The Secret of Life

"Do you know what the secret of life is?"  Curly (City Slickers)

If there was a true secret of life, would we be willing to believe it? In our post-modern world where many don't believe there are absolute truths, this is a relevant question.

Post-Modern Answer
In the movie "City Slickers" there is an intriguing scene in which Billy Crystal portrays a man going through a middle age crisis. He is beginning to see that his time in this life is limited, and is struggling to find meaning in it all. He is chatting with an old cowboy (Curly) about life when Curly asks him if he knows what the secret of life is (see YouTube video clip below or at this link: (https://youtu.be/X1cmvzRKCCg).

For me, the intriguing aspect of the scene, as characterized by Billy Crystal's character, is the display of yearning we all feel for something beyond ourselves that gives us true meaning, purpose and happiness. Curly's answer (which is basically, you have to figure it out for yourself) seems to carry some weight, but in the end is disappointing and leaves me unsatisfied. Why? Because no matter how much we try to assuage the ache of our mortality with our own anecdotes (money, sex, power, fame, even kindness or love) it doesn't change the fact that life is all too brief and in the end, in the secular worldview, none of it will really matter. Theologian Tim Keller summarizes the implications of the secular, post-modern worldview:

"What if human civilization lasted a billion years? In comparison to the oceans of dead time before life, and the oceans of dead time after the sun burns out, human civilization is just a blip. No one will be around to remember anything that’s been done. Nothing you do has any significance at all. Everything you do is insignificant whether you live a good life or a bad life." (1)

Astonishingly, in contrast to this bleak picture, there is a much better answer to the "secret of life" question, one that is filled with hope, joy, and peace. (2)

Jesus giving his famous "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7).
Painting by Carl Heinrich Bloch (Danish painter, 1834-1890).

"Whoever has ears, let them hear", said Jesus Christ to a crowd after one of his public teachings. (3) Later, when his close followers asked him about the meaning of his teaching, he said “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you....Don't you understand...? (emphasis mine) (4) Despite their slowness, he patiently and graciously went on to explain the meaning of that teaching to them. 

The same could be said of you and me. Do we want to "hear" about the secret of his kingdom? If you have an open mind and earnestly desire to know the "secret of life", I urge you to consider Jesus' message, which isn't really a secret at all. It is freely available and has brought hope, joy, meaning, and purpose to billions of people over the centuries.

Good News!
Jesus lived a remarkable life of "mighty works and wonders and signs." (5)
Here are a few of his teachings:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (6)

"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (7)

"...there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” “Behold, I make all things new." (8)

Of course, anyone could have said these things, although one would have to wonder about their sanity. However, Jesus backed up his claims by his mighty works and, especially, by his Resurrection from the dead after his brutal crucifixion. (9, 10)

Road to Emmaus, by Robert Zund (1826-1909).

"Seek, and you will find", taught Jesus. (11) He has the same patience and graciousness towards you and me that he had for his followers when they didn't immediately understand his teachings, as mentioned above.

I love the painting of Jesus on the Road to Emmaus, walking with his followers after his Resurrection from the dead. As they walked, Jesus explained the secrets of the kingdom to them. After the journey his two followers exclaimed “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”(12)

Do you want to know the secret of life? 
Will you follow him? It doesn't mean your journey will be easy, or that you will always understand everything that happens to you. But it will be a lifelong journey of learning his truths and being increasingly filled with the hope that one day he will make all things new, including you.

Beautiful!


Footnotes...
(1) Tim Keller, Notes from his sermon "Sickness Unto Death". https://paulvanderklay.me/2013/11/07/notes-on-tim-kellers-sermon-sickness-unto-death/
(2) Romans 15:13
(3) Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9, 23.
(4) excerpts from Mark 4:11-13.
(5) Acts 2:22.
(6) John 11:25-26.
(7) John 16:33
(8) Revelation 21:4-5.
(9) Acts 2:23-24.
(10)  There is significant evidence of his Resurrection for those interested, but that is beyond the scope of this discussion and I have covered it in other posts:  Ressurection from the Dead; and Risen - The Movie
(11) Matthew 7:7
(12) Luke 24:32 

Peace on Earth?

"I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself."    George Frideric Handel, after writing "Hallelujah Chorus"

Have you noticed tension and tragedy in the national and world news?

George Friderick Handel (1685-1759), composed
Messiah in only 24 days. During that time he rarely
ate or left his room.

This Christmas and beyond we desperately need a compelling vision of something larger than us and our differences, that puts our problems into perspective. Handel caught a glimpse of such a vision as he wrote his musical masterpiece "Messiah". The vision was so overwhelming that, according to a friend who visited during that time, Handel sobbed with intense emotion as he composed it. Later, as Handel groped for words to describe his experience, he quoted St. Paul, saying, "Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not. God knows". (1, 2)

Oh that we would be overcome by the beauty and power of that vision.

Grasping the Vision
The lengthy vision embodies a love story of powerful intervention into the sufferings of humanity, the eventual destruction of death and evil, and the renewal of all things.

Specifically, it is a journey through many prophesies about the Messiah (Jesus Christ), His birth, sufferings, death, and resurrection, and His promised return to wipe away sorrow, destroy death, and make all things new. (3)

It is a vision about love, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption, encompassing the incomprehensible sacrifice and sufferings of Christ to intervene for all who accept His payment on their behalf. (4) 'He came to pay a debt he didn't owe, because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.'  His work gives us great hope and joy even in the midst of pain. It reinstates our place in His Kingdom, now and forever.

The vision is also about justice, judgement and vengeance. ' king of kings and lord of lords', a prominent line in 'Hallelujah Chorus', is from Revelation amidst a description of Christ and his armies destroying the forces of evil. (5)

At first, that may not sound like peace. But think of it. All the murder, rape, theft, and injustice of history, and even death itself and the enemy behind it all will be judged, avenged and destroyed.

Jesus warned things will get worse before they get better. (6) This Lord of the Rings video gives a glimpse of what that day may look like.

We need this vision. It is much larger and more powerful than any troubling headline of our day. 

Peace on Earth?
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." So the angels declared as they announced the birth of Christ that first Christmas night many years ago. (7) Dare we believe it?

I believe we can. The book of Revelation in the New Testament proclaims that countless people from every nation will praise God, (8)  and that the "the leaves of the 'tree of life' will be for the healing of the nations." (9)

The nations at peace. No more death or mourning or crying or pain. All things made new. All injustices undone and made right. 

That's something to hope for.

Hallelujah Chorus!
Andres Rieu directed the choir in the video below, telling his audience "no matter what last year brought to you, I know of no music that brings more joy and more hope than this song". The optics of his choir are powerful too, an illustration of the nations praising God.

As you listen, ponder the vision Handel and others have experienced. 
 
May you experience the King of Kings this Christmas season and for all eternity!

HANDEL - Messiah (Johann Strauss Orchestra and Harlem Gospel Choir) from Joe Orgill plus joe.orgill.slcc on Vimeo.

From Andre Rieu's "Live From Radio City Music Hall" in New York City 2004.

Hallalujah Chorus Lyrics
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah!
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah!

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah!

The kingdom of this world is become
The kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ!
And he shall reign for ever and ever!

King of kings and Lord of lords!
King of kings and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign forever and ever!
Forever and ever!

Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah
Hallelujah!

Footnotes:

1. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/messiah-and-george-frideric-handel-11630237.html

http://www.gfhandel.org/handel/anecdotes.html

2. 2 Corinthians 12:2-4

3. For a list of verses in Messiah, see website: http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/messiah.htm

4. Without the intervention of Christ, no one could stand in the presence of God and live, for we are imperfect and sinful. Isaiah understood this when, in a vision similar to that in Revelation, he cried "“Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and...my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5) See also Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:13.

5. 'I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war...He is dressed in a robe soaked with blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:  king of kings and lord of lords.'  Revelation 19:11-16

6. Matthew 24:3-9

7. Luke 2:14

8. "...there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:"
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”  Revelation 7:9-10

9. Revelation 22:1-2

The Arrival

Advent: the arrival of a notable person or event 

Advent is the season leading up to Christmas. A time when Christians celebrate God coming to earth in human form (Jesus Christ) to save his people from their sins (1). An incredible act of love and humility (2).

The Humanity of Christ
Near the end of his earthly life, Jesus was hailed by people as a king as he entered Jerusalem. Yet as he approached the city, he wept (3).

Earlier, Jesus wept as he stood at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, who had recently died (4).

Jesus' weeping is a powerful example of his humanity. But the reasons why he wept may not be as apparent as you think.

For example, as he approached Jerusalem he wept not for himself even though he knew he would be tortured and crucified within the week.

As he stood by his friend's tomb, he wasn't weeping for Lazarus, for he knew that within minutes he would raise Lazarus from the dead! (5)

'And Jesus Wept' Statue at the national memorial for the
bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Divinity of Christ
Jesus' tears reflect his humanity, but they also reflect his divinity. Throughout the Bible, God expresses grief over the condition of humanity. (6)

At the tomb, Jesus wept when he saw the people sobbing and grieving the death of Lazarus, and a deep anger welled up within him. (7) He wept because he was saddened by their pain and sorrow, but why was he angry? I believe he was angry at death and sin (8), which are the cause of suffering and grief. His response was to exercise his power over death by raising Lazarus.

Jesus also knew that many didn't understand, and some even rejected who he was and why he came. As Jesus approached Jerusalem weeping he said "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—". (9)

The Prince of Peace (10) was entering into their presence, but they knew it not despite his constant attempts throughout his life to explain it.

"—but now it is hidden from your eyes.", he continued, "The days will come upon you when your enemies will encircle you and...dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls...because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” (11)

Who Do You Say That I Am?
This is a question each of us must answer about Jesus Christ.

When Jesus asked his disciples that question, Peter correctly answered “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (12).

This advent, I urge you to reflect on the arrival of the 'Son of the living God', who came to rescue you from the power of sin and death. (13)

My prayer is that you will recognize the time of God's coming to you, before his weeping stops.


Footnotes

Risen - The Movie

“I have seen two things which cannot reconcile. A man dead without question. And that same man alive again”
                                                - Clavius, Roman Military Tribune

The Resurrection from a Skeptics Perspective
If you haven't yet seen the movie "Risen", I highly recommend it. With a great cast, impressive production budget, and of course a great story line, you will be entertained and find yourself pondering the events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

This movie isn't just for Christians. The producers worked hard to maintain Scriptural authenticity while balancing it with cinematic creativity. They had a broader cross section of cultural society in mind for an audience (rather than Christians only) as they produced the movie, and I believe they hit their mark.

A Personal Journey
The movie is the story of a man's personal journey. Clavius is a military leader assigned with the task of ensuring that three criminals being crucified are dead before sunset, even if he has to hurry it along. He apparently is aware that one of them claimed to be a king of some kind, but he is indifferent. By the time he arrived at the site of the crucifixion, Christ had already died.

To me, the scene of the crucifixion is amazingly haunting and thought provoking. And of course as a Christian I was moved by the depth of love that Christ exhibited for me (and all his followers) by suffering and dying that way. Later in the movie I was also moved by the tenderness of the resurrected Christ towards Peter and Thomas as they wept over their earlier denial and doubt, respectively, of their leader Y’shua (Jesus). It is a beautiful picture of Y’shua's posture towards all of us who follow him, yet are imperfect.

But I get ahead of myself! After Christ's body disappeared from the tomb, Clavius was ordered to find the body at all costs in order to put down a rumor beginning to circulate that the man Jesus had risen from the dead. So Clavius began a relentless search, which required him to play the role of detective. He aggressively chased down and interrogated anyone who had spoken of Christ being alive again, and also searched for his disciples and close followers who may have known where the body was. But the evidence he found was not what he expected, and eventually it led him to write down the words quoted at the top of this post.

The Implications of The Resurrection
This movie is not preachy or cheese ball as some Christian-themed movies of the past have (unfortunately) been. But it does explore a historical event that is foundational to Christianity. For as the Apostle Paul himself said: "...if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1). But he then went on to say: "But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries." (2) If that is true, then the implications of the resurrection are profound for your own life and is at the very least worth serious consideration, including an examination of the strong historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ. (3)

However, regardless of what you think of the resurrection story, this movie is worth viewing.


Footnotes:
(1) 1 Corinthians 15:14
(2) 1 Corinthians 15:20
(3) William Lane Craig wrote an excellent article on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ at this link:  http://www.reasonablefaith.org/the-resurrection-of-jesus

Below is a lecture by William Lane Craig on the same topic, presented at Yale University.

Resurrection from the Dead

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here...‘He has risen from the dead...”
                                                                                ―Matthew 28:5-7

“The resurrection of Jesus Christ and Christianity stand or fall together”
                                                                                ― Professor Josh McDowell

As a child my family attended church at sunrise nearly every Easter Sunday. Although I didn't like getting up early when it was still dark, over the years the significance of the Easter message began to 'dawn' on me. Namely, that this God-man named Jesus conquered death, returned to life from the grave, and promised us that we too could have this hope. (1) (see 1.3 min youtube scene of the resurrection from "The Passion of the Christ" at left, or click here). But can this really be true? If it is, it changes everything.

Literal Resurrection?
Many modern people have trouble believing in this aspect of Christian teaching. One objection is that the early Christians were a primitive, pre-scientific people who were ignorant of the laws of nature and therefore, more prone to believe in miracles. However, a physician named Luke wrote two books of the Bible that included an account of the resurrection. Luke was trained in the medical science of his day, and wrote that the first objections to the resurrection came not from atheists, but from Sadducee high priests in Judaism. These were highly religious men who believed in God, but they had embraced a worldview that did not allow for the resurrection of the dead. Indeed, theirs was a widespread conviction. Historian Tom Wright explained: "Ancient paganism contains all kinds of theories, but whenever resurrection is mentioned, the answer is a firm negative: we know that it doesn't happen." Therefore, the ancient world knew as well as we do that dead bodies do not get up out of graves. Christianity won its way because of the sheer weight of evidence that one man had actually risen from the dead. (2,3) 

A second objection is that today we know the laws of nature and therefore, we also know that miracles are impossible. However, as Oxford mathematician John Lennox explained: "It is important to grasp that Christians do not deny the laws of nature...The scientific use of the word 'law' is not the same as the legal use, where we often think of a law as constraining someone's actions...Newton's Law of Gravitation tells me that if I drop an apple it will fall towards the centre of the earth. But that law does not prevent someone intervening, and catching the apple as it descends. In other words, the law predicts what will happen, provided there is no change in the conditions under which the experiment is conducted. Thus, from the theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is bound to happen if God does not intervene. To argue that the laws of nature make it impossible for us to believe in the existence of God, and in the possibility of his intervention in the universe, is plainly fallacious. It would be like claiming that understanding of the laws governing the behaviour of internal combustion engines makes it impossible to believe that the designer of a motor car, or one of his mechanics, could or would intervene to remove the cylinder head. Of course they could intervene. Moreover, this intervention would not destroy those laws. The very same laws that explained why the engine worked with the cylinder head on would now explain why it did not work with the head removed...When a miracle takes place, it is our knowledge of the laws of nature that alerts us to the fact that it is a miracle." (2)

The Explosion of the Early Church
Clearly the resurrection or any event in history cannot be proven in a scientific laboratory. However, the resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact much more fully attested to than most other events of ancient history that we take for granted. The explosive growth of the early church was centered around the resurrection, and was striking evidence that it (the resurrection) happened. (2,3,4) (listen to NT Wright on youtube at right, or click here).

From the beginning the early church had a resurrection-centered view of reality. For example, one of the first accounts of the empty tomb and eyewitnesses was recorded by Paul only 15 to 20 years (possibly as little as 5 years) after the death of Jesus: 

"I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died."
1 Corinthians 15:3-6. 

It is also noteworthy that nearly all of the apostles and early Christian leaders died for their faith. It is hard to believe that this kind of powerful self-sacrifice would be done to support a hoax. As Pascal put it "I [believe] those witnesses who get their throats cut." Consequently, as stated by Tim Keller: "Most people think that, when it comes to Jesus' resurrection, the burden of proof is on believers to give evidence that it happened. That is not completely the case. It is not enough to simply believe Jesus did not rise from the dead. You must then come up with a historically feasible alternate explanation for the birth of the church." (4) 

Mary at the Empty Tomb, a stained glass
reproduction of a painting by German artist Bernhard
Plockhorst (1825-1907).

The Resurrection and You
At the age of 50, Leo Tolstoy faced an inward crisis and asked the question lying in the soul of every person, a question that brought him to the verge of suicide. "Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?" The resurrection of Jesus Christ answers that question with a resounding yes.

Consequently, I believe the significance of the resurrection warrants your serious consideration. Namely because if it really happened, Christianity teaches that our resurrection can be guaranteed as well. As NT Wright said (in the youtube video in this post), if your worldview doesn't allow the possibility of miracles and you simply won't believe it, then this is as far as I can take you. However, if you are open to changing your worldview to believing that maybe there is a God who is involved in sorting out this sad world, then you will find the evidence overwhelming for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Personally I find enormous comfort in this belief and desire the same for everyone-including you! 

Footnotes: 

This is Your Life

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead.
 Yesterday is a promise that you've broken.
Don't close your eyes, Today is all you've got.
This is your Life, Are you who you want to be?
Is it everything you dreamed that it would be,
 when the world was younger and you had everything to lose?

                                             -Switchfoot

This song by Switchfoot is inspiring and perhaps a bit haunting. It causes a person to ponder their own life (listen at left or click here to listen to the song on YouTube). When was the last time you've thought about yours? Given the fast pace of life in our culture, or perhaps because we are afraid of what we might find, we probably don't do it nearly often enough.

Think About Your Life
What were your hopes and dreams when you were younger? Who are you now? What are you becoming? Where are you going? These are just a few questions to consider, and others may come to mind as you read this. Are you living from your heart...from the core of your being? Are you passionate about the things you do? What are your relationships like? Do you have close friends, or do you feel alone? Most of us want to make a difference in the world and know that our lives matter.

Existential Angst
There is a general sense of angst running throughout humanity that may tend to discourage us from thinking too deeply about our lives. This existential angst is an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety, inner turmoil, or even dread and despair about our future. Solomon, whom God blessed with exceptional wisdom, put it this way: Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains. (1) Solomon actually wrote this to describe every one of us, that one day all of our joy will end in grief. Think about it: Eventually you and I are going to lose everything our heart wants out of life...our health, our loved ones, our very life...everything will be taken from us. Solomon is saying that deep down inside we all know this, even if we try not to think about it, and it causes an underlying sense of sadness.

This is my life: My wife Jannis and I on the deck of
the aircraft carrier USS Midway in San Diego, CA.

Secularism addresses this angst by explaining that we just have to create our own meaning during the brief time we are here. But let's be candid, if we are really here by chance alone, and nothing we ever do in this life will be remembered across the vast oceans of dead time, long after man is gone, then there can be no significance to our lives and no hope. Consequently, unless we have a way of ascribing REAL meaning to our daily activities and to our lives - a meaning that death won't steal - we will live with this chord of sadness. (2)

Loneliness
Solomon recognized something else about human beings too. He wrote: Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy. (3) What he means is that each of us is unique, and the inner motions and movements of our hearts are so complex, so inward, and so hidden that there is an unavoidable solitude about human existence. In the end, nobody, not even your closest friends, will ever completely understand you. Nobody will be able to walk with you everywhere you go. In that sense, you are alone in the world. And we can all sense this too. Maybe its no wonder we don't ponder our lives too often!

Christians have a powerful remedy for the dilemma of loneliness. Namely, we can have an intimate ally in God. Jesus told us that he considers those who put their trust in him to be his friends. (4) Furthermore, God knows us better than we know ourselves, and he is always with us. (5) However, if God is only an abstract concept to you, or if you don't believe in him at all...if he isn't an intimate friend to you, then you are utterly alone in this world. With this kind of isolation, none of us can live the "rich and satisfying life" that Jesus offers. (6) We are men and women created in the image of God, and we are made for relationship with him. (7). As John Eldredge put it: "our deepest need as human beings [is] to live intimately with God." (8)(2)

This is my life: My daughter Erin and I.

A Living Hope

The Apostle Peter explained why followers of Jesus also have an answer to the dilemma of the "angst" mentioned above, and to the problem of death eventually stealing from us all that we hold dear. Peter wrote:

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Do I really believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and that I and all who put their trust in him will eventually rise from the dead too, into an eternal life where we will have it all - life healed and whole? You bet I do. In fact, to the Christian, that hope is the "anchor of the soul, firm and secure". (9) The evidence for the truth of this claim, which is beyond the scope of this post, is much more than you might think. (10) If you haven't taken the time to ponder your life lately, or to investigate the claims of Christianity, then why not start now? It could be a life changing...and a life saving experience!

Footnotes:

Leap of Faith

"It is often implied that belief in Christ requires a leap of faith."

The stereotypical televangelists haven't done much to encourage us that there is more to Christianity than simply having faith in faith itself.

Is believing in God just mysticism, deprived of content and contrary to rationality?  Must the intellect and knowledge be set aside in order to believe in God, making our faith irrational? Was our faith simply invented, as the atheist Sir Julian Huxley said, because man functions better if he acts as though God is there (even if he isn't)? I don't think so.

Optimistic Humanism - A True Leap of Faith

I recently read the book The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer. (1) He argued that since the Enlightenment, when leading thinkers argued that feelings (things only true for me but which we can't be certain of, such as love, beauty, religion, prayer, etc., things they assumed irrational) should be separated from the physical world, or facts (things true for everyone, assumed to be logical and rational). This is secularism, a modern religious belief that grew out of the pride of human achievement, marginalizes God, and masquerades as science or reality. The culture of our universities in the U.S. is infiltrated with this belief.

The problem with secular humanism is that there can be no true meaning or purpose found in the impersonal, physical world alone. How can there be if man has simply risen by chance out of the primordial soup and one day will disappear back into nothingness? There is only one way, and that is to create one's own meaning and purpose...by making an irrational leap of faith! Optimistic humanism is, then, unadulterated faith despite its claims to rationality and reality. In the end, however, humanism (aka, rationalism) can only lead to despair because those things that make us human - hope of purpose and significance, love, morality, beauty, spirituality, indeed, our personalities - are by the humanists own definition irrational. Those things also rose by chance from the impersonal and are ultimately unfulfillable; they are meaningless.

However, if God exists and we are made in his image, we can have real meaning and we can have real knowledge through what God has communicated to us.

Christianity: The Most Rational of All

Christianity is realistic because it says if there is no truth, there is also no hope. It is prepared to face the consequences of being proved false and say with Paul: If you find the body of Christ, the discussion is finished; let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (2). In Christianity the value of faith depends upon the object towards which the faith is directed: To the Christ who in history died upon the cross once for all, finished the work of atonement, and on the third day rose again in space and time.

This makes Christian faith open to discussion and verification. When Paul was asked whether Jesus was raised from the dead, he gave a completely non-mystical and nonreligious answer in the 21st century sense: "There are almost 500 living witnesses; go ask them!" (3) This is the faith that involves the whole man, including his reason; it does not ask for a belief into the void. (4)

Perhaps C.S. Lewis put it best:  "Faith in Christ is the only thing to save you from despair."

Footnotes:

Beauty For Ashes

...he will give a crown of beauty for ashes. Isaiah 61:3

Burning the tallgrass prairie in NE Kansas

in the spring, which leads to new growth

the rest of the season!

My engagement was over.  And like the YouTube clip of the "Destruction of the USS Enterprise" in my last post (Coming to the End of Myself), my life felt shattered. My "destruction" wasn't visibly spectacular like the Enterprise as it blazed through the atmosphere towards Earth, but emotionally it seemed like it. I felt alone and sad. Such was my life in August 2002, and I didn't bounce back quickly either (as some of my friends know).

But God was using this situation to break several of my dysfunctional habits. Or as John Eldredge describes it in Wild at Heart, God was shattering my false self. One thing God destroyed was my belief that I was inferior. Although I felt incredibly inferior right after the breakup (I felt rejected, after all), God taught me that I was valued by him, and in Christ I was inferior to no one. Learning this was not just through an intellectual analysis of the Scriptures, although they certainly speak of our incredible value to God. My learning this was also at the heart level, through personal revelation from God (through a sort of vision). He didn't speak audibly but his communication with me was so personal and real that I now have no doubt of my worth to him. Although I sometimes still struggle with feeling inferior, I know in my deepest heart that I am not inferior but rather a child of the King of kings!

This Sunday is Easter (Resurrection) Sunday. As Christians, we believe that Jesus was literally resurrected from the dead (1). Think of it, power over death! This fills me with incredible wonder!! Because of Christ's resurrection, we know and are promised that we too will one day be resurrected (2). And if Jesus has power over death, he can certainly bring clarity and healing to the mess that we make of our lives! He can make all things new! (3) The Scriptures tell us that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (4) And although the process won't be completed until we arrive in heaven, we don't have to wait till then for the healing and restoration to begin.

But before God can begin our restoration, our old life has to be dealt with. Watchman Nee put it this way: God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man, but by crucifying him; not by helping him do anything but by removing him from the scene (5).  Or as Paul, the former Christian slayer himself said My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (6).

In August 2002 my life seemed to be ashes, emotionally almost without hope. But God can work good through all things to those who love him (7), and he used that tragedy to bring new life to me. I now know my worth in Jesus. And in 2007 I married a beautiful woman, and we are very happy!

Happy Easter!!

Footnotes:

LIFE and death

The immortality of the soul is something of such vital importance to us, affecting us so deeply, that one must have lost all feeling not to care about knowing the facts of the matter"  Blaise Pascal

Me in the cockpit of a Piper Pawnee C, which I flew during
the summer of 1980 to apply pesticides to crops and pastures
near Scotia, Nebraska where I grew up.

My tension was rising as I powered my Piper Pawnee airplane down the short runway. I had been crop dusting all summer at my small-town airport but somehow this takeoff seemed different. The plane was fully loaded, sluggish, and had already passed the "point of no return" (where the airplane was moving too fast to safely stop even if I throttled back and applied brakes). The plane didn't seem to want to lift off, and the end of the runway was rapidly approaching. Immediately beyond was a county road with ditches on both sides and a barbed wire fence and tall corn field just beyond that. I knew the airplane wouldn't fare too well if I couldn't lift off by the time I got there, but worse, I knew I wouldn't fare too well either. By the time I got to the end of the runway the plane was still on the ground.That was not how I had planned for that day to go.