Skewed Stewardship

 

The banner photo is that of a Grizzly bear simply known as bear "399" taken from the internet. She is often referred to as the "matriarch" or the "queen" of Yellowstone National Park and the greater Yellowstone region, because she was an old sow who had birthed a great many cubs over a span of 28+ years, outliving and outbirthing every other known bear in the region.  

A few years back, as I was using up some vacation time, I decided to do a couple of days of camping in Yellowstone in late October.  As I was leaving the park's east entrance, I came around a bend to find a literal horde of vehicles parked on the shoulder of the mountainous road in an otherwise nearly empty park (which is the case that time of year, shortly before all the roads close for the winter).  There on the shoulder of the road was a Grizzly with a cub, that I later learned was the Grizzly known as "Raspberry."  Now it was certainly a cool thing to see (from the safety of my own truck), but what shocked me were the numbers of people with cameras and tripods, all standing within 5 feet of this wild animal, who was contentedly grazing on the shoulder with her cub.   Park rules (appropriately so) say to maintain a healthy distance of at least 25 feet or more from any and all wild animals including elk, bison, and especially Grizzly bears.  They are still wild, are still fast, and can still inflict serious damage on a person, including death, quickly and before you even suspect something is happening.  My bear encounters in the back country have usually been peaceful, but with showing extreme deference and respect for them, and NEVER coming between a mother and her cubs.  While my encounter with "Raspberry" was peaceful as I drove slowly by the crowd without stopping, such encounters often look like these photos taken from the internet of encounters with Grizzly 399:

Ok, enough about encounters and rule violations.  There are far more serious matters at stake here.  So why a post about Grizzlies?  Because on the evening of October 22, Grizzly 399 (the queen of Yellowstone) was struck and killed in the Snake River Canyon south of Yellowstone Park.  Now certainly it is a tragedy that in our misguided stewardship of the planet, we encroach into the territory of wild animals and routinely there are car versus animal collisions, often resulting in the death of the animal and sometimes the driver as well.  Being an amateur photographer myself (stressing the word "amateur"), I follow a lot of photography pages on social media.  One such page is called "Yellowstone Through the Lens" on Facebook.  As you can imagine, there are many photographs of wildlife there.  It is even safe to say that the wildlife photos dominate the page.  While not my preferred cup of tea (I am more into landscape photography), I appreciate all of the great photos, despite that I know they at least sometimes come from such mad scenes as above.

So when news of the death of Grizzly 399 came out, you can imagine that photos taken over the years began to emerge, with hundreds and thousands of people grief stricken over the loss.  What was truly sickening were the numerous comments (we are talking in the hundreds and thousands here) wishing harm and legal action against the driver of the vehicle, who escaped injury in the collision.  Having been involved in wildlife conservation efforts in the past, I can say with certainty also that many of these same people, who are in despair over the death of this Grizzly, think nothing at all of their stewardship of their own kind.  They are distraught and in despair over the death of a wild animal, and yet not only think nothing of the death or harm to another human, but actually celebrate the wholesale slaughter of human beings.  Yes, I'm referring to the thousands of unborn lives that are sacrificed daily here in America on the altar of convenience, thinly justified and veiled under the guise of "reproductive health care" and "the right to choose."  Many of the very people who are so distraught over the death of this Grizzly, think nothing of wanting harm to come to a fellow human being or the harm done daily in the wholesale slaughter of our own unborn.  Quite frankly, this is a travesty of galactic proportions.  Given that this is but one instance of such skewed stewardship, I have to daily remind myself that I'm not in charge:  God is.  I observe the galactic stupidity of the human race on a daily basis.  I'm often the target of such stupid and sinful behavior, and without reminding myself constantly who is truly in charge, I would be in complete despair.

I thought numerous times about posting a comment to this effect under the plethora of posts there now.  But as social media encounters usually go, it would end up with a huge backlash of people arguing the point, and quite frankly, I rarely post my opinions and points of view any longer, because inevitably, someone will get upset and will lash out.  At that point, it becomes the proverbial grade school "monkey pile" as people wait in line to dump on you, as apparently they are wanting to do to the anonymous driver of the vehicle that struck and killed Grizzly 399.

It seemed better instead to state my opinions on the matter in this forum, and I challenge any and all readers to truly think of what matters in this world.  While it is indeed tragic regarding the death of 399, it pales in comparison to the tragedy of what we are doing to ourselves.  

         When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 
         your eyes saw my unformed body. 
         All the days ordained for me 
         were written in your book 
         before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:15-16)

Apologetics 101: How to Challenge the Unbeliever Among Us

A warning!  This is a lengthy blog entry.  What follows is a sermon series given during Advent 2022.  The reason for this unusual Advent series will hopefully be clear from the outset.

------------------------------------------------

Some of the most ardent observers of Christmas are Atheists!  I’m serious!  I’ve observed in my years on earth and in the towns I’ve lived that those who go “all out” – have decorations up the longest (though usually coming down right after Christmas officially begins – you know my thoughts on that – Christmas STARTS on Dec 25, not ends), well, they don't even believe in Jesus.  Perhaps you know someone like this as well.

    Simply put, They celebrate the season without the reason.  That in itself could be an inroad to bringing them to Christ.  But it got me thinking:  What are their objections to the Christian faith?  Why is it that so many today either don’t or won’t believe in the triune God?  What are their arguments?  In pondering these things, I’m sure we can come up with many ideas here, but I turned to the internet to see what is said there as well.   So let’s look at some of the primary reasons why people refuse to believe.  They may indeed have faith in something, they may hope for things, they certainly know of love, and can experience joy.  But those things outside of Christ are hollow and empty.  So what follows then is a compilation from several lists I uncovered, and how the Christian ought to answer their claims. 

    What I’m referring to is the field of “Apologetics.”  The word itself can be a misnomer: it is not as in “apologizing” for the Christian faith, but rather as in a “vigorous defense of” the faith.  Every argument is easily refuted by both modern science as well as Scripture itself.  Often, like many early church heresies, nonbeliever claims often contain a kernel of the truth, but the claims themselves distort actual truth (both historical and Biblical) and so for the Christian, the best place to start is to know your Bible better and better with each passing year.  

    To be clear, I am not referring to denominational differences as the “distortions of truth.”  That could be another topic for another time.  In today’s age, we look beyond many differences in practice and interpretation amongst the denominations, insofar as the various denominations hold closely and cling to the Scriptures as THE Word of God.  So I’m not talking about the differences among us there.  Rather, I’m talking about those who either have a faith that rejects part or all of the Scriptures, thereby reducing the concept of “faith” to something either lukewarm or absent altogether.  

    I recently observed a debate between two people:  One of them claimed that the Bible was nothing but myth, and therefore the REAL message of Christmas was in love and joy.

    That’s a great sentiment, but worldly love and joy throughout history, when defined on it’s own terms, is anything but loving OR joyful.  Most often, it comes through force and control, rather than true, Godly love and joy.  God’s definition of such things is the ONLY thing that can create a real sense of hope in this world:  and though I’m sure that to say so here is preaching to the choir, it is one of the many facets of the Christian faith that ought to and needs to be said over and over again.

    It is important to know the arguments of the enemy.  And by enemy, I’m not referring to the unbelievers to which I’m addressing.  Rather, I’m referring to Satan, by whose trickery all of humanity has been led astray, including us.  Those who take a worldly approach to the Christian faith, or those who have no faith at all in God – they are the victims of Satan.  Their ideas come from His deception, and that is what we must know to be able to counter.  Throughout history, the challenges to the Christian faith are like a frog in a pot of water.  If you turn the heat on (the ideas of Satan that challenge faith and belief), it’s subtle enough that you don’t realize something is wrong until it is too late.  The historic Creeds of the church derive from just such early challenges that the church felt compelled to defend and respond to.  That, too, is a topic for another time.

    It is indeed important that we always remember that unbelievers are not our enemies.  Yes, Scripture does indeed use the phrase “enemies of the cross of Christ,” but for us, who are also both sinner and saint, we need to see that they are the victims of sin and evil, just as we also are.  Also, it’s important to remember that we can lead no one to Christ in of ourselves, and it is certainly true that even the best laid argument can and will fail to bring some to Christ, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, we pray that those we know will come to know who Jesus is, and more importantly, to confess his name and call upon him for true salvation.

    I will discuss this more toward the end, but it is important to note two things about the Chrstian faith that make it stand apart from EVERY other religion in the world.  One is that it is the ONLY religion where God becomes the actor in salvation.  God saves us because we cannot save ourselves.  Two is that the Bible (and by default – the Christian faith) is THE most influential thing in human history, because all good morality and all good societies and governments derive from it.  Societies and governments fail when they fail to observe the morality and virtue that the Bible leaves us with – much the way we are observing in our own society at this very moment. 

    If you seek the fundamentals that our four Advent candles represent:  Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace, there is but one true and real place they can be found, and that is in complete adherence to the Christian faith.  Any other way or method of trying to achieve them will be hollow and unfulfilling in the end.  And for us, we need to not only know the Bible and what it says, but know how to challenge the arguments presented by the unbeliever that sways a great many people away from the Christian faith today.  And always remember that Christians are not perfect.  Only forgiven.  And they are forgiven only in recognizing their sin before God, not in weak attempts at justifying it.

    With that, here are the 8 primary arguments used by the unbeliever against the Christian faith, and how to answer them.

Argument 1: There is No Evidence of God
Or: Who created God if God was there at the beginning?
Or: Faith is belief without evidence

    In other words, “there is no such thing as God.”  Only a fool would believe in some benign, distant deity that creates and then leaves no proof of his existence.  First, there are similar arguments made:  If God is the creator, who created God?  OR  You believe in a god with no evidence, and so therefore your faith is misplaced.  Let’s come to the Biblical aspect in a minute, but the argument often goes that there is no physical evidence of a physical god.  While that is true to an extent, God is not merely physical.  (Sure, We point to Jesus, who is God, and there is plenty of historical evidence to support Jesus being real).  But God transcends the limits of physical time and space, and so therefore to make such a claim is nonsensical at best.  God cannot be put into a box in terms of human definition.  But Most non Christian claims attempt to do just that.  Oddly enough, there are an increasing number of scientists (admittedly who are atheist or at least agnostic) who are now coming around to recognizing the physical evidence of God in the universe.  A recent book on the subject is titled “The Return of the God Hypothesis”

    What do Christians believe?  “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” (Colossians 1:15-16)

    Now to the Biblical claims.  First, as mentioned, Jesus is the “physical” face of God, if such a thing is demanded or needed.  Colossians 1 identifies two things:  Jesus is God and is physical (he is the creator of all things, and that is God’s job), and God is normally not seen: He is not bound by time and spatial dimensions as we know them.

More importantly:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)

Romans 1 is pretty explicit:  The “Physical” evidence for the existence for God is all around you, and yes, science can and does confirm this.  We talk of the “billions and billions” of stars and planets in our galaxy alone, and yet life as we know it is virtually impossible even in our own solar system.  We are nearly 92 million miles from the sun, and yet if the earth shifted a mere 80,000 miles closer or away from it, life as we know it would be impossible.  That’s 9 thousandths of 1 percent off!  The evidence and even the clues are all around us, from the complexity of the simplest cell, to the human ability for the very things our Advent wreath stands for:  experiencing Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace, among many other things.

    Then, of course, the argument is reduced to saying that those who believe in God do so with no evidence, after dismissing the abundant evidence that exists.  The logical arguments for God are vast and time tested against some of the greatest minds of all time working tirelessly against them. But what is discouraging when engaging with atheists in debate, particularly online, is the constant charge that the faith is illogical, irrational, or the stuff of ancient fairy tales believed only by the ignorant and the mentally ill. It’s one thing to willfully deny the evidence for God after giving it an honest hearing, its another thing to remain willfully ignorant of an opposing view while claiming the opposing view is ignorant.  That seems to be all too common in today’s circles, especially in politics:  to accuse the other side of something that you yourself are doing.  The physical evidence for God is all around us.

Argument 2: Being Good is All that Matters
Or: Christians are hypocrites
Or: People can be good without believing in God.

In other words, we can obtain an amorphous, generic “salvation” of sorts simply by being a good person.  Christians are guilty of sin (and others just love to point them out), and therefore are hypocrites.

    First of all, any Christian who would claim that being good is the way to salvation and heaven does not know either what they claim to believe in or what the Bible says.  If we kick out all the sinners from church, there is no one left.  Oddly enough, “being good is all that matters” is exactly the argument the entirety of the Bible argues against!  Being good on your own  is A:  impossible; and B:  Not what the Bible says is necessary for salvation! This is the fundamental message of the entire Bible, which is why it is so critical that we read and understand it. Christians, while understanding that Godliness and obedience are part of our call, should NEVER claim that this is the path to salvation.

    It is important to note some key Biblical passages on Being good, and this is but a small sampling of many passages in Scripture that express the proper relationship between faith and ‘works’ or ‘obedience’:

Abraham’s Promise from God:
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
“I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

The Council at Jerusalem:
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.
He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:5-11)

Abraham’s Promise Predates the Law:
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. (Galatians 3:17-18)

Relationship of Faith and Obedience:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

    Simply put, No Christian should argue that being good is all that matters. And human history demonstrates that such a thing for anyone is impossible. I have no doubt that some of the most obedient people in human history would be in the line of Popes in the Roman Catholic church. Yet even they were sinners who were in the hands of an angry, yet loving God, who saves them not because of their obedience (or lack thereof) but purely out of the faith we and they have in Jesus. Any atheist claims that “being good” is all that is needed, means they do not know human nature. Similarly, to claim Christians are therefore hypocrites because they sin, is to falsely believe themselves to be better than the Christian. What it really means is that they simply refuse to acknowledge their own sins and shortcomings.

    There are many arguments used by Atheists, agnostics, or those who simply do not want to acknowledge any sort of “higher power” in their lives. Most often, it has to do with a mistaken belief that we are in charge, and no one, especially some crusty old god, is going to get in the way of that. Simply put, to believe that we are in charge and can be ‘good’ is a denial of the reality of the world around us. It is so much easier in life once we acknowledge that we’ve never been in control, and therefore, thank God almighty (literally) that He does what He does to save us from ourselves! That of course is what the season of Advent is all about: this time of preparation where WE are to prepare our hearts, our minds, and our very beings, for the return of God to usher in His eternal kingdom.

Argument 3: God is a Fairy Tale
Or: Belief in God is like believing in Leprechauns
Or: Faith is believing in something without any evidence (crossover with #1)
Or: Science answers all questions about “God”

In other words, only a foolish simpleton would, as an adult, believe in some mythical creature like “god.” The only real “god” today is science, which surpasses a foolish believe in some “deity.”

    This is perhaps the most worn out argument made against the Christian faith. It’s a red herring. Apparently, one of the “mythical creatures” that belief in God is compared to is the “flying spaghetti monster,” an apparent creation of the atheists so they don’t have to list other things that might offend those among them (like Santa Claus, and so on). The simple truth is that God and a “leprechaun” have nothing in common, and in fact, are about as dissimilar as one can imagine. From a purely historical standpoint, all one has to do is to assess the thousands of years of belief in the triune God of Abraham, and the witness of the countless thousands upon thousands of martyrs who endure some of the most horrific trauma in defense of their faith, sometimes suffered at the hands of the church itself, to the witness of the Scriptures and the historical and geographic evidence that backs it up and supports it.

    We’ve spent a great deal of time over the past 4 years looking at some of that evidence in support of both the Genesis and Exodus accounts. Granted these are not “proofs,” but strong arguments in favor of God, based on abundant evidence. Compare that to the legends of leprechauns or the “flying spaghetti monster,” (whatever that is), that have no credible written accounts from history or humanity otherwise. Comparing belief in God to a belief in leprechauns is comparing apples to oranges. It simply cannot be done. To put it another way (certainly to answer another way of phrasing the question against Christianity), there is abundant historical evidence that supports the Bible, and therefore the Christian faith. To say that there is not, is an exercise in close-mindedness. Or as Scripture says:

    For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

and also:

Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37)

    In the mid 19th century, Science, and specifically geology, was a pursuit of the truth of the Bible. Over time, when doubt began to creep in to the minds of some, those “teachers” began to mass to lead folks away from the truth. Now some might say “well there is abundant evidence that science is right.” And my experience as a geologist has been the contrary: “there is also abundant evidence to say that science is wrong on a great many things, and furthermore, that same evidence supports that the Bible is right. And the problem is that in the itching ears of many, they only hear of the things that support their particular narrow world view, and ignore the rest. To say that science ‘disproves’ God is such a broad, generic and amorphous statement that is analogous to a self-fulfilling delusion. I would challenge anyone who makes such a claim to show me how science disproves God, because quite simply, it doesn’t.

Argument 4: Evil Proves God Doesn’t Exist
Or: If God is so good, why is there evil?
Or: The God of the Bible is evil because he allows suffering
Or: If there is a hell, why would a loving “God” send people there?

In other words, God can’t be all powerful and sovereign since evil exists. Truthfully, this is the place where the Christian faith really shines in making sense of the reality of both good and evil in the world. Recall some of the words of our first lesson today:

He [the LORD’s chosen Messiah] will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat... (Isaiah 11:3-6)

What is our passage from Isaiah 11 saying? It is expressing a future hope where evil will be conquered (even the “natural” evil of creation, i.e. The lion and lamb lying down together…). The problem of evil has been a vexing thorn in the side of philosophers for millennia. The concept of evil is used to attempt to disprove the existence of God, but has to use God’s existence as a presupposition to do so! In other words, most arguments are designed to disprove the existence of God because of the reality of evil and suffering, but end up using religious terms and concepts about God to do so! What’s the old phrase? You can’t have your cake and eat it too?

    To put it another way: To accuse God of being evil or that God doesn’t exist because of suffering means that the atheist has to use some objective standard to define evil and suffering in the first place. And what is that standard, exactly? Well, most often, it is the definition of good and evil to be found in the Christian faith. This is the problem inherent in the critique itself. If the ultimate standard of good and evil derives from God, but yet the person making that charge claims there is no god, then there also can be no ultimate standard of good and evil either.

Consider these words from C.S. Lewis:

“If things can improve, this means that there must be some absolute standard of good above and outside the cosmic process to which that process can approximate.
There is no sense in talking of ‘becoming better’ if better means simply ‘what we are becoming’—it is like congratulating yourself on reaching your destination and defining that destination as ‘the place you have reached.’” (C.S. Lewis – essay on “Evil and God”)

    That said, as mentioned, the problem of evil has challenged humanity since the beginning, in trying to understand it and explain it. One thing that we need to understand is that suffering, while often painful and unpleasant, can produce good from it. Consider these words from Hebrews:

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)

Or another:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

    In other words, suffering can and does lead to ultimate “good” – especially for those who understand suffering through Scripture. The suffering itself is not good. What can ultimately come from it will be. The problem, according to philosophy, is that we live in a “hedonistic” world. Hedonism is essentially the love of pleasure. So anything contrary to pleasure becomes offensive. Suffering would be offensive, and if God is loving, according to the hedonists, then suffering would not be possible.

    And yet the basic explanation of suffering actually only makes sense through the words of Scripture. We must first understand the nature of evil (Turn to the Augsburg Confession’s first 4 articles: God, Original Sin, the Son of God, Justification by Faith). Evil is a choice, but that choice has cast humanity into a bondage to it. (Remember our confession of sin: we are in bondage to sin, or are by nature sinful and unclean…). Even in the Garden, the consequence of their sin was toil, suffering, and pain. If we begin to understand evil in this way, we then also begin to see suffering in a different light:
    
“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:2-5)

    It is worth noting that nowhere do the Scriptures call suffering itself “good.” We always recognize that basic human suffering is a consequence of sin and the fall from grace. But the reality of suffering is that God can and does use it for ultimate good. And truthfully, the atheist argument against suffering and evil is all wrong. We should not be asking why God allows such things. If we are truly all good, as atheists love to claim is all that is needed, then the question really becomes, “Why do WE allow suffering and evil in the world?”

C.S. Lewis once said:

“God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – (C.S. Lewis, “the Problem of Pain”)

    The existence of evil and suffering only finally makes sense through the explanations offered through Scripture. Philosophers have tackled the problem of evil for centuries, to no avail. In fact, ultimately philosophical conclusions regarding suffering and evil often tend to trend toward the Scriptural viewpoint.

    It’s also worth remembering that Jesus ALSO suffered. A great deal. More than we ourselves could imagine or bear. And truthfully, if God gave us what we deserved, we could not bear it.

    We must remember also that God will, one day, deal with ALL evil. That, too, is “provable” through the abundant evidence of life-after-death glimpses and near death experiences, but that can be a topic to revisit another time.

    The evidence for God is overwhelming. Even aside from historical evidence: the testimony of witnesses and martyrs, the confirmation of Scriptural events, and the like, there is also the personal evidence: Answered prayer, glimpses of heaven through those who experience death and are resuscitated. To ignore the weight of evidence is to stop up one’s ears like a child, and yell at the top of their lungs so as not to hear the claims of those like us, who point to the truths that the world wants to ignore.

    Most people today recognize that there is a real problem in the world. Many don’t seem willing to identify what those problems really are, but may we all pray that in the world’s pain today, that God is indeed getting it’s attention to rouse a deaf world. May we, in the meantime, stand firm in faith, prepared to challenge those who would argue against us, as we prepare to remember once again that Jesus is the real reason for the season.

Argument 5: Jesus is Just a Copy of the Pagan gods
OR: Christianity arose from the pagans, who didn’t have science
OR: Christians are only Christians because of their culture. If we lived in India, we’d be Hindu

To put it another way: All religions make the same basic claims, and Christianity, being one of the “later” religions just copies all of them, including all of the early pagan religions.
(Isn’t it also interesting how a “lack of science” always comes into the claims…)

    These claims, lumped together, really say the same thing, even though the response would be a two part response. First, to make the claim that the Christian faith is “just like all the pagan religions” or just like “all other religions in general” shows a gross misunderstanding of both the Christian faith and religion in general, especially paganism. Let’s take early pagan faith from history to start.

    In essence, pagan religions (early on known as “fertility” religions because of their heavy emphasis on sex – humans having sex make the ‘gods’ happy, causing their favor to fall upon humanity) are extremely narcissistic. They focus on hedonism: the pleasing of the self, rather than on any sort of bigger human picture. The early pagan fertility religions especially were so focused on sex that it’s hard not to see them as little more than self gratification, under the guise of being a “religion.” Truthfully, today’s liberal Christianity is little more than an early “fertility” religion based on the same characteristics.

    All other religions today: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, to name some of the bigger ones, all sound more appealing than the early forms of paganism, but still have one universal thing in common with paganism: YOU are responsible for your own salvation. The Christian faith stands apart from ALL other religions in two ways: One is that we have a God who is actively involved in human history and cares for His creation, and Two is that it is the only religion where God acts to provide salvation for his creation, because we – his creation – cannot save ourselves. This would also answer the statement not made here that “all religions lead to God.”

    The second part to this would be the charge that culture influences us: if we were born in India, we would be Hindu, for example. Truthfully, that is a very insulting claim, because it completely dismisses human reasoning. It insinuates that people are blind sheep and have no power of reasoning or thought (which is the very thing atheists love to argue against!) Actually, in today’s culture, that seems somewhat true as we often see in modern times, masses who blindly follow leaders and ideas without any consideration. The Books “The Nazi Doctors” and “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” demonstrate just such a “mob mentality:” how a nation blindly followed a madman’s ideas and led to the worst genocide in history. But with respect to Christianity, this argument falls flat. Throughout the world and history, missionaries have demonstrated that culture, while certainly having some influence on belief, doesn’t always. Masses in other countries often turn to Christianity to escape the often destructive beliefs of their culture.

    One last thing to mention is that people often love to claim that the upcoming day of Christmas was influenced by paganism: December 25 is a counter to the pagan “winter’s solstice” of December 21, the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol, and so on. You can find a lot of popular arguments out there on such things, even some Christians who are adamant that we cannot have Christmas trees because they are pagan, and such arguments are often straw men in nature. Because the pagans used to use green branches dedicated to the sun god Ra, therefore the Christmas tree is pagan. Logically they do not work. They are all logical fallacies. It is like if I say that I don’t like cupcakes, you infer from that that I’m saying desserts are evil. We could take a lot more time on this, but any time someone makes these claims, press them on the specifics to show their logical fallacies. The Christmas tree, often attributed to Martin Luther, also caught on in America due to a Missouri Lutheran pastor who first set a tree up in the church, where the practice quickly caught on as a symbol of Christmas and the birth of Christ itself, not as some sort of tribute to any pagan origins.

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. (Acts 15:10-11)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

    The biggest challenge to the atheist argument is that in Christianity, we do not and cannot save ourselves. Just but two examples of what faith in God truly means. When we confess both our sins and our faith each week, we are expressing the unwavering belief that God saves us because we cannot. That sets us apart from ALL OTHER BELIEFS: religious, pagan, or even atheist.

Keep these verses in mind on our next challenge because we will utilize them again.

Argument 6: Even Christians Don’t Agree
Or: The Stories of Jesus and God changed like the game of telephone
Or: The Bible is full of errors
Or: The Gospels are full of myths

    In other words, since there are as many varieties of Christians who disagree on a great many things, therefore Both the Bible and they are holding to fantasies and myths.

    My experience is that often those who charge that the Bible is full of errors have themselves never even read it. Just this week I challenged someone on their abject dismissal of the Bible as fairy tale, and the first response I got from them was “well I don’t read the Bible, I don’t need to.” When pressed on the matter, I their story changed to where they made the claim: “I’ve studied the Bible and all other religions.” Based on her responses, I’m sure it was the first statement that was accurate. She simply was arguing based on what other liberal Christians or atheists had told her to say.

    Sometimes, denominationalism has indeed been Christianity’s downfall, only insofar as we have let it divide us horribly. Yes, Lutherans and Catholics continue to have disagreements on doctrine 500 years later, as we do with some of the churches we have fellowship with in town. But to take these claims to an extreme is doing so from a point of ignorance.

    If you remember the 1980’s documentary, “the Incomparable Book,” which we used here about 7 years ago, it chronicled how the Bible has really not changed at all over thousands of years. Yes, there are differences between say, the Codex Sinaiticus (the earliest known manuscript of the NT from the first century) and later versions from the middle ages, but the differences are largely grammatical in nature, and do nothing to change the story, purpose or meaning. To put it another way: they are insignificant. So it is most definitely NOT true that the stories of Jesus have changed over time – those who wrote down and copied the Bible for us through the millennia, took great pains to ensure that it was copied precisely, preserving the same accounts for us today that were written down sometimes 2500 years ago or more.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13)

    OK, now on to “the Bible being full of errors.” It is clear that there are no errors in transmission of the Bible over the centuries, but a similar claim would be that the Bible contradicts itself. The phrase here “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” is often pointed out even by some Christians that the Bible contradicts itself, especially with those earlier verses which claim we are saved by the Grace of God alone. Here is a classic case of “proof texting:” using one passage out of context or without considering the whole passage. Notice the very next line: “It is God who works in you…” which clearly supports, not contradicts, that we are saved by God’s grace alone. Rather, what this would then say to us is that we should always be mindful of the very thing we do week after week: Confess both our sins and our faith, and thereby confess that we are indeed powerless to save ourselves. Hopefully we work out our salvation with a little fear and trembling, or humility, we might call it, as we stand in awe of what God has done.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

    Not only are the errors merely problems of perception, as demonstrated here, but it is even clear to say that the perceived errors in Scripture are with us, not with it, as we’ve often said before. Scripture’s own testimony are that the word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), God Breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), and that which returns to God, accomplishing it’s intended purpose (Isaiah 55:10-11). Sadly, like the woman’s argument that opened this challenge to the faith, her mind was closed to any evidence that contradicted her set beliefs. This will be encountered often, but it doesn’t mean we must not try to counter worldly claims of disbelief.

    Perhaps the best argument we can make, though we are not done yet with our Advent series just yet, is to express the hope, love, and joy that our Advent season itself expresses through our words and our deeds. This is the impossible task because while we are saved for obedience, we are saved by God precisely because we can’t save ourselves THROUGH our obedience, so we too are in constant need of God’s grace, for we too sin and fall short of the glory of God. It is in the beauty of that, should an unbeliever come to realize and understand this, that they may finally be brought to Christ.

Argument 7: The Gospel Doesn’t Make Sense.
Or: The whole “God is mad at the world/God wants to punish it/God sends His Son to die for it” scenario is just plain weird. God is the weirdo, not me.
Or: Christianity is just used as a crutch to justify human behavior,
Or: It’s narrow minded to think that “Jesus” is the only way to God.

At least in these, there is an acknowledgement of God, in a roundabout sort of way. Atheist arguements often presuppose God’s existence to then attempt to “disprove God’s existence.

    Karl Marx referred to religion (and specifically Christianity) as the “Opiate of the masses.” He opines that humanity uses it to justify human behavior and therefore to feel better about itself. I would argue that this only applies to liberal Christianity, which does indeed justify it’s own sins rather than following the Biblical mandate to justify the sinner through Christ alone. But to somehow think that those who are not religious don’t rely on crutches is a complete denial of human behavior throughout history. If people didn’t rely on religion, they rely on something. Sadly, it is often a deadly reliance in what substitutes for religion: sex, drugs, work, alcohol, tobacco, money, and so on. Everyone relies on something. The question is “what do you rely on and place your trust in?”

    Truthfully, the belief that there is no God becomes a crutch for those addicted to a lifestyle contrary to God's standards of morality. Rather than being weak, Christians are strong—not because they depend on themselves, but because they depend on Jesus. Everyone needs something to rely on or lean on. The question is, what will you lean on? Christianity provides what atheism or other religions never can: spiritual fulfillment, peace, and forgiveness. As we’ve mentioned, it is the ONLY religion that places salvation squarely on God, because humanity is incapable of saving itself, which the sum total of human history amply demonstrates.

Let’s examine the variations of this, which do bleed over into some of the previous arguments we’ve looked at:

"Christianity (especially today) is a crutch: it is twisted and warped to justify most any human behavior."

    This is very much the case today, amongst liberal Christians, who will twist the words of Scripture, or “prooftext” them, using them out of context or without examining the whole of the Biblical argument on human nature, to justify what is otherwise called “Sin.” A classic example of using passages out of context would be “It is by grace you have been saved,” (Ephesians 2:8a) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8 and elsewhere). In Ephesians, the entire passage in context spells out that no, we are not saved by obedience, we are saved for it. Yes, God is love, but the reverse is not true: Love is not God. Love also has many different connotations and definitions in Scripture, and to say God is love does not include any sort of erotic, physical nature to it. But yet you even heard about 10 years ago the campaign phrase “Love is love.” Um, nope. Once again showing how things are used out of context and without the whole context presented, all to justify human behavior. Let’s move on to a favorite of non Christians: “All roads lead to God” (an odd statement considering atheists don’t believe in God, but also picked up by liberal Christians today):

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men…” (1 Timothy 2:5-6a)

“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ‘for, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Romans 10:12-13a)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

    Not only do these verses clearly articulate that there is no such thing as “universal salvation” (aka all roads lead to God), but they also clearly spell out the sin and grace relationship unique to the Christian faith: We are all sinners, we all deserve the punishment for sin (death), but it is through Christ (the Grace of God) that we obtain eternal life and forgiveness, along with deliverance from the devil.

    This ties in with the bizarre claim that God’s actions in the Bible are just plain weird: One must first understand basic human nature and history, and then God’s divine plan makes perfect sense. It is a natural flow and progression: first, one must come to at least acknowledge the existence of God. Right following this must be a recognition of sin. We call it “original sin.” Only then can we understand the nature of God’s Son, and the justification that comes through believing in his name. God the Father sacrificed His own Son in order to destroy death with His life; not to appease His wrath, but to heal His creation; not to protect humanity from His fury, but to unite humanity to His love. It’s a fundamental recognition that sin leads to death – death of all kinds but ultimately spiritual and permanent death.

    This is the place to start with any defense of the faith. Few, if any, can truly argue that humanity is just fine. As Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “the world is a fine place and worth fighting for.” Christians believe the latter half of that. The world is most definitely NOT a fine place, and our own recent history just in the past decade gives us proof after proof of this.

Argument 8: Religion is Toxic.
Or: What about Christian atrocities in history?

    As we opened with, yes, Christians are sinners too. Yes, there have been Christian atrocities. But there have been far more “good” things to come from it than from the atrocities, most of which came as a response to atrocities committed against the Christians, which doesn’t justify them by any means.

    Somehow, the argument used by atheists always seems to center on the mistaken notion that religion, and Christianity in general, only motivates bad ideas and actions, and is therefore toxic to culture. In a way, it is very much like Karl Marx’s view of it – that it is a drug that is used by society that only numbs and puts to sleep its followers, and little else.

    This argument always seems to come back to the “atrocities” committed by Christians in history: The Inquisitions, the Crusades, and the Witch trials. Sure there are others that atheists love to point to as well, but in either instance, it is painting the Christian faith with such broad generalizations that it completely ignores all the good that has happened throughout human history, as well as ignoring what the Christian faith is all about.

    Throughout human history, societies have become very skilled at taking good ideas and using them to justify bad behavior. To justify Christian atrocities is to do the same. It shows the sinful nature of humanity, and precisely WHY the Gospel is so sorely needed.

    But to focus only on such bad behavior not only ignores what the Christian faith is supposed to be about, but also ignores all of the good that has come out of it throughout the centuries. It’s a smoke screen: ignoring the formation of countless hospitals, schools, colleges, orphanages [Roman children and bridges], relief agencies, charity agencies, and the list could go on and on. No other religion in history can compare. THIS is what the true Christian faith stands for. It is most definitely NOT toxic, and has done more good in human history than all other religions combined. Let’s first look at human nature again:

A standard: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:8-10)

“There is no one righteous, not even one… …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10b, 23)

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19)

    Ernest Hemingway was indeed wrong. The world is not a fine place, because the Bible is right about humanity: No one is righteous, the heart is deceitful and produces wickedness, but even earlier in Romans it talks of those who do right apart from God do so purely by accident, and the goodness conflicts with the wickedness (Romans 2:14-16). It is the Christian virtue and morality that has shaped and influenced our world for the better since the time of Jesus, and when it is followed, the world is indeed a better place. When we wander from it, the world crumbles and wallows in its own sin.

    We could take the time to examine how this is happening today: right before our very eyes – in our own society! But rather, we could simply look at these 8 primary arguments made by the deniers, liberal Christians, and atheists among us, learn how to answer them from human history, experience, and Scripture, and then stand apart from worldly values and standards. This is a reminder of our (the Christian) calling:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

God has always called His people to stand apart from the worldly values, and not to be polluted by them. That is perhaps the hardest Christian task both in history and even today. Our culture is inundated with the things that would draw us away from Christ Jesus, and would draw us into sin. Our lives are to be wholly committed to Christ, and therefore our struggle: both this Advent season and throughout life, is to stand apart from the world, but to bring Christ to shine the light of truth into the darkness around us. Our society may not want to hear it right now, but let us never waver in that task, that one day, should the world continue, it will once again return to Christ by the witness of the church, which the church has provided countless times throughout modern history.

The Implosion of the One Holy catholic and Apostolic Church

 

Recently, at a clergy gathering, we had a serious discussion among colleagues of the sad state of the Christian church on earth.  While there are obviously exceptions to this being a universal condition, it is also equally true that in western societies, where affluence rules the day, apathy toward the triune God has sadly set in.  Churches and denominations minimize the Word of God, the basic Biblical doctrines that shouldn't even be up for debate, and serve created things and self interests, rather than the creator who is forever to be praised. (Romans 1:25).

 I really don't like resorting to social media "memes" for illustrative purposes, but something that predates even modern social media often made it's rounds via email 25 years ago.  This is a compilation of a couple of different sources on these located on the internet (along with that email from long ago).  It expresses precisely why God's church on earth is imploding right now, as it has done repeatedly throughout human history.  I pray that as before, God resurrects it once again and raises up a new generation of faithful leaders, that we all may see the wisdom of God in His Holy Word, and offer our praise and service to the triune God alone.  How many of these are we guilty of?

Funny Isn’t It?

Funny how we call God our Father and Jesus our Friend, but find it hard to introduce them to our friends.

Funny how much difficulty some have learning the gospel well enough to tell others, but how simple it is to understand and explain the latest gossip about someone else.

Funny how a $10 bill  looks so big when you take it to church, but so small when you take it to the mall.

Funny how big an hour serving God looks and how small 60 minutes are when spent watching television, playing sports, sleeping or taking a lunch break.

Funny how long a couple of hours spent at Church is but how short they are when watching a good movie.

Funny how we get thrilled when a football match goes into overtime, but we complain when a sermon is longer than the regular time.

Funny how laborious it is to read a chapter in the Bible and how easy it is to read 200-300 pages of a best selling novel.

Funny how we believe what a newspaper or the internet says, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how people scramble to get a front seat at a concert, but scramble to get a back seat at the church service.

Funny how we cannot fit a gospel meeting into our monthly schedule but we can schedule other events at a moment's notice.

Funny how we look forward to that big date on Friday or Saturday night, but complain about getting up for church on Sunday morning.

Funny how we are rarely late to work, but always late to church.

Funny how small our sins seem, but how big their sins are.

Funny how people are so consumed with what others think about them rather than what God thinks about them.

Funny how we demand justice for others, but expect mercy from God.

Funny how we can't think of anything to say when we pray, but don't have any difficulty thinking of things to talk about to a friend.

Funny how we are so quick to take directions from a total stranger when we are lost, but are hesitant to take God's direction to be found.

Funny how so many churchgoers sing "Standing on The Promises" but all they do is sit on the premises.

Funny how people want God to answer their prayers but refuse to listen to His Counsel.

Funny how we sing about heaven, but live only for today.

Funny how people think they are going to Heaven but don't think there is a hell.

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven, provided they don't have to believe, or to think, or to say, or to do anything.

Funny how people think that they can get more accomplished in a lifetime without God than in an hour with Him.

Funny how it is okay to blame God for evil and suffering in the world, but it is not necessary to thank Him for what is good and pleasant.

Funny how when something goes wrong, we cry, "Lord, why me?" but when something goes right, we think, "Hey, it must be me!"

Funny how we all need to read these.

Or wait... these aren't so "funny" after all.

Liberty

So I was on my way to Lincoln the other day, and as usual, I sync my phone to the truck audio system and listen to various music stored there.  I have a very eclectic taste in music - always have.  So I'm rolling down the interstate at 75 MPH past the Grand Island exit, and what randomly shuffles in and plays?  A track entitled "Liberty Fanfare" by composer John Williams.  It was originally written and conducted by Williams as a commemoration of the Statue of Liberty on it's centennial in 1986.  It's a rather stirring and moving piece, that you can listen to here.  As I thought of the back story of this piece of music, it sent my mind on pondering the Statue, it's implication and purpose, and how the very concept of "Liberty" in America has somehow gone drastically wrong in my lifetime.

The concept of liberty today has turned into something not intended by either it's own definition or by the founders who made it an integral part of our country.  At one time, you were free to do anything that would aid the common good, not hinder it.  Today it has changed into meaning "I can do as I please," no matter whose liberties my exercise of it infringes upon.  Part of the problem though is that we cannot agree on what the common good is.  Case in point:  liberal Democrat policies have caused a massive spike in murder and violent crime around the country, but largely in Democratically controlled cities.  and of course, in today's woke/cancel culture/"fact check" era, the internet is replete with perported "fact checks" claiming one cannot link a specific party with the lawnessness that goes on in major US cities.  Well, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...  

 A bit of historical revisionism I uncovered:  According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the Statue was originally a Muslim woman, because she was based on the "Colossus of Rhodes" and some of the ancient Egyptian statues of 3000 years ago. Um, the Colossus was actually a Greek construct, and regardless of Greek or Egyptian influence and origins, neither nation was Muslim during the time that all of their massive statuary were constructed.  The Colossus, as well as the ancient statuary of Egypt, all date well before the time of Christ, which is centuries BEFORE Islam even existed!  In fact, the Colossus was permanently DESTROYED by a Muslim army in 653 AD!  It would seem that history, like science of late, is being twisted to fit a political narrative, rather than informing us so that we do not repeat it.

Ok, back to the topic of "liberty."  Liberty and freedom are not interchangeable terms.  Liberty is defined thus:  "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."  Freedom is defined "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint."  And while they may seem to be interchangeable, when it comes to the concept of liberty in America, our founders put it best:  "Liberty is the power to do everything that does not interfere with the rights of others: thus, the exercise of the natural rights of every individual has no limits save those that assure to other members of society the enjoyment of the same rights.”  (Thomas Paine, 1792).  In other words, my freedom ends where yours begins, and vice versa.  

Putting an "origins" spin to it, as religion and the Bible heavily influenced the very founding of America, look what the apostle Paul says "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14).   The whole of the Bible, it could be said, hinges on freedom that is valid only as long as it contributes to  and does not hinder the good of society and others.  In fact, the entire book is replete with example after example of people "doing as they please" and not exercising freedom to protect others.  

It appears to me that any hope of restoring our society in any meaningful way hinges first on recapturing the founders' vision for "liberty" and being free.  As long as it persists in being a "free to do as I please" mentality, our nation will continue to crumble.  If we can somehow recapture what it means to be free and yet not use freedom to indulge sinful nature or cause the detriment of others, then perhaps there will be hope for our country after all.   But for some reason, I continue to have images of Charlton Heston seeing the remains of the Statue of Liberty lying shattered on a beach, and fearing that this is also the fate of this nation, should we not reverse course soon.

Following the Science?

 

Covid19 has obviously been on everyone's mind the past two years, and in part due to an obsessed mainstream media and overbearing authorities.  We’ve had numerous people test positive for Covid19 in the past two years locally but never once are we told what strain they had, and in some instances they have absolutely no symptoms.  Now a little bit of background for me: I got extremely sick in late December of 2019 (Christmas day was the onset, in fact).  I wasn’t bad Christmas day, and even went into the assisted living facility that day to wish all of them a merry Christmas.  The next day, I tested positive for influenza B.  A couple of days of medication, and I was getting better, until I suddenly spiked a fever and had it off and on for 5 days, had difficulty breathing, was horribly congested in my lungs, and lost my sense of taste and smell (which was odd considering that only happened in the past when my sinuses and nasal passage were completely plugged, which in this instance they were not.).  Now this is before Covid was officially Covid, mind you, so I never officially had it then, despite that in the fall of 2019, a good third of our town had this same “unknown respiratory illness” that left us all with a weeks-long horrible cough afterward.  It is worth pointing out also that blood tests from at least December of 2019 confirm it was here in the US, with some speculating that it was even here in August of 2019.  To my knowledge, no one died of it during that time.  

Fast forward now a year and two-thirds, through repeated misdirection and conflicting information  from those in charge (China, the WHO, the CDC, “phony” Fauci, and the like), through ventilators, deaths, mutated variants, where it appeared that the common cold and the flu completely disappeared during that time.  In mid October of last year, I had a couple of days of “feverish” feeling (with no actual fever), and a mild cough.  Only because my wife tested positive for Covid19 after running a fever, was I tested, and yes, it was positive.  Apparently I had it for 8 days and didn’t even suspect it.  One of my rheumatologists claims I was unaware because I take regular hydroxychloroquine for my rheumatoid arthritis (you know, that drug that all the talking heads claim is dangerous to take and shouldn't be used for Covid treatment?), while the other rheumatologist claims it has no effect on Covid 19!  In the meantime, I attended volleyball games, group functions, and the like, and in all instances, those I was closest to never came down with Covid19.

Now here we are at the beginning of 2022, and the mainstream media is in a full panic about the Omicron variant (pronounced OH-mi-cron, NOT AH-mi-cron), despite that to date, apparently not one person has died of it.  And once again, the common cold seems absent, despite the deep freeze we are currently in.

Now I’m not questioning whether or not I had it back in October: while I didn’t lose my sense of taste or smell, I did notice after the fact, that they both “changed,” to where things didn’t taste right, so I assume I had it then as well.  But it made me think: Where is the common cold, which is also a coronavirus?  What about the other common coronaviruses?  There are 4, according to the CDC, that cause the common cold.  There’s even a “fact sheet” that tells us how to help prevent the spread of them, which sounds an awful lot like the information regarding stopping the spread of Covid19 (minus the mask, of course).  There are also coronaviruses that causes SARS and MERS, which are more serious.  And then of course, we come to Covid19, or SARS-Cov-2.

Considering how common the common cold is, it made me wonder that since it is also often caused by these 4 different coronaviruses, how does a rapid test actually distinguish between Covid19 and other coronaviruses?  They are all distinguished by the spikes on their outer shell - the very thing that the mRNA vaccines are supposed to be “replicating” to help the body develop immunity to Covid19.  

So I dove in, trying to do some research to see how the rapid test distinguishes one from another.  In other words, considering all of the reports of both false positives and false negatives out there (admittedly not fact checked by me), and reports of them being only 50% reliable (also not fact checked by me), I wanted to see just how reliable they are, while not doubting that my positive last fall was indeed a positive.

So I searched on "DuckDuckGo:" “how does a Covid rapid test distinguish between covid19 and other coronaviruses?”  It seemed like a good wording to pull up any information out there from any official sites: WHO, CDC, various medical journals, and the like.  I was astonished at the results, or lack thereof.

Two pages of results yielded some articles (mostly CDC) on how Covid19 affects the body differently than other coronaviruses.  Some purportedly debunk claims that the PCR test can’t distinguish between Covid19 and the flu (even I understand those are two completely different viruses, so no big deal there, despite that is not what I asked the search engine to find).   Several sites gave me comparisons between the PCR test and the rapid test, which only skirted around the theoretical unreliability of the rapid test, listing many reasons why it may not detect the virus.  The ONLY article that answered the question I asked was from a now debunked fact check site used and paid for by (you guessed it) Facebook, to claim that “no, PCR tests don’t detect other coronaviruses.”  That’s interesting since I didn’t ask about the PCR test (which I understand to be different than the rapid test, according to the CDC’s own website), and since there is no supporting material to back up their “debunking” of the supposedly false Facebook post which makes the claim to the contrary.  But there are plenty of articles that pop up calling “Fullfact” a bogus fact check site paid for by both Soros and Facebook.  One website claimed to debunk my question, but with a CDC link that relates to antibody testing, not virus testing.  Following that link does indeed show it talking of past infections, not current ones.

The last link led me to refine my search somewhat.  So I searched for “how does a rapid test distinguish between Covid19 and the common cold?”  Basically, I got the same results, with the exception that most sites explained the difference between Covid19 symptoms and the common cold symptoms.  No new information was gleaned other than what I’ve already identified here in the links.  

So how do I verify that a rapid test does NOT in fact, detect other coronaviruses?  For that matter, given the PCR test attempts to ID the genetic material of the Covid19 virus, how does it distinguish between other Coronaviruses and Covid19?  Nothing pops up in my search for either of these questions, other than the false “fact check” claim from a dubious site.  It’s time to call the local clinic and see if someone there can tell me.

After speaking with a person whom I know and trust at the clinic (who I am not naming out of respect for their privacy and anonymity), while they could not specifically answer the question I had, I came away with some reassurance from their understanding of the matter - more than I had with the completely lacking information from my internet searches.  False positives are rare with the rapid test, but false negatives should not necessarily be trusted.  The longer PCR test is the more reliable one, and it was used in respiratory coronavirus testing long before Covid19, and always was reliable before Covid19.  So while this was not the specificity I was looking for, considering the source, I have confidence in trusting the answer.  But given that coronaviruses are still similar in structure (i.e. the spike protein on the outer shell) and yet cause wildly different symptoms as well as potential lethality, my question still remains unanswered.  The Delta variant was rampant when I tested positive in October, but yet was never told what "strain" I had, nor have I seen any information on what different tests are used to determine the variants as well, despite that we are simply to trust that it is now the Omicron variant running rampant through the country.

Like so many things we’ve seen in the past two years regarding Covid, it is just one more  thing that casts doubt on the reliability of science and what we are told by those in charge.  Sadly, science, which was supposed to be the search for absolute truth, has now been sold to the highest bidder or the most influential political party.  (See these past entries for some more insight into this)  Our society and the world has gone along with it all, and has now deified science, instead of placing their trust in the creator of all things first. 

Also like so many things, many of my (and our) questions remain unanswered, because we are fed a steady diet of proven falsehoods, partisan rantings, and dubious and unproven or supported scientific claims.  Like my former profession of Sedimentary Petrology (geology), I am finding that to trust in science implicitly is indeed to turn it into a false god, and always at the expense of the one true God - the triune God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  

None of this means that those of us skeptical of the past two years' worth of the pandemic don't take Covid seriously, and don't do things to help mitigate the spread of it.  What it does mean is that few things, if any, are as they appear or as we are told, and it's long past time to put our collective trust back in God first.  Let the Scriptures guide us in how we understand science.  Science should never guide us in how we understand the Scriptures.

The Bible's Story: Parts 9 and 10 (Exile and the Prophets)

Continuing a series on the Bible's summary:

 Part 9:  In 587 BC, the Babylonian armies once again marched across the now-destroyed “Northern Kingdom” of Israel, and what was left of the “Southern Kingdom” of Judah, completely looting and leveling everything in their path, including Solomon’s great Temple in Jerusalem.  A vast majority of the Hebrews they encountered where either put to the sword or carried off as slaves into exile in Babylon.  In other words, the Israelites were now enslaved and in exile in what is present-day Iraq.  

Why?  Why did God let this happen?  It could be said that history does indeed repeat itself, especially for those who fail to learn from it.  Recall the great enslavement of the people in Egypt and the great event of the Old Testament: The Exodus from Egypt, where God leads his people out of the chains of slavery into a new land, with the understanding that they were to honor and glorify God and God alone.  Sadly, honoring God rarely happened.

Conditions throughout the kingdoms were horrific.   Morality had crumbled and society was in chaos.  The people by-and-large were morally and spiritually bankrupt as they engaged in open prostitution even within the temple, and filled the temple with shrines to all manner of false gods.  Its leaders were fiscally irresponsible, enslaving their own people and letting greed run as the center of their existence.  Taxation was through the roof.   Leaders only looked out for themselves (this includes the majority of the kings), and were as morally and spiritually bankrupt as the people.  As the end of Judges testifies, people were doing as they saw fit, not as God had commanded them.  God’s Word meant very little in those times.  The laws that Israel had to honor God by honoring their neighbor had long disappeared.  Prosperity had completely ruined them, and as a result, they had forsaken God who had given them this prosperity in the first place.  As a political note: if you change a few names, dates, and place locations, are we describing our own country?

Therefore, because Israel had forsaken God, who had granted them the prosperity they once enjoyed, God now threatened through a small remnant of faithful followers (the prophets) that disaster would fall on them if they did not return to their Lord and God and forsake the many sinful, selfish ways that God deemed destructive to them and the common good.  Warnings were issued for dozens, even hundreds of years, that went unheeded.  

The books of 1 and 2 Chronicles essentially retell the story of the kings, but this time for a remnant of God’s people now in exile that would be restored.  If God had something to say before the exile, did God also have something to say even now to those who were in exile?  Was God still interested in them?  The answer is a resounding “yes.”  Israel needed to recall what had gotten them into this new slavery and this new mess in the first place: they themselves did. 

Continuity with the past was perhaps the best way they could prevent the same thing from happening once more.  And of course, during this whole period of time, the prophets - those elusive, sometimes reclusive, often reluctant but faithful messengers of God, were not only warning them of disaster, but also reminding them that God’s covenant with Abraham was not fulfilled yet.  While their “predictions” of disaster did indeed come to be fulfilled, would their words of comfort and encouragement regarding the restoration of Israel and a coming Savior from God also be fulfilled?   

Part 10:  The Kingdom has been destroyed.  Its’ buildings lie in ruins.  The Temple has been leveled.  Its’ people have been carried off into exile in Babylon, and it seems they are right back where they started - in slavery and bondage.  So what happened to God’s promise to Abraham?  Enter the prophets!

There are numerous books of prophesy in the Old Testament.  They are divided into “major” and “minor” prophets.  These correspond largely to the size of the books.  Therefore, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel are considered “major,” while the majority of the prophets (Hosea through Malachi) are considered “minor.”  Other prophets also existed that do not have their words recorded in the Bible, such as Elijah, who was a prophet of God in the early years of the kings.  Nearly half (17 of 39) books of the Old Testamant are books attributed to these elusive messengers of God.

What is a prophet?  It is someone, called by God, to deliver a message to God’s people.  A prophet’s primary mission for God is not to predict the future, but to deliver the message.  God’s prophets had a universal message that recurred over and over.  It is not unlike the message we saw throughout the history books telling us of the kings: the people had rebelled against and turned away from God, and needed to renew their commitment to the LORD.  Spiritually, the people were terminally sick.  Morally, the people were bankrupt.  Socially, however, things never appeared better, despite the lies, deception, corruption, and greed on a national level.

As God’s messenger, first and foremost, what is often associated with the prophet’s words is a statement such as “thus says the Lord...” (Jeremiah 2:2 and elsewhere).  Though the prophets spoke for God, their message was often ignored.  So how then, one might ask, does a person know if the prophet’s message is for real?  It can be measured on whether or not it conforms to the past history, and on whether or not its message comes true.  

In the case of the Biblical prophets, they really weren’t telling the people anything new that they had not heard before.  If we recall the covenant God made on Mount Sinai (the 10 Commandments), there were certain stipulations that went along with it.  The prophets were simply reminding the people and the leaders of those stipulations, and warning them that the disasters foretold for them disobeying the covenant would take place soon if they did not change their ways (Deut. 27:15-26).

However, the prophets, in addition to warning the people of impending disaster according to the conditions of the Sinai Covenant, also foretold of a “restoration” after disaster hit, that would also be brought about by God.  The “restoration” prophesies all center on a future “Messiah” or “Savior” that was yet to come.  Some of these prophetic words are even affirmed when we read the four Gospels, especially in the Gospel of St. Matthew.  For example, Isaiah 7:14, which says “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son...” is confirmed to be fulfilled in Jesus when we read Matthew 1:23.  So even though the disaster scenario of the Israelites disobeying their part of the covenant was going to happen, God wasn’t done yet, and had additional plans for not only Israel but also the whole world, Isaiah 11:10, 12 and elsewhere.  

Though Israel was God’s chosen, eventually all peoples are chosen by God to live in covenant with Him through the examples both good and bad given us by the Hebrew people.   The foretold Messiah is to be the fulfillment of this future hope.  Today, we know this Messiah as Jesus.

Author's note:  This was originally a series written for a bulletin insert, and is continuing to be adapted as a Confirmation curriculum Bible overview.  The whole series is available by contacting me.  Past blog
installments can be found here:

Part 1

Parts 2 and 3

Part 4

Parts 5 and 6

Parts 7 and 8

No Excuses

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20

Trail Log:  March 18, 1990

 It has been nearly two years since the odyssey on the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) began.  Much of it, especially those “not so good” times, has been forgotten or stored in the collective unconsciousness, anyway.  Over the past year I have reflected much on that journey, wishing how I were back there and how I wish I had done a lot of things differently.  Isn’t that the story of life??  Looking back on the past, remembering with fondness those things of yesteryear, yet wishing somehow there was a way to recapture those days and relive them, perhaps changing a few things along the way?  Much has happened in the 1 ½ years since the last day on the PCT.  I am finishing my thesis, I have worked as an emergency dispatcher - a job come and gone, that was a good experience.  And now, I live in Palo Alto California, working as a geologist specializing in earthquakes, and still looking for the perfect girl for me.  Some things never change, I guess!

And yet, all of that pales in comparison to this moment.  Here I sit at approximately 7850' in elevation, surrounded by snow on a glorious March morning in the looming presence of Half-Dome.  Stretched out in front of me are the peaks of the Ritter Range, and the head of Yosemite Valley.  The Ritter Range - alas!  I can think back just by looking out at Banner peak and seeing through the mountain to the other side - hiking past Thousand Island Lake, with Banner Peak towering over both the lake and I.  The ever present breeze here is the voice of God, calling me back to my roots.  The woodpeckers are out; their task of searching for food in the bark of the Jeffrey Pines never complete.

It is a glorious view, and my presence here feels natural - I belong here.  Recharged now, I can return to the city.  Yet I do not want to return.  Not return?  To a place where I am an important and integral part of human expansion?  Why would I not want to leave a place where I feel so insignificant in the shadow of such worthy grandeur?  Because I belong here.  Yet, I sigh with reluctance because I know that I must return, for now anyway.  This is a harsh and hostile land, despite that God blessed me with some beautiful winter weather this weekend.  Yet, the very nature of this place prevented me from reaching my destination - the almighty summit of Half Dome.  2/3 the way up quarter dome, I gave up because the snow was getting too deep and slushy.  I had lost the trail long ago - but kept at the task regardless.  I am humbled by that towering monolith, yet I do not regret that loss.  I still have an impressive climb behind me; one that has left me with a tremendous view of the Sierra high country.  My first winter experience is nearly over: My first real hike in a year and a half.  (I was prepared this time: lots of warm clothes, a warmer bag, and snow shoes).

Right now, there is a slight breeze, and the stillness coupled with the rustling of the pines and cedars gives me an aching longing to be back here for a great length of time.  My heart aches tremendously to be able to soak everything about this place up and keep them all: the crisp, clear march air, the towering snow-clad spires of granite, the breeze, the rustling of the pines, the birds chirping, the views, the very essence of this place - the Incomparable Valley.  I feel like through all of these things, I am staring in awe face to face with God.

And I see now why man was removed from Eden.  He can’t fit in.  His own sin got him expelled by God, in part because he is not God, and as such, can never in this life truly be completely immersed in the presence of God.  That is the definition of heaven, and this world, though grand in its beauty, is not heaven.    We can accomplish great things with the help and aid of God, but in the end, it can never ultimately be about us, because in the end, we destroy and demolish Eden, and it can destroy and demolish us.  The beauty of our natural world - God's creation - is about as close as we can ever get to Eden, and in itself pales to comparison with the paradise of Eden.  God's creation is both beautiful and terrifying.  One little slip anywhere could destroy life itself - we certainly cannot survive here without significant aid.

------------------------------

A later addendum to this trail log:  These observations seemed so poignant re-reading them, and like so many things in life, much of what was said here was forgotten, or ignored - either accidentally or intentionally (or a bit of both) - in the years between then and now.  A couple of constants to ponder as I reflect back here in the heartland of America:  I miss those days still, longing for more but knowing that my age and life circumstances mean they are over, and nostalgia aside, accept that willingly.  The second is that all of these experiences - THIS log from a weekend trip in March of 1990, another trip in April where I summited Half Dome for a second time AND had the entire dome to myself all night long, along with extending that hike to the summit of Cloud's Rest to the east, all led eventually to my life vocation of being a minister and ambassador of God's Holy Word.  Not just an ambassador, but one who recognizes the extreme importance and truth in all of it - fed in part by seeing the creative hand of God first hand on this trip, and many others.  The mountains may always be calling me.   But in that calling, it is only to feel insignificant in the presence of God's sheer creative power - to get but a glimpse of God - highly incomplete that it may be - in what He has made.  It is the essence of Romans 1:20.

Yes, the original post before the "addendum" is my actual trail log from that winter trek into the Yosemite backcountry.