My Bible reading this week is Jeremiah. The Cliff notes version is that Israel and Judah have messed up and God is punishing them. The punishment is severe, but not complete, destruction. I couldn’t help but compare the situation of the Jewish state then with America today.

America was founded as an unapologetically Christian nation. Our constitution forbids establishment of an official state religion. But, our founders were almost all devout Christians and the principles that guided them were…..and still are……deeply rooted in Christianity.

Christianity and the Bible are deeply woven into the fabric of America. And……as a nation…..we have been richly blessed by God

But, we have drifted away from our roots in Christianity. That drift is accelerating. We have come to a point where our government is pushing ideas…..laws……that are clearly against the teaching of the Bible. Along with this drift away from God…….we are seeing a deterioration of our culture. We are seeing rapid increases in lawlessness. We are being threatened militarily by nations that are founded on atheism…….Russia and China. Is it possible that these two trends are linked? Is it possible that God is withdrawing his blessing…….or worse……that the current mess in our culture and the many external threats that we face are the beginning of God’s punishment?

Let’s examine some of the trends in our culture that violate the guidelines of the Bible.

Legal abortion kills 3,000 American children…..every day.

Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him.
Psalm 123:3, ESV

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
God, Jeremiah 1:5

Our teachers teach young children that gender is “fluid”.

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, Mathew 28:6, ESV

Our federal debt is out of control……we borrow to pay the interest that we owe China.

the borrower is the slave of the lender.
Solomon, Proverbs 22:7

Organized looting in our cities is common…….and is tolerated by local government.

You shall not steal,
God, Exodus 20:15, ESV

Premarital sex and, even worse, extramarital sex are common and socially acceptable.

You shall not commit adultery,
God. Exodus 20:14, ESV

And many many more.

Every year we come to accept more ideas that move us further away from our creator and his expectations. Every year, the blessings that we have enjoyed dwindle.

Secular humanism, which is based on pursuing our appetites, is essentially hedonism…….and it clearly isn’t working. God may be withdrawing his blessing from this amazing nation………or worse. How long will we travel down what is clearly the wrong path?

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

God, 2 Chronicles 7:15, ESV

Hate: to dislike someone or something with passion…..often with anger.

There is whole lot of hating going on in our culture.

The Bible teaches us to love……love God…..love each other. Hate is as far as you can get from the teaching of the Bible. Hate is as far as you can get from God’s heart.

Hate is as far as you can get from God’s heart.

Hate, on the other hand, is the stock and trade of Satan.

I think that we can agree that the world would be a better place…..if there was less hate.

So……what do we know about hate?

Hate is not innate.

Hate is learned.

And…….if hate is learned…….then hate is taught.

Hate hurts the other guy…….that’s the object of hate.

But, hate also hurts the hater…….you cannot be happy when you are hating.

Hate is transactional. Someone hurts us and we develop hatred in response. We hurt someone and they hate us for it. This can go back and forth until it devolves into an old fashioned feud.

Selling hate…….teaching hate…….is big business. Fortunes and careers are built on selling hate. You can’t watch Fox or CNN for ten minutes without getting mad at someone. This is not an accident. Selling hate is a multibillion dollar industry………the media/hate complex. The more hate that you can churn up on your show…….the more ad revenue you can generate.

Those who teach hate have developed a new and highly efficient tool………group hate. Instead of teaching you to hate one specific person because of one specific harmful act. They pigeon hole people into groups and teach you to hate everyone in the group. I have acquaintances who avoid me because they hate some group that they have pigeonholed me into.

Group hate is extremely efficient…….and you don’t have to honestly assess each person whom you are hating…….you don’t have to waste all of the effort of thinking.

The groups?

Abortion supporters
Pro-lifers
Maga Republicans
Trump supporters
Biden supporters
Christians
Secular humanists
Illegal aliens
The federal government

and many more.

You are not likely to talk the hater out of hating……but you can begin to weed hate out of your life.

So…….what to do?

What concrete action can you take to decrease the hate in the world?

1 be kind……don’t say or do the things that will harm others……and cause them to hate you.

2 abandon group hate. Individuals will do things that anger you…….but never allow yourself to assign that anger to an entire group

3 do not teach others to hate the people and groups that anger you. Keep your hate compartmentalized. This is especially important for parents. If you hate someone….or some group…..you can bet that your previously innocent child will hate them too.

4 if you find that your favorite “talking head” on TV is selling hate…….find another show……or perhaps another network.

5 understand that the truth and hatred are not mutually exclusive…….you can use 5 true statements to create a narrative that grows hate. This is what goes for “news” today.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Paul, Romans 12:18, ESV

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

John, 1 John 4:20, ESV

When you buy something big, you often look at how it has performed…..in the past. You go to Consumer Reports and find the list of the 10 worst used cars…….and you avoid them. This is just good common sense.

Christianity gets a lot of bad press. But, somehow, secular humanism gets a pass. Today, I want to explore the track record of secular humanism.

The facts:

The oceans are filling up with plastic.

We have poisoned the air with CO2 and other greenhouse gasses to the point that in 100 years or so most of the earth will be uninhabitable.

We kill 3000 children every day in the US alone.

Our teachers tell our sons that they may actually be women.

Men can now “identify” as women and dominate women’s sports.

Men undress in women’s locker rooms.

In many states half of our children don’t meet standards for basic skills…..reading, math, and science. But, they are well versed on “sexual fluidity”.

Every few days, we have another mass shooting.

Our cities are no longer safe.

We have hundreds of thousands of homeless living on our streets.

Our city streets are littered with syringes and human feces.

Wrecking our cities and our capitol are considered expressions of free speech.

Murder, nudity and sexual intercourse are standard tropes on prime time TV…….every night.

One in four Americans take mood altering prescription drugs.

About half of the states have legalized recreational Marijuana.

Three out of four 20 year olds have had premarital sex.

Recreational sex is the norm.

95% of teenagers lie to their parents.

Shoplifting of hundreds of dollars of merchandise is no longer a crime in many jurisdictions.

Can you honestly say……based on the track record……..that secular humanism is working?…………that secular humanism is a better way to run our culture than “love God…love man”?

Would you actually buy this……if it was a used car?

God built a garden, put us in it, and told us what to do and what not to do. We immediately chose secular humanism and it has been downhill ever since.

The heart of secular humanism is that we are in charge, not God. The only valid argument in favor of secular humanism……..is that it allows us to do whatever we want. And that……..is the siren song that has led us to the mess that we are in today.

We can either turn back to God…….or continue down the path to our destruction.

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

Solomon, Proverbs 14:12, ESV

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Paul, 2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV

Once, one of my sons got mad at me. He yelled “You’re not my father!” And it hurt……..that was the whole point.

I walked away. And I sat and stewed. What he said was unfair…….and intentionally hurtful. I began planning my response. He was too old to ground. I considered some financial consequences. I considered just shutting him out…….showing him the price for his behavior.

Then it occurred to me. Regardless of what he said…….I am his father…….always have been…….always will be. That relationship is something that no-one can take away from me…….not even my son. Today, that relationship may be a bit one sided. Today, it may be strained….even painful. But…….on my end……nothing has changed. I am still his father. My job is the same as it has always been.

So, I began to consider……… what does fatherhood mean?

As his father, I still love him and want him to grow, thrive, and be happy. I want to steer him to a good place……and I will give him guidelines, advice, on how to get there……….even if it involves short-term pain. I will tell him…..teach him……..the truth.

Love trumps everything else. Love God……love man……love your son.

Is my father………..my God…..really any different?

He created us. He wants us to lead happy, fulfilling, productive lives in this broken world. He tells us how to go about it. And then he wants us to continue living…..with him…….in a world that is not broken……forever.

But

We get mad. We try to take charge. We choose our own destiny and make up a set of rules to get there.

We ignore God.

We defy God..

We re-invent God…….in our own image.

We hate God.

In effect……we yell at God…….”you’re not my father!”

And with the infinite patience of a good father……he just takes it. He waits and hopes for us to outgrow it.

Because, in spite of our actions…….in spite of our tantrum………he is still God.

He is still our father.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Jesus, John 15:3, ESV

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

God, Jeremiah, 31:3, ESV

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him

God, 2 Samuel 17:13, ESV.

This post is a followup to a recent post that dealt with God’s desire for relationship.

There is a young woman whom I care for deeply. I’m certain that she cares for me as well. For years we would sit and talk…..about what was going on in her life…..and mine. It was nice. But, for the last year or so, when she is around, she spends all of her time on her phone……playing games……surfing the web…….texting friends. About half of the time, when I say something to her, I get no reply. When she does reply, it is often a monosyllable grunt…….or to ask that I buy her something………or to ask that I do something for her. She has a deep abiding relationship……..with her phone. With me……..not so much.

I find this to be frustrating. But, more than that, it hurts. What is going on between us could be…….once was…….very valuable, very enjoyable, very satisfying. Today it is just mechanical…….superficial. We just go through the motions of relationship. We just follow the forms……check the boxes. It’s certainly easy…….but not very satisfying.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I often find that things in my life that bother me…….also teach me.

And so it occurred to me that the relationship I have been describing is like the relationship that many of us have with God.

We follow the forms…..check the boxes. We rarely speak to God……and when we do, it is just to ask him for something…….or ask him to do something. We are far more interested in our stuff than in God. We put all of our effort into relationship with the people and things in our physical world. God knocks on the door…….and we are so glued to our “devices” that we don’t even notice. About all God gets is a few monosyllable grunts.

And that is just our end of the problem.

What about God?

If I am made in God’s physical image, I suspect that I may also share some of his emotional traits. I suspect that the things that frustrate and hurt me, probably also frustrate and hurt God as well.

So, the next time you get frustrated or hurt when your teenager ignores you because they are absorbed by something on their phone, consider this.

Maybe God is just as frustrated……and hurt……when you ignore him because you are focused on your work, or your stuff, or your finances, or your yard, or your car, or your plumbing. Maybe God is just as frustrated and hurt when all he hears from you………is “gimme!”

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

Jesus, Mathew 23:37, ESV

And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Moses, Genesis 6:6,ESV

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

Paul, Hebrews 12:9, ESV

The central idea of Christianity is that Jesus died and then rose from the dead and that this act pays the penalty for all of our wrongs.

From a logical point of view this has always seemed like a bit of a stretch. The idea that one man, two centuries ago, could do something that saves me from myself today seems……well…….impossible. Not to mention the fact that the resurrection itself is impossible. But, impossible may very well be the entire point. We are constrained…….God is not. When a non-constrained God drops into a constrained world…….impossible things happen. The Christian accepts this duality. The secular humanist does not. The Christian believes that nothing is impossible for God. The secular humanist believes that God is impossible.

What follows is my opinion……..an op/ed piece. You’ve been warned.

Because the resurrection is hard to deal with from my side of the curtain……..I want to explore it from the other side of the curtain…….from God’s side. This is dangerous turf…….because I am going to try to understand the resurrection from God’s point of view. My prayer today is that I get it right.

The basics:

God is love
God is truth
God is justice
God is mercy

I begin at the beginning…….why did God create in the first place? God built an amazing, self-sustaining ecosystem. He put man in charge and gave him intelligence and free will. If God’s first character trait is love and love requires relationship……..I believe that God created all of this so that he could have relationship…….with man. True relationship requires free will on both sides. I can program my laptop to talk to me and to tell me that I’m smart and handsome. But, that is not a relationship…….it is just me using a surrogate to talk to myself. Relationship requires independence. Relationship requires the other guy to reach out to you……not because they have to…….but because they want to. Relationship is a gift…….perhaps the most valuable gift in creation.

I believe that God created all of this……..in hopes of receiving the gift of relationship from you……and me. Relationship could very well be the one thing that satisfies God’s greatest desire.

God created……..then he set us free.

And we messed it all up. Instead of offering God the relationship that he had planned for…….we pursued our appetites……..and ignored him……or worse……denied him.

God responded out of his love and his mercy. Instead of destroying it all and starting over, God created the resurrection. The purpose of the resurrection is create a path for us to give the gift of relationship to God in spite of our ongoing failure to live up to his expectations……..to approach God…….with confidence……without hypocrisy.

The resurrection is not a gimmick that God uses to sneak his mercy past his justice.. Rather, it is a tool that allows us to set aside our brokenness and legitimately approach God. It is not something that God needs……..it is something that we need.

So……..what is our correct response……to the resurrection?

Our correct response to the resurrection is to give to God the thing that he was after in the first place.

Relationship.

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live”

Jesus, John 11:25, ESV

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:18, ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Paul, Hebrews 10:19-22, ESV

Right now I’m sitting up against a huge oak tree in my back yard. I’m taking a break from shoveling up wood chips from the stump of what was once an even larger ash tree. The view is spectacular. Oak leaves overhead, grass at my feet, unmown pasture in front of me, and woods beyond that. There is a sassafras grove in the distance and a walnut grove at my back……..it really is heaven on earth.

My first thought is that I am richly blessed, that this beautiful place is my home…..that this place is mine.

But that just isn’t true……..it’s not mine. I’m 70 years old and in 10 or 20 years……30 at the outside, I will be dead. Everything that I have ever bought……everything that I ever will buy…..everything that I own…….or think I own……..will soon belong to somebody else. At best, I am simply a custodian of all of this stuff. You may very well be younger than me. You may still be in that “immortal” phase of your life……..where death is so distant that you just don’t give it much thought. You may still believe that you own all of the stuff in your life. But……. the same logic applies to you too. The time frame is just a little different. The end point is just less clear.

It goes one step further. Not only is all of this stuff not mine……..this is not my home. My entire life here is just a brief stopover en route to someplace else. In a way, I am a sojourner………a refugee.

You may live in a place that is not as nice…….a small musty basement apartment with a shared bathroom (I’ve been there). Or, you may have a vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard. The point is that your current circumstances are not important…….no more important than the circumstances of the guy with the little sign on the exit ramp. They don’t matter because they are temporary.

And this is the heart of the Christian attitude to stuff.

Your stuff is nice. You should enjoy it. You should be grateful for it. But, you should never allow it to define you…….because you are much more than your stuff. And so is the guy on the exit ramp. You are the son or daughter of a king.

And that is your true home.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Mathew, 6:19, ESV

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Mathew, 16:26, ESV

And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Jesus, God and a rich man, Luke, 12:19

You can pretty much divide the people of the world into two groups: those who believe in a creator….God…..and those who don’t. I am a Christian and I believe in the God of the Bible, the trinity, eternal life, heaven and hell. Those who don’t believe in a creator generally use science and technology to explain things. So far so good.

The trouble is that there are things that cannot be conclusively explained……by either group:

How did the universe begin?
How did life begin?
What happens after we die?
How does the death and resurrection of a man 2000 years ago buy my salvation?

The creator group relies on faith to fill these gaps. The no-creator group relies on unproven……possibly unprovable theories to fill the gaps. So far so good…….if we are being honest about it.

This is a black and white decision…….there is no middle ground. Either there is a creator……..or there is not. One group is right……one group is wrong.

So far this is a nice clean intellectual debate.

But, as is often the case, it’s not that simple.

There are things that are attached to each belief system.

If you buy into Christianity, you get the promise of eternal life……either in heaven or in hell. You also have to deal with a creator who has expectations……and rules….like the ten commandments. These can be summed up: “Love God….Love man”.

If you buy into science and technology, you get a series of explanations most of which are rock solid. But, as I mentioned earlier, many are best guess theories based on other best guess theories. In a way, just like the Christian, you will have to accept these theories on faith.

So far the two belief systems are on similar footing.

So…….just what is the difference? What is the wedge that forces us to pick one or the other.

The sticking point is this: the creator…….and his expectations.

The creator group accepts the creator and recognizes his expectations as valid. The no-creator group rejects the creator and does not accept any of his expectations……any of his restrictions. For the creator group…..the creator is in charge. For the non-creator group……we are in charge.

And there it is. We choose to join the creator side based on our willingness to submit to the lordship of a creator who has expectations……demands…..that cover every corner of our lives. Or…..we chose to join the non-creator side based on our desire to be the one who makes the decisions…….the one who makes the rules.

And then, we accept……on faith…….the unprovables that our belief system requires.

But…….there is one more facet……one more unprovable.

Death

What happens when we die…….and we will all die.

The creator side offers eternity in paradise based on a condition……that you believe in the creator. The non-creator side offers the absolute certainty……..of dead black nothing.

For the creator believer, we get the promise of eternity in paradise in exchange for submitting to a God who demands that we love him……and love each other.

For the non-creator believer, you get to make the rules and run the show for 70 or 80 years…….and then……there is nothing.

It all comes down to the question:

What do to want?

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, who is blessed forever!

Paul, Romans 1:24, ESV

I didn’t have much to say today. The post I had planned was……..weak. So I went outside and started weeding one of Cindy’s plant beds. If you’ve seen our house, you know this is a big deal. I know…..it’s Sunday?!?

The bed in question is a large sea of vinca minor with lots of bushes…..many of which I cannot name. The vinca makes a nice ground cover……never needs mulching……pretty green color…….it spreads to fill the bed……..and you just cannot kill it. The trouble is that other vines get into the vinca…….and the only way to get them out is to get on your knees and weed the bed by hand. Not my favorite chore.

After a couple of hours I was spent, but the job was done. I did a walk through……admiring my work…….and I saw one five bladed leaflet in the vinca…..one leaflet of a weed. My first thought was “close enough for government work…….I’m done!” But, I tracked the weed down to its roots and started pulling. It had a “runner” and was connected to a dozen or so other weeds that I had missed. Then I saw another leaflet………and another. By the time I was finished I had pulled 100 or so more weeds……all of them missed on the first go-around.

One of my beliefs is that when something is repeated over and over…….it’s important. This is true in life……and is especially true in the Bible. So I made a new “rule for weeding”. Never ignore a single leaf of a weed…….even in a field of a million vinca leaves.

Then it occurred to me. Sin is just like the weeds. You look through your day and see a million tiny events…..interactions……that are good. But sitting in the middle of it all is one tiny error…….one bad moment…….one sin. You say to yourself, “no biggie……on balance…..I’m a good person”. And, no doubt, you are.

The trouble is that the one tiny sin……..just like the weed…….is connected to another sin…..and another……sins that you hadn’t noticed.

No tiny single leaf of a weed is unimportant.

No tiny single sin is unimportant.

They are important because they all are connected…….to a living growing organism that…….if left unchecked…….will take over your garden……..your life.

So……my charge for today is this:

Take the little “wrongs” in your life seriously because they are alive……and they never travel alone. Any time you find yourself saying, “but, I’m a good person”……..look hard at the situation because there is probably something that needs fixing……..there is probably a weed that needs pulling.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Paul, Romans 3:23, ESV

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

John, 1 John 1:8, ESV

Intelligence……..the ability to figure things out……to connect the dots……….to work your way from point A to point B……by a logical series of steps.

Faith……..accepting the realities of point A and point B without logical proof.

Truth……..ideas that are real……whether we can prove them or not…….whether we like them or not.

My Bible reading today is from Corinthians:

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not —to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

Paul, 1 Corinthians 18, ESV

The message here is that intelligence often leads you to one place…….while faith leads you to another. The burning question is not which is better……intelligence or faith. The burning issue……..the life or death issue…….is which is true.

The lesson of 1 Corinthians 18 is that if you use intelligence as your only tool to sort out your position in the cosmos, you will exclude faith……..even if the lessons of faith are true. Intelligence is a valuable tool. But so is faith.

If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer……..pretty soon all of your problems start looking like nails.

Me…….redneck wisdom

We live in a culture that is increasingly intelligence driven. The more we learn……the smarter we get……the less we rely on and trust in faith. But, if you dispassionately look at the results of our intelligence driven culture, you must conclude that it is failing:

Crime
Anarchy
Homelessness
Refugees
Governmental corruption
Environmental degradation
Drugs
Recreational sex and its stepchild….abortion

The promise of intelligence is that technology will solve the problems.

The promise of faith is that only love will solve the problems.

I am an intelligent guy……..but my intelligence will not save me……..neither will yours.

Love is truer than knowledge…….love is truer than intelligence. Love grows out of faith…….not out of intelligence.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Paul, 1 Corinthians 8, ESV