place because they protect us. If you stay sexually pure, remaining faithful to your spouse, you are more likely to have a peaceful, harmonious marriage. If you have many partners, and then get married but are unfaithful, you are more likely to have problems, issues, and pain in your relationships and in your life. The commandment to not commit adultery is not to limit you from pleasure, it is to protect you from hardships, and to give you the best experience you can have. Having sex outside of marriage and committing adultery will not take away your salvation, but it may bring impurity and pain to your life, and damage your current and future relationships, including your earthly relationship with God.
We are meant to enjoy life, I do believe, but we must consider the side effects of our decisions when it comes to what we allow ourselves to do. Here's a rundown of what I believe in regard to these specific issues. There may be a theme here.
Alcohol. I don't drink - I recently turned 32 years old, and I've never had a drink of alcohol. This is simply a choice I've made. It may once have been due to a belief that there was something inherently bad about alcohol, but now it's just a lack of curiosity. I don't see anything wrong with having a drink. Remember, even Jesus drank wine in the Bible. So having a drink is fine, but you must know what you're dealing with, and you must know your limits. The Bible says drunkenness is sinful, and I understand why. Drunkenness leads to foolish behavior, and sometimes to terrible life-changing (or life-ending) decisions. Of course, alcoholism has ruined lives and families when it leads to abuse and neglect. Drinking to get drunk is foolish, and should not be done, because the side effects can be catastrophic. Simply enjoying a beer or a glass of wine, though, is just fine.
Tattoos. I don't have a tattoo either, and I have no plans of it. I just have no desire to do such a thing. However, I really don't see any problem with people getting them, as long as they are sensible and not impure. I will sometimes consider what kind of tattoo I would get if I were to get one, even though I never will. It would likely be a simple cross of some sort, probably on my upper arm, or something like that. I don't see anything wrong with such tattoos. However, getting a naked lady tattooed on your arm is a different story. I think it relates to what message you're trying to send with your tattoo. It's a simliar question to what kind of T-shirt you should wear. I won't wear a Playboy T-shirt, and I won't tattoo anything similar on my body. So, when considering a tattoo, consider these questions: Does the tattoo send the right message? Does it fit in with the pure Christian life? What would Jesus think of your tattoo? What would you think if your kid came home with that tattoo?
Gambling. This is another one of those things that depends on how it's done. My wife and I have been to Las Vegas, even though neither of us drink or gamble. (We just like to walk through the hotels and eat at buffets.) We did each play a dollar on a slot machine just to do it. I've also played $20 on a video poker machine (which I lost). If you look at it as just a form of entertainment, then I think the money spent is just like buying a ticket to a movie or a sporting event. Really, it could be considered gambling any time you put something of value down in the hopes of earning a return on your investment, though there is a chance (low or high, depending on the circumstances) that you will lose your initial investment entirely. Even churches will hold raffles. The problem isn't simply that you're risking some money. The problem comes when people lose control, and they gamble away their money until it destroys their life. Sure, you may get lucky, but casinos aren't rich because most people win. They've rigged the system to ensure that most people lose, while just enough people win to give the rest hope enough to keep coming back with their money. God wants us to be good stewards of His money, and gambling it all away is certainly not doing that, but neither is spending all of your money on other things. There are a million ways to be foolish with your financial assets, and excessive gambling is just one. I say, as long as you tithe your income and otherwise use your money wisely, there's no reason to say that gambling as a whole is a sinful activity. If you go to a casino to go gambling, let it just be a hobby or a form of entertainment. Be wise about the money you take, budgeting that money responsibly, and then know when to walk away.
Smoking. Here's one I'm going to come down a bit harder on. Admission: I find the whole concept of smoking to be repulsive and disgusting, and I could probably fill a book just with my thoughts on it. It's a habit that not only causes cancer and other life threatening or limiting conditions, it fills the air with a wretched odor that sticks to your clothes and furniture. That all being said: I suppose, if you smoke in such a way that it won't affect other non-smokers, it's fine. Here is the part I find to be sinful: when you smoke in such a way that you make other people inhale your secondhand smoke, exposing them to the harmful chemicals. Parents who smoke around their children ought to be ashamed of themselves. Not only are there great health risks with smoking, and a terribly offensive odor that infiltrates everything around it, allowing oneself to become so dependent on something (other than God) is quite unhealthy. Whether it be cigarettes, or alcohol, or pornography, or video games, or any activity or person or thing, addictions are dangerous and unhealthy. I completely understand that they are very difficult to break, but I believe that any addiction can be broken, and that God will be your strength when the cravings come. Smoking is sinful when it causes issues to other people. Even if you're smoking in such a way where that never happens, smoking may or may not be sinful, but it is certainly never wise. I can see fine reasons to have a drink or get a tattoo, but smoking is one of those things that there is never a sensible reason to pick up or keep the habit.
Harry Potter. I'll start off by saying this: I've read all the Harry Potter books and seen all the movies. I've read and seen Lord of the Rings, and many other fantasy books, movies, and television shows that deal with magic. I've even written a couple fantasy novels that deal with magic. I've played Everquest and Diablo, along with many other games where magic is a central part of the story. I don't see any issues with enjoying these things for what they are: entertainment. The Bible is certainly clear about the evils of witchcraft, but that's witchcraft in real life. These are stories placed in fantastical worlds where magic has many purposes, both for good and evil. It can be a weapon for a wizard, just like a sword can be a weapon for a soldier. Magical worlds are simply the settings used for fantasy fiction, and nothing more than that. Magical worlds can be used for great Christian allegory, like C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. As long as you enjoy it as entertainment, as a hobby, keeping it its proper place, I have no concerns. If you decide to become a witch or a wizard in real life, or dabble in other things you're not supposed to, then the fault lies in your decision making, and your ability to differentiate the real from the fictional.
Secular music. I made a decision a long time ago to only own and listen to Christian music. The only exceptions to this are soundtracks (I love movie music) and Weird Al Yankovic. Because he's hilarious. (And his music is really quite clean). There was a time when I owned several secular CDs - my favorite at the time was one by Hootie and the Blowfish. But I sold them all at some point. That all being said, as with most of these subjects, I don't think the concept of secular music is wrong, but I do think we need to be careful of the kind of music and words we're allowing to flow through our brain (and the brains of our kids). There is a lot of secular music that glamorizes sinful behavior, and is full of messages that simply don't jive with the Christian view of purity. I don't want to be driving down the road, singing along to the radio, singing words that objectify women or otherwise completely go against what I believe. So I would say this: be careful of the secular music you're listening to, and make sure that its message is pure. Would Jesus like that song? Would He have it on His iPod? Would you want your children listening to that song, singing the lyrics themselves? Would you take the words from that song and wear a T-shirt with the lyrics printed on it?
Day care. I don't see any real issues with day care. This is more of a choice that parents make, and the best choice depends on the circumstances. Some situations, like being a single parent, often means there is only one choice. If you are going to send your kid to day care, however, I think there are two things to consider. First, you need to make sure you spend lots of time with your kids when you get home from work. Kids need time with their parents, and having them away for a good chunk of the day means you need to spend more time with them when you can. Second, be very careful when selecting which day care facility to send your children to. Make sure that place will not be filling their heads with things you don't want. If we end up having children one day, we will most likely not send them much to day care, but that's the choice that we feel (presently) makes the most sense for our family.
This world is full of things that are sinful, and we do need to be careful with what we do, but I think we can also be too overly cautious. We just need to make sure the things we do don't fly in the face of the life God wants us to live.
- Gina C.
Christian legalism in an interesting topic. The term legalism is defined as "strict adherence, or the principle of strict adherence, to law or prescription, especially to the letter rather than the spirit." In Christian terms, it is more specifically defined as "the doctrine that salvation is gained through good works."
On the one hand, I completely and unquestionably reject the idea that salvation is gained through works. The Bible says that good works are the result of your salvation, not the cause of it. I don't believe there is enough time in our lives to do enough good works to earn our way to Heaven. We're not able to live perfect enough lives to undo the sins we've committed. We're saved through grace, through the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed on the cross, not through anything we can do.
The question of whether or not we should do certain things then becomes an issue of purity. If we're following Christ, we're aspiring to live as pure a life as we can, not to earn our way to Heaven, but to grow in relationship to God and to allow ourselves to best be used by God for His kingdom. God also has certain laws in place because they protect us. If you stay sexually pure, remaining faithful to your spouse, you are more likely to have a peaceful, harmonious marriage. If you have many partners, and then get married but are unfaithful, you are more likely to have problems, issues, and pain in your relationships and in your life. The commandment to not commit adultery is not to limit you from pleasure, it is to protect you from hardships, and to give you the best experience you can have. Having sex outside of marriage and committing adultery will not take away your salvation, but it may bring impurity and pain to your life, and damage your current and future relationships, including your earthly relationship with God.
We are meant to enjoy life, I do believe, but we must consider the side effects of our decisions when it comes to what we allow ourselves to do. Here's a rundown of what I believe in regard to these specific issues. There may be a theme here.
Alcohol. I don't drink - I recently turned 32 years old, and I've never had a drink of alcohol. This is simply a choice I've made. It may once have been due to a belief that there was something inherently bad about alcohol, but now it's just a lack of curiosity. I don't see anything wrong with having a drink. Remember, even Jesus drank wine in the Bible. So having a drink is fine, but you must know what you're dealing with, and you must know your limits. The Bible says drunkenness is sinful, and I understand why. Drunkenness leads to foolish behavior, and sometimes to terrible life-changing (or life-ending) decisions. Of course, alcoholism has ruined lives and families when it leads to abuse and neglect. Drinking to get drunk is foolish, and should not be done, because the side effects can be catastrophic. Simply enjoying a beer or a glass of wine, though, is just fine.
Tattoos. I don't have a tattoo either, and I have no plans of it. I just have no desire to do such a thing. However, I really don't see any problem with people getting them, as long as they are sensible and not impure. I will sometimes consider what kind of tattoo I would get if I were to get one, even though I never will. It would likely be a simple cross of some sort, probably on my upper arm, or something like that. I don't see anything wrong with such tattoos. However, getting a naked lady tattooed on your arm is a different story. I think it relates to what message you're trying to send with your tattoo. It's a simliar question to what kind of T-shirt you should wear. I won't wear a Playboy T-shirt, and I won't tattoo anything similar on my body. So, when considering a tattoo, consider these questions: Does the tattoo send the right message? Does it fit in with the pure Christian life? What would Jesus think of your tattoo? What would you think if your kid came home with that tattoo?
Gambling. This is another one of those things that depends on how it's done. My wife and I have been to Las Vegas, even though neither of us drink or gamble. (We just like to walk through the hotels and eat at buffets.) We did each play a dollar on a slot machine just to do it. I've also played $20 on a video poker machine (which I lost). If you look at it as just a form of entertainment, then I think the money spent is just like buying a ticket to a movie or a sporting event. Really, it could be considered gambling any time you put something of value down in the hopes of earning a return on your investment, though there is a chance (low or high, depending on the circumstances) that you will lose your initial investment entirely. Even churches will hold raffles. The problem isn't simply that you're risking some money. The problem comes when people lose control, and they gamble away their money until it destroys their life. Sure, you may get lucky, but casinos aren't rich because most people win. They've rigged the system to ensure that most people lose, while just enough people win to give the rest hope enough to keep coming back with their money. God wants us to be good stewards of His money, and gambling it all away is certainly not doing that, but neither is spending all of your money on other things. There are a million ways to be foolish with your financial assets, and excessive gambling is just one. I say, as long as you tithe your income and otherwise use your money wisely, there's no reason to say that gambling as a whole is a sinful activity. If you go to a casino to go gambling, let it just be a hobby or a form of entertainment. Be wise about the money you take, budgeting that money responsibly, and then know when to walk away.
Smoking. Here's one I'm going to come down a bit harder on. Admission: I find the whole concept of smoking to be repulsive and disgusting, and I could probably fill a book just with my thoughts on it. It's a habit that not only causes cancer and other life threatening or limiting conditions, it fills the air with a wretched odor that sticks to your clothes and furniture. That all being said: I suppose, if you smoke in such a way that it won't affect other non-smokers, it's fine. Here is the part I find to be sinful: when you smoke in such a way that you make other people inhale your secondhand smoke, exposing them to the harmful chemicals. Parents who smoke around their children ought to be ashamed of themselves. Not only are there great health risks with smoking, and a terribly offensive odor that infiltrates everything around it, allowing oneself to become so dependent on something (other than God) is quite unhealthy. Whether it be cigarettes, or alcohol, or pornography, or video games, or any activity or person or thing, addictions are dangerous and unhealthy. I completely understand that they are very difficult to break, but I believe that any addiction can be broken, and that God will be your strength when the cravings come. Smoking is sinful when it causes issues to other people. Even if you're smoking in such a way where that never happens, smoking may or may not be sinful, but it is certainly never wise. I can see fine reasons to have a drink or get a tattoo, but smoking is one of those things that there is never a sensible reason to pick up or keep the habit.
Harry Potter. I'll start off by saying this: I've read all the Harry Potter books and seen all the movies. I've read and seen Lord of the Rings, and many other fantasy books, movies, and television shows that deal with magic. I've even written a couple fantasy novels that deal with magic. I've played Everquest and Diablo, along with many other games where magic is a central part of the story. I don't see any issues with enjoying these things for what they are: entertainment. The Bible is certainly clear about the evils of witchcraft, but that's witchcraft in real life. These are stories placed in fantastical worlds where magic has many purposes, both for good and evil. It can be a weapon for a wizard, just like a sword can be a weapon for a soldier. Magical worlds are simply the settings used for fantasy fiction, and nothing more than that. Magical worlds can be used for great Christian allegory, like C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. As long as you enjoy it as entertainment, as a hobby, keeping it its proper place, I have no concerns. If you decide to become a witch or a wizard in real life, or dabble in other things you're not supposed to, then the fault lies in your decision making, and your ability to differentiate the real from the fictional.
Secular music. I made a decision a long time ago to only own and listen to Christian music. The only exceptions to this are soundtracks (I love movie music) and Weird Al Yankovic. Because he's hilarious. (And his music is really quite clean). There was a time when I owned several secular CDs - my favorite at the time was one by Hootie and the Blowfish. But I sold them all at some point. That all being said, as with most of these subjects, I don't think the concept of secular music is wrong, but I do think we need to be careful of the kind of music and words we're allowing to flow through our brain (and the brains of our kids). There is a lot of secular music that glamorizes sinful behavior, and is full of messages that simply don't jive with the Christian view of purity. I don't want to be driving down the road, singing along to the radio, singing words that objectify women or otherwise completely go against what I believe. So I would say this: be careful of the secular music you're listening to, and make sure that its message is pure. Would Jesus like that song? Would He have it on His iPod? Would you want your children listening to that song, singing the lyrics themselves? Would you take the words from that song and wear a T-shirt with the lyrics printed on it?
Day care. I don't see any real issues with day care. This is more of a choice that parents make, and the best choice depends on the circumstances. Some situations, like being a single parent, often means there is only one choice. If you are going to send your kid to day care, however, I think there are two things to consider. First, you need to make sure you spend lots of time with your kids when you get home from work. Kids need time with their parents, and having them away for a good chunk of the day means you need to spend more time with them when you can. Second, be very careful when selecting which day care facility to send your children to. Make sure that place will not be filling their heads with things you don't want. If we end up having children one day, we will most likely not send them much to day care, but that's the choice that we feel (presently) makes the most sense for our family.
This world is full of things that are sinful, and we do need to be careful with what we do, but I think we can also be too overly cautious. We just need to make sure the things we do don't fly in the face of the life God wants us to live.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Ask Cooper Anything 2: Arminianism vs. Calvinism
"Arminianism vs Reformed(Calvinism) and why?"
- Tim M.
I'm going to start this off by admitting that, until very recently, I couldn't have told you what the differences between Arminianism and Calvinism were. I had certainly heard of these terms, but I was not familiar with the details of the beliefs. I have now read over the entry found on Wikipedia. It was an interesting and informative read. For those who may also be somewhat unfamiliar with these theological concepts, here is a snippet from the Wikipedia article that summarizes the differences between Arminianism and Calvinism.
I believe that humans have free will to choose to either follow or reject Jesus. Humans have the ability to choose this world over Christ, and many do every day. Even if they feel the nudging from God, and there are people in their life that are pointing them in the right direction, they reject the notion of following God and instead choose the narrow path of the world. You can choose to have the world as your god and ignore the true God. This is part of free will. God wants each of us to choose to follow Him, but if our salvation is granted by predestined election, then it is not a choice for either the believers or the unbelievers. The first step in salvation was Jesus dying on the cross, but the second step is for each of us to make the choice in our heart to follow Him.
I believe atonement to be universal, available to all the world. Jesus died for every man and woman in the world, regardless of who you are or what you've done. I'm not special enough to be one of the "elect" that God chose to save; I'm saved because I've admitted that I am a sinner, and accepted that the blood of Jesus is the only thing that can save me. I feel eternally blessed that I was born into a loving, Christ-centered family, but that was a blessing and, frankly, quite lucky. I was not born into that family because I was "elect."
I also believe in the Arminian idea that one's salvation is secure, and yet, if one chooses to abandon their beliefs and turn their back on God, they can lose it. I would say, though, that once somebody has a true experience with God, and they come to a point where their mind takes their salvation from being belief to being fact, it would not be possible for them to turn around and then completely reject their faith. From my perspective, I will never turn my back on God. I have based so much of who I am and how I live my life on my belief that there is a God and He loves me. To disbelieve that would be to change who I am, to my very core. That core is the way it is because I see the existence of God as an unquestionable fact. I believe in God more than I believe in gravity. The proof of God is everywhere, from the peaks of the mountains to the depths of the sea, to the kaleidoscope of human diversity to the amazing animal and plant life in the world. To stop believing in God would be to betray everything I see and everything I feel. Atheists may scoff at this, but to stop believing in God would betray my own logic and rationale. It would break everything I know to be true.
I would contend that those who are in the faith and then leave it never actually allowed themselves to be fully immersed in the love of Christ. The question becomes this: were they ever truly saved? I find a hard time believing that anyone who was ever truly saved would then reject Jesus. That would be like rejecting oxygen and deciding it would be better to breath in dirt.
- Tim M.
I'm going to start this off by admitting that, until very recently, I couldn't have told you what the differences between Arminianism and Calvinism were. I had certainly heard of these terms, but I was not familiar with the details of the beliefs. I have now read over the entry found on Wikipedia. It was an interesting and informative read. For those who may also be somewhat unfamiliar with these theological concepts, here is a snippet from the Wikipedia article that summarizes the differences between Arminianism and Calvinism.
- Nature of election – Arminians hold that election to eternal salvation has the condition of faith attached. The Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election states that salvation cannot be earned or achieved and is therefore not conditional upon any human effort, so faith is not a condition of salvation but the divinely apportioned means to it. In other words, Arminians believe that they owe their election to their faith, whereas Calvinists believe that they owe their faith to their election.
- Nature of grace – Arminians believe that, through grace, God restores free will concerning salvation to all humanity, and each individual, therefore, is able either to accept the Gospel call through faith or resist it through unbelief. Calvinists hold that God's grace to enable salvation is given only to the elect and irresistibly leads to salvation.
- Extent of the atonement – Arminians, along with four-point Calvinists or Amyraldians, hold to a universal drawing and universal extent of atonement instead of the Calvinist doctrine that the drawing and atonement is limited in extent to the elect only, which many Calvinists prefer to call 'particular redemption'. Both sides (with the exception of hyper-Calvinists) believe the invitation of the gospel is universal and "must be presented to everyone [they] can reach without any distinction."
- Perseverance in faith – Arminians believe that future salvation and eternal life is secured in Christ and protected from all external forces but is conditional on remaining in Christ and can be lost through apostasy. Traditional Calvinists believe in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, which says that because God chose some unto salvation and actually paid for their particular sins, he keeps them from apostasy and that those who do apostatize were never truly regenerated (that is, born again) or saved. Non-traditional Calvinists and other evangelicals advocate the similar but different doctrine of eternal security that teaches if a person was once saved, his or her salvation can never be in jeopardy, even if the person completely apostatizes.
I believe that humans have free will to choose to either follow or reject Jesus. Humans have the ability to choose this world over Christ, and many do every day. Even if they feel the nudging from God, and there are people in their life that are pointing them in the right direction, they reject the notion of following God and instead choose the narrow path of the world. You can choose to have the world as your god and ignore the true God. This is part of free will. God wants each of us to choose to follow Him, but if our salvation is granted by predestined election, then it is not a choice for either the believers or the unbelievers. The first step in salvation was Jesus dying on the cross, but the second step is for each of us to make the choice in our heart to follow Him.
I believe atonement to be universal, available to all the world. Jesus died for every man and woman in the world, regardless of who you are or what you've done. I'm not special enough to be one of the "elect" that God chose to save; I'm saved because I've admitted that I am a sinner, and accepted that the blood of Jesus is the only thing that can save me. I feel eternally blessed that I was born into a loving, Christ-centered family, but that was a blessing and, frankly, quite lucky. I was not born into that family because I was "elect."
I also believe in the Arminian idea that one's salvation is secure, and yet, if one chooses to abandon their beliefs and turn their back on God, they can lose it. I would say, though, that once somebody has a true experience with God, and they come to a point where their mind takes their salvation from being belief to being fact, it would not be possible for them to turn around and then completely reject their faith. From my perspective, I will never turn my back on God. I have based so much of who I am and how I live my life on my belief that there is a God and He loves me. To disbelieve that would be to change who I am, to my very core. That core is the way it is because I see the existence of God as an unquestionable fact. I believe in God more than I believe in gravity. The proof of God is everywhere, from the peaks of the mountains to the depths of the sea, to the kaleidoscope of human diversity to the amazing animal and plant life in the world. To stop believing in God would be to betray everything I see and everything I feel. Atheists may scoff at this, but to stop believing in God would betray my own logic and rationale. It would break everything I know to be true.
I would contend that those who are in the faith and then leave it never actually allowed themselves to be fully immersed in the love of Christ. The question becomes this: were they ever truly saved? I find a hard time believing that anyone who was ever truly saved would then reject Jesus. That would be like rejecting oxygen and deciding it would be better to breath in dirt.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Ask Cooper Anything 1: Evolution vs. Creation
"What is your view on Genesis and evolution? Do you take a literal view of Genesis in 7 days?"
- Erik C.
In preparation for this entry, I watched the entirety of the debate between Ken Hamm of the Creation Museum and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Now, I am not, nor will I ever be, a scientist. When I was of grade school age, I did have thoughts of becoming an archaeologist or an astronomer. However, as you may notice, I am neither of those things, so I'm not going to delve too incredibly deep into the science of it all. Anyway, the debate itself was interesting, though it did not quite capture the two opposing sides that I am considering. It pitted Ken Hamm, a Christian and young-Earth creationist, against Bill Nye, an atheist who believes the Earth is billions of years old. I am coming to this issue with one unquestionable truth: there is a God, and His hand was at work in the creation of this universe and this planet. The question is whether he simply spoke things into being, or if he used processes such as the big bang and evolution to allow for the universe, the planet, and the human race to arrive at their current existence.
On one hand, I truly want to believe the literal Genesis creation story. If I take the story as literal truth, it makes a lot of sense to me. There are certain Biblical things that I would have issues reconciling if evolution is true. For instance, as Christians, we accept that Jesus was a real person, flesh and blood. The Bible lays out his genealogy, following His ancestral trail back through King David, back to Jacob and Abraham, back to Methuselah, and back to Seth, and back to Adam. According to the Bible, Adam was the first man created. Now, if you're an evolutionist, and you accept Jesus, and accept the people before Him in the ancestral line, what about Adam? Was he a real person?
If he was a real person, then he would have simply been the next generation. He would have had parents and grandparents, and yet God chose Adam's generation as the first important enough to mention. Would he really have done anything important? Or was his name just chosen by the writer of Genesis as the scapegoat for bringing sin into the world?
If evolution is the way God created humans over millions of years, was there one generation that did not have a soul, but their offspring did? One generation not made in God's image, while the next generation was? Did they know that they had a soul, and thus needed to worry about things like afterlife and righteousness, and sin, while their parents did not? Did their parents have free will? If the first sin brought death into the world, and thus there was no death in the world before that moment, and evolution happened over millions of years, would not every being that had been created before that moment still be alive up until the first sin?
If Adam was not a real person, then why was he included in Jesus' genealogy? Why was it recorded that he lived 930 years, and that he was the father of Cain and Able and Seth? Why would the genealogy of our savior include fictional characters? If that part of the genealogy is not accurate, does that not bring into question the whole ancestral line?
On the other hand, I understand that the evidence to support evolution and the big bang are convincing. Stars are moving away from each other - the universe is expanding. There are mutations in nature, and new species do spring up. There are fossils that seem to show changes over time.
After watching the debate, my mind hadn't changed on one thing: I don't think this question is something we can truly answer. We can look at the science and make observations, but those observations are based purely on the physical universe. Like I said earlier, the one unquestionable truth in all of this for me is that God created the universe. He had his hand on whatever process caused all of this to come into being. I find it completely illogical to believe that, if there was a big bang, that it happened by itself, for ultimately, there needs to be a source. There cannot be nothing, and then an explosion, for there was nothing there to explode. It makes no logical or rational sense. So, we're dealing with a physical universe, in which we can only observe its physical attributes, and yet it was created, in part, by the actions of a limitless, incalculable supernatural being. If you accept that God created everything, then you cannot be limited only by what can be physically explained. If there was a big bang, the He started the fire. If evolution was the path used to get us here, then He guided that path. There may be things in nature that we cannot explain, because it was not created or affected by something natural. I see God's handprints everywhere in nature, but I certainly don't believe that we can see all of God's handprints. Science is a wonderful thing that should be embraced, but it can't and never will explain everything, because not everything is physically explainable.
I certainly cannot say that I unquestionably believe it was done in a certain way, but I have a harder time believing in evolution. That's more of a personal bias though. I don't like the idea of evolution. That being said, at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter, because the foundation of my faith is not affected by which method God used to create the universe. I can accept the fact that I do not know, and that some of my assumptions may be misguided or completely wrong, and that would be okay. The only thing I can say I believe without question is that God is the great creator, and that it was His hand that created this amazing universe and this diverse planet. I'll wait for Heaven to be sure of the details.
- Erik C.
In preparation for this entry, I watched the entirety of the debate between Ken Hamm of the Creation Museum and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Now, I am not, nor will I ever be, a scientist. When I was of grade school age, I did have thoughts of becoming an archaeologist or an astronomer. However, as you may notice, I am neither of those things, so I'm not going to delve too incredibly deep into the science of it all. Anyway, the debate itself was interesting, though it did not quite capture the two opposing sides that I am considering. It pitted Ken Hamm, a Christian and young-Earth creationist, against Bill Nye, an atheist who believes the Earth is billions of years old. I am coming to this issue with one unquestionable truth: there is a God, and His hand was at work in the creation of this universe and this planet. The question is whether he simply spoke things into being, or if he used processes such as the big bang and evolution to allow for the universe, the planet, and the human race to arrive at their current existence.
On one hand, I truly want to believe the literal Genesis creation story. If I take the story as literal truth, it makes a lot of sense to me. There are certain Biblical things that I would have issues reconciling if evolution is true. For instance, as Christians, we accept that Jesus was a real person, flesh and blood. The Bible lays out his genealogy, following His ancestral trail back through King David, back to Jacob and Abraham, back to Methuselah, and back to Seth, and back to Adam. According to the Bible, Adam was the first man created. Now, if you're an evolutionist, and you accept Jesus, and accept the people before Him in the ancestral line, what about Adam? Was he a real person?
If he was a real person, then he would have simply been the next generation. He would have had parents and grandparents, and yet God chose Adam's generation as the first important enough to mention. Would he really have done anything important? Or was his name just chosen by the writer of Genesis as the scapegoat for bringing sin into the world?
If evolution is the way God created humans over millions of years, was there one generation that did not have a soul, but their offspring did? One generation not made in God's image, while the next generation was? Did they know that they had a soul, and thus needed to worry about things like afterlife and righteousness, and sin, while their parents did not? Did their parents have free will? If the first sin brought death into the world, and thus there was no death in the world before that moment, and evolution happened over millions of years, would not every being that had been created before that moment still be alive up until the first sin?
If Adam was not a real person, then why was he included in Jesus' genealogy? Why was it recorded that he lived 930 years, and that he was the father of Cain and Able and Seth? Why would the genealogy of our savior include fictional characters? If that part of the genealogy is not accurate, does that not bring into question the whole ancestral line?
On the other hand, I understand that the evidence to support evolution and the big bang are convincing. Stars are moving away from each other - the universe is expanding. There are mutations in nature, and new species do spring up. There are fossils that seem to show changes over time.
After watching the debate, my mind hadn't changed on one thing: I don't think this question is something we can truly answer. We can look at the science and make observations, but those observations are based purely on the physical universe. Like I said earlier, the one unquestionable truth in all of this for me is that God created the universe. He had his hand on whatever process caused all of this to come into being. I find it completely illogical to believe that, if there was a big bang, that it happened by itself, for ultimately, there needs to be a source. There cannot be nothing, and then an explosion, for there was nothing there to explode. It makes no logical or rational sense. So, we're dealing with a physical universe, in which we can only observe its physical attributes, and yet it was created, in part, by the actions of a limitless, incalculable supernatural being. If you accept that God created everything, then you cannot be limited only by what can be physically explained. If there was a big bang, the He started the fire. If evolution was the path used to get us here, then He guided that path. There may be things in nature that we cannot explain, because it was not created or affected by something natural. I see God's handprints everywhere in nature, but I certainly don't believe that we can see all of God's handprints. Science is a wonderful thing that should be embraced, but it can't and never will explain everything, because not everything is physically explainable.
I certainly cannot say that I unquestionably believe it was done in a certain way, but I have a harder time believing in evolution. That's more of a personal bias though. I don't like the idea of evolution. That being said, at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter, because the foundation of my faith is not affected by which method God used to create the universe. I can accept the fact that I do not know, and that some of my assumptions may be misguided or completely wrong, and that would be okay. The only thing I can say I believe without question is that God is the great creator, and that it was His hand that created this amazing universe and this diverse planet. I'll wait for Heaven to be sure of the details.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Ask Cooper Anything
As part of my desire to keep an active blogging life (and to counter the fact that I often have trouble coming up with topics), I've decided to see if there is anything my wide reader base (sarcasm) has any thoughts on what I should write about. So here is your opportunity to send me questions concerning any topic you have on your mind. I am posting this on both my personal blog, Chromiden's Chronicles, and my more serious-natured blog about life, Don't Feed the Hypocrite. The type of question it is will determine which blog the response gets posted to.
So ask me anything - about the goings on in my life, my opinions on certain issues, general advice, my views on certain aspects of the Christian life. Or whatever. I'll answer pretty much anything, openly and honestly. Feel free to post these questions as blog comments, Facebook comments, or send me a Facebook message or an email [ cooper [dot] joel [at] gmail [dot] com ].
It's quite possible that I won't get a response from this, and that's more than alright, I just thought I'd give it a try. :)
So ask me anything - about the goings on in my life, my opinions on certain issues, general advice, my views on certain aspects of the Christian life. Or whatever. I'll answer pretty much anything, openly and honestly. Feel free to post these questions as blog comments, Facebook comments, or send me a Facebook message or an email [ cooper [dot] joel [at] gmail [dot] com ].
It's quite possible that I won't get a response from this, and that's more than alright, I just thought I'd give it a try. :)
Friday, April 25, 2014
The Salvation Equation
We all want to get to Heaven, don't we? Those who would say "no" to that question are probably those who don't believe in such a place. For those who do, getting to Heaven - attaining one's salvation - is of great importance, and yet, there are many who do not know or understand how to get there. There are many who believe that good people go to Heaven, just because they're good people. Is that the case? Well, here we get to consider how to get to Heaven by being good, by using math.
When we're born, we start off with Y = 0 points by default. We then realize this truth: by the time you die, you need to have accumulated X points to get into Heaven. At the beginning, we don't know what X is, but we assume it is a large number, so we need to start earning points.
1 point for making our mom and dad smile.
2 points for giving the kid next to us in class a pencil when he forgot his.
3 points for picking up the girl's book when she dropped it in the hallway.
5 points for helping the old lady across the street.
10 points for raking an elderly person's lawn - without being paid.
we reach 18 years of age, and we've done these and other such things for all those years, earning some great amount of points. Perhaps 65000 of them. Is that enough? If we die today, is that enough to earn our way into Heaven? Is Y >= X?
No, no it's not.
So, as we enter adulthood, we find bigger and better ways to earn points. They're rolling in by the hundreds. We're giving money to charities and lending our tools out to friends. We're being nice to everyone we meet, making them laugh. We're helping to feed the poor and clothe the naked. We're earning so many points, it must surely be enough. By the time we hit 40, we've accumulated a million points. Surely that is enough, right? Is our salvation secure? Is Y >= X now?
No, not yet.
Then we read this:
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin."
- Romans 3: 20 [NIV]
And this:
"Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
- Ephesians 2:9 (NLT)
We can't earn our way to Heaven.
In math terms, X = ∞. Yeah, X = infinity.
We keep adding up our points, and yet, Y will never reach X by gaining such numbers. Even after a life time of good works.
What? I have a million points, and yet I get nothing? How do I earn my way to Heaven? How do I earn salvation?
The truth hits us hard: we can't. It isn't possible.
Then we read this:
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
- Romans 10: 9 [NLT]
"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God."
- Ephesians 2: 8 [NLT]
It isn't us. We don't earn our way to Heaven. There's more to it than that.
We also read this:
"Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness."
- Psalm 145: 3 [NLT]
"'I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,' says the Lord God. 'I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.'"
- Revelation 1: 8 [NLT]
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."
- 1 Chronicles 16: 34
Unmeasurable. Eternal. Infinite.
God.
We then learn the one truth that matters more than anything: Jesus is God. Thus, Jesus is infinite. J = Jesus. J = infinity.
Thus: Y + J = X.
It's the only way you get Y to equal X: by adding J to it. It doesn't matter what else we've done. We can do all sorts of wonderful things to add to Y, but it won't get us to X. It won't get us to Heaven. Also, it means that if we accept Jesus as our savior, Y becomes X - infinity - and you can't reduce infinity by the sins you commit. No sin will keep us from Heaven. No sin has a value of infinity. Thus, if we have truly accepted Christ, and our Y has truly become infinity, it will never become less than that.
I know this is somewhat of a silly way to think about this, but I wanted to put an interesting twist on the topic of salvation. Salvation is through grace and grace alone; we can't earn our way in. Jesus is the only answer.
When we're born, we start off with Y = 0 points by default. We then realize this truth: by the time you die, you need to have accumulated X points to get into Heaven. At the beginning, we don't know what X is, but we assume it is a large number, so we need to start earning points.
1 point for making our mom and dad smile.
2 points for giving the kid next to us in class a pencil when he forgot his.
3 points for picking up the girl's book when she dropped it in the hallway.
5 points for helping the old lady across the street.
10 points for raking an elderly person's lawn - without being paid.
we reach 18 years of age, and we've done these and other such things for all those years, earning some great amount of points. Perhaps 65000 of them. Is that enough? If we die today, is that enough to earn our way into Heaven? Is Y >= X?
No, no it's not.
So, as we enter adulthood, we find bigger and better ways to earn points. They're rolling in by the hundreds. We're giving money to charities and lending our tools out to friends. We're being nice to everyone we meet, making them laugh. We're helping to feed the poor and clothe the naked. We're earning so many points, it must surely be enough. By the time we hit 40, we've accumulated a million points. Surely that is enough, right? Is our salvation secure? Is Y >= X now?
No, not yet.
Then we read this:
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin."
- Romans 3: 20 [NIV]
And this:
"Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."
- Ephesians 2:9 (NLT)
We can't earn our way to Heaven.
In math terms, X = ∞. Yeah, X = infinity.
We keep adding up our points, and yet, Y will never reach X by gaining such numbers. Even after a life time of good works.
What? I have a million points, and yet I get nothing? How do I earn my way to Heaven? How do I earn salvation?
The truth hits us hard: we can't. It isn't possible.
Then we read this:
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
- Romans 10: 9 [NLT]
"God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God."
- Ephesians 2: 8 [NLT]
It isn't us. We don't earn our way to Heaven. There's more to it than that.
We also read this:
"Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness."
- Psalm 145: 3 [NLT]
"'I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,' says the Lord God. 'I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.'"
- Revelation 1: 8 [NLT]
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."
- 1 Chronicles 16: 34
Unmeasurable. Eternal. Infinite.
God.
We then learn the one truth that matters more than anything: Jesus is God. Thus, Jesus is infinite. J = Jesus. J = infinity.
Thus: Y + J = X.
It's the only way you get Y to equal X: by adding J to it. It doesn't matter what else we've done. We can do all sorts of wonderful things to add to Y, but it won't get us to X. It won't get us to Heaven. Also, it means that if we accept Jesus as our savior, Y becomes X - infinity - and you can't reduce infinity by the sins you commit. No sin will keep us from Heaven. No sin has a value of infinity. Thus, if we have truly accepted Christ, and our Y has truly become infinity, it will never become less than that.
I know this is somewhat of a silly way to think about this, but I wanted to put an interesting twist on the topic of salvation. Salvation is through grace and grace alone; we can't earn our way in. Jesus is the only answer.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
The Opposite Sects
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- John 3: 16
All the Christ followers of the world believe this, holding it to be the foundation of their faith. John 3: 16 is the most recognizable verse in the Bible, and it simplifies everything we believe into one simple thought: Jesus died for our sins, and because of that love, we will live with Him forever.
This ought to be enough to unify all believers, right?
We Christians can be a petty bunch. Since the creation of the church, it has been split into countless denominations, often based on differences that are comparitively trivial. We have fragmented our faith due to things that are insignificiant compared to the one thing that should hold us all together: the blood and the salvation of Jesus Christ. The fragment is so great that some people refer to the different denominations as different religions, as though Baptist and Lutheran are so incompatible that they are now different systems of belief.
While we may not be able to quick stitch all the denominations back together, what we can do is not allow petty differences to further fracture our lives and relationships. There have been instances where families and churches have been torn apart because of differences in doctrine. These differences are often relatively minor, but we give them more power than they deserve. We create denominations within our own families, and relationships are often burned because of what side someone stands on. If we all follow Jesus as our savior, what else could possibly have the power to tear us apart? It should not matter what the issue is or on what side you stand, for Jesus is the great unifier, and causing a rift based on anything else means you're giving that issue more power than you're giving the blood of Jesus.
We must try and view things the way Jesus views things. He looks down upon His followers from Heaven, and what does He see? He sees a kaleidoscope of people. Yes, there are different colors and genders, but there are also different opinions and doctrines. Is His salvation only available to those who belong to a particular church, or are on a particular side of some trivial issue? No, He loves all of us equally, because we are all the children of God. Did the thief hanging on the cross beside Him have all the same doctrinal opinions that the disciples of Jesus did? Surely not, and yet that thief is now in the kingdom of Heaven.
We are meant to be the body of Christ - one body, not several. We are meant to be strong, but how strong can we be if we are so easily fractured? We must learn to let go of the things that do not comprise the foundation of our faith. We must come and stand together as the body of Christ, standing unified on one foundation. We must be one in the name of Jesus.
- John 3: 16
All the Christ followers of the world believe this, holding it to be the foundation of their faith. John 3: 16 is the most recognizable verse in the Bible, and it simplifies everything we believe into one simple thought: Jesus died for our sins, and because of that love, we will live with Him forever.
This ought to be enough to unify all believers, right?
We Christians can be a petty bunch. Since the creation of the church, it has been split into countless denominations, often based on differences that are comparitively trivial. We have fragmented our faith due to things that are insignificiant compared to the one thing that should hold us all together: the blood and the salvation of Jesus Christ. The fragment is so great that some people refer to the different denominations as different religions, as though Baptist and Lutheran are so incompatible that they are now different systems of belief.
While we may not be able to quick stitch all the denominations back together, what we can do is not allow petty differences to further fracture our lives and relationships. There have been instances where families and churches have been torn apart because of differences in doctrine. These differences are often relatively minor, but we give them more power than they deserve. We create denominations within our own families, and relationships are often burned because of what side someone stands on. If we all follow Jesus as our savior, what else could possibly have the power to tear us apart? It should not matter what the issue is or on what side you stand, for Jesus is the great unifier, and causing a rift based on anything else means you're giving that issue more power than you're giving the blood of Jesus.
We must try and view things the way Jesus views things. He looks down upon His followers from Heaven, and what does He see? He sees a kaleidoscope of people. Yes, there are different colors and genders, but there are also different opinions and doctrines. Is His salvation only available to those who belong to a particular church, or are on a particular side of some trivial issue? No, He loves all of us equally, because we are all the children of God. Did the thief hanging on the cross beside Him have all the same doctrinal opinions that the disciples of Jesus did? Surely not, and yet that thief is now in the kingdom of Heaven.
We are meant to be the body of Christ - one body, not several. We are meant to be strong, but how strong can we be if we are so easily fractured? We must learn to let go of the things that do not comprise the foundation of our faith. We must come and stand together as the body of Christ, standing unified on one foundation. We must be one in the name of Jesus.
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