Logical Alternatives to Christ: Risk / [Eternal] Reward

One of the things that makes me scratch my head when speaking with atheists, and the like (agnostics/apathetics/what have you) is that there is really no viable alternative to me than Christianity, at the end of the day logically speaking. This may read a lot like Pascal's Wager, for those of you familiar with it, but bear with me.

Basically, I understand that most forms of Christianity, from Orthodoxy, to Catholicism, Protestantism, and non-denominational-ism (?), etc, would agree that Christianity holds certain objective truth claims; that those who have faith in Jesus Christ of Nazareth will ultimately spend eternity with him and their heavenly father in the paradise of New Jerusalem, while those who ultimately reject him and rebel will join Lucifer/Satan/Leviathan to suffer ongoing punishment without end.

At the same time, in this current life, those who trust in Christ are promised a life of adventure and continuing wonder as we grow in our faith, though at the same time struggling against sin and darkness (an oversimplification, granted).

Now an opposing view, among many, is that there is no point in life; when we die, we die - there is nothing more, nothing less. While we live, we should aim to fecklessly seek to enjoy ourselves, or perhaps make a better world for our kids and grandkids, but let's face it - who really cares, because there is little point at the end of the day. We arrived here by random chance, and hence shall we exit.

That seems to be the stance of the staid atheist, at least traditionally. However, not many I know are quite of this ilk; they seem to have some faint new-age borrowed Buddhism going on, that there is some 'supernatural' akin to Kant's far-off noumenon - intangible but in theory possible.

Anyhow, there isn't really a counter Christian idea that there is something *else* we should be placing our trust in, or believing, a being whom, if we don't follow, we miss out on eternal reward, and are even punished.

Thus taking the major religions; what happens to Christians if Muslims are right, and Allah is the true creator of the universe, and Mohammed really was his prophet? How about if the Jews are correct and the messiah was not actually Christ, but has not yet come? And if the Zen Buddhists are right, and everything is nothingness, we must seek inner peace and enlightenment - attainment of nirvana, etc. etc? I could go on.

In none of those scenarios is the Christ-follower to be worried about either suffering punishment for being incorrect, and actually in most he is rewarded as well as those who were right. Surprising, right?

My main point is just that it's logical to choose to follow Christ just based on risk/reward, though that would hopefully just be a starting point. The reward being eternal, infinite bliss, and meaning and purpose for the life here in the meantime; the risk being that another religion (or none at all) is correct: the result would be, for the Christian, perhaps not having an afterlife at all (atheism/some forms of Judaism/Shinto), or being in a lower form of paradise (Islam/Mormonism/Tibetan Buddhism/debatably: Daoism/Zen Buddhism & Sikhism (Nirvana)/ Western Pure Land Buddhism/forms of Hinduism/Baha'i/Jainism).  I tried to cover the major world religions, and ones I've studied, but if I let any out I apologize. Some of these specify Christians as landing in a form of their heaven (Islam, Mormonism, Judaism, at least some forms), while some prescribe universal salvation.

All that being said, I'd just challenge my skeptical friends to ask God a simple request after reading this. Just say something like "God, I don't believe you're there, but if you are, please show me in a way I'd believe - because if you are, I don't want to be wrong about it... thanks." You really have nothing to lose, especially if you're wrong. And I believe God raised Jesus from the dead; if he can do that, he can make something happen in your life in the coming days, weeks, etc. to show you he's real.

Happy lent, all.

Dusting Revelations

I was helping clean my aunt's house the other day when I was assigned the task of dusting.

Yes, dusting. Probably one of my least-favorite cleaning tasks as it will always have to be repeated and the dirtiness happens by the fault of none; over time dust will seemingly just gather for no reason.

So I went about my duty, dusting diligently, when I eventually happened upon a remote table that didn't seem to need any dusting. I let out a sigh of relief; it was pretty sizable.  However, when I swiped my finger along the table's surface, I noticed it left a streak of shiny wood, while the surrounding tabletop suddenly seemed very dusty.

It's weird, I thought to myself, sometimes I feel like that's all it takes, a few fingerprints, and a dusty object is easy to spot.

How much in my life is a similar story? 

As I let my mind sit idle, my thoughts unbridled, don't I feel like everything is perfectly fine, no need for any cleaning up in here, thankyouverymuch? But as soon as I have something to compare the state of my mind to that is pure, say scripture, or a good sermon, I realize how dusty it has become.  Perhaps with lack of use, or simply lack of reflection; am I keeping my mind and my thoughts dusted? Or, like the table, are they gathering dust unnoticed?

Just a thought.

You can't take it with you

So I was at Dave & Buster's recently, yesterday in fact, with some friends of mine I hadn't seen in awhile. After chowing down on some savory dinner, we got down to the important part: the games.

If you haven't been to Dave & Buster's before, it's somewhat difficult to describe, except to say that it's kind of like a Chuck E Cheese except it's not weird for adults to play too.  The objective in many of the games is to amass tickets, and you can exchange tickets for prizes when you're finished. The more valuable the prize, the more tickets it costs; for example an Xbox game could be 10,000 tickets while a D&B branded mug might cost 400 tickets. In my nerdiness, I tried to figure out the approximate dollar value of a ticket and the expected return for each game I played but that's neither here nor there.

As I perused the store after winning exactly 1111 tickets, including a 500-ticket jackpot I hit on my final play (see photo), I realized I wouldn't have a use for most of the stuff I could redeem my tickets for anyway.  And I didn't plan on coming back - at least not for a very long time - so I couldn't really take my tickets with me.

At that point it occurred to me that this is very much like how money is in the world; in my world, at least, I should say.  As I focused on gaining as many tickets as I could, I surely missed out on some bonding opportunities with these friends I don't see too often. And when I left the arcade, it's not like I could take the tickets with me in any meaningful way.

In the same way I imagine pursing a career as my first priority, and marginalizing my family and friends, would ultimately leave me unfulfilled.  Sure, I may end up with a lot of cold, hard cash, or "tickets," and maybe a slick car and a big house, or "prizes," but if I spend all my time in the proverbial arcade of life chasing after things that will ultimately have no value to me when I die, what good is it?

If, however, I had focused my time getting to know my friends better instead of piling up stacks of tickets, maybe I'd have made a bigger impact on their lives instead of walking out with some silly trinkets.

So perhaps if I spend more time developing relationships and making a positive impact in peoples' lives than worrying about my job and finances, I'd not only feel fulfilled but actually make a difference.

Those tickets ultimately end up in a shredder, and the trinkets in the trash.

I couldn't take them with me, and I won't be able to take the "real" ones with me either.

Neither will you.

The End

So it's December 21, 2012.

Actually, it's early morning on the 22nd by now in the eastern reaches of the globe.

And the world's still here.

The verse I shared with friends days before May 23, 2011, Harold Camping's prediction of the End by adding and multiplying several unrelated numbers in the Bible, still applies today:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only."

Synoptically stated in both Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32.

So even though Camping is supposedly a Christian, he evidently didn't take the Bible too seriously.

The Mayans, on the other hand, weren't even trying to predict anything; they just thought planning out their calendar a couple of thousand years would be enough to suit their purposes. They most likely figured they would have ample time to update but were unfortunately too busy finding themselves on the wrong side of a certain clash of civilizations with the Spaniards to be bothered to edit their calendar.

That said, the question remains: what if today was the "last day?"

What would I do, how would I act?

Well, Paul certainly lived as if the end were near (see Philippians 4:5) - he even told people not to get married partially with this in mind.  He spread the Gospel and went through untold amounts of pain and hardship, knowing that Jesus could come back at any moment.

So do I live my life the same way?

Ashamedly, no.

My close friend made the apt point that if the world was ending tomorrow (or today) it shouldn't change the way we live our lives as Christians; we should always be sharing the Gospel with the expectation that Jesus' return is imminent.

So although I do share my faith with others from time to time, typically in a dialogue whereby I listen to them describe their beliefs first and foremost, this should serve as a reminder to me to do so more often and with a greater sense of the gravity of such conversations.  I invited a friend to church this week as a matter of fact - I hope God continues to provide opportunities like that as I become more obedient in following through on them.

Although it seems like it's taking awhile for Jesus to return, Peter points out in 2 Peter 3:8-10:

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief."

So I don't pray that Jesus would return soon anymore; I pray for more time for people to repent and believe, and for me to help in that process any way I can.

Are you preparing yourself for what's coming?

"Are you preparing yourself for what's coming?" I heard one coworker ask another today.  Hurricane Sandy, "Frankenstorm" - a tropical storm slash nor'easter; whatever you call it, it is on the way to the East Coast, and looks to be fearsome.

Many are buying bottled water and batteries; some who have generators, fuel for them. I'm glad I already filled up on gas just the other day - if power goes out, the pumps could be down for awhile.

But what about another reality that I know is coming? Am I preparing myself for that?

It happens all too often that I am consumed by some stress or anxiety over some minute thing - compared to this coming reality, aren't all daily stressors so abjectly silly?

Am I preparing myself for what's coming? Or am I just busy worrying about unimportant things? Or am I preparing myself for the wrong things; are my priorities misaligned?


Just a brief thought.

9/11, the Injeel, and am I Jonah?

So it's been awhile.

9/11 was yesterday; the eleventh anniversary.

It's nuts to think that was 11 years ago; for some reason it seems much more recent than that to me.

It boggles my mind that a human being can wreck that type of destruction willfully on someone else. It must take someone with some type of skewed mentality, who cannot empathize with others, to commit such a heinous act.  I can comprehend, to a limited extent, someone with a mental illness committing such crimes - the Aurora, Colorado shooter, for example, seems to have signs of paranoid schizophrenia, perhaps believing in an alternate reality where he is the Joker.  But someone who is technically sane killing thousands just leaves me at a loss.  Perhaps theirs is a different kind of mental illness. They could have been trained from a young age to hate all things Western, to despise the stars and stripes, to believe that America is actually the Great Satan. Maybe they were traumatized from a young age; seeing collateral damage in their towns from American missile strikes aimed at Al Qaeda hitting schools or something.

However, I don't think it's excusable. If you read the Qur'an, it is clear that 'People of the Book', e.g. Christians and Jews, are to be respected by Islamic Muslims - in Medina the Prophet was clear on this.  It seems heretical, then, that Tehran is spewing hatred toward Israel, and splinter groups like Al Qaeda and the Taliban target America (and one could argue Christianity) with such animosity - their own sacred text describes Jesus as virgin born (not even Mohammed had that honor), refers to him as 'the Spirit of God' (see Sura 5:46 onwards if you're interested; the Injeel is the New Testament), and says a lot of true things about him (though there are discrepancies as well; such as his crucifiction).

Sura 5:82, for example, says "...you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly"

Sura 3:3 says "It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong)."

Sura 5:46-47 says "And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel (Injeel): therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah.

Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) those who rebel."

So you can tell that those terrorists who are killing Christians and Jews in the name of Allah are truly misguided, not only by our standards, but even by their own sacred texts.  

Now as far as the reciprocal goes, Christians are definitely called to respect Muslims, as we are called to love our neighbors, as well as our enemies.  Which means we are even called to love terrorists, the very ones who are killing our loved ones.  That's a hard thought.  I never found it all too difficult to forgive, or pray for the bully that was my 'enemy' in grade school, but it's a different story when it comes to those who literally want me to die.  It shouldn't be - and I've managed to pray for them to come to know Christ and repent, etc... but still.

I feel like I know how Jonah felt when God told him to go preach in Nineveh to Israel's enemies - Jonah was flabbergasted and went the other way (hence the whole whale story).  The Assyrians / Ninevites had done some pretty rapacious deeds to Israel in Jonah's life time, and he didn't want to see God forgive them; when he did end up begrudgingly preaching to them, and they sincerely repented, he was actually upset! He wanted God's justice to be done to them, while God had mercy in mind.  It is often thought that God sent Jonah to the Ninevites not only for their benefit, but for his; God wanted to melt Jonah's heart of stone, but it appears that Jonah would have none of it - the book of Jonah ends unresolved and we never hear anything more about him.

So the question becomes apparent; am I like Jonah? Or am I willing to forgive and preach to my enemies, praying that God would forgive them for what they've done? I pray I'm the latter, but it's a journey.  Eleven years later, the world is quite a different place.  But one thing surely hasn't changed; God still wants his Muslim children to come to know Him. And we are called to love our enemies.

Good Stewardship

So in light of my post-before-last, I thought I'd share some internal debates I've been having on the subject.
Also, as an aside, epic fail at keeping my streak alive. Guess I jinxed it! Haha.

Anyhow, at a church service the following Sunday, our pastor, let's call him Brett (because that's his name), basically copied my idea! He spoke on Matthew 6, and discussed clothes & food, and other silly things we go around worrying about. He even justified, with a logically sound argument (in my opinion) why he dresses up to preach each week, but why he doesn't really care how we dress going to church. Which was awesome.

But I have been thinking about my car a lot lately. Those of you who know me well would be quick to point out that I really enjoy vehicles - whether it's cars, motorcycles (even planes & boats I guess), etc.  My last 3 cars have all been stick shift, and I have put some inordinate amount of money into making them go faster, and look shinier.  Which, all told, is completely pointless.

However, the justifying part of my brain wants to say...
"But Brian, you employ those people that makes those parts you buy, and they feed their families with that money! It's not like you're just setting that money on fire and throwing it off a bridge! (Fire marshals would be displeased, anyway) Plus, if you didn't use it on car parts, you'd just save it, and the government wouldn't get all those juicy taxes when you pay sales tax and the seller pays income tax and sales tax when they spend it in turn, etc! (that's called the money multiplier effect, 'M' in econ 101)..."
But in reality, I think I just like my car to make loud noises when I press on the accelerator, and for it to look nice. Which is really a pride thing I think; I like it when people look at my car and give me a thumbs up, or when they nod at me because they are a car enthusiast too.

I think that the main place I found joy in it at one point was installing the actual parts, and working with my dad in putting them in, but eventually it got warped into this narcissistic self-love... sad, I know. Plus the parts are actually worse for the environment and my fuel economy (incrementally), and probably attract more unwanted attention than wanted (people try to street race me all the time - I just have to not make eye contact).

That's why I decided to sell all of my aftermarket parts - it's called "parting out" in the modding community, and get my car back to stock.  Then I think I will sell it and get something more utilitarian - it's a V6 Coupe; not very efficient, and there is practically no legroom in the back.  It's a sad process because most of my mods will not go for even 50% what I paid form them just months ago, for some reason, and it's quite expensive to ship heavy stainless steel pipes around the country as well. Some of them are still unopened, too! But I really felt convicted after writing that post - it's something I've been struggling with for quite awhile.

In the future instead of spending thousands of dollars on car modifications, I will probably just save. Or maybe spend it on car-related things that are actually useful; like a trailer or safety features - things that will go to good use, and hopefully actually increase the resale value instead of decreasing it like racing mods do (people assume if you put these into your car you've treated it badly - revving past the redline, etc).

So thank you, dear readers, for helping me in this introspective journey that is actually leading to real change in my life. Tonight I meet with a fellow Accord enthusiast who wants to buy some pipes from the bottom of my car for $800. Thank goodness I kept the originals!

And thank God He is changing my heart - I want any hint of pride in me to be completely killed off.
We are told to take up our crosses daily, die to ourselves, and crucify our flesh. I'd be remiss if I didn't take those words seriously.

And in Matthew 6, which I mentioned earlier, we are told to Seek first His Kingdom... and not worry about these secondary things because He will take care of us. In being so focused on my car, I definitely was worrying about some pretty pointless stuff. This is a chance for me to realign and remind myself where I should be focusing.