Faith the Hard Way

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. Luke 17:3-10 KJV

I think this is one of my favorite passages about faith because it doesn't fit into any popular concept of faith. Let's hit the highlights.

Jesus said, if your brother sins and repents, even seven times in a day, forgive him.

The apostles said, "Increase our faith."

Pretty straightforward, eh? Either the apostles didn't understand faith, or we don't. Since Jesus didn't say, "you silly people" I'm guessing we're the ones who have it wrong.

Next, Jesus gives an example of sufficient faith to cause a tree to move from point A to point B. It's here where many people interpret faith as either positive thinking or confident wishing. Unfortunately, they stop reading too soon, because the very next sentence starts with the word "But" which indicates that Jesus wasn't done speaking yet.

Jesus goes on to tell a story about a master and a servant. He explains that the master does not cater to the servant, but the servant to the master. He also points out that the master does not even think to thank the servant. He says nothing about the servant expecting thanks and you come away from the story thinking that this is a typical arrangement. (It doesn't matter if you agree with the arrangement or not, the illustration still stands).

After Jesus is done with his story he says, "So likewise ye..." and then equates the apostles, and by extension all who hear this lesson, with the servant by telling them that when they have done all that they have been commanded, they need to recognize that they are still unprofitable servants. In other words, complete obedience is the minimum expectation. There are no brownie points for doing the minimum.

Remember that this story was told as a response to the apostles request to increase their faith. Just how, you may ask, does this address that issue? It deals with faith by laying out an explicit hierarchy; a chain of command. And, if the apostles are the servant, then God is the master.

What Jesus is telling the apostles is that faith is increased by understanding your place in relation to God and living within that place. A little bit ago we looked at the Roman centurion who said, "I am a man under authority..." and Jesus said he had not seen such great faith. Whenever we see Jesus directly address the issue of faith, he speaks of a hierarchy and our place in it.

What does a hierarchy of authority have to do with moving a tree? Well, Jesus said that if you had the faith of a mustard seed you could move a tree. Too often people concentrate on the size of the mustard seed and think that you need only a small amount of faith. I think that Jesus was using something simple to illustrate the passive nature of faith. The mustard seed is what it is and operates within the bounds set for it by creation.

We are to do likewise. If we look back to the garden, we see that man was given authority over all of creation. In relation to creation, man is the master and creation is the servant. Jesus is saying that if we operate within our position in the hierarchy, submitting to God, we will command nature. Faith allows for a delegation of authority.

And what, pray tell, does this have to do with forgiving our brother (read fellow human)? If we recognize that a sin against us is really the outworking of a failure to live up to the commandments of God, then we see that all sin is ultimately an affront to God. And, as one who is submitted to God; beneath Him in the hierarchy, then it is not our place to effect justice or exact retribution, and thus forgiveness is the appropriate response.

My understanding of faith is not necessarily in line with some of the more popular understandings, but I believe it is consistent with scripture and more importantly an understanding that can be effectively incorporated and communicated.

Faith is not wishing. Faith is not magic. Faith is knowledge. Faith is power. But, faith is hard.

High Points - Part 2

"Thou shalt not kill." Exodus 20:13 KJV
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." Exodus 20:14 KJV
"Thou shalt not steal." Exodus 20:15 KJV
"Thou shalt not bear false witness ..." Exodus 20:16 KJV
"Thou shalt not covet ..." Exodus 20:17 KJV

These last 5 commandments all deal with interpersonal relationship; that's obvious. Specifically, they deal with respect for others. They explicitly describe how true followers of God will treat those they share this world with.

There is one aspect that is frequently overlooked here and that is the identity of "those they share this world with." A simple reading let's us know that there are no exceptions to this respect. Friends and foes alike are to be treated in the same way.

Additionally, there are no disclaimers associated with this behavior. In other words, there is no way to rationalize away the behavior that God expects, there is no place for preferential treatment.

In these commandments, I see a description of someone who knows their place; someone who understands the hierarchy of authority. Each of these commandments describe an attitude that does not attempt to manipulate the situation for their own benefit.

The motive behind failure in each of these areas is a dissatisfaction with the way things are. Each shortcoming in these commandments stems from the belief that someone else is benefiting unjustly. The person who has not yet met these goals believes that they are not getting their due, or that they need to put things right.

Each time one of these marks is missed it is because the individual refuses to accept their place. They fail to recognize that they are part of a whole and attempt to take matters into their own hands. In short, a miss here is to effectively tell God that He's not doing His job right.

Once again, the commandments describe a people who obey God's voice and keep His covenant. The commandments are an ideal to be striven for, not simply rules to be followed.

High Points - Part 1

Rather than step through the Ten Commandments one by one it's probably more useful to just look at those that are not as obvious as many think.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Exodus 20:7 KJV

To reiterate, "shalt" does not equal "should", it equals "will." This is a declarative statement, not an imperative. An imperative is implied, but the statement is declarative.

Now, you cannot take the Lord's name in vain accidentally. In my understanding, you cannot sin accidentally. And, to clear things up from the start, "Jesus Christ!" and "God damn!", while being inappropriate exclamations, are not examples of taking the Lord's name in vain. As a matter of fact, this particular commandment has nothing to do with speech.

Language has a lot of expressions, some formal, some casual and some vulgar. However, it's dangerous to raise poor social skills or limited vocabulary to the level of a damnable offense. First, I'm guessing we have enough trouble living up to the standards that God's already set for us, so adding to those standards only makes a difficult task more difficult. Second, I don't think God needs or wants our input regarding how we should behave.

So, what does it mean to "take the Lord's name in vain?" To put it simply, hypocrisy in regards to our relationship with God is a cause for damnation. But, to better understand things, we need to, how you say, unpack the phrasing.

"Take the Lord's name" is not a common way for us to talk these days, but it's not as foreign as it may appear. Most weddings ceremonies still incorporate the phrase, "do you take ..." as part of the declarations of the bride and groom. And, it is still quite common for the woman to "take" the husband's name. Taking is something we're familiar with.

When a wife takes her husband's name, she effectively declares herself united, or joined, with her husband. And by extension, she also declares that she is now a representative of her husband. Just as a wife taking her husband's name is a significant event, so taking the Lord's name is even more significant. When we declare that we are followers of God, we are "taking the Lord's name."

Of course, the key phrase here is, "in vain." When we do something "in vain", we do it without achieving the desired affect. The big bad wolf huffed and puffed in vain when he tried to blow down the brick house of the three little pigs. And we all know that the mighty Casey swung in vain at that last pitch.

When we do something in vain, we do not get the desired outcome. Thus, when we "take the Lord's name in vain" we declare ourselves followers of God while continuing to act as if God didn't exist.

A woman who took her husband's name and continued to date will have taken his name in vain and he would have a strong case for divorce. How much more scandalous is it to take the Lord's name in vain? Which gives reason for the second half of the verse that says God will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Taking the Lord's name in vain is not a slip of the tongue. Instead, it is a deliberate lie about a relationship with God and a misrepresentation of who He is. However, if we obey God's voice and keep His covenant, we will be well on our way to NOT taking the Lord's name in vain.

Are We There Yet?

"And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not." Exodus 20:20 KJV

After God had listed what has become known as the Ten Commandments, the people of Israel were a bit intimidated. So much so that they told Moses that they would gladly listen to him if he would talk with God on their behalf. Like too many people today, they misunderstood what was going on and thought God was setting up a list of rules. Moses had to set them straight.

More often than not, people see the commandments as an opportunity to fail. The commandments are read as a list of rules; shoulds and oughts. Contrary to common practice, "shall" does not equal "should," "shall" equals "will." Thus, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" actually reads, "You will have no other gods before me."

The difference is between an imperative statement and a declarative statement; what ought to be, and what is. God was not giving a list of rules, but instead describing how His people would behave. God wasn't out to intimidate, but to inspire.

It is unfortunate that we too often see a test as an opportunity to fail, rather than an opportunity to excel. We think of tests as tools to uncover what we lack, rather than demonstrate what we have. As a result of this habit, we have come to fear tests and back away from trials. We become timid and wait for someone to tell us what to do rather than confidently moving forward.

Moses said, "God is come to prove you." If we think back to our geometry lessons, we'll remember that a proof demonstrated what something was, not what it ought to be. We did proofs to identify specific qualities that made the object what it was.

The Ten Commandments are a goal. This list gives us a picture of the type of people that God wants us to be. Additionally, if God wants us to be like Him, then this list also gives us a picture of who God is.

The Ten Commandments are a picture of the final product, not unlike the box of a jigsaw puzzle. The picture on the box tells us what things will look like when we're done. It is not a set of instructions or rules. Understand, that there are instructions and rules implied in the picture, but that is not the purpose of the picture. The picture lets us know when we're done, when we've reached our objective.

For those looking for instructions, you'll need to back up a bit in Exodus. God's command is in the following passage.

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Exodus 19:5-6 KJV

The commandment is obvious, "Obey My voice and keep My covenant" and then you will be the people described in the Ten Commandments. The commandments do not set out what ought to be, but will be.

Quick Thoughts on Why . . .

I Am Not An Atheist

Atheism is, in the end, pretty useless. It has no answers. I find most atheists rather amusing, particularly in their intense opposition to theism. Why bother? Why spend so much effort in something that means so little? What, pray tell, does atheism have to offer in place of theism?

Atheism provides no grounds for morality. Some might say, that morality allows for society to get along better. But the question remains, why bother? Why should society get along? To what end is society? Should we keep the machine running simply because it's here without any reference to why it's here? Sounds pretty sterile to me.

Fortunately, most atheists are better than their philosophy. Most believe in some sort of morality, God only knows why. Most live productive lives.

I Am Not An Agnostic

Agnosticism is a dead end. Agnostics claim either that they do not know, or that they cannot know. Both positions are self-contradictory. How, do you know that you do not know? The recognition of ignorance is the knowledge that something exists and that it is different from what you already know. That in itself is knowledge of what is claimed to be unknown. It only requires a further search to extend this fundamental knowledge.

Even more contradictory is the claim that you cannot know. That's a quitter's position. The claim that you cannot know is a statement of knowledge directly relating to the knowledge that cannot be known. For unless you know certain characteristics, how can you know that you cannot know? Thus those that claim that you cannot know already know but simply quit rather than moving forward.

I Am A Theist

Theism explains the reality we experience. The existence of creativity and free will demonstrate that there is more than mere physicality. These two characteristics of our existence are evidence that the natural is a subset of a supernatural.

Theism explains the uncaused cause that is conveniently left out of atheism. We know that we cannot have an endless chain of causes and effects without an uncaused cause else the entire chain would never have begun.

Theism provides a context for the many things that atheism cannot and agnosticism refuses to. Theism answers quesitons. You may not agree with the answers, but at least it provides a place to start.

I Am A Christian

Christianity is, to my understanding, the most consistent form of theism. This is true, regardless of the many misguided that do it wrong. Christianity conforms with what we experience in life better than any other I've looked into. Christianity provides not only answers to what was, but gives understanding to what is, and offers guidance concerning what will be.

Now I am committed to Christianity until I find something better. Some might say that is a contradiction because the commitment is tentative and Christianity does not allow anything short of total abandonment.

Well, Christianity does not ask for abandonment, Christianity asks for obedience. These are two different things. Furthermore, if in my study of Christianity I find that I have been mistaken, then it would be foolish to stick with it. And if it turns out to be false, then what's the harm in moving on?

The key, is to follow the truth to the best of my ability. I cannot imagine God ever having a problem with that.

Have Faith

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 KJV

When asked about faith many Christians quote this verse. Unfortunately, more often than not, they have it wrong. They don't quote it wrong, they have the perspective of the writer wrong. It is this mistaken perspective that causes many Christians to believe that faith means believing something you can't prove.

The big mistake of most people is to believe that this verse defines faith. Rather than define it, this verse describes the function of faith. The remainder of the passage lists examples of faith in practice. For a better understanding of faith we need to look somewhere else.

In Luke 7:1-9 we find the story of a Roman centurion with a sick servant. The centurion sent a message to Jesus asking Him to heal the servant. His request, however, was not typical. The centurion's message said, "I am not worthy to come to you, so just say the word and my servant will be healed."

Now, that was unique, but the message continued, "For I am a man under authority ..." To this message Jesus replied, "I have not found so great faith..." If we think that faith is belief in something you can't prove, then this passage makes no sense. What is faith here?

Look at what the centurion said, "I am a man under authority." The centurion knew the pecking order; he understood the hierarchy and knew his place in it. It was this knowledge and understanding that Jesus declared "great faith." It is clear from this passage that faith is an understanding of our relationship to God and living in accordance with that relationship.

A few verses later in Hebrews chapter 11 we read, "without faith it is impossible to please God." If faith means believing what you can't prove, then we are almost forced to conclude that God wants us stupid. And that's just plain silly. Seeing the faith of the centurion, we learn that God wants us to understand how things work. God wants maturity, not puppetry.

Going back to Hebrews 11:1 the word substance from the King James Version is a bit confusing in today's english. A better word would be "essence." If our hope (the thing we're looking forward to) is to be what we were created to be, then the essential quality of achieving that goal is understanding our relationship with God; faith.

Faith is the evidence of things not seen. This does not mean invisible. It means not witnessed. The vast majority of our knowledge and understanding is by faith. We take the authority of experts and eye witnesses to increase our experience. In the Christian context, this means that the authority of eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus is persuasive and beneficial. The existence of our understanding is the evidence of this. (This not the place for an apologetic of the reliability of the Gospels, so don't expect one)

Faith is intelligence. Faith is not blind. Faith is not being swayed by apparent, and I stress apparent, inconsistencies. Faith is knowing who you are and where you stand.

OOPS Missed Again

Sin is quite an interesting subject. It seems that everyone's talking about it, both Christian and non-Christian alike. For the most part Christians want to make sure that they don't sin. Non-Christians seem much more interested in finding out just what sin might be. Unfortunately, asking many Christians is the wrong place to get a useful answer.

Many people think that sin is about breaking commandments. They think they can avoid sin by following the rules. It's easy to see where this comes from, after all we've got these Ten COmmandments and all. Just don't do any of the "Thou shalt nots" and everything will be just fine. Too bad it's neither that easy, nor that hard.

In both Hebrew and Greek, the word we translate as sin does not mean "breaking rules." Instead it means "miss the mark," and in non-religious contexts refers to an archer who does not hit his target. This presents an interesting perspective on sin; not breaking the rules, but missing the target. In a nutshell, to sin is to fall short of the ideal.

If sin meant to break the rules, then it would be easy because all we'd have to do is learn all the rules and then simply not break them. How simple is that?

However, if to sin is to break the rules, it would be almost impossible to not sin. Any honest person will admit to fudging on the rules at some point in time. Typically we rationalize it by saying that our intentions were good, or that there were special circumstances or whatever. The fact is, we cannot even keep to the rules we make for ourselves, how hard would it be to keep the rules that God sets?

Another problem with sin as breaking rules, is the fact that nobody can agree on just what those rules are. If we start with the Ten Commandments, we run into problems of definition, like just how badly do you have to want your neighbor's wife before it becomes coveting? Rules cloud the issue more than they clarify it. While rules are easy to follow, they're hard to follow.

Yet, when we see sin as missing the mark or falling short of the goal, things start to come into focus. If our goal, the reason we were created, is to reflect God in action and attitude, then whenever we are not reflecting God, we are sinning. When we fail to live up to our purpose, we sin.

If we see our life as a path, we can see how this idea of sin endorses many things we've been to taught. We all know from geometry, that if we are travelling along a line between two points and vary one degree every inch we will never connect with the other point. As a matter of fact, the further we go, the farther away we get from our destination.

This analogy can help us understand two things; 1) how we can be born sinners, and 2) why even the smallest sin is significant. First, we are born in sin because our ancestors have moved away from the goal of reflecting God, thus when our lives begin, they are on the wrong path. Not to worry though, we do plenty enough on our own to get on the wrong path just fine.

Second, if we take that one degree from our analogy and equate it to one sin a day, or a week, or even a year, we can see that our reflective ability is greatly diminished by the time we reach adulthood. As a result of this loss of reflection, we begin to understand that damnation is not God putting us in hell, but us going there by our own free will. We go to hell by choice. And the thing is, it only takes a small deviation to set us on the wrong course.

Now, understanding that sin is not breaking rules, but failing to reflect God, makes life a lot easier. We no longer have a list of do's and don'ts to remember and check everytime we do something. All we need to do now is get to know and understand God. However, that is a whole other discussion.