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The Abortionist….and Me

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The abortionist and me………we live very different lives.

I get up, put a fire in the fireplace, get a cup of coffee and spend an hour or so in prayer, meditation, and writing these posts. Then I go to my shop and spend the day making things out of wood and selling them. I come home, have dinner, spend the evening with my wife and go to bed.

The abortionist, gets up, has his coffee, drives to the clinic, spends the day killing children, goes home, has dinner, spends the evening with his wife and goes to bed.

If I put us side by side and ask the question:

“Am I a more righteous man than him?”

There is no doubt in my mind…I am more righteous……at least from where I stand.

So far so good.

But…… there’s a problem.

The problem is a problem of scale. My scale runs from Hitler to Mother Teresa. On my scale I am way more righteous than the abortionist. And I feel great. But, in the final accounting, my scale isn’t the one that matters. It’s God’s scale that counts.

God’s scale of righteousness…….his spectrum of righteousness…. runs from Satan to God himself. And on that, much wider, spectrum of righteousness, the difference between me and the abortionist, while it is real…….is insignificant.

On the scale that counts, there is no meaningful difference in righteousness between me and the guy who kills ten or twenty children a day……every day…….for money.

From God’s perspective, the abortionist and I are in the same boat.

And that is humbling.

And that is why I desperately need forgiveness

That is why I desperately need mercy.

That is why I rely on God and on his love for me.

That is why I rely on his incredibly generous gift of salvation.

Incredibly costly and unearned by me.

Thank you Abba, for creating me, for loving me, and for forgiving me.

Amen

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

Paul, NIV

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah, NIV

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Paul, NIV

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God Saves

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Jesus was given his name by the angel who announced her pregnancy to Mary.

Jesus

It comes from the phrase “God Saves”. This name clearly fits, considering the ministry of Jesus. No doubt this name was chosen by God himself. It is the truth…….but, it must have infuriated the leaders of the Jewish synagogue. Jesus’s very name was blasphemous in their view.

Why?

The name “God saves” implies that the man bearing that name is God’s emissary for salvation. If you are Caiaphas, the high priest, that means that God has bypassed you and put an unemployed carpenter at the head of the church…… your church. It means that Jesus is closer to God than you are…….that you have been demoted. And Caiaphas reacted exactly the way you would expect him to.

His reaction was wrong……. because it was based on an assumption………Caiaphas assumed that Jesus was just an unemployed carpenter with a very ambitious name……nothing more. Caiaphas assumed that God was not actively at work in his world.

And that is the lesson for this week.

If you really want to make a fool out of yourself………begin your analysis of a situation……..on a bad assumption.

Assume that the world is flat.

Assume that human illness is caused by “bad humors in your blood”.

Assume that a chemist can transmogrify lead into gold.

Assume that current “scientific” knowledge is complete…….that the really smart guys out there have it all figured out.

Cosmologists tell us that the universe is much bigger than what we can see.

Philosophers tell us that reality is much more extensive than what we can know.

Theologists tell us that the truth covers lot more than what we can understand.

We all want to base our lives on the truth. Successful living requires this. But, the truth is a whole lot more extensive than our current understanding…….a fact that even the scientists will concede.

So…….we need to keep an open mind. You have, no doubt, analysed the world we live in……sought answers to the big questions:

How did we get here?

What are we here for……if anything?

Where are we going……..when we die……if anywhere?

My challenge for you is to have a good hard look at the assumptions that you began with. Be sure that they have not led you to discard any important truths. Be sure that you have not classified something as impossible……..just because it is impossible for you……..that it cannot be…….based on your assumptions.

Every day I meet very smart people. People who consider themselves to be open minded……….but who reject the possibility of any truth beyond what can be seen and measured.

Are you making the same assumption as Caiaphas……….that Jesus was just an unemployed carpenter……..that God is not actively involved in this world…….in your life?


Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes;  fear the Lord and shun evil.

Solomon, NIV

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Paul, NIV

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Paul, NIV

We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.

Paul, NIV

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Paul, NIV
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What if the Truth Bothers You?

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I am a firm believer in the truth.
The truth is real and the great truths are constant.
But not everything that is true is appealing.

There are things that are true……..that I don’t like…….that you don’t like. This post is about how we handle the things that are true……..but that bother us. I’m not talking about the little things. It may be true that traffic is congested today. It may be true that it will be moving tomorrow. I’m talking about the big ideas……truths that do not change………truths that guide and shape our lives.

How do we handle ideas that are true that we don’t like?
How do we handle truths that restrict our appetites?
How do we handle truths that tell us that we are wrong?
How do we handle truths that tell us that we are sinning?
For that matter…..what is sin?

The best definition of sin that I have run across is anything that we say, think, or do that separates us from God. We separate ourselves from God when we reject…….or ignore…..the great truths that God has set before us.

And that takes me back to my starting point. What do we do……when we run across a truth that we just don’t like?

I’m a shooter, guns are a hobby that I really enjoy.
But……..guns kill people and destroy things…….that is precisely what they are designed to do.

Women want control of their bodies.
But…….every abortion kills a child. Killing your child is precisely what your abortion is designed to do.

Conservatives want to control the influx of poor people from central America into our country.
But…….the Bible requires us to care for the downtrodden, the soujourner.

Liberals want the freedom to practice sex without restriction.
But……..the Bible prohibits sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

How do we handle these conflicts?

We have two choices:

Ignore /deny the truth and “party on”.

Accept the truth and reconsider our thoughts and actions.

It turns out that, in many ways, the world is a much more complicated place than we want to admit. It is often much easier, much more efficient, to ignore complicated conflicting truths than it is to deal with them. But, if we ignore these complicated, conflicting truths, we wind up living a shallow life. We become caricatures. We accept a shallow, oversimplified, two dimensional cartoonlike identity.

The good news is that we will find ourselves in good company. There are plenty of people who have sorted through these complicated issues…….cooked them down…….thrown out any conflicting truths, and packaged them.

The bad news is that they have shut out any idea that conflicts with “the package”:

The planet is getting warmer.

Every abortion kills somebody.

The bad news is that they demonize anyone who doesn’t sign on to “the package”. And that, in a nutshell, is the situation we find ourselves in with our political system……..and, unfortunately, in our lives.

It all comes down to one question.

What do I accept as my core identity?

Republican
Democrat
Environmentalist
Capitalist
Socialist
Gang member
Christian

Each of these pigeonholes has rules and restrictions. Each has truths that you must accept…….and other truths that you must reject……..or at least ignore. Just try being a pro-life Democrat. Just try being a gun-control Republican.

If you are honest with yourself, you must accept that this is a complicated mess.


I don’t like complicated messes and I don’t like suppressing truths……..even truths that bother me.
I have enough trouble keeping track of my car keys. I don’t have the wherewithall to keep a lid on all of the annoying truth that is out there.


So……….I give in……… I do what everybody else does. I pick a few central truths and focus on those.


The trick is to sort through all of the conflicting truths that are floating around out there……..and to prioritize them. Then, focus on the most important two or three truths in your list of thousands of truths.


For me:


Love God.
Love your neighbor.


You could do worse.


 “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Jesus, NIV
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
Paul, NIV
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Paul, NIV

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Redemption

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I have a few movies that I really love. I watch them over and over again.

Forrest Gump with Tom Hanks
Last Holliday with Queen Latifa
As Good as it Gets with Jack Nicholson
To name a few

Until recently I had never really given much thought to why I love these movies so much. Lately, I have come to realize that, at their heart, these movies are about redemption.

Redemption

It’s a word that we hear a lot…….but rarely analyse. So……what is redemption? At its core, redemption is when someone gives something and some other person benefits from the gift. In Christianity, it is the self sacrifice of Christ that allows believers to enter paradise. Redemption, in a broader sense, usually means that the person who receives it, is rescued from a bad situation……often a situation of their own making. Furthermore, the redeemed person, grows from the experience, becomes a better person.

We hear the word “saved” a lot…….so much so that it has become a catch phrase. And yet that is the best word that I can find to describe the act of being redeemed.

Saved…….but from what?


When you are redeemed, you are saved from yourself. You are saved from the self destructive behaviors that have become a part of your identity.


How does this work in my favorite movie…..Forrest Gump?


Forrest is not a powerful character. He is not strong. He’s not particularly brave. He is mildly mentally retarded. He can run. Sometimes he knows what he is running from. He rarely knows what he is running to. But……his great strength comes from his greatest weakness. Forrest is simple. He lives his life by following a simple code of behavior. He is intensely loyal to his friends. He loves his family. He tells the truth. He follows through on what he says he will do. He does all of this without ever asking “How will this get me ahead?” He adheres to his code and lets the chips fall where they may.


The result is that broken people who come into contact with him are healed from their brokenness. Lieutenant Dan and Jenny. They are saved…….from themselves. They grow into strong righteous loving people. Perhaps they grow into people who can in turn redeem others.


There is a line in “As Good as it Gets”. Jack Nicholson says to his costar, a kind and generous woman. “You make me want to be a better man”.


I think that redemption is something like that. One person lives a kind generous life, guided by a strong moral code…….in a word “Christlike”. That person interacts with those close to them in such a fashion that it changes them…….makes them want to be a better person. And so on and so on.


We tend to focus on redemption from the perspective of the person being redeemed. We tend to dwell on our own redemption. There is nothing wrong with this perspective……we should be grateful. But there is another perspective.


I’d like for us all to consider the possibility that we can also be the redeemer. This is very much the heart of Christianity.


How?


Live your life by following a strong moral code. You can start with:


Love God
Love your neighbor

Interact with your fellow man in such a way that they will see the joy and peace in your life and will want that joy and peace in their life……..so that they will want to be a better person.


If Forrest Gump can do it…….so can I.


“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.”
God, NIV

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Jesus, NIV


Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.
Paul, NIV
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