Help My Unbelief
If you’ve ever seen the TV show The X Files you probably remember a post Mulder had in his office that had a picture of a UFO, and underneath were the words, “I want to believe.” That’s how I am when I go through periods of doubt. I want to believe, but I’m not sure if I can. I’ll read something that challenges the doctrines I cling onto so tightly, and then I go through a “dark night of the soul” period where I don’t know what I believe in anymore. Were the past ten years of following Jesus just a waste of time? Was I better off as a nonbeliever? Last week while I was on my blogging break, I asked some friends what sustains their belief in God, and I got some pretty good feedback. One person said,...
The Danger of being a Double-Minded Man
James 1:5-8 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. This past Sunday, the minister spoke on the first part of James 1, primarily talking through suffering. I am really familiar with the book of James as my parents paid me at some point to memorize the entire book. As a side note, I am not sure if that move of my parents was either really bad or incredibly smart. Maybe somewhere in between, but I digress. What struck me...
Satan's LAST victory over the believer
My grandmother died last night and again, I’m faced with tragedy. I am not generally good at sorrow / grief, and I typically respond in somewhat cold, logical manner. Though my grandmother was a Christian and I fully rejoice that she is in the presence of our Savior (Come quickly Jesus!), part of identifying with grief is really seeing death for what it is. Very similar to what I said in my last post, death really is a stark reminder of the consequences of sin. It is a victory for the devil in a lot of ways. I am reminded of the scene in the Passion of the Christ where the Devil figure is walking through the crowd as Jesus is being killed. There is a certain level of triumph in his face, yet he is apprehensive. The death of Christ was the...
People of Doubt
Jason Boyett recently wrote in his blog that he’s not as religious as he used to be. Don’t worry, he still believes in God, goes to church, and says grace with his family before meals. But the older he gets, the more his doubts increase. As a kid, I didn’t know to ask a lot of the questions I ask now. As I’ve aged, and as those questions have come up — and not always with satisfactory answers — I’ve seen myself becoming less faithful, less spiritual, less religious. I hate to admit it, but I know what he means. When I first became a Christian, I went through the whole “on fire for Jesus” thing. Everything made sense for the first time in my life. I no longer had an excuse to wallow around in my own misery...
Right and Wrong
Thanks to tmamone for turning me onto The Sarcastic Lutheran. It’s now one of my favorite blogs. A new post came up earlier this week that really touched me; it was Nadia Bolz-Weber’s sermon in honor of the baptism of a child in her congregation, House for All Sinners and Saints. It’s about the promises God makes to His children and his steadfastness in honoring them, and about the importance of dying daily to self and the joy of returning to God. I posted a link to this on my Facebook page, and a good friend of mine with whom I often disagree pointed out a specific passage: “Don’t listen when people say that following Christ means being right. To follow the crucified and resurrected one is to live as a people who get to be...
Season 6 of LOST is helping me understand God a bit
So I have always enjoyed the TV show LOST which has serious themes of good vs evil, redemption, guilt and the consequences of our choices, but this season has helped me to understand God a little better. Let’s see how fast this community can tear this up. Last week, Slice of Infinity ran a great article on Plan B (http://www.rzim.org/usa/usfv/tabid/436/articleid/10511/cbmoduleid/1133/default.aspx ) which presented a great way of looking at God’s plan for our lives. I remember as a teenager in the youth group community / college community and frequently the question of “What is God’s plan in my life?” came up. The article addresses this question in the following unique way. A wise friend of mine once wondered if following God was not something like...