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| The Modern ChristianI am the modern Christian.
I say I know God, yet do not take the time to know Him.
I say prayer is good and Godly, yet I do not have time for it.
I say church is good, but the music, message, and lighting should be perfect.
I say I go to church, yet do not know I am the church.
I am the modern Christian.
I find it hard to worship when the guitar is out of tune.
I find it hard to worship when there is no music.
I find it hard to pray on weekend nights.
I find it hard to know God, yet claim to know Him.
I am the modern Christian.
I believe in the Bible yet think its standards are too high.
I believe that God is just, yet think everyone is basically good.
I believe that missions are good, yet leave it up to others.
I believe in giving it all up for God, yet pursue my own dreams.
I am the modern Christian.
I know exactly what to say to the lost, but have no idea what to say to God.
I know about denying yourself, but cannot miss my favorite show.
I know about sacrifice, but will not inconvenience myself.
I know I am saved, but do not know what I am saved from.
I am the modern Christian.
I think the child in Africa needs Jesus more than my neighbor.
I think the man who gives up sweets for lent is holy, but the man who fasts from food for two weeks is a radical.
I think that crying is good during altar calls for others to see, but not in my own room for God to see.
I think being called to work for God is good, but would gladly give it up for a higher salary.
I am the modern Christian.
I wait on my calling in life, and will not venture out until I get it.
I wait for a miracle to happen, but don't believe in performing them.
I wait for my friend to get saved, yet will not make dinner for him.
I wait on God's timing, yet do everything my way.
I am the modern Christian.
I call God's laws good, but find them impossible to follow.
I call God's name holy, yet run to Him as a last resort.
I call the Word of God inspired, yet have never read it through.
I call others lost, yet am not aware my own depravity.
I am the modern Christian.
Redemption is a way to rid myself of faults.
Conviction is when I feel guilty about my actions.
Sanctification is a word I do not understand.
Salvation is my ticket into Heaven.
I am the modern Christian.
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| "Eternity in the Hearts of Man" Wow, it's cold. I feel like such a pansy saying that. My sis went
skiing in Colorado recently, and she had some coooold stories. But,
hey, I'm a born and bred Houstonian, so this is pretty dang cold for me.
Since
classes were canceled at Sam, and my work was closed, Tyler and I
decided to hang out. We went to Hastings, and browsed around. I never
plan on buying anything from Hastings. It's just too expensive. I
recommend half.com.
While in Hastings, I was looking around for
some good books on things that interest me. So, I naturally went to the
Christian section. Some good books. Overpriced, but good. Some of the
books in the Christian section looked pretty useless, but thats for
another blog for another day.
So, for about an hour, I flipped
through many books on Christianity, theology, Christian Living, Islam,
Mormonism, Judaism, and even wiccan beliefs. It all is very
interesting. Behind the religious section is the philosophy section.
So, I then proceeded to that section. The first books I saw in the
philosophy section were "The God Delusion" By Richard Dawkins, "The
Anti-Christ" by Friedrick Nietzsche, and "Atheist Manifesto: The Case
Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam" by Michel Onfray. I found
this to be absolutely fascinating. I find the atheist is desperately
trying to prove that there is no god. Almost like philosophy's most
fundamental question is, "Is there a God."
Where does this
longing for spiritual answers come from? Why is all of man-kind
obsessed, throughout the ages, with the spiritual realm, and God in
particular? I see a wide-spread, but folly attempt to defend the
atheistic world-view. For if (referring back to my last posted note)
man could absolutely know that there is no God, what is there to
defend? If life and the universe is ultimately meaningless, why defend
it? There's nothing to defend. Man can talk about it all day, and
contemplate over life's meaning and some may come to the conclusion
that the universe is meaningless, but if the foundation of meaning is
destroyed, life itself must self-destruct. We must cease to exist.
Zacharias
puts it in a great analogy. He has a story of traveling to a university
to speak on the case for Christ. On the way, his driver stopped and
pointed to a building, telling Ravi that it was America's first
post-modern building. Ravi asked the man to explain. The man proceeded
to say that it was made in a way that had no meaning. There were
staircases that went nowhere, columns connecting nothing, hallways,
with no doors. The designer had no meaning in mind, because he felt
life had no meaning, so our buildings don't have to have meaning
either.
Ravi then asked the man, "Is the foundation made in
the same manner?" He made the point that if the foundation was made in
this fashion, the building would not hold. Ultimately, the building had
to be bound by certain laws it could not deny. Superficially, you can
do whatever you want, but deep down, there are certain absolutes that
are undeniable.
So, I thought about why there were so many
philosophy books on God. It reminded me of the verse in Ecclesiastes
3:11 "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men". Mankind has this
undeniable sense of eternity in our hearts that fascinates us. We think
about it, toil on it, deny it, dream about it. There are so many views
on it. Religion has made so many attempts to explain it. Yet, everyone
at every funeral, regardless of the world-view, is thinking, "Where is
that person, now?"
In all the attempts of trying to disprove God, the atheist is further proving how deep rooted eternity is in the hearts of man. | | |
| First of the year.Greetings and God's blessings, everyone.
It has been quite awhile since I last wrote anything. Apologies. A lot has been happening. I spent my first (and hopefully last) Christmas away from Lorie since we've been together. I want to be sad and lonely, but I am too proud of her to be that way. The lives the Lord is touching through her is absolutely encouraging and lets me realize its all worth it.
A girl at work asked me the other day about the Lord. She said she didn't know what she believed anymore, and I guess was searching for some insight. I told her that my answer would be a great more complex than she was probably expecting, but it was a good question, none the less. It was that question that made me dig deep within my heart and ask myself, "Do I know the Lord enough to defend why I am a Christian?" I gave her a short story on why i decided to devote my life to Christ 5 years ago, but we didn't have enough time to go into growth or anything. I hope to continue the conversation later.
I have been really attempting to stretch my mind logically lately. Since I graduated, I have had plenty of time to study philosophy, something that really does interest me.
As a Christian, I think it is very important to know why you believe what you believe. Dr. Ravi Zacharias puts it as "In order to believe something, you must believe it to be true, or it is self defeating." I have many friends from many different walks of life; some are very devout in whatever it is they may believe; others, not so much.
A great trend I am seeing develop amongst my peers is the position of the atheist (belief in no god or divinity.) The reason this belief disturbs me is because I don't think that the people who take this position have really thought about the leap of faith they are taking by claiming there is no god. To claim there is no god is to claim an absolute negative, which if you think about it is philosophically self-defeating. To claim an absolute negative to to claim to have absolute knowledge of the universe and its workings. It also makes the claim to be omni-present, meaning being existent everywhere in the universe at once. This is, of course, impossible. I tend to have more respect for the agnostic belief (comes from the Greek "a" meaning "not", and "gnostic" meaning "know".). I can sympathize with this belief since they understand that the absolute negative is impossible to defend.
It seems to me that the position of atheism takes much more faith to believe than the Christian faith.
Obviously, this is not the only reason I am a Christian, this is just one part of a huge journey that I have traveled on my search for truth in this universe. Maybe my walk with the Lord is different than many others, but I have taken the position of a "truth-seeker" rather than someone of blind faith. So far in 5 years, my search for truth has lead me to where I am now, and I hope to continue to search for it until I have reached the end of my life.
I will continue to write more as time allows for it, but it's time for me to fulfill another great truth I have come to realize since graduating college... I need money to pay my bills. So, off to work I go.
I love you all.
- Duncan
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Merry Christmas. Love you!
- Duncan | | |
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