Monday, November 28, 2011
What's It All About?
What is it all about? What am I here for, and what are you here for? Of course you answer this question differently depending on where 'here' is. Is here being alive, being present in society today. Is here this blog? Many people have tried to answer the first question and it seems that everyone has to find some sort of explanation for the first question. However I want to pose it in the second sense. Why is my blog here? why do I write down these thoughts and why in the world do you find that you should come and read them?
I started this blog because I wanted to get my ideas out, i love ideas and I like to express them and share them with others. However, ideas are only good if they change and grow people. Everyone today wants some new challenge, some new inspiration to motivate them to do something. I will admit that I wanted to be that inspiration and that motivation, and maybe I have for some people that read this. However, I have seen so often in my own life where I get that inspired, chills in the spine, motivated feeling to do absolutely nothing with it. The reality of it is that this feeling really doesn't compel us to do anything but search for that feeling again. I would argue that the most influential feeling that compels people to action today is discontent or discomfort.
It actually is quite disturbing when you think about it, that the only thing that compels us is really what directly affects our attitude and feeling in a negative way. Good inspiration fades quickly, discomfort lasts. It is not really something that I fully understand, in fact I would think that I don't really understand it at all. Negative emotion moves us to action, positive emotion moves us to... well... um... ok... yea I am still waiting to see what positive emotion moves us to. We hear about the good things that are happening and we say "that's nice, good job", however we hear about the negative things and we say "something should be done!".
Now I want to be very honest and very open here, and so it is going to be very generalized and I don't believe this about everyone, but it is about society as a whole. However, do not take this disclaimer to excuse yourself from what I am about to say. I am speaking to you, and you can discern with the help of God if it's something you need to change.
I AM TIRED OF LAZINESS! Why do we think that we can check out after our day in the office, and leave every other sort of injustice for others to sort out? Why is it that we leave all sorts of injustice that we see and simply state that 'something needs to be done' when in fact you are standing right there with the means to do something!!! This does not always even mean going out of your way to do something, and it is not that hard. Yet, we convince ourselves that we are not the right person for the job. That for some reason we are not worthy to do it. AND YOU ARE RIGHT! We are not worthy to do it. We CAN'T do it. That' the point. Our society has made us yo depend on our own skills and resources and what we can do and reject everything we think we can't do. Yet, God tells us that he will be there for us in those times. Woe to us of little faith. (and don't get me wrong I include myself in this just as much as anyone else). When do we stop asking who is going to take the baton and act and start actually acting? When do we stop asking if we are ready, are we ready? are we ready? Am I ready after bible school? Am I ready after seminary? Am I ready after I'm 20? After I'm 30? The answer is yes, these things are not bad to do, but what are you doing while at these places? Where are you working and coming alongside God's plan? Where are you acting NOW?
No more excuses, God has either equipped you now or will equip you to fulfill his works. and even if you fail, you will learn? We need to stop being afraid of the gospel, and stop being afraid of acting and just start doing it out of faith.
This is my rant... there is probably a lot more I could say but out of a fear of being redundant I am going to stop there. I hope this does not inspire you. I hope that instead this gives you a nasty little knot in your brain that doesn't leave you alone the next time you say to yourself, "someone should do something"...
Grace and Peace to you
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
I think I'll try defying Gravity
One of the things you learn about fairly early on in life is the scientific law of gravity. Gravity is not something that is really understood very well. We understand what it does, but not really why it's there. We learn what it is from the very instance we come into this world, even if we don't understand it. Then, we get into junior high and learn a little more about it. We learn at least what it is called and what it does, even if that still means we don't really understand it. We learn to live with it, to adapt to work within it's boundaries and in a sense to defy it. Not ultimately or for infinite amounts of time, but for some instances there are times where gravity cannot fully hold us down. We learn to walk, jump, climb, fly (at least for a little while, and with machines that help). All of these actions in a sense are defying gravity to some extent. yet, that does not mean the force leaves, we do not attribute jumping to the fact that gravity for that instance in that specific area "stopped working" or "wasn't present". No these actions occur in spite of the fact that gravity is still there trying to bring us back down to earth, so to speak.
Ok Nick, thanks for the science lesson that I already knew, but what does it have to do with me other than the fact that it is kind of a cool idea. Well there is also a sinful nature that is part of every man. The famous verse of Paul that has him saying that he does not do what he wants to do and what he wants to do he does not do? Yea that verse is talking about how his sinful nature tends to get the best of him. There is also, surprise surprise, an adversary that is trying to bring us down. It seems like the odds are against us to rise and become like Christ. It seems like there is some force, something that is not really fully understood, although we can see the effects and know what it does, we do not really understand why, or where it comes from. this force seems to be trying to bring us down, take us out, bog us down.
The Christian walk is the same as that baby coming out of the womb, already feeling and understanding the force of gravity even if they don't fully recognize it by it's term or understanding it's there. However just as that baby has to learn to 'defy' gravity and walk, jump, run, climb. Christians also need to learn to do these same things to defy our sinful nature, defy the forces that are trying to bring us down. Reality check, IT DOES NOT JUST HAPPEN. It is something that is learned. I think too often Christians think that as soon as you believe in Jesus all of the sudden life gets easy. Let me ask you a question. As soon as you understand that there is gravity trying to bring you down does that mean that you are able to walk? NO!!! It takes practice, and work, and frustration and joy and falling and getting back up. I do not know of one baby that has never fallen. In fact, i still don't know of one person that still doesn't fall. You see the thing about gravity is that it never gives up. Although many people don't give up either once they fall. It would sound pretty ridiculous if someone all of the sudden said "I'm giving up on walking, gravity just keep dragging me down, I keep falling, I think I am just going to stop trying to work against gravity." Many people would think it's absurd.
We learn to stand more often than we fall. We learn to stay on our feet longer than we fall. Falling is still inevitable, but we understand and have grace for falling. Obviously falling does not impact others as much as sin does I understand that, that is not the point of this post. I think it is important to start teaching people how to defy the spiritual gravity that wants to see us fall. Being patient with people when they do, when not if. And starting to disciple people and try and grow ourselves so that we can learn to take our first steps, run, jump and maybe fly. And then when we fall, picking ourselves back up again and letting our father clean us up, and running back to him and running the race marked out for us. I think I'll try defying gravity
Saturday, October 22, 2011
The Center of it All
Why did Peter look down? He was walking on water, he was doing something that no one other than Jesus had done in the history of the world and he chose to look down? What does it mean? Is that a pointer to human pride?
Many times Jesus calls humanity and those that follow him to simply keep their eyes on him and keep him as the central point of their focus. He promises that if we do this that our lives will be enriched. This is present in this story as Peter keeps walking on water as long as Jesus is his central focus. Yet, as soon as Peter looks away and chooses not to have Jesus as the central focus that is when the drowning starts.
So if this is the case why would Peter look away? Surely, he knew that as long as Jesus was his central focus that things would go well for him. Or did he? Did Peter know that Jesus was the cause of his walking on water? Did the thought come into his mind that he may just be doing this by himself, or maybe even that Jesus was doing it but he didn't really need to have him as his main focus. Whatever the case, he chose to look away.
This seems to be a sign of pride on the part of Peter and a symbol of the troubles that humanity faces in keeping Christ at the centre of their focus. Peter starts walking on water and everything is going super well for him as long as his eyes are on Christ. But at one point Peter had to actually realize what he was doing, he had to have at some point clued in to the fact that he was walking on water. That HE was walking on water. The only other person to do that was Jesus. So what other reaction should be expected from him but to see what HE was doing. At some point he got it in his head that he was doing it by himself. That what he was doing was of his own ability and did not directly relate to the fact that Jesus was at the centre of his focus. Or even that he didn't really need Jesus to be the centre of his focus.
If his eyes had stayed on Christ there is no doubt that he would have been able to stay on the water, but he would not have been able to explain the feeling other than what his vision of Christ was. Others could have given account, but Peter himself would not have been able to describe what happened, his description would have been Christ centered. Unfortunately as soon as he takes his eyes off of Christ to look at the water (either out of horror or out of pride, or both) things fall apart, and all of the sudden there is not reason why he would want to boast about what he was able to do.
The reality is that he was not doing it at all. This is the same with our everyday lives, we start doing things that are amazing when our focus is on God, and then we want to bask in our own accomplishments so we look away and focus on ourselves. This is where the spiritual low comes in. IF we were to keep our focus on God, we might not even be able to explain everything that happened other than explaining the fact that our focus was God. Our explanation of the amazing things that happen would be nothing other than "I have no idea exactly, but God was working". Others would have to give testament, and what tends to happen when others give testament is they do not sugarcoat it as much as we might do if we were talking our own situations up. The situation might actually be told as it happened instead of building ourselves up in the story. So there would actually be real genuine stories about what was happening. Real eyewitness accounts into what took place and amazing things that God did through different individuals, and then when the individual is asked all they can do is point to God as their focus.
It really is too bad that so often we fail when it comes to this and take credit where credit is not due. I pray that anyone that reads this and even those that don't can keep God as the center of their focus, and have no other explanation as to why things are happening other than pointing to God.
Many times Jesus calls humanity and those that follow him to simply keep their eyes on him and keep him as the central point of their focus. He promises that if we do this that our lives will be enriched. This is present in this story as Peter keeps walking on water as long as Jesus is his central focus. Yet, as soon as Peter looks away and chooses not to have Jesus as the central focus that is when the drowning starts.
So if this is the case why would Peter look away? Surely, he knew that as long as Jesus was his central focus that things would go well for him. Or did he? Did Peter know that Jesus was the cause of his walking on water? Did the thought come into his mind that he may just be doing this by himself, or maybe even that Jesus was doing it but he didn't really need to have him as his main focus. Whatever the case, he chose to look away.
This seems to be a sign of pride on the part of Peter and a symbol of the troubles that humanity faces in keeping Christ at the centre of their focus. Peter starts walking on water and everything is going super well for him as long as his eyes are on Christ. But at one point Peter had to actually realize what he was doing, he had to have at some point clued in to the fact that he was walking on water. That HE was walking on water. The only other person to do that was Jesus. So what other reaction should be expected from him but to see what HE was doing. At some point he got it in his head that he was doing it by himself. That what he was doing was of his own ability and did not directly relate to the fact that Jesus was at the centre of his focus. Or even that he didn't really need Jesus to be the centre of his focus.
If his eyes had stayed on Christ there is no doubt that he would have been able to stay on the water, but he would not have been able to explain the feeling other than what his vision of Christ was. Others could have given account, but Peter himself would not have been able to describe what happened, his description would have been Christ centered. Unfortunately as soon as he takes his eyes off of Christ to look at the water (either out of horror or out of pride, or both) things fall apart, and all of the sudden there is not reason why he would want to boast about what he was able to do.
The reality is that he was not doing it at all. This is the same with our everyday lives, we start doing things that are amazing when our focus is on God, and then we want to bask in our own accomplishments so we look away and focus on ourselves. This is where the spiritual low comes in. IF we were to keep our focus on God, we might not even be able to explain everything that happened other than explaining the fact that our focus was God. Our explanation of the amazing things that happen would be nothing other than "I have no idea exactly, but God was working". Others would have to give testament, and what tends to happen when others give testament is they do not sugarcoat it as much as we might do if we were talking our own situations up. The situation might actually be told as it happened instead of building ourselves up in the story. So there would actually be real genuine stories about what was happening. Real eyewitness accounts into what took place and amazing things that God did through different individuals, and then when the individual is asked all they can do is point to God as their focus.
It really is too bad that so often we fail when it comes to this and take credit where credit is not due. I pray that anyone that reads this and even those that don't can keep God as the center of their focus, and have no other explanation as to why things are happening other than pointing to God.
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Matrix of your mind!
One of my favorite movie series of all-time is the matrix series... Now there are some very obvious parallels with Christianity but sometimes we can forget about those parallels. One of the things that struck me the most while watching it this last time comes right at the beginning of the first movie. The matrix is being explained to Neo and what it is and what it does.
"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."
Ok so let's start with this quote... Have you ever wondered if there was more than just this physical world? Cause there is, Jesus says that "he who has eyes should see", now this does not necessarily refer to the spiritual realm that is around us, but it definitely has potential to. I think that one of the greatest tools of the enemy is to say that what you sense is all that there is. He wants us to be oblivious to the spiritual world around us. The enemy wants to keep you in the "prison for your mind". To keep you "blind to the truth" and keep you "a slave" to him. I think many times we too easily accept this as true. It is so much easier to simply accept what is in front of us as reality and ignore the fact that there is a spiritual realm around us, that has just as much effect (if not more) than what we can see, taste, touch, smell, hear. As soon as we can learn (through the help of God) to start to see, to open our eyes, we can escape the prison and learn about the world behind our world. This is a very uneasy thought and feeling. The world of our senses is so comfortable but it is a mistake to simply stay content with just this. There are battles going on around us everyday. So now to the next quote:
"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so injured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it"
I think this is so true of a lot of unbelievers. this is why bible-thumping is such a flawed way of trying to evangelize to people. We can see people just like us around us everyday. A lot of them are not ready to accept Jesus christ as their lord and saviour. We cannot fault people because they are not ready, but we need to be ready when they are ready. This means befriending people, accepting them as they are understanding that God is working within their systems and beliefs and is trying to get them to a place where they understand that something is wrong with those systems and beliefs. That there is something more than the "matrix" they have created for themselves. That there is a world that is full of life that only God can give people! One of the most clever lines in the matrix movies comes when neo has just been freed from the matrix and asks why his eyes are sore. Morpheus responds with "because you've never used them before". This is true of new believers, hopefully the church can open their eyes to a new world that they have never seen before. something that causes them to ask why they never noticed it before, and the church can say "because you have never truly seen, never truly lived, and now you can"!
There is a lot more christian truth in the matrix movies even if it was not meant to be there. I think this is just touching the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully this will enrich your matrix movie watching and will help you in your walk. I pray that we could learn to open our eyes and truly see the truth and life that God has for us.
"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind."
Ok so let's start with this quote... Have you ever wondered if there was more than just this physical world? Cause there is, Jesus says that "he who has eyes should see", now this does not necessarily refer to the spiritual realm that is around us, but it definitely has potential to. I think that one of the greatest tools of the enemy is to say that what you sense is all that there is. He wants us to be oblivious to the spiritual world around us. The enemy wants to keep you in the "prison for your mind". To keep you "blind to the truth" and keep you "a slave" to him. I think many times we too easily accept this as true. It is so much easier to simply accept what is in front of us as reality and ignore the fact that there is a spiritual realm around us, that has just as much effect (if not more) than what we can see, taste, touch, smell, hear. As soon as we can learn (through the help of God) to start to see, to open our eyes, we can escape the prison and learn about the world behind our world. This is a very uneasy thought and feeling. The world of our senses is so comfortable but it is a mistake to simply stay content with just this. There are battles going on around us everyday. So now to the next quote:
"The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so injured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it"
I think this is so true of a lot of unbelievers. this is why bible-thumping is such a flawed way of trying to evangelize to people. We can see people just like us around us everyday. A lot of them are not ready to accept Jesus christ as their lord and saviour. We cannot fault people because they are not ready, but we need to be ready when they are ready. This means befriending people, accepting them as they are understanding that God is working within their systems and beliefs and is trying to get them to a place where they understand that something is wrong with those systems and beliefs. That there is something more than the "matrix" they have created for themselves. That there is a world that is full of life that only God can give people! One of the most clever lines in the matrix movies comes when neo has just been freed from the matrix and asks why his eyes are sore. Morpheus responds with "because you've never used them before". This is true of new believers, hopefully the church can open their eyes to a new world that they have never seen before. something that causes them to ask why they never noticed it before, and the church can say "because you have never truly seen, never truly lived, and now you can"!
There is a lot more christian truth in the matrix movies even if it was not meant to be there. I think this is just touching the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully this will enrich your matrix movie watching and will help you in your walk. I pray that we could learn to open our eyes and truly see the truth and life that God has for us.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Love Languages of God
I went to a Switchfoot concert this evening. One of my passions in life is music, both live and recorded. See music has always had a place in my heart that I have never fully been able to describe. There are those songs that stir me to the core, or that just have something about them that is drawing. Because of this lack of explanation that I had for it, I simply did not really try to describe it to people. I simply said that music was a passion and let them believe that it was just something I liked.
However I was reminded of something at this Switchfoot concert. Switchfoot has a song called Your Love is a Song and they came to this song in their set, and then as they progressed through the chorus it hit me,
"O Your Love is a symphony, all around me, running through me,
O your Love is a melody, underneath me, run into me,
O Your Love is a song"
These are the words of the chorus. I simple could not describe the full extent of what I felt with certain songs or certain melodies, because it was God's love language with me. it was his way of expressing his love to me, of showing me a cool rift, or something that stirs my core. It is the same as the love between a husband and a wife. There is that "it" factor that can't really fully be describe (while I don't know this from first hand experience, it is something that I understand to be true. There is that love in an intimate relationship that you can try and describe in the best sense that the english language will allow, and yet it still falls short.
This realization was huge for me, and while it helps me to explain that feeling (although I am sure that the first time I say "it's god's love language to me" I will get some funny looks) it is not the same for everyone.
I encourage you to look for the love languages that God has put into your life. If your not really into music or it does not hold that place in your life, what does? Sports (the rush of competition, I am in this boat too because God speaks his love in more than one way), art?, servanthood?, teaching?, learning? what are your passions? start there, whatever gets your blood rushing to the point that it is hard for you to describe to others, that is probably the thing that God is speaking his love to you through...
next time you get that feeling thank him and remember he loves you.
However I was reminded of something at this Switchfoot concert. Switchfoot has a song called Your Love is a Song and they came to this song in their set, and then as they progressed through the chorus it hit me,
"O Your Love is a symphony, all around me, running through me,
O your Love is a melody, underneath me, run into me,
O Your Love is a song"
These are the words of the chorus. I simple could not describe the full extent of what I felt with certain songs or certain melodies, because it was God's love language with me. it was his way of expressing his love to me, of showing me a cool rift, or something that stirs my core. It is the same as the love between a husband and a wife. There is that "it" factor that can't really fully be describe (while I don't know this from first hand experience, it is something that I understand to be true. There is that love in an intimate relationship that you can try and describe in the best sense that the english language will allow, and yet it still falls short.
This realization was huge for me, and while it helps me to explain that feeling (although I am sure that the first time I say "it's god's love language to me" I will get some funny looks) it is not the same for everyone.
I encourage you to look for the love languages that God has put into your life. If your not really into music or it does not hold that place in your life, what does? Sports (the rush of competition, I am in this boat too because God speaks his love in more than one way), art?, servanthood?, teaching?, learning? what are your passions? start there, whatever gets your blood rushing to the point that it is hard for you to describe to others, that is probably the thing that God is speaking his love to you through...
next time you get that feeling thank him and remember he loves you.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Fighting!
When did you last get in an argument or fight? Like a real fight, a real argument, you were actually upset... Do you remember what it was about? If Yes keep reading, if no... keep reading. I think that a lot of our arguments and fights are because we feel a sense of entitlement. In some cases we are right, but I think a lot of the time it is simply the sense that we think we deserve better or should get things OUR way or that THEY are wrong. Pride seems to be at the centre of a lot of our arguments. I think a lot of this has to do with the culture that we live in but can not be fully attributed to it. A lot of the time these arguments could be resolved if we stepped back looked at the situation and stopped thinking about ourselves. If we lay down our pride and looked to lifting somebody else up rather than "winning" the argument. A lot of the petty arguments and anger that infilitrates our lives comes from this sense of entitlement. We have this sense in our culture that "we deserve the best" therefore if we get anything less than what we deserve we get mad, get angry, DESERVE BETTER.
It is not an easy thing to just remove yourself from a situation and tell yourself that well maybe it is just my ego in the way. Trust me, I have struggled with anger issues for the better part of 16 years and by the grace of God have been described as "always happy" nowadays. This is not true, obviously, I am not always happy but I like to think that I am able to remove myself from situations better, something that came with practice and God's help in self-control. Yet, a lot of the times I got angry it was not even justified, but it was because I felt that I deserved better, that I should have gotten better, or that something went wrong so something must be wrong with someone/something else. I pointed the finger instead of looking at my own expectations and what I thought I deserved.
Many times Jesus demonstrates and talks about being a servant. Often times we take this to mean actually physically serving others. I think we can miss the full extent of this meaning, and instead serve others through humbling ourselves before them. In everyday life, whether the person at the drive-thru window got your order wrong, whether someone makes a small mistake that costs you, in a bunch of situations. humbling ourselves before others is a huge thing that we seem to be missing today.
Now there are times where anger is okay. Many times we point to the fact that Jesus got angry when turning over the temples too far. But we need to continually ask ourselves, am I angry for the right reasons? Is this something that could be avoided by me simply laying down my expectations for myself and serving others? Or is it something that needs to be dealt with and anger is an appropriate response. I think we will find that most of the time the first option is completely acceptable.
So next time your angry take a step back and try humbling yourself, ask God to give you the self-control to do this and try lowering your expectations for yourself and for others towards you. Humble yourselves.
God Bless
It is not an easy thing to just remove yourself from a situation and tell yourself that well maybe it is just my ego in the way. Trust me, I have struggled with anger issues for the better part of 16 years and by the grace of God have been described as "always happy" nowadays. This is not true, obviously, I am not always happy but I like to think that I am able to remove myself from situations better, something that came with practice and God's help in self-control. Yet, a lot of the times I got angry it was not even justified, but it was because I felt that I deserved better, that I should have gotten better, or that something went wrong so something must be wrong with someone/something else. I pointed the finger instead of looking at my own expectations and what I thought I deserved.
Many times Jesus demonstrates and talks about being a servant. Often times we take this to mean actually physically serving others. I think we can miss the full extent of this meaning, and instead serve others through humbling ourselves before them. In everyday life, whether the person at the drive-thru window got your order wrong, whether someone makes a small mistake that costs you, in a bunch of situations. humbling ourselves before others is a huge thing that we seem to be missing today.
Now there are times where anger is okay. Many times we point to the fact that Jesus got angry when turning over the temples too far. But we need to continually ask ourselves, am I angry for the right reasons? Is this something that could be avoided by me simply laying down my expectations for myself and serving others? Or is it something that needs to be dealt with and anger is an appropriate response. I think we will find that most of the time the first option is completely acceptable.
So next time your angry take a step back and try humbling yourself, ask God to give you the self-control to do this and try lowering your expectations for yourself and for others towards you. Humble yourselves.
God Bless
Heaven or God?
Have you ever noticed bow many people seem to have problems with God? There seem to be a lot, and a lot of the time it seems that the response to why they have problems with God is either evil, or lack of gifts bestowed on people (meaning 'he has not done anything for me lately', this belief of course being despite the fact that he allowed them to breathe for another day) but anyway.
Have you also noticed that many of these people (mostly non-christians) seem to still have a belief in some sort of heaven? Never mind that as a Christian this means the consequent hell belief must go with it, however this is not the point. I find it super interesting that while people can have huge issues with God that cause them to either reject him or choose not to believe in him (which has issues on its own, because even though God does not do things for you in your own mind does not mean you can choose to make him not exist)they seem to have no problems with heaven. While as a christian community our beliefs tend to lie in the fact that these two are inseperable, could it be that we have given the wrong idea of what heaven is?
Now it is hard to get into it without offering up a view of heaven that could seem suspect, because it is also hard to say "I know what heaven will look like" it seems to be a touchy subject, however i will try and offer up a view that can be expected by most, if not all.
The secular belief about heaven seems to be that it is this nice place that you get everything that you want. There is a warm fuzzy feeling that goes along with the idea of heaven that it is the ideal place to be. While I have no problems with this why is their concept of God so much different. You see the reason is that Christians have portrayed heaven like this for so long. As long as you are "in" it is going to be this amazing place that basically is everything that we want. I don't know that this is necessarily the right way to look at heaven the "everything you want" attitude. While I don't think this is necessarily wrong either.
I think that we must believe that heaven is in sync with the character of God. Heaven cannot be something that is out of God's character or contrary to his character that would defeat the purpose of a lot of other theology behind the Christian belief. However, it seems to have been portrayed that heaven can somehow be separate from God and/or his character, or the secular community is just picking up on things about the christian faith that they find appealing, and it could easily be either one or a combination of these options. Yet, I think that it must constantly be spoken and implied that you can't have heaven without God, heaven is an outpouring of God's character. It is the in essence the incarnation of his character fully realized by humanity, his character showed in the way that humanity can enjoy. It is relationship with God in it's fullest extent, a relationship with God that is fully realized.
So while it may be easy to separate God and heaven for the secular world, I think it is important to realize that this portrayal is not necessarily truth, and to keep reminding ourselves that in the end we get to spend an eternity with our creator and how wonderful it will be!
Have you also noticed that many of these people (mostly non-christians) seem to still have a belief in some sort of heaven? Never mind that as a Christian this means the consequent hell belief must go with it, however this is not the point. I find it super interesting that while people can have huge issues with God that cause them to either reject him or choose not to believe in him (which has issues on its own, because even though God does not do things for you in your own mind does not mean you can choose to make him not exist)they seem to have no problems with heaven. While as a christian community our beliefs tend to lie in the fact that these two are inseperable, could it be that we have given the wrong idea of what heaven is?
Now it is hard to get into it without offering up a view of heaven that could seem suspect, because it is also hard to say "I know what heaven will look like" it seems to be a touchy subject, however i will try and offer up a view that can be expected by most, if not all.
The secular belief about heaven seems to be that it is this nice place that you get everything that you want. There is a warm fuzzy feeling that goes along with the idea of heaven that it is the ideal place to be. While I have no problems with this why is their concept of God so much different. You see the reason is that Christians have portrayed heaven like this for so long. As long as you are "in" it is going to be this amazing place that basically is everything that we want. I don't know that this is necessarily the right way to look at heaven the "everything you want" attitude. While I don't think this is necessarily wrong either.
I think that we must believe that heaven is in sync with the character of God. Heaven cannot be something that is out of God's character or contrary to his character that would defeat the purpose of a lot of other theology behind the Christian belief. However, it seems to have been portrayed that heaven can somehow be separate from God and/or his character, or the secular community is just picking up on things about the christian faith that they find appealing, and it could easily be either one or a combination of these options. Yet, I think that it must constantly be spoken and implied that you can't have heaven without God, heaven is an outpouring of God's character. It is the in essence the incarnation of his character fully realized by humanity, his character showed in the way that humanity can enjoy. It is relationship with God in it's fullest extent, a relationship with God that is fully realized.
So while it may be easy to separate God and heaven for the secular world, I think it is important to realize that this portrayal is not necessarily truth, and to keep reminding ourselves that in the end we get to spend an eternity with our creator and how wonderful it will be!
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