Good v. Evil

We tend to think of life as an ongoing conflict between good and evil. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are three, not two, entities involved: Good….evil……and free will.

Good and evil are clearly defined in the “owners manual”. They are also internal…….they are “written on our hearts”. In general terms, good increases love and evil decreases love. Furthermore, you and I have no say in the matter. Good and evil exist…….and they are completely independent of us……..they are completely independent of our appetites and desires. They are also universal. What is good for me…….is good for you……and for the stranger down the block.

So far so good.

The problem arises when we stir in the third variable…..free will. Free will means that we get to choose between good and evil……every minute of every day. We are not forced to be good. We are not forced to love. But we are expected to be good……to love…….by our creator. When we freely choose good…..love…..we honor our creator. When we freely choose evil we dishonor our creator.

It’s still pretty simple and straightforward.

So…….when was the last time you got out of bed, planned your day and said to yourself…….”Today…..I’m going to be evil”? Probably never. That’s just not the way we operate. In practice, we look at the world, we work through our list of appetites……the things we want to have and do…….then we pursue one or more of our appetites. We often, completely fail to ask, “is this good or evil?”. We often fail to ask, “does this increase or decrease love?”.

And it gets worse.

When we are backed into a corner…..when we are forced to pigeonhole something as good or evil…..when we really want something that is wrong, evil……..we have another trick. We simply redefine the act as good:

We redefine aborting our child as an exercise in reproductive rights.

We redefine gun ownership as an exercise of our 2nd amendment……even though we may someday use the gun to kill.

We redefine our sex to give our appetites precedence over our anatomy.

The snake tells Eve that eating the forbidden apple will make her wise…….that it will make her like God.

But here’s the thing.

In spite of our manipulations……..good and evil do not change. The expectations of our creator do not change.
We can define things, including ourselves, however we wish. This is the glory of free will. But, ultimately, we will be measured against God’s definition of good and evil. And that is the curse of free will.

And we will fall short…….every last one of us.

But there is hope. Because God’s final judgement will be based on one thing:

Did you recognize God…….did you honor God……..did you love God……..did you obey God?

God cares about love. Mankind cares about free will.

Free will reigns in our world.

Love reigns in God’s world.

Choose.

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:2-5, ESV

“Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

Jesus, Matthew 19:17, ESV

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God Has Expectations

About 20 years ago, I planted some apple trees. This was part of a long range contingency plan for the day when the local grocery closed…….for good. I cared for the trees and waited for my apples. After 5 years, I had one apple to show for my efforts. I gave up. Fast forward 15 years. Today I got out the chain saw and went down the hill to cut the apple trees down for firewood. One of them produced one sad little apple……..probably motivated by guilt or, perhaps, sheer terror. So, I made a deal…….with the apple tree. I will give you the care you need for 2 years. If you produce apples…..we’re OK. Otherwise, I’m going back to plan A and the chain saw. Very sensible, even Biblical.

But, then it occurred to me. How many times over the last 70 years has God looked at me and asked, “Where is the fruit I was expecting?” How many times has God considered tossing me into the woodpile and focusing his effort on someone who is more likely to produce fruit. Probably a lot more than I know.

Make no mistake.

God has expectations…….of me…….of you.

We fail to meet those expectations regularly……..perhaps daily.

But, unlike me and my apple trees, God is patient. He will continue to care for us right up to the day we die. Right up to the day when we show him the fruit that we have produced……… the fruit that he was expecting.

I hope I don’t disappoint him.

“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Luke 13:6-10, ESV. A parable of Jesus

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah, 6:8, ESV

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Jesus, John 15:12, ESV

“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Jesus, John 6:29, ESV

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What Must I Do…..to be a Christian?

I’m a Christian

There are a lot of us out there. Some of us read the Bible…….many, perhaps most, don’t. We go to church and Sunday school. But, many of us give little thought to the foundations of our faith. This week I want to dig into the bare bones basics of Christianity. What does it mean to be a Christian…….what must you do to be a serious Christian? Some of you may find this a little uncomfortable. I know quite a few people who consider themselves to be Christian who have missed some of the crucial “pillars” of our faith. If I make you uncomfortable, please understand, I am not damning you…….that is way above my pay grade. Rather, I hope to encourage you to look a little deeper into your faith.

I want to explore two central “pillars” of Christianity:

The first and most important thing:

You must recognize and accept the divinity of Jesus as part of the trinity…….father, son, and spirit. We like to think of Jesus as a “nice guy”. We don’t typically think of him as the guy in charge of the destruction of this world as described in revelation. We are told to love God……..and that includes Jesus. But we are also told repeatedly……..to fear him.

Jesus is God and he has all of the characteristics of God:

Jesus has the unlimited capacity to create and destroy…….to reward and to punish.

Jesus is right……all of the time……in everything that he does and in everything that he allows to happen…….whether you or I approve or not.

Jesus is the definition of good…….even when you don’t understand what he us up to.

Jesus is the definition of right…….not you……not me.

Jesus loves you…..even when you mess up. But, he will hold you accountable.

Jesus is the guy who refused to condemn the promiscuous woman by the well…….but he is also the guy who smashed the money changers in the temple.

The second thing follows from the first:

You and I need to obey him and follow his teachings……because he is God……not you…..not me. This requires us to study his teachings……..all of them….we don’t get to pick and choose.

If you are a Christian…….you simply must study the Bible……..otherwise, you are a “poser”.

I know a lot a Christians who latch on to the warm and fuzzy teachings of Jesus, but who ignore or outright reject the harder teachings. They believe in paradise……but ignore or deny hell. They hear, “I have prepared a place for you”…….but don’t hear “I don’t know you”. I know a person who is a leader in her church…….a really good person who serves her community………but who has serious reservations about Jesus.

A good place to start to learn how to act like a Christian is to read the “words in red”. By studying both the warm and fuzzy side of Jesus and the harder side of Jesus, you will develop a more reverent perspective.

In paradise, I have no doubt that I will get a big hug from Jesus………I also have no doubt that I will bow down before him.

Because Jesus……..is a nice guy……….who is also God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5……Jesus as creator

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Revelation 1:17-18……..Jesus at the end of this world

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus, Mathew 7:21-23, ESV

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Hell……Does not Exist

This week’s post reverts to my childhood. I would be out in the yard…….probably digging a hole…….which seems to have gone for high entertainment on a hot summer Kentucky afternoon in 1962. I would make a statement and my buddy Sam would snap back…….”oh yeah!!…….prove it.” It is amazing how often this one line put an end to the argument. Because, the fact is that we say and believe lots of things………that we really cannot prove:

The universe is infinite.

Life began with lightning striking a puddle of dead molecules.

The universe began in an instant…..with a “big bang”.

All living things evolved from a single, primitive, one celled organism.

It is impossible to exceed the speed of light.

Given enough time, typwriters, and paper(a number approaching infinity)………a room full of monkeys can randomly type an encyclopedia.

It is intellectually honest to use an unreal idea……like infinity or numbers near it…….to analyze a real phenomenon like the human genome………or an encyclopedia.

The fact that we cannot see or measure something is adequate proof that it doesn’t exist.

Back to my opening proposition. Probably about half of mankind does not believe that Hell exists. I am talking about the place described in the Bible…….. a place of burning eternal pain. Many deny hell outright. Most just ignore it and go about life as though there were no consequences to our actions. We whistle as we walk past the cemetery. This is the practical application……….the functional equivalent of denying hell.

At this point, I need to clarify just what the Bible says will send you to hell. But; first, here is a list of things that will not send you to hell:

Not paying your bills.
Lying.
Cheating on your spouse.
Homosexuality.
Stealing.
Working on Sunday
Murder
Having an abortion

These things are wrong…….but in themselves they will not damn you. These things can be fixed…….if you act in time.

Here is what will send you to hell:

Denying that Jesus Christ is God.

This bears repeating:

Denying the divinity and the authority of Jesus will send you to hell.

So……..you say…….”the Bible and all of that religions rot is just a myth……….hell is no more real than Zeus and his flaming chariot. Jesus was just a nice guy.”

OK

Prove it.

And there is the rub……..because assessing the divinity of Jesus and the reality of an eternal burning hell is the single most important decision that you will make in your life. Fact is….it is the only important decision that you will make in your brief life.

Hell is either real…….or it is not. Jesus is either divine……or he was just another lunatic. And, like it or not…….you must choose. BTW…….it’s a package deal. If you accept the divinity of Jesus……you accept the reality of a burning hell……because Jesus believed in a burning hell. So……if you accept the divinity of Jesus and the reality of an eternal burning hell……no problem…….you’re covered. But, deny those two ideas and you are at grave risk of eternal suffering.

So, to pursue this line of logic…….. if you deny hell……..you need a bulletproof, logical, intellectually sound reason for your denial.

You need a reason that is so compelling……..that you would bet your life on it.

Because that is precisely what you are doing.

That reason…….that bulletproof explanation……. does not exist.

The poor man(Lazarus) died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’

Jesus describing hell, Luke 16: 22-24, ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Luke, Acts 4:12

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul, Romans 10:9-10, ESV

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