What is it to Know God (The Trend of this Knowledge)

What do I mean when I say, “The knowledge of God?”, what I mean is not only that we grasp the fact that there is some God, but also understand what relevance it has to us, and what brings Him glory, really what I am saying is, what is relevant to mankind with regards to knowing God. WHATS THE POINT?.

If we have to speak properly we cannot say God is known where there is no religion or holiness. I am not talking about how people who are lost and under God’s curse understand God as a Redeemer in Christ or anything like that, I simply mean, a knowledge of God that humans would have had if Adam did not sin and fall. Of course now, no man in the current ruin and lost state of this human race can see God as their Father, or author of Salvation, until Christ makes peace for them. Still it is one thing to understand God as our Maker, Who supports us by His power and rules us by His providence, leads us with His goodness and gives us all kinds of blessings; and its another thing to embrace the grace of reconciliation offered to us in Christ. A knowledge of God as Creator and then as Redeemer.

Although we cant think of God without giving Him some worship, no one will worship Him and only Him alone, unless they see Him as the fountian of all goodness, as the spring of all joy, hope and meaning. What I mean is, we must be persuaded, not only that He once made the world, and sustains it by His power, governs it by His wisdom, preserves it in His goodness, rules the human race with justice and judgment, bears with them in mercy, shields them by His protection; but also that not a particle of light, or wisdom, or justice, or power, or genuine truth can be found anywhere that does not flow from Him. By the way must learn to expect all things from Him, and thankfully praise Him for whatever we receive. It is this understanding of God’s perfections that teach us holiness, out of which genuine religion comes.

*By holiness I mean a union (a marriage, a mixing) of the fear and love of God, which is inspired by a knowledge of what He does and Who He is.*

You see, because until people feel that they owe everything to God,  that they are cherished by His parent-like care, and that He is the author of all their blessings, so that they should look nowhere else but to Him,  man will never submit to Him in voluntary obedience; even more so, unless they place their entire happiness in Him, they will never give their whole life to serve Him in truth and sincerity (Where do you place your happiness? What things do you do to make you happy? Eating, movies, porn, relationships, sports? Do you get happiness apart from God in these things, since they are not all bad in and of themselves? Or do you realize that He is the one that gives everything good, and your happiness even in these things is due to Him?)

People who argue about what the essence of God are rambling with silly speculations- it is much more important for us to know what kind of being God is, and what things relate to us in His nature. I mean whats the point of knowing a ‘God’ who doesn’t care about anything but His own ease, and has nothing to do with us? The effect, read carefully, the result of the knowledge of God should be first to teach us reverence and fear; and secondly to cause us to ask for everything good from Him, and when we have received it, to praise Him for it.

How can the idea of God even come into your mind without causing you to think, “Hmmmm? I am His workmanship (He made me), I am bound by every law of nature to submit to His authority” (Ah! the folly of making a God to suit yourself, ‘to me God is…?’). I mean how can you think of God without knowing that you owe Him your life (you did not choose to exist), that whatever you do should have something relating to Him. If you can think of God without that, then sadly your life is corrupted, you are not in obedience to Him, because His will should be the rule of our lives. On the other hand you understanding of Him is not clear if you don’t see Him as the fountain of all goodness.

I think we would have confidence in God and a desire to hold onto Him, if the sinfulness of our mind did not lead us away from this kind of proper thinking.

First of all, the Christian (and holy) mind does not try and make up a God, but looks alone to the one true God, the Christian mind also doesn’t make up characteristics of God, but is happy to accept God in the character that He reveals Himself in.

The person who understand God like this, sees how He governs all things, confides in God as His protector and guardian, and throws himself on God’s faithfulness- understanding that He is good and merciful, he rests on God with sure confidence, and does not doubt that in calamity, a divine remedy will be provided for every time of need- understanding Him as Father and Lord, he considers himself bound to respect His authority in all things

Listen to the words of Calvin, “Such is pure and genuine religion, namely, confidence in God coupled with serious fear- fear, which both includes in it willing reverence, and brings along with it such legitimate  worship as is prescribed by the law. …. only a few truly reverence Him. On all hands there is an abundance of ostentatious ceremonies, but sincerity of heart is rare.”

Dedicated to Book 1 of Calvin’s Institutes

Knowledge of God and Man Connected.

John Calvin said, “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” This seems to be what most people think, even philosophy lectures at universities begin with the existence of God (philosophy of religion) and then move on to man, trying to figure out how man knows what is right and wrong (interesting, when you throw God out the equation, you can only toy with theories about right and wrong, there is never a basis…. ethics - God = nightmare)

To start with man cant look at himself without first looking to God, he cant understand himself without first turning to look at God, since it is in God that man lives and moves. The gifts, talents, abilities, everything we have is not from ourselves, it is all from God, He determined where and when we would live, what our IQ would be, our environment, everything. To try to figure out who one is or anything about oneself, without first looking to God is like a man trying to discover who he is, but not looking at his parents, background, or anything that caused him to be…. maybe this is why people have identity problems and what not…

However, God is the being from which all life comes, He is the font of every blessing, all the blessing we have point us upward to God. Now the infinitude (what a great word) of goodness which is in God becomes so much more real. A rich person, in the face of infinite riches might be a little amazed and think its great, but the man who comes from utter poverty can grasp what the riches really are, because he has come to grips with the nothingness he has, so he marvels at the riches.

More specifically, the ruin that sin has plunged man into, the pain, suffering, bondage, poverty, hatred all wall us in and cause us to look upward; not only because we are hungry and starving, but being shaken by fear might learn humility, that God is God, and guess what, we are man. Did you get that? When you are lonely, and in pain, depressed, worried, fearful, let it teach you humility (Broken and contrite spirit the Lord will accept).

In man there is an ocean of misery, ever since we were stripped from the divine clothes in Eden, our nakedness shows a great amount of horrible abilities (envy, pride, vengeance, lust etc.), every man being stung by conciseness of his own unhappiness, in some way obtains some knowledge of God. What I am trying to say is that all our evil and corruption reminds us that in God, and Him alone is the true light of wisdom, solid true beautiful, amazing, wonderful goodness.

Listen to what Calvin says about this, “We are … urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves” … wow! put that in your every-body-is-special-and deserves-the-best theology. Do you chatter about theology to feel pleased with yourself and escape the results of theology, to humble you?

I think many ‘reformed’ need to think on this, reformed (or put whatever theological label you want there) in theology will take you to hell, one needs to be re-formed in heart. Be honest, who doesn’t naturally trust in themselves? In their own abilities? Completely unaware of their own misery, not only teenagers, but everyone thinks they are immortal to one degree or another. As a result anyone who comes to a knowledge of himself is not only urged to seek God, but even led by the hand of God to find Him.

On the other hand, its also true that man doesn’t fully understand himself till he looks at God, and comes down after the look at God, to then look at himself. Mans pride works in such a way that we always look good to ourselves, we always look just, or at least, not too bad- we are only convinced by solid evidence of our own impurity, vileness, wickedness (I think to many of us just believe as an abstract thought that we are evil and wicked, but we are not moved by it, we don’t believe it as a fact which effects reality). We will never be convinced of our poverty and evil unless we first look at the Lord. He is the only standard which can show us what we are really like, when we compare ourselves with others it is like the ape looking at another ape and saying, “I am more human then you” maybe because he is sitting and the other hanging?!

We are all prone to hypocrisy, an empty bag labeled righteousness (goodness) will satisfy us, instead of righteousness itself. You know what I mean, people will be happy to just carry the empty bag from an expensive store. People who think they are good, that they have the power within themselves to please God, they are like people who in the afternoon go outside, and look around, they see cars, trees, children playing, the person then thinkis to himself “Ah, what good eyes I have” they look to distant mountains and their pride grows stronger, but wait- when they look up with their powerful eyes and look at the sun, their eyes begin to burn, the squint and pull weird faces, they cannot even begin to see any form or shape on the sun, they become confused and their eyes water…. the object which gives us light to see, also shows us how limited out vision is…. It is the same when we look at our spiritual qualities, as long as we don’t look beyond the earth we are happy with our abilities, with our righteousness, wisdom and goodness- we think of ourselves in the best ways and imagine ourselves to be nothing less then demi-gods, the masters of our own destiny. But should we ever look up and put our thought on God, and reflect on what kind of Being He is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness and wisdom and virtue, He who is the standard of what we should be like… we will see how silly the way we thought of ourselves really is, how the world pollutes our minds with thoughts of goodness inherent in us.

Now you see why in The Holy Bible men were so struck with dread and amazement when they were in the presence of God. You can see how the people who stood so firm and sure are now shaking and trembling.This is why people would die if they saw God…

Isaiah 24:23, “The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign” When God comes to reign, the brightest objects will seem dark next to His brilliance.

See also: Judges 13:22; Isaiah 6:5; Ezek 1:28; 3:14; Job 9:4 Gen 18:27; 1 Kings 19:13

(Dedicated to the memory of a man used by God greatly, John Calvin, glory to God through Jesus Christ)

Why Read the Bible?/ Whats the Point of Having a Bible? (Part1)

Mind blowing…. I was chosen to do this!

I remember being really sick when I was a kid, I had allergies upon allergies, and probably spent less then half the time at school then most kids do in primary school. It was always scary having tests done, I never knew what the results would be- once I watch this movie called Lorenzo’s oil about this child who got a rare disease, eventually his parents found a cure- it’s a real amazing heart-breaking story- but after that, I thought maybe I have that. It was not a good time, however…. God used it.

Since I was not able to go around playing all day, I had to sit home, and often times I would read, most of my time was spent reading Christian books, and theology books, from my brother who was a pastor. I learnt so much then and grew such a love for God and Jesus Christ that grew out of my understanding…. And so I became passionate about understanding what God meant by what He said in the Bible.

I got very involved in a ministry with my next youngest brother, at this time I was exposed to Satanists and the occult, I leant how to share the gospel with these people, and have so many wonderful testimonies to the grace of God, as people we saved out of the darkest and most hopeless states.

Eventually the doctors found out what was wrong with me, at the end of my standard five year at school- all it took was like a month of medication and I have been fine since then, so fine, that I discovered a rather natural affinity for sports and did rather well in high school.

At the end of high school, I was deciding what to do, and to cut a long story short, God showed me how all my life had been prepared for the ministry (as opposed to Bio-kinetics and the army), my passion, my learning, and so my brother, who had the right connections, got me to into the Baptist Theological College and I started working as a Student pastor at a Baptist church in Johannesburg.

I was going to teach the Bible, I was going to spend time preparing the bread of God’s word to break and give to God’s people. I was excited.

Its been fifteen years now, fifteen years of a love for God and a passion for God’s Bible. Sometimes a very difficult book, but overall a clear and practical book. I find that most of the time when I struggle to understand what the Bible is saying, it is because I am not reading it. You know what that’s like, when you are busy studying for a big biology test and you are just reading over the work trying to feel like you are studying, then you get to the end of the page and you don’t know a thing about what you just read, except maybe ‘flagellum’. Chances are if you are finding it difficult to read, you are not reading. At least that’s what I found.

I don’t like calling it a book, it’s so much more.

Is Doctrine that Important/ The Distaste of Doctrine (Part 5)

- QUESTIONS – (I recommend you read part 1,2,3 and 4 before this, unless it makes sense first time)

A Christian with a faith grounded in reality doesn’t steer clear of questions, he runs to them because He knows that God invaded the human world and became a man. He knows that God gave a perfect revelation of Himself in His word so we could have all the questions we need answering answered.

Questions are not daunting

What is daunting is when there are no answers.

What is heartbreaking is a faith that can’t stand up to them.

The other day I was sitting in a university first year philosophy lecture, I got into a conversation with a guy next to me, he saw I was reading a book which argues for the historical proof of Jesus and His resurrection. This guy told me how its good to ask questions about these things but His church doesn’t really let him ask those kind of things ( some churches want questions, just for the fun, but they don’t want to answer them, just enjoy not knowing). He went on to explain how the philosophy classes had made him think, that maybe Jesus wasn’t real, maybe God wasn’t real. After I said that there are answers, he got real excited, for the rest of the lecture he wrote down questions instead of listening, to ask me after the lecture ended.

He asked:

How does one become holy?

How do you know what is right and wrong?

How do you know if your interpretation of the Bible is correct?

Some other questions I have had asked:

Why do good people die in tragic ways?

Why do evil people prosper and good people suffer?

Why is there war and poverty if God is loving?

If God will forgive us when we ask, why not life any way we want, and ask him for forgiveness in our dying moments?

Since God controls all things, why is there evil, does God make evil happen (that sounds terrible right?) or do we have free-will and God has no control (cause that is also rubbish)… What’s going on.

These are a few questions, I have had hundreds upon hundreds thrown at me in my short life. I’ve spoken to heart-broken people, angry people, humble people, intellectual people, philosophical people. Let me tell you, the joy I have knowing that my God invaded this messed-up, crazy, painful, really real world and He didn’t bring a placebo, He brought the truth, a truth that can set us free from the pain, anger, lost-ness, intellectual burnout-ness.

This is why peter goes out of his way to point out that this is all real, he said, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” We were eye-witnesses? He saw it, it was real it happened. What an amazing truth.

Am I saying that I know everything? No.

Am I saying that God has given me everything I need for life and godliness while I’m here on earth? YES (2 Peter 1:3)

I remember at school when I was young, they always said that there is no such thing as a stupid question, but as I got older, they started saying, that smart questions make one smart.

The truth of God’s word being a freedom, a freedom that I’m not lost without answers in a world that is full of questions. However some people ask questions like that ad, where the child just keeps asking ‘why?’ for the sake of it, not really to learn anything.

A question that doesn’t come out of the hunger for an answer is not a real question, it’s a heart with no blood.

Humility is saying, God you have the answer, I’ll accept what you say, no matter how hard it is, because you are the potter and I am the clay.

Trying to deny that there is an answer in the name of humility is like a student who doesn’t want to show his marks, or see anyone else’s, because ignorance is bliss, and I don’t want to know if someone is better then me, and I don’t want others to know I’m not so good.

Oh, that we would humble ourselves like little children and come to God to learn from Him.

Most often God brings questions to our lives about reality so that we have to throw ourselves at Him and learn more about Who He is? Like with Abraham in Genesis 18, God goes to Abraham, and by God’s actions brings a whole lot of questions up in Abraham’s mind, and each time God answers, Abraham knows God a little better.

Central to our Christian Faith, is that we have the truth incarnate. And so we bring our dead daughter to Christ and ask Him to bring healing, we bring our confusion about meaning and hope and ask Him to answer, because that’s part of why He came, to show us the way, the truth and the life.

Robert Brownings wisely said, “I thirst for truth, but shall not reach it till I reach the source.”

The Christian faith is something which makes a difference and is real, but more then that… its true. Otherwise it would be easier to just believing something else, if there was some natural nobility in believing something.

Pauls said that we should answer each person (Col 4:6). The problem is when people sometimes attempt to answer back to God (Rom9:20).

Many people today would like to turn Christianity into a mystery, they would like to turn God’s revealing of Himself and His answers into mystery…

And to be honest, it is, as we saw earlier, the natural man does not understand the things of the spirit! They are foolishness to him. It was once said in the Scriptures that no one understands (Rom 3:11).

But what does it say to believers? 1Co 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” Wow, what a gift, we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).

Where do we discover the mystery? Where do we find the answers? Paul said, “Eph 3:8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Eph 3:9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,

Oh, Christians, are you left on earth to reveal in questions? Did the all powerful, loving God decide that the best answer for mankind would be mystery?

Build the boat!

Take the cruise!

It will save you!

Two possibilities: One; oh, wow, God is so big, I don’t understand how he is going to save or bring hope or life, I’m trapped in despair, and now I feel free to share it with everyone.. its so exciting to be lost without an answer and hope!

Two; Rom 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages

Rom 16:26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith–

Rom 16:27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

This has always been the understanding of Orthodox Christianity, a group of God loving holy theologians put this in a plain way in a great Christian confession, they said:

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word

This tell s us a very obvious thing: If we are going to travel the distance Jesus traveled, if we are going His way, we need to make sure our ship has the right equipment to travel across the ocean. Then we can take our feet off of the firm ground of this worlds sinful and dangerous ideas, and put our faith in something ‘more sure’, we are aliens and travelers on this world, it is not our home.

In a world where the pieces don’t matter, and the focus is more just about the journey, we would be led by a group of people who are very much like kids about to go on holiday with their parents. They don’t know to pack the spare tire, or fill up, or do checks on the car, or pack medicine.

Now, as I have said, somethings are not as important as others….

Whether Jesus comes back before or after the tribulation, or after the millennium, is not an important issue… whether Jesus is coming back at all,, is a very important issue….

This is why Paul under the control of the Holy Spirit wrote these heavy words: Gal 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Is Doctrine that Important/ The Distaste of Doctrine (Part 4)

- FOUNDATIONS – (I suggest you read Part 1,2 and 3 before this for it all to make sense)

I recently brought a book, and the author was a rather popular guy in ‘Christian’ circles these days. At one point in his book he says, that he believes Jesus was born of a virgin, but if that was not true, he could keep being a Christian! Apparently Jesus being born of a virgin or not being born of a virgin doesn’t impact on His saving work on the cross. That’s a bizarre leap of reasoning don’t you think.

I realized while I was reading that for this guy doctrine won’t save yourself and others, so you don’t have to watch it closely. His faith is kind of blind, detached from reality, a reality where a ship needs certain parts to make a journey.

What if someone could prove today that Jesus really had an earthly father? What if there was irrefutable evidence and there was a DNA test to prove it. What if the gospel writers made up “cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”? What if it was some ploy to appeal to secular Mithra cults at the time, whose gods also had supposed virgin births?

What if that part of our ship was left out?

Could a person still sail? Could a person still love God? Could a one still be a Christian?

Would you still want to travel the distance Jesus traveled?

Or does everything just shatter?

But it is so amazing if you consider the following:

Jer 36:30 says, “ Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David” right, but now look who is in Jesus’ genealogy in Mat 1:11 “ and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. “ Fortunatly, this is the family line of Joseph who was Jesus adoptive father, but not blood father.

As we read on in matthew we see the wonder of the whole thing, Mat 1:20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Mat 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Mat 1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

Mat 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

When the angel points out that this is fulfilling a prophecy he does it on purpose, because this baby has got to be able to pay for peoples sins, what man could do that, except the God-man, God with us.

So without the virgin born Jesus, we are lost in our sins, not saved from them.

This is because truth is fixed in reality, it doesn’t flex or bend or change, gravity will always stop you from jumping of a building and going up, unless you have some kind of flying contraptions attached to you. Traffic will always be dangerous if you are standing in a freeway, there is just nothing but that reality. The natural laws God made to allow the universe to run and work, what an amazing God, a God is not a God of confusion (1 Cor 14:33).

This really made sense for me a while ago, in college I was doing a course in Pastoral counseling, and one of the issues I was looking into was how psychiatrists use medication, when I came across rather interesting information about a placebo (not to be confused with the band). What doctors do mostly with people who are hypochondriacs or psyco0semantically ill people, you know the kind that think they get healed at those ‘healing crusades’ on TV (people who think they are sick, but really aren’t) is give them something that looks like a drug, but really it is just sugar or some other harmless substance, and suddenly the people feel better and are able to get on with life. If man’s sickness of sin and brokedness was not real, then we wouldn’t need a real cure, one made up in my mind would b e just as good.

But in the real world death crushes families, people starve in poverty, countries make war, children are lost, women are raped, men are murdered. I see sin and its wages all around and it’s a problem in reality, and so whatever cure I’m going to grasp hold of has to come into this same reality and be different, not just some fancy idea made up in peoples heads.

I am far more concerned with what is true and right and can fix these problems, then with ignoring the cure in the name of false humility or anything else for that matter. You always defend the things you love, you delight in it and want to bring others to delight in it.

Imagine someone who came to a doctor with a deadly sickness, and the doctor gave them some lame placebo that does nothing, imagine the doctor said that the real cure is not that important, and it makes no different what ingredients are in you tablet. Would you fight that? Wouldn’t you complain to the superintendent of the hospital?

This is why Paul told Timothy to teach only what goes along with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1)

This is why God said that those who oversee and watch over the church “… must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” Rebuke those who contradict it? Sounds harsh, but its important, life and death important.

The gospel was called ‘good news’ by the early Christians, but if you change that message and tell people something that is not real, then its not good news… it’s a lie.

Jesus never lied, he told the truth to the barest of reality, but not reality as natural man sees it all the time. One time His teaching was so hard and difficult that his disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” and later some of those who had been following him turned back and stopped following Him (John 6:60,66).

So people today want to make the gospel massage so wide, they want to change the drugs ingredients so much, maybe so more people feel comfortable taking it, I mean, who wants stuff loaded with all kinds of crazy chemicals.. unless it will save you! But Jesus said, they way to life is narrow and hard, and few will find it (Matt 7:14).

Is Doctrine that Important/ The Distaste of Doctrine (Part 3)

- PARTS OF A BOAT-

(if you have not read them, then reading part 1 and 2 will be helpful to follow the thoughts)

Not all the parts on my boat were essential, the boat could sail and get to where it going if it was missing a velvet couch, and maybe if I didn’t put the stickers on to distinguish between the guys and girls bathroom (although it make for some weird situations)

Take for example the piece of our boat called ‘baptism’. Some think we can baptism babies, and others think we can’t. I think if we all went honestly to the Scriptures and wrestled it out together we would come out with the same conclusion, but at the moment there are more important pieces to be sure about, so instead of fighting about that specific piece I link arms with someone who might not understand it like I do and fight to get the doctrine of the trinity on our boat.

Some guys make a piece that’s not important become important though… imagine if on a bot a guy put ‘no-entry signs’ with a toxic symbol over all the bathroom doors! That could cause all sorts of major problems and in the end even cause sicknesses and all crazy things on the ship… I’ll leave it to your imagination. That would be like people who say baptism is essential for salvation, they do not build the ship according to the manual, but their mistake in construction will jeopardize the whole voyage

Paul wrote to Titus and said one of the most amazing things about the connection with doctrine and living a righteous life… he said, “…showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.” Paul was writing to slaves and telling them to be obedient and not to steal, before that he spoke to young men, young women, older men and older women, telling the Christians of all walks of life to live is such a way that adorns the Doctrine of God our Savior.

I think that’s so beautiful, its like how a husband would not look at other women and always speak highly of his wife, loving her by his actions all the time, and so he adorns the truth of the vows and marriage he is a part of.

The truth that he is married is important, its vital, if he wasn’t but was living like he was married that would be fornication. But if one has the truth as a ‘thing’ its made beautiful by the actions.

Paul when he was teaching Timothy showed the importance of doctrine, he said that Timothy should watch his life (the way he lives) and his doctrine closely, and by doing that he would save himself and those that heard him teach. (1 Tim 4:16)

Wow! The lights come on… Timothy, make sure you follow the instructions in that boat, that why lives will be saved. Paul could have said, “Timothy, the instructions are important, but the boat is a whole lot more then just a set of instructions, the boat is big and glorious and magnificent!” People die on big magnificent things…

But then comes the question…. And questions are vital….. What is the essentials? What pieces does our boat really need?

I may have opinions, you may have opinions, but what did God say?

Paul wrote down God’s out-breathed words and said, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ( 1 Cor 15:3-7)

Some people say that it doesn’t really matter if Jesus rose or not, some ‘christians’ say that they could continue to be a Christian if this were not true, if Jesus didn’t historically rise. Well.. Paul said, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor 15:17).

From those verses I see some stuff of first importance, do you?

It seems like Christ dying for our sins is rather important as well as His rising.

Because, he explains, both of those have to do with our salvation, that is, with how man is made right with God

So when someone says, you have to be baptized to be saved…. That’s adding a wrong piece to the boat, that’s going to cause people to suffer and never make it possibly

When someone says that you can get your sins forgiven by saying a prayer, or by eating a piece of bread, or doing good things, that’s not Christ dying for our sins. That’s taking things from other parts of the baot and putting it where its not supposed to be.

We can pray to communicate with our heavenly father whom we love and fear

We can eat bread in remembrance of Christ at communion

We can do good things because that’s why God made us His children, to do good works (Eph 2:10)

But if we take those things and put them where they don’t belong, we can make a very dangerous ship, on that can even make shipwreck of peoples faith (1 Tim 1:19)

In history a man named Martin Luther was on a really messed up ship, but he got hold of a manual and saw how wonderful it was meant to be! He tried to get the people who ran the ship to put the right pieces in the right place, but they wouldn’t. They didn’t understand the things of the Spirit and so they treated Luther like Jesus was treated, the rejected him and even tried to kill him.

This was called the reformation, it wasn’t a time of coming up with new pieces for the ship, it was a discovery that things when they are put in their right place, when the doctrines are understood correctly, leads to having a cruise the way Jesus intended it, the way God revealed it, the most glorious and life giving exciting way. Many people, called ;’reformers’ saw how beautiful this was saw how things were meant to be, and they were so amazed at the beauty of how God revealed Himself in His word that many many many of them died painful deaths, trying to show a so called ‘church’ how the boat was supposed to look.

I’m trying to convey a message to you through these blogs, but I’m limited, my vocabulary, the length of the blogs, my background, but there is a good chance that this blog will not convey all that I intend for you to know. Let me ask you a question:

Do you think God is limited by all of the things that limit me and you?

Is Doctrine that Important?/ The Distaste of Doctrine (Part1)

A number of years ago, I enjoyed building model airplanes a whole lot, I thought fighter jets were the best (which kid doesn’t?). I remember when my older brother had gone overseas and he sent back this huge birthday present for me the one year, it was bigger then anything I had ever gotten and I couldn’t wait to open it up. To my amazement my brother had sent me a aircraft carrier with like 12 jets on and everything….

I couldn’t wait to get at it and build this huge, dream come true - ship…

I was so into it, I remember waking up real early in the morning to get it done, and I wanted to get it done in the same way my dog wants to eat all his food with one bite, I wanted it done quick cause it was just so cool.

As I got near the end and started putting all the big last pieces on, I noticed that I had a whole lot of pieces left over… Now, to be honest, in my haste I may have skipped over some parts of the instructions. And I wondered if this was going to mess it up after I had spent so much time on it

I realized that as I was building some parts looked so obviously like they would fit here or there and it just made sense that I skipped over parts in the instructions. In the end I had still built a killer ship, it was great and I was satisfied. Looking back I’m glad it was not a real ship or I might have been in a little trouble.

When I say a little I actually mean a whole lot, because its fine to make mistakes and skip things over when it doesn’t effect anyone, but like if that ship was real and I built it, it would have gone no where, maybe only down, with the crew and all. Thankfully 14 year olds are not allowed to build real ships.

As I think back about those fun filled moments with the ship I keep down in the garage, I’m reminded of some of the things Jesus said. I remember he spoke about a guy who is wise and how he should build his house, and then I remembered Jesus explained the story and said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock”

It really made sense, I could build a little model ship, but without following the carefully made manual by the designers I would get it wrong, even if it looked right.

People often question and ask, ‘What is Christianity supposed to look like?’ or ‘What did Jesus want us to do?’

The world are filled with people who claim to know, and try make communities and groups that are supposed to be the real deal, and I wonder sometimes, did these guys read the manual properly, or are they just building obvious parts of the ship?

Its funny, but when people start talking like this. other people seem to get their back up. Like if I was a ship inspector and came in and checked out the ship, I noticed that the connection to the rudder was missing and the radio had no aerial. Imagine how insane it would be if when I was pointing this out to the guys who built the ship they got all upset and said something like, “Cant you just appreciate it’s ship-ness? Are you saying you are the only one who knows what the ship needs? I mean, if I look at that ship out there on the harbor and look at this one, they look the same, ours even looks a bit better! You are so close-minded about ship construction!”

That would be a totally mad situation, not the kind I expect to find. If they ignored my recommendations they would be in real danger if the ship ever sailed out.

What is so fascinating to me as a Christian is that at the center of Christian Faith is the fact that God exists outside of everything we know as well as in it. Paul spoke about this, he said that a natural man doesn’t understand the things of the Spirit, and that the things of the Spirit are foolishness to him. Apart from Christ no one can really know anything spiritually beneficial to them, sure they might build something that looks like a ship, it might even have everything but the little connector to the rudder, but that’s not good enough. I’m not saying that everything is as important as every other thing, but we can agree that some things are essential.

We all have some kind of belief, even if we believe in nothing

The question is not what are you believing, but what are you basing your belief on