Life's Toughest Questions: Is Jesus the Only way to God?

In less than an hour, Roger Clemens will appear before a Congressional committee to answer questions regarding his alleged use of steroids and HGH. The smart money has Clemens strongly denying any use of such drugs. That will be a problem because the federal government has one of Clemens' former trainers as a witness saying Clemens DID indeed take steroids. All of the TV and radio sports shows are going nuts here and around the country wondering who will commit perjury today in front of Congress. They all say, "There is only one truth! One of these two guys is lying; they both can't be right."

You are probably wondering what this has to do with anything important in life. Good question! I think this illustrates a key idea for our next topic in the LTQ series. Many people believe there is no one correct religion or way of thinking and that every religion points to the same God. If you have ever heard, "It's all the same God," then you have met someone who has that belief. Maybe you believe it yourself. As right and as good as that belief sounds, it runs into some serious problems. For one thing, all major world religions make some very strong (and opposing) claims and most even claim to be the only way to God. So we have multiple, different stories that are all claiming to be true. Just like Roger, not everyone can be right. However, the problem is even deeper than that.

To me, this is not about "being right." It isn't about getting all the facts straight. It is easy to think that way, but it is a pointless exercise. The real question is this: Who brings life to the human spirit? We will explore that on Sunday, and I hope you bring yourself and anyone else you want to hear this message.

Life's Toughest Questions: Is Faith in God Nonsense?

Here is something else I cut from this Sunday, that I think a few of you may find interesting. In the Matthew 12 passage starting in verse 43, Jesus talks about an evil spirit leaving a man and then coming back with seven other wicked spirits and leaving the man worse than he was before. This is the battle we all fight, and in a real way, this is the journey of the human spirit. We are spiritually permeable and this spiritual reality is real even thought we cannot perceive it with our senses.

Here is the passage:
When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.

I left out this observation: I think this could be a biblical explanation of the view of reincarnation. There are people who have memories of past lives, and I believe they are real memories. The issue to me is who these memories belong to. I do not believe that people die and then come back as another creature, neither animal or human. You remain uniquely you in eternity and you live ONE life here on earth on this side of eternity.

How then do we explain memories of past lives? Well, it is not that these people have lived in a different time or place, but that these spirits have. These spirits carry with them the memory of history, of ancients and moderns.

We are spirit, this reality is inescapable. Could it be that our universe is more complex than we ever imagined? Is there more going on than we can see or sense?

Life's Toughest Questions: Is Faith in God Nonsense?

I had to cut so many things on Sunday to get everyone out of there on time, so I thought I could throw in some of the stuff I cut here on the blog.

I read a passage from Isaiah 6, where Isaiah has an encounter with God in His throne room. He sees angels flying everywhere and praising God. The entire temple is filled with smoke because of the glory of God. Isaiah thinks he is doomed. Instead, his lips are seared with a live coal and he is told his sins have been atoned for and he can experience God's goodness. God asks for a divine volunteer to speak for Him, and Isaiah says he will go for God. In verses 9-10, God tells Isaiah what to tell His people.

"Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

This is God in one of His most ironic moments. He looks at humanity and sees many people who think they are alive but are merely existing, and they are blind and deaf to the reality of the spiritual all around them. God looks at them and says, "Fine, be blind! Hear but not understand! Have a calloused heart! Because the alternative would be to turn to me and be healed, but you don't realize it."

More to come.

Does God Care About Our Sexuality?

We talked about this last week at Higher Calling. Here are a few more thoughts I wanted to add to that message:

About Homosexuality: When someone tells me that I must accept them because they are homosexual, I feel like I have lost the opportunity for a friendship. Here's why: I don't tell you that you must accept me because I am heterosexual! I don't say you have to accept me because I was born in Tulsa, OK. I don't tell you you have to accept me being a Cardinals fan (this is good for some of you...) Do you know why that is? Its because none of those things are the truest expression of who I am.

When you start identifying yourself by your sexuality then you stop being honest with yourself because we are not primarily sexual beings; there is much more to it than that. This is graphic, but if you were in a terrible accident and were castrated and lost your sexual drive, would you be less human? Of course not! The reason for this is simple: there is more to being human than our sexuality, and when we identify ourselves by our sexual orientation then we aren't being honest about who we really are at our core.

The Answer: Many people think the solution to sexuality immorality is marriage, but it isn't the case. If you are immoral as a single person then you will be immoral as a married person. Some people think the cure to homosexuality is heterosexuality. That is not true either! The only solution to our broken view of sexuality is a proper view of how relationships are important. We must relate correctly to God and who He is and who He created us to be, and that relationship will affect how we relate with each other. It is as simple as entering into a relationship with God and then allowing His power and presence to transform how we interact with everyone else.

When Religion Becomes Disturbing

This week in the series, Life's Toughest Questions, I will be addressing human sexuality and its effect on our relationship with God and with others. I am nervous about dealing with these issues because their is so much emotion wrapped up on both sides of the discussion. To me, the concept of sexual morality is far deeper than homosexuality, yet that is inevitably what is brought up during any conversation involving human sexuality.

One of the reasons there is so much emotion regarding this issue is because of the negative way the church has portrayed itself to the world as it speaks about this issue. For some reason, the dominant theme that people hear from the church is one of condemnation and sometimes hate. That is incredibly wrong coming from a community of faith. Take this story as an example.

Basically, an extreme group picketed Heath Ledger's memorial service because of his role on Brokeback Mountain. These are the same people who picket the funerals of returning soldiers holding signs that say, "You deserved it." Incredible callousness and honestly, evil. Regardless of your feelings about that movie, I hope that we all see that such activity only spreads a message of hate that is destructive to people. Click on that link, search for the church name on Google, then look at the web address. Is that the message that is intended to be sent to a broken world? This is what happens when people use religion as a weapon to hurt and destroy.

Does God hate people who disagree with him? I don't think so. 1 Peter says that God is patient with all of us because He doesn't want anyone to be lost. Ezekiel 18 tells us that God finds no pleasure in the punishment of even the worst people. Of course, the famous verse John 3:16 tells us that God's driving motivation in sending Jesus was his love for everyone. Everyone!

That tells me that we have an incredibly important responsibility as the church here on earth. We are to be ambassadors for God, sharing the good news about the love and compassion of God. If you are reading this, chances are good that I have no clue about your beliefs on sexual morality. I want you to know that I do have beliefs regarding what is pure sexual behavior, and I will share those on Sunday at Higher Calling and here as well. If you are a follower of Christ, know that truth and compassion CAN exist together. Being right does not mean you lose compassion, and being right is not the highest goal in faith. The highest goal, as always, is love. Without love, all of the knowledge, passion, intellect, and faith in the world is meaningless.

I feel fortunate to be a part of a community of faith that realizes you can believe in the truth and yet show compassion for everyone. I hope to see you on Sunday!

Life's Toughest Questions; Expanded

One of the best things about this series so far has been the incredible conversations I have had with many at Higher Calling. It seems that every week we tackle one issue the conversation expands to include many other topics. I think that is very cool. Last week we discussed the topic of life after death, you can read more about it by scrolling down the blog, and this Sunday we will be discussing human sexuality and what God's ideal is for us.

In the meantime, I will be addressing other questions on here that don't really fit into the topics we have so far but are important and require a response. Those will be coming throughout the length of this series which will take place until March 9th.

If you have something to add to the discussion, leave a comment on this post or email me. Later.

Life's Toughest Questions; What Happens When We Die?

This is one of the most pressing questions that humanity can ask. The answer can lead us to drastically change the way we live.

I believe you are an eternal spiritual being. Even though you took your first breath here on earth; I believe you were meant to exist forever. God put an eternal spirit into each one of us and this spirit is what makes us unique. I also believe there are only two eternal destinations for the human spirit, heaven and hell. Hell exists because God will not force us to love Him because love cannot be forced. He also will not override your will. You were created with the ability to choose your path and God honors the way He made you even if the choices we make break His heart.

So many times, we strain for the wrong things in life. We think we are alive, but we are simply existing. We think we are holding onto life, but God sees us as holding onto our death.

You see, it isn't when you die that you find out if you will live forever or not, but if you are truly alive when you die, then life will overcome death. That is why it is important to choose life now, and that only comes from choosing Jesus.