Living Like You Are A Human

"...the Christian is called to exhibit the characteristics of true humanity, because being a man is not intrinsically being sinful man, but being that which goes back before the Fall, to man made in the image of God."

Schaeffer's thoughts from The God Who is There indirectly touch on an interesting facet of how we define what it means to be human. We often tend to think of people solely in the context of Genesis 3, The Fall. After all, one of the basic facts of life is that everyone is fallen, right? What we miss is that in order to fall, you first need to have been standing. Genesis 3 doesn't make any sense without Genesis 1-2. You have to start with a good creation for that creation to fall. Evil isn't original - either in chronology or it's ability to create. It is proceeded by good and can only twist what is already there.

This perspective should impact how we live life in at least two specific ways:

1. Recognize the Twisting Effects of Evil - it touches everything, including the people with whom I interact. In the Truth Project, Del Tackett presents a helpful analogy: People who believe the lie of sin are POWs, not enemy combatants. The fact that they have been fatally messed up shouldn't prevent me from seeing that they were created to be something good. 
2. Enjoy Life Fully - Following God and enjoying life is a both/and proposition. G.K. Chesterton puts it this way in Orthodoxy: "The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild." Good things running wild, life filled with zest, places and people enjoyed simply because God created them and they were created to be enjoyed - that's part of the life others should see in us. It's easy to evaluate experiences solely in light of their practicality: How much does this cost? Will I be learning something valuable? Is there a more profitable way to spend my time? Those are the questions that I have been quick to ask in the past. While there is a place for questions like these, we also need to recognize that they can completely miss the fact that some things we ought to do simply for the sake of enjoying God through his creation.

Following God and enjoying the world is a both/and proposition. In fact, on some level enjoying the world provides us with a unique way to worship God. With this in mind, what are some ways that you will be enjoying God through His creation in the near future? What are other facets of living a truly human life which we should be thinking about?

Stress and Recentering

Stress - I recently had a run in with this friend. Much as I'd like to leave it behind, my experience so far has been that stress is an inevitable part of life. Like it or not, we'll all continue to run into it through life. While pondering my immediate circumstances, I was reminded of several facts which added perspective to the situation. Before jumping into them though, we should set some Scriptural context.

While I didn't realize it at the time, the path my thoughts took was based on a sermon I heard a year or two ago in Moses Lake, WA. The pastor of the Church I was attending was working his way through the Psalms of Ascent. For Psalm 121, the first verses set the focus for the sermon: "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1-2, ESV)

The thrust of the message was that our constant response to life needs to be one of looking back up to God. In so doing we consciously make Christ the center of our focus, rather than the circumstances. This ends up pushing our focus up and beyond the immediacy of what we are walking through.

With that background, there were two facets of looking to Christ which jumped out at me:

1. God's Providence - Stress is a perfect opportunity to practice trusting in God's control over life. I wish I could say remembering this fact magically changed my circumstances. It didn't. The hand I was working with was still the same. What it did do though was add a fuller context to my view of life. These weren't simply a set of random circumstances I may or may not be able to control. Instead, they were pre-planned activities which God arranged for my benefit and His glory. Even though the stressful circumstances remain, remembering that God is in control is part of centering our focus back on Christ.
2. Limited Horizon - The other facet which which jumped to the forefront of my mind was the fact that I didn't have much perspective on what was actually happening. The space between the here and now and when I hit the horizon line of the future is pretty limited. That's not limited to just a few occasions. For just about everything that life throws at us, the horizon of our perspective is very close. Sure we'll be able to see further in some cases than others, but rarely will we have anything close to an adequate vantage point from which to understand the path we are walking on at the moment. Realizing this should also help us remember to focus back up on Christ, whose vantage point encompasses all of history.

And, there you have it folks - nothing to deep or brainy, but hopefully some thoughts which help you in your walk today. Look up to Christ and center your focus on Him. He knows both where you are at and what is coming. Further, He has planned it for your ultimate good and His greatest glory. It's hard to ask for more than that.

"The hands of a king are the hands of a healer"

"The hands of a king are the hands of a healer." As the last part of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series unfolds, this sentence clues us in on one of the ways that the people of Middle Earth will recognize the True King. At the same time, Tolkien's words also identify a facet of Christ's character.

Before the impact of Tolkien's words can be appreciated, there is an important fact which needs to be understood: The world around us is broken. Completely broken. And, as Schaeffer points out The God Who Is There, this brokenness creates separation. Separation from God, separation from who we are, separation from those around us, and separation from the world in which we live. Because of sin, the world is not as it should be, nor can we relate to it the way we ought.

Understanding the state of the world opens up part of what Christ's salvation means - healing. Paul expresses this in Romans 8:
"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:19-21 ESV) As Paul unpacks for us, the whole world was caught in our fall - but it will be restored as Christ's victory is completed.

The hands of a King are the hands of a healer. Christ demonstrates His authority through the healing He brings to the world. Christ does not seek merely to subdue the rebellion against His rule, He pursues a re-creation of the world which was damaged by this rebellion. The Gospel is not just a message about the defeat of sin. It is a message about God making all things new. This has two distinct impacts on our lives right now.

First, we can trust Christ to completely heal us, eradicating sin at both its deepest and widest reaches in our lives. When Christ restores, the impact is felt in all of our relationships. Being set right with God also means being set in right relationship with the rest of God's world. It means that the death which sin brought to the core of our being and to every area of our lives has been and is being removed. Some of this healing will be an ongoing work through the rest of our lives, but we can trust Christ to provide the healing, strength, and grace to outwork this new life each day.

Second, the effect of the Gospel on our lives is a witness to others of Christ's authority. Schaeffer puts it this way in The God Who Is There: "What we are called to do, upon the basis of the finished work of Christ in the power of the Spirit through faith, is to exhibit a substantial healing, individual and then corporate, so that people may observe it. This too is a portion of the apologetic: a presentation which gives at least some demonstration that these things are not theoretical but real; not perfect, yet substantial." In other words, our witness to others is not solely that the Rightful King has returned and we can prove His credentials, but also that His rule has brought healing to our lives. The healing impact of the Gospel in and through the Church demonstrates to others that Christ is the foundation of reality.

The hands of a king are the hands of a healer. A life that is justified at the Cross will be a life characterized of substantial healing in the world around them - the result of an application of the Gospel to all of life. Not only will their life be healed, but they will then extend that healing to the world around them.

As you look back on your life, can you see areas where Christ's healing has changed you? What opportunities do you have to extend His healing to the world around you?

Roe v. Wade - An Object Lesson

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which practically legalized abortion in the United States. Looking back on this decision, there is some value in evaluating it from the prism of what it means to be a human being. As we will see, how you see human beings and how you describe them has huge effects on how you treat those around you.

For the purpose of this post, I am going to assume that unborn babies are human. I'll grant that in a discussion about the morality of abortion this would be the key point. However, that is not the discussion that I'm aiming for in this post.

There are two basic ways to view human beings. They are either the highest entity in the world or they are the highest created creature. The difference between these two literally ends up being the difference between life and death.

When you hold to the first view of humanity, the foundation of the value system is strength - physical, mental, ability to build things ect. Whatever gives you an edge over those around you, that is what gives you value. After all, that's how humanity in the first place has been valued as the highest entity on the globe. Unfortunately, that also means that human beings which either have no value, no "edge" or ability to defend themselves, don't need to stay alive. From this view, the Roe v. Wade decision makes sense. If an unborn baby doesn't seem to be worth the costs of being born and raised - costs such as money, pain, effort, time - then why keep it alive? Kill it and save the expense.

The other view of humanity operates on the value system of the Creator. If humans are the highest creature, it is because the Creator values them as His highest creation. Taken from the Christian view of the world, the value that the Creator has placed on humanity is that it is made in his image. This being the case, to be human is to be valuable - irregardless of the practical value they appear to add to the world. From this perspective, the Roe v. Wade decision is a devastating tragedy. It is the legal permission to kill people - legal permission to destroy value.

Examining the merits of each viewpoint isn't the goal of this post - though it is something that you should do if you haven't by this point. Instead, the goal is to challenge us to pay more attention to how we define what it means to be human and then consider the results of our definitions. As esoteric as the question may sound, "What does it mean to be human" has serious practicality to all of our lives. Failing to answer this question and have a good reason for that answer leaves the floor wide open for others to answer it - and their answer might not be one that you will be able to live with.

What do you think it means to be a human and why have you come to that conclusion? How does this affect the way you interact with those around you? There are quite a few facets here - not all of them are as drastic as the example that my post centered around. Feel free to branch the conversation out to other aspects of what it means to be human by leaving a comment - your thoughts are very welcome!

Giver of Pain and Forgiveness?

When it comes to pain, the first impulse for most of us is to try and avoid it. This is certainly true for me and I'm assuming you'd probably agree. There might be some differences in how much pain we're willing to endure, but sooner or later we'd all have enough and look for the way out. This being the case, I found the following verse intriguingly counter-intuitive:

"The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 9:13 ESV)

A moment for context. Preceding verses (v. 8-12), inform us that Israel is facing God's judgement. In fact, there have been repeated judgments. Throughout this pain though, God expects Israel to run back to Him. Okay, I'll admit that this doesn't sound super foreign, after all, that's how repentance should work, right? It's certainly a familiar concept for most of people who have spent most time in church. Read that verse again though:

"The people did not turn to him who struck them..."

That is not the typical viewpoint that you will get of repentance. When repentance comes up in sermons or conversations, it will more likely be surrounded by descriptions of God's love and willingness to forgive. Those are both aspects of God's nature, but they are not the facet that Isaiah uses when looking at Israel's lack of repentance. Isaiah examines their response from the fact that God is the one dealing out the punishment. God inflicted the pain and Israel was supposed to run back to Him. I don't know about you, but I find running back to love and forgiveness much more appealing than running back to the source of pain and punishment.

Granted, these two concepts are not really separated like I have described them. Repentance involves turning back to God who has both punished us and desires to forgive us. However, I wonder how often we separate them and focus solely on the love and forgiveness and forget that God is also the one Who deals out justice on me. And in so doing, what have we lost from our knowledge of God that would impact how we live? For instance - consider the dichotomy that I presented above: punishment vs. love and forgiveness. Is God's punishment actually another facet of His love? If this is true, how should it effect our interactions with each other?

These are questions that I haven't thought all the way through before, so I don't necessarily have great answers for them. However, that's the advantage of starting a conversation, you don't need to have all the answers ahead of time! In other words, you are formally invited to join the conversation. Leave a comment with your thoughts - I'd be really interested in hearing them.

To restate them, here are some of the questions under consideration: What, if anything, is lost from our understanding of God when we ignore His role as corrector? Is God's love separate from his punishment? And, how should our lives change in light of the answers we give to these questions?

Good Community is Annoying Community

The purpose of community is annoyance. That is, we need our community to annoy us. Put practically, if your community is not annoying you, you're not getting all you could out of it.

This idea was presented by my Pastor during last Sunday's evening worship service. We were considering how God often uses other people to change us into Christ's image. As a member of a large family, I can attest to the truth of this statement! This being the case, you should expect the members of your community to be annoying at times. If we are not being annoyed, then we are not growing into Christ's image. Unless of course you are Jesus' mirror image, but if you are think that, you're probably not there yet.

So, how annoying is your community? If you are never annoyed by them, odds are you are not really interacting with them enough. Consider some of these thoughts on being in a community and start jumping in a little more. It's not easy and will hurt some, but it's one of the ways that we can open ourselves to God's sanctifying process.

How has your community annoyed your recently? What has this taught you about yourself and helped you grow in Christ's image?

New Post...on a Friend's Blog

My latest bit of written musings is on a topic that haven't tackled yet: Relationships. Yep, romance, love and all that good stuff. However, you will not find this post on this blog. Don't worry, its out there for you to read, you'll just need to visit my friend Caitlin Muir's blog to read it. Click here if you want to travel over to my post on her blog right away!

While you're over there, be sure to check out some of the other posts. Caitlin's blog has a strong focus on how your beliefs should practically affect your life. While I can't guarantee that you'll agree with everything you read, I'm sure that you will find her ideas thought provoking (which can be more valuable than finding someone communicating ideas you already agree with).

But, enough posting about the post. Head over to Caitlin's blog, read the posts she has up, leave a comment or two, and join the conversation!

Truth and Satisfaction

Last fall schoolwork had me studying American Literature. Assignments from one week brought selections from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. While reading the introduction to this key collection of poetry, I came across the following quote:

"Whatever satisfies the soul is truth."

I don't know how it strikes you, but I actually find that I could agree completely with Whitman. Some of you might be disagree with me, and not without good reason. After all, hasn't Whitman in those six words summed up the idea of Relativism? This is a question which is worth a closer look.

By way of background, relativism is the belief that there are no absolutes. Usually the term is used in reference to moral absolutes, but it can be used to refer to a belief about the nature of absolute truth in general. Other statements which epitomize this idea of relativism include:

• "Whatever floats your boat"
• "It's all good"
• "Who are we to judge"
• "There is no right and wrong"
• "Just because it's true for you doesn't mean it is true for me"

Read Whitman's statement again and notice his standard for truth: "Whatever satisfies the soul." If what satisfies us is the determining factor in what is true, than there is no firm definition for truth. After all, we are all satisfied by different things. In some areas, these sources of satisfaction can be contradictory (for instance, my love for coffee and other's pitiable distaste for it). If truth can be both "a" and "not a" at the same time, it really isn't true or a guide for life.

Given this argument, why I would agree with Whitman's statement? The answer to that question lies in definition.

What do we mean when we say "whatever satisfies the soul?" From the perspective of the Bible, the only thing which will satisfy our soul is living in line with God's plan for the world. "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4 ESV)

With this definition of satisfaction, Whitman's statement makes perfect sense. After all, there is only one time we are ever truly happy in this world, when our lives align with the Truth. It logically follows that the more joy we have in our lives, the closer we are to living the Truth.

But that's the rub. Most of us want to define satisfaction for ourselves. Because of the fall, we think that we know what is best for ourselves...and it definitely is not what God wants for us. By pretending that we can define what brings happiness, we end up running from our most fulfilling satisfaction. C.S. Lewis puts it this way in the Screwtape Letters: "...we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever-increasing craving for an ever-diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it's better style. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return..."

In the end, Whitman's quote seems to hold out both a promise and a warning. It promises us that Truth and pleasure enter our lives hand in hand, and that having one will include having the other. However, it warns us that aside from God's salvation and sanctification, we will be blind to both Truth and pleasure.


Do you agree my my analysis of Whitman's quote? If so, how should it affect how we evaluate our lives and beliefs? What kind of an impact should it have on our outlook on life?

The Choice

For the past little while, I've been noticing some areas of sin in my life which had hung around for a while. To be perfectly honest, that is at least in part because I haven't seriously been fighting against the sin in my life. This is why when I was reading Romans 6 today, the Holy Spirit had some select verses to bring to my attention.

Before we get to them though, a quick review of Romans 6 is in order. The overarching thrust of the chapter centers on the Christian's victory over sin. Specifically, the believer's current victory over sin. In the context of the rest of Romans, Paul is refuting the idea presented at the end of Chapter 5 that Christian's should sin freely to exult God's grace and forgiveness. For those of you who love theological terms, this relativistic Christianity is call antinomianism (literally No Law).

Paul's argument in Chapter 6 is that our sin nature died with Christ on the Cross. This means that instead of being freed to sin, the Christian is actually freed from sin. Indeed, to sin is to willfully ignore the effects of Christ's sacrifice for us.

While the whole chapter speaks to this issue, there were several verses which specifically jumped out with application for my life:

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."
(Romans 6:12-14 ESV)

Paul's admonition isn't new. It was stated more concisely by Joshua back when Israel first entered Canaan:

"And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
(Joshua 24:15 ESV)

The question of sin in our lives is not a question of whether we can stop sinning, but rather whether we will stop living in sin. Sin is not unbeatable, or inevitable. It is something that we can overcome through Christ's strength. This leaves us with one final question: will we choose to move forward in Christ's victory, or decide to remained a slave to our sin. There is no other option.

In the post above I briefly touched on the idea of antinomianism, which is one attempt to answer the question of how the Law relates to the Christian. What do you think Scripture says on this topic, and how should that affect our daily lives?

I'm Actually Impressed with the Israelites

We are forgetful people. This was impressed on me when my pastor asked us a month or so ago for the top 2 times we had seen God at work recently, in either our lives or the lives of those around us. I'm sorry to say, I couldn't think of a single instance. That isn't to say that God hasn't been at work, but it does say something about my memory of His workings.

Looking at this from a different perspective, my pastor took us to Exodus 14-15. In this passage the Egyptian army is drowned in the Red Sea, the people of Israel praise the Lord for his deliverance, travel through the wilderness for 3 days, and then begin complaining about the lack of water. Now I don't know about you, but I've always seen the Israelites as "The Complainers." They see God's miraculous works time and time again, yet still seem to be able to quickly slip into complaining. As my pastor pointed out though, they went three days before they started complaining. This was followed up with the question: How long do you go through life before you start complaining? Those three days of the Israelites is much more impressive now, isn't it?

As the sermon progressed, one specific way was highlighted to combat our forgetful tendency: Regularly attend corporate worship services with your local Body of Believers. One of the reasons we should gather to worship as a body on Sunday mornings is to remind ourselves of God's greatness and mighty acts from the past, present, and future. Because of our individual forgetfulness, we need to come together as a Church Body to help reorient our focus back on Christ and off our individual situations.

On the flip side of the coin, we should also look to actively share with others how the Lord has been working in our lives. This was impressed on me as while reading the Psalms for my personal Bible Study. Consider Psalm 35:18 and 28 (ESV):

"I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you....
Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
                and of your praise all the day long."

So the challenge to us is two fold: 1. Are we feeling down, and in a dry place in my walk with the Lord? We mustn't let that stop us from gathering with fellow believers. In fact, we probably need their insight and encouragement to help us to focus back on Christ. 2. Is the Lord working in our lives? Great! Who did we tell about it? We can't hold the good news to ourselves! On that note, here are some of the things that I have to be grateful to the Lord for, small and personal perhaps, but they are ways that I have seen His presence in my life--a decent grade on a paper which I didn't know whether the prof would agree with - peace in answer to prayer during a troubled moment last night - conviction of sin from Scripture reading.

What about you? How has the Lord been working in your life recently?

Weeds

My daily Bible study today had me reading Matthew 13, which contains quite a few parables related to the Kingdom of God. One of the more well know of these parables is the Parable of the Sower (verses 3-9, 18-23). In this parable, Christ describes 4 sets of seeds.

The first set are sown on hard ground. There is no potential for them to actually get into the soil and grow, so they just sit on the surface and are eaten by birds. The second set are sown in soil which is full of rocks, and they are unable to develop a root system deep enough to survive. The third set is sown in a plot of land full of weeds which keep the growing plants from receiving the nutrients and water they need. The forth and final set of plants is sown on good ground and they produce varying amounts of fruit. As Christ explains to his disciples later on, each of these sets of seeds represents different types of responses to the Word of God in the lives of people.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, frankly it is because my life has been in the weeds lately. I don't know about you, but I think I always had this idea in the back of my mind that the weeds were evil influences, sinful desires which crept in and stole away time from God's Word. What I've been seeing in my life though, is that these weeds can be good, or at least innocent, things. If I were to get down to brass tacks, some of the weeds in my life have included work, school work, Facebook, spending time with friends and reading outside of school for my own enjoyment and edification. Everything on the list (Facebook excepted) is as a rule rather wholesome and a necessary part of living a good life. However, by letting them all overcrowd my day so that I don't have time to study the Bible, they have turned into weeds which ultimately will choke my faith.

As has been pointed out many times before, the good is the enemy of the best. Important, necessary parts of the Christian life can never substitute for its foundation. If we are not going back to the Bible and re-centering our lives on Christ and His Word, our Christian walk will fall apart. At least I know that I can't live the Christian life without Christ's grace and strength.

Praise the Lord though, there is mercy and forgiveness for sinners like myself. The fact that weeds are in the garden doesn't mean that it needs to be given back to the wild. Instead, it means that there is an opportunity to claim ground for Christ and pull them out! So, let's go conquer some weeds!

What about you? Do you see yourself in one of the sets of seeds? What kind of weeds to do you see in your life? What have you found helpful in preventing/pulling out weeds in your life? Feel free to leave a comment and join the conversation!

Why Read Fiction?

Why read fiction?

I mean, why would one want to read a story that never really took place? Couldn't your time be much better spent reading what has actually happened (history) or thoughts on how the world actually works (theology, philosophy ect.)? That was certainly my thought once upon a time. Fiction was a pleasure that I rarely let myself indulge in, because I wanted to keep my mental muscles in tone, and reading something for the pleasure of the story would only make them flabby. Fortunately for me, one of my professors at Summit Semester helped me to see fiction in a completely new light. In his book, The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton sums up this new perspective well:


"We know the meaning of all the myths.. We know the last secret revealed to the perfect initiate. And it is not the voice of a priest or a prophet saying, 'These things are.' It is the voice of a dreamer and an idealist crying, 'Why cannot these things be?'"

"Why cannot these things be?" Could this be why the fictitious stories in literature touch us in a way which is uniquely different from the facts of history or the abstractions of great thinkers? Couldn't it be because we know that the would ought to be different, and that what we experience in our lives are not really the experiences for which we were ultimately made?

Further on in The Everlasting Man, Chesterton muses on what the shepherds found when they were lead to Christ on the first Christmas Day. His thoughts highlight the importance which story can have in understanding our faith:

"The place that the shepherds found was not an academy or an abstract republic; it was not a place of myths allegorized or dissected or explained  or explained away. It was a place of dreams come true. Since that hour no mythologies have been made in the world. Mythology is a search"


In Christianity, the stories are made true. The Velveteen Rabbit comes to life. The things which the idealist wishes were, really are, and are in a much larger and fuller way than he could ever have imagined. As Chesterton puts it elsewhere in The Everlasting Man: "But in reality the rivers of mythology and philosophy run parallel and do not mingle till they meet in the sea of Christendom." In Christianity we find a unity between the logical abstractions of what is true about the world and the stories which attempt to paint the picture of those same truths.

So, again, why read fiction? One ought to read fiction to shake themselves awake from the stupor that comes from looking at the broken world in front of us and trying to make sense of it. One ought to read fiction to bring out the wonder and awe which only a picture of the truth can bring. One ought to read fiction to learn what questions need to be asked about reality. As God's reveled Truth, the Bible contains all the answers we will ever need in this life. However, sometimes in our day-to-day lives we can lose sight of what we were looking for in the first place. Dipping into the search of mythology can help remind us again of the object of our search: Jesus Christ Who is both The Word become Flesh and the Truth.

That is why I read fiction.

What do you think? Is this accurate? Have I overstated my case? Could it be a more nuanced? Leave a comment and join the conversation!

An Alternative to Egyptian Poetry

I really should be working on a paper for my Non-Western Literature class. However, analyzing the literary devices used in a selection of Egyptian poems does really get me super excited. So I'm going to jot some thoughts down here on the side about something else I've been reading recently...

Specifically, I've been working on reading C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy. At this point the first book, Out of the Silent Planet, is nearly finish. Of all the lines which jumped out at me, A particular section wanted to be written up in a blog post. Before we look at the section though, a little background is in order.

Out of the Silent Planet follows the adventures of Dr. Ransom as he is flown to a different planet and interacts with the various beings found there. The ruler of the particular planet where Ransom's story takes place is named Oyarsa. In the selection below, we find Ransom sharing the history of the earth with some of the inhabitants he has met. As these inhabitants react to Ransom's recounting, Lewis nails the problem of humanity:

"They were astonished at what he had to tell them of human history--of war, slavery, and prostitution.

'It is because they have no Oyarsa,' said one of the pupils

'It is because everyone of them wants to be a little Oyarsa himself,' said Augray."

"Everyone of them wants to be a little Oyarsa himself." The temptation to be a god, to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, has been the problem of the human race since the Fall. For most people, it appears that this is a way to freedom. After all, if you are not taking orders from someone else, you are free to do as you want, right? It certainly sounds pretty good. Good enough in fact, that every person since Adam has bit on the idea. As Isaiah reminds us: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way..." (Isaiah 53:6 ESV) 

However, this idea ignores a basic fact of human existence: we are all slaves. Paul pointed this out in his letter to the Romans: "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16 ESV) To put it another way, the world is caught up in a battle between good and evil, and there is no neutral ground. You are either on the side of good or the side of evil. By trying free himself from the rule of good, man has only given himself over to the rule of evil. Further, as all men are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1), they will naturally continue to choose to be ruled by sin.

In the end, this analysis, so far as it is true, leaves me rejoicing. This rejoicing stems from how it demonstrates God's love for us, and mighty work on our behalf. Rather than destroy man, He has chosen to break the power of sin and raise us back to life in Him (Eph. 2:5-6). It also leaves me with a reminder to stay humble, for it is only in God's strength, given through Christ, that I can hope to actually live a life of righteousness. Finally, it also leads me to ask if there are areas of my life where I am trying to be a "little Oyarsa." Oswald Chambers has correctly pointed out that I cannot be on the throne of my life at the same time as God.

How about you? What thoughts does this picture of the human condition bring to your mind? How should it affect the way you live?

The Head of the Trail

Well, I’m taking the plunge here and beginning a blog. It has been on my to do list for a while, but the time to get an initial post out never quite materialized (until now). As we start this path (assuming you’ll travel a little with me) it would probably be helpful if I explain to you where we’re headed.

As you may have guessed from the title of the blog, the posts you will read will be primarily theological in nature. The title is a reference to Dr. Michael Bauman’s book “Pilgrim Theology.” In this book, Dr. Bauman encourages the reader to avoid resting in their current knowledge of God, and instead continue exploring deeper into what the Bible says about Him. In this sense, theology is much like a journey into God’s revelation of who He is. Whether you like it or not, because you are human this is a journey you are already on. The question is whether you will pursue the trail in earnest, or merely play at being a pilgrim. Dr. Charles Ryrie puts it this way:

“Theology is for everyone. Indeed, everyone needs to be a theologian. In reality, everyone is a theologian — of one sort or another. And therein lies the problem. There is nothing wrong with being an amateur theologian or a professional theologian, but there is everything wrong with being an ignorant or sloppy theologian.”

Hopefully this blog will serve as a log book of sorts for my journey. Sometimes the entries will be clear and the thoughts well defined. Other times, they will contain questions for which I have yet to find the answers. In either case though, I hope that these musings will serve to encourage you to press on your pilgrimage and not give up, even when the trail is rough. Who knows, they may even shed some light on your way! Conversely, I’m looking forward to hearing from you, and getting your insight into the Truth as we go!

What are we waiting for? Let’s hit the trail!