Politically, I am conservative……..you probably guessed. As for the major hot button issues: I oppose abortion, support the right to bear arms, and favor freedom over big government. I favor personal responsibility over entitlement. Of the major “news” outlets, Fox, more than any, other caters to my opinions. And yet, I rarely watch Fox. How can that be?

For what it’s worth, if you are a liberal, you can substitute CNN, MSNBC, or many of the other major media outlets. The problem is the same.

If you tune in Fox or CNN or MSNBC, there will be a “talking head” discussing the three or four topics that have him or her outraged today. Stay tuned for 5 hours and he or she will say the same thing over and over 50 different ways.

I can summarize the next 100 hours of broadcast journalism on all of the major networks in one sentence.

There are a lot of bad people doing bad things out there…….all day……every day.

I don’t watch Fox because when I do……I get mad. And that is the whole point. Fox, CNN, and the rest want you mad. They make their living by making you mad. They hope to advance their political agenda by getting you mad and keeping you mad.

Here’s the thing…….I don’t need the media to get mad. I am fully capable of getting mad………all on my own…….completely unsupervised.

And perhaps, that is the other face of the problem. We are all mad and we’re getting madder.

Mad is not what we were built for. God didn’t create Adam and Eve and put them in a garden so that they could fight. He put them there to love each other and to care for each other, and to love him. Instead, what he got was a “cage match” between 8 billion combatants.

Here is my suggestion.

Take the time every day that you spend watching the news……and getting mad…….or maybe scared. Set apart some of that time……maybe half of it……..and read a good book. Choose a book that will take you to the place that you were created for……..a place of love, charity, and, most of all, hope. Do this for a week or so. You couldn’t choose a better book than the Bible. A good place to start would be the book of John.

I bet you’ll feel better. In fact, you won’t just feel better…….you will be better. Because you will have taken a step closer to the place where you were meant to be………the place that you were created for…….and a step away from the “cage match”.

The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James, 1:20, ESV

But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry…”

Jonah, 4:9, ESV

I was a physician for almost 40 years. In that time, I have seen a lot of pain……physical……and emotional. We all deal with it. We try to avoid it. But, we really don’t give it a lot of thought. We understand that pain is bad…….that there is mild pain……and severe pain. But there is an aspect of pain that we rarely consider…….the time course of pain. There is short term pain……..and there is chronic pain. In terms of misery, the duration of pain is a bigger contributor than the severity of the pain.

In my career……..and in my life…….the most miserable people I have met did not have the most severe pain. They were people whose pain was mild to moderate, but whose pain was long term. The most miserable of all had pain that was never going to go away.

This post is about the most extreme form of chronic pain……..eternal pain.

The Bible teaches many radical concepts. In terms of importance, the most important is the concept of a creator………a creator who loves us, who wants the best for us, and who has expectations of us. Arguably, the second most important concept in the Bible is the idea of eternity……..the idea of a place where time has no end…….where time, for all practical purposes, does not exist. This is closely tied to the concept of the soul…….that part of each of us that operates…….or will operate…… in eternity.

Pain……..joy…….eternity.

The Bible teaches that when we die, our soul will ultimately go to a place where time does not end. It also teaches that there is a division in eternity. There will be pain and there will be joy. And they will be permanently and completely separated, unlike our temporal world where we experience moments of joy and moments of pain. In eternity, there is a chasm separating joy and pain. In eternity, we will either experience constant joy……or constant pain……….paradise or hell.

We hear a lot about the severity of the pain in hell. But, I think that this misses the point. The worst part of hell will not be the severity of the pain……..it will be the fact that it has no end. There will be no hope for a better tomorrow.

Eternity + pain + lost hope = misery

This is a place that I really want to avoid. You may say that you don’t believe in eternity……..that you die and the lights just go out…….or that you go to a place that you have dreamed up on your own……..but you had better be right.

The threat of pain after death is real. Don’t focus on the details of the cause of the pain…….”will the coffee be cold”……..focus on the duration of the pain, which is ultimately the determinant of your misery.

‘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.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

A conversation between Abraham in paradise and a rich man in hell as told by Jesus, Luke 16:24-26

When I was a kid, my Mom rarely went to church…….and my Dad…….never. And yet they sent me and my sister with the neighbors to a local Baptist church. Later a church opened up near our house and Mom attended with us. In a word, I was raised as a Christian…….but a fairly lukewarm one. In college I walked away from my faith. I wasn’t a “bad” person…….but I wasn’t a practicing Christian either. I ran my life according to my rules……..I did as I pleased…….I executed my plans…….and I did well.

Later I was dating a girl who was a strong Christian, and she called me out. She said, “What are you afraid of?…..are you afraid that God will ask you to do something that you don’t want to do?” In so many words, she was saying, “Are you afraid that God will disrupt your plans?” I realized that I was standing on the brink……of a precipice. I realized that to return to Christianity could drastically change my path in life. And I blinked. I broke up with the girl and returned to my self-directed…….successful…….non-Christian life. Decades later I found my way back…….and here I am.

So…….what’s the point?

The point is…….the precipice…….the brink.

Intuitively, we know that stepping off of the brink……embracing Christianity……..will change things……will change us.

Making a serious commitment to Christianity will permanently and significantly alter the trajectory of the rest of your life. I knew that when she asked the question……..and I can see the results of it now.

Sooner or later, most of us find ourselves in the same spot I was in……..standing on the brink…….with a permanently life altering decision to make. Do I step off of the edge and give up control of my life……or do I turn away and resume a safe, fairly predictable life where I get to make the choices?

Ultimately, that is the decision we face…….at the brink.

“WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE?”

Me……..or God.

For the first half of my life……I made the decisions…….based on what would get me ahead……socially, financially, and professionally…….over the next few decades. For the second half of my life…….I have tried to run my life on God’s rules…….love God/love man……..hoping to get ahead for eternity.

And I am happy……..and I am looking forward to a very bright future…….and not just for a decade or so…….but forever.

whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Jesus, John 5: 24, ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Paul. 2 Corinthians 17, ESV

I can’t address the rest of the world……..but America seems to have evolved into two separate and completely different worlds. There is the urban world, concentrated primarily on the coasts and the rural world concentrated primarily in the “flyover” states. One world is primarily liberal……the other is primarily conservative. One world leans secular humanist…….the other leans creationist.
These worlds are so different that we have trouble conducting a civil conversation……..much less reaching a consensus on solving important problems. The divide is getting wider and more contentious with each passing year. You can argue that this divide is an existential threat to our democracy and to our culture.

But, where did it come from?

I think it comes from our surroundings. I live on a hilltop out in the country. This morning I’m sitting by a fire on my patio waiting for the sun to come up. I can’t see my neighbors’ houses. I am surrounded by trees. The only sign of mankind in my view is a pair of cell towers on the horizon. Deer, turkeys, coyotes, and the odd red fox wander through my yard. In a word, I live in a world where I am surrounded by beautiful things that man did not create…….that man could not possibly create……ever. A few hundred miles away, on 104th street in New York city, there is a guy who is very much like me. He too is having his morning coffee, he looks out the window of his apartment and sees a huge incredibly complex city…….with theaters, museums, restaurants, and millions of people. He lives in an amazing world as well. But, his world is exclusively the creation of man.

Much of my world is beyond my control. It rains and the grass turns green…….it doesn’t rain and the grass turns brown. My brother’s house was flooded by a hurricane and then narrowly missed by a tornado. The guy in New York, on the other hand, controls, directly or indirectly, most of his environment.

I live in a beautiful world that I did not and cannot create or control. He lives in an amazingly complex world that was created and is controlled by man.

Is it any wonder that I give the credit and glory for my world to a creator…..God…….while he gives the credit and glory to the genius of man?

Is it any wonder that I say that I have been blessed and that he says that he is smart and has worked hard?

Is it any wonder that I put my trust in my creator and his plan for me……for my future………and that he puts his trust in human government?

The trouble is that one of us is wrong.

I suspect that we are not going reach a consensus any time soon. But, perhaps, we can develop some insight into where the other guy is coming from. Perhaps, we can learn to have a civil exchange between our two worlds.

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

Nehemiah 9:17, ESV

I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices

God, Isaiah 65:2, ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Paul, 2 Timothy, 4:3-4, ESV

My morning reading yesterday included a verse that sums up the entire Bible:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Paul, Ephesians 2:8, ESV

I chose Christianity so that I could be saved………from myself. If you don’t need to be saved…….if you don’t want to be saved………this post may not resonate for you. As for me…….if I look back through my life and honestly weigh my actions against God’s expectations……I have come up short……sometimes only once…….usually repeatedly. Measured against God’s expectations……..my life is a hot mess.

Love God………fail.
Love my fellow man…….fail
Don’t lie…….fail
Don’t steal…….fail
Don’t murder…….pass
Sex is for husbands and wives……fail
Honor your mother and father……..C+
Don’t covet……fail
Rest on Sunday……fail

God has set the bar pretty high. Most of us are satisfied with setting the bar of our expectations much lower. The fact is that we conveniently set our expectations for our own behaviour right about where we are. We are kind……then we are unkind…….then we tell ourselves that……on average……we are “a good person”……..at least that we are good enough.

But good enough…….for what?

You can make a solid case that your behaviour is good enough for this world……for this culture. Your behavior might even be in the top 10%…….the top 10% of a culture that aborts 3000 innocent children every day in the US……..the top 10% of a culture that tells your son that he can walk naked into a girls locker room if he feels like it…….the top 10% of a culture that considers serial killing on prime time TV a legitimate form of entertainment.

You get the point. The bar that has been set by our culture is very low……..and it is getting lower every day.

If paradise is real…….and if you get to set the standards…..you are going to be just fine.

But in your heart…..you know……that your definition of “good” is not legitimate……any more than mine is. In your heart……you know……that……just like me…….you are a hot mess……..that you don’t measure up to God’s expectations.

And that is why Christianity works.

We will be judged…….against God’s standard…….not against ours………not against the standard of “the culture”.

And you will fall short.

And I will fall short.

Enter the 2 pillars of Christianity……grace and faith.

Grace is God’s cosmic “get out of jail free” card. God gives you eternity in a paradise that he has created…….even though you are a hot mess…….even though you don’t deserve it.

Faith is your recognition and acceptance of that gift.

Both grace and faith are required…….both are mandatory. God does grace……you and I must do faith.

No matter what the culture says, we cannot create grace. We cannot invent a paradise that aligns with our appetites. Grace and paradise……….and hell………are God’s domain. And you are not God……nor am I.

What is left is faith. Faith is our domain…….and we can create faith. We are men and women…….and faith is our job.

God is God and he will do grace.

I am a man…….and I must do faith………or forego grace.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John, John 3:16, ESV

And 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, Hebrews 11:6, ESV

“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

Jesus, John 11:4, ESV

This is an old story………with a valuable lesson.

Once, there was an old dam that burst causing a catastrophic flood. A Christian, in his home, heard the evacuation order on TV.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!

And the water rose.

A truck came to rescue him.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!”

And the water rose.

A boat came to rescue him.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!”

And the water rose.

A helicopter came.

His reply, “I put my trust in God….I will not go!”

And the water rose……..and he drowned.

In paradise, he met Jesus. Jesus said, “I am amazed at your courage…..I have never seen such faith.”

The man cried, “But you didn’t answer my prayer…….you just let me drown!”

Jesus replied, “I sent a truck, a boat, and even a helicopter.”

The lesson is that our job is to pray for the things that we need. But…….we do not get to dictate to God the terms and details of his answer. We do not get to micromanage God’s response to our prayer.

God is not our cosmic “gofer guy”………working his way down our “to do” list.

Remember……..when your prayer seems to go unanswered……..God may have a different plan…..a better plan afoot.

In this time of horrific wars, senseless laws, failed governments, and rampant crime………God is working out his plan. Even if this world makes no sense to me today, I will put my trust in the love of my creator.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Paul, Romans 8:28, ESV

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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah, 29:11-14, ESV

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.