21

I've heard it said that it takes 21 days to make a habit. 

Yesterday marked 21 days from the start of the famous "new year's resolutions." And yesterday, I went to the gym. All commitments are like going to the gym.

You start off excited about your plan of action. You exercise / eat well / read your Bible / don't pick up that one ____ (cigarette, glass, scoop and cone) and feel good about it. You start determined, it's satisfying and once you finish (or the craving is gone), you feel great. Excited to do it again the next day.

But, like after exercising hard the first day, you are sore the next. You muscles ache. Your cravings stronger. Your desire to stay committed a little less. But you can't give up after the first day! So day 2 comes and goes and maybe you didn't exercise as hard (like me today), eat as many veggies, read as much or as long, or maybe you gave in just a little bit - but it's not like you're giving up! Oh, no!

But come day 4, or, if you're strong enough, day 14, keeping this up is quite a chore.

You're out of breath, with no more time to exercise. You don't hold those muscles as long or go up as high. The grains and green taste gross and you move things around in your plate. The Bible is a bore and you find yourself thinking of other things, or skipping around to find something more interesting. The drag of smoke / sip of beer / lick of ice cream shushes every complain in the world. It tastes good in your mouth. Goes down just right and fills you oh so nicely. 

And by day 21, it's over. 

Three weeks, less then a month, 21 days. They go by so fast. But when you are trying to do something better for yourself, something that pushes your limits, they drag on like the 40 days and nights of storming rain that poured and crashed over the earth. And that's kind of how it feels.

So now, day twenty-whenever-you're-reading-this, any resolutions you made are gone out the window.

I even failed to post most of the Mondays and Thursdays I said I would. 

My excuse? I couldn't think of anything interesting to say. Now I'll try to write them in advance. Some will be better than others, but my life one so unlike so many others my age, and yet, so the same and regular, mundane as all the others. 

Shall we try something? A 21 day something? Let's start on Monday. I'll be here.

The Atheist Bus Campain - Part 2

[Disclaimer: This is hugely condensed, so please do not consider this the whole argument. If you would like to discuss further, let me know.]

In my last post, I wrote about an atheist ad campaign which was motivated by the Christian belief that non-Christians "will be condemned to everlasting separation from God and then you spend all eternily in torment in hell... Jesus spoke about this as a lake of fire prepared for the devil". They call this belief "irrational."

And so I posed the question: Do you know why hell exists and why it is completely in line with Jesus' character?

And now I shall attempt to answer it, begining, not with hell, but with God, for everything starts with Him (Col 1:15-18).

God's Justice

The common response to a person's exclamation, "well that's not fair!" is "well life's not fair!" And, I propose, that God, by the common definition, isn't fair either. But He is just. 

So what's the difference between being fair and being just? Fairness, in this sense, is often "In comparision to him, I deserve just as much/more!" The kid in the playground who gets two chocolate bars and you just get one. The car in front of you who didn't get a ticket for going 18 mph over the speed limi, but you did, for just going 10 over. A good child who dies young, while the wicked grow old. And you might agree, that's not fair!

But it might be just. The kid with two chocolate bars bought it with his own allowance money for getting all his chores done, and you didn't make your bed twice, so could only afford one. It's not even handed, but it is just. No, you weren't going as fast as the other guy, but you were breaking the law, and receiving a ticket for speed is just regardless. And as for the child and the old, while it may not be fair, who are we to tell God what is and is not just?

Moses says of God: "He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he." The psalmist says of God, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne" (Ps. 89:14). The verses on God's justice abound in the Scriptures. But beyond that, God is just, because He is the measure of Justice. He declares of Himself: "I, the Lord, speak the truth, I declare what is right." 

Imagine existance without creation. The only thing left, is actually, no thing, but God. Before creation, before anything was created, only the non-created, eternal being existed, and He is God. There was no beauty, besides Him. No glory, besides His. No love, besides the love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No justice, save the Trinity's own righteousness. No sin at all, because He is perfection and sin is all that falls short of Him and what He declares "good".

God's Justice and Us

We all sin, do we not? We lie, get unnecessarily angry, we covet and make excuses for not answering God's call. God's righteousness demands that we get what we deserve. And sin deserves punishment. Therefore, we will all stand before God and be judged (2 Timothy 4:1; Matthew 25:31-33). Though life may not have been "fair," God will serve justice. He is bound by His character.  

At this point I would like to pause and give you an example of when God was "not fair," from Jesus' own parables (Matthew 20:1-15):

For the Kingdowm of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whaever was right at the end of the day. So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o'clock he did the same thing.

At five o'clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them 'Why haven't you been working today?'

They  replied, 'Because no one hired us.'

The landowner told them, 'Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.'

That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. When those fired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 'Those people worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.'

He answered them, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair! Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take you money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?'

The workers thought that they deserved more than those who worked late, and sure, those who worked less, deserved less. But those who worked longer did not deserve more because they agreed to the pay ahead of time. They got what they deserved. It was the latecomers who didn't get what they deserved, but more!

And finally, to hell

And so it is with us. We all deserve hell. This is true because

1. We all sinned (Psalm 53:3; Romans 3:23; your own conscience).
2. The just payment of sin is death (Romans 6:23), punishment with everlasting destruction and banishment from God's presence (2 Thessalonians 1:9) (among other things).

Like what was cited above: "There is no one who does good, not even one" (Ps. 53:3). And God cannot let sin go unpunished. He is a just God, and let us thank Him for it! Imagine if we had an unjust God - then life would truly be unfair! An unjust God, even if He were "good" by our definitions (which is good most of the time, like a "good" person), would let evil run rampant! How many times have you thought someone was good because they let you get away with something? Is that the god you want? What about the reverse: how many times have you thought someone was evil because they let someone get away with something you thought they shouldn't have? But, thanks be to Him! He is just.

Even better is that, God, like the master of the vineyard, gives more than deserved to some. John 1:12 says, "But to all who did receive [Jesus] who believed in [Jesus'] name, he gave the right to become children of God." That is to say, not everyone is God's child, as is a popular belief. Jesus Himself says, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). That means that not all get to the Father. Those that do, only come through Jesus, as the above verses (and others) state. Though we all deserve separation from God, death and hell, God has graciously provided, through the Son's substitutionary death on the cross, that some may enter into His glory. 

So can good people who don't believe in Jesus go to heaven? Let's see what the Bible says:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 14:6

 "I [, Jesus,] am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Acts 4:12

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

God is just by punishing sin. But He is even better than that by having given His Son to die for us (remember we just celebrated Christmas and the reason why He came), so that in His death, those who believe in Him may live, though we definately don't deserve it!

The Atheist Bus Campaign - Part I

It's true. You can read about it here.  

There is an atheist organization in London that has raised £135,000 (that's US $362,844) to run ads on buses, in train stations, and on the streets on LCD screens.  

And what is it exactly? 

According to the article: 

... 800 buses – instead of the 30 we were initially aiming for – are now rolling out across the UK with the slogan, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life", in locations all over England, Scotland and Wales, including Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, Cardiff, Devon, Leeds, Bristol and Aberdeen.

My biggest question is why does the atheist care? If (s)he believes there is no afterlife, what's it to him/her that someone else believes in one? Well, this is what they said:

... the campaign was originally started as a positive counter-response to the Jesus Said ads running on London buses in June 2008. These ads displayed the URL of a website which stated that non-Christians "will be condemned to everlasting separation from God and then you spend all eternity in torment in hell … Jesus spoke about this as a lake of fire prepared for the devil".[*] Our rational slogan will hopefully reassure anyone who has been scared by this kind of evangelism.

[*] Notice that they didn't give the URL for the Jesus Said ads, which is jesussaid.org. 

The ads are also on buses in Spain and Washington, DC. They suggest these ads "brighten" bleek January days. Apparently the founder of the Atheist Bus Campaign skipped all the good and found what she was looking for: an accusation. If she really read what Jesus said, if she really understood the power of an almighty God, and not thought of God as an impersonal, unfeeling, just-less force, then maybe she would have understood.

So who's keeping it a secret? Do you believe in a real place called hell? Do you know why it's there and how it is completely in line with Jesus' character? 

I'll answer this next time. In the meantime, you think about it. What would you think if you saw atheist ads all over public transportation? What do you think when you see Christian ads? If Jesus said you have to believe in him to be saved (and He said so much more than that!) and died to open heaven to those who believe and yet you also believe that good people will go to heaven - did Jesus die for nothing?

Beginnings and Endings

Last January marked the beginning of a year full of lasts. My last semester. My last first day of class. My last day all-hall meeting. My last chapel. The last time I see some friends before Italy. The last time to Chicago before Italy.

And most recently: My last Christmas home.

Christmas is the most traditional thing my family does. Noche Buena at Lelo & Lelas. Christmas morning at home. Christmas breakfast at Tio & Tia’s. Christmas afternoon back at Los Lelos. Nothing changed. If anything went a little off schedule, someone had a cow.

And as much as things stay the same, really, they change.

So it was and it wasn’t my last Christmas home, all depending on your definition of “home.”

This year my dad’s side of the family and us went to California to be with my new niece, Rosi. She’s too young to travel, so we all went to see her.

This year, everything was different, even though we tried to keep some things the same, like my mom making frijoles, Papa made lechon, and taking turns opening gifts in the morning.

As so, since graduation, my “see you later” to my friends may just be fulfilled in heaven, because we have no idea when the next time we’ll see each other again is.

And this Christmas, well, I leave to Italy in June and I wont be back for nine months. That means I miss Christmas. And New Years.

As I said goodbye to 2008 just minutes ago, it hits harder and harder that 2009 is the year of my Big Move. In 6 months I’ll be heading to Turin, a of a million people. To tell them about Jesus. And I’ll miss Christmas, but I won’t be without the reminder of the resurrection. And I’ll miss New Year’s, but I will celebrate it knowing we are closer and closer to Christ’s return (if He doesn’t come back before then). And that’s the plan. Because showing other people the Way to eternity, the Way to Jesus, is more important than anything else.

From Incarnation to Incarnational

Did we just celebrate the incarnation of Jesus?

Do we really know what the incarnation is all about?

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine excitedly mentioned the word the Apostle John used to speak of Christ's incarnation. In English it's usually translated "dwelt" but in Greek it's "tabernacled" (John 1:14). That is, as the glory of God was contained and present among the people of Israel in the wilderness, so the glory of God was contained and present among the people of the earth in the incarnation.

Paul, like wise speaks of the incarnation as gracious and glorious:

"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross" (Phil 2:6-8)

And why does Paul tell us this? To exhort believer to: "make [him] truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had" (Phil 2:2-5).

Churches often speak of "incarnational ministry." And it references the incarnation:

• in- (entering);
  
• -carna- (flesh);
  
• -tional (state of being)

or, fleshing out in ourselves what Jesus did when He fleshed out what it was to have God among man. Paul calls us to have the same attitude that Jesus had. And it should be easier for us, because we aren't God: "thinking others as better than yourselves" -- imagine God thinking others as better than Himself! And yet, He gave everything, His throne, His omniscience, His omnipresence, His glory, for dirty diapers, hunger, sweat, tears and finally, death. Why? Out of love for us. To reunite our sinful selves with Him.

And so we are to give our everything to Him first, and in giving ourselves to Him, we follow Jesus' example, and give ourselves to others, our friends, our neighbors, those whom we share the street with, people in our city, people in need, and for me and some of you readers out there, the people of Turin.

Incarnation. The state of being entered into flesh.
Incarnational. The state of being like Christ.

Surprises (sorry so long)

I heard two comments the other day that surprised me.

One was at WalMart, where I was hoping to get all three things that I needed. (I left with only one.) The long lines were not worth staying in to pay for my 94¢ box of colored pencils, so I went up to customer service and asked if I could pay there.

Usually there's a small line, but when I got there, there was only one lady at the registers, and waited for her to signal me forward while she finished what she had been doing. I asked her nicely if I could pay there. As I was asking, a second lady came up to the registers and waited for more customers, but there were none. As my cashier rang up my single purchase, the second lady answered her cell phone saying hurriedly, "Hey, I'm the only one here and I've got a long line, I'll call you back later, bye." And hung up.

I smiled at her, because, though she spoke in Spanish and maybe thought I didn't understand, I couldn't help grin at the ridiculously apparent lie she just gave to someone privvy enough to have her phone number. I wanted to say something like "you are such a liar!" (obviously smiling, so it wouldn't sound so harsh) or "I can tell you really love and respect that person." But I knew better and left, pondering her situation. She could have just not answered the phone if she didn't feel like speaking with them.

How she could answer her phone on the job, lie about being the only one there, and lie about the long line, hang up the phone and just stand there idlely, when I know there's ALWAYS something to do when you work at a big name place like WalMart? I feel sad for those around her who lie just as easily to her, for she must've picked it up somewhere, and those who she is teaching to do the very same things. Her children, perhaps.

The second comment was entering Michael's, where I was forced to make another stop since I didn't get what I needed at WalMart (!). As I approached, a mother was ushering her two kids, approximately 6 and 8 and just out of school, into the store. I was stalled a moment behind them as the mom stopped to grab a cart and in those few seconds were long enough to give me the second surprise of the day. I had no reason to linger, so I missed what followed. But, as the mother clammored over her kids, grabbing cart, dropping her purse, maneuvering all their belongings, the daughter, the eldest, started speaking. "You know," she began her philosophical observations, "some people say that Santa Claus doesn't exist and that other things that people believe in, like the tooth fairy and the easter bunny." Here she paused momentarily. "Or God, or ghosts don't exist."

No one was really listening to her, and her mother was too busy preparing the cart and trying to take the first steps out of the doorway to address her daughter's discovery that what one person may believe in may be refuted by another. I couldn't just stand at the entrance to the store waiting for the mother's reply, so I walked on, wondering if I should be surprised or sad. This mother, because I could see her not paying attention, was focusing on the "real meaning" of Christmas, that is, shopping, buying presents and decorating the house to give wonderful feelings to family members that she missed a great opportunity to address this life predicament.

Which brings me to another thought. I hear every Christmas people all around, in conversations with others, in groups, in emails throw a big stink about how people don't say "Merry Christmas" anymore and that this "Christian" greeting has been replaced by "Happy Holidays" and rawr! rawr! rawr! Perhaps this is not very 21st century Christian of me, but please, go ahead, say Happy Holidays all you want. If everyone says Happy Holidays and few remain saying "Merry Christmas," which will stand out when it is spoken. I even got an email with an article from some Christian magazine rating retail stores on how "Christmas-friendly" they are this year. Barnes and Noble, where I am currently employed, received a "Christmas-negliable" rating, meaning they marginalized Christmas. The third and worst category was "'Christmas-offensive' retailers — apparent abandonment of 'Christmas'". And my response is: so what? These same magazines and people go on and on about how America is no longer a Christian nation and then they expect those same people to hold on to "the real meaning of Christmas" and say "Merry Christmas."

What does "Merry Christmas" even mean?! Because the holiday season is about family, making and recalling memories, and giving. And Merry Christmas really just means "Happy Holidays" just one greeting is "Christian-ese" and the other is "secular." The church has done the same by baptizing Halloween and calling it "Fall Harvest," full with costumes and candy. And what does Decemeber 25th have to do with Jesus anyway? He was probably born in springtime, I've heard and the wise men did not show up on the scene till years later NOT by the manger at the innkeeper's.

So - all this ranting and raving is not in vain - at least, I think I have a point.

This woman lies so easily - and yet, we all have sin that we do so easily. Justify. Excuse. Permit. Indulge. And Jesus died because of that. Every time you (I) permit sin to fester, your nature to conceive and give birth to sin, no, Jesus doesn't die all over again, but you can imagine Him hanging there on the cross, gasping for breath and then submitting His Spirit to God, giving up the pursuit of breathing because you (I) justified that sin.

And we all go about our daily lives ignoring the important conversations and rushing through this life as if the most important thing is 5 minutes away. I constantly rush to work, postpone getting up in the morning, put off going to bed, calculate the minutes I could gain if I could switch lanes and the other one is going faster and TICK TICK TICK (because in our now digitized world, clocks and watched don't "tock") life is a rush.

But Jesus' timing is perfect. He postponed His arrival in Bethany until after Lazarus had died. He set Himself up for capture at the Garden of Gethsemane. He let the disciples in their boat go out before Him and walked out to Him later that night. "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem [us], that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal 4:4-5). At the perfect time He came...

Not at Christmas. Not on December 25. But it was on a certain day (perhaps its better we don't know exactly when) that God, emptied Himself of certain attributes, such as complete omniscience (Mt 24:36) and omnipresence (obviously contained in human form), entering time and history, "taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man" (Phil 2:7). He was subject to thirst and pain, sadness and death. He did these things to adopt us, redeem us, perfect us, strengthen us, and glorify Himself (Eph 1).

Not for lip service to His birth once a year.

Even as Peter told Jesus "God forbid it!" to His suffering and death - Jesus was on His own time table for us. As the disciples urged Him to send the crowds home because it was getting late and everyone needed to eat, Jesus "had compassion on them" (Mt 15:32; et al).

What are we urging God to do that is not in His timing? "And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice [sin]. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

So what's your attitude this Christmas season? Yes - the world is full of evil, but the prince of darkness is also the prince of the world. Yes - most do not acknowledge God. No - "Merry Christmas" is not PC. But we cannot force people to bow their knees until Jesus reveals Himself to them. Think of the rich young ruler, with Christ and the offer of life before him, "went away grieving." Jesus did not force Him.

God, give us compassion, patience and love. Help us do your will.

Johana

Recently I've placed a challenge before people asking them what $1 a day means. I believe that one dollar a day, or $30 a month can literally change lives in Torino. When speaking about this challenge many bring up supporting children in poverty-stricken countries. So, to contradict the "wise" proverb: "do as I say, not as I do," I decided to also take up the $30/month challenge - giving $30 a month out of my salary, in the place of whatever pleasure I may like - this time, however, by supporting a child a very impoverished situation through a Christian organization.

I'll call her Johana. She's eight years old and her parents can hardly provide for her and her brother. She does not go to school, but instead works at home by caring for the animals. She lives in a village in Europe. My welcome packet said the following: "Your sponsership commitment will help provide [Johana] and her community with clean water and improved healthcare facilities. Your support eill also help your child receive a quality education." In the letters I plan to write to her, I hope to shine Light in her life and Hope. But one thing is radically different between sponsering a child and bringing Light to Torino:

In my letters to Johana, I cannot name the name of Jesus.

The welcome packet told me that some countries are sensitive, and supporters are asked to refrain from talking about Jesus. So I wrote to the organization and asked if this was the case in her country. This was the reply: "At this time [her country] is considered a sensitive country and we ask that you refrain from mentioning Jesus or Christianity in your communications
with [Johana]."

And so while my $30 a month will help this child tremendously in this life - what about the next? What use is it to give someone fresh water and withhold Living Water (Jn 4)? Or teach them to harvest grain but tiptoe around the Bread of Life (Jn 6)? Give education, but not purpose (Eph 1; Rom 12, et. al.)?

I purposely chose a child in Europe so that after some time of communication I may visit the child and take the risk upon myself of sharing the Hope of life with Johana and her family. Money can only go so far. We can send money to dig wells, to provide food and housing, to improve cities. But unless we send people, unless we send the message of Hope, we do nothing but humanitarian aid. And humanitarian aid falls short of work that is of Kingdom value - that is, God's kingdom.

And that's why I'm not just asking people to send money to Torino, but to send me and my team so that we can share the good news of Christ's substiutionary death and glorious resurrection that brings forgiveness and hope to a people who, though they have running water, electricity, jobs and homes, do not have God.