I want to spend a little more time this week on the transition from the temporal world to the spiritual world. If you are new, you might want to read my last few posts.

I’m a Christian. I believe in Jesus and have accepted his gift of forgiveness……a gift that I didn’t earn and that I don’t deserve. I am going to paradise when I die. That may not be what I deserve. It may not be fair……or just…….but that is how God’s grace and mercy work.

So……picture this:

I’m in paradise, driving down the road, on my way to worship, in my car……….a ’67 Camaro SS (sky blue with white rally stripes, 4 speed, and a loud exhaust). Hey, this is paradise after all. Some teenage kid blows through a stoplight at 80 mph. I slam on the brakes and barely miss a collision. As he zooms off on his merry way. I mutter under my breath, “G.. D… F…… A……” Then I head on off to church.

That doesn’t sound right does it? Forget the kid. My behavior in this situation is not at all what heaven will be like. And yet, in the last year…….in this temporal world…….I’m sure that I have done something similar…….if not worse. And I have done it over and over.

Road rage in paradise.

There is only one logical conclusion to this conundrum.

In my current condition……..I do not belong in paradise.

I do not belong in paradise………and yet, that is where I am headed. These two ideas are incompatible. This situation calls for a fix, because I don’t believe for a minute that road rage will be a part of the landscape in paradise. I don’t believe for one minute that paradise will be modified to suit my temper……or lack of control over it.

No…….the fix is that I will be changed…….transformed into the kind of man that Jesus is looking for. You too will be “fixed”. This will probably be one of our first experiences in paradise.

The fix will be different for each of us. For some, it will be a minor tuneup……….for others it will be earthshaking. It will be permanent. The process may very well be uncomfortable……if not painful. But…….the result will be satisfying and it will feel good……..because we will return to the condition that we were created for……..because we will finally be the men and women that we were meant to be. I can’t tell you what this will feel like, because I can’t even imagine it. We have fallen so far away from our original purpose…….our true identity…….that we can’t even see it from here.

But, I know this……..it will be right. It will be so right that it is worth making changes for……worth making sacrifices for….today…..in order to experience it. This could require some hard work….on my part. So…….I might as well get started now.

To do that, I need to start asking myself some questions:

“Is what I am doing, saying, or thinking………right now…….something that will fit in……..something that will be appropriate……..in paradise?”

And

“Is there a better choice for me today, here, in this broken world……..a choice that will be more compatible with my future home?

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul, ESV

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

John, describing paradise, ESV

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Jesus, ESV

In a recent post, I compared our temporal world with God’s spiritual world. These two worlds are clearly different. Today I want to develop that a bit more. Specifically, I want to explore the interface…..the transition…..between the temporal and the spiritual worlds.

We all believe in death. Most of us believe in an afterlife. As a Christian, I believe in the paradise described in the Bible. The dominant religions…….Islam, Judaism, and Christianity………agree in general that paradise is real. In that vein, my Bible reading from yesterday is causing me some trouble. I ran across a line that jumped out at me. Jesus is talking about getting rid of things that might be problematic after we die. He gives several examples of removing a body part that is incompatible with paradise.

This is repeated three times…….so it is very important.

The lesson is this: paradise is so important that it is worth making a big temporal sacrifice to reach an eternal spiritual paradise.

“if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

Jesus, ESV

This is clearly a metaphor. Jesus is not looking for a bunch of one-eyed Christians.

The passage that I’m struggling with follows these three metaphors. It jumps out at me because it just doesn’t seem to fit.

“Everyone will be salted with fire “

Jesus, ESV

It is important………because Jesus said it.

The first point is that whatever this transition at death process is……it will be universal……..nobody gets a pass……whether you are a believer…….or not.

Salt is good. It adds flavor, it preserves, it is essential for life. It is repeatedly used in the Bible as a metaphor for correct Christian living. We are taught to be the salt of the earth. To extend the metaphor, paradise………and everyone in it…….. will be “salty”. This is different from this temporal world and that implies a change…….a transition.

Fire?………not so much. Fire is destructive. It is painful……sometimes lethal. In specific applications it is useful. One of those is purification. We use it to cook our food and destroy germs. We use it to refine metals. In this verse, “fire” is the tool……the vehicle…….of transition………of purification.

When will this salting occur? It could be during our earthly lives. I can say that many events in my life have felt like being “salted with fire”. But, most people think that this will occur at or after our death.

“Everyone will be salted with fire”………..purified with fire.

What troubles me is the specifics of the process of purification by fire. Is this real fire that we must pass through to reach paradise……..sort of “hell light”……..AKA purgatory? Or is this purely metaphorical……..we walk into the light, meet Jesus and, in the blink of an eye, all of the bad that is in us………every last one of us…….is gone.

Or is it something in between?

I don’t know. Even the major religions can’t agree.

The lesson that I can take from this is that I will be a very different man……in paradise……..from the man I am now. There are many things that are a part of my life……every day…….that will have no place in paradise. And that transition…..that purification……..will be uncomfortable…….possibly even painful……..whether the “fire” is literal or metaphorical.

What to do?

It’s pretty basic. If I can begin the transition…….the purification…….now, at age 69, the adjustment at my death will be less of a shock.

I will, of course, fail. I doubt that I will come close to cleaning out every corner of my life. But every cobweb that I can knock down now will mean less “fire” later.

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false

John, ESV

For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

Peter, ESV

Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

Paul, ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

God, ESV

In one of the more surprising passages in the Bible, Jesus is talking to Peter……..his lead apostle……the man upon whom he intends to found his church. Peter and Paul, after Jesus himself, will soon become the most important pillars in the foundation of the Christian faith.

Jesus calls Peter “Satan”.

This is shocking behavior for Jesus. With the exception of running the merchants out of the temple, I can think of no other episode where Jesus was angry and aggressive. No doubt Peter was shocked and probably deeply hurt. The essence of this statement is that Jesus is calling Peter……..an enemy. That Jesus would act this way to someone whom he clearly thought a lot of………someone he loved………indicates that this episode contains some very important teaching, not just for Peter……but for us. In fact, it is one of the most important lessons of the entire Bible. Jesus hits Peter with it……..right between the eyes.

And here it is:

There are two worlds……a temporal world which is ours to do with as we please……..and a spiritual world over which we have absolutely no control. One world in which we are at the top of the pyramid………one world in which we are at the bottom. Things of man……and things of God. These worlds are drastically different. They operate on different assumptions. They operate on different rules. They operate on radically different hierarchies. And we must choose…….just as Jesus demanded that Peter choose. We cannot operate by the rules of the temporal world and expect to fit into the spiritual world. Many of us try to force our temporal rules onto the spiritual world……..but this is futile…….not to mention dishonest……because we have no authority in the spiritual world. We can apply the rules of the spiritual world to improve the temporal world…….but the rules of the temporal world are not valid in the spiritual world.

The ministry and teaching of Jesus can be divided into two areas……..he explains the spiritual world and how it works…….he teaches us how to live in our temporal world by using the spiritual world as a guide.

Why is this teaching so important?

Because the spiritual world is more real…….more important than the temporal world. The spiritual world is eternal and is perfected…….as opposed to our temporal world which is constrained by time and is clearly imperfect. Jesus is so emphatic with Peter, because he wants Peter’s priorities to be correct. He wants Peter…..and you and me as well…….to align our actions, our thoughts, and our appetites with the permanent, perfected, eternal, spiritual world. If we strive toward that we will soon reach that spiritual world, and, as a side effect, we can improve our broken, temporary, temporal world.

But what if we fail? Relax……because we already have failed and will continue to fail. But, our failures are limited to the temporal world. At the cross, our failures are forgotten. The spiritual world is unaffected by what we have done here.

Jesus demands that Peter align his life with the spiritual world.

He demands no less of me…….and you.

But he (Jesus) turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Jesus, ESV

he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Paul, ESV

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Paul, ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Paul, ESV

I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Jesus, ESV

Let’s say that you are a commited secular humanist…….a functional atheist. You believe in mankind and science. You believe that our physical world is all that we have. You believe that when you die……..the chemical reactions that run your brain end, the lights just go out, and there is nothing. Because this world is all that you have, you work tirelessly to save it…….and that is noble. We all owe you a debt of gratitude for your work…..especially on the environment.

The down side is that if you are wrong…….if the Bible is correct…….you will, at best, miss out on paradise. And the worst case scenario, for you, is pretty scary. But, that is your call. I disagree with you……..but I can respect your position. Right or wrong……..it is intellectually honest.

But what about your children? What are you teaching them? Children naturally follow their parents. There are a few rebels in every generation; but, for the most part, if you are liberal, your children will be liberal, if you are conservative, your children will be conservative. If you are a secular humanist/atheist, your children will probably follow you down that path.

And this is fine……..if you are right.

But, what if you are not right?

You may be teaching them an ideology that will not serve them……..in the long run.

I taught my children that the only path to the father……and paradise……..is Jesus. If my teaching was incorrect, they will try to follow his teaching…….to love God and man……and it will not take them to paradise. They will have wasted their time, their effort, and their love……if it is even possible to waste love. And, ultimately, they will end up in the same place as you and me……pushing up daisies.

But, if your teaching is incorrect, where is it leading your children?

I have always said that if my children do something wrong that is contrary to my teaching and example, that failure is on them. But, if they do something wrong by following my teaching and example………that failure is my fault.

I will be blunt.

If you teach your children to be secular humanists……..to deny God……….and if you are wrong……..if paradise and hell are real……..you are responsible for what their eternity turns out to be.

The greatest responsibility that we have as parents is to live our lives, by teaching and by example, in such a way that our children will wind up in a good place.

You may not believe………that is your call. But, please, expose your children to the teaching of Jesus……the teaching of love……..then let them decide.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus,ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Solomon,ESV

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Jesus, ESV

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

James, ESV

And all of those other rules.

I used to listen to a talk show…….Dr.Laura. The topic one day was the ten commandments. A caller was objecting to them……she said, “they are so narrow minded”. The caller hated the way that they restricted her freedom……..and they do. They restrict our ability to lie, steal, murder, envy, engage in recreational sex, dishonor our parents, work all of the time, and most of all……..they require us to love…….to give to others. In essence, the caller said that the ten commandments were proof……..that God is a cosmic killjoy.

I grew up in an America that was different from the country that we know today. There was an understanding that there were ideas and institutions that were bigger than me……..God, country, family. It was a given that my place was to serve these institutions……..even when I didn’t understand…….even when I objected. My identity was an American and I was expected to serve.

That America is gone.

America today is a country of entitlement. We focus on what we can get…….from the country and from others…….social security, medicare, food stamps, reparations, whatever is in the nearest convenience store. Everyone is identified as a member of some subgroup……..wasp, black, boomer, millineal, democrat, republican, gay, trans, etc. Our identity group is entitled……..so we add our group’s entitlements to our own.

The failure of America as a nation……..is the failure of the American people.

John Kennedy was talking about the death of the America that I grew up in when he said,

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,”

We chafe against the commandments………because they run contrary to our sense of entitlement. The commandments demand that we give……..when our current culture tells us that we should take……..that we deserve it.

“Get what you deserve”………an ubiquitous Medicare ad.

There is a fence at the back of my yard. My dog sits by the fence and stares out. He sees and smells all manner of great stuff beyond the fence…….and he wants it all. I’m sure that he sees the fence as an impediment to his freedom……..the freedom to chase down what he wants…..what he deserves. But, in addition to the rabbits, there are packs of coyotes and javelinas. There are rattlesnakes out there. As it turns out, the fence was put there by someone a lot smarter than my dog. The fence was put there to protect him…….not to ruin his fun. His world is a better place…….his life is a better life…….because of the fence.

The commandments are just like the fence. They were put there by someone a whole lot smarter than you and me. They are designed to protect us……to improve our lives.

Take a good hard look at America today. Can you honestly say that we are better off for having torn down the fence?

Can you honestly say that we are better off for having discarded the commandments………for having discarded God?

I don’t think so.

Love God
Love your fellow man
Don’t lie
Don’t steal
Don’t murder
Sex is for husbands and wives
Honor your parents
Don’t covet
Rest on Sunday

The ten commandments, abridged…….by me

“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Jesus, ESV

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, ESV

If you take a sheet of paper and make two columns, one labeled “right” and the other labeled “wrong”……..then ask 100 people to make two lists, one for each column. You will find a shocking degree of agreement. In a world where we disagree about so many things, we typically agree on what is right and what is wrong.

Why?

I think that we agree……..because the ideas of right and wrong are hard wired into our hearts. The Darwinist will say that this is so because these ideas are “Positively Adaptive”. But, that requires some substantial logical contortion. It is hard to find the adaptive benefit for the guy who runs into a burning building……to save a stranger. And yet it happens frequently. I believe that there is a different explanation. I believe that the lists of right and wrong that we share were put there…….at our creation…….by our creator…….because we need them. If you go to a remote island and meet someone with whom you have nothing in common……culture, language, dress, diet, etc. You will find that their list of right and wrong is essentially the same a your list. This shared, innate understanding of right and wrong is possibly the best evidence that we have for a common creator.

So…….how does this fit with our intense political disagreements.

Abortion for one.

Half of us say that it is wrong to kill an innocent child. Half of us say that it is wrong to force a woman to complete an unwanted pregnancy.

It turns out that both of these “wrongs”……….are true.

Furthermore…….both of these “wrongs” are inseparable.

So……we have to choose which “wrong”……… is wronger.

Enter appetites.

In our current culture, we typically base our decision……..on which “wrong” is wronger……….on our appetites. In other words, we sort between right and wrong………based on what we want. And this is a slippery slope. When we make this decision based on our appetites, we are open to rationalization, justification, and self serving logic.

And there is the rub.

Decision making based on appetite………served by rationalization, justification, and self-serving logic…….has become the hallmark of our world.

This applies to our biggest conflicts………abortion, gun control, climate change, immigration reform, the war in Ukraine, and many more.

When you boil it down, appetite based decision making is destroying our culture……..and quite possibly our world and even our species.

What to do?

When we make a decision…….when we shop, when we turn on the TV, when we vote, we need to have a hard look at our appetites and at our innate sense of right and wrong. We need to consciously choose which of these two mutually exclusive decision making methods we are going to pursue. Right…….or appetite.

The Bible offers us some useful guidance:

Love God
Love your neighbor

Did you notice that “Love yourself”……….was not on the list?

Did you notice that “Pursue your appetites” was not on the list?

It is quite possible that our creator…..who made all of this………has given us a better tool for how to run a planet than our appetites.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Jesus, ESV

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus, ESV

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Solomon, ESV

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Paul, ESV

Jesus spent the first……..and the last years of his life homeless.

He spent the first years of his life as a refugee. He and his family fled his homeland and went to Egypt to escape an evil, dangerous government. And they stayed there……as refugees…….for years.

And this brings me to an uncomfortable subject…….for Christian conservatives………immigration reform…….and the wall. In a word…….how do we deal with sojourners. More to the point…….what does the Bible tell us to do with refugees.

There are thousands……..perhaps millions……..of people piling up on our southern border. They largely fall into two groups. The first group is the criminals………MS-13…….gang-bangers……..terrorists……..human traffickers……..fentanyl mules………drug dealers. The second group is regular people who are either fleeing from oppressive conditions at home or seeking a better life for their families in America. It is hard to tell how many fall into each category, as our government chooses to ignore the problem. Nonetheless, I suspect that the majority are regular people looking for a better life.

What to do?

First, let me be clear……….both the Democrats and the Republicans are wrong. The left wants to let everyone in…….because they believe that they will be left leaning voters. The right doesn’t want to let anyone in……..for the same reason……plus concerns about the costs involved.

I think we can agree that we don’t want the criminals. So, we need to sort between the criminals and the regular people…….to sort between the wolves and the sheep. To do this……..we need a wall……with a gate……..and with a means of sorting out who is coming through that gate.

Once we have sorted the sheep from the wolves, we need an efficient, extremely liberal naturalization process for the regular people…….the refugees…….or, as the Bible would call them…….the sojourners. This process should take days to weeks…….not years.

This is a reasonable approach. It is a charitable approach. It is a profoundly Christian approach. It will be costly…..in the short run. But we will be a stronger nation……in the long run.

I once asked myself, “if Jesus was standing on the southern border, would he be building a wall……..or handing out bottled water?”

The answer was convicting.

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

God, ESV

I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

God, ESV

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Paul, ESV

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Jesus, a conversation with his disciples, ESV.

When we meet a friend whom we haven’t seen for a while, we often ask, “how have you been?”. It is a question that is filled with hope. We hope that they will tell us that their life has been successful…….satisfying. We hope that they will tell us that their situation is better now than it was when we last met them. What we hope to hear……..is good news………a promotion, the birth of a child, a marriage, a satisfying retirement. Sometimes, what we hear is not so good………an illness, a death in the family, a layoff.

In a way, we are wishing them joy………not pain. We are hoping that they are closer………to paradise. We are hoping that they are further…….. from hell…..than they were when we last met.

But what if we were to ask this question……….of our culture?

It’s good to see you……….mankind.

How have you been?

I am a student of history, but today I want to confine my question to my lifetime.

“Mankind……..how have you been………during the 70 years of my lifetime?”

I have to compare our culture today with our culture in the 1950’s. Most of you are younger than I am…….so bear with me as I share my experience.

Let me begin by saying that we made mistakes in the 50’s and we have had successes recently. But, on balance, I think that we have not done well. The world that I knew as a child was kinder, slower, and gentler.

We had a cold war……..now we have multiple hot wars.

We had unwanted pregnancies……..now we kill 3000 children every day.

We watched “Ozzie and Harriet”, “Leave it to Beaver”, and “Andy of Mayberry”……..now we watch serial killers and thinly veiled sex on prime time TV…….not to mention an army of talking heads selling anger.

Mass killings were unheard of……..now they are common.

We had a functional government………today we have the politics of personal destruction and impending default on a federal debt that is unsustainable.

We could disagree with each other but remain friends…….now I can make a list of relationships that have not survived a disagreement, usually over politics.

We built a statue inscribed: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”………..today, we have an immigration policy that is an impediment to legitimate refugees and yet lets criminals and drugs in.

We were happy………and now we are angry.

Our churches were full……….now many are nearly empty.

I challenge you………to look back at the list of our failures as a culture and ask:

Where would we be today…………if we had followed God’s two central rules?

Love God

Love your fellow man.

Our culture is failing………in fact, it is dying.

And mankind’s failure parallels our turn away from our creator……..our God.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Jesus, ESV

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Paul, ESV

The graph tells a sad story. It is from an article that I found on the web. Young people are turning away from God. You can dress it up……..sugar coat it…….try to find the silver lining. But the hard cold fact is that God is just not popular with young people. Even worse, young adults are teaching their children that God is phony, making this a multigenerational problem. I once went on a tour of Italy. We saw dozens of magnificent churches. As we were leaving one of them, our guide quipped. “another beautiful, nearly empty, building…….and a few old people.” The author of the article goes into some detail to try to identify the reasons for this shift from God to secular humanism. The trouble is that the reason or reasons really don’t matter.

What matters……..is the truth.

Either God is real………or he is not.

This truth is absolutely binary……..and it has consequences.

The question “is God real?” is arguably the most important question you will deal with in your life.

And the problem is that there isn’t rock solid proof for either side. One side offers the Bible, events that defy science, and a small but growing collection of archeological evidence. The other side offers a collection of ever shifting theories as to how the universe and life came into being……..and where it is all going.

The really big questions: how the universe began, how life began, and how it will all end remain hidden behind a veil. No matter how confident the person offering the explanation is……..if you are honest……you have to conclude that we cannot be absolutely sure. Both sides require us to accept as fact…..ideas that are unprovable.

So…….let’s look at the two possibilities.

God is not real.

There was nothing, then something that we cannot explain occurred and instantly the universe existed. There was no life, then over a long period of time, by a mechanism that we cannot recreate, atoms randomly assembled themselves, reproduced, and evolved into our ecosystem. You and I are complex biochemical factories…….no more. When the chemical processes stop, we die and there is nothing. In a word, it all began as nothing……….and it all will end as nothing. Right and wrong are largely defined by utility. It’s right if it works. And, generally, utility is defined as what works for me. Burning down the rain forrest is wrong…….because I need more oxygen and less greenhouse gas. But, burning down the rain forrest does work for the Brazilian cattle rancher. Putin and Zelenski have different visions of utility. Since there is no higher authority, my definition of utility and hence my definition of right and wrong are no more valid than the rancher’s or Putin’s.

God is real.

God created everything just as it is……. out of nothing.
God has an agenda……..a plan.
God has expectations……of you and of me.
We don’t get to make the rules. We don’t get to decide what is right and what is wrong. The rules are the same for everyone……..even God.
God loves us and expects us to love each other……and to love him……..just as he loves us.
We are much more than a biochemical factory. There is a part of us that is eternal…….immortal…….and when our body dies, that part of us lives on and will either return to God and his love……..or not.

Which, ironically, brings us back to the question of utility. Which of these two worlds, if faithfully executed, do you think will work…….for you?

And I worry……..that future generations of Americans…….may miss out……..not on immortality……..but on the joy of spending their eternity with their creator.

without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Paul, ESV

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator

Paul, ESV

As a Christian, it is comforting……..to know where I am going.

I don’t know when. I don’t know how. And I don’t know who will be involved. I’m sure that all of those questions will be answered when I get there. But those questions will not be the first ones I ask……..when I arrive.

My first question……..when I meet my creator…….will be “why?” In point of fact, “why?” will be at the core of my first hundred or so questions.

All of the other questions deal with fairly minor housekeeping issues. “Why?” is an entirely different kettle of fish.

I believe that God…..Abba……my creator………..my father………..is involved in every aspect of my life. I don’t believe that he created this universe…….and me………and then lost interest and wandered off. Every event in my life is known to him. He either caused them to happen………or at the very least allowed them to happen. That is the reason that “why?” is such a critical question. “Why?” goes to motivation………God’s motivation.

When I ask God “Why?”………I’m basically asking, “what were you thinking?”……….or even worse……”how could you?”

“Why?” leads us up to the brink……..of blame…….of anger…….at God.

When good things happen, “why?” is a warm, fuzzy, happy idea………”because God loves us”, or some variation of that. I am confident in God’s love for me. I have come to expect good things from him. So I won’t be asking God why the good things happened……….because I already know.

What tortures me……..and likely you too…… is the “why?” behind the bad things that have happened to us. Lets face it, bad things happen………every day. And God knows. And he either allows them or initiates them. They are things that we would never have allowed or initiated…….if we were in charge of the universe. Quite simply, they are things that we don’t like.

And there is the rub.

We drag around a list of bad things that have happened……things that we don’t like………things that we wouldn’t allow…………and each one has a “why?”.

Why did my wife, Cindy, get cancer?
Why did my father die?
Why did my sons die?
Why was my son crippled?

What was God thinking?

And that is the point.

Because the problem……..is this.

God’s thoughts are different from mine. God’s motivations are different from mine. God’s plan is different from mine. It is bigger……..much bigger than I could ever imagine.

I don’t know why these things happened and I won’t know……..until I get the chance to ask.

So……..when bad things happen……..and God knows about them…………and God either allows them or instigates them, we have a few choices:

Get angry at God……for failing to satisfy our appetites.
Deny God…….because we have a better plan.
Become God……..take over the running of the earth…………make our own rules.

Or

Trust God……….trust his plan…….because his plan ends with you, me, and many friends and family together…….with God……….in paradise. God’s plan is for us to enjoy community, to experience joy, and to know satisfaction………forever. That is his “end game”. If your world doesn’t look like that today………then you haven’t reached the end.

In the end, we will know the answers……..in the end, we will know why. Meanwhile, we must trust in God. We must trust that God has plans that are beyond our understanding. When we go through our list of “whys?” and don’t find anything useful, we must understand that God has a far more extensive list of “whys?” than ours. Someday, he will share his “whys?” with us. The critical point is that we must not allow our frustration……. frustration that arises from our ignorance………to drive us to doing something destructive………like rejecting God……..or being angry at God……..or taking over God’s job.

We must trust in the love of our creator.

We must put our trust in his plan……..especially when it makes no sense to us.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God, ESV

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God, ESV

“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

Jesus, ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Solomon, ESV