Belief is one of those things.

What do we believe we should believe?

Jesus said “come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28 NLT).  The Bible also says not to worry (Phil 4:6), and those who fear haven’t made perfect in love.  It also says to be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect, and yet God’s commands aren’t burdensome.

So… imagine a life without heavy burdens, no worry, no fear, living in love, living in God, and to top it off, you’re perfect!  …Whatever that means.

But I believe we’re supposed to live that way.  I believe we can, and I believe it’s not a hard thing.  It just comes down to belief.

And yet, sometimes I believe things that lead me into worry, fear, and not living in love.  At some point I  realized that virtually every problem I have comes back to believing the wrong thing, and not believing the right thing.

The fierce battle over our understanding of how things are

It is said that the devil’s only weapon left against us is to deceive, to trick us into believing some distortion of the truth.  Our war is in opposition, and we must be fierce about it as well:

“for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor 10:4-5

How do we go wrong?

I like to identify ways I and other people go off track, and how to get back on track:

1. Do we get angry or frustrated when things aren’t perfect or don’t go as planned?  If so, we have forgotten the serenity we can have with an active belief in God’s sovereignty and that in all things He works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose. (Ro 8:28)
2. Do we feel we need to flatter others, or God, or make sure everyone knows how available we are to them, in order to feel good about ourselves?  If so, we have forgotten that we can be like Jesus and with humility, only do what we see the Father doing.  ”…the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing…” John 5:19.  If that’s true for Jesus, how much more so for us?
3. Do we feel we need to achieve to have value?  If so, we have forgotten God has adopted and accepted us as His sons and daughters. (Ro
4. Are we dependent on a feeling of connectedness to people we admire in order to feel satisfied?  If so, we have forgotten the unity we have or will have in Christ (John 17), and that all things belong to you (1 Cor 3:21-23)
5. Do we fear lack, and feel we need to hang on or we won’t have enough?  If so, we have forgotten our God is Jehovah Jirah, our provider.  ”And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19)
6. Do we fear for our safety, thinking we can’t trust anyone but ourselves?  If so, we have forgotten God is our refuge (Ps 91)
7. Do we feel impatient, and fear missing out on fun and good things?  If so, we have forgotten God’s plan for our lives are good, and we can trust Him each step of the way. (Jer 29:11)
8. Do we get upset about injustice, and feel things can’t be right until we make them right?  If so, we have forgotten that vengeance is the Lord’s, and He is faithful to be a judge in due time. (Heb 10:30)  It also helps to be innocent like a child. (Mk 10:15)
9. Do we think we don’t matter, stop sticking up for ourselves, and stop pursuing our goals and dreams?  We have forgotten God is love, and He satisfies the desire of every living thing  (Ps 145:16), even desires we forgot about.

I have found the Enneagram a useful map of how people go wrong.   In case you’re curious, the numbers above correspond to my understanding the 9 points of the Enneagram.

How serious is it?

In addition to suffering needlessly, God takes belief or unbelief pretty seriously.

Hebrews 3:7-13 (NAS) says:

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.

“THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;
AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’ ”

Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

I highlighted the “evil, unbelieving heart” part.  Unbelief is serious!  Not entering God’s rest is serious.  So, don’t do it

The rather good consequences of getting it right

… “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”  and he was called “the friend of God.” Jm 2:23

How good is it to have righteousness credited to you?  And just for believing?  Sounds like a good deal, not to mention being a friend of God.  How can we be a friend of God if we don’t believe what He says?

Hebrews 3:2 says Jesus and Moses were faithful.  Easton’s Bible Dictionary says faithful here “as a designation of Christians, mans full of faith, trustful, and not simply trustworthy.”

I have wondered at times what faithfulness really means and if it is more than being trustworthy.  Based on Easton’s definition, and the seriousness of unbelief, I see now how being full of faith is a vibrant and active virtue.

Hebrews 11 is the Biblical hall of fame for those who lived by faith.  I enjoy pondering each faithful person there, and think about what it might mean to live with the same kind of faith today.  What has God told me personally to believe for, through Scriptures and through His still small voice?   I ponder what it would have been like to spending a big chunk of my life making a boat when it had never rained.  Noah did it, and “with reverence.”

Sometimes believing seems hard.  What strategies can help?

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Ro 10:17)

There’s a big key!

Need more faith?  Belief is serious, and becoming familiar with the word of Christ can seriously help you.

Also, God loves you.  Go to Him and let His Holy Spirit minster to you, and help you believe down to your core.  He understands the depths of your mind better than you do, so His help can be invaluable.

Epilogue – Enneagram

How long does a blog post have to be in order to qualify for an Epilogue?  Anyway, here’s one:

Like I said above, I also find the Enneagram one tool that has helped me a lot, although I am a little hesitant to recommend to the world  at large the book that helped me, “The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram” by Sandra Maitri, because it is not written from a Christian perspective (though I personally thought it did a good job of being religion neutral, but I know others may have a hard time with it.)  However, I highly recommend it to some people I know, and perhaps I will write more about it from my own perspective in the future.

Often, people struggle with one more than the others at a point in their lives, and it is called their ‘ennea-type’.  The flip side is that when they believe the right thing, they can have a stronger virtue in that area.  I don’t like to box people into types, and I personally take it as a challenge to excel in all 9 ways.

Is it a perfect map with 9?  I don’t know, but I like it, and there are some other cool things about it that I won’t get into now.

Aside from the spiritual path one takes, no other decision matters in life as much as who you marry.  It is said 90% of your happiness or misery will come from this one decision.

So how does one make such a decision, or to marry at all?  Here are my thoughts:

Compatibility of Life Journeys

Being alone has its advantages, namely independence.  As a single, I could move anywhere, do anything, be a bum, or be a workaholic, and nobody would be severely impacted.  Married, I would want to live in the same place as my wife and be a responsible provider to her and potentially a family.

I am quite dedicated to God, and trust Him enough to change the path I am on.  If He told me to sell all I had and be a missionary to Africa for the rest of my life, I would like to think I would do it.  (Africa is just a cliche.  Just as possible, He could tell me to switch careers and move to Asia.)  I know it could be a really hard emotional decision, but He has earned enough trust with me to be able to convince me that I would ultimately be happier, in this life and the next.  (I know He would still love me and bless me if I said no and still followed Him in other ways, but I know enough to know it’s not worth considering.)

If I had a wife, it would be really good if, when I felt God leading me and us somewhere, she was open to us being led by the Holy Spirit (as the Bible instructs), and much better, hear God for herself, to be led and so we could confirm things together.  I believe every Christian can (and non-Christians can too), and lately I am around Christians who believe this and live this.

Compatibility of God’s Plan, and What kind of life will you have?

That leads to the question, if God knows which paths in life are best for us, He also knows who would make a good life companion for us along that path.

What does life hold?  Will it simply be a typical North American family, living in peace, enjoying one anothers’ company?  Enjoying long walks on the beach?  Taking the kids to soccer?  Bringing home the bacon?  If so, perhaps there are many potential match-ups that God could bless.  I like to think there is a great amount of potential for love in any marriage.  (Sometimes personalities seem difficult after being married a while, but I still like to believe that love never fails, love will find a way, and take my admittedly optimistic naivety as a challenge to see how two people could discover each other in a way that they could fall back in love.)

But what if there is there a big important endeavour you will take on in life that would end in failure, unless a particular spouse with unique traits is there to help you through?  Or what if there will be some single critical difficult situation in your life that He has prepared a particular person to help you grow in your character, so that you can get through that situation?  Or does God know that if you wait for a person you will meet a little later, they will satisfy you much more deeply than anyone you have yet to meet?   If any of these are the case, you would probably appreciate it if God steered you towards the person (and away from others,) or somehow put that person in your path.

Wisdom versus Direction

There are two philosophies possible here: heed wisdom but do whatever seems right to you, and God will bless it (either because He will bless anything, or He will see where you’re headed arrange things for the best for you,) or at the extreme opposite, there is only one person in God’s perfect plan for your life, and if you miss it you are doomed.

I don’t like either extreme, but I believe He will lead us to the extent we let Him (and sometimes He gets our attention, sometimes through painful circumstances, to convince us to let Him lead us.)  He could lead us in either way, or both.  He could lead by wisdom and having the joy of discovering the details of life out as we go, or He could lead by a more specific guidance, and let us have the joy of a precious gift brought to us, from a loving Father who specifically knows our innermost desires.  I don’t think either joy is inherently better than the other: I am a romantic and also find joy that God enjoys variety when crafting love stories for His people.

For people who think they lean toward one style, God may even slip in the other: those who are led by wisdom may have the wisdom illuminated and brought to the forefront of the mind by the Holy Spirit at timely times, to give a warning or say go for it.  Those who feel God often leads them directly in many areas of their lives may make incidental choices that happen to be an expression of wisdom, and set them up for better circumstances.

God may know the future, but it is still ours to discover, and our choices still shape what comes.  So I do not worry about the paradox of free will versus determinism (and the idea that everything that will happen is already decided and therefore doesn’t matter).

If  we feel God leads us, do we really know what will happen?

If we think God is leading us specifically towards or away from someone, we must still proceed with humility and wisdom.

I often think of God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.  Abraham was prepared to do it, but then at the last moment God said ‘just kidding!’  (Ok, that is not a direct quote.)  But if Abraham had said a few hours earlier “by this time tomorrow, Isaac will be dead”, he would have been wrong, even though God told him exactly what to do: to kill him!

The important thing seems to be, after you have asked God to bless your life and submitted your life to Him so He can bless it, that you follow Him however He leads.  He can be trusted.

Note: If you are engaged and hoping God will say “just kidding!” at the wedding altar, I would be concerned.  But I know Jesus also said “whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”   (I’m not just a romantic — I must also be a dramatic romantic, to have situations like that pop into my mind.)

If we feel God leads us, do we really know when or how it will happen?

God promised Abraham and Sarah an heir, but they tried to make it happen in their own way, in their own time, using a surrogate mom, and it was the wrong approach.  It seemed impossible otherwise, but “with God, all things are possible.”  Even though Sarah was laughably post-menopausably old, God made her fertile and so she had a son named laughter (Isaac.)

So not only do we need humility in case God says “just kidding, I was testing you and will give you something better,” but we need to trust Him step by step, day by day for how He leads in that day.  Running out ahead of Him and His plan will cause unnecessary difficulty and detours in our lives.

Seeking pleasure, or seeking love?

I went through a period of depression in my life, for 7 years, not because of a chemical imbalance.  I was disappointed in what the world had to offer, to sum it up.  I had had enough of life, and would have ended it, had God not shown me He had a purpose for it.

But I discovered the joy of love, but more importantly, being loved by God.  This is important.

What do we have to give as human beings?  Well, take a man and a woman, and they can fulfill one another’s sexual lusts.  Is that love? No — but there could be love.  I am glad God put that motivation out there so that people would discover intimate love.  There could also be tax benefits.  So thanks, government.  (Yes I did just put sex and taxes in the same paragraph.)

As a Christian, I’m not supposed to be driven by lusts.  ’I am no longer a slave to sin, but to righteousness’ according to Romans 6.  But then Paul in 1 Cor 7 says “I say to the unmarried … that it is good if they remain [single].  But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion”  and “I wish all men were [single].”

So it’s good not to marry…. umm thanks Paul.

This verse has stuck with me over the years.  I took it as a challenge, not to be led into marriage by lust.  After all, I’m not a slave to it anymore, according to the Bible.  At times I went too far, refusing to acknowledge beauty or companionship in women at all.  Some parts of life would be easier and simpler if we were all androgynous — for me, more deep but innocent and playful friendships that I maybe missed in childhood would still be possible.   But it’s good that we grow up into adulthood with distinctive gender traits.  Thanks to biology, God didn’t have to nudge me too hard to say to me one day “hey look, this is good!  I made womankind for you!”  (Which then of course forced me to rebalance my purity filters to survive in our pornographic, sex-overdosed culture — sigh.  But with Him it is more than doable!)

So No Lust?  What’s the Point?

Back to love, depression, and purpose on earth….

I have come to believe our purpose is nothing less, and perhaps nothing more, than to enjoy being loved by God.  Everything we do in life can flow out of being loved by God.  I have not yet learned to see all of life this way, but this view is taking over my life, and I know it is the way to live.

I grew up in a church culture that somehow  let me or led me to believe I had to perform for God in order to feel I was fulfilling my end of the bargain with regards to not getting torched in Hell when my time here is up.   I didn’t want God to be mad at me.

I still ask Him from time to time, “why do You love me so much?”  There is no answer, because it is a nonsensical question.  He *is* love.

*He* fulfilled the obligation when He died on the cross for my (much) less than perfect life.  Now He wants me to realize that in Him, I’m free.  He made a whole universe for me to discover, and gave me tools to create and express, and most amazing of all, He loves me because He likes me, and He wants to be my friend — a deep, satisfying two way friendship, full of the most rich kinds of all sorts of colours of love.  It’s exhilirating.

The One who made me knows how to make me happy, and I make Him happy because that’s why He made me.

Now, I don’t care if I’m on this wretched disaster we call planet earth, because this relationship transcends that.  Humanity made a mess of this place, and continues to do so, both on a grand scale, and with people in my life, on big and little disappointments.  (And I of course disappoint others.)   I have high standards in some things in life, but if people don’t live up to them, so what?  You can disappoint my standards, but you can’t disappoint me anymore.  (I love you.)

I don’t care anymore.  I don’t need it anymore.  I have something — someone better.

So back to lust one last time, the good news for everyone in some kind of sin or lust is that God gave us all the desires we have, and wants to fulfill them — and He knows the best way, so we just have to trust Him.  It’s so good.  John Piper, a famous Christian teacher has a famous line “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him,” and talks about ‘Christian hedonism.’  I believe it.  It’s also orthodox Christianity.

God is so good, why bother with anything else?

Does all this mean I don’t care about life?  Why care about anyone or anything on earth?  Why not just be a God junkie?

Honestly, I could.   I have spent a lot of time doing nothing but thinking with Him.  One time, I went on a trip to a place I was looking forward to exploring, and I ended up not feeling like doing anything other than sitting in a room and spending time with God.  It was so weird, at the time, but it was still sinking in — nothing can compare to God.

Once in a while, with me just laying there, God does something to move to make me feel so good, like ecstasy.  I think, “maybe highs from drugs are something like this.”  I don’t think of going to drugs for an encore, because for me, ecstasy can only ever be compelling when it is a person, as opposed to when it is a pill.  (Even if such moments of affectionate bliss are rare, for now.)

But at some point, it is like you breathe God in, and He is in you.  Inseparable.

It is a joy to dream, and to do.  To feel strong, to feel alive, vibrant in life, fully appreciating every goodness.

It is also a joy to give.

… God gave me so much.  I have so much.  I don’t need anything. …

I see someone, and I think, “wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could feel as good as I feel, and to see what I see?”  I want to give them a hug and tell them they are loved, until they know God loves them.  Sometimes it’s hard to physically connect, but there is always prayer, and when you feel inseparable from God, prayers said out of a desire to love, to give a spiritual hug, really feel like they accomplish something.

This Love …and Marriage?

So life can be wonderful: enjoying God, enjoying living life, dreaming, doing, giving, praying.  Life seems so full.  So marriage?  Something new and more complicated and mysterious?

But I think that it’s perfect:  To have a full life, satisfied in oneself, generous toward others, and in a place of total obedience to God and dedication to His kingdom.

…but then still overflowing so much to have the strength and desire to pour one’s full focus into one special someone.

…and God still overflowing in His power and goodness so much that it is His favour to bless two of His servants and friends with marriage.

To find favour with God in finding a wife, yet still being devoted to God would be a paradox except made this possible through His goodness.  Perhaps this is the most joyful revelation in marriage as a gift to a beloved son and daughter of God.

Marriage

How marvelous is this kind of love — while there are limits to the depth of love for others who come and go, and never get too close — to be free to be to one soul a love unrestrained, a love that is by its nature not enough unless it is too much: an ever-unfolding unconditional love to her who is deemed always and forever perfect without reason.

And how great is it to be one who is loved:  to be caught in permanent assurance of love without precondition, an expansive refuge, invited to explore from the depths of one’s soul to the ends of the world with honest abandon, knowing that no matter how far she wanders, her lover will pursue her; no matter how much she pushes, he can not be injured; no matter how deeply she naps, he is faithful to awaken her to new life; and no matter how much she forgets her own worth during all her adventurous discoveries, there will always be one waiting to remind her she is the most cherished of all.

It is the culmination and union of two already-fulfilled purposes: to bring unending delight to one other.

Part of the devil’s first schemes against mankind (and therefore God) was to get man and woman to feel guilty before God, needing to hide from Him.  Often when we do something wrong, we feel like we have to go away, fix the matter, and then come back to God. This is totally wrong!

“and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” – Genesis 3:8

…like that was going to do any good!  Furthermore, if we think we aren’t good enough to meet with God, and already off track, that is only going to make things worse!

Burdens: For God, not for us

The simple answer?  The Bible says to confess your sins, and He will forgive (1 John 1:9). Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30

Guilt is a huge burden: feeling we’ve messed up so bad that we can’t be made right, and that we don’t deserve to be redeemed.  But God saw all of us making a mistakes before He made us, and He did anyway!  And He loved us SO much that He sent His Son to die for us.  All of us.  Do not underestimate how much God loves you, no matter what you’ve done.

Sometimes it actually takes humility to accept that God can still love you.  That’s right, if you think “God shouldn’t bother with me, I’ve done really bad things,” you may have a pride problem.  ”I’m doing God a favor by staying away until I can get my life on track.”   Bzzt!  Get over it, and get some love already!  God really likes it when you have the guts to let the hot air out of your ego.

Christians: Putting God on hold (queue telephone elevator music)

The problem is by no means limited to those who are “running from God.”  Well-mannered Christians who think they’re doing pretty well can make a mistake and think they have to fix it on their own and pat themselves on the back before they can go be back on good terms with God.  What happens on this little  ”oops! God, I’ll be right back” excursion?  The attempt to fix the problem is done ‘in the flesh’, which is jargon for trying to do something in the spiritually empty strength of man that which can only be accomplished through by the Spirit of God, which He freely offers.  So inevitably, the person tires themselves out without making progress, often making things much worse before they finally hit bottom in some way and give up.  (So do yourself a favor and give up ever trying to redeem yourself by your own power.)

Self-righteousness that leads to hypocrisy

Other Christians may even have a self-righteousness problem, thinking they’re all that, and be in denial that they’ve compromised on what’s right.  ”I’m pretty good, and I’ll allow myself this, because it’s no big deal.  It’s not really wrong.”  Eventually, this self-righteousness grows putrid and it is evident (especially to non-legalistic people) how hypocrisy abounds.  It can even infect entire subcultures of Christianity! Jesus was extremely upset with the Pharisees, who had a really bad case of this problem.

Bottom line – Don’t put up with burden

So, bottom line for anybody: if you’ve made a mistake, big or small, go to God about it.  Even if its something you’ve asked forgiveness for 1000 times.  Even if you think it made you unlovable.  Confess it to Him and ask Him if there’s anything you need to do.  Ask Him to help you not to do it again.  Ask Him to take the burden of guilt away, replacing it with a knowledge that you are justified by Jesus Christ. If you need to, keep asking — He is faithful, and there is nothing He wants more than to have friendship restored with you.  It pleases Him each time you humble yourself to ask Him to forgive and to help you.

Guilt is a healthy emotional response when we’ve done something we know is wrong, but if we carry it around with us, it is a burden that weighs us down and keeps us from God.  We should not carry the burden any further than the cross.  Jesus wants to trade you all your burdens for rest, and let you know He is gentle.

God engineered things for us to live predominantly guilt-free

In the Garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day (Genesis 3).   Enoch “walked with God”.  This is what we are made for — to have fellowship and companionship with the God (1 Cor 1:9) who created us as relational beings, capable of love.  How cool is it to know God loves you, likes you, and is happy with you?  (Even if you still make mistakes and have major character deficiencies!)  It is pretty much the best feeling in the world.  If King David can be an adulterer and murderer and still be a “man after God’s own heart,” that is good news for all of us!  (I for one don’t envision I will become anywhere near perfect or run out of “character improvement missions” in this lifetime.)

So how long are you going to hold onto that guilt, trying to fix it on your own, and let it keep you from feeling God’s love?  10 years of regret? 1 year of self-beration?  A week of dread?  A minute of sorrow?  A second of humility?  I’ll race ya!

God makes a difference to virtually every part of my life, so it makes sense to acknowledge my non-believing readers and try to give the beginning of an explanation of why I believe in Him.

Empiricism

Our Western civilization is built in large part upon empiricism, the idea that we understand things exist by conducting repeatable experiments to prove or disprove an idea.  It works great for impersonal aspects of our world, but what about the personal ones?  A typical issue I have had with the atheist view over the years is that the belief in the non-existence of the person of God is based on the inability of these impersonal tests to support the person of God.

If God, as a person, chooses to remain somewhat hidden (existing in a remote place) or as most closely represented by a historical ambassador (Jesus Christ) or as a non-physical unpredictable force (spirit), working through miracles and through people (the “body of Christ”), in non-repeatably provable or disprovable ways, then empiricism would seem to be by definition incapable of determining whether this God exists.  (And I think it can make a lot of sense to for God to want to be this way, if He is relational and loving God, and values the building of trust over a army of pre-programmed robots.)

Empirical methods have taught us a great deal and I consider it one of many invaluable tools.  One of its features is that it helps us be very accurate and confident in our understanding.  However, after watching how people think, it is clear to me that in our day to day lives we form understandings of the world that are often both correct and valuable using many means aside from empiricism.  Not everything can be reduced to repeatable scientific experiments — there is much more to life than what we can prove scientifically.

Ockham’s Razor, and “Faith” in Science

I also understand how empiricism has brought us a long way over the last several hundred years, and we are on quite a roll.  It would seem silly to stop now and say everything we don’t quite understand yet can be attributed to a single factor, whether magic, or God, or aliens, or never understandable.  However, to say that science as we know it today will eventually answer all questions about the universe is an non-empirical sentiment that has no proof — we do not have prior examples of human civilizations learning about universes to base this on.

Some people appear to have a ‘faith’ in the unproven idea that empiricism can eventually help us know all there is to know, which as mentioned earlier is potentially (and in my opinion likely) problematic since by definition it can’t know certain things.

There is the familiar saying that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” (Clarke’s 3rd Law) and the belief that as technology advances, we will understand more.  However, Clarke’s 1st law states: “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”  In other words, science is great for confirming what we know, but a poor predictor about guessing the limits of its view of reality.  Those engrossed with science, as with many other communities (including the Christian church, and in Jesus’ time, the Jewish religious leaders) tend to get an inflated view of themselves from their successes and think that their little corner of the world is the be all and end all, when really, the end is much bigger than they imagined.

Occam’s Razor is the principle of selecting the less complicated explanation, when two explanations can both account for something.  As a principle, it makes sense: if you find a coin laying on your sidewalk, it is more likely that someone walking by dropped it, than alien put it there to conduct a psychological experiment on what your reaction may be — even though both explanations could be perfectly valid.  This principle is used by many to say that it is easier to explain nature without God, but there are others, such as myself, who have seen things that make it very much simpler for there to be a God than not.  To continue the example, if it was instead $100 bills on the sidewalk, and you had previously in the week seen aliens placing them on sidewalks and hiding behind bushes to see what the humans would do, then the simpler explanation would be the aliens.  (For another perhaps more down-to-earth example, replace aliens with a reality TV show involving hidden cameras.)

In summary, Occam’s Razor is helpful, but depends on what a person has seen and learned, which is different for everyone.  Imagine trying to tell Harry Potter there is no such thing as magic or the Wright brothers that heavier-than-air human flight is impossible — in such cases you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

“Believe What You Want”

People are very complicated as psychological beings, with a myriad of subconscious motives tugging on every thought.  Regardless of belief in God, I see everyone into two categories: those who seek the truth, and those who seek to affirm what they already believe or want to believe.  Of course, the second group seems to be sadly lacking in character, willing to settle for naive fantasy that will inevitably keep them from living life to the fullest, to the extent their naivety is wrong (and they very well could get lucky and be more right than they know.)   I have a lot more respect for the first group (for intellect and character,) no matter what they believe.

I am writing this blog post in large part to try to convince atheists and agnostics that as a Christian, I am a sincere truth-seeker.  Christians can be and are often portrayed in media as intellectually dishonest and I really don’t like to be grouped into that category.  I also share disdain for intellectual (or moral or any other kind of) dishonesty, laziness, or fear, even when (or especially when) it is in Christians.

For the intellectually dishonest group, there are plenty of motives both for believing God does exist, and for believing he doesn’t.  For those of us who have some or a lot of intellectually honesty, there are still many motives that can get in the way of abandoning comfortably familiar ideas in favour of truer ones.  It is therefore important to make a point of devoting oneself to seeking truth, and be dispassionate about the facts when debating about what is true.

“Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” – Proverbs 4:7

Unfortunately, dispassion is often lacking in science, history, religion, psychology, and virtually every other area of life, often making it very difficult for a newcomer to sort between misrepresentations of truth, versus a fair portrayal of facts.  It’s not surprising though, since a core tenet of Christianity is that there is a big information war going on, with one side seeking to obscure truth, and the other to make it known.  Our lives can in large part be viewed in terms of how we navigate this battlefield.

History

Many people believe the Bible to be remarkably consistent with history, a strong historical document on its own, and full of already fulfilled prophecies spanning hundreds of years that are virtually impossible to have been fulfilled by chance.  I hold this view.

Some have a low view of tradition and myth, and believe it is pretty easy to teach or brainwash the next generation into thinking whatever is desired.  I tend to think this is true as well.

I have also seen it is easy for those who do not want the Bible to be true or consistent to find apparent contradictions, but honestly, I find the claims I have seen to be dishonest or so trivial they are insignificant. The  inconsistencies I have seen such as those arising from imperfect translations of original texts do not seem to significantly impact the message of the Bible.

I am not an expert on history or on Biblical accuracy, but the prophecy and consistency stands out to me (as does the witness of the Holy Spirit, which is perhaps even more important, though non-believers may not understand that.)  Also, I know others have set out to disprove the Bible and ended up concluding it is true, such as Lee Strobel, as discussed in his book, The Case for Christ.

The Person of God: Who the what now?

This is the point I ultimately wanted to get to: the Bible talks about many things about relationship with God.  It talks about fellowship with His spirit, God as comforter, us living in God, God living in us, hearing His voice, feeling His love, God leading us to do things, God showing His power through us, etc.

There is so much to debate in the things mentioned above, in history, and science, that God as a living person who is actually with us can get lost in the confusion.  Like most people, I am not a historian, nor am I a scientist, but I am a professional person, and God as a person seems to be underrepresented in discussions about the existence of God, and more importantly to me,  even within the church (which in turn makes the church look less real to non-believers.)

The church can focus primarily on what you should do, what you shouldn’t do, who to associate with, sets of beliefs, and so on, with none of this involving God.  This is a problem with me.  Some other Christian friends and leaders and churches I know have a problem with this too, and a buzz-word for this mindset is “religious.”  In this sense, it is bad to be religious, or to have a religious spirit, or religious or legalistic mindset, because then one isn’t having a true relationship with God, which is supposed to be the central aspect of Christianity.  Christianity is first and foremost a relationship, or a spirituality (a spiritual relationship), and not an organized religion or set of rules or traditions.

The first command is to love God.  When you think of Christianity as a religion, is love the first thing that come to mind?  It should!  But it often doesn’t.  The Bible also says the letter (of the law) kills, but the spirit (which makes the principles of the law come alive in us) brings life, yet many who call themselves Christians still try to satisfy the law the old lifeless way, and need to reread this part of the Bible:

“You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as,  ’Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!’?  Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them.  These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” - Colossians 2:20-3:2

I was one who needed to reread this. I grew up in a church that was good at teaching the Bible, but in many ways I failed to grasp the spiritual reality, and was left with many teachings that appealed to my intellect, but in a way my spirit did not connect to.  I have since realized that one needs to read the Bible with the Holy Spirit (God) interpreting it to our hearts.  Even if you consider yourself a non-believer, you can have this too — ask God for wisdom in understanding the Bible when you read it, and believe He will show you.  James 1:5-8:

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” – James 1:5-8

The Person of God: Oh!  You’re serious?

So, who is this God person?  Who is He to me?   …. to be continued!

Don’t believe me? “What if someone’s desires are bad. Surely God doesn’t want them to be fulfilled.” Of course we must seek to be pure. I believe that every desire ultimately comes from God, and no matter what we long for, if we purify ourselves, it is ultimately a gift from God that He wants to fulfill.

 “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” Psalms 145:16 NAS

 To believe the contrary is a horrible worldview: that God would give us desires just to say “Hahaha, if you actually go through with that like I designed you to do, I will smite you.  Instead, here’s a list of things I created you to not enjoy doing, which you must do to gain my favour.” What kind of God is that?  We would be created to be slaves to something that did not resonate with us, which is not something a loving God would do.   (Long discussions could be had about the fall of man and the corruption of mankind, and us having a free will to choose whether we like and want to accept God, but I believe the jist of God’s motivation for creating us was to enjoy Him and Him enjoy us.)

Another great verse is this:

 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” – Philippians 2:13 NAS

 Now, the verse before says we are to do work out our salvation with fear and trembling – and I take this to in part mean the purification of our desires, and salvation is being saved from corruption of our desires.  But look at that verse:  God works in us so that what we will is pleasing to Him. Our will, what we want, and His pleasure — aligned. That is a good God.  This makes for a happy life.  The steps to purity and obedience may be challenging each step of the way, but each step is like a stair that takes us to a new plateau that is totally worth it.

So, back to my thought for the day: having the desires of our heart now. Of course, one fruit of the spirit is patience, and we must learn that.  But I say: learn it with God, instead of trying to do it on your own (which will tire you out and not work.)   Often, I believe God allows us to have desires that cannot be fulfilled right this instant so that we can grow in some way toward them:

Instead of asking God when your desire can be fully fulfilled, ask Him how it can be fulfilled now.

There are many ways our desires can be fulfilled, in ways that make us legitimately satisfied, even before our desires are fully satisfied. There are often ways God needs to prepare us to receive the fullness of our desires, and it would be inconsiderate to us for Him to lay our biggest hope on our lap when we don’t know how to receive it, leading to us squandering it, or having a partial and anti-climactic joy as we clumsily struggle with something bigger than we can handle.  We may even think we’re ready and prepared for our desire, but what if God has something ten times bigger in store?  I love God and believe He withholds from us because He knows that later on, we will be grateful that He did.

One thing I’ve heard a few times from others is that there is often a 5 step process for the fulfillment of desire (or major works of God in our life): awakening, desperation, preparation, installation, and manifestation.  I find it helpful to think about hopes in terms of these 5 stages, because it gives meaning to the times we are still in anticipation.

So instead of giving us our big desire in its fullness, He may give us a small version of it, even if it is just a daydream with God, thinking creatively about little details that are fun to think about now, and helpful for later.

Or, as you may have heard some people say, if you really want something in your life, give it away to another. While I don’t think this advice applies all the time (I’ve been upset when people told me this when I was in no condition to give to others,) there is definitely a time for it. Selflessly giving something you long for away can seem hard but it is tremendous exercise for your heart and your character.  When God finally does fulfill your longings, being able to enjoy it from a position of selfless maturity will multiply your joy many times beyond your greatest dreams.  Instead of merely satisfying a human desire, you can receive something that feels really good to you while worshiping God in selfless love.  Then you can know you are saved, even from your greatest desires, and not a slave to them.  It is perhaps the biggest win-win possible in life, and what I think of when I think of salvation.

Finally, if we really want something, God has our attention (assuming we are desperate enough and/or wise enough to turn to Him.)  If God has our attention, and we follow Him, we are going to be fulfilled, and thrilled in the moment in some way.  Even if we find ourselves in a trial, it is a time to rejoice, which is a blessing.  The thrill may be small, or not what we thought it would or should look like (maybe even the opposite in a way), but yet it is still a thrill in the approving presence of God. And can we really want anything more in life than to walk in step with God, expecting big and small thrills each step of the way?

We can trust that He is good and will bring us every good thing when it is best. In the meantime, no moment in our lives needs to go to waste.  He offers to fill in all the gaps with some form of His goodness. Can you find it?

 “For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.” – Psalm 84:11 NLT

Not worrying is one, as I mentioned in a previous post.  Another one is: “Do not be anxious about anything” (Phil 4:6), and to rejoice in times of trials:

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. – James 1:2-4 NLT

So God is making it so that you have more character and endurance, so that you will be perfect.  Awesome!  But for many, it is all too easy to resist trials by being sad about them.   But this is disobedience. Isn’t liking the pain masochism?  No!  Paul says “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Ro 8:18), and Jesus “for the joy set before him endured the cross.”  The discomfort should pale in comparison to the expectation of reward, hence the joy we should have.  See the reward.  Keep it in sight.  Love going through the process of getting that reward, because hey, there  is a reward, and it is awesome!

“But correct the wise, and they will love you.” – Proverbs 9:8b

“the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son” – Hebrews 12:6

“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” – Romans 5:3-5

Imagine if every endurance building trial, every correction, was a joyful and peaceful, and love-inspiring experience.  It can be.

To me, having joy in good times and joy in bad times is part of the hope of salvation.  Salvation and its fruit is for all the time.

Obey and be free!

(And remind me to do the same.)

1) Question: what am I worrying about?

• Found something!

2) Stop worrying.

• Feel better.

3) Repeat.

…It is a better way to live.  Here are the (rather important) details:

Hey everyone who might read this:

So I have started a personal blog again, this time based on WordPress (my last one was Plone/Quills).  I plan to start blogging some thoughts on personality over at blog.mindfacets.com. MindFacets is the name for my personality website.  I decided for a few reasons that blogging the personality stuff is the way to go for now, rather than book form.  One is that I’d like it to be a more casual thing for me right now, and I also would like to get feedback before I put these ideas in a book, whenever or if ever that may be.

As for my life, I am still chipping away at hobbies such as the personality stuff, and working on a computer game, and some other things, although my primary focus has been just learning to live a better life.  Perhaps I will share thoughts on life here, or else maybe you will have to email me and ask me for them.